“The Norns may chafe over my actions as they will,” he declared.
“Just as the Norns still chafe over Thor’s pompous little demigod mating with a Fae, yes?”
Hall dipped his head in a respectful farewell and turned his horse west to carry him outside the ring of rowans surrounding Orabilis’s home. Any question he’d had about how much she knew of his family was answered.
His secret was a secret no more.
Twenty-one
THE BOY WASa day ahead of her. Two at most.
Brie rubbed the ashes from the cold fire pit between her fingers, then stood and dusted off her hands.
Mathew and his companion were clearly idiots. How they could make so little effort to hide their tracks, knowing they were being hunted, was beyond her. No matter their youth, they should have known better.
Unless they didn’t understand that they were being hunted.
“In which case yer even bigger fools than I thought,” she said.
It felt good to hear a human voice again, even if it was her own. It distracted her from the dark what-ifs haunting the corners of her mind. What if she didn’t find the scrolls? What if she did, but was too late to save Hall? What if...
“Concentrate on the work at hand, Brie,” she encouraged herself. “Dinna dally in the land of what-if. There lie the traps that suck yer will away.”
She walked slowly around the campsite, studying the ground for any other signs.
Two sets of footprints, so it was likely that Mathew and Dobbie still traveled together.
She moved farther out from the fire, squatting to examine her latest find.
Hoofprints.
Now there was a different concern. Mathew had left his mount behind when he’d run away. She knew, because she’d held its lead all the way to Rowan Cottage.
She continued to study the ground, finding at last the clue she’d sought: hoofprints over the footprints.
Someone other than her followed the two young men.
The proof marked the ground around her, and made the hair on Brie’s neck prickle as if someone watched her from the trees. But that was impossible. She’d just come through those trees and no one had been there.
All the same, she stood and scanned the site one last time, peering into the darkening gloom of the woods, working out her next decision.
She wouldn’t be able to make it much farther tonight. The last rays of the sun had already begun to disappear behind the western horizon. This spot certainly wasn’t her preference for a place to set up camp. With open ground on all sides, it wasn’t easily defensible. No running water nearby. No ready shelter should the rain return.
But it did have one big advantage: Torquil’s men had already come and gone. If she continued to ride in the dark she might overtake them, andthatwas not a prospect she found the least bit appealing.
When she met up with them, she’d prefer it be at a time of her own choosing. A time when she’d have the upper hand.
So this spot would have to do for tonight.
She gathered kindling and placed it on one side of the original fire pit. The cold made a fire necessary but, considering how close the men she trailed might be, she’d keep it small. It would be foolish to draw attention to herself.
Once her fire was built, she prepared her meal. Dried meat and hard bread. She rationalized that the lack of water made cooking difficult, but in truth, cooking had never been her strong suit. Her best efforts rarely produced any outcome other than a lumpy porridge on a good day and a burned pot on all others.
Cold food was fine. Though her stomach growled in protest, she swallowed the last bits of her meal and tried not to think of the wonderful soups Orabilis had prepared each day she’d stayed at Rowan Cottage. Perhaps tomorrow she’d keep an eye out for rabbit tracks. Fresh meat would be a welcome change from this dried, salty fare.
Before attempting to sleep, she placed her bow and quiver next to her and pulled out the short sword Orabilis had insisted she take along on her journey. Should she find herself in close combat, it would be a much more effective weapon than the small knives she carried on her person.
Using a heavy stick, she fished a couple of large stones out of the fire pit and fit them under her furs, close to her body. With her woolens pulled tight around her to block the wind, she settled in close to the fire. She forced her eyes closed and hoped sleep would overtake her before her unruly mind had a chance to torment her with worry over all the ways she could fail in her quest.
