The Bearwalker's Daughter (14 page)
Read The Bearwalker's Daughter Online
Authors: Beth Trissel
The stallion could race like the very wind. By heaven, Jack would see that he did. If ever it was time for a true test of speed, that hour was now. Relentless wolves pitted against the finest in horse breeding.
Unless he imagined it, the necklace in his pouch felt heavier and hotter. And then Jack knew. Somehow, the great bear had called up the wolves to force him and Karin further back into the Alleghenies where he waited.
Not
yet,
Shequenor!
Guided by the moon, Peki sprang across a stone wall. Turf flew under his hooves as they swept through the meadow. He and the two mounts in front of them spurted ahead, but the furies on their tail raced faster.
Snorting, Peki stretched out his legs even farther. He sailed ahead like a ship before a storm. Wolves howled their frustration.
Jack recalled Shequenor’s words; “I give you one full moon circle to bring her to me.”
But that was
before
Jack angered him, took the necklace, and joined forces with these men. His heart drummed with gritty resolve. Scots he was and Scots he’d be again. He urged Peki on, beating a path home with the best of them.
Chapter Nine
God be praised. They’d made it home. Karin breathed out in relief. Those first few miles were a terrifying run from the wolves and then the hideous wails had finally died away. It seemed every time she thought she couldn’t possibly be any more frightened, she was mistaken and shook in Jack’s hold as he lifted her from the blowing horse.
She shuddered, too wobbly to stand unaided. His chest heaved from the wild ride, but he stood on his feet bearing her up. And he’d been injured only the day before. “Thank you,” she murmured through trembling lips. “Such a weakling,” she reproached herself.
“No. Overcome by strange events and perished with the cold.” He carried her up the steps to the door.
Sarah opened it at his knock, her face white, anxious eyes combing them. “Whatever’s happened?”
“Karin’s chilled through and had quite a shock.”
Neeley glanced up from her seat by the hearth and heaved herself to her feet. “Looks as if she saw a banshee.”
“In a way,” Jack said.
She nodded her head beneath the enormous white cap and motioned to him with aged fingers. “Bring her here. I’ve a bath steeped with my special herbs awaiting her. You, too, after the lass is done if you’ll have it.”
“Gladly, ma’am. It will make a welcome change from bathing in the icy river.”
“I’ll see to your mount!” Grandpa called from the yard.
“Thank you kindly, Mister McNeal.” Jack carried Karin into the homey room.
“Thank you, McCray, for seeing our Karin safely through that ravening hoard.”
Joseph strode inside. “As I could have done if I’d been given the chance.”
Making no reply to his bitter remark, Jack sped Karin to where Neeley waited.
The tub steamed in readiness by the hearth and the screen used for privacy and warmth waited at the side. Karin inhaled the pleasing fragrance of angelica and agrimony wafting from the water. The significance of these sacred herbs, and the rowan bough hung over the doorway, wasn’t lost on her. Foresighted Neeley had joined in the battle against the dark forces.
Jack stood Karin on unsteady legs, a supportive hand on her shoulder. Sarah rushed over and lent her gentle assistance. “Neeley and I will see to her. Supper’s on the table. Go and get some hot food into you.” She held him back for just a moment. “I’m right grateful to you, Jack, for keeping her from harm. She’s dear to me. To us all.”
“And to me.”
Karin followed with her eyes as Jack brushed past his disgruntled brother to where the two servant girls, Betty and Alice, waited with a meaty kettle of stew and bowl of spicy apple dumplings. Was she dear enough for him to make the sacrifices she sensed lay ahead? And what of the deeds that lay behind him?
****
The screen woven of willow enclosed Karin on three sides with the hearty fire before her. Beyond the opaque divide, she heard the brothers at their meal and each other.
“Karin wouldn’t have needed bringing home safely if you hadn’t hightailed off with her in the first place,” Joseph flung at Jack.
“She wanted to see the old cabin. How was I to know we would come under attack from every creature in these woods?”
“You have some kind of luck, Jack. We’re fortunate you didn’t return her in a pine box.”
“I took care of her, didn’t I?”
“What else did you do?” Joseph hurled back.
Sarah darted nervous glances in their direction. “Oh dear. They will fight over you, lass.”
“Never mind those two cockerels, we’ve the girl to tend to,” Neeley hushed her.
Awkward didn’t begin to describe bathing with the men in the same room, even though they couldn’t actually see her. But Neeley was determined and Karin frozen to the bone. Neeley and Sarah fell to work and she soon found herself stripped of her sopping petticoats. Sarah unlaced her bodice and she tottered out of her clinging shift and into the gleaming tub.
“Get that water over every bit of you,” Neeley urged. “Even your hair. You need its full power and we’ll wash that muck off you while we’re about it.”
Sinking down into the scented bath, Karin hugged the heated liquid to her goose-pimpled flesh like a soothing blanket. Maybe now she’d stop shaking.
“What’s this?” Sarah asked. “A silver bracelet?”
In all the confusion and her near panic, Karin had forgotten the shining band that encircled her forearm, and its significance. “Oh that. Yes. Jack gave it to me,” she said, not offering further explanation.
Sarah bent near to examine the jewelry. “Quite a marvelous gift. Has it any particular significance?”
“Nothing—much.” Karin faltered under Neeley’s watchful eyes. Sarah seemed equally intrigued. “Only friendship,” she said, keeping her voice down.
Jack snorted. He had the hearing of a sharp-eared hawk.
A hopeless liar, Karin slid down under the water. The need for air forced her to emerge. One glance at the women revealed the skeptical expressions awaiting her.
“What sort of friendship?” Sarah prodded.
Neeley tipped another pitcher of steaming water over Karin’s head. “I should think that’s plain enough. The lass returned home in his arms, did she not?”
