The Wolves

‘Why are you so excited, can’t you just tell me where we’re going?’ Nya asked him as they rode out of Saline.

She was quite excited herself, but of course she didn’t want to let on, not being the kind of person to readily display her emotions. Reynier hadn’t told her the whole story of the previous day’s events, just parts of it. They had risen fairly early, as they generally did in the summer months, and started the day with a good breakfast. He had told her he wanted to take her to meet the mysterious woman from the day before. The woman of the woods, who had been accused of being a witch, and they were headed towards those woods now, with a parcel.

That was enough for Nya to be excited, she loved going to the woods. Whether it was going fishing, collecting mushrooms, berries or herbs, or just riding into the countryside, she loved to get away from the daily routine and just escape, submersing herself in nature and tranquillity. It was one of the reasons she and Reynier had clicked so quickly and become good friends. Despite his many commitments as a laird and his duties to the Queen, any chance he got he would disappear into the forest, or up into the mountains, or ride around the countryside. He would sometimes go alone, but she loved it when he took her along with him.

He loved to observe wildlife, but he said if people didn’t appreciate wildlife, they would make too much noise and they wouldn’t see anything. Besides, they would soon get bored being with him. But Nya didn’t get bored, and she had proven she could happily remain quiet and observe.

‘You’ll see,’ Reynier called back, ‘just try to keep up!’

Once they were out of the village, he urged Nakoma his horse forward into a canter, heading south down the road towards Blairhall. Nya had become quite an accomplished horserider and needed no encouragement, as she drove her chestnut mare forward into a canter close behind.

The heavy clouds the night before had brought rain overnight, but the day had turned out to be quite fair. They made good time until they left the road at the edge of the woods, where they had to take it more carefully. When they got to the spot by the burn where he had left Iona the previous evening, they dismounted. They left the horses there to graze freely. Nakoma was a sensible horse and generally didn’t wander far from where she was left, and the chestnut would stay by her. There was no one around here, just open ground, about fifty yards south of the woodline was a dry-stone wall that ran alongside the woods. He could see the odd sheep scattered in the fields beyond, but no sign of humans. The horses would stay on this side of the wall eating the tuffs of grass amongst the patches of heather.

He untied the parcel of salted and smoked fish for Iona, and they followed the burn into the woods. Following Iona’s instructions, the only weapons they carried was a knife each, sheathed, and with the handles covered by their leather jerkins, so as not to alarm the wolves. As they followed the burn, they noticed it was quite boggy and marshy in areas, however there was something of a path that wound its way through the marsh, sticking to the higher and drier areas. It must have been the path Iona used to come and go, Reynier assumed, so they followed that. When they reached the small loch, it was open with marshland on the near side, but on the far side they noticed the trees came right to the water’s edge. They walked around the edge of the lochan to the other side, and into the woods.

Reynier wasn’t wearing any watch or time-piece, but he guessed it was close to midday by now. As Iona had described, halfway along the north side of the lochan, the trees broke and there was a small clearing before the woods got thicker again. They walked into the clearing and looked around. There was a large log lying in the clearing, which made the perfect seat, so they sat and watched and listened.

The birds were singing and the sun’s rays shone down into the clearing upon them. It was a beautiful spot to be that first day of Autumn. They watched as a blue kingfisher flew over the water and back into the trees. It made several passes, and then on one pass it dipped into the water. As it flew back into the trees they noticed a small wriggling fish in its beak – success.

They continued listening to the life of the woods. Some rustling in one of the trees above caught Reynier’s attention. He tapped Nya on the arm and pointed, ‘Look,’ he whispered, ‘a pine-marten.’ She saw the chocolate and cream coloured animal, about the size of a small cat, skipping along the branches above and jumping from tree to tree, hunting for squirrels or any nesting birds it might find.

‘Oh my,’ she whispered back, ‘it’s so cute.’

The woods seemed to have gone quiet, and suddenly their senses told them they weren’t alone. They were being watched. They stood up, instinctively, and looked around. They couldn’t see anything at first, but then they saw movement, over in the trees. Suddenly, the largest wolf either of them had ever seen, or even imagined, entered the clearing. She was silver with bright green eyes, and she slowly advanced towards them.

