Chapter 7 #2
A soft cough nearly startled Calum into a reaction. Instead, a satisfied smile curled his lips. Got ye. Now, was it one man or many? A lone guard outpost for a larger group farther in that direction? Or one man acting alone or separated from his fellows?
The night stayed quiet until an owl’s hoot broke the stillness.
“Shite.”
That grumbled oath had to have come from the man he heard cough.
Silence fell again. Calum waited. If there were two or more, someone else would speak and he would hear the difference in the voice. The night remained silent.
The owl hooted again.
Calum’s hackles rose. Was that truly an owl, or a signal? Had he and Euan been spotted? He fought the urge to dismount or ride away, and continued to wait, tense now, his senses open to any new sounds, new movement. Anything that would give away an ambush.
He heard nothing save normal night sounds. Those would have stopped if any predator, two-legged or four, came near.
After a lengthy wait, he nodded to Euan and slipped silently off his patient horse and paused, listening for any change in the night.
Hearing nothing, he signed his intentions to Euan, then he moved like the soft breeze from tree to tree, brush to bramble, careful of his footing on the loamy forest floor.
Pine needles made a soft, spongy carpet.
But one misstep and a twig’s snap would alert his quarry.
Calum did not make missteps. The closer he got, the more of the man’s sweaty stench wafted to him on the night breeze.
He paused again and heard deep, regular breathing.
His quarry was nearby and asleep or close to it.
The breath sounds were loud enough for Calum to locate him in the dark, mere feet away, seated on the ground, leaning against a tree.
Alone, and now nodding off. A sentry. A poor one.
Where were the rest? And were they as lax in their duty as this man?
Calum could slit his throat before he took his next breath. He would never cry out.
But he and Euan weren’t here for that. Calum was charged with finding the rest of the group, determining if they were some of the troublemakers, then reporting their location back to Iain.
He eased away, keeping his gaze focused for any sign of movement from the dozing man or anything else near him.
If the sentry kept his back to the direction he knew to be safe, then it made sense that his fellow raiders, if that was who they were, camped in that same direction.
Calum slipped past the sentry, keeping silent and, nerves tingling, even more careful.
He could be approaching another sentry or the main camp filled with any number of men.
He crept forward again, using the forest as cover, pausing often to listen to the night sounds.
Before long, the scent of a campfire and of roasting meat reached him.
A glimmer of light flickered through gaps between the trees, and a few paces farther, the murmur of low voices rewarded him.
He dared not approach too closely. There must be more sentries in these woods, and the same firelight that revealed their base could also betray him.
He paused at his first view of the camp.
In a small clearing, a dozen men sat around a low fire where a sheep roasted atop stones.
Behind them, against the background trees, another one bleated, destined, he supposed, to be tomorrow’s dinner.
Calum estimated a band of at least sixteen men, accounting for other sentries he expected were arrayed around their base, perhaps more.
The campfire alone told him there were enough of them that they were not concerned about being seen.
This group was large enough to do damage to crofts and small villages.
And to make quick work of him and Euan. Another owl called, but the men didn’t react. So it hadn’t been a signal.
He turned around and put his back against a broad trunk so his vision would readjust to the forest’s darkness.
There, he waited and listened until he was certain he heard Irish accents and even Irish Gaelic.
A few of the men began boasting about what they’d gotten from the last croft they’d raided.
Including what they’d done to a woman there.
His fists clenched, wanting to kill them all for that.
Then he heard footsteps approaching. One of the men had left the campfire, perhaps to relieve himself, or to replace the sleeping guard Calum found.
But judging by the direction of the man’s tread, he would pass within inches of where Calum waited.
Too close. Even if he didn’t see Calum in the deeper darkness, he might sense his presence.
There wasn’t much time to create a distraction before he’d be discovered.
He pulled his slingshot from inside his leine and a few pebbles from the bag he always carried tied at his waist when he left Brodie.
Slinging one after the other, he launched them off to one side of the camp, careful to ensure they weren’t visible in the firelight.
He aimed at tree trunks and, where he could tell some had collected, bounced a few into dry leaves.
