MacDougall 01 - Laiden's Daughter by Suzan Tisdale Page A

keep her safe and warm?  
    A thought suddenly dawned upon her that she had no idea where they were going.   She wondered if they were attempting to keep her calm and quiet while they secretly returned her to the English.   The prospect was quite frightening.   She grew tense and fearful and sat upright.   She wished the sun were up so she could gain a better sense of direction.  
    “What be the matter, lass?” Duncan whispered as he nudged his horse along.  
    “Where are we going?”  
    “We be taking ya to Dunshire,” he told her.   “Don’t worry lass.   We’ll make arrangements to get ya back to yer family.”
    The thought of being returned to her family was more frightening than being handed over to English soldiers.   Either prospect was a death sentence to be sure.   “I have no family,” she told him.   For the most part, that was true.
    “No family?” Duncan asked.
    “Nay. My mum died when I was five.” She fought the urge to jump from the horse and run away.   “My father died some two years ago.”
    Learning that she had no family began to shed some light on how she ended up here.   Had she a family, Duncan was certain they would have done better to protect her from the earl.   “No family at all?” he asked her.
    Aishlinn shook her head.   She wanted to be as honest as she could with them and debated on how much she should tell them.   She figured honesty was the best course to follow at the moment.   “No real family. I have three brothers, but they’re the one’s that sent me to work and live at Castle Firth. If you send me back to them, you might as well just give me to the soldiers. Twould be the same thing.”
    “But surely yer brothers would protect ya,” Rowan said.   He couldn’t imagine not doing so himself.
    Aishlinn laughed out loud at the thought.   “They traded me to Castle Firth. They traded me for two sheep.”   She let that sink in for a moment before going forward.   “I imagine now I might be worth at least a keg of ale to them.   They’d think naught about turning me over to the soldiers.”   
    Duncan was stunned and thought mayhap she was exaggerating.   He knew that he would rather die a hundred deaths than turn a sister over to anyone who would do her harm.   He could not fathom what she said to be true.   “But lass, why would brothers do such a thing?”
    Aishlinn let out a heavy sigh.   “They be not my real brothers.   My real father died before I was born. ‘Twas their father that married my mum.”   She decided to leave out the part of being conceived out of wedlock, as it had always been a sense of shame for her. “I’m not their real kin.   They are selfish and lazy men who care for nothing but their own comforts.”  
    Duncan had known a few men like that, but none so selfish they’d treat a sister, real blooded or not, in such a manner. He could not blame her for not wanting to return.   “Then ya not be wanting to return to them?”
    “Nay, I want not to go back.”   Going back meant death, there was no doubt of it.
    Several long moments passed before Manghus asked, “What about yer mum’s family? Or yer real father’s?”  
    Tears welled in her eyes.   “I know not of any family.” She didn’t even know her real father’s name, let alone any family he may have had.   And the only thing she knew of her mother was that she had been from the Highlands. It hurt to think she knew nothing of her own history or who her family might be, and anyone who could tell her was now long dead.
    “Ye've never met any of yer own kin?” Duncan could not imagine growing up without any family.   While it was true that he had lost his parents and many of his kin a long time past, he had been fortunate enough to have many aunts and uncles.   After his parents died, he had been blessed with being raised by his father’s best friend, Angus McKenna, who also happened to be Findley and Richard’s uncle.   After the raid