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Kenna could almost feel the enmity between them crackle in the air.
‘Aye finer company than we can provide,’ replied Darroch. ‘The ride is a hard one anyway and not suitable for a female, lots of high walls to jump and rough ground to run over. You’d best stay and escort your lady home safe.’
‘I will,’ said Conall. ‘Now you’d best be on your way.’
Kenna was livid. To hell with Conall and his honesty and to hell with his company too. Oh, the very thought of riding back with him while he was in this mood and saying such things to her. She would not have it.
‘Wait just a minute,’ she shouted. ‘I’ll wager I can ride as well as any of you. Are you up for the challenge?’
‘Aye, we are,’ shouted another man.
‘She’s got guts this one, Conall,’ shouted Meyrick. ‘Line up your horses for a standing start.’
‘Kenna, don’t be foolish,’ hissed Conall as she steadied her horse. ‘You could break your neck. Don’t go with these fellows.’
She ignored him.
‘Kenna, I forbid it.’
‘You can’t tell me what to do.’
‘Oh yes, I can. Look, if I offended you, I am sorry, but you’ve no need to do this just because you are angry at me, and if you disobey me, there will be a reckoning later.’
‘Oh, and what’s that?’
‘I will bend you over my knee and thrash the life out of you for your recklessness.’
‘Are we all ready?’ shouted Meyrick.
Kenna was heartily sick of the arrogance of men, being ordered around by men, used by men, shut out by men.
‘Ready,’ she shouted back. Turning to Conall and putting as much acid in her voice as she could conjure, she said, ‘Do try to keep up.’
Suddenly they were off and running full pelt down the open ground towards a low stone wall. Kenna spurred her horse faster onwards, skirts riding up over her knees, hair whipping against her face. She felt her horse’s muscles tense as he took off and sailed over it with ease.
Kenna landed hard, hearing the pounding of hooves alongside her as Darroch edged ahead on her left, and Conall came alongside on the right. He glowered at her, and so she gave her horse his head as he thundered downhill, almost out of control, through a field of ferns and thick grass. Not too far now. She could see the castle below, the sunshine on the lock almost blinding.
She had to beat Conall to teach him a lesson, to get back at him for making her feel rejected and worthless. All her life had been lived watching for the next blow, thinking about each move she made and its consequences, some of them painful and humiliating. But now she would not be cautious. She would not do as she was told and if she broke her neck, who was to care anyway?
Darroch was well ahead. He had obviously thrown out the challenge, confident that he was an excellent rider and had a good chance of winning. But Conall was not far behind, Erebus’ hooves furiously throwing up clods of mud as he pounded in pursuit. If she could go just a little faster, she might catch them.
It was so sudden. A hare, spooked by the approaching horses, bolted from cover just ahead of Darroch’s horse, and it came to an abrupt halt, crashing down sideways and throwing Darroch to the floor. It was an awful, violent fall. He must be hurt. Kenna prayed he wasn’t dead. With some difficulty, she pulled her horse to a standstill and turned back, and the others had stopped too.
By the time she reached Darroch, he was lying on the ground, groaning, his horse having already struggled to its feet and run off in a panic. His eyes were open, and he was cursing loudly, which was a good sign. Conall extended a hand and pulled him up to his feet, and Darroch clung to him for a few moments with a dazed look in his eye.
‘Are you alright? That was quite a fall?’ said Conall. ‘Thank God for the muck and a soft landing, or you could have broken your neck.’
‘Gerroff me,’ Darroch hissed angrily.
When Conall let go, he started to brush the mud out of his eyes and off his clothes.
‘Well, you’re a fine sight, Darroch,’ smirked Meyrick.
‘Is anything broken?’ Kenna asked
‘Only his arse and his pride, Kenna,’ said Meyrick cheerfully.
‘I only fell because he veered into me,’ Darroch snarled, glowering at Conall.