Reynier could see that Nya looked scared, and unsure of what she would do he whispered, ‘Don’t do anything, just stand still,’ as he slowly stepped in front of her, placing himself between her and the wolf.

The wolf was about twenty yards away, and it stopped, just standing there watching them. They could hear deep in its throat a slow rumbling growl, though it didn’t bear its teeth.

There was more movement and noise behind the wolf, and another appeared. Then Iona stepped into the clearing, and they saw several more wolves behind her.

She waved and smiled at them, and as she came to the great she-wolf she bent and spoke something in Gaelic to her, rubbing and patting her as she did. Then she came forward to greet them, and the wolf followed her, watching the strangers warily as she came.

Iona smiled warmly at them both, ‘You came,’ she said, and then noticing that they were both still watching the wolf nervously, she reassured them, ‘Oh, she will be fine, now she knows you’re with me, and the others will follow her lead.’

‘Wow!’ Reynier exclaimed, still eyeing the great silver wolf and noting that the other wolves were indeed smaller and shyer about coming forward, though one young-looking individual had skirted around them and seemed to have caught the scent from the fish bundle on the log. ‘Oh, by the way, this is my friend Nyameama, and this is Iona,’ he introduced them.

‘Pleased to meet you, you can call me Nya – everybody does,’ Nya said, relaxing now and giving Iona a warm smile.

‘Hello, my dear,’ Iona greeted her warmly, and took her hand, studying her well. Iona had never seen anyone with dark skin before, and Nya’s was ebony. She was a tall girl, very attractive, with long glorious black hair that hung in waves and curls around her shoulders. She was young, Iona guessed not much more than twenty, and her dark eyes exhibited the excitement of youth, with warmth but a little sadness too, she perceived. Although she certainly wasn’t plump, Nya was well-built, and well-fed – in a healthy kind of way – compared to the majority of the population who were thin and under-nourished. ’You’re African,’ she stated. ‘How unique – I’ve never seen an African before.’

Nya was blushing, and Iona realised she was staring, so she turned back to Reynier and asked, ‘Is Nya your wife… ?’ she left the question open with an unsaid or what.

‘No, no,’ Reynier shook his head, ‘nothing like that, we’re just friends … good friends.’

‘I’m his cook,’ Nya put in, giving him a look.

‘No – more than that,’ he argued defensively.

‘Yes, I clean a bit too,’ she added, giving him a smile, teasingly.

‘Stop it, that’s not fair,’ he claimed.

Nya smiled, chuckling to herself, and Iona smiled and nodded.

‘Can we pat the wolves?’ Reynier asked, looking at the great silver wolf, still watching them a couple of yards behind Iona, ‘Do you have a name for her?’

’Let her sniff your hand first. She probably won’t let you pat her, but once the others see you interact with her, the younger ones may let you pat them. I don’t really name them, but I call her Bahnrigh, it means Queen in the Gaelic,’ Iona replied, and she stepped back and rubbed the great she-wolf behind the neck, just to reassure her.

Reynier stepped forward – slowly, slowly – with his arm outstretched and open handed, talking gently to her as he did. She sniffed the back of his outstretched hand and gave it a bit of a lick.

‘She’s tasting you, to see if you’d be good to eat,’ Iona said, and he looked up at her to see her smiling.

‘Ha, ha!’ he answered sarcastically, then knelt down at eye level with the wolf, talking gently to her, and letting her sniff his other hand. She let out a funny noise, not quite a whine and not quite a yawn, it was her notification of acceptance.

Nya also came over then, knelt beside Reynier and outstretched her hand for the wolf to sniff, gently talking to her as well. The wolf sniffed her, then sat on her haunches, this time she gave a full yawn.

It was the sign for the other wolves, one by one they came over to investigate the curious strangers. They weren’t used to other humans. The one that had been behind the log sniffing the smell from the fish bundle, thought this was a good signal to go for a closer look at the tasty smelling package. Iona walked over and said something in Gaelic to the wolf, grabbing the package and placing it closer by on the edge of the log. The wolf got the point and backed off, coming around instead to check out the humans.

The wolves were varying shades of grey, some a lot darker than others, a couple had a patchwork mix of colour. Most appeared to have yellow or hazel coloured eyes, none had the bright green eyes of their leader, Bahnrigh. Reynier counted seven wolves, and wondered if that was it or if there were others in the forest.

