Page 50 of Bride of Fire
“The knights are quite good,” Jenefer she told him between bites of chicken.
“They’re the best in the Highlands,” he said. It wasn’t a boast. It was the truth.
“That may be,” she said, “but they haven’t faced the knights of the Lowlands.”
“Not yet,” he admitted. But if Lowlanders couldn’t handle Highland ale, they probably couldn’t defend against Highland knights.
The peat caught fire. He leaned the poker against the hearth, dusted off his hands, and came to his feet.
“Your archers, however,” Jenefer said, wagging a chicken bone to emphasize her point, “need improvement.”
Morgan stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded and amused. He folded his arms over his chest.
“Is that so?”
How the wee lass could possibly think he would take military advice from her, he didn’t know.
“The small one needs a lighter bow,” she said, smacking her lips. “He’s not drawing it all the way back.”
Thatwas true. Robert had left his own longbow for his younger brother in the Highlands, and there had been no time to make him a new one. So he was borrowing Colban’s bow, which was far too heavy for the lad.
“Also, that stocky one is flinching when he fires.” She licked her lips. “That’s what’s making his arrows go astray.”
Morgan blinked. How would she know that?
“And the one who keeps shooting to the left of the target? I’d wager he’s squeezing his right eye shut.”
“And ye know this because…”
She tossed the chicken bone down on the platter just as Feiyan was returning from the garderobe. “I’m a master archer.”
His lips twitched, but he forced himself not to smile. “I see.”
“Oh aye, she is,” Feiyan confirmed. “She’s better than all the men in her father’s retinue.”
“Andyourfather’s retinue,” Jenefer said.
“Andmyfather’s retinue,” Feiyan agreed.
Morgan gave them an indulgent smile. The Rivenloch archers must be poor indeed if they could be outshot by a lass.
On the other hand, she did seem to know a great deal about longbows. The weapon Danald had found beside her clothing in the wood seemed well-crafted and well-used.
Still, he couldn’t let her get any ideas about usurping his command. She was already trying to usurp his castle.
“Perhaps I shall call upon your counsel then,master archer,when I fill out my army at Creagor.”
That he’d audaciously claimed Creagor as his own didn’t escape her. Green fire flared in her eyes. She was still sputtering when he inclined his head in farewell and made his exit.
Chapter 26
Lying on a pile of sheepskins outside his own bedchamber door—particularly when his bed had been appropriated by two Lowland lasses—was a travesty of his authority.
Morgan, however, was used to sleeping on the hard ground. Despite the unwelcome circumstances, he might have spent a perfectly comfortable night where he was.
Instead, he lay on his back, unable to sleep.
Staring up at the dark beams of the ceiling.
