Chapter Text
Legend:
"Normal speech"
'Thoughts'
*/Writing\*
|"Speech in another language"|
*Motions/Actions done during Speech or Sound Effects*
Story Start
Aodh Dingwall calmly rowed at the back of the Clan Dingwall ship, each of his arms operating a different oar. He knew they were almost at Castle DunBroch and soon enough, he heard Lord MacGuffin call out "MacGuffin!" and his clansmen responded in kind.
He heard Lord Dingwall call, "Dingwall!" and he joined the rest of the clansmen in the responsive, "Dingwall!" as their ship passed Clan Macintosh's.
After a moment of silence — where he saw Lord Macintosh look around in an almost panicked manner — the Lord called, "Macintosh!" and his clansmen answered.
He grinned — sharing in the more friendly (but not too friendly) competition that the rank and file members of the four Clans had against each other, unlike the Lords who took things very seriously — as each of the Clan drummers increased the tempo of their beats, telling the rowers that it was going to be a race to the docks.
So, Aodh worked his arms and his Clan's ship cut across the water.
Roughly half an hour later, the members of the three Clans strode up to Castle DunBroch and Aodh purposely hung back, so he could avoid the bickering of the three Lords as long as he could. His nose twitched as a hundred plus men squeezed into the tight space as the Lords (un)subtly tried to be the first one through the door.
The doors burst open and conflicting notes of bagpipes started to play as they strode in and came to a stop as the Clan Banners were thumped into the stone floor. From in the crowd, Aodh could see Lord Dingwall glance at the other Lords, then call a clansman. The clansman quickly put a stool in front of Lord Dingwall, which is quickly stepped onto. As the gathered clansmen began to cheer and pound their chests, Aodh made his way through them, so he could step up at the right time.
The men quieted down and the bagpipes stopped as King Fergus stood up. "So! Here we are. Uh-er..." the King stumbled over the greeting, but no one said anything, because they all knew that while he didn't have a way with words, the king was a skilled and experienced warrior, as well as a strong leader. "The four Clans. Uh-er... Gathering..." Aodh spotted the Queen facepalm as her husband continued to stumble through things, "For... The..."
At this point, the Queen just stood up and finished for the King, "The Presentation of the Suitors!" and the King echoed her, belatedly finishing his statements.
The clansmen let out quiet cheers as the King continued properly, "Clan Macintosh!", which the clansmen of said Clan echoed.
The dark haired and painted Lord took a step forward, "Your Majesty, I present my Heir and sire, who defended our land from Northern invaders and, with his own sword — Stab Blooder — vanquished a thousand foes!"
Cheers sounded again as the Macintosh clansmen called out, "Macintosh!" and the Princess slumped down and tried to cover her face.
"Clan MacGuffin," the King called, prompting their Lord to step forward and for their clansmen to cheer, "MacGuffin!"
"Your Majesty," the bulky Lord began, "I present my eldest son. Who scuttled the Viking long ships and, with his bare hands, vanquished two-thousand foes." There was a snap of wood, muffled as "MacGuffin!" was cheered by said Clan.
The Princess peaked from under her cover at the MacGuffins and the King let out — in Aodh's humble opinion — an unenthusiastic, "Dingwall."
Aodh stepped through his clansmen as they thumped their spears and let out a call of, "Dingwall!"
Lord Dingwall stepped off his stool and strode forward a few steps, "I present my eldest son..." Aodh took a deep breath, knowing that everyone in the room was going to turn their attention to him. "Who was besieged by ten-thousand foes..."
Aodh saw the Princess looking at him, she stopped covering her face and sat up, her eyes darting up and down, almost in awe. The King on the other hand, leaned forward, jaw slack and eyes bugged as he looked back at the Queen and pointed at him in disbelief, thankfully the Queen didn't seem very surprised, though her eyes were a bit wider than normal...
"...And he took out a whole armada single-handedly. With one arm, he was steering the ship and with the other, he held his mighty sword and struck down a whole attacking fleet."
There was silence as Aodh's father finished and everyone just stared at him.
Merida petulantly slumped and tugged a lock of her wild hair from its' prison. She wasn't interested in marriage and she was going to show this to the Clans.
She covered her face as Lord Macintosh's son waved around his sword. 'Ugh, man! Who are you tryin' to impress?! 'Cause I ain't!' the Princess thought to herself, keeping her eyes covered to keep her from seeing the Clan Heir continuing to embarrass himself.
The Princess wanted to shake her head as Lord MacGuffin went on about his son, but she heard a snap of wood once he finished and took a peek at them. 'Huh, kinda impressive, but he looks like he wants to be here about as much as I do...'
