“‘Tisthat cursed Crayton, isnae it?” said Dougal, glaring over his shoulder.
“Aye,”replied Sorcha, and she gave Crayton a reprimanding glare. “And hewillleave you in peace so that ye can enjoy the rest of your meal.”
“Thankye.” Dougal spared one last glare behind him and returned to the business ofeating.
“Yeseem to take delight in spoiling my fun,” grumbled Crayton. “The lad deserves awee bit of tormenting. Mayhap, if he is made unhappy enough, he will pause tothink now and again.”
SinceDougal was sitting right next to her, Sorcha did not think she could reply tothat insult, so asked, “Why are ye here? Ye rarely come into the great hallwhen a meal is served.”
“Andwhy should I? To stare at all I hunger for and cannae eat? I always had afondness for cider,” he said with a longing look at her tankard.
“Ifye dinnae like to be here then why have ye appeared? Are ye dawdling in givingme some important news again? I often have this nightmare that ye ken someoneis stalking me, plotting to murder me, yet dinnae think to mention it until myhead rests atop the killer’s spear.”
“Iwouldnae let anyone stick your head upon a spear.”
Sorchafrowned when she realized he had not said he would try to halt her murder. “Crayton,what do ye want?”
“Didye ken that someone spies upon Dunweare?”
“Ihave heard nothing.” She nudged Dougal. “Has anyone reported that someone hasbeen watching Dunweare?” she asked him.
“Nay.Why? Does that fool ghost say he has seen something?”
“Iwould be cautious about who I call a fool if I were ye.” Crayton glared atDougal and started to swing at him only to be halted by an equally fierce glarefrom Sorcha.
“Whereis the spy?” she asked. “I need more than the fact that ye ken there is someonewatching us.”
“Themon was set in the highest of the high trees just beyond the fields,” repliedCrayton. “He is one of the Sassenach Treacher’s dogs.”
“Howdo ye ken that?”
“Thetrappings on his horse, the clothes the mon wore, and he happened to heartilycurse one Simon Treacher as he struggled to perch himself in the trees.”
AsSorcha relayed that information to Dougal, she felt a chill of fear slip downher spine. It was an ominous sign that Simon Treacher would set a spy on them.When Dougal called for a man to go with him to find the spy, Crayton shook hishead, and Sorcha told her brother to wait until she had extracted the wholetale from Crayton.
“Doye see the trouble ye cause by not telling us everything as quickly aspossible? Now, why shouldnae Dougal go and hunt the mon down?”
“Becausethe mon has probably limped all the way back to England by now.”
Sorchalightly massaged her temples as she fought the urge to scream. “Do ye think yecould tell me this tale in one telling, start to end?”
“Isaw the mon in the wood. ‘Twas one of those times when I was drawn there, yeken. I recognized him as Treacher swine and decided to watch him. He climbed atree which gave him a fine sight of Dunweare. Mayhap ye should thin those treesout, lass.”
“Crayton,”she snapped, “how did the mon get from sitting in a tree peering at us tolimping back to England?”
“Ah,weel, I think he did himself a serious injury to his leg when he fell out ofthe tree.”
Shesighed, resigned to the fact that Crayton simply could not relate news in aclear, unbroken manner. “Did ye push him?”
“Nay,but I did afright him some. Ye ken weel that I can make my presence known e’enif the fool hasnae the gift to see me.”
“Yedo ken that it might have been more helpful if we could have talked to him?”
“Aye,but I couldnae help myself. He was a Treacher mon.”
“Iunderstand. I dinnae suppose that, whilst ye were terrifying the mon, hehappened to let slip why he was sent to spy on us?”
“Ashe dragged himself after his fleeing horse—“
