“Why are you transporting Alfred by farm wagon? Wouldn’t it be quicker by car? Or even better, by ambulance?”
He glanced at her. “Ye ask a lot of questions, lass, and I dinna ken most of the things ye ask. Ambulance? Car?”
She shook her head. “This is all wrong,” she muttered under her breath. “I was just at Bettie’s house. How can I be here? With a bunch of soldiers and a criminal?”
She seemed agitated, confused even. Beneath her strange coat she was wearing an even stranger garment. It was sky blue in color and covered her from neck to knees with a pair of stockings beneath and boots up to her ankles. Was it some kind of healer’s garb? He had no idea, but that, coupled with her mannerisms and odd turn of speech, made him wonder if she was some kind of outlander.
“Ye aren’t from around here, are ye, lass?”
“Not originally,” she agreed with a shake of her head. “Although I live in Edinburgh now. I stayed there after uni. I come from Wales.” She fell silent for a while, staring out over the landscape as it rolled by. “How about you?”
“I was born in Edinburgh,” he replied in a low voice.
“And how did you join the military?”
“Ye mean the Order of the Osprey? That’s a long story.”And not one I’m willing to discuss, so don’t ask.
Perhaps picking up on his mood, the lass didn’t press the matter. Instead, she swiveled on the seat and looked down at Alfred Brewer.
“How’s he doing?” she asked Magnus and Emeric.
“He’s barely shut up since we left,” Magnus growled. “So I take that as a good sign. Keeps complaining about how much pain he’s in.”
“So would ye if ye’d had yer leg almost ripped off!” Alfred said, glaring indignantly at his captors.
“Ye shouldnae have tried to escape then should ye?” Emeric said. “Anyone with half a brain would have realized that incline was too steep for climbing. Ye are lucky ye only broke yer leg and not yer neck.”
“He wouldnae have escaped at all if we hadnae had to stop to move that fallen tree out of the way,” Magnus rumbled. “I told ye that road would be difficult at this time of year.”
Emeric’s brows rose. “Oh, so it’smyfault now is it? If we’d have gone yer way we’d have been set upon by brigands for sure!”
“Oh, and ye can see the future now, can ye?” Magnus returned.
Oskar sighed. They were giving him a headache. The three of them had been on the road for nearly a week with only themselves and their prisoner for company. Tempers were getting a little frayed. He glanced behind. Magnus and Emericwere glaring at each other with murder in their eyes. And they dared callhimthe bad-tempered one!
“Enough!” he snapped. “We willnae achieve aught by arguing!”
Magnus and Emeric nodded sullenly, still glaring at each other. Lily, on the other hand, watched the exchange with a mix of concern and amusement.
“I must apologize for my sword-brothers,” Oskar said. “We’ve been on the road a long time and they’re getting a little twitchy.”
She gave a wry smile. “It’s alright. I get it. It’s a bit like being stuck in a car with your siblings during a long road trip. You know each other too well and can’t escape.”
Oskar snorted. “Aye, there’s some truth to that all right.”
She winced suddenly, and shifted awkwardly on the bench as though trying to find a comfortable position.
“Are ye all right, lass?”
“I’m fine. I just get a bit stiff if I stay in one position too long.”
He nodded although he suspected she wasn’t being entirely truthful. He’d been a warrior long enough to know the look of true pain when he saw it.
Silence fell as the countryside rolled by on each side. Lily shivered.
“Cold, lass?”
“A little. It’s warmer down in the valleys. How long till spring makes its way up here, I wonder?”
