“I’ll take yer job and the gold ye’re offering. What is it ye want done?” Slaine said as he strode toward Blair. Men scooted their chairs out of his way and ducked their heads. The mercenaries at the table next to where Blair was standing suddenly went quiet. No one wanted to catch the eye of the immense, dark-haired man. One of the men whispered, “Is it a bear or a man? I cannae tell,” but Slaine turned his head to stare at him in such a way that the man knew the stranger had heard every word he had said. He muttered an apology of sorts and made hurriedly for the nearest exit.
Blair looked up at the man who had offered to take up her quest.
“The name’s Slaine,” the man said. No bow accompanied his introduction, but Blair was left in no doubt the man was giving her his real name. There was something in his eyes that indicated he was a truth-teller.
“Cu Chulainn!” she whispered in shock.
6
Beggars Can’t Be Choosers
Blair noticed the silence that had descended on the previously vocal pests at the table beside her. There were no more whistles and taunts. The requests to spend one night alone with her disappeared as though the very idea of it had never crossed the men’s minds.
This could be a useful thing to have happen if I am to travel around looking for Faither. I wonder how much he charges and whether I can trust him?
As these thoughts flitted through her mind, Blair did not realize her face was exceedingly easy to read.
“Aye, lass,” the massive man said to her with a brief smile, “I do have an interesting effect on cowards and braggarts. But I am nae a hero or legend, just a simple soldier looking to see if I can help ye.”
Realizing she had to make up her mind quickly and that he was the only man to have stepped forward, Blair hooked her arm through his and ushered him outside. It was a good thing the man was happy to accompany her because she could feel how heavy and strong he was as she pulled him along.
“‘Tis so noisy in there, and one is always being pushed aside by serving girls and patrons,” Blair said when she and Slaine were finally out in the fresh air. She craned her neck to see if he agreed with her and then saw the funny side of things. No one would ever be able to push this man out of the way if he did not want to be moved. Exhilarated at finding her warrior and relieved to be out of the alehouse, Blair burst out laughing.
The change from Blair’s utter despair to hilarity caught Slaine off guard for a moment, but then he too saw the humor in what this young lass had just said and gave a brief chuckle.
“Please, can I fetch me horse from where I tethered him? How did ye arrive at the alehouse?” Blair tugged at Slaine’s sleeve in the direction of where Pooka was waiting for her. There were several horses tied to the rail, and when they both claimed the two biggest horses as their own, Slaine said nothing but raised an eyebrow.
“Pooka’s me—” Blair began to explain.
“Yer faither’s horse, aye, I can see. But ‘tis good fortune ye took it, lass. Yer steed looks as though it kens its paces,” Slaine said.
Slaine stuck his foot in the stirrup and mounted Maximus with an easy swing of his leg, even though the horse towered well over eighteen hands in height. For Blair, however, mounting Pooka was a bit more challenging. She tucked her skirts aside, stepped on the rail, balanced there for a brief moment as though she were an acrobat, and then jumped. She landed onto Pooka’s back with surprising agility. Slaine watched her display of nimbleness with interest. He had no doubt Blair had many more tricks up her sleeve when it came to inventiveness and independence. Her skirt was slit in such a way that enabled her to ride astride in modest fashion, and the way she handled the horse’s reins gave him no reason to doubt her abilities as a horsewoman.
The couple began riding away from the harbor, leaving the alehouse and mercenaries far behind. Only when they had reached a more genteel part of town did Blair rein in Pooka and ask Slaine if he knew of a nice place where they could undergo the conversation they so badly needed to have.
Slaine replied, “Ye choose.”
Blair did not want to go back to the inn where the Hardies were, not with her warrior in tow.
“P'raps we can take the road to the fields and sit there for a short while? It would cost us nae a single penny, and no one will bother us.”
Slaine nodded, and they both said nothing about why Blair had chosen a wide-open place with lots of witnesses passing by on the surrounding lanes.
Safe and costs nothing.
Blair was unsure if her strategy to get Slaine alone—but still within convenient shouting distance of other travelers if she needed it—was too obvious. She looked across at him as he rode beside her, and was unable to read his face. They reached one of the fields where the fair would sometimes set up. Blair dismounted with a sigh.
She rummaged around in her saddlebags and brought out a flagon of mead and some pasties.
“I have food. Will ye like some?” she offered.
“Nay, I ate at the alehouse,” Slaine said, throwing his traveling cloak onto the grass and lying down on it. There was a large oak tree above them, and it spread its leaves in such a way as to dapple the sunlight in a lovely warming way.
Blair looked keenly at Slaine’s cloak after he had signified it was alright for her to sit on it with him. The material was hardy and durable; the item of clothing itself was threadbare in some places and stained in others. Blair wondered if it meant her warrior was too frugal to buy a new cloak or too poverty-stricken to afford it. She darted a look at him from underneath her eyelashes and made her own assumption—he just did not care about what he wore and how others perceived him. She liked her judgment of his character as far as this went and hoped her guess was a shrewd one.
Slaine waited for Blair to finish eating. When a wasp landed on some of the crust from her small pastie, he lashed out suddenly with his hand, too fast for her to see, and the insect lay crushed and lifeless. Blair finished her meal in contemplative silence, too impressed to know what to say.
They both realized they were judging one another, but it was Blair who broke her silence first.
