Chapter 12

12

“ O ne of you then?” Isobel pointed her sword from her supposed rivals—Mege, then to Marioziota, and Theebet. Their scornful looks would not intimidate her. But she would show them they had never better draw a sgian dubh or sword on her, or they would be sorry if they were brave enough to test her.

Isobel sheathed her sword since everyone was done, and the women who wanted to challenge her with scowls wouldn’t step up to practice fighting with her. She finally saw Conall drinking mead off to the western part of the inner bailey, observing her. He should have been practicing fighting still!

He smiled at her and saluted her with his flask.

“I’m off to the croft,” Isobel told Alasdair. “I must see that everyone is doing well.”

“Will you have dinner with us?” Alasdair asked.

Bessetta shook her head as if annoyed with her brother for not telling Isobel where she should be.

“You plan to take care of Cleary and Baine. I would rather be at the croft protecting my family, should things turn out…badly.”

“Aye. Then on the morrow? We’ll see you to break our fast.” This time, Alasdair said it as a command, not a question.

Bessetta sighed with obvious relief. Isobel was amused that his sister seemed to want to get to know her better. Or maybe Isobel and Alasdair might get to know each other better.

Isobel noted Alasdair did not mention coming to the loch this evening, but she suspected it was because so many people were within hearing distance, and he didn’t want to announce it to the clan. She hoped it wasn’t because he was worried about how they would observe him seeing her in private.

Then Isobel hugged Elene. “I will see you again soon.”

“Aye. Be safe.”

“I will.” Isobel headed towards the stables to retrieve her horse, silently gesturing to Conall to accompany her.

Before they could reach the stable, a young boy appeared and brought out both of their horses.

“I will return on the morrow,” Conall told Rory, who had been working with him on mending the wall earlier in the day.

“Aye, see you then.” Rory patted Conall’s horse on the rump.

Then Isobel smiled at Alasdair. “See you then also.”

“Aye, lass. Be safe.”

Isobel and Conall rode out of the inner bailey to the outer one and off into the meadow, through some woods, crossed a shallow creek, then reached the bracken near the croft.

“What will you call your horse?” Isobel asked Conall.

“Bramble. And yours?”

“Thistle.”

Conall twisted his mouth in thought. “Do you believe the pack leader will want to mate you?”

“It is to be seen. Mayhap.”

“I saw the way those women scorned you.”

“Mege seems to be the one showing the most animosity.”

“What would you have done if they had fought you in practice? Held back like you did with the other lasses? Or would you have shown them how powerful you truly are?”

“What do you think?”

“You would have knocked their swords from their grips and struck them with your shield, forcing them back to where they would have fallen on their arses.”

“That’s what I would have liked to have done. But Alasdair and everyone else had been watching. How would he have viewed me if I had done that?” Isobel sighed.

She would have done what Conall said if she hadn’t had such an audience to prove how deadly she could be to the women.

Conall smiled. “He is much impressed with your prowess with a sword. Now, he was concerned, and rightfully so, when you fought his sister and the midwife. He had started to fight Erik, but then both stopped to watch you fight Bessetta.”

“And you?”

Conall laughed. “I was fighting to prove my worth. I know how you fight and how gentle you can be since you practice with Elene and my siblings. But Alasdair wasn’t sure how well Elene could fight against you either. When it comes to women who are your enemies, that’s another story.”

“Mayhap, but they are part of the pack and probably have families here also. So how did you do against the Scottish lads?”

“After besting three of them, Lorne said it was time for me to fight the men.”

Proud of Conall, Isobel laughed. “I can imagine. I wish I had been watching you. How did you do against the men?”

“Let’s just say I was…challenged. They certainly didna hold back, wanting to prove a lad couldna best them .”

She smiled. “I’m glad. Back home, your da certainly wouldna let you shirk your duty at learning to better yourself at fighting.”

“No’ me. Some of the lads wanted to see you fight some of the men.”

“I bet they did.”

When they finally arrived back at the croft, they saw the twins sitting in a boat fishing with Dawy on the mirror-like loch.

“Now that’s what I like to see.” Isobel loved that Dawy was treating the twins like he was their da.

“Yeah, hopefully, they catch some fish, though you willna be eating any of it.”

“Nay, I’m staying here with you and the family in case something goes wrong with Cleary and Baine.”

They waved at Dawy and the kids.

“We’re fishing!” Drummond shouted as if they couldn’t see that.

“I hope you’re catching some!” Conall shouted back.

“We are!”

“Good.”

Then Isobel and Conall dismounted, and Conall took hold of their horses’ reins.

“Thanks, Conall.”

“You know he means to mate you. Just giving us the horses shows how much he cares for you.”