Both of those would make as much noise as he dared to create.
It would take only one small stone falling into view for them to know the noise they heard wasn’t made by a large number of men, and so didn’t herald an attack. And they’d come looking for him.
He couldn’t move closer either, so he wasn’t tempted to hit any of the men unless he had to silence the one headed his way in order to protect himself. He wouldn’t use the slingshot for that.
But the man headed his way stopped and muttered, “What—”, then turned back toward the fire and his compatriots. “I heard something.”
Calum sent a few more rocks into the trees.
The man pointed off to his right as he reached the fire. “That way,” he shouted, bent and grabbed his sword. “Who are ye, ye bastards? Show yerselves!”
Calum slung more stones toward the opposite side of the camp and heard another man warn, “We’re being surrounded.
” As Calum moved quickly from shadow to shadow away from the commotion he’d caused, he heard the men milling around, pulling weapons out of scabbard’s and heading in different directions, an anthill thoroughly stirred and furiously disturbed.
He kept several trees between him and the guard he’d found earlier.
The man was on his feet now, peering through the dark back toward the camp as the noise there carried into the forest, masking Calum’s careful footfalls.
Calum didn’t wait to see if he would abandon his post and go to join his fellows.
Back with Euan a few minutes later he didn’t need silence, but he kept his voice low. “Ye hear that? We need to go, now.” He swung up onto his horse and pulled the reins around to head quietly back the way they’d come.
“Did ye cause that uproar?” Euan snorted. “Of course ye did. Dammit, man, I was about to decide I was going to have to come save ye.”
“I wouldha stopped ye before ye got into the midst of the trouble,” Calum assured him. Once they were far enough from the raiders to be certain they hadn’t been pursued, he nodded to Euan. “Let’s ride! We’ve something to report.”
Back at Brodie soon after sunrise, they turned their mounts over to the stable lads and went straight to Iain.
“There were enough men in that camp to have caused most or all of the trouble the other clans are reporting. I counted a dozen at their fire, plus one confirmed sentry. I would expect at least three more arrayed around the camp, maybe more,” Calum said.
He explained how he’d made them think they were surrounded and dispersed them to avoid being found by one of them headed his way.
“And I heard Irish voices and boasts about what they’d done.
After I disturbed them and they didn’t find anyone, chances are they think those woods are haunted, and they’ve moved on. ”
“We took a circuitous route back in case we were noticed and followed,” Euan added. “We werena.”
“Good. Nay sense in leading them here. Kenneth returned late yesterday without encountering any strangers.” Iain paused, then straightened, some decision made.
“Euan, get together with him. Ye ken the way. Take enough men with ye to round up that entire band, assuming they’re no’ scattered all over the countryside.
” He grimaced, then grinned at Calum. “We’ll gift any who survive to the Marshall with my blessings. ”
“Even if they moved from where we found them during the night, a group that large will leave a trail,” Euan said. “We’ll find them again.”
Iain nodded. “First, go speak to yer wife. She’ll have my hide if I send ye out again without a chance to see ye. Dinna take too long.”
Euan grinned. “I’ll be as quick as she’ll let me,” he quipped and left them.
Calum waited for Iain to dismiss him as well, but the laird clearly had something else on his mind.
“Ye proved yer skill and yer worth to Brodie yet again, Calum. Because of that, I dinna want to risk ye in a fight. No’ until ye are certain ye can defend yerself. Ye have earned a rest. Yer role in this willna be overlooked.”
He started to object to being left behind, but kept his complaint behind his teeth.
Iain was right. He wasn’t ready to survive in the midst of an all-out fight.
He appreciated Iain’s praise and accepted his laird’s resolve to keep him safe until he was able to protect himself and the men around him, rather than to be a burden. “Thank ye, laird.”
Iain nodded. Calum took that as dismissal and headed out into the great hall.
Several of the men who’d just come off night duty on the wall walk had taken seats near the hearth.
He joined them. Finally, warm and dry and with an ale in him, he answered their questions about his and Euan’s scouting mission until he noticed the sky visible through a high window beginning to brighten.