When it was done, fewer than fifty Fergusons stood before him with MacGreagors and Camerons behind the invaders. "Fergusons," he shouted. "Go home and get your carts. You have until the end of this day to collect your dead. Those you leave behind will be burned. I want the lads who killed Olson, his wife and son. When you bring them to me, we will live in peace."
Kevin went back across the bridge to the courtyard and kicked Ferguson to see if he was dead. The man moaned and Kevin walked away. "Connor, see how many of ours are dead or injured. Justin, take lads and make sure there are no Fergusons hiding inside." Once his commands were given, he went to the stables and set all the Ferguson horses free. He wanted nothing left to remind him of this wretched day ever again.
MacGreagors searched every cottage and looked behind every bush inside their hold. They found seventeen Fergusons and sent them out to help remove the dead. The first Ferguson cart that came carried a badly injured man -- the man who committed the murders. Kevin stepped up into the cart, held his sword with both hands and drove it hard through the man's heart. He stepped down, told the Fergusons to collect the body of their laird and get it off his land. Then he headed to the loch to wash away the blood.
The worst of the day was not yet over. He left Connor in charge and took Justin with him to the Cameron hold to tell two women their husbands were dead. Three other men were wounded, but not seriously and he believed they would live. When they arrived, Kevin and Justin denied themselves the arms of their own families until after they comforted the two widows. Then they went to embrace Anna, Catherin, Rachel and Kevin's sons.
*
At the MacGreagor hold, Connor and the MacGreagors dipped buckets into the moat and washed all the blood away. Then they washed themselves. Two men stitched up the wounded and Connor approved when other men began to bring flasks of wine the Fergusons didn't find, and leave them on the steps of the Keep. There would be a celebration when the women returned. Fortunately, the Fergusons had not damaged or destroyed too much. Some cleaning was necessary, but it didn't take that long.
In the evening, the Fergusons took away the last of the dead and rode out of sight.
It was over.
A woman with three younger women, all wearing Ferguson plaids, walked down the road toward the Keep. Connor heard the long, low whistle and walked out to the end of the Bridge. It was the same woman who brought the missing boys back. She stopped several yards away and waited until Connor nodded. "I am Catherin's sister, Sarah, and we are here to ask for sanctuary. Will you give it?"