A couple had come to both he and Nya, and allowed themselves to be pet. One of them, the same inquisitive one that had been smelling the fish bundle, seemed to be just a pup, under a year old, and was clearly wanting to play. Quite soon Nya was wrestling with him and had him on the ground, rubbing his belly and grabbing his face and shaking him as he growled playfully at her.

‘I never thought I’d be patting wild wolves in Scotland,’ Reynier said to Iona. ‘I’m actually surprised there are wolves in these parts at all, I thought they had all been killed and were only left in the Highlands.’

Iona looked sad, ‘They’ve certainly tried their best to kill them all. This may even be the last pack south of the Highlands. I try to keep them with me in the forest, and prevent them straying into open farmlands, but they are wild animals and they go where they will. Sometimes young ones grow up and leave the pack, and I never see them again. My worst fear is when hunters come into the forest, with hounds. I can’t protect them from that.’

‘I wanted to talk to you about that, I have a proposal to make to you,’ Reynier said. ‘Would you like to go back to your cottage, and we can talk there, Nya has brought her specialty – honey cakes, they are absolutely delicious.’

‘Um … I don’t often have people come to my home,’ replied Iona. In fact, she had never had anyone come to her home, and she felt a bit anxious about them coming. She had always tried to keep her dwelling a secret, not wanting anyone to discover where she lived. She thought about it, but then said, ‘I’m being rude, of course … come back with me, I should have invited you.’

Reynier knew he had been quite presumptuous, rude in fact, but he wanted to see where she lived and how many belongings she had. He wanted to suggest she move, but he thought he should gauge just how much she would have to move, or what she would be leaving behind, first. Nya gave him a look – she was also surprised at his bluntness, aware that he had put Iona on the spot.

Iona grabbed the parcel, but Reynier took it off her hands, and they followed her into the woods. They walked through the forest for about fifteen minutes, before they came to her house. The forest was quite thick, and it wasn’t in a spot that would be easy to find, or even stumble upon accidentally. The hut itself was quite crude. It had clearly been a house or building from some bygone age, for you could still see the stone base and structure. However someone, presumably Iona herself, had filled in the walls where they had crumbled away with wattle lattice from sapling poles and stripped branches. These had been plastered over with clay mud, but you could see where it too had crumbled away, exposing the latticework beneath the plaster-work. The roof likewise was crudely made from whatever timber had been available and covered with thatch, which appeared to be a mix of dried water reeds and pine needles, clearly whatever had been handy at the time.

Iona opened the door, a homemade design which rather than being on hinges was simply tied with leather straps, so that you just lifted and swung the door open or shut. Inside, it was quite basic. There were no windows, but Reynier guessed it would be drafty, and probably quite cold in winter. There were some deer hides draped around the walls, which would help keep the draft out and some warmth in. There was a rough bench along one wall, used for cooking utensils and as a shelf. There was a simple table and a chair in the middle of the room, and over against the wall a bed, again clearly homemade but serviceable. At one end of the house was the main hearth, and beside it a cast-iron cooking stand, that could be placed over the fire when needed. There wasn’t a chimney as such, just a hole in the roof above the fire, with a slight dome, or high point in that spot, for the smoke to escape. Reynier wasn’t sure how healthy that would be, with no windows in the place. However, a lot of poorer people lived in similarly designed housing, and Iona was clearly still alive, so the vent combined with the draftiness must have worked to prevent dangerous over-exposure to woodsmoke.

Iona beckoned Reynier to sit on the chair, and left the parcel on the table – out of reach of the young wolf that had followed them in. She got Nya to sit on the bed beside her. Reynier took the small shoulder bag he’d been carrying, opened it and pulled out the cake wrapped in linen cloth.

‘I’ll just wash my hands, do you have water here?’ he asked.

‘Just on the bench is a basin with water,’ Iona pointed out the basin and both the girls came over too.

There was a copper basin already full of soapy water set on the bench. They washed their hands and Iona provided a hand towel. Despite the impression that was often portrayed of how poor people lived in that time, most people did in fact wash their hands before sitting down to a meal, particularly if they had been working. The soapy water smelled of lavender.