As her father prompted Lord Dingwall to step forward, she didn't expect much, but then Lord Dingwall gestured to the massive wall of a man. 'Wait- what??? I thought he was just Dingwall's bodyguard... Th-there's no fuckin' way...' Her eyes darted up and down the man, trying and failing to process the fact that he was one of the suitors. From the corner of her eye, she distantly noted that her father was also having a hard time believing that the man was Lord Dingwall's Heir.
Once the short Lord finished, there was an extended silence and Merida continued to try to process what she was seeing and had heard, 'Surely dad woulda met him or... We'd have heard stories... Or... O-or...'
The silence continued, as everyone stared at the hulking man in astonishment, until it was broken by a dull *thud/crack* and a shrill scream. (Note #1)
In an instant, the room went from shocked silence to total chaos as the four groups of clansmen began to fight, with Lords Dingwall, Macintosh, and MacGuffin joining in moments later and the bagpipers starting the music back up.
Elinor calmly watched the melee as Fergus began to cheer and give pointers, until he looked at her and stopped. With a sigh and a, "Alright," Fergus stood up and yelled, "Shuuut! Iiit!"
A small smile appeared on Elinor's face as the fighting came to a slow close, allowing her husband to continue speaking, "Now. That's all done. You've had your go at each other. Show a little decorum... And no more fighting!"
At this point, Elinor decided that it would be a good time for her to take over things, "Ahem. Now, where were we..." she began, as the Clans and Lords arranged themselves back into their earlier positions. "Ah, yes! In accordance with our laws, by the rights of our heritage, only the first born of each of the great leaders may be presented as champion and thus, compete for the hand of the Princess of DunBroch. To win the fair maiden, they must prove their worth in feats of strength or arms in the games. It is customary that the challenge be determined by the Princess herself—"
The Queen was cut off when Merida suddenly exclaimed, "Archery! Archery!"
Elinor gave Merida a shocked look and the Princess looked her in the eye for a moment and began speaking as she slowly looked over the crowd. "I choose," Merida stated in a composed manner and gave Elinor a look, "Archery."
With that, Elinor wasted no time and proclaimed, "Let the games begin!"
The clansmen of the four Clans cheered.
Thankfully for everyone involved, the rest of the day was spent turning the fields east of the Caste into fairgrounds while hundreds of members of the four Clans began to arrive, having left after the Lord's parties (in the case of Dingwall, Macintosh, and MacGuffin) or arrived to prepare for the flood of guests (in the case of the DunBroch clansmen). (Note #2)
That night, Aodh carefully checked his personal bow. Said bow was a suitably large weapon for someone of his size and strength, so that is to say, absolutely fucking huge.
Due to his immense strength, Aodh usually had to use a stronger than normal bow or risk breaking yet another one of Clan Dingwall's (which happened far too many times when he was growing up).
Unfortunately, water and bows didn't mix. At all. So, Aodh was taking the time to triple check his treasured bow (even if it was the third bow he's had since he finished growing, fighting Vikings out at sea wasn't good for the long term viability of bows) for any damage.
Thankfully, the Aodh-sized bow was fine, with the trip to DunBroch not having done any damage this time. So, he placed the bow and its quiver (full of equally ginormous arrows) next to the bed in the guest quarters he was given for the night, positioned such that if anyone wanted to get to his bow, they'd have to pass him first (knowing how vicious the Lords can get with each other... Aodh wasn't taking the risk).
As he went about things, he thought about the Princess, who — if he was being realistic — he was likely going to be betrothed to tomorrow, 'Honestly, the Princess seems less than enthused about all of this. Not that I can blame her, all things considered... Though, how she jumped to archery so fast is very interesting...'
The next morning, Aodh was preparing for the day of competitions, when a sharp knock hit the door.
Knowing who it was, Aodh simply answered, "Come in father."
The short and grumpy man snapped the door open, entered the guest quarters, and slammed the door closed. He grumbled under his breath as he strode up to his son, but smiled as he looked up at his towering heir.
"So, ready to win the Princess' hand?" he stated confidently, then muttered, "...And prove to those asses that I wasn't lyin'..."
Aodh lightly shook his head at the muttering, knowing that the Lords and the King had spent several hours talking last night. A talk that likely got very heated, knowing how the four acted toward each other.
"I am," he stated simply, knowing that while the others were skilled and capable, he was older (and thus more experienced) and much stronger.
Lord Dingwall chuckled at his son's usual silent confidence and turned to the bed, where Aodh's bow was lying. "So, nothing wrong with this one?"
Aodh snorted. "You know that the last two were broken in combat, father, unlike the twelve before them."
"Aye and keeping you properly armed has been expensive, which makes it a good thing that the Kingdom and the Clans are so wealthy..." Lord Dingwall lightly snorted and gestured around himself, "Look at this castle, the work that went into it... It was one of the few things that the four Clans could agree on in the early days, to make a fortress that could keep us safe from the rest of the Clans and the King of Alba." (Note #3)
Aodh nodded, "I know father."
