Tarass acknowledged them both, letting Snow know they were there. He also acknowledged the one dead man.

“Finn is one of the men, Snow,” Tarass said.

Sorrow filled her face. “At least you found him and he can have a proper burial. I hope his death was quick and he did not suffer when his heart suddenly stopped.”

“It wasn’t a stopped heart that took his life,” Runa said. “It was a severe blow to the back of his head that killed him.”

Chapter 10

Fear wasn’t a foreign feeling to Snow, but this time when it crawled over her it was slow and prickly as if hundreds of bugs were feasting on her. Had Finn’s assailant not seen her in the snowstorm? Had the blinding snowstorm protected her from meeting Finn’s fate? Or dare she believe that Finn had been the target? But why? Why would someone want to kill Finn? He was a good man and had been a good husband for twenty years before his wife took ill and died two years ago. They had no children, but the clan was his family and the young bairns loved him. He often whittled animals for them to enjoy.

“I don’t understand,” Snow said, shaking her head. “Why would anyone want to hurt Finn?”

“You told me that you weren’t alerted to any problem until the horses stopped and you got no response when you called out to Finn,” Tarass reminded. “You or Thaw heard nothing before that? And what of Thaw? Didn’t he alert you to something being amiss?”

“The wind was howling around us and the snowfall so heavy that Finn attached a rope to the horses so we wouldn’t get separated. I kept Thaw on my lap, tucked inside my cloak, worried I’d lose him in the storm and—” She paused, her finger going to her lips as she thought a moment. “Thaw did grow restless at one point, anxious now that I think about it, but I assumed it was the storm. Do you know the other dead man? Could he have been the one to attack Finn? What caused his death?”

“He’d been stabbed, though I don’t believe that’s what killed him. He had wrapped a strip of cloth around the wound and stopped the bleeding,” Tarass explained. “He probably continued walking, perhaps searching for shelter and, weak from his wound, probably collapsed and froze to death.”

“Is he known to anyone?” Snow asked.

“I don’t believe so,” Tarass said.

“I’ve never seen him,” Runa said.

Rannock agreed. “I haven’t either.”

Snow found herself shaking her head again. “This is all so puzzling.”

“If I have any further need of you, Runa, I’ll send for you,” Tarass said, dismissing the healer and with a bob of her head at him took her leave.