Alistar wiped the mud from his face. He had just removed his goggles, he bet his face was pretty comical at the moment, splashed with mud as it was, everywhere except around the eyes. He had taken one of his father's old Triumph motorcycles out for a spin again, he had spent the night in some motel down south, he had already forgotten it's name. Sometimes he felt he needed to get away from it all, the motorcycles were a great relief.<br/>He was just rolling the bike inside one of the stables as he heard his father approach. There weren't that many horses left anymore, so one of the stables had been converted to a garage. His father's collection of motorcycles were stored inside, among other things.<br/>"There you are, boy!" his father said with a loud voice as he noticed him. "You ran off again last night, your mother worried sick!" Alistair sighed.<br/>"No she didn't. I told her I'd take one of the bikes out."<br/>"I'd wish the blasted woman would keep me informed of these things," Archibald replied, getting quite worked up. Alistair sighed again.<br/>"I'm sure she did, it just slipped your mind."<br/>"Don't be ridiculous, I would never forget a thing like that!" Alistair's father had been quite forgetfull recently, and sometimes got quite confused. He was far to proud to admit it, of course. He also got alot of strange ideas these days, and Alistair spent alot of time trying to cover for his father after he'd went and done something illconcieved.<br/>"And look at the state of you!" his father continued. "You look like some...some...some biker! It is quite unacceptable, it really is. You are the Laird now, remember?"<br/>"Yes father," Alistair replied and rolled his eyes. No chance of me ever forgetting, you remind me all the time, he though. "I actually wanted a word with you. Did you know I got the wine bill yesterday? I got quite a shock when I opened it, as you can imagine."<br/>"Oh? I can't see why," his father replied defensivly, looking a little guilty, but mostly defiant.<br/>"You can't see why? You can't see why!?" Alistair was starting to get worked up himself. Sometimes his father could get him so damn irritated he didn't know what to do. "You know we are in a tough spot financially, and still you persist in ordering the finest wine and whiskey. I have to take everything we earned from those buisnessmen that came up here to hunt last week just to pay that bill. You know the bridge over the creek need to be renovated, the next rainstorm could wash it away and leave us stranded here!"<br/>"You won't have me drink that sewage you ordered the last time, over my dead body! We won't sacrifice quality, only the best is good enough for a Douglas!"<br/><br/>Molly Douglas looked out her bedroom window and down at the yard. Her husband and her son was yelling at eachother again, she could almost hear them through the glass. She sighed. It seemed almost impossible for them to get along these days, and it broke her heart, it really did. She sighed again and pulled back the curtain before returning to her painting.<br/><br/>Alistair and Archibald stared at eachother, both their faces red in anger. They would drop the matter for now, but it wouldn't be the last any of them heard of it. Archibald spoke first.<br/>"We will be getting more tourists today, I hear they will spend the night. Four couples I belive, one of them German, apperantly." He almost spited as he said the last part, German tourists weren't popular around these parts.<br/>"Fine," Alistair said. "I'll tell Duncan to shoot some rabbits. Just make sure you don't challange any of the Germans to a duel this time, it is getting quite tiresome. And don't mention the war." Alistair started walking towards the lake. He could hear his father yell after him: "And I expect you to dress as it fits a Scottish Laird!"<br/><br/>Alistair sighed as he looked out over Lochindorb. He could see the island with the ruins of Lochindorb Castle, also called the "Wolf's Lair". It had once been a favorite haunt of one of his ancestors, Alexander Stewart, the Earl of Buchan. He had been called the Wolf of Badenoch when he lived. Recent events had led Alistair to wonder if it were more to the nickname than he'd first though.<br/>Alistair loved Craggenrock and the land around it, Lochindorb and the picturesque village Craggen. The estate had some patches of woodland with great hunting opportunities, and some rivers and small lakes with some excellent fishing. It was what the Douglas familly lived on these days, luring rich city folks to come hunt and fish, dining with the Laird and his familly each evening, and spending each night in big, comforatble beds in one of the castle's many nice old rooms. They also accepted hikers and regular tourists when buisness was bad, as it often seemed these days. The area seemed to attract a freakish amount of thunderstorms these past couple of years. Luckily they mostly seemed to happen at night though, and actually added some mystique to the old castle. The villagers also whispered that a big, black wolf sometimes could be spotted at rainy nights, or days when the mist lay thick over the Dava Moor. Some said it was the ghost of the Wolf of Badenoch that walked again, but most said it was just the superstition of old men with too much to drink. There hadn't been a wolf in these parts for ages.<br/><br/><br/>(http://www.scotlandthemovie.com/movies/hphotos/ard9c.jpg)<br/><br/>(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ec/LochindorbCastle.JPG/800px-LochindorbCastle.JPG)