Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
The little lass appeared hesitant, and Elsie understood she feared what the chore might be.
Elsie hurried to tell her. “I need you to count how many sweets the children, Clara, and Mab eat so that Alda will know how many more might be needed.”
“I can do that,” Kara said eagerly.
“Go with Clara,” Elsie said with a nod to the older woman who had lingered behind, waiting for the lass. “And watch out for Clara, she likes her sweets and can be sneaky.” Elsie chuckled and nodded to Clara.
Clara grinned, understanding Kara needed comfort and smiles.
“I will be watching you,” Kara said, taking the older woman’s hand to walk with her to the kitchen.
“But I am a sneaky one, you may not catch me,” Clara teased playfully and the two walked off, Kara assuring Clara that she would know just how many sweets she ate.
Elsie turned and found her husband standing behind her, his sword still gripped in his hand, blood dripping from it and spatters of blood on his garments and a few on his face.
She stepped close to him, ready to wipe the blood off his face, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her.
“I don’t want you marred by battle. I will see to it myself.”
There was a softness in his eyes she hadn’t expected after the battle but when he spoke, she understood why.
“You do well with bairns, speaking to them gently, understanding their needs,” he said, releasing her wrist. “You will make a good mum to our children.”
Elsie went to step closer again and he stepped away. “Nay, I will allow no remnants of battle to touch you.”
“I need to touch you, feel you alive against me,” she said, not understanding the overpowering need she felt for him.
“It is the threat of death that makes you need to feel alive, to know you survived, to know it is real,” he said, having felt it himself many times but none so strongly as now that he had his wife. “Later I will show you how very much alive we both are.”
“CAVELL!” came a powerful shout.
“I must speak with Eldon, the leader of the troop who came to our rescue,” Cavell said. “See that drink and food is made ready for him and his warriors.”
“It is already done,” Elsie said, wanting desperately to at least hug her husband.
“I will see you in the keep,” he said and turned to go and stopped to glance back at her. “Your da?”
“He suffered no harm.”
Cavell nodded and turned away from her and she had to stop herself from running after him and hugging him tight. He was chieftain of the clan and he had responsibilities to see to, and as his wife, so did she.
She hurried to assist May in seeing to the injured. She sectioned off a portion of the Great Hall where the less seriously injured could be treated and could be free to partake in ale and food once done. Serious injuries were treated in the person’s home where family could look after them.
Elsie did not see her husband again until what felt like endless hours later when he entered the Great Hall with a large man of a sizeable girth, the man who had shouted to Cavell when she had been talking with him.
Her husband had washed his face and the blood spatter had been washed off his garments as best as possible and his sword showed not a drop of blood. Curious to what the man had to say to her husband, she gravitated toward the two as they walked to the dais.
“You have an honorable clan, Cavell,” Eldon said as they rounded the dais.
“That I do, Eldon,” Cavell said and heard the chair creak as the large warrior dropped down on it in exhaustion.
A servant was quick to fill the tankard in front of Eldon and he drank it down by the time she finished filling Cavell’s vessel. He held it out to her to fill again.
“Your visit could not be timelier or more appreciated, Eldon, but what brought you here to begin with?” Cavell asked.
“Clan Murdock was not my destination. Slayer sent me to find a rogue troop of warriors that may have been connected to his father and brother’s deaths. I was to return the leader to him. They were the ones who brought me here.” He chugged down more ale before he continued. “We found their tracks and followed them here. The idiots led us to their own demise. Unfortunately, the leader is among the dead, and Slayer is not going to be happy about that.”
“No doubt your tracker is on the trail of a few that ran off when they realized victory would not be theirs today.”
Eldon nodded. “Aye, he’ll leave signs for us to follow. Slayer would not want me to leave you and your clan vulnerable. You are chieftain now, pledge fealty to him and he will send a troop of warriors to make their home here to help grow and strengthen your clan. It will also allow me to leave a few warriors here until others arrive. At least then you will not be so vulnerable to attack. Unless you intend to pledge fealty to your father’s clan.”