by Terry Spear
“He has. I was going to paddle so you could rest up further.”
“You will have to paddle all the way back to your island.”
She snorted. “You will have to make yourself a shelter and find food. Though you should have enough to last you a few days.” She glanced at the bundle she’d given him that had grown. “What did you add to the bundle I gave you?”
“I saw Judith and repaired some of her byre, enough to keep her sheep from wandering off. In return, she fed me oats and gave me more to take with me, dried fish, and more bread.”
“That’s why you were so much closer to where I’d be. How did you find your way there?”
“Wolf took me.”
“I hope you didna do yourself further injury.”
“I will rest up this eve.”
She let out her breath and watched the shore. “Neither Fenella nor I learned what your brothers’ men said under torture. It isna something we could just come out and ask about unless we wanted to arouse suspicion.”
“You willna be missed?”
“I am often off checking on women in the outlying crofts who need some extra help while their men are fighting in clan battles. No one bothers us on the island, normally. We were raided way before I was born, but except for our men being called to fight with our allies against some enemy in Scotland, we are left alone.” She shrugged. “We have a simple life. Not much happens here unless we have a violent storm, and rarely, a shipwreck. Your ship must have been getting close to our shores and that was the reason we found so many men, some drowned. We usually don’t find any bodies, but sometimes months later, we’ll find crates or ship’s debris. We assumed the ship had been blown off course, but of course that wasna the case.”
“You are sure Wolf willna be missed?”
“He will be missed but he does run off sometimes, so it isna unusual. And with my men finding bodies on the shore, all I have to say is he’s out searching for any more.”
“They aren’t afraid he would eat them?”
“Of course no’. Though if I tell him to attack a man, he will. I didna with the man who promised to kill me because I didna want him cutting Wolf.”
“Aye.”
“You are no’ afraid of Wolf staying with you, are you?”
He fought smiling. “Nay. He will keep me from swimming away.”
She gave him a little smile. Wolf was sitting between them, watching the seabirds flying overhead as they paddled out to sea. It was a lot choppier than she’d expected it to be, the coracle bouncing around in the rough water. She sat lower in the craft.
“Go to the island beyond this one. Though most likely no one would see a fire over here, they wouldna see any from the island beyond it. When you build your shelter, make sure it is on the other side, just in case someone comes this way to fish, though I dinna think they do.”
“Aye.” He knew where to set up the best shelter, but he appreciated that she wanted to make sure he would be safe.
He paddled hard and steady, wanting to get there as soon as possible so she could leave as quickly as she could and arrive home before it was too much later. He was still thinking of how Wolf should go home with her. What if something happened to him, and Wolf couldn’t return home? What if something happened to her? If she capsized, could Wolf help her to shore? Or would they both perish?
“Are you certain you can return all right, lass?”
“Aye, keep paddling. I will be sore in the morning, for sure, but ‘tis the only way.”
“I’m thinking Wolf should return with you.” Quinn eyed the birds on the rocks. “Willna he scare off the puffins, gannets, and fulmars? Eat them? Their eggs?”
She smiled at him. “Do you really care about the wildlife on the island? Or are you afraid Wolf will eat all of it, and you will have naught to eat?”
“They are no’ used to predators on the island, and aye, I care.”
“If I canna return for much longer, and you run out of food, then what will you do?”
“I will be fishing. You found me a fine net. In one of the coves, I can fish.” He eyed the shore they were growing closer to. “There are plenty of rocks on this side, and I’m sure on the other, that I could use to build a small shelter. But if Wolf wasna with me, I wouldna have to build it quite so big.”
“All right. I will take him back.” She watched as gray seals on the beach jumped off the rocks into the sea.
Quinn paddled straight for the beach, and she immediately objected. “You need to set up your shelter on the other side of the island.”
“I will, but it will take much longer to paddle around there. You need to return now, so you’ll have plenty of daylight.”
“Aye. But you are injured.”
“Aye, and all this paddling is killing me.”
She chuckled. “You will be hurting more if you have to carry all this stuff to the other side.”
“I will do it. Dinna come here for several days, so that no one is suspicious of where you’re off to. I will manage just fine. I have lived off the land several times and survived. I dinna want you having to travel that far again too soon, nor to risk getting caught.”
“Aye, true.”
He pulled the boat onto the shore and Wolf jumped out. “Stay here,” he commanded the wolf, and Wolf sat. He had forgotten he wasn’t supposed to be giving the wolf commands and that Wolf would obey them.
Avelina folded her arms, looking cross. “So, he isna your guard after all. Just like when you commanded him to stay and not attack that man to protect Wolf, though I thought he was obeying my order, not yours.”
“Aye, he guards. He growls if I dinna feed him enough of my food.”
“Och, that food is meant for you! He feeds himself. That decides it. He returns with me or he’ll eat all your food and whatever birds he can catch on the island.”
“Good. I wouldna want you to miss him, or him to miss you. I couldna sleep nights if he were to howl for you.”
Her jaw dropped. “I hadna thought of that.” She helped Quinn to unpack the boat.