Karin sputtered. “Because I couldn’t stand.”
Sarah’s astonished gaze grew even wider and she blurted, “Are you betrothed to Jack?”
“No—well, maybe. I was earlier today.”
“Jack, you bastard! Stealing her from under my very nose the instant you two are off together!
“Language, Joseph,” his mother chided.
“Balls,” her irate son shot back. “Mister McNeal has us all well acquainted with rude speech.”
Sarah sank onto a
stool
before
the
hearth. “Even so.”
Neely wasn’t the least bit put off by these unexpected tidings or the rough talk. She rubbed her soapy potion through Karin’s wet hair. “Now, lass, are you or are you not betrothed to Jack McCray?”
“I was, and then I learned he’s the worst sort of Tory.”
“Is there a good sort?” Jack inquired from beyond the screen.
“No,” Joseph growled.
“Some Loyalists are better thought of than others.” Karin spit out the suds that slid into her mouth.
“Shall we say I was allied with those, or are you bent on seeing me as the vilest of men?”
“You said so yourself,” Karin tossed over the divide.
“Hardly. I admit to fighting for the cause I believed the lesser of two evils. Given the choice, I should have told them all to go to perdition.”
Neeley upturned another pitcher of hot water over Karin’s head. “War is naught but maiming and killing, my girl. ’Tis how the battle’s won.”
“But Neeley, he was at Blue Licks.”
Sarah covered her face with her hands.
“The godless son of a—” Joseph began.
“Stop right there,” Neeley silenced him. She fixed owl-like eyes on Karin, still blinking under the suds. “Choose now, Joseph or Jack. Which will you wed?”
Karin couldn’t possibly choose Joseph and how could she swear herself to Jack given the black deeds he’d committed?
“So that’s how it is, miss. Very well, I shall decide for you. Jack’s the man. You accepted his proposal.”
“I didn’t propose,” Jack said off handedly, a hint of triumph in his tone.
Sarah lifted her head and stared at Karin. “Then how is it you two are betrothed?”
Karin slid back down under the water.
****
An unimposing figure in her gray shawl and oversized cap, Neeley beckoned Jack and Karin to the hearth with a secretive air. What the old woman had to impart seemed of deep importance, at least to her. He would honor her request.
“Come, both of you. Kneel down.” Her aged voice was whispery.
The household had gone quiet. All were abed except him, Karin, and the insistent woman. Neeley had banished everyone else to their rooms and been very particular about having this time alone with the couple. The matriarch stood facing them and gestured for Karin to kneel before her on the floor.
She sank to her knees, clothed in a white shift and stockings. Firelight glinted on the sheen in the black hair rippling over her. Jack’s heart quickened. He’d never seen a lovelier woman, and the sweetness of angelica wafted from her. As it did from him, come to think of it, but the fragrance seemed most fitting for an angel. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, bury his face in that resplendent mane and breathe in.
“Now, Jack, kneel on her right.” Neeley regained his distracted attention.
He did as she bid him, bare-chested save for his quartz necklace, wearing the buckskin breeches from his saddlebag that fitted him like a well-worn glove and the fresh stockings she’d supplied. Clean damp hair spread over his shoulders and his boots dried by the fireside along with his moccasins.
Neeley’s stooped figure bent over them. “Never forget, the blood of the clans runs in you, lass. Our family goes back to the days of King Macbeth.”
Karin glanced up, surprise in her face. “The wicked king in Shakespeare’s play?”
Neeley gave a sage nod. “He was not so very wicked and you descend from his line.”
A wrinkled hand resting on Jack’s shoulder, she said, “Your people reach back to Robert the Bruce, the great Scottish ruler.”
Unprepared for her disclosure, he asked, “How do you know this?”
She eyed him with unblinking regard. “I am the keeper of these truths. Soon all will have forgotten the old ways, their kith and kin. Hold fast to what I tell you. Both of you. Your blood is mingled with that of Vikings and ancient Celts.”
Jack listened intently. Karin seemed to do the same.
Neeley’s unwavering demeanor was that of one to whom authority had been given from on high. “A host of Scots braved the journey to the New World. ’Tis here in this raw land you will make your way amid the blood and tears that wash your path, as they do all people’s.”
She paused, and then continued. “Hear me well. What I bind between you this night shall stay bound, though dire forces would tear you apart. Once the vow is made, if either of you should cast the other off it will be at the risk of your very lives. Only together can you survive what awaits you.”
Karin slid her widened stare from Neeley’s stern expression to Jack, her face an eloquent blend of longing and confusion, hurt and want. Doubtless, anger still smoldered in that meld of emotions, but she remained at his side. In that, he took hope.
“Karin,” Neeley summoned. “Much of what’s to come is beyond your sight. Of this you may be sure, Jack McCray was sent to you, he who, even now, has taken hold of your heart.”
A pink stain colored Karin’s cheeks. “Foolish vessel.”
“Your heart knows a deeper wisdom.”
“He has much to answer for, Neeley.”
“As do many. Judge him not too harshly.”
“But he has been my enemy. How can I love such a man?”
“As your mother did before you.”
Karin paled and shook her head. “No.”
“Yes,” Neeley persisted.”
“Jack said the same, but it cannot be.”
“Yet, those were her final words, spoken for you.”
An incredulous moment passed as Karin weighed her message. “For me?”
“All these years Mary’s request has lain heavily on my soul. She bid me tell you of her love for you and Shequenor.”
A chill seemed to travel Karin at his name. Cold warning gripped Jack’s insides.
Neeley closed her eyes. When she opened them again they swam with tears. “You regard him as a devil, and well he may be now. But he could not always have been thus. Not if Mary loved him. She was the gentlest of souls. Forgive me for not passing this message on to you sooner, lass. I dared not defy the wishes of your grandfather.”