Her lips tightened.“Then I will stay, my lord.And I will stand vigil with my husband.”
Quinn smiled.“I thank you for such courage.”
“This is our home, sir.We defend what is our own.”She nodded at Lothair.“If you are willing to teach me, sir, I would learn some of your skill while you are here.”
Lothair nodded.“That distance to Annossy can be too much if there is illness.We shall talk about the healing plants and their uses.”
The miller’s wife beamed with satisfaction.“I knew all would be well when the Lady Melissande took a husband,” she said with a nod.“There were others who said she should choose with greater haste, but her family have always ensured the welfare of those beneath their hand.”
“And I will see that tradition continued,” Quinn vowed, to their obvious satisfaction.“And what of your grandson?Would you keep him here or have us escort him back to Annossy?”
“He could remain with Xavier in the village,” the miller said.
“Let him choose,” his wife said.“He knows the risk and I would be glad of his companionship, but the choice must be his.Our new lord is wise in this matter.”
Quinn turned to the boy who nodded with a resolve that showed his resemblance to his grandmother.“I will stay, sir.”
Quinn nodded approval of that.“Have you a knife?”
The boy nodded and produced it.It was a better blade than Quinn had feared it might be.
“Niall will instruct you in its use for defense while he is here,” he offered.
“Like a knight’s training, sir!”
Quinn smiled.“Not quite, but such skill as he can teach you will be of use no matter what your trade.”
The miller nodded approval, then took his wife’s hand and dropped to his knees.
“Let us pledge our fealty to the new Lord d’Annossy,” he said.His wife nodded and followed suit, and Quinn looked up in time to see Amaury’s nod of approval.
He would master this responsibility yet.
Niall had foundtracks at the ford, hoof prints embedded in the frozen mud on the far bank.After the wood for the fire was laid and the miller supplied with tinder, Quinn made to take his leave.The knights conferred over the tracks and agreed that there was evidence of two or perhaps three palfreys.Two tracks were distinctive, one showing a nick from the shoe and a second in which a nail from the shoe made a larger impression.The tracks led into the forest on the far bank, then were lost in the undergrowth there.
“You see?”one of the men-at-arms said.“They escaped and, with horses, they could be in Rome by now.”
Quinn doubted that this man had been through the Beauvoir pass of late, but he merely nodded agreement and surveyed the surroundings.There was no place within any proximity for horses to be stabled or bandits to be hidden.
Save the mill itself.
Kudon, indeed.
“I would ask you two to take the road back to Annossy, and seek any signs of horses on either side of that path,” Quinn instructed the two men-at-arms.“Bayard will ride with you and explain my orders to Gaultier once you arrive at Annossy.”
The pair exchanged glances, their suspicion clear.
Quinn kept his expression bland.“The day is so fine that I would hunt before returning to Annossy.Such a forest as this must be thick with game!”
“Deer and pheasant abound, sir,” supplied Robert.
“Ah!How I have missed the hunt,” Quinn lied.“We have neither beaters nor dogs, Amaury, but I say we shall make a fine day of it all the same.”
“Indeed,” Amaury agreed with enthusiasm and they laughed together as if carefree.
Bayard led the pair toward Annossy, and Quinn spoke quickly to his fellows, telling them of Kudon.
“You think the villains might have circled back to the mill?”Amaury asked when they were alone.
