Chapter One – And I shall smite thee

Elinor inhaled deeply; her senses awakened and tingled as the early morning breeze carried the fresh aroma of the morning dew and newly budding snowdrops. She allowed herself to momentarily relax from her usual regimented and regal pose, leaning against the cool wall of the royal chambers, her eyes carefully observing their still slumbering kingdom.

Since, Elinor could remember, the first few days of spring were her favorite time of year which marked the end of the cold, harsh winter weather and a fresh, new beginning for herself, her family and the kingdom.

Elinor smiled as she glanced at her husband, who remained sound asleep, occasionally muttering under his breath before he rolled heavily over in bed, his large muscular arm stretched out as if reaching for his wife.

She knew that Fergus was not particularly fond of her leaving the grounds of the castle and had attempted to persuade Elinor to at least allow him to accompany her or have a chaperone, granted she listened to her husband air his concerns regarding her safety and well-being; but she very much determined like her daughter.

Elinor's routine which had now became somewhat of a ritual, going back decades where she would depart from the castle to collect her favorite flower which grew in the hundreds like a crop in a field just on the boarder of their kingdom and while Fergus argued the potential for danger and the welfare of his queen, it was obvious etched in his features the fear and insecurities that had evolved since the bear incident where he nearly murdered his wife.

She diplomatically reassured her husband, "Fergus, how do you think I feel when you are in battle or on a hunt?"

"Aye...well...I've got an army with me and a wee hunt...that's just me and the lads..."

"But don't you see...I get scared too...I was terrified when Mor'du appeared and you told me to run...then your leg..." she paused, the memory all to raw, "I thought...I was going to lose you."

"But you didn't...see!"

"And you won't lose me! I just want to collect the snowdrops...get out from the castle...will you humor me?"

Fergus sighed loudly, his giant hands rested on his wife's shoulders, "Eli..."

She mounted her faithful horse; both fled into the open fields and witnessed the sun climb over the horizon of the kingdom. Elinor smiled and inhaled deeply once again, it was indeed a perfect day.

The horse stood in the shade of giant oak tree, a lone tree in the middle of the field surrounded by snowdrop flowers at various stages of maturity. Her horse grazed lazily upon the long grass while Elinor gracefully sat among the long grass of the field and carefully selected snowdrop flowers and adding them to a wicker basket.

Elinor reminisced, for many years she had religiously visited this field and performed this task even as a young princess herself, much younger than her own daughter, back then it had been a much simpler time where Elinor had little to no burden of restraint and responsibility but then that all changed when the volatile relationship of her parents deteriorated and the threat of invasion loomed. She found herself compelled to appease each parent in an attempt for reconciliation, maybe she could help...

Elinor shook her head at the long forgotten memories of her childhood and teenage years; it was indeed a completely different time compared to what her daughter and identical triplet boys had to face now. She smiled at the thought of her daughter, Merida, sometimes they were identical, Elinor recalled the news of her own betrothal and it had been earth shattering news for her to digest however, she could never imagine her life without Fergus and then there were the children who had blessed and completed their family although this raised its own challenges and complexities of raising a family while maintaining a kingdom and a fragile allegiance of the constantly bickering clans.

The first day of spring was not simply a decades old ritual, it was something more than that for Elinor it was special to her. Since the bear incident, Elinor had made some much needed changes, no longer exhausted throughout the day and plagued by insomnia at night, her chronic headaches had lessened considerably which in all likelihood was a direct result of stress but the most rewarding change was the rekindled and mended relationship between herself and daughter.

Elinor sighed contently and glanced at the wicker basket that she had distractedly filled with fresh snowdrop flowers, she inhaled the scent of the flowers and smiled widely, and remembered in the very early months of their marriage that Fergus had shyly handed her a bunch of roughly picked snowdrop flowers although, how he knew that those were her favorite flowers at the time still remained a mystery to her.

A dark figure sat upon a black horse, his cold steely eyes obsessively watched Elinor intently as she was completely distracted from the danger which lurked close to her and without Fergus or an armed chaperone Elinor was defenseless.

Soon, revenge would be at hand.