"You do, but you'll have to know more to prepare yourself to be our King, which is why after this, the winner of the competition will be receiving additional lessons, then, in two years move here to be taught by Queen Elinor. We are are a small Kingdom compared to the rest of Alba, despite our wealth and the size of the Clans, the King of Alba is always on the lookout to reclaim our land..." Lord Dingwall grinned viciously. "I wish I could've seen when the prissy King found out that four of the largest northern Clans that stood between the Norse and the rest of Alba were breaking away and forming their own Kingdom... *Sigh* ...Ah! I'm rambling again! You ready?"
Aodh nodded and picked up his bow and quiver, leaving his sword and ax, there was a good chance that he would be unable to enter the other competitions, even if he wanted too, so they weren't needed — though, he did have several knives and smaller blades on him for self defense.
The Lords and their Heirs stood before the Royal Family, waiting for the King to explain how the competition would go, while the Clans gathered around the field and the targets were hauled out (they were being set up only just now to avoid tampering).
Members of the four Clans waited anxiously for the Challenge for the Princess' hand to begin, since none of the other games were to start until after the main event.
Fergus saw that everything was nearly ready, so he nodded to have the horn sound, letting everyone know things were about to begin. With a heave, Fergus stood up, with Elinor following closely behind him, and strode up to the Lords. "Now, the competition is going to be simple, each of you get five shots at the target and whoever does best wins. As usual, you'll all shoot at the same time." Fergus glared down at them. "No funny business and everything will be fine."
The Heirs all nodded, with the MacGuffin Heir looking particularly nervous.
Fergus sighed, knowing that Merida didn't want to get married, but that this had to happen eventually. "It's time!" the King called out, prompting the crowd to start cheering and to be noisy.
Next to him, Elinor lifted her arm and waved as she announced, "Archers, to your marks!"
"Aye, archers to-to your marks!" Fergus echoed, with a forced grin and a wave.
"...And may the lucky arrow find its target!" Elinor finished, causing the crowd to cheer.
Unseen by the King and Queen, Princess Merida — still with a rogue lock of hair peeking out — carefully shoved her bow and quiver back and further out of sight.
Aodh quickly glanced around at the other Heirs as he drew back his arrow, waiting for King Fergus to tell them to loose their arrows.
Heir MacGuffin looked nervous and out of place, gingerly holding his bow and arrow. Heir Macintosh (who, if Aodh remembered correctly, is named Rian) on the other hand looked confident, obviously being far more comfortable with archery.
After another moment, King Fergus shouted, "Loose!"
Aodh fired, along with the other Heirs. After a moment, Aodh glanced at the other targets and a small grin grew at the results.
Heir MacGuffin's arrow flew wide, likely due to his ginger handling of the bow and arrow, and hit outside of the outermost ring. Heir Rian Macintosh fared better, with his arrow hitting just outside of the center spot.
Aodh's own arrow on the other hand... It hit the exact middle of the center spot and punched straight through the target itself, likely hitting the wood of the stand.
One could almost hear King Fergus sigh, before he shouted, "Ready!" then waited a moment for the Heirs to grab another arrow and draw back. "Loose!"
Heir MacGuffin preformed better, hitting just inside of the outermost ring of his target, while Rian Macintosh got similar results, hitting on the opposite side of the center spot this time. Aodh could hear Rian barely restraining himself from freaking out. Aodh succeeded in putting his second arrow close to the first, also piercing the target.
"Ready!" the King called again, soon followed by, "Loose!"
The third volley was much of the same , with Heir MacGuffin simply hitting the outermost ring, Rian getting closer to the center by hitting the very edge of the spot and getting closer to a full-on meltdown, and Aodh just put a third arrow with the other two.
"Ready! ...Loose!"
The fourth volley didn't improve much for Heir MacGuffin, who just hit inside of the outermost ring again, while Rian finally hit the center of the target and vastly improved his disposition, and Aodh did much of the same as before.
"This is the final volley! ...Ready! Loose!"
The fifth volley just confirmed what everyone knew, with Heir MacGuffin getting his best shot on the second ring, Rian adding an arrow to the center, and Aodh putting a fifth arrow in the center.
Unfortunately, Rian knew what this meant and the meltdown began. Aodh just stared at the teen as he bashed his bow on the ground, threw it over the crowd, and fell to his knees, where he pounded his fists on the ground.
From the back of the crowd, someone held up the bow and yelled, "Got it!" prompting the crowd to cheer.
At the same time, Aodh saw his father dancing a little jig, then flash Lords MacGuffin and Macintosh, causing nearby children to cry in horror, contrasting sharply with the rest of the crowd.
But, during all of this, Princess Merida had sneaked around the crowd, planted a Clan DunBroch banner on the field, and tossed off her thick cloak. The crowd was silenced as she announced her intentions and held out her bow, "I am Merida, first born of Clan DunBroch and you'll have to beat me as well before you win!"
