Steenie shook his head, his eyes widening. “What does he do?”
“He can send his birds down to attack mean people. They’ve done it before and ‘tis spectacular. If you see them, it means my cousins are here.”
“You two lads keep quiet back there. I shoulda split you two up.” The lead man had a long scruffy beard that hit his chest.
“Scruffy…” Steenie whispered. Then he looked at Kenzie and giggled. That was one of the activities that had helped them make it through the night—giving names to all of their captors. Scruffy, Blackteeth, Stubby—because he’d lost two fingers—and Smelly.
He peeked at the two lassies in the cart with them. They were sisters, and one had her head in her sister’s lap while she sucked her thumb. “Why does she suck her thumb still? I don’t.”
“Because she watched her mother die not long ago. She’s sucked it ever since,” the girl named Edith said bluntly. Sheturned her head away from Steenie, and he wondered if she was mad he’d asked such a direct question.
“What’s her name?” he asked, hoping to get her to talk to him again. He would feel horrible if he lost his mother, especially if something happened to her in front of him and he wasn’t able to stop it.
“Eva.”
“How old is she?”
“She’s eight summers.”
“How did you get here?”
“Two of these men came and killed our mother, then stole us from my aunt. We were living with her.” She wiped the tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. “Do you know where they’re taking us?”
“Nay, but do not worry,” Kenzie said. “My sire will save us. Watch for the falcons and slingers.”
“Slingers?” she whispered.
“Aye. My sire is the best. He slings small rocks at bad men.”
A bold voice shouted back at them from the front. “I said keep quiet. All of you.”
Kenzie held his finger up to his lips. Steenie scowled, but there was naught they could do but listen. Both lads tipped their heads back, and Steenie hoped he’d see a bunch of wild falcons.
He wished to meet the Wild Falconer. Maybe someday he couldbea Wild Falconer.
There weren’t any falcons in eyesight, so Steenie shifted his gaze to the path ahead of them, just then realizing he could see the loch. He pointed his finger toward the water, and Kenzie glanced over his shoulder to follow. When they came down the hill, there was a large clearing on one side of the loch with a couple of small huts near one end. He could see clear across to the other side because it was so big.
He didn’t like the boat at the edge. Two men were stacking crates around the lip of the loch while three men worked on the boat, getting water, sweeping the boat out, spitting over the edge.
He watched the man spit over and over again. Someday he’d be able to spit that far. He decided to practice a bit, so he spat over the side of the cart to see how far it would go. He did this for a while until Kenzie poked him in his back.
He peered over his shoulder at Kenzie, who pointed up to the sky. He was careful to make sure no one else saw what he was doing, so Steenie guessed it was important. He tipped his head up toward the gray sky, but he didn’t see anything at first. A moment later, two big birds soared above them, sweeping lower and lower.
He couldn’t help but clap his hands.
“What the hell is with the birds? They’ve been following us for the last quarter hour,” Stubby yelled.
Scruffy shouted back at him. “Who cares? They’re just birds, you daft arse.” Then he spat to the side of his horse.
Steenie giggled and whispered, “Daft arse.” Then he spat over the side, pleased that it was farther than his previous marks.
Blackteeth pulled the first cart full of girls, also carrying Hilda, into the clearing, waving to the men aboard the boat. Then he cursed and slapped the back of his head. Spinning around on his horse, he stared at Scruffy who was mounted behind him.
“What the hell? Why are you throwing stones at me?”
Kenzie pulled on Steenie’s tunic, wide-eyed. He whispered, “My sire. He’s here!”
Scruffy said, “I didn’t throw naught at you, but I will if you don’t keep moving.”
