"He wasnae. He left with Tom, Ilsa, Aulay, and Ivy."
A chill seized Diarmot as he strode to the pony's side and took a trembling Odo into his arms. He told himself it was born of a fear for the children, but it was Ilsa he had first thought of. There were many reasons for that, but few of them were good as far as he was concerned. It hinted at a weakness and, as soon as this problem was solved, he would have to recognize it and fight it. The Camerons had not been cleared of all suspicion yet.
"What has happened, Odo?" he asked the boy, touched by the way the child clung to him without hesitation.
"The rocks fell down," Odo replied. "Mama, Aulay, and Ivy are stuck in a cave and Tom has a lot of rocks on top of him."
"Do ye ken if Ilsa or the children have been hurt?"
"Nay, they are just stuck in the cave. The rocks are too big for them to move."
"How did ye get away, Odo?" asked Fraser as Diarmot set the boy down and snapped out orders to his men.
"I was outside with Tom when the rocks fell," replied the boy. "Tom covered me and the rocks fell on him instead. Then I crawled out and called for Mama.
She made a little hole so she could see me when I stood on a rock and told me she, Ivy, and Aulay werenae hurt. She told me to come here and get help."
"Ye did weel, lad," Diarmot said, lightly ruffling the boy's thick curls. "Ye did verra weel." He frowned when Nanty, Sigimor, and Tait rode in, returning from one of their many attempts to track down his enemy.
"What has happened?" asked Sigimor, looking from Odo and Fraser to Diarmot.
"It appears there has been a rock slide which has trapped your sister and two of my children within a cave," replied Diarmot even as he mounted the horse his man Peter had brought to him. "My men and I are going to get them."
"Tis a good thing we returned when we did then, aye?"
"Take me," said Odo, holding his arms up to Diarmot. "I have to show ye where it is."
Diarmot opened his mouth to tell the boy he knew where it was, that the child should stay with Fraser, but quickly swallowed the words. Odo had earned the right to join in the rescue. Reaching down, he picked the boy up and set him before him in the saddle. He was irritated by how much Fraser's smile of approval pleased him.
Leading the others out of Clachthrom, Diarmot allowed Odo to point the way.
Considering his tender years, Odo revealed a remarkable sense of direction and a keen eye for the sort of markers one noted to find one's way. Diarmot felt a distinct glow of pride and realized that, despite his occasional doubts about the children being bred from his seed, he had accepted them as his. Recalling the woman who had borne this child, named him as Odo's father, and handed him the boy, Diarmot was suddenly glad the child had been given into his care.
Despite carrying the mark of bastardy, Odo apparently had all that was needed to better himself. There would have been no chance for that at all if Odo had stayed with his mother and that would have been a sad waste.
As they neared the hill where the accident had occurred, Diarmot could see the clear signs of a serious rock slide. He felt uneasy, unable to fully excuse it as natural. He himself had been climbing over that hill but a sennight ago and had noticed no weakness, seen no hint of unsteady ground. Nor had there been any heavy rain which might have weakened the area, loosening the earth beneath some of the stones. Yet, he could not think of how or why anyone would cause such an accident. There were too many easier and more certain ways to be rid of someone.
And now was not the time to puzzle over the how or the why, he told himself as he dismounted and helped Odo down. His wife, children, and poor Tom needed help. It was all well and good to be wary, but if he began to see plots and threats behind simple acts of unforgiving nature he would have edged far beyond wary. The last thing he wished to become was one of those sad creatures who saw an assassin behind every tree leaf.
"Lead on, Odo, my lad," he said. "I suspicion Ilsa and the others will be eager to get home."
"Mama! Mama! Tis Odo! I have brought help."
Ilsa sent up a brief prayer of thanks and moved to the mouth of the cave when she heard Odo's voice. Enough time had passed for Aulay and Ivy to begin to waver slightly in their confidence in Odo. Since her own had never been very firm, she was heartily glad she had not been pressed to raise their hopes. When she peered out the opening in the rocks barring her escape, it was not Odo's eyes she looked into, but her brother Sigimor's.
"Might I ask what ye were about?" asked Sigimor.
"I was collecting rocks," Ilsa replied. "I wanted some rocks to make pathways in the gardens."
"Of course." He glanced over the pile of rocks separating them. "I think these might be a little difficult to walk on."