Shadows and Light

widened. “Yes, Lady.”
    She caught a glimpse of something coming along on the trail behind them. Her hand slid down to the large hunting knife strapped to the outside of her right boot. Then she caught the flutter of black between the trees and relaxed. Morag, coming back from her own ride with Caitlin.
    Brushing her heels against her horse’s side, she rode toward the Clan house and the man waiting for her.
    Had he been too fearful to enter a Clan house of the Fae? Or had the invitation never been given?
    A compromise, she decided, noticing how a couple of the Fae men holding crossbows hung back—and how the other men who were closer to their guest were still standing where they wouldn’t interfere with a clean shot if one were needed. But they’d given the groom a mug of ale and had brought a bucket of water for the horse.
    Gordon smiled when he saw her, obviously relieved by her presence. How ironic since, with the exception of Morag, she was the one he should fear the most.
    “Lady Ashk,” Gordon said, settling for a brush of his fingers against his cap when he realized he couldn’t bow without spilling the ale.
    “Is there a problem at the manor?” Ashk asked.
    “Not a problem exactly, but Finlay asked could you come to the manor. Some boxes for the baron, but the man that brought them said he won’t leave them until he talks to the baron. Then he said he’d speak to the baron’s lady since he was just remembering that the barons were having a big meeting in the east.
    So that’d be you, Lady Ashk. Will you come?”
    “Just one man?” Morag said sharply as she rode up beside Ashk.
    Ashk watched the groom’s eyes widen. Dressed in one of her black outfits, there was no mistaking who Morag was.
    “T-three, Mistress. Lady.” He looked at Ashk, a silent plea in his eyes to help him say the right thing to the Gatherer.
    “Three men,” Morag said quietly. There was nothing gentle in that quietness.
    “T-the captain of the ship and two of his men,” Gordon stammered.
    Padrick had said nothing about expecting a shipment. So who was this captain, and why had he come to Breton?
    Ashk looked at Morag. “Will you come with me?”
    Morag studied Gordon a moment longer. “I’ll come.”

    Ashk glanced at the men standing near the groom. A moment later, two ravens and a hawk took flight, heading for the manor—and for Ari and Neall’s cottage, since it was between the Clan house and Padrick’s estate. Two would remain close to the cottage to keep watch; the other would continue on to the manor to give warning if it was necessary.
    Well, Ashk thought as she and Morag rode away from the Clan house at an easy canter, Gordon will have a tale to tell the other grooms when he gets back. It’s not often a human sees any of the Fae change to their other forms.
    They rode in silence, not quite fast enough to satisfy the need to cut off any trouble before it could take shape, but prudent enough that they could keep the pace without risking the horses’ legs on a raised tree root or their own necks on any low-hanging branches. Not that there were either on this trail, which was frequently traveled and well maintained. Especially now that Ari drove the pony cart along this trail to visit the Clan house.
    Leaving the woods, they let the horses stretch into a gallop, flying over the open land. No sign of Neall or Glenn out in the fields, for which Ashk was grateful. There wasn’t time to stop, and nothing she could tell either of them even if she did.
    Then they passed through another short stretch of woods that formed the boundary separating Neall’s land from the land worked by Padrick’s tenant farmers.
    Not so far in terms of distance between the Clan house and Padrick’s estate, but the distance between human and Fae had felt vast—until she fell in love with a man who was both gentry and Fae, a man who had shown her it was possible to take the best from each and create something better than either could be alone.
    They eased back to a canter when they were close enough to the manor to be noticed. Ashk used the glamour to create a human mask. The people who worked for Padrick knew what she was, but there was no reason to let these unexpected visitors know more than was needed.
    Morag, however, made no attempt to hide what she was, and Ashk didn’t ask her to. Why waste the breath? Besides, it would give her time to study these men and decide what to do about them. Who would be paying attention to