“What kind of name is that?” the grizzled old man asked, his bushy eyebrows rising.
Izzy laughed despite herself. “OneIdidn’t choose! But as you can see from the way he took that bread, it suits him. Snaffling food is his favorite pastime.”
There was quiet laughter and Izzy felt her heart lighten. It felt good to hear people laugh. It was so...normal.
Izzy thought suddenly of Magnus. She’d left him outside. She excused herself quietly, then she and Snaffles slipped through the sea of tired and injured people, and out into the evening air.
Chapter 7
The smell of smoke, which had been drowned out by other smells inside Morwenna and Able’s house, hit her the moment she stepped outside. A breeze had sprung up, stirring the ash and other debris in the burnt-out houses. It was full dark now, the only light coming from the fires that were still burning.
Izzy shivered. The thought of spending the night in a fifteenth century Highland village wasnotappealing.
She hurried quickly through the village and found Magnus with a group of villagers clustered around him, all talking over each other. Izzy slowed and watched from a distance, noting how Magnus interacted with those around him. He listened more than he spoke and when he did speak, it was with a calm authority that seemed to quell the fear and anger of the villagers who were falling over themselves to tell him what had happened here.
She wondered who Magnus was. Did he have a family? Was there someone waiting for him back home? She knew very little about him beyond the fact that he’d been tracking outlaws alone in the wilderness.
Izzy moved a bit closer, trying to catch his words. He and the villagers were discussing defenses and strategies should the outlaws come again, and Magnus was quietly giving advice on warning systems and other things that might help.
Just then, a woman pushed her way through the crowd to stand before him. She looked to be in her mid-forties,strong yet worn from years of hard living. Her dark eyes held a determined spark and her lips were pressed into a thin line.
“I saw them,” she said urgently. “I saw those raiders arrive.”
Magnus’s attention shifted to the woman. “What did ye see?”
“Oh, I saw plenty! I was out cutting peat when they came. I hid myself behind an old cart and watched as they rode in on their fine horses. There had to be twenty of them, maybe more.” Her voice held a trace of fear, but mostly anger. “They swarmed over the village like locusts. They...” She trailed off, her eyes glistening.
“Did ye see who led them?” Magnus asked. “Was it a red-haired man with a braid?” Izzy recognized the description of the outlaw leader they’d seen earlier.
“Nay, the redhead was part of it, but he wasnae in charge,” the woman replied, shaking her head. “But I saw the bastard who was. He stayed out of sight most times, the coward. But he didnae know where I was hiding, and so I saw him limp into view and watch while his cronies torched our homes and took everything we had.” She paused to make a face, her lip curling in disgust. “A small man he was, and limped like he had a bad leg or some such and walked with a stick. But he was the ring leader all right. The others did exactly what he said. He didnae come near the village, letting the others do his dirty work.”
Magnus’s eyes flickered with sudden intensity. He leaned closer to the woman. “A small man? And he walked with a limp? Ye are sure?”
His voice had lost its authority and was now filled with something that Izzy couldn’t quite place. Unease, definitely. Yet something else as well. Fear?
The woman nodded vigorously. “Aye. Looked like his leg was crushed or twisted or some such. And I found this in one of the houses they torched. Looks like one of them left it behind.” She held out a sword hilt with the blade broken off. “Dinna know if it will help.”
Magnus took the broken sword, but said nothing. He looked troubled. Who was this man with the limp? Izzy hadn’t noticed anyone like that amongst the camp of outlaws they’d seen earlier.
A sudden bellow shattered the evening. “Ye! Ye brought this on us!”
