I spotted her then...lying on the road.
Ricky star
ted forward, but Ioan cut him off, saying, "No."
Ricky let out a growl, and his horse stamped.
"She's getting up," I said as I peered through the binoculars. "She's limping, though."
Ricky cursed under his breath. Tywysog Du continued stamping.
"Wait," Ioan said. "Just wait."
The Audi had stopped spinning. The BMW driver either didn't notice what happened behind him or pretended he didn't, as the car's rear lights faded into the night.
The Audi driver's door opened. A man stepped out. As soon as he saw Lloergan, she toppled over.
The man looked around, as if assessing his chances of getting back into his vehicle and taking off. Not exactly a choice that warranted the death penalty, but if I was looking for signs that this guy was an asshole, I could take this.
He gave Lloergan only a cursory glance. Then he bent to examine the front end of his car.
Yep, definitely an asshole.
The man got down on all fours to check for damage on the undercarriage.
"The front end's fine," Ricky murmured.
I was about to ask what he meant when Lloergan pushed up, slowly. The guy didn't notice--she was behind him, and he was intent on seeing what damage she'd done to his precious car.
Through the binoculars, I saw her lips pull back in a growl. The man glanced over his shoulder and then gave a very satisfying start.
Lloergan advanced, her head lowered, fur on end, inflating the big dog to the size of a bear. The guy scrambled up. She let out a snarl loud enough for me to hear.
The guy inched toward his open driver's door. He made it three steps. Then Brenin came tearing across the field, two other cwns on his heels. The man bolted for his car, but Brenin was racing across the road, and the guy clambered onto the hood of his car instead. He stood up there, looking down at Brenin and Lloergan, the other two dogs approaching. Then he peered along the empty road.
He took out his cell phone. Hit a button. Peered at it.
"Yeah, that's not going to work," Ricky said.
In today's world, if you were beset by giant hounds, help was only a call away. Unless there was a high-tech cell-phone blocker...attached to the collar of the lead hound.
The cwns circled the car patiently, allowing the man to realize that calling for help wasn't an option. Then Brenin leapt onto the hood. The man slid down into the opening they'd left, and he started to run as the hounds herded him toward the waiting forest.
"And that's our cue," Ioan said, handing Ricky and me each a bundle. "We let the hounds tire him while we dress."
"Our cloaking devices," Ricky said, shaking his out. "Appropriately in the form of an actual cloak."
Ioan waved for one of the others to accompany Ricky into a patch of forest so he could put on his cloak, turning him into a true Huntsman. While Ricky and I had ridden with the Cwn Annwn on recreational hunts, this would be our first time donning the official costume.
When I started after Ricky, Ioan said, "Wait," and motioned for me to follow him to a larger patch of trees.
As we rode, he said, "Have you changed your mind? About wanting to know what our quarry has done?"
I shook my head, but not before I hesitated a moment too long.
"You can ask what he's done, Liv," he said.
When I didn't respond, he said, "If you think you need to prove anything by not asking, please remember that you aren't the only one who is anxious to do this right. You are our Matilda. The only one we've ever had, and the only one we'll ever get. Having you ride strengthens us. That's why you're doing it, and we realize that, so we want you to be comfortable."