“Are you that eager to lose?” Mary asked with a sly tone.
Surprised at her dare, Leith grinned, “I willnae lose.”
“You will,” Mary said and then she was off like a shot from matchlock musket.
“Cheat!” he shouted at her as he spurred his horse on. The land was flat but the grass was high. The horses bolted with their hooves barely meeting the ground as they ran. Leith knew he could easily overtake Mary as her horse, not a stallion like his, was shorter and had not been bred and trained to sprint.
He could win, but he would allow her to have fun, as he knew she had not had much. Her hair billowed after she spurred her horse into the last few hundred feet of the meadow, and her gleeful laughter trailed after her. It was as unbridled as the horse galloping under her.
What can I do to hear that sound even more?
In the middle of that happy thought, he realized that being near her was not going to be possible. What in God’s name am I kenning, in less than an hour she will be gone from me and I will be back to Tarrant. ‘Tis the most I can get.
She came to the end of the meadow and spun the horse with ease. Her face was lit with mirth as he came cantering to her side. “I told you that you would lose.”
I chose to lose, lass, me stallion could overtake yers and run circles around ye even while ye were galloping. Dinnea ken too much of me losing, lass.
“And so, I have,” he nodded.
Her smile was radiant, “Where are we going now?”
“Now, northwest of here,” Leith said positioning his horse in the same direction. “We are heading to the Ettrick Waters where yer friend’s aunt is.”
“Scotland is large,” she said while following his lead, “How on earth do you know where to go at times?”
Looking over at her, Leith had to stop himself from reaching over and fingering a loose lock of her hair. “I cannae say for all of us, but for me, the knowledge of the land comes from me runnin’ over all of it. I was a soldier before this, lass. I had long nights on the glens and roads and mountains. Over time, the land and its environs just made itself stationary in me mind.”
“Were you in wars?” Mary asked as they entered another stretch of forest.
“Aye,” Leith said, “a major one at the Battle of Tippermuir and after that with the local clan’s skirmishes. There were many quarrels over land and cattle.”
Mary ducked under a low-lying branch. “Were you injured in that war.”
Gravely, but I willnae tell ye about it. I spent a few months in the sickbed fighting for me life, battling blood loss and then infection.
“Aye, I was,” he said succinctly. “Ettrick Waters is less than a few miles from here.”
He felt Mary’s quizzical eyes on the side of his neck but trained his eyes away from her. He felt remorseful in ignoring her but what good would it do to tell her that he nearly died? He set his jaw as the horses drove relentlessly forward over Scotland grassy terrain.
The firm ground became a wet and marshy slop soon enough and for good reason. The river nearby was high and probably had just come from a big overflow so they had to pick and choose where to have their horses walk. Who knew if sinkholes were there? They passed large slowly-turning mills running along the marshy riverside. A few people laden with straw passed by them, but Leith was not looking at them, he was looking at her.
Mary’s eyes were flitting from one place to another as they passed through the town and into the countryside. She sat straighter on her saddle this time, looking keenly to all the farms they passed by. She did not examine them completely, just a few looks and then her attention was turned to the other.
She must have been given signs to look out for.
They came to the end of the long row of farmhouses and Mary’s face was pale. She spun to him with distress in her eyes and he directed his horse near to hers.
“What is it?”
“The house,” she said anxiously, “It’s not here. Did I make a mistake coming here? Was Tina wrong in pointing out the place?”
Her tone was ticking up in anguish as she spoke and her eyes were frantic. “If I came to the wrong place, I will never find her.”
Jumping off his horse, Leith came near and lifted her off hers. With his hands framing her face he asked, “Nay worry, lass, I saw where it was meself. Yer friend was nae wrong with where she pointed ye too. Tell me what she told ye to look out for.”
“How did you know that I was told to look out for something?” Mary asked, her fright from before temporarily forgotten.
Amused by the quizzical look in her eyes, Leith said, “Instincts, lass, pure instincts. Now, what is it?”
“I was told to look out for a big farmhouse with a barn to the side and three wooden posts painted white in the front yard,” Mary replied while tugging her head away from his hands. “We’ve passed no less than five lots and none of them have what I’m looking for.”
With her words running through his mind, Leith spun in his place and scanned the land. It was true, they had passed a lot of land and houses but none were what Mary’s maid had specified.
He had a gut feeling where he could find the farm. “There are three inroads between these farms, lass, let’s see where they can take us. I have nay doubt yer friend is right about where this place is. Come on, get back on yer horse.”
A deep frown had settled itself in her forehead but Leith used the tips of two fingers to smooth the grimace out, “Dinnae ye frown, yer
