Mystic Mountains

with his taunts for that alone. Tears clogged her throat.
    "How did you get the limp?" her new master asked, and she quickly swallowed the tears.
    For a minute Tiger thought she wasn 't going to answer. My God, but she held a grudge about something. He'd solve the puzzle or die in the attempt.
    "I was fighting for bread," she said softly. "A baker 's cart went over a large cobblestone, spilling its load everywhere across the street. We were squabbling over our share of the bread. The baker began to chase us off an' I bumped into a nob's horse. One of its hooves caught me and my toes were broken." Her expression was as flat as her words.
    "I see, and because you were so poor you couldn 't get a surgeon's care, right?" Tiger asked.
    "That 's right." She raised defiant eyes and chin. "But what would you know of being so poor that you had to fight for a crust?"
    "Tiger knows well enough— " Thelma began.
    Tiger lifted a hand. "Hush, Thelma." He gave her a wink and she pulled a face at him, which the wench didn 't see, she was busy looking at her hands. "The sharp-tongued termagant wants to see me as a slave-driving member of the upper class. Let's leave her with her own ideas, eh?" He chuckled and the chit gave him a look of such contempt he was momentarily stunned.
    "But she ought to know, Tiger," Thelma insisted as he turned the chair about and sat on it when she put his meal on the table.
    "Time enough. Now, eat." Tiger waved his fork. "By the way . . . Bella . . . where did you come by the nasty bruise on your chin?"
    She touched it with her fingertips. "One of the whores who shared our mess tripped me up. The rat faced harlot did it on purpose. I hit my face on a post."
    "Poor girl. " Thelma clicked her tongue.
    "You should have seen her lovely black eye after Gracie had finished with her." Isabella smiled at the memory, and the small movement of her lips sent Tiger 's insides into a strange spin. He dragged his eyes away.
    Dougal came in with Gillie. "Ah, here comes your lover, and my right-hand man," he said. Her smile disappeared instantly and fresh color flooded her face.
    "Don 't call Dougal that." She scowled at him.
    "Oh, I beg your pardon. So, 'tis a secret, is it?" Tiger winked at Thelma as she set a plate of food in front of the girl. Her sour look clearly said she thought he was going too far.
    Thelma smiled at Gillie, then gestured for Dougal to sit at the table. "Come, you sit beside Bella," she invited. "You look like you need a decent bit of food inside you too."
    "Thank you, ma 'am." Dougal gave Isabella a wide smile as he sat, rubbing his palms over his thighs.
    Thelma waved a hand. "Bless my soul, I 'm Thelma to everyone, including you."
    "Thank you . . . Thelma." Dougal's beaming grin seemed fixed on his plain face.
    "When the weather 's so hot we cook and bake early in the day, Bella. That's why we have cold meat and greens now. 'Tis too warm to be eating stews and the like anyway," Thelma said, passing a platter of buttered bread along the table.
    "We must be the luckiest from the whole bunch off the ship, eh Bella?" Dougal said quietly. "I 'm to sleep alongside the horses in the stable. And I'm to help Gillie with the animals. There aren't that many sheep yet, but he's going to teach me all about the cattle and the horses until the flock grows. How are you settled in then?"
    "I have a room of my own too," Isabella said in a low voice, refusing to look at her master, whose eyes she could feel on her as she lifted a slice of roasted lamb on her fork. She was still coming to terms with the fact that he ate along with his servants, talking to them as if they were of the same station.
    "That's grand then, isn't it?" Dougal began to eat with relish. Isabella agreed with him as she savored the tasty meat. This was grand when put alongside the picture she'd painted of what her life would likely hold for her in this hell of a place. But she'd not own up to it. She'd not give this 'Englishman' the satisfaction of knowing she was so happy at this moment she felt like crying.
    "What was your crime, Bella?" Gillie asked.
    Thelma 's husband was as thin as his wife. But where Thelma's bones stuck out at her elbows and wrists, his arms were muscular. Thelma was pale as well as skinny, but Gillie looked fit and brown, his back straight. Like his master's. Isabella couldn't believe their luck. This couple seemed to be really pleased to have her and Dougal here. Their English master could be tolerated; as long