Highlander Unchained (Highlander Trilogy 1)

His eyes met hers and he stared unblinking. No one made a sound or moved.

Finally, he summoned her with a crook of his finger and she obediently approached him.

“Why are you not in the kitchen attending to your chores?”

She pointed to her mouth and shook her head.

“Turbett doesn’t want you because you have no voice?”

Dawn nodded.

Cree scowled and nodded at a table two away from where Old Mary sat. “Go sit and wait for me.”

Dawn did as he directed, though she heard Sloan whisper, “Do not force her on Turbett or our meals will suffer for it.”

She was not surprised at Cree’s response.

“He obeys or he will find himself as voiceless as Dawn.”

Sloan quickly returned to his own chore and summoned the next villager in line.

Cree joined the old woman. “Tell me what you know.”

“In the solar there are loose stones in the upper right corner of the fireplace where Colum kept a small chest. What is in it I do not know and only Colum and Goddard knew of the secret hiding spot. There is also a secret passageway leading from his bedchamber to the back of the keep. That is how he escaped; I saw him sneak out with Goddard close behind while his warriors continued to fight and die; the cowards.”

“How did you come by this information?” Cree asked.

Colum dismissed me as old, feeble, and deaf since I never answered him when he spoke to me. He was right about one thing… I am old. As for the other two?” She shrugged. “People see what they want to see. “ She gave a nod to Dawn. “Many villagers keep their distance from her. They don’t see her true beauty, her true worth. Dawn is a rare woman and it will take a rare man to love her, but once he does; he will know true happiness.”

The thought of another man coupling with Dawn angered him and he snapped at the old woman. “I want no predictions from you just the truth or you will suffer the consequences.”

Old Mary shrugged again. “What can you do to me? I have known love and sorrow, pain and suffering, laughter and happiness. I have lived long, sometimes I think too long. If I die tomorrow; I die in peace and I will meet my maker with no regrets. Can you say the same?”

Cree had thought about that with each battle he had entered. He knew it would be the fires of hell that would greet him if he did not live to see another day, and he would die without truly having lived for he had known more sorrow than love.

He glanced over at Dawn, her threadbare cloak closed tight around her, her head held high and her eyes curious as she watched Sloan assign chores. He noticed she shivered and he wondered if she was worried about her fate, then he realized that she was chilled and he cursed her silent suffering.

He summoned a servant to him and ordered food and another pitcher of hot cider to be brought to the table. The servant nodded and hurried off.

“I have decided on your chore, old woman,” he said. “You will be my eyes and ears and you will tell me all you see and hear and… you will keep a watch over Dawn and let me know if anyone mistreats her.”

“I will gladly serve you, my lord. And gladly keep watch over my friend.”

The food arrived and Old Mary eyed it with appreciation.

“Enjoy and you will take your meals at the keep from now on,” Cree ordered and snatched two tankards off the table along with the extra pitcher of hot cider as he stood.

“Thank you,” Old Mary said with a grin and a nod, “now Dawn will have more food for herself.”

“What do you mean?”

She held up her gnarled hands. “I can no longer keep my own garden or cook my meals. Dawn saw that I did not starve. She shared from her garden and cooked for me. She has a generous heart.”

“Eat,” he ordered gently and with tankards and pitcher in hand he walked over and joined Dawn.

Dawn wrapped her chilled hands around the tankard he handed her after he filled it. She was grateful for the heat that seeped into her hands, though nervous that he had sat and joined her. His brow was knitted and she wished she could reach across the table and rub the tight, deep lines away.

Something had happened to her being locked away with him for that short time, though she could not make sense of it. She assumed it had only been lust she had been introduced to but why then did she want to reach out and comfort him? And if it was just lust why did he care what chore she was assigned? Why had he not left her to stand on line and let Sloan decide her fate?