Page 52 of Highland Spy

“With the way the king is spendin’ our clan’s money, ye’d better hope to hell ye win the Leader of the Lairds Competition,” Storm told him. “Because I’ll need that money to fill our coffers again.”

Caleb didn’t answer. But as he helped Storm to the great hall, his dreams of his life together with Bridget as his wife on his plot of land with his manor house were quickly fading away.

Chapter 18

During the meal, Caleb didn’t take his eyes off of the finalists, and made sure to watch Sorley and Valan as well. None of them did anything suspicious, so Caleb couldn’t be sure of anything. The great hall was so crowded with all the extra people the king had invited to stay, that Caleb had left Slink in the bedchamber.

“What are yer thoughts on all of this,” asked Logan from next to him, throwing Jack some meat under the table.

“I dinna ken,” he said, taking another drink of Mountain Magic. “There is too much commotion to try to watch anyone closely. And Storm isna happy with the fact the competition is goin’ to last longer and that the king wants our clan to feed and give drink to all the extra people.”

“I ken,” said Logan, snatching the last piece of venison from the platter and slapping it on his trencher. It was chaotic, and everyone fought for the food. “I heard that Auld Callum will be here in the mornin’ with more barrels of Mountain Magic. And Storm sent a carrier pigeon with a missive to the Highlands right after he broke his toe, askin’ for Hawke and Ethan to join us.”

“Hawke and Ethan are on their way here?” asked Caleb in surprise. “What for?”

“I dinna ken.” Logan started cutting the venison with his eating knife. “Mayhap he’s goin’ to convince the king to let Hawke take yer place in the competition.”

“Hawke? Nay. I’m competin’. The king chose me.”

Logan chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“He chose ye because of the lies Bridget wrote about ye in the book.”

“They’re no’ lies,” spat Caleb.

“Nay?” Logan gave him a knowing look.

“Well, even if she did stretch the truth a little, ye have to admit that I’m doin’ well in the competition.”

“Every squirrel finds a nut once in a while,” said Ethan, holding the knife up, ready to take a bite. “Dinna get too used to winnin’ because it’ll probably no’ happen again.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Caleb, grabbing the big hunk of venison off of Logan’s trencher.

“Och, what are ye doin’?” shouted Logan. “Put my food back.”

“This is for Slink. He hasna eaten all day and has been locked away in our chamber.” He headed away from the table, ignoring Logan’s protests from behind him.

As he left the great hall, he noticed that he didn’t see Bridget or her father anywhere.

Taking the steps two at a time, Caleb hurried to his chamber to feed Slink. He hated the fact he had to share the room with the other contestants, because he liked his privacy, and Slink didn’t like being around a lot of people either.

When he got to the room, the door was open a crack. He stopped in his tracks, using his free hand to draw his sword. Then he slowly pushed open the door to the darkened room, hearing someone shuffling around at the opposite side of the room.

“Who goes there?” he called out, wishing now he would have brought a torch with him.

“Caleb, it’s me,” came a soft voice from the darkened room that sounded a lot like Bridget.

“Bridget?” he asked, sheathing his sword and reaching out into the corridor to get a torch. He entered the room with the fire lighting up his surroundings. He gasped when he saw the mess. Every bag had been gone through and things were scattered all over the floor. The pallets were even torn up and the straw inside was spewn about as if someone had been looking for something. Bridget was standing next to the pallet, half-hidden behind a trunk. “What are ye doin’, lass? It looks like someone ransacked the room.”

“My faither drank too much Mountain Magic and was startin’ to act addled again, so I took him to our chamber. He’ll be sleepin’ until the mornin’.”

“So yer faither did this to the room?” He moved the torch from one side of the room to the other, taking in the messy sight.

“Nay. It was like this when I came to check on Slink. I forgot to bring a candle, so I left the door open a crack. But when I saw the room and then heard someone at the door, I became frightened that Valan might come back so I hid behind the trunk, until I saw ye.”

“Someone might still be in the room,” said Caleb. “Stand behind me, lass.” He put the venison down on the torn-up pallet and unsheathed his sword again. “I’m goin’ to have a look.”