“She told you not to come here,” Ulli replied.
“Things have changed since we last spoke,” Ian said. “Gareth is in Iseldis and has taken control of the castle.”
Ulli looked to his companion. She turned without a word and disappeared down the path to the right of the manor.
Ian looked down at the silent man still holding the horse’s reins.
Rowena nickered at him from behind the stable yard’s fence.
“Sol and Meena?” Ian asked as he slid from the horse.
“Safe and well,” Ulli responded, using the same number of words that Ian had.
Knowing that his every move was under scrutiny, Ian gestured to Rowena as he stepped away from Ulli.
Despite the fact that he had found no apples for her along the road, Rowena was quite pleased to see him and butted her head against his shoulder. “Do not pretend to have missed me, girl,” Ian murmured to her. “I know you have been enjoying yourself.”
He stopped himself, hoping that his voice had been too low for Ulli to hear. He looked back at the bandit just as the dagger-wielding woman returned from around the other side of the manor.
She nodded to Ulli, then took the reins from him and led Robin’s horse toward the stable.
Wordlessly, Ulli gestured for Ian to lead the way.
Not knowing where he was going, but also understanding that the silent bandit would not leave his back unguarded with a stranger, Ian stepped forward and made his way down the far path that the woman had used.
Ian’s initial assessment had been correct. Several cottages came into view as they rounded the manor, and Lockwood Forest came alive.
Here was the village community he had been expecting.
The trees opened into a wide clearing, in which several people worked and chatted over various tasks. Two women and a few children were busy in a vegetable garden. An older man chopped firewood while two young boys picked up the pieces and carried them to the manor house. Billowing smoke from a stone structure further down the valley appeared to indicate asmall forge. And dotting the landscape past the cottages were large pens of goats, chicken, and sheep.
Robin stood near the back of the house, deep in conversation with a young woman whose animated gestures suggested frustration.
“The only thing plentiful here is trees,” the woman was saying. “I cannot feed an overflowing household and the entire village on wood chips, but at least we will all stay warm—”
“Ilida.” Robin sounded equally as frustrated. “Jette and Lane needed some more practice, so I’ve sent them out hunting today.”
“And that is exactly the problem,” the other woman said, raising the ledger of papers in her hand to shake it at Robin. “You send the worst archers out to hunt, and now they will return empty-handed!”
Robin’s frustrated face deepened into a self-reflective frown. “I had not thought about that.”
Ian had slowed, not wanting to intrude on the conversation, but he could not help but overhear it. No one around them seemed bothered by the frustrated exchange, which led Ian to believe it was likely a common occurrence.
“Well think of that next time. Or better yet, ask me!” Ilida replied, her voice still raised and her back to Ian. “You keep bringing people in and expecting me to perform miracles. The deer population can only handle so much, what with the incoming soldiers hunting everything in sight. And the Rodes girl—Jellell—still needs that tonic, but where is the gold for that?”
“I will get more gold.” Robin pressed her fingertips to her forehead, her lips tight and her shoulders tense. Her words sounded determined but somehow empty at the same time.
Ian recognized that particular type of tension—the weight of too many responsibilities with no available solutions.
“How?” Ilida asked. “By robbing travelers? Just be more careful next time so you do not have the entire royal family coming after you here.” She threw her hands up in the air and turned back toward the house, apparently done with this conversation.
But as she moved away from Robin, she nearly ran directly into Ian.
“Wonderful,” she muttered, skirting around him. “Another mouth to feed.”
Chapter 13
Robin pressed the hard spot above her nose to ease the tension in her head. She knew she was asking her steward for the impossible, but she also trusted the woman to figure it out. They had a greater goal here.
