“Take pity on a poor man and help me?” he begged.
Chapter 10
As soon as he caught sight of the man emerging from the woods, Cullen instinctively reached for his sword, drawing it from the sheath attached to his saddle. Then he boldly pranced his horse in front of the man, purposely keeping him away from Sara.
“I mean you no harm,” the man urged, his thin frame trembling.
“Do the soldiers hunt you?” Cullen asked, ready to put substantial distance between the stranger and them.
The man quickly shook his head. “No. No, they let me go, thinking me a friar unwilling to share his brew. If they knew I was a farmer who had stolen the brew to sell to help feed his hungry family, they would have done me in without a thought.”
“Where is your farm?” Cullen asked, being cautious until he could be sure that the man spoke the truth.
“A good distance up the road.”
“What do you want of us?”
“Nothing more than to travel with you,” he pleaded. “It is safer in numbers than alone. I only wish to get to my wife and daughter, and you are welcome to take shelter in my home for the night, though—” He hung his head. “I have no food to offer you.”
Cullen glanced at Sara and saw that she appeared as cautious as he of the man. In the event that his story should prove true, Cullen intended on helping him. He’d see no family go hungry when he had coins enough to spare. If, however, the man meant to steal from them, he would feel the end of the sword.
Cullen leaned down and offered the man his hand. “You are welcome to join us. I am Cullen and—” He glanced at Sara. “—this is my wife Sara.”
“I am Jeremy,” he said, accepting the offer with a shake. “And I am grateful for your help.”
The terrain proved a challenge, forcing the animals to a slow stride, and so Jeremy was able to keep pace with the horses.
Cullen kept a steady conversation with the man, and was surprised and pleased that Sara merely listened, but then, she was no fool. She understood Cullen’s intention, for she probably thought the same herself. Find out what you could about the stranger.
Wasn’t that what they had been doing since they met? she thought. Finding out about each other? Getting to know and understand each other, yet not trusting—not just yet, or perhaps never. Only time would tell.
“How did you come by the wine?” Cullen asked, almost feeling Sara nod approvingly behind him.
“I had taken to the road in an attempt to find a safe place to hunt for food,” Jeremy said. “The manor lords are getting worse in protecting their lands against those who they deem poachers. Tenants cannot survive on the harvest alone, especially when the harvest proves bleak and the manor lords take more than their fair share.”
Cullen had seen all too often how the poor suffered while the wealthy feasted.
“I had no luck until I happened upon a friar taking his brew to market. He offered me a ride and I accepted. The friar never woke the next morning, and I buried him after taking his robe. I thought it a sign from the Heavens. If I could sell the brew at market, I could possibly get enough money to feed my family and maybe even buy us passage out of Scotland.”
“Do you hunt with a bow and arrow?” Cullen asked, and felt another nod of approval from Sara.
“Yes, I do.”
“Where is your weapon?”
“Lost along with the wine. I tucked the bow between the barrels. It would have been foolish of me to pull the weapon on the soldiers, and even more foolish to let them know the weapon existed. They would have never believed me a friar if I carried a weapon.”
Cullen knew he was right about that. Friars were men of God and needed no such protection. They would have suspected he was a fake immediately; if the man was now telling him the truth, of course.
The path suddenly opened wide and Cullen signaled Sara up beside him. He wanted her opinion of Jeremy’s story. When her mare came alongside his, Jeremy picked up his pace to walk a few feet in front of them.
“He looks familiar to me, though I can’t recall ever meeting him,” Sara said. “And he looks like he has gone hungry.”
“I thought the same myself. His clothes hang on him as if he’s lost weight.”
“Or he has stolen them. He could be nothing more than a thief.”
“Or a hungry man trying to feed his family.”
Sara shook her head. “I wish I knew why he appears so familiar.”
“Give it time. It may come to you. For now it’s better we remain cautious.”
They were alert to every suspicious sound and kept their guard high. Cullen wanted to take no chances. For all he knew, the Earl of Balford could have discovered that he’d never left on the ship to America, and the earl could already have offered a generous bounty for his return or death.