Page 21 of Highland Slayer
She’d be a fool not to concede that fact.
“Mayhap you have experienced battle more than I,” she said. “But we do not even know if the Serpent People, as you call them, will find Leonore here. How can they? She fled from them and the sea is vast, young lords. So is Scotland and England. For them to find her would take a miracle. Would you not agree?”
Titan nodded reluctantly while Estevan simply shook his head. “It would take a miracle, indeed, but miracles do happen,” he said. “More than likely, they will never find her. But if they somehow follow her trail here, it would be better if ye had our protection. That is all Sir Titan is saying. May we please remain inside the walls?”
Mother Michael was hesitant still. This was a nunnery, after all. As she tried to come up with an answer that wouldn’t anger them, one of the nuns who had been tending Leonore came to her and whispered in her ear. At nearly the same time, women with something steaming appeared in the sanctuary doorway and Anaxandra was there, still with women who were armed with crossbows, and indicated where the steaming bowls should go. They were delivered to Mateo on the ground, to Rodion, who was with him, to Kaladin, to Titan, and finally to Estevan.
He sniffed the contents.
“Stew?” he asked the abbess.
Mother Michael nodded. “Probably the remainder from last night’s meal,” she said. “But before you eat, may I ask—do you have any medicaments with you? Anything to tend fevers or cough?”
Both Estevan and Titan shook their heads. “Nay,” Estevan said. “The most we travel with are things tae stanch a blood flow. But nothing for illness. Why?”
Mother Michael glanced over at Leonore, on the bed. “Because the lady seems to be worse,” she said. “Much like you, we are prepared for battle wounds, not illness. Sister Hildegardehas informed me that we need medicines for the lady’s fever and, I would also assume, your friend’s fever. If you do not carry anything for such events, then we must procure them.”
“Where?” Estevan asked.
“Dumfries,” Mother Michael said. “Can you read?”
“I can.”
“Then if I write down what we need, will you fetch it?”
Estevan nodded. “I shall,” he said. “But ye dunna have tae write it down. I’ll remember what ye tell me.”
Mother Michael looked at him dubiously. “It may be more than just one or two items.”
“I’ll remember however much ye tell me.”
She didn’t question him a second time. She simply nodded and turned back for the women tending Leonore. That left Estevan and Titan with steaming bowls still in their hands, now starting to eat because they were hungry.
“Seems I’ll go tae Dumfries after all,” Estevan said, mouth full. “Ye remain with Rodion and Matty. I’ll take Kal with me and we’ll be swift.”
Titan, too, was shoveling down the stew, but he paused long enough to look to the ceiling for a moment. “It is still raining,” he said. “I can hear it.”
Estevan nodded. “Aye, but not as bad as it was last night,” he said. “Ye must remain vigilant here. If I were ye, I’d try tae convince Mother Michael that she needs ye on the wall.”
Titan cocked his head curiously. “You are concerned about the Serpent People.”
Estevan shook his head. “Ye’ve heard about them as much as I have,” he said. “Probably more. They’re closer tae yer father’s properties than they are tae mine, but even we know about them.”
Titan couldn’t disagree. “True, but Mother Michael is correct,” he said. “It would take a miracle for them to find her.”
“Not if they followed her trail.”
“What do you mean?”
Estevan shrugged as he took another bite. “That woman arrived on the banks of the River Nith,” he said. “Remember the remains of the boat that Kal found?”
Titan appeared stricken, so much so that he stopped chewing. “Damnation,” he muttered. “I’d forgotten all about it.”
Estevan eyed him grimly. “I never gave that boat a second thought until we realized she was fleeing the Serpent People,” he said. “If she was their captive and stole one of their boats tae flee, they’ll follow her. They’ll use the currents like she did, because I’d be willing tae wager she dinna row herself across the sea.”
“Nay, she did not.”
“Then she followed the currents,” Estevan said. “And so will they. That will bring them tae the boat.”
