A deep chuckle and then another loud yawn. “Go check the horses, boy.”
Peeping through the dense brush, Lilia searched the cleared area the men had scraped out in the middle of an overgrown dip in the mountainside. Their camp was tiny, barely big enough for two. No fire. Apparently, they didn’t wish to be found any more than she did.
The heavier man, balding with a scraggly fringe of gray sprouting down around his ears, settled deeper into his plaid, then tucked his chin to his chest. “Ye’ve got first watch. Wake me after a few hours.”
“Why’ve I got first watch? Ye stayed here drinking all the ale whilst I searched for the witch.” A knob-kneed youth, pimply-faced and crowned with carrot-red hair, kicked the boot of the older man lounging against a tree.
The reclining man didn’t even open his eyes, just resettled his folded arms across his chest. “Ye kick me boot again and ye’ll never wake up the next time ye choose to close yer eyes.”
Lilia could see the boy’s oversized Adam’s apple skitter up, then down his long neck in a hard swallow. Leeriness rolled off the boy in thick waves. Lilia smiled. Breathing came a bit easier with the knowledge that the odds were in her favor. The kid was unsure of himself. Inexperienced. Stealing the horses would be easier.
The frustrated lad stood there a moment longer, staring down at the now snoring man as though struggling to decide if it was worth the risk to challenge his elder. His insecurities finally won out. With knotted fists shaking at his sides, he jerked away and stomped out of the clearing.
Lilia waited a moment longer, closely watching the sleeping man. Something wasn’t right. The emotions he was sending out were too strong and active. Sleepy drunks didn’t ping her senses with the alertness of a predator.
Just as she thought. The old faker.The wily warrior barely lifted his head, a smug look wrinkling his grubby face as his narrow-eyed gaze followed the boy. A quiet chuckle shifted him as he settled back down and closed his eyes.
Lilia waited until she was certain the man slept for real this time. She preferred not to tangle with a seasoned warrior. She could easily handle the boy. Carefully skirting the clearing, her steps were muffled by years of dried pine needles carpeting the ground in thick layers. She homed in on the boy’s fiery emotions and his steady stream of hushed cursing.
“Lazy old bastard. I’ll show ’im what for one of these days.” The boy stumbled and fell against one of the horses. The massive beast barely shifted, swished his long black tail, and flipped it in the boy’s face. “Leave off!” The boy shoved the horse as he righted himself to his feet. “Dunno how the hell I’m s’posed to check on the damn animals. Can’t see a thing without fire nor torch!”
The boy was right.The fading light wasn’t exactly helping her observe her prey either. But she had to get the horses before the moon rose much higher. Lilia crept closer.Come on, kid. Get somewhere and steal a snooze. You know you want to.The more she watched the sullen youth, the more she realized that wasn’t around to happen. The boy’s angst was keeping him wide awake. Her own angst was keeping her on edge too. Precious time was slipping away. She needed those horses. Now.
Lilia rolled the solid hardwood staff in her hands. Time to help laddie boy take a nap. She’d been penalized in several Highland competitions for knocking out her opponents when her temper got the best of her. She had a reputation for beaning them in the back of the head—much like she’d done to Graham after he’d spanked her. All her competitors had learned never to turn their backs on her when she was mad. But the unsuspecting Buchanan teenager wouldn’t know that.
The boy shuffled toward her, glaring down at the ground as he kicked up clumps of pine needles in front of him. He paused within a few feet of her, stopping right in front of a large chunk of limestone. He stared at it for a long moment, stole a quick glance back at the horses, then stood on tiptoe and peered in the direction of the clearing where the old man’s guttural snoring was rattling through the trees.
Lilia sank lower and held her breath.Turn around, kid. Sit on the rock. Make this easier for both of us.She didn’t want to kill the boy—just knock him senseless long enough to get away with both the horses.
The red-haired lad sniffed, wiped his runny nose with the back of one hand, then plopped down in front of the rock and leaned back against it. With one last glance toward the direction of camp, he flopped his long legs wider apart, shoved his plaid to one side, and softly groaned out a loud sigh.
Oh, good heavens. Seriously? The up-and-down motion of the young man’s pale right arm shining in the moonlight told her exactly what he was doing.
She silently rose and choked up on the walking stick as if stepping up to bat, then swung hard, making solid contact with the back of the unsuspecting youth’s skull. She jumped to one side and drew back again in case she’d missed her mark. Mr. MacSulky might not be a man yet but he was well on his way. But there was no need for another hit. The boy went limp, falling to one side with his dick still in his hand.
She removed the shoulder straps from her backpack and secured the boy’s ankles together with one of the straps, pulling the nylon material tight and resealing the hook-and-loop closures. Shoving him over until his hands were behind his back, she tied his wrists together, then pulled that strap down to the one tied around his ankles. She lashed them snug until the unconscious youth was lying bent backward with his hands locked to his heels.
Pulling her cloth headband out of the bag’s side pocket, she wrapped it around a small pinecone and knotted it in the center of the strip. She forced the wadded cloth in between the boy’s teeth and tied it at the back of his head.
That should slow him.Between her knotwork and the headache he was going to have, even if he did come around in the next hour or so, it would take him a while to sound the alarm. Almost as an afterthought, she discreetly settled the boy’s plaid over the prized part that had kept him occupied while she took aim. Poor guy. No sense adding insult to injury.
And now for the horses.Lilia took a deep breath, calming herself as much as possible. She didn’t need to transmit her anxiety to the animals. Walking toward them with her hand held palm up, she kept her tone low and soothing. “Hello, my friends. Ready for a bit of a run?”
Both horses studied her, each of them flicking an ear in interest. She untied the smaller of the two from the rope strung between two tall pines and attached the ruddy-coated mare to the back of the much larger stallion’s saddle. She made sure there was enough slack in the reins between the two horses before guiding them over to the limestone boulder beside their still unconscious caretaker.
Using the large rock to boost herself up, she launched herself onto the back of the great black brute, settling comfortably in the well-worn saddle. This horse reminded her of Odin. “I hope you’ve got my friend’s stamina and speed,” she said softly as she kneed him forward.
The slack went out of the reins between the two horses and Lilia’s mount stopped. She looked back, her heart panging at the sight of the chestnut mare nosing the young man while softly grumbling as though telling him to rise. It was obvious the horse cared for the boy but it couldn’t be helped. She didn’t dare leave a horse behind for the men. Lilia gently but firmly pulled the reins while at the same time urging the black stallion forward.
The reluctant horse finally took a few steps then stopped again, flicked her ears at Lilia, then looked back at the young man lying just behind her. Deathly still, the pale boy looked an eerie blue white by the light of the rising moon.
Before Lilia could pull on the reins again, the mare hiked her tail. An avalanche of steaming turds splatted and bounced across the ground, coming to rest in a well-aimed pile plastered up against the unconscious lad’s head. The horse bobbed her nose in an up-and-down wave, swished her tail, then trotted past Lilia and the stallion, taking the lead as far as her reins would allow.
Apparently, the mare didn’t like the boy as much as she thought.Lilia hurried the horses quietly away from the camp, keeping them to the silence of the pine-needled woods. With one last glance back, she barely made out the dark outline of the still form against the moonlit backdrop of the limestone boulder. “Sweet dreams, laddie,” she whispered.
Clearing the woods and heading to higher ground, Lilia urged the horses to a faster pace. She had a lot of ground to cover in very little time.
CHAPTER23
