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Gwyn was breathless when she reached the top of the massive stone stairs above the bailey of the MacLaren keep.

Already the darkened area before her was filling with the clansmen and all those present looked both haggard and worn.

She could easily tell this though the area was nearly dark and the lit torches but few.

The Highlanders were dirty and their numbers shockingly few.

It was apparent their losses were devastating.

She could not breathe nor move as Gwyn stood stoically between Donnan and her father upon the landing watching intently as the deep blue plaid of her clansmen filled the ground below her.

No one had yet approached and each of the valiant warriors refused to raise their eyes and look upon any of them.

Even those who had ridden wearing the colors of the Chattan and who at first had numbered five and now were clearly two.

Slowly, it was the one called Tavish of the original McColl who drew near.

Gwyn stood with devastation upon her heart as he silently dismounted from his steed.

When he turned and pulled a plaid wrapped weapon from behind himself, it was then that she knew.

Before he ever ascended the stairs nor before the words were even spoken the tears slipped from her eyes as the devastation played profoundly upon her heart.

'No!God, no!'

The face of her beloved Iver swept through her mind.

She could see his long dark hair and the brilliant blue of his eyes as they gazed into hers.

She almost felt the warmth of his embrace as he held her tightly and the touch of his lips upon hers.

Her body screamed for his nearness and the sense of protection and love he could provide.

Unfortunately, when she opened her eyes, he was nowhere in sight.

Instead, she watched as the lone Chattan warrior drew near.

'Please, I beg of you, do not speak those words!'

Gwyn focused her attentions upon the Highlander who had once hailed from the McColl as he stood before Donnan.

With much devastation etched upon his face, he slowly revealed the great sword that he held.

Its silvery shaft sparkled brightly in the torchlight, but it was the sapphire of the stone within the handle that held Gwyn's heartbroken gaze.

The pain was devastating as it tore through the center of her being.

It was if she had sustained one thousand blows upon her body all at once.

The sobs were strangled within her throat as she stood attempting to control her agony and fought to stay upright upon her feet.

As the devastation of all that she now knew rang true, she heard the words spoken somewhere in the distance.

"I saw him from afar…he was run through and collapsed from where he stood. By the time I reached where he had fallen, his body was gone and only his bloodied sword remained. Much as they had pulled the remains of Laird Errol from the ground, so had they taken the dead body of Laird Iver!"

'Laird Iver . '

If there was nothing of this horrific day she could take away except for the pain, Gwyn at least felt a sense of relief that he ended up with the title he so deserved.

Even if it was only for a very short time.

But she could think little on that honor right now and for what he so deserved and instead could only dwell upon the devastation to her heart.

'No, it cannot be true! Please, my love, you cannot be gone!'

But the truth of it was etched upon this loyal warrior's face and upon all those who followed him back to her home.

She could see this and feel this now. The horrific pain clutching within her breast was debilitating as the sights and the sounds all around her ceased to exist. In that heart-wrenching moment she realized her life was now meaningless and she had nothing in which was left for her to live for.

'Too late, I have come to realize my duty has robbed me of everything, including my precious Iver!'

He had been taken from her and this world and her mind began to spin with its devastation.

Gwyn knew there were more words that had been spoken but she could hear none of them.

Her hopeless state had left her trembling and shaken until the claws of misery nearly strangled her.

Gwyn soon found herself slipping endlessly into the darkened abyss that consumed first her heart, and then her mind.