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will marry who I choose."
    Shrugging his shoulders, Ian Campbell threw the end of his breacan feille over his shoulders with a jaunty air.  "Then I wish him well in his marriage and hope his bride will  not be too homely."  He made a face.  "Let us hope MacQuarie's lassie does not look like her sire.  I would wish for Robbie a bonnie bride."
    "Bonnie or not, MacQuarie's daughter is the one that I hae chosen.  By first light of morning ye will travel  to the MacQuarie's hall and make the necessary arrangements."
    "And will young Robbie go with me to meet the lass?"  Ian cocked his brow in question, puzzled by Duncan's icy stare. 
    "Nae!"  Duncan knew he could not take the chance of the MacQuaries coming to know the lad, lest they suspect his kinship.  Though his hair was a deep brown it was touched with the MacQuarie red. "Robbie willna meet his bride until his wedding day."  Sensing Ian's scrutiny he added, "I willna place him in the hands of the MacQuarie's lest something go awry.  Robbie is not as skilled in weaponry as ye are."  Seeing Ian's puzzled frown he added,  "Nor as glib of tongue and as agile as ye are."
    "Y ou will have him stay behind?"
    "'Tis common enough to proceed with the arrangements this way. Ye will sign the contract and see to the banns." Quickly he added, "I would protect him."
    "I see."  Ian did not envy young Robbie Campbell.  The thought of having a woman fo rced upon him was distasteful. He would never submit so docilely.  "Then it is up to me to woo the lassie.  I hope 'twill not be too unpleasant a task."
    "Woo her if ye like if it will insure a wed ding.  But hae a care........"
    Ian feigned innocence. "Uncle you chide me unnecessarily. I'll give her up to Robbie's arms when the time comes."  He smiled.  "Indeed I can see that I am your man, for I've had my share of practice in matters of the heart.  I'll win Robbie his bride.  You'll have your fine wedding.  I will not disappoint you.  But I make a request of you.  That I be allowed to take Aulay with me.  In case I meet with treachery I would welcome his sword arm."  Though the man he spoke of was a dwarf, Ian knew there was no finer fighter among the clans.  The little man had fought right by his side at the Battle of Bannockburn.  Aulay was fierce and cunning, more than a match for those twice his size.  "He has been my boon companion for many years."
              "Aye.  Agreed.  Though let us hope ye hae no need of him.  The MacQuaries must be at least half-civilized as obstinate as they are. Let us assume that all will go well."  Once again Duncan smiled.  "Let us hope that all will go exactly as I planned."
     
    A brisk breeze whipped through Ian’s hair as he leaned against the stout stone wall of the castle allure, the wall-walk behind the west parapet. So, Robbie was going to be used as a peace offering, he thought. He had sympathy for the lad though there was not much to be done about it. When Duncan had made up his mind there was little hope of changing it, though Stain Michael himself declare it a wrongful conclusion. He’d do as Duncan said and hope he would not rue it, but MacQuaries indeed! All he’d heard since he was a lad was a list of their sins; now seemingly all was to be forgiven with a snap of Duncan’s fingers. Strange. And he to be the ambassador to this official act, he who had once been shunned as a lad by his own clan.
    Gazing out past the rocky crags to the meadows and burns beyond, his mind pondered what the future held in store, and wandered over the events of the past when he had been brought to Dunstaffnage Castle as a small boy after the death of his mother.
    “What is this?” those were the first words he’d he ard Duncan’s wife, Fionnghuala utter as she’d appraised him with her perpetual scowl. From that moment on they’d been at odds over the years, her attitude toward him as cold as her ice blue eyes. Indeed, she’d treated him more as a stable