“Get in the coracle,” Quinn said to Wolf. The wolf hesitated, probably not liking the idea that he couldn’t have some time to run around the island and chase the birds and seals.
“In,” Avelina said, pointing to the boat.
Wolf jumped in, and before she climbed in, Quinn pulled her against his chest for a tender hug. “Be safe. Dinna take any more risks for me.”
“I will return.”
“No’ for several days.”
“Aye.” Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. “You are my prisoner.”
“Aye, I will do anything you command of me.”
“Rest and heal and stay alive.”
“I will.” He kissed her back, more passionately than he had the first time, afraid to scare her off when she was his savior. But she fed into the kiss, and he didn’t want to let her go. He felt her reluctance to leave also. “You must go, Avelina. Godspeed, lass.”
“Take care.”
He lifted her into the boat, kissed her as she leaned toward him, and then pulled away. He shoved the boat into the water and watched as she paddled back to her island. She was a strong paddler, but he suspected some of that was for show, that she would weary long before she reached the halfway point. He knew he should move his bundles to the other side of the island, but instead, he watched her go until she was but a speck on the water, and then disappeared altogether.
He'd never felt the loss he felt now, missing her frowns and elusive smiles, even her reserved laughter. But especially the way she kissed him. She was no wanton woman, he could tell from the way she’d so tentatively kissed him and pressed herself against him. All he knew was his body craved having her. He missed the wolf too, wishing he could have stayed with him for companionship. But Quinn wanted her to have him for protection, and to lessen any suspicions she might have aroused by her being gone for so long.
Now he had the arduous task of
moving the bundles to the other side of the island, every muscle in his body aching something fierce. He gathered all the bundles, but didn’t think he could manage that way. He rummaged through the items and found rope, and taking driftwood and one of the plaids, he created a travois. Using that, he packed the bundles on top and proceeded to climb the hill, hoping there was fresh water on the island.
Avelina didn’t think she’d make it back to Lendon’s croft. She was dog tired, and she was so sore, she didn’t think she could use her arms for anything. But she still needed to carry the boat to his croft and secure it. She considered getting Fenella to help her, but she was afraid once she returned to the keep, she wouldn’t be able to go back to get his coracle, and someone would surely notice it out here.
Wolf was running all over, happy to be on solid ground again. She still wished he’d stayed with Quinn, but not if the man was going to feed Wolf half his food! She couldn’t believe Quinn had been pretending the wolf was truly guarding him, when he’d easily befriended him!
She didn’t know anyone who could so easily win her wolf over. Wolf loved women and children, but he was wary of most men. Mainly because they said such disparaging things about him. She kept telling them Wolf understood what they were saying, and if they were kinder to him, he would be their friend too. But they didn’t trust the wolf.
She was trying hard to carry the coracle over her head like the men did, but her arms were aching, and she kept stumbling. She couldn’t drag it like she wanted to, because the skin covering the hull would be scraped and possibly torn, and she’d be the one responsible. Not to mention, she couldn’t use it to return to Quinn if she tore a hole in it. She prayed he would be all right, and as much as it killed her, knowing he was right, and though she wanted to do just as he’d said—to wait several days—she already wanted to return to him, to make sure he was going to be okay.
She had to leave straight away in the morning to replenish Judith’s food supplies also. She finally managed to leave the coracle in Lendon’s byre, and then ran as fast as she could toward the keep, Wolf racing ahead of her.
She slowed her run when she saw men carrying bodies out through the gates. The mercenaries. All three. Dead.
Hamish was helping to carry one of the men and glanced in her direction. She had to know what the men had told her people. Had they implicated Quinn? Did Hamish know she’d been helping the man in charge of the mercenaries? Her heart was racing with concern, and she fought wringing her hands like Fenella did when she was worried.
Avelina waited respectfully for the men to pass, and then when they had moved away, she hurried to the gates. One of the guards shook his head at her. “You will have to return sooner than later from your trip to the outlying crofts. If your da or your uncle were here, they wouldna allow you to be wandering around on the island all day, right up until the sun sets, with the possibility that any other shipwreck survivors might be wandering around.”
“The men died,” she said, hoping Dar would tell her what they had said. But since he wasn’t accusing her of aiding Quinn, maybe he didn’t know about him. Maybe the mercenaries only mentioned Cormac, but she doubted they would have kept from naming Quinn as a co-conspirator, especially if they believed he might have survived.
“Aye, that’s what happens when you try to steal the chief’s daughter.”
Which meant the same fate awaited Quinn, should they discover him nearby. “Did they tell you that Cormac was behind it?”
“Aye, and his brother, Quinn. There was another man too, but the two of them must have perished in the sea and will feed the fishes because we’ve found no sign of them. You best be off to supper then, lass.”
“Aye, of course.” Avelina hurried to the keep and saw Fenella rushing out to greet her, Wolf at her side, and she wondered if Wolf had alerted her cousin she had returned.
When they were beyond anyone’s earshot, Fenella said conspiratorially, “I worried when Wolf found me, and you were no’ with him. Then I saw you speaking with Dar and waited until you were free.”
“And you were no’ wringing your hands?”
“Some. I am trying to break myself of the habit as I know it gets me into trouble with my da. What news have you?”
