Page 37 of Highlander Redeemed
“I did not tell him,” he interrupted her, pulling her as far away from the people gathered for their meal in the clearing as was possible.
“Then how?” Scotia just glared at him, and he could not help himself, he smiled at her consternation and shrugged.
“I am not the one who carries herself so differently ’tis obvious to at least Nicholas that you are training with weapons. And he spied upon us.”
“What? When?”
“I dinna ken, but I do not think ’twas yesterday.”
“But—”
Out of habit, Duncan used the sign for silence that had set her off earlier. “I did not tell Nicholas, and I will not tell the rest, though ’twould surprise me if Nicholas had not already told Rowan, and if she had not told Jeanette, and of course then Jeanette would tell Malcolm.”
Scotia glanced from him to the council circle and back. “’Twas Nicholas who sent us out today, aye? Not you. What were we to do?”
“As I said, a lesson in tracking. I must report to the chief,” he said. “We cannot keep your secret from everyone for much longer.” He inclined his head toward the cook circle, hoping she would get herself something to eat, then he headed for the council.
“What news?” Nicholas asked, taking a seat on the large boulder that commanded the circle by being a little higher than the others.
It was tricky to report on their scouting trip to Glen Lairig without revealing why he’d taken Scotia out of the Glen of Caves to the Guardians and Malcolm, in case Nicholas had kept the secret, but he managed it.
“After we found Brodie, we tracked the English—only two of them,” he added before Malcolm asked. “It looked like they sought the other watchers but they did not find them. I relayed the news of Brodie so our men would know to be even more vigilant. We followed the tracks most of the way to the castle, but did not go any further.”
“And Brodie?” Nicholas asked.
“We went back and buried him in a shallow place we found near where he fell. We covered him with stones, but more will be needed. We did not dare linger there too long.”
“And why did you take Scotia along with you on this scouting trip?” Jeanette asked.
“’Twas my command,” Nicholas said, drawing all eyes from Duncan to him. “I needed to be able to use the skills of our best tracker, but he is also the only one who has been able to keep Scotia in hand. He assured me that she would do as he said, that he would be able to see to her safety, so this was a way to accomplish two tasks in one.”
“But—” Rowan started.
“But nothing, Guardian,” Nicholas said, marking that part of their relationship. “I am chief, love, and Protector of the Guardians. I would make the same decision again.”
“She did as you bade her all day?” Jeanette asked Duncan.
“Enough,” he said before he thought through exactly how to respond. Nicholas’s attention was fully on him with that response. Duncan was more tired than he’d realized to be so careless in choosing his words. “Aye, she did as I bade her,” he added. “And she was much-needed help when it came time to lay Brodie to rest.” He hoped the mention of their dead kinsmen would distract them from the tracking questions, though he knew ’twas not an honorable thing to use a fallen warrior in such a way.
“Scotia can be very helpful when it suits her purpose,” Rowan said, “and she is a decent tracker herself. Has she gotten more canny about tracks and tracking in her daily attempts to evade you?”
Duncan wanted to tell Rowan just how much better Scotia had gotten at tracking and so many other things, but he could not betray his promise, especially now that it was clear Nicholas had kept the truth to himself.
“She has learned a few new tricks,” he said with care, “but she cannot evade me without using herknowing.”
There was a short silence as that piece of information sank into the small gathering.
“Did sheknowanything about these English?” Jeanette asked.
“Aye, once she saw Brodie ’twas as if a sunbeam lit the two English soldiers so she could almost see them, or so she said to me. ’Twas Scotia who did most of the tracking after that, like she did when wee Maisie went missing.”
“Could she have directed you to exactly where they were, if you had wanted to engage them?” Malcolm asked, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped tightly together.
Duncan had to think back to all the tests he had put her through these last days, and to what she had told him of herknowingthis afternoon. “I dinna ken,” he said slowly. “Perhaps if she knew them, had actually seen them, or if they carried something important to her, like the dagger used to kill Lady Elspet, she might. Today, I do not ken if ’twas as specific aknowingas would be needed.”
Malcolm let that sink in before he continued.
“’Twould be a formidable weapon in our fight against the English”—he looked from Nicholas to Duncan—“especially if she were to be trained in the ways of warriors.”
