“He has some lads he goes with?”
“Yeah, he has some hiking buddies.”
“But they daena go huntin’? Dost ye hae deer?”
“So many deer.”
“Master Cooper ought tae hunt deer, twill be more customary. He is a man, he ought tae provide ye some venison. Ye would cook it, ye are a fine cook.”
I nodded. “That’s nice, I would need a recipe, but I could.”
He grinned. “Ye tell Master Cooper that I said he ought tae take up huntin’ for venison for ye.”
I laughed. “Oh, he will love that advice from you. If I ever get home, I am going to make it my mission to train in some of these skills.” I patted Ferrari’s mane. “I would like to learn to ride horses.”
He said, “This is a far cry from yer first day, when ye dinna want tae get on him!”
“It’s absolutely necessary, Torin, and even children can do it. I would like to actually hold my own reins.”
He nodded. Then he held up my reins, “Ye want them?”
I said, my eyes wide, “No, not, definitely not, no, I am not ready, you keep them.” I patted Ferrari’s neck. “We have a routine, we’re used to this, no problems.”
He nodded with a smile and went back to holding the reins on his knee, sitting casually on his walking horse. “Dost ye see the path is more crowded with drovers?”
There were two young men, looking like cattle herders, watching as we passed.
I said, “They’re staring.”
“Aye, they daena see many ladies in this pass, we are comin’ on Glenesk.”
I asked, “This is where we’ll stop for food?”
“Aye, we will hae a meal at the tavern, and my hope is they will hae bannocks and cheese.”
Torin pointed,“Mark the stone tower there, Princess. That is Invermark.”
“Who does that belong to?”
“The Lindsays. They watch all who pass intae the glen. Best we ride with care, once when Max and I traveled these roads we had tae listen tae one of the Lindsays boast on his hounds for half the day.”
I said, “Well we do not want that to happen. We have somewhere to be.”
Our road wound through a long, narrow glen running along a river. There were low rock walls here, delineating crofts; some cattle pens with lowing cows; and a few outbuildings scattered on either side. There were a lot more people, many men and a few women.
I said, as we passed a woman, “You said there weren’t many ladies here…”
“That is not a lady, she is a peasant.”
“Oh, I’m a lady?”
He scoffed, “Of course ye are, ye are a princess!”
A cart wagon ahead of us pulled to the side of the path as we passed. We hadn’t slowed or stepped at all off our route.Oh.
The road was rutted with wagon tracks, hoof prints, puddles, and the deep quagmires of recent rain. Low stone walls divided pasture from moor, and smoke curled from the chimneys of small cottages. A couple of dogs barked as we passed, and children paused in their games to watch us ride through.
The air smelled of wet earth, dung, and woodsmoke. My stomach growled. “I’m famished.”