“He is safely there. I hope that he is able to make a shelter for himself and can find enough food when he runs out of what he has.”
They walked into the great hall together.
“I thought you were going to leave Wolf with…um, there.” Fenella amended when a woman walked past them.
“He was giving half his food to Wolf!”
Fenella glanced at Avelina and whispered, “Bribing him, so he could control Wolf?”
Avelina snorted. “I believe he’d already won him over.” She frowned. “Mayhap because he had bribed him!”
“They have called off the searches because they have no’ found any other men and need to keep after their own chores, but you know they will continue to search for anyone else while they are doing them.”
“Aye. If they dinna hunt for him elsewhere, and he can survive on his own, everything will be well.”
“For now, aye, but how long can he live on the island by himself?”
Avelina had thought about it a lot, and she wasn’t sure what to do about him. Fenella was right. He couldn’t live there like that forever. “I dinna know. Mayhap we could find him later and name him by another name. Say he is from a different clan. A fisherman who fell off his vessel during another storm?”
“We would have to wait for another storm, and what if it was long in coming?”
They took their seats.
“And let’s say our people took him in, then what? He isna a fisherman,” Fenella said.
“For now, he is.”
“What if they make him a fisherman here? When he truly is a warrior and a brother to a chief?”
“He would be at just as much risk returning home, if his brother only wants to kill him.” Avelina could imagine somehow getting him to the mainland, and then he would die at the hands of his brother.
“You could…wed him,” Fenella said, then took a bite of her bread.
Avelina choked on a mouthful of honeyed mead. “Cousin,” she said, hoarsely, between spasms of coughs.
“Sorry.” Fenella patted her back. “He is braw, and he kissed you. You are blushing again!”
“I am…coughing.”
“Dinna tell me you have no’ thought of it.” Then Fenella’s eyes widened. “You dinna plan to run away with him. He is a Highlander and you are—”
“Gaelic, some Scandinavian, and some Welsh. You know our forefathers made alliances with numerous other kingdoms through marriages, so they could fight against their enemies.”
“Even the Anglo-Normans.”
“Aye.”
“So, see, you have considered it.”
Avelina looked heavenward. “Now how could we do that? Swim to the mainland of Scotland?”
“Take Lendon’s fishing boat.”
“And perish.”
One of the women must have overheard some of their conversation, though they’d been speaking low, but most likely it was when Avelina had a coughing fit when her mead went down wrong.
“Who were you interested in marrying?” Gwyneth asked.
“No one,” Avelina said. The woman was attracted to her da, and she was always trying to find some way to get his attention. He always laughed at her jests and smiled at her, but Avelina had never seen him truly act drawn to the woman. Mayhap she thought if Avelina wanted to marry some man, her da would take more of an interest in having female companionship—a wife perchance.
“You can tell me. It would be just between the three of us. Unless you’ve told others,” Gwyneth said, tucking a loose black curl behind her ear.
“There is no one.”
“It’s hard to believe there is anyone since you’ve shown no interest in anyone that I’ve seen.”
Gwyneth had been spying on her. That made
Avelina uneasy. She had always been careful around the men, Hamish, in particular, because he watched both Fenella and her when their das were not here.
Then Gwyneth frowned. “He isna a farmer, is he? That’s no’ why you keep leaving to see the women who have no men to help them on their farms? Is it?” The woman’s brown eyes sparkled with intrigue. “Your da wouldna approve. You are the chief’s niece. Both of you will make alliances with some other clan.”
Then why ask if Avelina was interested in some man? But she didn’t like the disparaging way Gwyneth talked about the farmers. Her mother had been one, and her mother’s parents had been. Mayhap that was why Gwyneth didn’t seem to like them.
“Your da asked me to look out for you.” Gwyneth glanced at Fenella. “And your da as well.”
Avelina didn’t think her da had asked Gwyneth to watch out for her. He had never done so before. That was Hamish’s duty. “Has my da told you whom I’m to wed?” If Gwyneth knew that, then maybe she did have her da’s ear.
“Nay. Though dinna be surprised if your das come home from this latest conflict with contracts in hand for both of you. You dinna think they left with such a large force just to fight, do you? They wanted to show prospective allies what they had to offer to back up an alliance.”
Avelina and Fenella cast each either looks. Neither had heard any news of this. She was disheartened to think her da wouldn’t have spoken to her about this before he left. Not that she had any choice in the matter, but her mother had assured her that her da had promised he would talk to her first about a prospective contract. Her mother and da had been happy together and when she had died of a fever, he'd been heartbroken. Avelina wished she’d have the chance to marry a man that she loved like that. Her mother had been only a farmer’s daughter and had hopes of marrying a farmer’s son, until Avelina’s da had seen her working in the fields one day, and carried her off on his horse to the keep, declaring she would be his bride. Her mother had always spoken of how gallant he was, and how much she loved him.
Her da had not married to make an alliance with anyone. Why should she? Because half of the men that worked and trained here, were under her da’s allegiance, and he was under his brother’s, the chief. That meant he could command his men to fight in someone’s battle, if the chief consented.