“I thought that pine branch might make a decent arrow with some whittling. I haven’t looked for a stone to use as an arrowhead.”
“It’s a wonder you found as much as you did.”
She glanced down the length of him. “Before you get to work, I’d like to check your injuries.”
A sigh slipped from him, then a nod. Her poking and prodding probably brought extra pain, though he’d never said so. He rarely talked about his distress at all. Never complained, only helped where she’d allow. Just one of the many qualities she was coming to admire more with each passing day.
18
Once Audrey finished her ministrations, she positioned Levi’s leg straight in front of him. He sank back against the stone wall as before, though he looked more exhausted now.
He reached for the bow and examined the end. “Is the knife nearby?”
She extracted it from her moccasin and handed the tool over.
For a while, he worked at preparing the weapon, and she busied herself adding another log to the fire, warming more tea, and checking the weather outside.
“The snow is really coming down now.” She settled herself across the cave from him, where she usually worked by the fire. When he sat upright, the space at his side seemed too near. Her awareness of his attraction too strong.
He looked up from the bow long enough to send her a weary smile. “It’s time you sit and rest. You’ve been working yourself ragged while I lie here abed.”
A snort slipped out with her laugh, a completely unladylike sound. “Hardly. I’ve been struggling to find things to keep myself busy.”
He raised his brows. “Talk to me then.”
She rested her hands in her lap. “Anything particular you’d like to talk about?”
“Tell me about your people. How did you come to live so far away from the rest of the world? And why caves instead of building homes? How long has your village been here?”
A smile curved her lips as she leaned back and thought through the stories she’d heard so many times. “Our forefathers first came west about a century ago. Louis Curtois was the leader of the group, and all of them were frustrated with the turmoil back in New France. The Canadas, I guess they call it these days.” She glanced at his face. “A part of your country now, I hear?”
He nodded. “Do you know which part they came from? Upper or Lower Canada?”
She searched the recesses of her memory. “I’d never heard the nameCanadauntil Evan first told us of the changes there. I believe our people came from somewhere near Alberta.”
Understanding settled across his features, and she shifted back into her memories. “Our people wanted to live simple, peaceful lives, where they could serve God and work together to prosper. I think Curtois and those other forefathers must have had an adventurous streak, too.”
“It sounds as though they did.” Humor touched Levi’s voice.
She settled into the words she’d heard recited so many times. “They traveled four weeks through several different landscapes. They almost settled in the prairie, but the mountains in the distance beckoned them. The beauty and grandeur of the peaks was hard to resist, so they kept going until they found a mountain with a giant cavern inside. Severalsmaller tunnels split off from it, and the shape of the mountain formed anL. There were several valleys around with plentiful game. It seemed the perfect place to settle.”
She glanced at him again to check his expression. He’d stopped working on the bow and sat listening, watching her.
“They lived in the cavern that winter and cut apartments out of the other tunnels. Much of the stone they removed was used to form the walls of the remaining two sides of our courtyard. As families have grown through the years, we’ve added more rooms and dwellings. And we have a garden area where we grow food and herbs that wouldn’t survive in the cold. We keep fires burning there day and night to warm the ground so the plants can thrive.”
“Really? That’s quite a creative solution.” He appeared to be thinking for a moment. “And other than what you grow in the garden, you eat...?”
“Meat, for one. Brielle is in charge of the hunters, so she makes sure there’s fresh game on every table in the village. We also harvest a great deal of berries and other fruits, and some roots through the summer. We trade with two of the native villages, too, although not as much for food as for other supplies.”
“Other supplies?”
She nodded. “We taught them to make parchment for paper and torches to light our homes and hallways. They bring extra roots and berries to tide us through the winter. Sometimes we also trade medicinals. Our women make an effective cough syrup.”
“Sounds like you have a thriving industry.” He seemed to think for a moment. “It’s remarkable how your people have stayed hidden for so many years, and not only survived butthrived. Do you mind if I ask how MacManus came to learn of your village?”
Audrey hesitated. Was he fishing for secrets to help his country? Whatever she said about Evan wouldn’t reveal anything. And he really did sound simply curious. She would be interested, too, if she were in his place. “I believe he came upon us by chance. I don’t think he even knew he was approaching our gate, but he came too close and Brielle shot him with an arrow.” She couldn’t help a grin. “One of those arrows dipped in sleeping tonic. He didn’t have time to put up much of a fight before he collapsed at her feet.”
Levi’s face contorted into a grimace, and he pressed a hand to his side. “I know that feeling well.”
