Poor Cara. That’s what I’m thinking. She’ll be an unhappy young woman. What’s he going to do, ask for her to be locked up same as Bardán? Does he think the wild man’s going to snatch Cara away same as he did his own daughter? Merciful gods. What a mess.

‘Sort of story you wouldn’t believe,’ says Gormán. ‘Too strange to be true. That’s what folk would say.’

‘Mm.’

‘We never talked to him about it. When he came back. And he didn’t say a word. So this, now, the talk about his daughter being missing, it could be his memory coming back, only mixed up with what’s happened. With Cara, I mean.’

‘Could be.’

‘Not much we can do about it either way,’ Gormán says, like he’s washing his hands of the whole sorry tale. ‘Eat up. Better food here than you’re likely to get with Conn doing the cooking. Then you can start sorting out some bedding, making a better arrangement for yourself and the wild man. Looks like we’re stuck with you.’ Funny thing is, after everything – Tóla shaking Bardán, Bardán being tied up and thrown down in that cellar, Gormán going along with Tóla’s orders – now he’s sounding almost happy.

Chapter Twenty-four: Blackthorn

24

~Blackthorn~

The ride tired me more than it should have done. The persistent rain did nothing to improve my mood. Osgar came with me, leading the horses we had borrowed from the prince’s household. At the gates of Oran’s establishment we found someone to take the animals in. Since I didn’t fancy riding up behind Osgar the rest of the way, I took my leave of him then, promising to return to Longwater in a couple of days. He went off to see a friend in the settlement and I walked the rest of the way home across the fields, getting steadily wetter and crosser.