They then unwrapped the cake, which had already been cut into three large pieces, and sat down to eat. Iona was very impressed.

‘This is delicious! I’ve never tasted a honey-cake like it before, there’s a spice I don’t recognise,’ she commented.

‘It’s cinnamon,’ answered Nya. ‘I learned to make them when I lived in Ceylon, they use the spice a lot there.’

They talked for a while. Iona asked Nya about Ceylon and her history, and how she had come to be in Scotland. And so Nya told her, how she had originally lived beside a great river – the Volta, in Africa – with her people, the Akan. But she had been captured by slave raiders when she was just ten and taken to Elmina Castle on the African Gold Coast. There she had been separated from anyone she knew and sold as a slave to the Portuguese. A Portuguese trader bought her and took her to his residence in Ceylon, where she lived for nearly ten years. He was a horrid man – even as Nya recounted the story she became evidently distressed from the memories. Then Alexander Bruce, a Scottish merchant and trader, had acquired her as settlement for some unpaid debt the Portuguese owed to him.

Eventually, she had come to Scotland with Alex and his wife Elsie, to Blairhall. Alex’s half-brother, Edward Bruce, was away in France, and so he was acting as warden of the estate and for his young nephews Edward and George. The Commendator-Abbot of Culross had wickedly sold charters to lands and property to the Bruces, which he had no rights to. Lands to the north of Blairhall and Carnock, which were actually part of the estate of Killernie, and had been granted to the Duries by the late King James the Fifth. The Bruces, acting in good faith for what they had paid for and believed was legally theirs, had already built a coal mine and had plans to build another on the land, when Reynier took over the estate. Reynier, wanting to keep the peace, had come up with an amicable solution between Alexander Bruce and himself.

Reynier would exchange ownership of the southern portions of his estate, where the coal mine already existed and where the other was planned to be built, for the large segment of Bruce forestry to the north and west of Blairhall, stretching as far west as the Royal Forest of Clackmannan. Alex Bruce thought he was mad, for although this land was greater in area than the small portion of land the Bruces would get, he was giving away prime land and a working mine, for virtually worthless marshlands and forests. It would be hard to clear the forests, for the land was crisscrossed with numerous burns, swamps and lochans, making it difficult to remove the timber, and it wouldn’t make good arable land once the trees were felled. Alex knew he would have no trouble convincing his brothers, and his nephew Sir Robert Bruce of Clackmannan, that it was a good deal for the Bruces. However, from the first day, when Reynier met Nya at Blairhall, he had determined to make her a part of the exchange, and that part had been the hardest part of the deal in the end. For Alex’s wife, Elsie, was fond of Nya and hadn’t wanted to let her go. Economics had won the day, and the legal exchange had been made. Reynier had immediately set about arranging for Nya to be made a free citizen of Scotland, getting documents for her ratified at a solicitors office in Dunfermline the following day. Once presented with her document as a free woman, she had decided to stay on as a paid member of Reynier’s household staff at Killernie.

Nya had been telling the story so far. The young wolf had curled up beside her feet, and she would reach down and stroke him intermittently as she talked.

Reynier now proposed his idea to Iona, ‘Iona, how would you feel about coming to work for me as the gamekeeper for my forest?’

‘Gamekeeper!’ she looked at him in shock, ‘What – you would have me killing animals? Just so you have more to kill yourself when you go hunting?’

‘No, no, no,’ he quickly clarified, ‘You misunderstand me,’ he had really upset her there. ’What I would want you to do is watch over the wildlife that are there, and stop other people from coming in and hunting or poaching. In effect, you would be the forest caretaker.’

‘Oh…’ Iona looked dubious, obviously not really sure what was being asked of her.

