“Well, Gannon did say the horse followed her around like a dog,” his uncle muttered, shaking his head.
Conall didn’t respond. He was watching his wife, who had turned to caress the stallion’s neck, and was crooning, “Who’s a brave boy! Aye, you are. Are ye no’ clever to test it fer the men? What a brave Stubborn Bastard. Aye, ye’re a good boy!”
“She’s unmanned the poor beast,” Gilly said in a mournful tone as he joined them to watch the powerful horse respond to Claray’s coos by licking her cheek and forehead. “She’ll be tyin’ bows around his neck, or some sech thing next.”
Conall shook his head with disgust and started across the drawbridge. If the damned thing could hold a horse that weighed close to two tons, it could surely hold him. At least that’s what he told himself as he moved quickly across the narrow strip of bridge. Despite those reassurances to himself, Conall was more than a little relieved when he reached the other side without falling through into the moat below, which, despite how it had looked from the hill, was still a moat. The surface of the water though was covered with some kind of bright green algae that he didn’t think he’d like to fall into.
Pausing once he reached solid ground, Conall surveyed the curtain wall. Now that he was close, he could see that it was green from moss and mold growing on it. He surveyed it briefly, considering how he would get rid of it or if he even should. The covering would be slick and make it harder for anyone to scale the wall, he thought, and then glanced over his shoulder, unsurprised to see that his uncle, cousin, Roderick, Hamish and his uncle’s men Gilly and Machar were following him over the bridge one after the other. The rest of the men waited on the other side with the horses. Deciding that was a good thing, Conall turned toward the women, but they weren’t there.
Eyes wide, he surveyed his surroundings and just glimpsed Stubborn Bastard’s tail end disappearing into the forest of trees now filling his bailey. Knowing the beast was following his lady wife, Conall instinctively looked down to where the wolf had been moments ago, not surprised to find the beast was also gone.
“Lovey went with yer wife,” Roderick told him with amusement.
“O’ course he did,” Conall said dryly, but then frowned and added, “Though it may be a good thing. He and Stubborn Bastard’ll keep the ladies safe if any wild animals ha’e taken up residence in the bailey or keep.”
“Damn,” his uncle said with realization, concern crossing his face as he peered to where the women had disappeared. “There could be animals in there.”
“I’m sure there are lots o’ them,” Payton said with a shrug. “Stoats, pine martens, birds.”
“That’s fine, but I’m more concerned with larger more feral animals like wildcats.”
“Or boars,” Roderick added grimly.
“I had no’ thought o’ that,” Payton said with sudden concern.
“Neither had I ’til this minute,” Conall admitted on a sigh, and when his uncle and the other men started into the bailey to chase after the women, he turned quickly to Hamish. “Divide the men into three parts. A hundred are to stay on the other side o’ the moat to watch the horses and guard against anyone approaching. Another fifty are to sort out the issue o’ a temporary, or e’en a permanent, new bridge if they can find old leftover tools somewhere in the bailey. They can use the trees growing inside fer wood,” he added.
Hamish nodded. “And the other half o’ the men?”
“Four on each wall to keep a lookout, if the stairs are passable,” he instructed. “I want the rest to spread out and search the bailey and buildings fer any man or beast who may ha’e set up residence while the keep was empty. Select them first, and quickly,” he added firmly, growing more anxious as he considered the possibility that not just wildcats or boars may have made their home here over the last twenty-two years, but bandits and outcasts too . . . and the women could be heading straight into their midst.
That thought in mind, Conall didn’t wait for Hamish to respond, but turned to hurry after his uncle and the others. He caught up to them quickly, but didn’t slow. Instead, he rushed past, a little desperate now to get to Claray and make sure she was all right.
“The bailey is beautiful like this,” Kenna said on a sigh as they moved through the young forest that had grown up inside the wall. “But I suppose Conall will tear out all the trees and such.”
“No doubt,” Lady MacKay agreed. “The men would have trouble practicing at battle around all these trees.”
“And they’ll need room for the stables to be built,” Claray pointed out, wondering if she would be able to convince Conall to build a special section in the stables for any wounded beasties she found, like her father had done for her at MacFarlane.
“I can no’ imagine how hard it will be to remove all these trees,” Kenna said, sounding dismayed now.
“It should no’ be that hard,” Claray assured her, watching where she was stepping to avoid tripping as she pointed out, “Most o’ the trees are only ten to twenty years old by the looks o’ it, and ha’e surface roots. Wrap ropes or chain around the trunk and attach it to a couple o’ horses and these trees should pull out easily, roots and all,” she assured her.
“Really?” Kenna asked with interest.
“Aye. They’d probably all ha’e blown o’er ere this if no’ fer the curtain wall blocking any strong winds,” she said, unsurprised when Kenna immediately began an interested survey of the roots growing across the ground.
“Why did the roots grow like that instead of making their way into the ground?” Kenna asked, her gaze moving up the oak tree she was now passing.
Claray gave a shrug. “The dirt was probably too hardpacked fer the roots to go deep after a century o’ hundreds o’ men and servants working and walking in the bailey. Ye ken plants need soft, fresh-turned earth to grow well.”
“Hmm,” Kenna said, and then laughed. When Claray and Lady MacKay eyed her with curiosity, she explained, “I was just thinkin’, Conall was probably cursin’ up a storm when he saw all the trees in here, but they’re no’ only goin’ to be easy to pull out, which is surely better than havin’ to cut down trees in the surrounding forest, but they do no’ have to be dragged from the woods to be used to build the stables or whatnot. They’re right here already. ’Twill save him time and trouble in the end.”
“Aye,” Claray agreed with a faint smile. There was always a silver lining if you looked for it, and it appeared Kenna was one who looked. She liked that.
“Oh, my.”
Claray glanced with curiosity to Lady MacKay when she murmured those words and saw that Conall’s aunt was a few steps ahead of her, at the edge of the small forest they’d been walking through. Seeing that her mouth was agape, Claray stepped up beside her and followed her gaze. Her eyes widened at once as she stared up at Deagh Fhortan keep, and Claray found herself echoing Lady MacKay’s words. “Oh, my.”
“Oh,” Kenna murmured, joining them now too. “’Tis so lovely.”
Vines started where the trees ended. They started at the base of the keep wall and wove their way down to the edge of the woods, as well as up the wall. They were like a large rush mat before them, and covered the walls in a tapestry of greenery that covered the thirty-foot keep wall from top to bottom. Claray couldn’t even tell where the windows were, or if it even had any, and the door was nearly fully covered as well, leaving just a hole about a foot high and three feet wide at the bottom of where large double doors had no doubt been.