"Aye, definitely none of that."
"The cart is already here, so we dinnae need to sneak it over here, so that is done. We just need to come up with a way to hide her in it and how to get it to Gormfeurach with as little trouble as possible." He looked at Gybbon. "And get as much information as we can along with the boy."
"Do ye think he is still there with that woman?" Jolene asked.
"I hope he is. But all we can do is hope he was taken somewhere safe before the cousins rooted him out."
"Do ye think they have gone to do that?" asked Gybbon.
"I think they went to do that as soon as they failed to get into my keep."
Gybbon sighed and nodded. He thought the same, feared the same. The town was very small, so he doubted the boy would go unseen for long. He did not have any strong, armed men to watch out for him either. Only a woman that even Mora said could be silly now and then. There was very little to hang a hope on.
"Then we best work hard to dig out as much information as we can."
"Aye." Gybbon nodded and then took a deep drink of his cider to hide his sigh and worry. "The moment we start poking about they will start watching us much more closely."
"Ye think they ken ye are with her?"
"Nay certain of it, but they did use time to speak with me once on the road where they were looking for her. Somehow, they kenned about ye and that her mother would have sent her to ye. So, it wouldnae be much of a leap for them to quickly put that all together and decide I was helping her. I brought Mora and ye more trouble than I thought."
"Nay, it wouldnae be a big leap at all. But cowards who try to kill and steal from their own kin are nay ones who will come at me in the open. They dinnae have an army with them."
"They do have the sheriff, I fear, and his men."
Sigimor shrugged. "Dealt with that mon before and some of his men are kin to mine. Just worry about the lad.
"And when you go to the village remember all the ones those idiots may see as useless so do not question them, but they are just the ones you wish to speak with. The ones who run the shops and the women who hold the houses together. To ones who Robert thinks are not worth troubling himself with. He will see them as no better than dumb animals."
"Ye are right about that," Gybbon said. "The mon is arrogant, blindly certain of how important he is. Ye should see how he treats his own brothers. I think they are all afraid of him."
"Yet they follow him."
"They do, but nay out of brotherly love or family honor. Out of fear. The youngest is tempting his brother as he actually tried to stop him from killing off all of Mora's goats."
Jolene gasped. "What was the reason for that?"
"She could still have a living if she had her goats."
"Oh. But he did not kill them because his brother stopped it."
"Only for a moment and he got a good beating for it. Nay, e'en if Robert is successful in getting hold of the boy, Murdoch's life will be verra short. E'en the other two have warned him. I only saw the looks of warning, but I suspicion they have said something, too."
"So, what happened to the goats that lived?" Jolene asked.
"Murdoch's interference allowed some of them to leap the fence and run. Robert decided it was enough, that she wouldnae be able to gather them all up, I suppose."
"Which shows he has little knowledge of animals. I suspect those goats were well fed, sheltered, and pampered even. Of course they would wander back home."
"Or to one of the people who cared for them. That may help us find the boy," said Gybbon.
"Aye, it might. Will have to keep it in mind," Sigimor said, then frowned. "Nay such a good thing though, as it may help Robert get to the lad, too." He stood up and then bent to quickly kiss his wife. "We best be on our way. Ye keep watch, Jo. They may come here."
"We have big, burly men with swords here," she said, and patted his hand where it lay on the table. "We will be fine. You just watch your back."
"Always do."
Gybbon got up, said his thanks and farewells to Jolene, and hurried out after Sigimor and his men. Sigimor paused to give some orders to the men lurking around outside, and Gybbon watched them station themselves more precisely around the manor. Jolene was right. She had big, burly men with swords to protect her, and he wondered if Sigimor had purposely chosen his biggest men.
Once mounted, Gybbon felt a touch more confident about what they had to do. It was a small but impressive little force of men and he doubted anyone would hesitate to answer their questions. He hoped he would have as much when he had to take Mora to Gormfeurach. He prayed they would not be needed, but he was not foolish enough to think Robert would not prove to be a problem. He was eager to get to Gormfeurach.
Chapter Eight
"Nay sure the eight of us riding into the village like this is good. Could make folk wary or e'en nervous," murmured Gybbon as he glanced at Sigimor.
"Nay, they have seen us before. The bigger town in the other direction sees us more often as it has an excellent alewife and an inn I dinnae mind taking my wife to."
"There is the butcher's shop," said Fergus as he moved up on Sigimor's other side.
They all stopped to look around but did not immediately see a blue door. Sigimor stared hard at a burned-out cottage, his expression growing darker with each moment he looked at it. Gybbon then noticed the flowers in front of the still smoldering pile, some burned, some stomped down by the ones who had come to fight the fire.
Gybbon cursed. "They have already come after her."
Sigimor nodded. "Appears they have, but did they start the fire just to kill her and the boy or because they were angry that they couldnae find them? We will inquire of the butcher first."
Following him, Gybbon left his horse under the watchful eyes of Fergus and the MacFingal lads as he, Sigimor, and the others walked into the butcher shop. It was clean and well set up. One could smell the blood but only if one breathed deeply, yet there was no scent of rot.
"What can I be doing for ye lads and m'laird?" asked the plump, aging man at the counter, nodding respectfully at Sigimor. "'Tis usually your wee lady who comes by. Mayhap ye could tell her that I will have fresh pig on the morrow."
"I will do that," Sigimor said. "We were wondering if ye kenned what happened to the cottage across the road, the one that has burned down and that should still be being soaked as it smolders? Did it have a blue door?"
"That it did, aye. A wee bit of fancy done by the woman who lived there."
"Did she get out?"
"Cannae say and, if any can, they are nay talking. She had a wee lad with her for a wee while and no one will say what has happened to him, either. A sad thing."
"And no idea of who did it?"
"Nay that any are speaking of. That poor woman ne'er did anyone harm. She used to bring me flowers for my shop. To keep away the smell of death, she would say."
"Was anyone verra close to her?" asked Gybbon.
"Lady in the house two doors down from it-has a green door." He pointed in the direction they had just ridden in from. "The two of them often came in here together chattering like magpies and looking o'er what I had. I would often hear them talk of meals they had shared. So, aye, Morag Sinclair would have been close to her, I am thinking. Sheriff talked to her though and he didnae look happy, so I be thinking she didnae tell him much. 'Course those Ogilvy men were with the sheriff, too, and he didnae look too happy about that either."
"Thank ye," said Sigimor. "I will be certain to tell my wife about the pig."
Gybbon looked at Sigimor once they were back outside. "Do ye think we ought to talk to the sheriff?"
Sigimor frowned and rubbed his chin. "Let us speak to this Morag Sinclair first. She might already ken what he thinks about the house or what he may plan to do about it."
"I hope she has some information as I would like to be able to give Mora some news."
"E'en if it is bad?" asked Fergus.
"Aye, e'en then. Kenning something is usually better than kenning nothing."
Leaving the youngest to watch over the horses again and keep an eye on the smoldering cottage, Sigimor, Gybbon, Nait, and Nanty walked up to the door of the tidy little cottage. Gybbon wondered why the man who owned the land was so tight-fisted about the land he allowed the cottages to be put on. None of the ones in this row had much at all, not even enough for a proper kitchen garden. He had seen ones like this in the smoky, bustling towns that he thought had far too many people crowded into them.
"This is all Ogilvy land," said Sigimor. "Old mon clung to every patch of land he had. Mayhap that is where his grandsons got their idea that it should all be theirs again." He looked up and down the road. "They are rather, weel, fancy for field workers though."