He laughed shortly. "Keep those threats to yourself, please, lest we not see the inside of the gates. I will negotiate for us."
He would have to have a golden tongue far more skilled than Glines's to get them in the door, but he seemed to be sure he would manage. She had no choice but to trust him, so she turned her mind to other things in an effort to distract herself.
She considered as they made their way through a village. If she'd been planning an assault, she wouldn't have relied on a siege. The walls were too high and the space they enclosed too large. She wouldn't have been surprised to know Hearn had a vast quantity of things stored for such a possibility. Oats, at least. She wondered, absently, how hungry he would have to be before he began to eat any of his animals. Probably very, if ever. If that was the case, she suspected Miach would be hard-pressed to convince Hearn to part with any of his horses.
Well, at least he looked the part of a decently funded lord. She was appalled to find that her first inclination with either of these two brothers was to ascertain their handsomeness. Then again, there wasn't much to recommend them as far as their skill with weapons went, so perhaps it was natural. She had to have something with which to occupy her mind, especially since she wasn't feeling overly confident in the outcome of their current undertaking. She continued to observe Miach out of the corner of her eye.
He was, she had to admit upon further inspection, easily as fair to look upon as Adhémar. But his eyes were different. In this light, they were a blue so pale they made her shiver. What sorts of things had he looked at with those eyes that had rendered them so ageless?
She wasn't sure she wanted to know. What she did know, however, was that Miach was much better company than his brother. If she was going to choose a traveling companion, it would surely be him.
She could only hope his honeyed words would serve them here.
She dragged herself back to the present with an effort. "Have you met this man before?"
Miach only hesitated briefly, but that was enough.
"Did you mistreat one of his beasts?" she asked sternly.
"I didn't," he said, "and I am a fair horseman so Hearn will have no complaints on that score." He paused. "I have had speech with him before, and while it was not unpleasant, I would prefer that he not think on it overmuch."
Morgan came to a stop and looked at him. "Why are you here at all, traveling with us?" she asked. "You said you were from the north, and if so you are very far from your home."
"I came to find Adhémar."
"Why is he here? Did he flee from your lord?"
"He,"?and here he paused for quite some time?"he was about an errand and it was taking overlong for him to return home."
"He is a grown man. Surely he did not need you to come fetch him. Unless your lord grew weary of waiting for him."
"Hmmm," Miach said noncommittally. "Nevertheless, I worried that something had befallen him and came to see what that was." He smiled briefly. "I daresay it was you."
"I felled him, 'tis true," she agreed, "and it was easily done. You would think that he would be a better swordsman, but he is all bluster."
Miach laughed. "Poor Adhémar. I daresay his pride suffers from your tender assessments of his skill."
"At least he had a sword to fight with," she said, looking at him down her nose. "You haven't even that."
"And you think I should?"
She frowned. "Don't you think so. "
"I have one at home. Perhaps I could purchase another from Hearn."
She shook her head and started walking again. "I can't imagine not having some sort of protection. Your dagger is not up to a serious fight. Then again, I suppose if you're going to shapechange, you don't exactly want to take a sword with you."
"Shapechange?" Miach echoed. "What an extraordinary idea."
"I saw you," she reminded him.
"We've discussed this before, haven't we?"
"I was dissatisfied with your answer."
He smiled. "You were dreaming, Morgan. Out of your head with fever."
Why was it her name could sound so very ordinary when Glines said it, but something far different when a stranger did? And this wasn't even a stranger she had given more thought to than to wonder how he'd gotten this far without losing his head to any number of ruffians. She shook her head and sighed. She hardly recognized herself anymore and she could lay the blame for that at Nicholas's feet. She would have to write him and tell him in what a sorry state she found herself.
