"Your friend is a jolly one, isn't he?" Fergus told me as soon as we left the barracks.
"Yeah, since our training days, he has always been the funny one in the group. He's also extremely friendly. Nonetheless, he is a good soldier, rest assured that the east would be safe."
He nodded at my remark. "There are also lots of juniors there, have you seen those without an armband on their uniform? That's them."
Since he is part of the Maclean clan, I do not need to explain much to him since he knows things as much as I do. Macleans have been in charge of the military training. They made the doctrines that all of us followed. Although their clan tremendously declined for generations, it is still their teaching that has been used. Reason why I only explained to him the uniforms.
Since the south border is farther away from the west, Fergus and I decided to make it our last stop.
"So, you want to go straight North? Or do you want to go West first?" He asked me while keeping his horse's pace slow.
I shrugged, "Well I don't really know. Probably west first since the northern border is in the mountains, right? We could go there this afternoon and visit your clan first before heading to the south."
"Our clan, Victoria. You have been part of Macleans ever since we sheltered you. Also, you have married their laird, which makes you the chief's wife. You are now one with us, so treat them as your kind."
I looked at Fergus and smiled. Indeed he is right. Since I lived there with them, they did nothing but be kind to me. Although I get some piercing gazes from the teemagers whom I believe admires Lachlan and Fergus.
I love the people there. They gave me warmth and comfort not because I am royalty but because they treat me like I am one of their own. They took me in when I had nowhere to go. Clothed me when I was cold or warm, and gave me food to satisfy my hunger.
Now as the wife of their laird, all I have to do is do my best for them. I will protect them at all costs. Both the people of Scotland and the Maclean clan must be protected and kept safe always.
As I was riveting my oath in my mind, I did not notice that we had already arrived at the west post.
Probably the news of us visiting came out so when we arrived there, the soldiers were already lined up with the presiding high-ranking officers in front to greet us.
"Welcome to our camp here. I hope you could take a good look around and discuss what needs to be improved as well as know the living conditions of our soldiers here." The captain of the west camp offered his hand to us but only Fergus took it. I roamed my eyes around, and probably the captain noticed it. Thus he ordered a junior to come to my aid.
The junior he ordered immediately followed and showed me the way around.
"Take a good look, duchess. You can ask me some questions about the camp and I will do my best to answer it."
I nodded to acknowledge what he said. With my head held high, I surveyed the camp, their training ground and equipment.
This camp looks better than the other one. They live in the post, they have tents and some dykes can be seen on some part, far away from here.
The junior seemed to see what I was looking at so he explained it to me in a hurry. "There is a river along the vicinity, although it is not really near here, the water still flows when it rains hard so be built some dykes out of mixed clay soil so it could hold off the water better."
He explained some other things to me as we walked back to where we left the Captain and Fergus. When we reached them, I gave my thanks and appreciation to the junior for accompanying me as he bid goodbye and went back to his training.
"Well Captain, I have inspected the place and I saw nothing wrong. Continue the improvement and reach out to generals assigned if ever you need anything for the camp. We won't be taking too much time here, we have to finish visiting other camps too."
The Captain smiled at what I said, "How about lunch? It's already half past one."
"Oh no, thank you. We have already eaten along the way. We bought foods that can be eaten while on a bumpy ride with the horses," Fergus answered the Captain.
With nothing to hold us back, the Captain agreed and sent us away personally.
Since the camp in the west is near the mountains, we decided to go inside the mountains which will lead us to the forest of the highlands. Since Fergus knows his way here as he grew up hunting all over the places for food, he led us directly to the trail that highlanders usually take when going up or down the clan.
Silence has enveloped around us ever since we left the west part. We endured a few more moments of silence before we reached the clan entrance.
I was about to turn and go inside the entrance when I noticed Fergus going past it. "Hey, this is the entrance. Where are you going?" I shouted before he could disappear from my sight.
He looked back at me, "I thought we'll head north first. So we can stay in the clan longer since we do not need to worry about anything else. Anyway, the last destination is south so I think we need a longer rest."
