Duty of the Chieftain - a Highland 'Lord's Right of the First Night' novella (Clan MacKrannan's Secret Traditions #3) (8 page)

"HEAR YE, ALL PEOPLE OF CLAN MACKRANNAN!"
the Bard shouted to a packed courtyard scarce an hour after the Chief read the letters.

"
WE ASSEMBLE THIS DAY to discuss the matter of Ranald, chieftain of Clan MacKrannan, and the Lady Elinor Keirston, a widow foisted upon him to wife by the king of Scots."

The clan was in uproar at the king's decision, and a hasty meeting in the Vault between the bloodline and the Bard and the three Wisewomen had led to this assembly being called.

"MUCH RUMOUR has been told of the circumstance, and I am here to tell ye the truth of the matter, as told to His Majesty... "

Ranald and Elinor had written this part, but the Bard told the tale in his own way,
aware of his supreme power in swaying opinion in the Lady Elinor's direction.  He liked her fine, and the chieftain obviously liked her fine as well, and she was exactly the kind of wife a future Chief should have.  And he'd be damned if the king or any man would lose them Ranald as chieftain.

Facts were facts. 
Opinion came from the telling of the story.  It was all in the phrasing and the extras, and he had now arrived at the clincher.

"…And this husband who
so NEGLECTED his wife that he left her a VIRGIN WIDOW was none other than SIR ALAIN DOUGLAS OF FORDNETHAN…"

The name brought a
roar of contempt from the crowd.

"…
Loud ye may jeer, for this was the verra same man who left our chieftain Ranald for dead at the Siege of Drumallager and whose blatant INCOMPETENCE caused SIX OF OUR MEN TO BE KILLED there."

Another roar of disgust.

"And after Douglas's death the Lady Elinor FOUGHT STURDILY to keep her people safe from the English…"

By the time the Bard had finished the background story, the clansfolk were well acquaint with Elinor's supreme efforts to care for her people in extenuating circumstances, having been left in charge of a vast property in a battlezone, and willing to
sacrifice her good self by marrying the much older Earl of Maxton only for the protection he could afford them all. 

"…
And the king for all his wisdom knew naught of our Tradition that any bride of the MacKrannan bloodline must be virgin on her wedding day, and her blood witnessed, and THUS WE ARE IN A STRAMASH!"

The Bard was determined that Ranald conceding to his younger brother would no' even be consi
dered as one of the solutions.  The problem had been put to the Wisewomen and a much better idea instantly came forth as if by sorcery.

"…So the
three Wisewomen were consulted, and their answer is this.  We cannot change the rule for the Coupling of the Chieftain.  What we can change instead is the Lord's Right of the First Night.

"A
nd for Ranald and the Lady Elinor's services in the matter, the Tradition known as the Coupling of the Chieftain will be omitted in this instance, and in this instance only, and RANALD WILL REMAIN OUR CHIEFTAIN…"

Wild a
pplause broke out, and they had no' even heard the detail yet.

"
…THE LORD'S RIGHT of the First Night began in the mists of time when a virgin's blood was seen as a DIRTY thing, and the ritual deflowering of women a duty done by the bravest or the most spiritually protected, and that was the head of the tribe or the priest.

"
And in our centuries of learnings, mankind has come to believe a virgin's blood to be A GOOD THING, and that a virgin bride brings such excellent fortune that all want to rub shoulders with her so that her luck may be passed on, and men will now pay a penny to kiss a bride just to share in that luck."

The Bard paused a moment to let it sink in that beliefs changed over the years
, for he was about to announce a paradigm shift.  He waited until the clansfolk had discussed the last bit amongst themselves and gotten to the stage of nodding, then continued.

"
BUT STILL the Lord's Right continues, and no command ever comes from the lawmakers to desist, for it is accepted in all countries, both civilized and savage, and in baser forms than our own.

"
AFTER CONSULTATION between the bloodline and the three Wisewomen, it has been decided to make profound alteration to the custom foist upon us and widely known as the Lord's Right of the First Night or
jus primae noctis
or
droit du seigneur
, which is now and forever tainted on MacKrannan lands.

"
Henceforth we will convert it into one of our own MacKrannan Secret Traditions.  It will be renamed the BRIDE'S RIGHT OF THE FIRST NIGHT, and the rules wholly and utterly changed, and it is in this matter that Ranald and the Lady Elinor will be of service to the clan in exchange for abstaining from the Coupling of the Chieftain.

"And I now call upon
the Grandam Wisewomen to tell ye more about it."

Hessa the Grandam
walked forward to take the Bard's place, and the train of her ceremonial robes caught up with her just as the crowd settled and she began to speak.

