The boy’s grateful smile as he drew the fur tightly around him was all the thanks Jeanne needed to keep her warm. If her son had ended up on his own in the world, she could only pray someone would have shown similar mercies to him.
A familiar pain tightened around her heart as she pulled her covers up to her chin. Her son, born months too early, would never suffer as this boy did. Her son lay in the arms of the angels and, with the path she’d chosen in life, she wasn’t likely to ever have another.
She stared up at the twinkling lights in the dark sky and knew sleep wouldn’t come any easier this night than it had on the last.
• • •
Jeanne awoke with a start, a sense of dread weighing her down. Likely it was no more than the sorrow on her mind when she’d finally drifted off to sleep or perhaps a bad dream. She pushed up to one elbow and looked across the embers of the fire to see the spot where the boy had slept was empty.
“Dobbie?”
She kept her voice low to avoid waking Eric. Tossing off her covers, she stood and looked around in time to see Dobbie mounted on her horse, the reins to Eric’s mount clutched in his free hand.
“It’s sorry I am, my lady,” he called as he turned the horse around. “Yer a kind soul, but I did warn you to be careful of the company you choose to keep upon the road. Hyah!”
He kicked the horse and bolted forward at a run.
“By the saints!” Eric was on his feet, sword drawn, running across the clearing.
He stopped, pursed his lips, and let out a shrill whistle. His horse reared to its hind legs, jerking the reins from Dobbie’s hand to race back to Eric’s side.
“I’ll remember you, Dobbie Caskie!” Eric shouted at the boy’s retreating back. “Best you be looking over yer shoulder!”
It all felt like some horrible nightmare. “I canna believe the lad would—” Jeanne began.
“Believe it,” Eric interrupted. “Perhaps in the future, you won’t be so critical of my suspicions. Unfounded or otherwise.”
Eric turned away from her, leaving her to stare into the darkness that had swallowed any sign of the boy.
“Bollocks,” Eric growled from behind her. “The little whoreson has made off with the better share of our provisions.”
No wonder he’d stuffed so much of the food into one sack when he’d helped to clean up. He’d already known what he planned to do.
“Well, we’ve no choice now.” Eric stood facing her, hands on his hips. “We’ll return to Castle MacGahan at first light.”
“No, we won’t.” Not as long as she had breath in her body. “Thanks to yer clever training, we still have yer horse. There’s no reason for us to turn back.”
“No reason?” Eric’s voice rose in pitch. “Who’s brainsick now? Do you ken how much longer it will take us? We’ve no enough food left to carry us to the coast, let alone home again.”
“Go home yerself, then, if you want. I’ll walk to the sea if I have to. I swore an oath and I mean to keep it.”
The shadows hid Eric’s expression, but she had no need to see it. His mumbled swearing told her all she needed to know. He didn’t agree with her, but he wouldn’t desert her, either.
This might be a setback to their plans, but she wouldn’t allow it to prevent her from keeping her promise to Eymer.
Chapter Five
Heavy clouds blanketed the sky all the way to the horizon as their path ascended up the great mountainside. Jeanne buried her face in the furs covering Eric’s back, holding tightly against the winds that buffeted their progress.