Reynier went on to explain, ‘I’m worried about you, Iona. You see, this forest you’re living in is part of the Tulliallan forest, property of the Blackadders. Now, I’m friends with the Blackadders, however, I can’t stop them hunting or doing what they wish to on their own land. North of here, adjoined to this very forest, is my forest – the land that I acquired from the Bruces, and it stretches for miles. To the south it joins this forest of Tulliallan, to the west it is adjoined to the Royal Hunting Forest of Clackmannan, creating a wildlife corridor to the Ochils and the Highlands beyond, and to the east there runs a small wooded segment alongside a burn which meets with the woods below my keep at Killernie, that run along Saline Glen. I want to make a wildlife sanctuary on my land, which is connected to other forested areas. Thus, not just your wolves, but all kinds of creatures great and small – wild boar, deer, all the birds of prey that are persecuted, pine-martens, otters, stoats, badgers and so on, will have a place of refuge. What I’m proposing is that I build you a new cottage – nothing fancy – somewhere in the woods on my own land, thus granting yourself protection as well – from eviction, or worse! I don’t wish to frighten you, Iona, but I have a bad feeling that minister from yesterday won’t let the matter rest. He is determined to have his witch trial, and I can’t really protect you here. If he decided to come searching these woods for you, with armed men and hounds, they would kill you and your wolves before I even knew about it. But I could protect you if you came to live on my land, for heaven help anyone who comes armed onto my land seeking to harm tenants of mine.’

'But, I like it here,’ Iona said, tears forming now, 'and how could I act as gamekeeper? I couldn’t stop anyone doing whatever they wanted to do!’

Reynier came and sat next to Iona, Nya also held her hand comfortingly on her other side. ‘Look,’ he said gently, ‘you wouldn’t need to do anything differently than what you do now. This is Scotland, so anyone is free to roam where they will, as long as they don’t cause harm or ruin. All I would ask, was if you noticed someone hunting, chopping down trees, or causing any kind of harm to the wildlife or the forest, then simply let me or one of my people know about it. I wouldn’t want you to put yourself in any kind of danger. As my gamekeeper, I would provide a home for you to live, in the woods in a secluded spot of your choosing, and you would have a legal contract with me putting you under my protection, and granting you legal dwelling rights for life, or as long as you chose. No money would be involved, it would simply be an exchange of free rent for monitoring the woods, which you would do anyway I’m sure. No one would interfere in your life. And of course, you could hunt, gather and live off the forest yourself, in the same way you’ve always done, only … without going back in to Culross! Why don’t you think about it? We will come back in two days’ time, and take you for a walk in my woods – see if you can find a nice spot that you may like to live.’

As they were making ready to leave, Iona looked sad and a little anxious. Reynier felt bad, like he was pressuring her, but he really was concerned for her. He thought if bad men did decide to come on a witch hunt for her, with hounds, it wouldn’t take them long to find her. They would kill her wolves and drag her away. He would have liked to bring her home into his own household, but he knew she would never do that, could not. She was a hermit who had lived her life in the wild, a Druid, one of the last of her kind.

But at least if he could bring her closer where he could protect her, and know that the wolves had a safe refuge from hunters, that would be something. He and some of his trusted folk from Saline could build another small cottage for her in the woods that was a bit more comfortable and less drafty.

Outside, they arranged to meet again at the lochan in two days. A few of the wolves were scattered around, napping, and just watched as they left, though the young inquisitive one followed them out and came for one last pat. Reynier gave Iona a kiss on the forehead as he left, and Nya did too.

As Reynier and Nya left the woods they talked about Iona and the wolves. Such a nice lady, they both agreed. Reynier already felt a very close connection with Iona, even though he had just met her the previous day, when he had saved her from that horrible witch trial in Culross. There was something peculiar about their meeting, almost like fate had ordained them to meet and their destinies were intertwined.

Nya had quickly warmed to her as well. ‘It’s such a shame she seems to have no family, or close friends – other than her wolves,’ she said.

‘I know,’ Reynier sighed. ‘Iona told me yesterday that she was raised by her grandmother. Her mother was raped by a stranger, quite young it seems, and died in childbirth. Never knowing, or wanting to know, who her father was, Iona lived with her grandparents up north. Her grandfather – a MacDonald – died while she was quite young, leaving just the two of them. Her grandmother was originally from this area, which was why she returned to her roots, after her grandmother passed away. I’m not sure if she’s ever had a lover or family of her own.’

Nya knew all about losing family and the loneliness of having no family of your own. At least now she felt like she lived amongst close friends. There had been too many years that she had not felt loved at all.

They caught up with the two horses, munching away on reeds and grass by the burn, and they mounted and made their way home.