Dunluce by Lori Imdad (readict txt) 📕

In the days following his death, the castle routine went unchanged. While she grieved, his men continued the routine he had put in place. The routine was their way of honoring Colla and in some ways it let them grieve. After a few weeks, she began taking on Colla’s responsibilities. In some ways, it helped her and often she would not realize how the day had passed. None of their army felt his absence because she maintained everything just as he had, just as they had together.

 Night time was the hardest for her. She would climb into the huge bed she had shared with Colla and stare at where he used to sleep next to her. Just before sunrise her eys would grow heavy and sleep would come. She would sleep for an hour or two before the trumpets sounded at dawn. She was shattered and lonely; only the daily routine of the castle kept her going.

After seeing to her morning tasks, she would spend a few hours in the chapel; praying and seeking answers from God. On days when she could she would travel to St. Cuthbert’s Church nearby to meet with the priests or to request the Monks to offer special prayers for Colla. The rest of the time she trained with the men, met with the castle administrators and saw to all the matters that pertained to the castle running smoothly.

As the days passed her sleeping improved, but she still felt very connected to him. Some mornings she would partially awaken, turn towards him reaching out to touch him. When her arm encountered the coldness of the bed beside her, her eyes would open and her heart would remember he was gone. He would visit her in her dreams and she still had discussions with him in her mind, though one-sided. He was still very much a part of her. She knows heart will never forget him and she couldn’t imagine any other life than the one she’d had with him. She is thankful for the time she spends training with the men as this has provided a comforting, routine distraction.  

Lady Evelyn of Dunluce knew she was no weakling. Even though the loss of Colla has made her sad, she was still a strong and determined leader. Her father and Colla had made certain that she had all the skills necessary and the respect of their army. It was frustrating, that although the Castle had been given to Colla by the crown, now that he was gone she had no right to it.  Irish law dictated that a widow could not inherit her husband’s property and she knew the crown wouldn’t accept a woman as the Chieftan of the Route due to it being a strategic defense point. She also knew it would be foolhardy to go to war with their enemies without proper preparation and the possibility of regaining Dunluce. For now, she knew her best option was to take her army and all that belonged to her as well as her family and leave Dunluce. They would travel to another of Colla’s castles, Castle Kinbahn to train and gather more men until they were ready to retake Dunluce. 

Shane watched her from inside the castle. He was the Constable of the Castle and led all of the army of the castle. He watched Lady Evelyn’s robes blowing in the wind making a spectacular scene. Though the castle was secure because of its strategic location, Lady Evelyn knew that would not stop other clans from attacking to try to gain the title. Their army had dwindled down to a mere 80 men since the battle that Clan MacQuillen had with the MacDonnells. Colla had been recruiting men from nearby villages.

Shane had grown up in the viillage and his father had been a black smith to the MacQuillen when Lady Evelyn's father had been Lord. He began training with the knights of the castle when he was a lad and when he was old enough he entered the castle ranks. After Lady Evelyn's marriage to Colla, the new Lord appointed him as Constable. Colla knew he could depend on Shane to take care of the Castle and oversee the army. Since his appointment, Shane and the Lord had become good friends up to the last day. The Lord had called him to him when Lady Evelyn wasn't present at his bedside when he knew he wasn't going to survive. He told him to look out for his beloved Evelyn when was gone and to protect her until his last day. Shane had promised he would. A few days later when Colla expired, Shane knew it was up to him from that day on to watch over Lady Evelyn.

As soon as the packing was completed and everything loaded onto the carriages, they would begin the 32 kilometer journey to Castle Kinbahn. This was another of their properties, but not many knew of it because of its location and Colla had the Castle built e not that long ago. It was situated on a long, narrow limestone headland projecting into the sea, approximately 5 kilometers from Ballycastle on the road to Ballintoy , so she thought they would be safe there for a while. The Constable (is this Shane?) watched the play of emotions across her face HOW?, the from his post just inside doors of the castle from the tower, her inner struggle all apparent even though he knew she was trying her best to conceal it.

Leaving Castle Dunluce was a difficult decision and he knew she was still strugglingbattling with herself to not to breakdown from her sorrow at a leaving her home., her memories of her life and her marriage. Her capes blew behind her in the strong gales coming off the sea and he saw her closing her eyes and absorbing all the sensations surrounding her. He stepped back to allow his Lady a few more minutes to herself although he knew they needed to leave now to reach where they would make camp before nightfall.  They had decided not to push the animals too hard as they were heavily loaded and would travel 20 kilometers today and complete the remaining leg of the journey tomorrow.

He reached Lady Evelyn’s side a few moments later. She had heard Shane’s approach and had quickly set her expression. She turned to face him. “My Lady, “he began, “Tis time.” She replied quietly with an audible sigh, “Aye”. 

She watched closely as the final items were packed and loaded onto the carriages and horses. She turned abruptly on her heel and returned one last time to the castle that had been her home since she was born. She briskly checked each room one last time. As she gazed into each room, memories of her family flooded her mind; her Mother sewing, her father in his chair smoking his pipe, going over the accounts and her brothers running about in a game of chase or tag in her bedroom or in the study, grandfather telling stories about his life, his family and Dunluce, her lessons in the nursery , the aroma’s and chatter of the staff in the galley, and the friendly banter of her family over meals in the hall. She looked upon the upper yard training field and she could see her brothers and Colla there working with the men-at-arms and pages.

Her chest tightened and tears threatened to spill again. She came upon her bedroom that she had shared with Colla, she took a few deep breaths now then to help distract her mind from her sad memories, then moved on quickly through the rest of the rooms and returned to the carriages. Mounting her horse quickly in preparation for their departure.. She wanted nothing left for whomever’s footsteps would echo down these corridors after she was gone. With one last look toward the North Tower she bade farewell to Dunluce and her ancestors. 

She turned to Shane to signal their roughly eighty men to move forward. She rode neither at the front nor at the back, but in the midst of her small army of fifty men. They were all very protective of her and respected her immensely. She knew each one of them and their families, too.  As they began to move she turned to look back at the castle. All of the men knew her sadness at leaving. Many of them had seen her grow from a girl to a woman and some had even aspired to marry her one day.  When the MacDonnells came and her alliance was fixed with Colla they were all astounded as to how her father could do this. Though her family knew there was no other option, the villagers just saw the celebrations and toasting. They had no sense that their Laird saw no choice, but to marry his daughter to Colla or live in penury. So, they wondered how Lord MacQuillan could marry her to a man she didn’t know and couldn’t possibly love. That coupled with  the loss of Dunluce after their defeat to the MacDonnells made the villagers very wary of the MacDonnells. It was the talk of the village and castle. There had even been some talk of rebelling against Colla and the marriage. Many eyes watched closely when he began courting her. Slowly their rebellious feeling subsided and they began to respect him for what he was doing. They saw that although this marriage was one of duty and compromise, he wanted to make it