FLAME ACROSS THE HIGHLANDS Read Online Free Page A

then another. Total turmoil raged.
    Lachlan MacQuarry silenced the protestations by raising his hand.  Though in truth he was but a few inches taller than most of the men, he seemed to tower over them as he pulled back his shoulders and held up his hand.  "I've told myself all the things ye are sayin' now.  I've scorned the Campbells and damned them with my every breath.  I've even told myself that Black Duncan was but jesting.  But now I think not.  There comes a time in every mon's life when he longs for peace."  He had come to that time.
    "Peace with the Campbells?  Never!" Cried out a voice.
    "They started the feuding and we canna just forget it.  Too many men hae been killed!"  Another man would not be silenced.
    "Aye, too many men.  That is my thought exactly."  Through the years there had been times when the MacQuaries had won, times when the Campbells had been victors in the battles, but at the cost of many lives.   Both clans had been  losers in the toll taken on their familes.  Warfare between the rival clans had brought forth a torrent of heartache.  Lachlan knew it was in their best interest to contemplate this offer of peace.  And yet what a price he would have to pay!  To give up one of his daughters.  "We canna go on fighting forever."  If a matter of such a marriage can stop the bloodshed, then I am prepared to make the sacrifice."
    "What?"  Brianna was aghast at the thought and made her view known by her audible, "no!"  A MacQuarie married to a Campbell was unthinkable.
    "Aye!"  Lachlan looked at his two  eldest daughters with an appraising eye. Both possessed a beauty no man could resist.  Their finely chiseled noses, high cheekbones and enormous dark-fringed brown eyes of a copper hue were beyond description. Their slender waists and long legs were no doubt the envy of all the women, their well-formed breasts and slim hips were a poets dream. 
    They were dressed in identical arasaids , a long garment that reached from the head or neck, to the ankles, fastened at the breast with a large brooch and at the waist by a belt.  Beneath this colorful length of material they wore gowns of thin wool which clung to their gentle curves. They were so alike, very lovely, and made him very proud.  Heaven help any men if they dared to mistreat his daughters.
    "Bonnie!  Bonnie daughters that I hae.  No doubt the Campbells hae heard and that's why they seek to make such a bargain."  He strode round and round the two young women.
    "But ye didna...ye willna...!"  Once again Brian na voiced her thoughts aloud.
    "I must!"  Lachlan looked from one to the other, noting that while Glenna's arasaid was carefully belted, Brianna's was haphazardly tied.  A smudge of dirt at the tip of her nose made her discernable from her twin.  Brianna was the least manageable one and yet even so, it was Brianna that had always been his favorite because of her spirit.  He could not even think of sending her away.  Glenna then.  He would send the gentle twin.  She would do as he bid without argument and make the young Campbell a docile wife.
    The matter was discussed among the clansmen, for Lachlan was not a man to make such a weighty decision alone.  Though it was to be his daughter that sealed the bargain, what was decided today would affect all the members of the clan.  Though there were  quite a few mumblings, voiced words of disquiet, the others at last approved of the marriage, convinced by Lachlan's arguments.
    "But which one?"   Malcolm raised the question.
    "I hae decided on Glenna."  Lachlan's answer thundered through the room.  All eyes looked that young woman's way as she paled.
    "No!  No!"  Glenna's breathless protestation was accompanied by her tears.  She loved Alastair. Her father could not even think to send her away!  She felt cold, couldn't breathe.  It was as if a forceful blow had winded her.
    "Aye, daughter.  It will be as I say."  Lachlan had not expected argument from