Ewan ran his hands over his face. The woman was beyond sanity. For whatever reason, she firmly believed herself related to Eleanor.
Arguing with her would get him nowhere.
Which left him with the one burning question. Why had they been abducted?
What did the gypsies hope to get out of this?
Lochlan would sooner die than ever part with coin for Ewan’s life. His brother would expect him to get himself out of this mess, and well he would.
There was no other reason to abduct him.
Mayhap Nora was the reason for it, after all. Like as not, her father was someone important and he would probably pay a king’s ransom for his daughter’s return. Any decent father would and though the lass was delusional, she was rather endearing at times.
“Where do you think they are taking us?” she asked.
“I have no idea. Did they say anything to you?”
“They said they would take us to Lochlan’s castle. But I don’t think that’s where we’re headed.”
“Truly now?”
She stiffened at his sarcasm. “You don’t have to mock me.”
Ewan leaned his head back against the wagon’s wall behind him and closed his eyes. How had he gotten himself into this? All he’d wanted was to drown out his pain with some ale.
He should be at home in his bed, oblivious to the world. Instead, he was trapped in a rickety wagon with a woman who had no comprehension of the virtue of silence.
“Where do you think they’ll take us?” Nora asked. “You think they have a cell waiting for us? Perhaps it’s some noble’s castle. But who would dare to keep a MacAllister in their lair? I wonder if they’ll cut off your ear or mine as proof that they have us. My father oft tells the story of his grandfather whose hand was taken as proof of his capture by his enemies when they held him for ransom. I should hate to lose my hand. I’m sure you feel the same way. A man’s hand is a necessary thing. I wonder what else they might take...”
“Mayhap they’ll take your tongue as proof.”
She frowned at him. “My tongue? How would that prove anything? I should imagine one tongue would look the same as any other.”
“Aye, but the mere fact they cut it out would tell him that they did indeed hold you and not some other.”
She glared at him, but at least it bought him a small reprieve.
Unfortunately, it didn’t last long before she started in again asking him all manner of questions about where they were headed and what awaited them.
As the minutes ticked by slowly, Ewan began to hope it was his ears they took after all.
He wanted to listen to the people outside the wagon for clues, but all he heard was Nora’s endless conjectures.
She’d been right. She did make enough chatter for a whole family of people.
And even though it should anger him, he found himself conversing with her a bit. She was a creative and intelligent lass whose imagination knew no bounds as she ran through various scenarios for what could happen to them.
“You know,” she said as she picked at her brat. “They say there are dragons in the hills. Mayhap they’ll take us there to feed one. I never really believed in dragons, but this peddler came once to our home and he had a bite wound. It was this big.” She held her arms out to a good size. “And he had it on his arm. He said a dragon had bitten him as a young man.”
“How old were you when he told this story?”
“Ten and two.”
“Perhaps he made it up to entertain you.”
“Perhaps, but he looked terribly sincere about it. Do you think there are dragons? I should like to meet one if there are...”
Ewan shook his head at her while she continued on with her stories. The lady loved to talk as much as he loathed it.
