Page 84 of Wolf Alliance

Then Baldur arrived at his bedchamber. “The meal is being served. Our people havena eaten anything for two days. Freigard must have left the castle sometime during all the fighting, the coward he is. And those who threw in with Dunbar? The same thing. Alasdair wants to bring the women and children here. I’ll send ten men to ensure they get here safely.”

“Aye, they will be welcome,” Erik said.

“Knowing Freigard, he will go home and lick his wounds and try to come to grips with all the men he lost and then recruit more but that will take time, and they would have to be trained.” Baldur gave Accalia a hug. “Are you happy with this arrangement with Erik?”

“I am. We love each other.”

“Good. Because after he and Alasdair helped us to overthrow Freigard’s men, I would have insisted you stay with him.” Baldur smiled as if he was jesting. Then he turned contemplative again. “And I have been apprised of your fighting the enemy and helping Erik and Alasdair to gain entrance into the castle with their men. Without your help, they might no’ have ever made it. So I praise you for your cunning and courage.”

“Thank you, Da. Will you send men after Freigard?” she asked, as she, Erik, and the others headed down the stairs with her da.

“He willna have much of a force, but we need to secure the castle and see to the wounded.”

“We are going after the ones at camp, including Erik’s sons.” Accalia glanced up at Erik. “Mine as well.”

“Now? Before you eat?”

“Aye. Once things have settled down and we have a moment, Erik will sign an alliance with you, and we hope you will celebrate our joining.”

“Aye, and the help you have all been while freeing our people from Freigard and his men. We will make it happen.”

Erik, Accalia, Alasdair, and the others going with them, mounted borrowed horses and left the outer bailey to go to the camp. They didn’t want to delay any longer, and Erik worried that Freigard might still have enough of a force to overtake the camp if he didn’t return straight home and ran into them instead.

Riding the whole way, it took them an hour to reach the camp, and they saw that a battle had gone on there too. Blood was on the ground, but no people, no horses, and no bodies.

Sick with dread, Erik and Accalia rushed to the tent where Bessetta, Isobel, and the boys had stayed, but they weren’t there. Three tents had been slashed and had collapsed. Horses’ hoof prints were all over the campsite, making it appear that a battle on horseback had occurred there.

Erik’s blood ran cold with worry and Accalia looked on the verge of tears. Alasdair likewise looked distraught, as they began following a blood trail.

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Trying to keep tears at bay and with her heart in her throat, Accalia smelled Freigard’s scent and announced that Freigard and Dunbar’s men, whom she would know anywhere, had all been here. But there was no one there at all. No bodies, nothing. She assumed Freigard’s men had taken their party hostage. She had to keep her head and not fall apart now.

One of her da’s men yelled from someplace off in the distance, “I found bodies!”

Her heart sank and she prayed it was none of their people’s bodies and that the boys, lasses, and other men in their party were all right. They all rode that way, but she smelled the scents of their people heading in the direction she had taken the others in pursuit of the hidden passageway at her castle.

When they arrived at the bog, she saw maybe fifteen men who were dead—all Freigard’s men she assumed, because they weren’t any of theirs. But they still hadn’t located Dunbar’s men or Freigard.

“I believe our people smelled our scent trail that leads to the secret passageway,” she said, praying it was so, her heart beating hard, and she started riding in that direction.

Everyone switched direction and followed her, Erik and Alasdair closing the gap and joining her.

“I smell them—Davina, Isobel, Bessetta, the boys, your brothers, and the rest of our men. They are riding horses this way.” Accalia hoped they had made it to the castle safely.

Riding the horses took them to the castle much quicker, and they saw Finlay, Rory, and the rest of them on foot now, their horses tied to trees nearby while they searched for the hidden entrance into the castle. Hearing them approaching horseback, the others turned to look, some drawing swords. They cheered to see Alasdair, Erik, and Accalia arrive with reinforcements.

Alasdair leaped from his saddle and hugged Isobel and his sister as soon as he was close. Likewise, Erik was out of his saddle and pulling Accalia from hers before she could dismount, the two of them running to grab the boys.

Tears of joy were shed all around. Accalia managed to pull away from the boys only long enough to give Bessetta, Isobel, and Davina hugs.

“We smelled that Dunbar’s and Freigard’s men fought with you,” Accalia said, wiping tears of relief from her eyes.

“Aye,” Isobel said. “Twenty men suddenly rode toward our camp. We were prepared if Freigard was chased from Hillshire Castle and ran into our camp. Rory, Finlay, and the others fought the brigands. The others didna stand a chance against our combined forces of your da’s men, ours, and yours.”

“We saw no sign of Freigard or Dunbar’s four men in the bog where you left the other dead men,” Accalia said.

“They must have gotten away,” Isobel said.

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