“We happened upon a verra helpful maid in the second tavern we entered. Ne’er forget to pay the wenches weel,” Simon said. “She was verra angry at a certain scarred fellow because he gave her so little. Anyway, she said he and his friends were weel kenned to be the sort who did most anything for coin. Then the friends pulled him away from her charming company. They have gone off somewhere but she is sure they will be back.”
“The question is, what have they been hired to do?”
“Nothing good. Him and the four men with him are brutes. Men who hire themselves out to do the dirty work, like killing, and ye get no blood on you.”
“Then we wait. At least we ken where they will be soon. Better than having to search the land for miles around just to get a sighting.” He sighed. “Anyone for a game of chess?”
“Bored, are ye?” said Uven as he moved to sit on the pallet and watched Callum set out the chessboard.
“I have been stuck in a cave for weeks.” Callum felt no more needed to be said.
“Ah, true. I fear I would nay remain as sweet of temper as ye have.”
“I dinnae understand how ye can say I am sweet-tempered.”
“Ye arenae ranting.”
Callum stared at his cousin as Uven studied the move he wanted to make. “I dinnae rant.”
Uven just laughed as he made his move and waited for Callum to take a turn. “Aye, ye do, and what is happening here would have been sure to get ye enraged. We will sort it out. I have learned enough about the men to ken they are nay the smartest group. They will err or we will get lucky and we will have them.”
“I pray ye have the right of it, Cousin. I want this over and done.”
Chapter Eight
Something began to trouble Bethoc as she drew near her house. She kept looking around but saw no one. Yet she began to creep toward her house, careful to stay in the shadows and use the trees for cover. She had just been to visit Callum, anticipating time spent in his arms after three days without him, only to be disappointed to find his friends there. Now she wondered if she might have a need of them soon.
She stopped at the edge of the tree line and alarm hit her so hard it sped up her heartbeat, leaving her feeling winded. There were five horses tied up in front of the house. She looked all around the house but saw no sign of the riders or, she realized, her brothers. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she darted across the open area and crouched beneath the tiny window at the side of the house, the one closest to the woods.
Bethoc was just about to peer inside when a cry of pain caught her attention. She felt her heart leap into her throat and prayed it was not one of the boys. If those five horses meant the men who had hurt Callum were here, she feared for her whole family. Men who would do what they had done to Callum were not the sort to show mercy to anyone, even children.
“I told ye! I dinnae ken who ye are talking about!”
Her father’s voice was high with fear. Bethoc looked at the five horses again and her heart sank. The men who had hurt Callum and taken Cathan had obviously found out who had stolen the boy from them. She might not consider Kerr Matheson her father any longer but her heart still clenched with fear for him. This could not end well. And where were the children?
Risking the very real possibility of being seen, she took a deep breath and inched up to peer in the window. Kerr was tied to a chair and all five men had their backs to her. She could see no sign of the children in the house. Then, suddenly, her eyes met Kerr’s. He quickly averted his gaze but she had seen his fear. She had also seen a brief flare of hope, one that had died too swiftly. She wondered if it had been because Kerr could not believe she would help him or because he had the sense to know she could not.
“Fool, we ken ye took him,” said the big man standing in front of Kerr. “Seems ye have a habit of taking lads and working them. Ye took the wrong lad this time. Tell us where he is.”
“I dinnae ken.”
“Where are your children? We ken ye have a large brood of them here.”
“I dinnae ken. They should be here.” Kerr looked around. “Ye must have frightened them away.” His eyes widened with terror as he looked at the knife the man pulled out.
“Ye need persuading, do ye? We have gotten real good at persuading people. Been practicing.” He laughed and it chilled Bethoc to the bone. “They gave up all they knew real quick. Now”—he grabbed Kerr’s hand and put the knife against his ring finger—“where is the lad Cathan?”
Tears streaming from his eyes, Kerr said, “I keep telling ye, I dinnae ken.”
She clamped both hands over her mouth and dropped to the ground when the man cut Kerr’s finger off. Kerr’s screams assaulted her ears. A part of her wanted to rush in and demand the men stop what they were doing. A smarter part of her kept her in place, letting her know she would accomplish nothing by doing so, would just get herself killed.
Caught by indecision, she heard them ask again. To her astonishment, Kerr again denied any knowledge of the boy and screamed as he lost another finger. She could not understand why he was not giving the boy up.
After the fourth scream, Bethoc decided she needed to move away. She could not just sit there and listen to him suffer. She scrambled across the yard and crouched down in the trees. It was not perfect for she could still hear his screams and pleas, just not as loudly. Bethoc knew that would have to be enough. She could not leave until she knew the children had left and for that she had to get around to the back of the house. That was going to have to wait as there was no place to hide there, even for a moment.
Snuggling down into a shallow between the thick roots of the tree, she waited. Waited in hiding as Kerr Matheson died a slow, torturous death. Waited as five men learned nothing from him and searched the house. By the sounds she could hear they were destroying much of it. They came out the back and searched the whole garden, taking no care for the plants as they did so.
Then they began to search the trees. She huddled down even more, pulling leaves over herself. Fear was a growing knot in her stomach as they searched and then one cried out. She dared a quick look and saw they were near the route of escape Colin had shown her and prayed he had been more careful to hide his trail from then on. He was a smart boy, she reassured herself, and would know he had to try to hide his trail.
