“Laird,” Callum grunted, lifting his hammer in greeting.
“Do ye have enough hands?” Maxwell asked.
Callum hesitated. “We’re managing.”
“Managing is nae enough.”
Maxwell turned toward Finley. “Bring in two more smiths from Briar Hollow. And get word to Duncan MacAlpin. Tell him he's needed.”
Finley blinked. “Duncan? That gruff bastard?”
“If we need three more swords sharpened by nightfall, he’ll do it in one hour.”
Finley muttered something about Maxwell collecting difficult men the way other people collected coins, but he left at once.
Maxwell stepped into the center of the yard again, calling out to a cluster of men unloading barrels of salted meat.
“Put those in the second cellar. And keep the inventory straight. I want to ken exactly how much we have if O’Douglas tries to skim from the barrels.”
“Aye, Laird!”
Guards hustled. Horses snorted, stamping the ground. Smoke curled from dozens of hearths around the keep. Everywhere, someone carried something, fixed something, built something.
And Maxwell oversaw it all.
He moved through the keep like a storm in human form.
It wasn’t paranoia.
It was survival.
Two men passed him carrying a crate of torches.
“Ye’ll double the watch in the guest corridors starting tonight,” he ordered without slowing. “Nay one walks unescorted when O’Douglas’s men arrive—not even the kitchen girls.”
“Aye!”
Finley jogged back to Maxwell’s side as the laird finished ordering the extra guards for the guest corridors.
“That’s done,” Finley said. “But ye’ll want to hear this.”
“Go on.”
“One of the scouts returned early.” Finley lowered his voice. “He says he saw O’Douglas riders on thewestridge.”
Maxwell stopped mid-stride. “The west? That’s nae the route they sent word about.”
“Me thought exactly,” Finley said. “He said they werenae heading here. Looked like they were… studying.”
Maxwell’s jaw clenched. “Studying what.”
“Couldnae tell. The scout left before they saw him.”
Maxwell exhaled slowly. “A man doesnae detour for nay reason.”
Finley nodded grimly. “So I told the scout to stay quiet and sent two more to confirm.”
Before Maxwell could answer, a kitchen girl rushed toward them, breathless. “Laird…”