Weighing the options presented, I agreed with the first one. Indeed it is better to head north first so we could rest longer for another long journey.
I shifted Storm's direction and followed Fergus. The trail going to the north is extremely hard to see. With all these dense forests around, one will surely get lost. Luckily, Fergus is a good navigator that although this part of the forest seems untouched he can still lead the way. I guess all those experiences, growing up hunting in the forests really have an advantage.
When we got there, everything was just like the other two camps. They greeted us the same way, their surroundings are also the same. We really did nothing much as it was the routine when we checked the first two camps.
Just in time for an afternoon tea, we arrived at the clan's main house, or should I say the Laird's home. Lachlan was at the gates to welcome us, probably he heard the hoofs of our horses.
All the clansmen greeted us warmly too. Especially the elders, not to brag but they have been fond of me since I lived here. They welcomed Fergus and me with bright smiles. They bowed their heads as we entered the main town. They even made a flower crown for me and made me wear it. Truth be told it did not really match my outfit since I am wearing my equestrian suit. Nevertheless, I still wore it with a bright smile to show them my appreciation.
As expected, not everyone in the clan likes me. Especially the girls around my age who took fancy to Fergus. Sadly, they cannot do anything to me even if I am in their territory. The incident when a woman pointed at me and cursed me on my first day here served as a reminder to never cross me. Of course, I am the duchess after all, they would never want any dispute to happen between the clan and the kingdom. Moreover, I am now Fergus' wife, the wife of their chief and they cannot do anything more but to be forced to respect me.
I am never the type of person who would condemn unreasonably. The years of training I had received made me realise things. I was trained along with other people, aside from special training and special education, I once entered a normal school open for both royals and upper echelons from different countries.
There I learned that no matter how kind you are to people, no matter how much appreciation you give to them, at the end, they will still end up stabbing you from behind.
It is either be kind and die or show them power to make them bow down.
I was interrupted in my thoughts when the brothers mentioned my name.
"You seemed to be spacing out, you sure you'll come with me in the south?" Fergus asked in a worried tone.
"You could take a rest now, Victoria, or should I say Duchess of Duncan. I told the elder caretaker of Fergus' house to move your things to his room. Hope you don't mind that." Lachlan carefully watched my reaction.
"I don't, thank you," I smiled at him and faced Fergus.
"Knock on the door when we'll leave. I'll just head in for a moment."
There are no recent happenings after that. After what seemed like an hour, I heard Fergus knocking. I fixed my newly changed equestrian suit before going out.
"You changed?" He asked while scanning the set of fresh equestrian outfit. I nodded and headed out.
Just in time, we reached the southern camp. I knitted my brows in confusion. There is no soldier to welcome us nor to watch over the whole vicinity. Fergus and I entered the campsite only to our horror. There is no one in site, kike the camp is inhabited for a long time. There are no traces of tents, trainings, not even ashes from a bonfire!
We immediately headed towards the closest house. Luckily unlike the other three camps, this one at the south is near civilization.
We tried knocking on different houses until a woman opened the door for us. By the looks of it, she was still feeding her baby when we disturbed her.
I was about to speak when Fergus beat me to it. "I am deeply sorry for disturbing you at this hour, but where are the soldiers at the southern camp? There seemed to be no one there when we arrived earlier."
The woman was kind enough to recognize us and answered in a respectful manner.
"A week ago, a messenger came. I overheard that he is bringing a message from Duncan. I sneaked inside to know, in case it is something important concerning our safety. I heard that the duke wants them to move out from this post and go to their homes. Some are moved to their destinations which I don't know where. I did not hear the entire conversation properly." The woman looked at the ground and seemed to be shy.
"Thank you for telling us, there is no need to beg for pardon. We understood," I tried telling her. She just nodded and closed the door. Fergus and I looked at each other with the same thought.
"The soldiers have been removed from their post. All along it is not the trail in the clan that is wrong. It is because the soldiers here are removed. Thus giving the invaders the advantage to come in and out." Fergus voiced out both of our thoughts.
Now with the missing soldiers and the information that the Englishmen have been coming back and forth for a week already alarmed us. We are surely fucked up.