“True. Did ye hear if they have any allies that may be of use?”
“Nay. They have allies, but nay ones with that bond. Ne’er needed such a bond, did they. If people dinnae ride right past them, they come to the market and help fill their coffers. I havenae heard one story of any battle or feud or attack. Nay anything that doesnae begin with saying back in my father’s father’s father’s time or even further back. Which explains why the men are trained, but nay like most of us, we who live in places where trouble comes to visit now and then.”
“Nor have I heard of any trouble ere this,” said Callum. “Most of the anger at Sir Adam, and there is a lot of that, comes from how he has, weel, disturbed their lives.” Callum grinned. “’Tis nay something I have e’er confronted before.”
Harcourt sipped his wine and considered all they had told him. They were right. Glencullaich was odd in its way. It was as if the whole place had been plucked out of the midst of the world’s troubles and tucked in these hills, out of sight and out of mind. David had been well known in court circles as well as those of the learned. Yet he stayed here for most of the year, quiet and out of the way. Harcourt was not sure he would want to be so sheltered.
A tug on his shirt drew him out of his thoughts. He looked down to find Benet next to his seat, an apple in his dirty hand. The boy’s golden brown eyes peered at him through black curls that refused to stay in place.
“Can ye cut my apple with your knife, sir?” the boy asked.
Harcourt glanced at the hand Benet pointed to and realized he had been twirling his knife in his fingers as he had been thinking. He almost smiled. His mother had always smacked him on the back of the head for doing that.
“Aye, hand it over.”
“I like thin slices,” Benet said as Harcourt began to core the apple.
“Those are better for eating,” said Harcourt, placing the apple on a small plate to cut it into slices.
“Joan says I cannae run about like a stray dog anymore. She said I have to have someone stay with me all the time.”
“Ah, aye, ye do.” He nudged the plate toward Benet.
“Why?” the boy asked around a slice of apple.
“Because there is a bit of trouble here now and we dinnae wish ye to get harmed while we work to stop it.”
“’Tis just some stealing. I am nay a cow or sheep. No one would steal me.”
“They might. Best we make sure ye are nay alone and easy to steal. Aye?”
“Mayhap.”
Harcourt did not have to see the slight pout to the boy’s lips to know Benet did not like the new restrictions. “It will make your mother happy.”
“Why?”
“She willnae worry about ye as much as she is right now. It will only be for a little while and then all will be as it was before.”
“Because ye are going to gut the bastard?”
It was not easy but Harcourt ignored the choked laughter of his companions. “Best not to speak so to your mother.” When the boy nodded, he added, “We will stop Sir Adam and make him go away. That is our plan.”
Benet nodded again, grabbed up the last few slices of apple, and ran out of the hall. Harcourt shook his head. The ones who would have to watch the boy were going to have to be very alert and fast-footed. The boy did not like the idea of being restricted in any way and that would make the job of watching him even harder.
“He will fight against the leash we put on him,” said Callum.
Harcourt nodded. “Just as I was thinking. And so says Nicolas. Warn everyone picked to guard him closely. He may nay e’en slip the leash intentionally, merely out of habit. The lad has ne’er been held back because everywhere he went there were ones watching o’er him but only gently as one would do with any wee lad. Now, with someone within the clan giving aid to Sir Adam, that peaceful freedom needs to be reined in.”
“We will make certain everyone understands that,” said Nathan. “That will mean the one helping Sir Adam will ken it, too, but that may nay be a bad thing.”
Satisfied that the whole of Glencullaich would soon understand that a very close watch needed to be kept on their future laird, Harcourt decided to wander around the keep and make certain there were no weak spots. Sir Adam would not continue simply trying to push Annys into a corner, to make her walk away, for long. The time for an open attack, to take what he coveted by open force, was drawing near. Glencullaich needed to be prepared for that.