Perhaps the cooherd was soft in the head.
He sighed.It wasn’t Hew’s affair.He had a thief to catch.
But then, just before he turned to go, he saw the cooherd lead the familiar beast away from the others while the rest of the fold slumbered on.
Where was he taking it?
His interest piqued again, Hew crept down the hill after the cooherd.And the farther he got away from the rest of the fold, the surer Hew was that this was not a cooherd after all, but a cateran, a cattle reiver.
He’d never seen one work alone before.As a lad, he and his cousins had occasionally thieved cattle from the neighboring clans for sport.They were chided by their parents and always returned the coos.Just as often, the neighboring clans stole Rivenloch coos.In the Lowlands, reiving cattle was considered harmless fun.
But there was a bit of danger in it.Not only from the coos.Sometimes drunk or angry clansmen took the thefts too seriously and came after young caterans with their fists or swords.That was why they always went reiving in groups.
Reiving alone was risky.
Another curious thing was that the cateran had come out of Dunlop, but he was leading the cooawayfrom the castle.
Before he could wonder further about that, he spotted something the cateran hadn’t seen yet.Two figures had emerged from the woods and were scrambling down the hill after him.They were probably the cooherds who watched over the fold.
Hew grimaced.There were two of them and one reiver.They were twice his size.Young and brawny.When they caught him, they would likely pummel the poor fellow to within an inch of his life.
Hew couldn’t stand by and watch that happen.
As the pair closed in on the unwary cateran, Hew sidled down the hill to intercept them.
Hamish snorted and lifted his wary head.
Carenza froze, alert.
“What is it?”she whispered, praying it wasn’t a pack of wolves.
Hamish chuffed out a foggy breath on the chill air.But he wasn’t afraid.Hamish was vexed.
She scanned the hillside, looking for the source of his ire.
Then she heard scuffling behind her.She turned to see two men clambering down the slope, headed straight for her.
She nearly leaped out of her disguise.Her worst fears were confirmed.She’d been seen.Not by the monk.Not by a guard.But by two men who must have been waiting near the coos.
Neither of them were Cainnech, the cooherd.When the weather turned this cold, Cainnech left the cattle on their own until it was time to bring them to the close.
Who were they then?
“Stop, thief!”one of them commanded.
“Hold it right there!”the other said.
Hamish startled at the sudden noise.If she hadn’t had an arm around his muzzle, he might have bolted and run off.
But the other cattle were not so restrained.If the pair of barking fools charging down the hill weren’t careful, they’d panic the beasts and wreak havoc.
One of them sneered, “That’s Dunlop’s coo.”
She recognized the voice.It was a Boyle.Gilbert or Herbert.She couldn’t tell which.She didn’t dare lift her head to look.
What were they doing here, in the middle of the night, on Dunlop land?
The second brother shrugged a rope off his shoulder and chimed in, “And we’re goin’ to take the beast—and ye—straight to the laird.”
