Everyone was rendered speechless. I looked at their shocked expressions. Indeed they have never seen this coming. They were sent here in such a haste. They are also old allies of our kingdom, so they really expected that there would be no changes within the royal council.
The representatives expected my father, thus have driven them to keep on questioning the absence of his seal on the letter. However, this kind of revelation is something that they didn't really expect. Even in the depths of their mind.
"Now for those who want to ensure the validity of my statements. You can go to the king to confirm it, however it will take so much time. Nevertheless, the successful alliance between our kingdoms now depends on whether you will believe my authority or not. I will not be forcing you thus giving all of you the chance to decide properly."
I put my arm down and stood straight. "I will be expecting your answers within the day. As much as I want to give you a lot of time, it cannot be delayed longer. The enemies are doing everything extremely fast, therefore we need to do twice as much work. Adjourned."
They bustled towards the door. I watched them leave one after another, with servants on standby ready to escort them. I waited for a few minutes when I felt someone touch my arm. I looked at the owner of the hand only to see Fergus smiling at me.
"You did well, your majesty." With that simple sentence from him, my heart already swelled in happiness.
I was not ready for this kind of situation. Months ago, my plan was only to find a way on how to break off the marriage proposed by my father. My goal was to wait for my 21st birthday so that I could assume the position that was originally intended for me. The only thing I wanted was to continue my mother's legacy. Yet, all of these things suddenly fell on my shoulder. I was trained, but this tragedy is something that no one expected. It was constant pressure. An abyss of misery. Nevertheless, I pushed myself to do this and fight back for the people. Now that I finally hear someone saying that I did well, it really melts me. It gives me reassurance that I am on the right oath. It gives me the courage to continue all for the country's sake.
We were both just standing there looking at each other with small smiles on our faces when a maidservant went over to us.
"You majesties, pardon me for interrupting but the rest of the Maclean Clan has arrived. A man named Lachlan told us to call both of you."
"How long did they arrive?" I turned my attention to the maidservant who brought us the news.
"Not too long ago, my grace. They arrived a few minutes before the short meeting was adjourned. I already offered them to be ushered in the chambers you have prepared for them, yet they declined. They waited at the patio, but because a lot of people had dispersed from this room, they switched places. They are now in the back garden. They specifically told me to call the Duke, but then they took back the first order and told me to call the both of you instead."
"I see, thank you for informing us. You may go first, we will follow you shortly afterwards." Fergus dismissed her and she bowed down her head to us before heading quickly for the door.
We stayed in the room enveloped in a total silence for a few minutes before Fergus spoke. "Well, I think the guests are now settled by this time. Let us go and meet them shall we?"
I nodded and quickly followed him towards the back garden.
There we saw Lachlan sitting comfortably in the grass, as if meditating, but immediately stood up when he saw us.
I hugged him when I reached him. "I'm so glad that you are here. It is a huge relief to see all of you safe and sound."
I drew back my arms. Lachlan chuckled and also received his brother's warm embrace. "We travelled as soon as we received the letter. It's a good thing that we did not encounter any rogue though. We had a fast and safe trip."
"Oh that's great! Then all of you must be dead tired by now," I exclaimed and immediately called for a servant.
"We'll take more later. As of now, it is best for all of you to rest. The servants will lead you to your quarters. Take a good rest," Fergus seconded and went near the other clanspeople and gave them a brief talk.
Each of them smiled at us whenever they passed. I smiled back at them until there were only two of us left in the garden. Fergus walked to the bench near the manmade pond and I immediately sat beside him.
"So what now?" Fergus asked me the moment I sat down.
"What do you mean 'what now'?" I looked at his side view while he was staring at the grass.
"What are your plans? You already talked to them. You know, I was raised in the highlands. I may not have experienced something like these before but I know that calling such a big alliance is also like declaring an unofficial war to the English, right? And it will only be a couple of days before they will take the bait and give an official order confirming and accepting the war."
"Believe me, I would never waiver. I would do anything in my power to protect this land and the people who reside.within it. I don't declare something where I lose. It's either I win, a stalemate, or a huge loss to them."
"Alright, I believe you. Just remember, I will always be on your side no matter what. I will wait for your decision and do my best to fulfil whatever you need me to do."
"Thank you, it means a lot." We stayed there staring into nothingness until the time progressed. The sun is already shining in the west giving it orange hues before we decide to call back the Maclean clan and discuss today's events with them.
A servant was called and tasked to call them while we headed towards the meeting room again. When we reached there, I was dumbfounded because the whole clanspeople were there earlier than we initially thought. They have seated themselves comfortably in the chairs with Lachlan on the far edge in the opposite direction from us.
"Hello, Maclean Clan. As you have known, Fergus and I got married in accordance to the law and with blessing from the King and Queen. It was never a secret to your clan on why we got married. You knew me because I have lived with you for almost five months. Nevertheless, I hope we could keep that secret altogether." I smiled at them, noticing some slight nod from the elderly.
Fergus softly walked from the side towards the centre and stood beside me. He began narrating the events that happened this morning, up until the details of the meeting earlier. He did not leave any detail out.
"The recent events that happened in the highlands were solely because of me, and I beg your pardon for that. It was never my intention to cause harm nor start something as big as this mess. Unfortunately, Edward and his mother cannot accept such refusal from me. They have started a whole new war and as of the moment, we lacked manpower. Not just those, but also training and special forces. We are currently seeking an alliance but our soldiers and guards cannot withstand the pressure from the English!"
As I felt my tone rising and being taken away by emotions, I stopped. I breathed heavily as I maintained my posture and continued in a calmer voice. Fergus also held my arm as I spoke.
"Now more than ever, I need your help. Be it a man or a woman from this clan, I need all the help I can get. We need all the ladies, elders and youth alike to help create tonics from herbs and spices to be used as either medicine or food. I also want to extend your help as medics when it comes to treating the wounded when the war will officially break out. As for the men, if I may please ask all of you to help train our soldiers. I would not be asking you to join the war, the decision to serve the country will always be up to you. All I am going to ask is for you to help us train the soldiers. I will also release a statement asking for the participation of every man in Scotland to attend training and help us in defending our motherland."
Lachland stood up, and walked towards us. "Well, since my brother entrusted the chiefdom to me, I guess I have the right to decide. As per her highness' request, the Maclean clan have long been serving this country. Our ancestors were originally the protectors of this land before our numbers went down making us permanently stay in the highlands. I just want to ask one thing, for her majesty. Please do take care of the children in our clan. Although they may not be purely a real member of the Maclean clan because of outsiders marrying in our clan, they still have our bloodline with them. Keep them safe and we shall perform the duties given to us. Rest assured that we will have a participation in the war."
I smiled brightly at Lachlan's response. It gave me a spark of hope that we will have a bigger chance now to defeat the Englishmen. Fergus hugged his brother and praised him for his leadership skills. Glorifying Lachlan and giving him words of praise.
"Of course. I would be ensuring their safety." I smiled after my reply watching the interaction between the two brothers.