Splashing again; someone was crossing the stream the other way. The dim light from the opening was suddenly gone. I shrank back in fright, anticipating a hunting dog, but it was a man who rolled through, swift as a sword stroke, and came up hard against me with an oath. In the near-darkness our eyes met, his wide with shock, mine no doubt exactly the same. His gaze dropped to the child in my arms and his eyes widened still further. He pointed to Becan, then put his finger to his lips. The message was quite plain, even in such poor light. Make him be quiet. He motioned to the opening of the little cave, then tried to indicate that men were following; that Becan’s noise would lead Aidan’s party to us. He could hear the crying. Cathal could hear it.

If I hadn’t been so scared I might have wept for sheer relief. I stuck the tip of my little finger into the baby’s mouth and felt his hard gums clamp around it as he sucked. The wailing ceased. Cathal took off his cloak and bunched it up to block the gap, plunging us into darkness. I heard Aidan’s men go straight past. As far as I could tell, even the dogs didn’t pause outside our hiding place. We waited a long time after the last of the sounds had died away. When Cathal removed the cloak, it was almost as dark outside as it was in our bolthole.

“What in the name of the gods are you doing out here?” he whispered.

“You can hear his voice,” I breathed, still hardly believing it.

“Clodagh, answer my question,” Cathal hissed. “Why were you hiding from them?”

“The same reason as you, I suppose,” I murmured, shivering. “I didn’t want to be taken back to the house. You must have some idea of why.” Gods, it was cold. I wished I’d had room for a blanket in my pack.

After a moment Cathal said, “I must? When I left, you seemed to be quite content busying yourself with household affairs and helping with your new brother. And you and Aidan were enjoying each other’s company. Now here we are. Forgive me for asking the obvious, but won’t your mother be wanting her baby back?”

I stared at him, but it was too dark to read his features. Perhaps it had been too dark for him to see Becan properly before. Perhaps he actually didn’t know what had happened. “You’re joking, I presume,” I said, and this time my voice was not quite steady.