“He probably just wants a good meal and a bath. Now that he kens who ye are and where ye may be going, he thinks he can take this journey at a leisurely pace. Amiel ne’er liked to do anything that appeared to be work.”
“Ah, one of those men who craves the title but expects everyone else to do the work that comes with the privilege. It looks as if the lasses have finally convinced the men that they will get better service inside the inn. I suspicion Molly told her lad to ask the ladies to do that.”
“Why would she have to ask? Where else would they be able to service the men?”
“In the stable, in the stable yard, in the alley, or near anywhere else where they might stand, sit, or lie.” He glanced at her blush-reddened face and grinned. “I think ye have been verra sheltered, love.” He looked back toward the men. “The last of them has been dragged inside. Best we move. I would love to just gallop out of here but there may yet be one sharp-eyed fellow amongst Amiel’s men, and two people galloping out of town would draw attention.”
The next few minutes were the longest Arianna had ever suffered through, at least since she had been in the water clinging to a keg. She sat tensely on her mount, expecting a cry of discovery to go up every step of the way. By the time they reached the shelter of the trees, she ached from sitting so stiffly in her saddle. She gritted her teeth when Brian began to kick his mount into a faster speed, and followed his lead. Galloping over the countryside was not what she had planned to do today but she would endure.
She prayed those women kept Amiel and his men very busy but did not suffer for doing so. If Amiel even thought he had been tricked, he could turn vicious, and attack the women, Molly, and her sons. It would be a sad way to reward Molly for all her help.
The thought of those women made her recall what Brian had said about where the women could entertain the men. Arianna began to realize that, although her kinswomen had hid nothing about the ways of men and women in marriage, she had been allowed little other knowledge. She had known that her brothers and male cousins went into the village to dally with the maids, but the few times she had thought on it, she had envisioned rooms and beds as the places where the dallying occurred. It was obvious that she still had a lot to learn about the world.
It was late in the day before Brian allowed them to stop for a rest. He had wanted to use the hours Amiel and his men might spend at the inn to get as far away from the man as possible. It would be better if the man decided to stay the night at Molly’s inn but Brian knew he could not count on that. Amiel could have simply stopped for a meal or an ale before planning to continue on. There was only one thing Brian could be sure of and that was that Amiel would get no useful information from anyone at Molly’s. Even if the woman did not have some affection for his clan or Sigimor’s, she would never betray regular paying customers.
He watered the horses and then took out the small sack of food Molly had stuck in his pack before joining Arianna where she had collapsed on the ground beneath a tree. “Nay much farther, love, and ye will be able to rest for more than a night.”
“In a true bed?”
“Aye, in a true bed. And ye can have yourself another bath without worrying about leaving some of the heated water for me.”
“I would like to sleep, just sleep, for a few days.” She sat up straighter and began to eat the food he had placed in her lap. “S’truth, I have badly wished to do that since I first kenned that my lads were in danger on Tillet’s ship and began keeping a close watch on them.”
“Ye can get some sleep at Dubheidland although I am nay sure it can be several days’ worth.”
“Are ye certain your cousin willnae object to our staying there, especially when we are bringing this trouble with us? This isnae his fight.”
“Lucette wants to kill two bairns simply to fill his purse. Trust me in this, Sigimor will want the mon dead for that alone.”
Arianna nodded. She recognized such a man. Her kinsmen would feel the same. It would not even matter if the man were an ally or an enemy, simply that he meant to hurt children because of greed. She had heard a few odd tales about the laird of Dubheidland, ones told her kin by her cousin Alanna and then told to her in what few letters she had received from her family. At least the Lucettes had allowed her to receive those letters, she thought bitterly, wondering if they had read them all and then destroyed ones they didn’t like, just as they had done with the ones she had tried to send those she loved.
Then she tensed. “Brian, I think I have an idea on how Amiel kens where we might go, how he might not need but a whisper of our passing to ken who we might try to get help from.”