Page 48 of Wolf Heir
Aisling helped her with her stance so that Nelly could shoot an arrow. It dropped at her feet. They both looked down at it and laughed. But Aisling was thinking that she could take Nelly with her to see Tamhas sometime, and then Nelly could see if that life might be preferable to the kitchen life at the castle.
Aisling helped Nelly again to prepare to shoot an arrow, and this time it flew several feet. “That’s great, Nelly. We’ll keep practicing until you want to stop. Oh, and I…um, wanted to see Coinneach’s family to see how they are faring after the fight last night.”
“Oh, sure.” Nelly kept trying and finally hit the edge of the target. She whooped and hollered.
Aisling laughed. “Practice and you’ll get so much better. You should have seen me when I was starting out.”
“Did you have anyone help you?”
“After struggling with it for a while, Drustan sent a man to help me do it. Before we return to work, let’s visit Coinneach’s family to see how they are.”
“You want me to go with you?” Nelly’s eyes were wide.
“Aye. I would love to have the company.”
“Since you willna be seeing Coinneach.” Nelly smiled. “Aye, let’s go.”
They both headed through the outer bailey and waved at the tiny figures atop the wall walk.
Coinneach cupped his mouth and hollered, “Where are you off to?”
“To check on your family.” Then Aisling waved, and she and Nelly raced through the tall grasses.
“I have only been to the village once to get goods that Cook needed and never even noticed the crofts. I mean, I saw them, but I never paid attention to them. Will it be all right with them if I tag along? They know you, but no’ me.” Nelly tucked a loose curl of hair sweeping into her eyes behind her ear.
“They will welcome you because you are a good friend of mine.”
When they reached the family’s croft, Tamhas and his da were working in the field. They didn’t see them, so Aisling and Nelly went to the door of the croft and Aisling knocked. “’Tis me, Aisling, and my friend Nelly.”
The door was yanked open. “Aisling!” Coinneach’s mother threw her arms around her and hugged her. “Where is Coinneach?”
“Working as a guard on the wall walk. I told him we were coming to see you.”
“Come and have some tea. And welcome, Nelly.” Elspeth took both their hands and led them into the croft. “Sit and tell me what Coinneach has been up to.” Then she turned her back on them to heat the water for the tea.
Aisling and Nelly shared looks. Aisling shook her head at Nelly, trying to tell her not to mention Coinneach had been injured in a practice fight.
“Well, he did some practice fighting, and then he worked on the wall walk. That’s when he heard Tamhas’s howl and came to the rescue,” Aisling said.
“Aye, and?—”
Aisling looked sharply at Nelly, but she only smiled.
“Aisling helped fight the Vikings, using a Viking bow. We’re all so proud of her.”
Not Gormelia, Aisling was thinking.
“We got word from one of the men who had come with the others to take the bodies away. He howled to let us know it was safe to return to our crofts, and he said Coinneach wanted one of the Viking’s long swords to go to Tamhas. I canna believe you risked your life for just the croft. We could rebuild it. We couldna replace either of you.” Elspeth sounded distraught, and when she turned to bring the tea to the table, her eyes were filled with tears.
Once Elspeth set the mugs on the table, Aisling hugged her. She knew she had to tell the whole story now.
“The one man was the brother of the one I had killed as a wolf. He was about to shoot Coinneach with an arrow. We took Ivor’s weapons—the sword that Coinneach kept, the short sword that Coinneach gave Tamhas, and the bow and quiver of arrows that I claimed. His brother found the short sword that Coinneach had given to Tamhas in the croft. The brother vowed revenge.”
“Och, we didna know that.” Elspeth sat down at the table with them. “I’m glad you saved Coinneach’s life as a wolf.”
“Who couldn’t have escaped in time. Once Holgar found the short sword in your croft, he would have killed all of you the first chance he got. It wasna just a case of him torching your croft.” Aisling sipped some of her tea and saw Nelly was just staring at her.
That was what she’d been afraid of. Telling others that she had killed a Viking warrior when she had been in her wolf form. It just made her sound wilder, more unpredictable.
