Yet Laird Grant was so animated with Ava now, drawing her into what was practically an embrace as they danced, Kai quickly shrugged off this thought. If Laird Grant had suspected something, surely he would not be so intimate in appearance now.
Ava and Laird Grant practiced their dance so many times together that Kai grew sick of the sight. He sat beside Laird MacKinnon, sharing a flagon of mead, though Thora took the cup out of his hands more than once.
“Ye have had enough,” she whispered to him so no one else could hear.
“I heartily disagree. Sometimes a man needs assistance with his forbearance.”
“And ye think mead helps forbearance?”
“It certainly dulls pain, aye.” He took the tankard back from her, much to her frustration as she sighed loudly.
He had nearly finished the tankard when Laird Grant and Ava returned to their side of the room. It could have been in Kai’s imagination, but he thought that Ava looked a little more wooden in his grasp than normal. She certainly wasn’t smiling anywhere near as much.
“I have an exciting task fer ye all,” Laird Grant declared. “Consider it me treat, a custom from me clan, if ye will. It’s tradition fer me family tae play a little hunt at Yuletide. Somewhere in the snowy grounds of this castle, I have hidden the most spectacular golden cup. The first one tae find it, is of course the winner, and gets tae keep the cup fer a whole year. Who would be interested in playing me little game?”
Lyla and Thora said at once how interested they would be, as did Ava, much to Kai’s frustration. To his shame, he kept trying to catch Ava’s eye, but she seemed intent on only having eyes for Laird Grant at that moment.
“What dae ye say, Kai?” Laird MacKinnon prompted him. “I’m too weary fer such games, but I’m sure ye’d enjoy such a thing.”
There seemed something strange about the idea to Kai. Though tale of such a thing had reached his ear from the scouts and spies he knew in other clans, but with so many faces now looking at him expectantly, there wasn’t much he could do to refuse.
“I’d be delighted tae play.” He put down the tankard and stood. “When dae we begin?”
“Now.” Laird Grant took Ava’s hand. “I’ll go with ye tae begin. I wish tae make sure ye are safe in the snow, me lady.” As he kissed her hand, a dreamy look took over Lyla’s face and Kai grunted under his breath. It was quickly silenced by Thora who elbowed Kai’s rib so sharply, he thought she might have actually succeeded in cracking a rib.
“This is absurd,” Kai muttered to himself as he walked the snowy grounds. He trailed through tracks he had taken many times through the MacKinnon woods, though they were nearly unrecognizable now in the thick snow. “Why is he making us dae this?” He swept aside a branch as he moved off the path.
There were no clues as to where this cup was hidden, and with grounds this extensive, they surely would not be searching for days, but weeks in the effort to find this elusive cup. Kai had a feeling that Laird Grant had introduced this hunt with quite another aim in mind.
As Kai remembered the way that Laird Grant had kissed Ava’s hand, a shudder came over his body, as if a clump of snow had fallen off a tree branch and fallen down the neckline of his tunic.
I ken why…
He could picture Laird Grant now leading Ava through the trees so that they were completely alone. He would undoubtedly take the opportunity when alone with her to kiss her, to press her against a tree, perhaps lift her skirts as Kai had done the night before. The thought infuriated Kai so much that he swiped out at a tree branch beside him, angrily snapping it in two.
It was not the only snapping sound that echoed nearby though. Kai looked around, expecting to see Thora or Lyla in the snow, searching for the cup. Yet there was no one. Behind him, he only saw the footprints that he had left behind in the snow.
Deciding it was perhaps just an echo of him breaking the branch, he walked on, stalking off a little faster now through the trees. He even considered walking straight back to the castle and giving up this ridiculous hunt as a hopeless job. He peered into old trees he knew were cavernous, perfect hiding spots for such a golden cup, but there was no hint of anything being tucked away inside.
Then a crunch sounded behind him. Kai didn’t look around but pretended to still be searching the inside of a hollowed-out tree, as his hand slipped beneath his cloak, reaching for the sword blade that was tucked away in his hip.
One suspicious sound his imaginative mind could have invented, but two had to be something more. He waited on tenterhooks, straining to hear another sound.
Then it came, another crunch of snow, this one much closer, perhaps just a few steps behind him. The swing of metal through air made a loud whistle. Kai bent down, narrowly avoiding the blade as it lodged itself in the tree.
Kai rolled away through the snow and scrambled to his feet, looking around to see the wielder of that sword. Dressed head to toe in black, the man’s face was impossible to make out. Not only was a cloak pulled firmly over his face, but a mask covered his features as well. He tried once to retrieve the sword from the tree, but clearly finding it too well buried in the trunk, he reached for a second, much shorter blade in his belt. This one, a basilard, glinted in the snowy light as he raised it over Kai’s head.
Kai pulled out his own sword and batted the basilard away.
“Help!” Kai called loudly. He was no great arrogant fool to think it wise to continue to fight alone. The fastest way to end this and capture the culprit who had tried to kill him was to get help. “Guards! Over here! There’s a man with a sword–” He broke offas the masked assailant took another swing at his head with the basilard.
Kai struck out with his own weapon near the man’s legs. Forced to jump back, it gave Kai a split second to scramble away a little, turning madly around. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he tried shouting again.
“Guards! In the clearing, an attacker!” His voice traveled much further this time, though he had to stop swiftly when the basilard was back in front of his face. Too slow this time, Kai felt the basilard cut into his shoulder. “Argh!” he cried out in agony.
Though this time, his attacker made a mistake. He left the weapon still in Kai’s shoulder, meaning that he no longer had a blade of his own. Kai turned to face the masked man, watching the black figure as he backed up, panic clearly setting in.
“Me turn,” he whispered gravely, then lunged forward.
