“Oh.” That explained where “the rest of the men” had been when she’d got up that morning, and she wondered where they’d gone to hunt and fish.
“There’s another clearing no’ far from here,” the Wolf said as if reading her mind. “I had them camp there so they’d no’ disturb everyone when they rose early, and so we’d no’ disturb them when they went to sleep early.”
“Oh,” Claray repeated, and then realizing she was just sitting there staring at him, she gave herself a shake and quickly started to eat. After a bite or two, she asked with curiosity, “How were ye able to get to Kerr so quickly?”
“We rode fast,” he said, sounding distracted.
“I’m sure ye did, but I meant . . .” Claray hesitated, aligning her thoughts, and then said, “Mairin told me she sent her message to Buchanan because it was closer. How did me father and you both end up getting the news so quickly?”
“We were both at Buchanan when the messenger arrived,” he said simply, easing his hand closer to his chest. It looked to her like a protective move. It placed his hand over his legs, giving Squeak a softer landing and shorter fall if he tumbled off his hand, Claray noted, but was more interested in what he’d said.
“Da was at Buchanan?” she asked, and couldn’t hide her surprise. Her father hadn’t mentioned making such a trip before she’d left for Kerr. “Why?”
“Because he kenned I was there,” the Wolf answered, and then scowled as if just realizing what he’d said.
“Did he wish to hire ye fer something ere all this came up?” Claray asked, trying to understand.
The Wolf was silent for a minute, and then shrugged uncomfortably. “Who can say. The messenger arrived ere he’d more than dismounted, and then all was forgotten but getting ye away from yer uncle and MacNaughton.”
It sounded perfectly reasonable, yet Claray got the feeling he wasn’t being entirely truthful. Troubled over that, she glanced down to Squeak to see that he’d finished off the milk that had been poured for him. Claray started to offer a bit of her cooked fish to the kit, but the Wolf pulled the hand holding Squeak away from her and removed a small wrapped linen from his sporran with his free hand.
“Open it,” he said, offering the linen to her.
Eyebrows rising, Claray set the fish aside and opened the linen to see little strips of cut up raw meat inside. The feel of something on her shoulder drew her head around and she nearly chuckled when she saw that the Wolf had set Squeak on her shoulder and he was now scrambling down her arm to reach the meat.
“Thank you,” she said solemnly as she watched the wee kit throw itself at the food and begin gobbling it up. It looked like rabbit meat to her, and the thought made her suddenly sit up straight and turn to the Wolf with wide eyes as she realized she’d forgotten all about the bunny. “Brodie.”
“With Allistair,” he said soothingly. “He tends the horses when we travel and offered to look after the bunny fer ye while ye were under the weather. But I’ll go get her fer ye now if ye wish.”
“Her?” she asked uncertainly.
“Brodie is a she,” he told her with amusement. “At least Allistair says she is, and since he kens more about animals than I ken about war, I’m believing him.”
“Oh,” Claray murmured.
He stood and moved off to speak to a tall, redheaded warrior who immediately unslid some sort of long sling of plaid cloth from around his neck and shoulder and offered it to the Wolf. She watched with curiosity as he carried it back to her, her gaze sliding over the contraption with interest.
“Allistair says Brodie likes to rest in the sling,” the Wolf announced as he stopped before her. “He says ’tis warm and dark and makes her feel safe.”
“Mayhap Squeak would like it in there too, then,” Claray said, scooping Squeak up to hold him in her hands as she stood to allow the Wolf to settle the sling around her neck and one shoulder as Allistair had been wearing it. Unfortunately, she was much smaller than Allistair and while the bottom of the sling had rested just above the waist on him, it landed at the top of her thighs. She stood patiently as the Wolf began to fiddle with it.
“Or mayhap Squeak would eat Brodie,” he said as he untied and then retied the sling to shorten it for her. “Stoats eat rabbits, ye ken.”
“Aye, I ken that,” she assured him. “But Squeak is just a bairn, and Brodie is so big.”
“I once saw a stoat attack and kill a rabbit a good ten times its size, lass. They’re fearsome hunters, and ’tis instinct with them. Ye may want to keep them out where ye can see them both when ye introduce them, rather than sticking them in a bag where Squeak might leap on Brodie and bite the back o’ her neck, or Brodie might kick Squeak in the head out o’ fear,” he suggested, finishing with the knots and then stepping back.
“Thank ye,” Claray murmured, and then eased Squeak back down the front of her dress to nestle between her breasts so that her hands were free for her to open the sling a bit and look in at Brodie. The rabbit seemed fine. Allistair had obviously taken good care of her and she seemed happy in the sling, so Claray let go of the sides and then glanced around. The Wolf had moved off to talk to Hamish, Roderick and Payton while she’d checked Brodie. She watched the men talk briefly, and then he returned to her.
“Have ye had enough to eat and drink?” he asked, and when she nodded, he raised his eyebrows. “Would ye like to make a quick trip into the woods ere we set out again?”
Claray opened her mouth to say no, and then snapped it closed as she had second thoughts. Both they and the horses had all had a very long rest and he’d most like want to travel at speed without stopping to make up for the delay she had cost them. It seemed smart to her to take this opportunity to relieve herself now rather than risk annoying him later, so she nodded solemnly and headed off into the woods.
Chapter 5
“How many more days do ye think it’ll be ere we reach MacFarlane?”
Conall glanced around with surprise at that question from Roderick. They’d ridden hard through the day, but it was night again. They were back to traveling at a walk, and the man had urged his mount up beside his.
He considered the question, sorting out how far they had to go and the speed they could reasonably expect to manage to cover it. Had they continued to travel at a walk day and night as he’d originally planned after their first day traveling at speed, it would have been another couple of days to reach MacFarlane at least. But after letting the horses rest a day and night, and getting that rest themselves, they’d been able to travel at a gallop again through the day. They’d also taken a shortcut he hadn’t originally planned to take because it had been available during daylight due to their delay. Had it been night, he never would have risked the track of land through the woods. But during daylight it had been no problem and they’d actually made up time so that they were a little closer than he’d expected to be at this point.
Realizing that Payton and Hamish had moved up to hear the answer to Roderick’s question, and that they were all waiting, Conall finally shrugged. “Another day or day and a half, mayhap. With luck we’ll arrive late tomorrow night or early the morning after,” he answered, and then asked, “Why?”