The Lords looked over to the King and Queen in surprise at this, while the Queen stood up, muttering, "What are you doing?!"
There was silence as Merida walked up to Aodh, glaring at his as she asked, "Well?"
At this point, the Lords all began to object at the same time and Queen Elinor shouted, "Merida!" as she walked out onto the field, with King Fergus joining his wife moments later.
Aodh looked down into the Princess' eyes and saw that the only way for this to be resolved peacefully was to do as she demanded: compete against her in an archery match.
With a deep breath, Aodh yelled out over the crowd, "I accept!"
Silence.
The crowd, the Lords, and the Royal Family all looked at Aodh in shock, not having expected him to agree to the (for them) ridiculous idea.
Lord Dingwall was the first to break the silence, "Are you sure son?"
Everyone looked at Aodh.
Aodh nodded, "I am."
Everyone looked back to Lord Dingwall.
Lord Dingwall frown, but nodded, "Alright then! Let's set it up so the two can compete!"
The Queen just sighed and dragged Lord Dingwall up to Aodh and Merida, with the King closely following.
The Queen glared down at Merida and then looked to Lord Dingwall, "Are you truly okay with this? Your son has won the competition."
Lord Dingwall sighed and nodded, "Aodh is willing to do it, so I'm willing to as well... Son, what do you want to do if you lose?"
Aodh glanced at the Princess, who was shifting in between glaring at him, the Queen, and his father. "I'll accept that I'll have to try again in another year."
Princess Merida looked torn between glaring at him (for thinking that she would let this happen again) and and being surprised (fight all she wants, she knows that it shouldn't be this easy), while Lord Dingwall, King Fergus, and Queen Elinor shared a look.
Eventually, the Queen sighed, "Fine! But! If he loses, we will be doing this again in a year *Glare! At Merida* and Clan Dingwall *Glare! At Lord Dingwall* will not raise a fuss?"
The two grumbled for a moment, but both nodded.
"Good," the Queen intoned severely, then she looked to her husband, "Fergus? Get things set up."
The King's shoulders fell with the tension, "Alright! First though, Merida?"
The Princess blinked up at her father, "Yeah?"
"Go with your mother to the castle and get changed while I deal with things down here," King Fergus continued with a wave at her, "I know you won't be able to do anything in that frilly dress without destroying it."
The Queen and Princess shared a look of surprise at the King's insight, but they didn't argue with him as they quickly set off to the castle. As they walked off, Aodh was able to see that the Queen was quietly verbally tearing into the Princess and — knowing the Queen — she would continue to do so for a while.
Looking away from his wife and daughter, King Fergus turned to look at Aodh, "You're an odd one, ain't ya?"
Aodh raised an eyebrow at the King, "I could tell this was the best way to settle things down, I don't see the Princess backing down from this... Or the Queen."
Fergus laughed, "Aye, you're right. Both are stubborn as the other when they want to be."
Half an hour later, the Queen and Princess finally returned to the archery field, with the Princess wearing a simpler and looser dark blue dress and a smug grin, while the Queen had a severe scowl on her face.
King Fergus waved Merida onto the field, shaking his head. Once she joined him and Heir Aodh Dingwall, he spoke, "So, this is going to work exactly as the earlier competition. Merida," he pinned his daughter with a light glare, "I expect you to behave during this and afterwards. No matter the outcome." Fergus looked at Lord Dingwall's massive son, "I expect the same from you, keeping to your word."
Merida grumbled, but reluctantly nodded and the massive Heir simply nodded as well.
Fergus gave them one last look and nodded, "Alrighty then! Let the games begin!"
To help manage any potential... Problems, Fergus stayed on the field, off to the side and projected, "Archers! Ready!"
His daughter and Heir Dingwall drew their arrows back, waiting for Fergus' order.
"Loose!"
Both arrows struck very middle of the center spots of their respective targets and Fergus sighed, knowing that it was going to be extremely close and he was going to get a massive headache before too long.
"Ready!"
...
...
...
"Loose!'
Fergus hated being right sometimes and this was one of them. His daughter and Heir Dingwall were nearly equal in skill with the bow and with both of them easily putting their first arrows in the exact center of the target, they both elected to up the ante and used their second arrow to split the first. As far as Fergus is concerned, it just went downhill from there as the two began to try to outdo the other with increasingly absurd shows of skill.
So, as agreed earlier by the Lords and himself while they waited for Merida to change, Fergus waved over the best bowmen from each of the four Clans to judge the spread and had a couple of clansmen move the targets close to each other so they didn't have to be constantly walking back and forth.
After several minutes of bickering, the four clansmen finally came to an agreement and relayed their collective opinion to Fergus.
Fergus took a deep breath, both to delay having to announce the winner and to compose himself. "The winner is... Heir Dingwall!"