“In the hawthorn thicket at the back of our house. Can Rory come with us? Please!”
“Have ye asked Rory’s mam?”
“Aye, she said it’s fine,” Lily replied.
“Well, Rory?” Deryn asked, turning to the little boy. “Do ye wish to go see these chicks or would ye rather stay and do some hard work with me?”
Rory looked from Deryn to Lily and back again. Deryn could see his loyalty to Deryn warring with his desire to go and play.
He laughed. “I’m only jesting. Go and have fun with yer friends but be sure to let Darla and Craig know where ye will be first.”
Rory smiled broadly. “We will!”
With that, they sprinted off. Deryn shook his head, trying to remember a time when he’d been that young and full of enthusiasm. He left the barn to go look for Madeleine.
He found her on her knees in the farmyard, a piece of charcoal behind her ear, parchment laid out on the ground, with several bits of wood and a hammer nearby.
She looked up as he approached. “I think I’ve figured it out!” she cried, pointing excitedly at the bit of parchment. “The cottage has a flagstone floor already, so if we lay clay pipes across the top, then wooden joists to take the weight of the new floor, I think it could work!”
Her eyes were alight with fervor. Deryn said nothing. Hecouldsay nothing. His heart swelled with so much joy that he was left speechless. Lord help him, how he loved this woman. Her energy and enthusiasm were infectious, her intelligence and resourcefulness nothing short of stunning. She’d already designed an indoor composting privy. Now she was working on an underfloor heating system. She called it a hypocaust and claimed to have taken inspiration from the old Roman buildings south of the wall.
He shook his head. “Ye are a wonder, lass, do ye know that? How do ye carry all this stuff around in yer head?”
“Years at college,” she replied, giving him an equally wide grin. “And the internet. Did Lily and Sean find you? I said they could take Rory to see some bird’s nest.”
He was just about to reply when Mara suddenly started barking and he heard the thrum of horses’ hooves. He turned to see a group of riders approaching along the track at a gallop. There must have been at least twenty men and they were all armed. Deryn’s stomach dropped, his hand automatically going to where his sword should hang.
“Go inside now,” he commanded Madeleine.
But before she could move, one of the riders rose in his stirrups and waved a hand. “Deryn!” Signaling to the rest of the riders to halt, two left the group and trotted towards Deryn.
He squinted. With Mara trotting at his heels, he strode forward as the riders drew closer, until they resolved themselves into figures he recognized.
The two men, heavy-set with the build of warriors, slowed their horses as they came abreast of him. They were in their middle years but vigorous still and both wore fine clothing with the Sutherland plaid over the top.
Deryn could not have been more surprised had the Pope himself come riding to his gates. He’d sent word to the Sutherlands over three weeks ago and although he’d been expecting a reply, the last thing he had expected was these two men to answer his call.
One was dark-haired, going to gray, the other blond. Laird Callum Sutherland, head of the Order of the Osprey, and his cousin Cian, one of the Order’s highest-ranking commanders.
Deryn bowed his head respectfully. “My lords.”
“Is that her?” Cian demanded. He was gazing over at Madeline who was watching with an apprehensive look on her face. “The one ye told us about?”
“Aye,” Deryn replied, struggling to catch up with this sudden turn of events. “But what are ye—”
“We need to talk to her.” Cian jumped down from his horse.
He was a giant of a man, easily as big as Craig. In his youth he’d had a fearsome reputation and even now he was known to have little patience with things that stood in his way.
Laird Callum swung down after his cousin. “Forgive Cian’s rudeness,” Callum said. “These days he doesnae like being dragged from the comfort of his fireside and the ride has put him in a bad mood.”
Cian scowled at his commander. “Ye know full well what put me in a bad mood, cousin. And after what we’ve discovered I think it’s justified dinna ye?”
Callum didn’t reply. Instead, he walked up to Deryn and halted. There was gray in Callum’s beard now and lines bracketed his eyes and mouth but his eyes held that quick intelligence that Deryn had always admired in the man.
“It’s good to see ye again, Deryn,” Callum said. “It’s been too long. The Order misses ye. We need strong warriors like ye now more than ever.”
Deryn remembered standing in front of Callum like this once before. It had been many years ago and under very different circumstances. It had been in Callum’s study at Dun Saith, following Lizzie’s death. Deryn had been a mess, full of anger and guilt, all of which he had aimed at his commander. He remembered the angry, bitter words he shouted, blaming Callum, blaming the Order, blaming anyone and everything for what had happened to his wife. Callum had weathered the tirade in silence, and when Deryn’s anger was spent, and he collapsed broken and sobbing into a chair, Callum had offered him only kindness. He had asked Deryn to stay, asked him to reconsider his decision to leave the Order of the Osprey, but Deryn would not be dissuaded. He had walked out of that room, out of Dun Saith, out of the Order of the Osprey, and had not looked back.
