Cree looked to his wife ready to forbid her from going down the slope, yet knowing he would only waste time. “You will hold tight to me,” he ordered, and she nodded.
He sent three of his warriors in front of him and three to follow behind them. His arm went around her chest, under her breasts, her rounded stomach making cinching her around the waist impossible. He did not have to tell her to grab his arm, she latched her hand tight to it. He then used his other hand to grab onto trees to slow their descent.
“Are you all right?” Cree asked when they reached the bottom, giving a quick look at the stream that rushed by not far from them.
Dawn smiled and gestured at her stomach.
“You think the bairn enjoyed that, do you?” he asked, relieved all had gone well.
She nodded and gestured again.
“Aye, I agree he is going to be an active one,” Cree said and taking her hand went to the lass waiting by a large boulder. She disappeared around it before they reached her and when they walked around it, they stopped shocked at what they saw.
“It’s like a small, crude village,” one of Cree’s warriors said.
Cree had to agree. Makeshift shelters had been fashioned from tree branches and hides. Three campfires burned throughout, and children who looked from about six to twelve huddled in cold and fear against the few adults there.
Trent, the lad who had come to the keep asking for food approached with a limp, his leg bandaged as well as his arm.
“I got them, Trent. I got them,” Hana said, running to his side.
Trent hugged her against him. “Good job, Hana. Good job.”
Dawn spotted Hume and nudged her husband as she pointed to him as a woman joined him who she assumed was Hertha.
“They came on their own free will to help us once they learned of our plight,” Trent said.
“We could not leave them on their own,” Hertha said, she and Hume stopping beside Trent and others in the camp approaching as well.
Cree was quick to take note of the older ones there. He was sure they were all of Newlin’s missing clan members. The one woman with the scar on her face he was certain had to be Bronwyn, the servant from the kitchen.
“Trent came to me first,” an old man, his hands gnarled with use and age said, stepping forward. “I am Ewert. I was once a skilled archer. I met Trent in the woods one day and he asked me to teach him. When he came to trust me, he showed me the camp. I left the clan to help him and the others.”
“And you told those you trusted,” Cree said. “And they eventually joined you.”
“We were no longer needed at the clan,” an old woman said. “Here we are needed.”
“As was I,” Hertha said. “They needed my healing skills and the clan had Auda.”
Hume took Hertha’s hand. “I was sorry I did not speak up and tell Hertha that I loved her before she disappeared, so I went in search of her.”
Hertha smiled. “Thankfully we found him, or he would have been wandering forever.”
Cree went to ask the question they all had been avoiding when he heard Beast begin to growl.
“Weapons!” he shouted to his men and the six men raised their swords and fanned out around the small group.
“No need for weapons, I have come to collect what is mine!”
The young hurried to draw weapons prepared to fight rather than surrender and Hana hurried to hide under Dawn’s cloak and cling desperately to her leg.
Cree stepped forward, keeping his sword gripped in his hand, not surprised at who he addressed. “You claim these children, Lord Ivan?” He spotted the warriors gathered in the woods edging toward the stream on the opposite bank of the makeshift village. Lord Ivan had come prepared.
“They are a lazy lot and there are thieves among them,” Lord Ivan called out from across the stream. “Especially that one.” He pointed to Trent.
“What did you expect me to do when you starved us?” Trent yelled.
“You should be grateful you got one good meal a day, when you gave me little work in exchange,” Lord Ivan shouted back.
Trent went right back at him. “You worked us from before dawn until well after dusk and you call slop not fit for animals a good meal?”
“It matters not. You belong to me. I paid good coin for all of you, and you will serve me as I please,” Lord Ivan ordered.
Hana tugged at Dawn’s garment and whispered, “Please. Please. Dinnae let him take us.”
Dawn smiled down at her and tucked her close, hoping the little lass understood that she was safe with her and not going anywhere. The lass buried her face in Dawn’s garment and continued to cling to her.