“ Ja. Aye.” The horses were a godsend. She had hidden her excitement in front of Alasdair, grateful that he had given them to them. She didn't quite know how to express her gratitude without seeming too overjoyed, as though she believed he truly wanted to mate her. She could see making a fool of herself in front of him.

Agnes left the croft and greeted them. “Are you staying with us for the evening meal?”

“If Dawy and the twins catch enough fish.” Isobel smiled.

“Alasdair wanted her to eat with him,” Conall said after leading the horses to the water.

“Oooh,” Agnes said. “I knew that would happen.”

Isobel loved her for being caring and joyful like her mother had been. “But I’m staying here with all of you. Have the twins behaved all day?”

“They have. They are so helpful, learning how to cook, fishing with Dawy, and swimming with me. They’ve been great. And Conall has been, too.”

“I’m glad they’re being good.”

“Will you be returning the keep…to guard it?” Agnes asked.

Now Agnes was fishing for what would happen between Alasdair and Isobel.

“Nay. What can I help you with?”

“I was going to wash. Do you want to go with me to the stream?”

“Aye, of course.”

They went into the croft and bundled up the clothes Agnes wanted to wash, including Isobel and her cousins' clothes still caked with salt from the trip across the ocean. Isobel hoped Agnes hadn’t planned to clean all their clothes by herself.

“What are you going to do?” Isobel asked Conall as they left the croft.

“Repair that one wall on the south side of the barn. It took a beating when we were hunkered down in the cave.”

“Oh, good.” Isobel smiled at him. She was so proud of him. She took more than half of the bundle of clothes from Agnes, and they walked on the well-worn path through the bracken to a small stream. She’d heard its gentle gurgling in the distance whenever she’d left the croft. She hadn’t had the chance to explore the area yet and was glad the stream was nearby.

She dipped her hand in the cool stream, relishing the feeling of the water against her skin.

Agnes smiled at her, a crinkle forming at the corner of her eyes. "I'm glad you and your kin found your way to us," she said, her voice soft and comforting.

Isobel nodded, silently thanking Agnes once again for taking them all in.

“Alasdair loaned you the horses?” Agnes asked.

“Nay. He gave them to Conall and me.” Isobel explained his reasoning.

Agnes smiled. “Aye. I see. I wanted to talk to you about something though.” She sounded a little concerned. “Cleary and Baine quickly came by here while Dawy and the twins were fishing. My husband and the children didna see the brothers, but I wondered why they had come here.”

“Because they know we’re Icelanders.”

“That’s what they were asking about.”

Isobel began cleaning Libby’s spare clothes. “What did you tell them?”

“That you were with our clan. The question rattled me, and I wasna sure what to say. I know they want to be members of the clan—safety in numbers—and they are eager to help in any way they can. But if they’re wolves, none of us know how they’ll react. I didna want to reveal that you were from Iceland. They’re serious about killing any Viking raiders they meet.”

“So they met the same marauders Alasdair and his men were dealing with?”

“Aye. Baine told me they killed two of the ones who had raided a nearby village. The one where the prisoners were taken.” Agnes beat on Dawy’s spare trewes to clean them.

Isobel didn’t want to have to tell anyone in the pack that Ari and the other man guarding the longships were with the clan she and her cousins had lived with. Then Cleary and Baine would think the worst of them. “We’re no’ Viking raiders.”

“Of course no’.” Agnes beat Dawy’s clothes more as if trying to relieve her frustrations.

Isobel worried about the safety of her kin. “They wouldna hurt you and Dawy for allowing us to stay with you, would they?”

If that were the case, she and her cousins would be better off staying at the castle. But then she recalled that Alasdair said he was turning them tonight.

“Nay. And they willna hurt any of you either.”

But Dawy couldn’t fight easily with a broken leg, and both were the age of Isobel’s da and mother, so she worried about them. Even though her mother and da had been fighters, Agnes and her husband were farmers, not warriors.

“Alasdair plans to turn them tonight.”

“Oh?” Agnes shook her head. “I dinna know if that’s a good thing or bad.”

“I know. That’s what I worry about. That’s why I willna be returning to the castle tonight. I want to be here in case they come here causing trouble.”

Agnes nodded. “We’ve never had any trouble from the brothers. Hopefully, once they are part of the wolf pack and realize we’re all wolves and need to be there for each other, they will no longer have any animosity toward you and your family if they have it now.”

When they finished the wash and carried the wrung-out clothes back to the croft, Dawy and the twins had arrived back at shore. They had caught enough fish to cook for dinner and had smoked trout for extra meals.

“You know we will need to make clothes that will blend in with how we dress here,” Agnes said.

“Aye.” That was another chore that needed to be done.

Conall carried the fish to a table outside and prepared them while the twins watched.

“I want to do that,” Drummond said.

Conall shook his head. “Not now. When you’re a little older.”

