Niall shrugged. “Mead will do fine if ’tis not too much trouble.”
“Ach, no trouble at all. Ethne is just lazy.” The woman paused, offering them a sweet smile, then hollered, “Ethne!”
The lass was the only one moving about, seeing to the things that needed to get done, doing as she was told.
Niall and Aldred settled not far from the fire, but Lachlann remained closer to Ethne. It seemed a safer place to remain for her sake. He didn’t miss the way Uradech glared at her from across the room.
Malcolm interrupted the companionable silence . “And what are ye three doing around here? ’Tis a bit out of the way.”
“We heard of the caves along the coast. Holy Man’s cave in particular.” Niall turned to include Aldred and Lachlann. “As pilgrims, it seemed a worthy journey to come to such a holy place.”
“Pilgrims? Ye’re claiming to be pilgrims?” Uradech’s sarcastic comment made Domelch sit up at attention. Malcolm, too, if at a little slower pace.
Something was making the man bolder. He’d had little to say the night before.
“Holy Man? We have our own holy man,” Malcolm said.
“Oh?” Niall asked.
Unexpected tension tightened Lachlann’s limbs, peaking his alertness.
“Aidan. He is our leader. A holy man.”
Lachlann relaxed. That didn’t sound quite the same as a monk. Or a clerk.
Niall wasn’t sure either. “Yer chieftain?”
“He was marked as our leader when still a child. When he was grown, he was anointed as such. If ye choose to stay with us awhile, I’m sure ye’ll meet him.”
Malcolm seemed to have no memory of how they’d met the day before or, at the very least, that Aidan had been there.
Niall frowned. “He was the one who brought us here.”
Malcolm scrunched his face, no doubt searching his foggy memory. Apparently finding nothing, he shrugged.
“And have ye always been ‘pilgrims’?” Uradech asked in the same sarcastic tone as his earlier comment.
Aldred sat forward. He was primed for an argument now. It was there in his eyes, which never wavered from the large man. “Pilgrim is what a man is called when he is on a journey to a sacred place. A religious place. Aholyplace.”
Lachlann hoped his friend would keep to their plan and not start any trouble for them. Uradech was irritating in the extreme, even if Aldred hadn’t witnessed the man bothering Ethne.
“No, we have not always been traveling,” Aldred said, then turned away. Leastwise he was trying to avoid an argument.
“And ye, Uradech?” Lachlann tried to sound more amicable than he felt. When Ethne paused in stirring the pot, he had doubts about his success but kept his attention on Uradech. “What is it ye do here?”
“He is my brother.” Domelch sounded defensive but, as if realizing that, she offered a wide smile that didn’t reach her eyes and continued. “He has been away for many years, but now, he is here among us and we have much to celebrate.”
Ah! Now that Uradech’s sister was awake, he could be more outspoken. Lachlann followed her gaze to Ethne, who kept her head averted. She did not look interested in any celebration.
“The porridge is done, m’lady,” Ethne said.
Strange use of the title. Niall and Aldred seemed to notice it as well.
Uradech swaggered over to her side, but with such a large stomach, could he honestly walk any other way? Not a handsome man. Not with that large nose and those beady little eyes. The red hair that might be becoming on his sister made him look sickly and pale. He had a smug look on his face when he passed Lachlann and placed an arm about Ethne’s small shoulders, who immediately tried to shake it off. “I can assist ye.”
Domelch all but gushed at the exchange, even smacking Malcolm’s arm so he would see it, too. Lachlann had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“I am fine,” Ethne said in a low voice. She did not seem fine.
