For three days the land had been gradually changing. Jamie found that the ground below his feet was no longer soft and turf like but had become hard and gritty. The forest had been left behind some hours ago and at the last prominence he was certain that he had glimpsed the vague outline of distant mountains as he and the giant had crossed the ridgeline.

Now they were back down in the sparse scrubland with it's thin covering of reed like grass stems offering little in the way of cooling shade for miles at a stretch and his thirst between stops was almost overpowering. At last the giant signalled another rest by suddenly squatting in front of Jamie without warning, causing him to stumble into the huge back, now level with Jamie's face. He mumbled his apologies half heartedly and gratefully sat beside the giant, reaching for the offered hide of water.

'Thanks', He drank deeply from the formed water carrier before going on.

'How much further?'

'Further ?, Who knows?, My journey has no end Clansman. I travel the land always.

'Away from your Clan, always?. Jamie asked Incredulously.

The giant Sighed and settled his shoulders in an attitude of relaxation which suggested that a lengthy rest period was upon the two. They had stopped in the shade of the solitary shrub like tree which they had spotted some way back, the knarled trunk and sparse foliage had forced it's way into the sunlight from beneath a large boulder and had only partially made the transition to upright status.

Jamie gratefully imitated the giants obvious settling and laid his pack between his legs, leaning back against the spindly trunk of the large shrub, he was intrigued. His puzzled expression prompted the giant to further explanation.

'It is a good thing Clansman, to belong to a Tribe, a Clan, You must never forget your Clan, that is where your soul lives. Without your clan you would become a wanderer, like me. My Clan is not of this land, The memory of the land of my Clan fades within my mind, I find it difficult to recall the face of my wife, the faces of my sons. I have been in this land forever, I fear I will so remain.

The giant sat in silence, seemingly pondering his plight for many seconds. Questions abounded in Jamie's mind.

'You also are not of this place then?' he asked finally.

'I remember a battle, a mighty battle. The ships of the Raiders came at night, they had plundered our shores for many years and we had always repulsed them with our spears and axes. This time it was different, the raiders came with strange weapons, weapons the likes of which you could not imagine. These weapons spewed forth fire and death to all who stood before them, well beyond the greatest hurling of light spears. Well beyond even the reach of the finest arrow of the best longbow.
My village was destroyed, the womenfolk..., well, the womenfolk suffered greatly, the children were taken. We, the survivors of the first onslaught could not look on from our positions of retreat, we ran like the wind to our families, our war-cries echoing through the valley, our mighty spears raised.
I saw the terrible swathe of fire blackening the earth in front of me, I could not avoid the quickening fires of the raiders no matter how I danced. I was engulfed. When I awoke I found myself in this land.
At first I was sure that this was the land of the Raiders, but when I failed to find any trace of them or of their ships or settlements, I began to suspect the truth. This is not my world, we are in the afterlife and we are sinners.
This is our reward for living out our lives as we did, for failing to protect our loved ones in the proper manner. For deserting them in their time of need. This is my punishment, and it is just'.

The giant lay back in reflective pose on completion of his tragic tale and Jamie could see that the recall of so many bad memories had saddened him greatly.

The sun had dropped below the mountain peaks as the giant spoke and the air about them began to chill perceptively. The giant seemed to shiver, as though shrugging the painful memories from his mind and suddenly declared.

'We will stay here for the night, it is a good place, our approaches are well covered'.

Jamie was grateful that the days' march was over, he remembered the flints and thought of the small game they had spotted during their march through the scrubland.

'I think it's time you put that spear to good use instead of using it to puncture innocent Scotsmen, go and get us some supper, I will prepare the fire'.

'Ha ! I will bring you more than you can easily roast Clansman, prepare your fire'.

The giant rose, seemingly in better mood, and left the camp.

Jamie took the flints from his pack and inspected them minutely.

'I hope you work this time', He thought to himself.

He gathered a meagre pile of dry grass stems which would not normally have sufficed to start even the most basic of cooking fires and placed them in a small pile in the centre of their chosen campsite.

Holding the flints over the pitiful pile he braced his legs against the dry earth, ready this time for any shock of ignition and firmly struck the flints together.

When the giant returned the small fire was burning fiercely and Jamie had constructed a crude spit arrangement over the fire from green twigs from the shrub. Although the heat from the fire was great, the spit, which was immediately above the flames, remained as green and as unaffected as though the whole thing was well beyond the range of the flames.

The giant had been more than successful during the hunt and supplied them with a bountiful feast more than adequate for the two of them.

Jamie took charge of the cooking and presented a feast of cooked game which would have graced a chieftains table in another life and effected no complaint. The two companions ate in a reflective silence, neither willing to disturb the contemplation of the other.

The moon rose and travelled across the sky as the two unlikely companions settled down for the night. The giant, engrossed in his own personal memories, slept fitfully, occasional grunts and indecipherable cries kept Jamie awake for the early part of the night, unable to sleep, he inevitably began to think about the life he had so recently left behind.

As well as the strange dreams he had experienced since his arrival in this strange land, he had also been continually assailed by the still vivid memories of his prior life in the highlands of Scotland, and in particular the memory of the promised encounter with his cousin Maria, who long ago had so faithfully promised to him those exquisite, forbidden delights upon his triumphant return from that fateful field near Culloden.
It was generally accepted in the village that Jamie and Maria would one day wed. Maria was a beautiful young woman, and Jamie was a powerful youth, of good family, the son of a trusted lieutenant of the Clan, the next best thing to Royalty in the Highlands.
Given time Jamie would have become a powerful influence within the politics of Highland life. His future had been prematurely cut short, instead of becoming a chieftain of some repute and enjoying the privileges that went with that position, he now found himself alone in a strange land, with nobody for company except a similarly dispossessed warrior who had enormous problems of his own.
As he finally succumbed to the exhaustion of the days march through this strange land his final thoughts were of Maria, beautiful Maria who lay so far away, back in the highlands of Scotland.

Though he knew he would never see her again, he also knew that he would never forget her face. No matter how long he survived in this strange land.

* * *

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