Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 42873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 171(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
“He will not show himself to anyone but me.”
“And what will he do when you fail to appear?” Cree asked.
“I do not know.”
“I think you do,” Cree challenged. “You will have time to think about it in the dungeon.” He turned to Sloan. “Secure him there.”
“You are making a mistake,” the man warned as Sloan approached him.
“We shall see who made the mistake,” Cree said and turned his back on the man to join his wife waiting with Tate.
“This does not bode well for my brother,” Tate said, twisting his hands anxiously. “There is no telling what will be done to him because I failed to deliver what they asked of me. Drawings, nothing more than simple drawings.”
Dawn shook her head and looked to her husband.
“My wife understands what you do not,” Cree said. “It is not just simple drawings that are wanted. It is the layout—a map—of the new village and watchtower and the fortification of the castle itself as well as the surrounding woods. It is to see what strength I hold in this region.”
Tate’s eyes went wide. “Like the secret place your wife drew. Someone would be curious about it and what meaning it might hold and what might be hidden there.”
“Secret place?” Cree glanced at his wife in question.
“It is so secret you do not even know about it?” Tate asked, surprised.
Dawn smiled at the glare Cree sent her, and she gestured.
Cree’s glare faded as he grinned. “It is so secret that it does not exist.”
Tate scratched his head. “I do not understand. How can it not exist when Lady Dawn drew it?”
“You truly need to pay closer attention to things,” Cree cautioned. “My wife’s drawing was created from her own fanciful thoughts.”
Tate’s mouth fell open as he turned a shock stare on Dawn. “You did not draw the scene from memory?”
Dawn shook her head.
Tate stared at her with admiration. “It takes much talent to draw from nothing but your thoughts. You truly are amazing.”
“Enough!” Cree snapped, jealousy that another man should remark about how amazing his wife was bursting forth to irritate him. “What is important is that your drawings were meant to detail my home.”
“But why?” Tate asked, shaking his head confused, then as if the answer dawned on him, he spoke up. “Someone wants the information so he can make preparations to attack you.”
“That would seem the logical assumption,” Cree said.
Cree’s response confused him even more. “Yet you sound doubtful.”
“Not doubtful, questioning. Something a good leader should always do. Question until the truth is finally revealed.”
“What now?” Tate asked.
“Now we wait,” Cree said.
“For what?”
“For the next move in the game.”
Worry marred Tate’s brow. “But what of my brother? Surely, he will suffer for my failure.”
“My warriors will let nothing happen to him. Besides, you failed at nothing. The monk was found by my men and escorted here. When questioned, you revealed nothing about an impending meeting with him. It was he who failed.”
Tate stared at Cree, his mouth agape before he gained his senses and spoke. “You protected me, made it seem that I did nothing wrong, revealed nothing, and you lock him in the dungeon, so he has no chance to speak with me.”
Dawn smiled and gestured.
“My wife says that you finally pay closer attention, and I agree with her, though in the Highlands you are still too slow.”
Dawn admonished him with a poke to his side.
“He needs to hear the truth if he is to survive here when he visits. Besides on his return, he will be paid good coin by nobles and commoners alike to hear tales of the wild Highlands and how he survived his adventure.”
Tate grinned. “Lord Cree is right, my lady. I will be kept in good amounts of drink and food, even lodging as well, with my true tales as well as embellished ones.”
Cree gave his back a hardy slap. “Now all you have to do is survive your time here in the Highlands to reap the rewards of your visit.”
After the morning meal and daily tasks seen to and the children occupied in play with other children in the clan and her da busy with Cree, Dawn went to visit Old Mary.
Beast kept glancing at the children at play and Dawn’s heart went out to him. She pointed to Old Mary’s door and then shooed him off with a wave. The large dog hesitated, and Dawn leaned down and placed a kiss on his head, pointed to the cottage again, and shooed him off again. He went without protest, knowing where she was.
“Come in. Come in,” Old Mary said with a smile as she opened the door just as Dawn reached out to knock. “You have provided a generous home for me, Dawn.”
Dawn smiled upon entering. Old Mary had once lived in a small dwelling in the woods. Circumstances changed that and she occupied the small cottage Dawn had once called home. Dawn wanted more for her this time and Cree had made sure of it.