Agnes and Isobel hung the clothes to dry and then went inside the house. Dawy was sitting on a bench resting.

“How is your leg?” Isobel poured a fresh tankard of honeyed mead and handed it to him.

“Better. It’s been two weeks since the accident and I should only have another week before it’s mostly healed.”

“As long as you rest it,” Agnes said, getting ready to bake bread.

“How were the twins?” Isobel asked.

Dawy laughed. “I have never made as great a catch as we did today. They brought me luck and caught some themselves, though one trout nearly pulled Libby overboard.”

Isobel smiled, thinking back to when she and Conall couldn’t catch anything the morning Alasdair found them and took them into his pack.

“He’s telling the truth.” Agnes kneaded the bread.

“What did Cleary and Baine want?” Dawy asked.

Agnes glanced at him. “You saw them?”

“Aye. I kept the twins on the loch in case the brothers thought to cause trouble for them.”

Isobel thought the world of him. She was glad he was as wary as she was when it came to anyone visiting without invitation.

Agnes let out her breath. “They wanted to know if Isobel and her kin were related to the Vikings who fought our people.”

Dawy frowned. “What did you tell them?”

“Naught. They must speak to Alasdair, but he plans to turn them tonight.”

“Och, then we might have to eliminate them.”

“Aye,” Agnes said.

“Where did the horses come from?” Dawy asked.

Isobel hoped he didn’t believe that Conall and she had stolen them.

“Oh, Alasdair gave them to Isobel and Conall,” Agnes said in a way that made it sound as though he was sweet on Isobel.

“In case of trouble,” Isobel said, explaining Alasdair’s reasoning.

Dawy and Agnes exchanged looks and smiled.

Conall carried the fish inside so that Agnes and Isobel could cook it. Truthfully, she had done a lot of cooking for her cousins, but she still preferred any duty other than that.

Still, the notion nagged at her that she hadn’t been perfectly honest with them or with Alasdair about the man she had killed. What if they thought she and her cousins had been learning the trade and hadn’t been alone if she told them how she knew Ari?

What if Libby or Drummond let it slip that the man Isobel had killed on the beach was Ari, the cousin to the chieftain of the clan they had belonged to?

They all sat down to eat dinner, but Isobel had to tell them the truth. “I have something I have to tell you about.”

Everyone looked at her with rabid attention.

“The Viking watchman I killed on the beach? That was Ari, cousin to the chieftain who ruled over the clan we belonged to in Iceland.”

“I canna believe you didna insist Isobel eat with us during the dinner,” Bessetta said.

“You know the reason,” Alasdair said. “She is worried for her kin if Cleary and Baine should go to the croft and try to hurt them.”

Bessetta scoffed.

Alasdair smiled. “Once we know that the brothers willna bother them, I will insist that Isobel eat every meal with us.”

Bessetta brightened.

“She gave you a good workout,” Alasdair said.

“Aye. And I will be feeling it for days. But I want to work with her again. She’s a great teacher. All the rest of the afternoon, Rheba couldna sing enough praises of her either.” Bessetta ate some of her fish soup. “Though Mege and her lady friends said disparaging things.”

Alasdair waited to hear what they had said, but Bessetta didn’t tell him. “What disparaging things?”

“That Isobel is just as wild as the ones who raided the villages. Rheba and I defended Isobel. So did Elene, but it didna matter.”

Alasdair shook his head. He normally didn’t listen to women’s gossip and bickering when it happened. Bessetta could manage it the best. But when it came to Isobel, he didn’t like hearing anyone disparaging her name.

Alasdair looked around the great hall from the high table and saw no sign of Cleary and Baine. Concerned, he asked Hans, “Where are the brothers?”

“Cleary and Baine?” Hans asked.

“Aye. I dinna see them anywhere in the great hall. Were they no’ told to eat with us?”

“Lorne told them, but he’s up on the wall walk, training a new guard,” Hans said. “Mayhap they wanted to serve guard duty?” Hans shook his head. “I’ll check on it.” Hans hurried off.

Bessetta frowned at Alasdair. “What is the matter? You dinna think they learned you’ll ambush them in the barracks tonight, do you? I mean, no one would tell them they would be bitten and turned into wolf shifters, but maybe they were worried something bad would happen?”

What worried Alasdair most was that Cleary and Baine would head for the croft and do something to Isobel and her kin. He rose from the head table. “Continue with your meal.”

Rory joined him and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Get a group of half a dozen men, in addition to ourselves, including Hans. If he doesna find them up on the wall walk, we’re heading for the MacEachen’s croft.”

“On it.” Rory ran out of the great hall, and Alasdair stalked after him, swearing that if the brothers hurt any of the Icelandic family, he would kill them—forget about turning them.