"
HEAR YE, ALL PEOPLE OF CLAN MACKRANNAN!  The rules for the Lord's Right within our clan were set by men outwith our clan and revised by our Chiefs until the brides no longer wept.  It is only by the expertise of our current Chief and his sons that our brides nowadays do no' mind it TOO much…"

Hessa's smile included raising her eyebrows
rapidly up and down and daring any to disagree.  Scarcely a bride existed who had not compared the prowess of the MacKrannan Chief or his sons to the inexperienced clansmen they'd married.  They were assured of a lifetime of love ahead, once their lads got the hang of things, but on their wedding night they wanted to enjoy a special hour or three in a fancy room in the castle… or overnight if they could keep from blissing long enough.

The power had subtly shifted from the Lord's Right to the Bride's Right many years ago. 
Ranald and Elinor's problem was a gift from the heavens, for it gave the excuse to set a more formal arrangement.

"
HOWEVER… The Tradition of the Bride's Right will be radically different.  As ye all know, a woman's clenching is a grand help for fertility, and such clenching is only achieved when a couple have some clue what they are about…"

Hessa did not expect any reaction from the crowd
, for none among them would dare to be boastful, and even fewer would admit ignorance of what 'clenching' meant.

"
On her wedding night, the Bride will now OFFICIALLY be taught how to please her husband and how her bliss is achieved, so that she might show her own man how it is done, and no' put up with just lying there and fumbling, and thus the Bride's Night will benefit the clan for all time…"

Much oohhing and aahhing was heard from the crowd.

"…And in this respect, myself and the other two Wisewomen will direct Ranald and Elinor's research and development for the common good, and a record made of it, and the service provider standard set thereafter for the client brides, both resident and incoming.  ALL SAY AYE?"

"AYE!"
shouted the crowd, not quite sure of what they were agreeing to, but knowing that Hessa the Grandam Wisewoman was never wrong about such matters.

Ranald and
Elinor were wed the next morn.

It was a quiet ceremony
with neither feasting nor Coupling of the Chieftain.  Indeed, as they had already coupled before the wedding, the Wisewomen insisted they keep to their own rooms without coupling further, all the better to prepare themselves for their arduous service development task.

They would have to do it well, for the
Bride's Right would concern every bride within the clan or marrying into it for all time to come – even widows, if they were of childbearing age.  In some money-grabbing cultures the head of the tribe would accept coin instead of the bride on her wedding night.  The MacKrannans had never accepted such coin, being infinitely more old-fashioned in their outlook than most of their sort, and thinking themselves quite liberated in the way they refused to take the bride for
three
nights as was common elsewhere.

W
hen Ranald was told what he must do, he said, "Ballocks to that, for a start!"

And the Wisewomen told him
to think on it as servitude to the clan for the trouble he had caused in the way he'd allowed himself to be tricked.

"
Allowed
myself… and could ye tell me in what way I could have
avoided
it?"

A
nd the Wisewomen reminded him that the Lady Elinor could have easily been an enemy spy!  An assassin in the chieftain's bedchamber!  Just down the corridor from the Chief!  Everyone in the castle could have been murdered in their beds!  Did he see that now…?

"We have guards, have we no'?"
came his dour reply.

And the Wisewomen reminded him that
the guards were stationed at the foot of the stairs to the family's quarters and not outside their each and every bedchamber, and that considering an imposter had been in and out the chieftain's bed and him naked and unarmed, did he wish to argue the point further?

Ranald
chose not to.

E
linor needed no reminding of how she had gone about the business in entirely the wrong way.  When she was told what she must do, she sat down abruptly and asked for strong drink.  And then she took her horse out for a gallop across the moors.

She
never left MacKrannan lands.  The king having forfeited Keirston and Fordnethan, there was no longer anywhere else for her to go.  She returned to the castle stables in infinitely better mood than she'd left, having resolved to do her service with fortitude and goodwill.

She was a Lady
.  A Lady could be wed to any man ranked from knight to king.  Being wed to a chieftain was pushing the lower limit, but at least he would be Chief someday.  She had better do her service to the Tradition of the Bride's Right extremely well, because being wed to a chieftain's younger brother would be too horrifyingly far down the social ladder.

Ranald was detained
further in Hessa the Grandam's cottage.  He would have preferred galloping across the moors with his bride to being grilled on the optimum methods of deflowering one.

"Ye
do see the difference, milord?" said Ishbel.  "The Bride's Right will go far beyond yer duty of maidenhead removal.  It will be a
treat
for the lassies."

"I have always tried to make it
pleasurable," said Ranald, becoming even more dour by the minute.

"
So ye say, and yet the lassie ye believed to be the Swordmaker's Bride was in yer chamber much less than one hour," said Hessa, hands on hips.

"…And ye bade her sit astride ye for the
taking of the maidenhead," Beatrix added, wagging her finger.

"
Nay, it just happened that I combined the breach with part of her tutoring.  A way to comfort her man when he is too weary at day's end to spend without her help."

It sounded
poor excuse even to Ranald's own ears and he could no' blame Elinor for blabbing.  The three Wisewomen had already questioned them both closely on how he had gone about his last Lord's Right duty.  He'd done most of the talking to spare her the ordeal.  As wedding days went, this one had no' been much use to his bride as it was.