Highland Angel Read Free Page A

been aided then.”
    “Ye did right. Ye could nay be sure ye could kill him and get ye and the child away to safety. Have ye proof of his evil?”
    “I have my word and the word of a few children. Some of his people ken all; most of them just guess. They are all firmly under his boot heel, however, too afeared for their lives to act. There are two within his home who give me some aid, but only some, and only when the child’s life is threatened. I tried to gain support amongst the common folk, for he steals or buys their bairns, but I have ne’er had the freedom to do much at all. Thefew who cared about the fate of the children could help verra little. I have tried to spread dark rumors about him so that fewer people would send him their lads for training. That seems to work, but it only causes him to turn more to the children of the poor upon his own lands or from the towns where the king’s court is held. The children of the poor suffer the most. Not only does Roderick have no fear of retribution for how he treats them, but, once in his hands, they are forgotten and so he uses them to feed his other sickness.”
    “How much sicker could he be?”
    “He gains joy, pleasure, from inflicting pain and death. Now and then he is, weel, seized by an urge to kill.”
    Payton drank down his ale and quickly refilled his tankard. It was not hard to believe that Sir Roderick found pleasure with young boys, for he had learned of such things long ago. What Kirstie told him, however, stretched the boundaries of any sane man’s belief. It seemed impossible for a man to continuously abuse and murder children yet never be discovered.
    “Ye doubt my tale,” Kirstie said after watching his changing expressions for a moment.
    “’Tis difficult,” Payton confessed. “I ken all too weel that some are unusually stirred by the beauty of a child. The child’s own sense of undeserved shame would help keep Sir Roderick’s dark secret. But, for so long? And so completely that he can e’en murder these innocents? And to believe that none of his people would try to speak out or help the bairns?” He sighed and shook his head. “Ye ask me to believe the unbelievable with no proof.”
    “Why should I tell such lies?”
    “To be rid of an unwanted husband?”
    “Then come with me. Mayhap ye need to hear more than my voice.”
    Payton nodded and within moments they were slipping through the back streets of the town. Yet again he had to marvel at her ability to move so swiftly, silently, and secretively. He had to work hard to keep up with her and had the lowering feeling that she was not using all her skill in deference to his lack.
    They finally stopped at a wretched little house well hidden in the foul warrens the poor were forced to live in. Kirstie abruptly disappeared and Payton was reaching for his sword when he felt a tug upon his ankle. He looked down to find her peering up at him from a hole in the crumbling foundation of the house. Cautiously, he followed her, although it was a tight squeeze. Once inside, she covered the hole with a board, then lit a torch revealing a damp, long-unused storage area. The light also revealed the wary faces of five children.
    “All is weel, my sweetlings,” Kirstie said as she pulled a small sack from beneath the cloak Payton had lent her. “I have some food.”
    Payton suspected Kirstie had cleared the table while he had gone to find cloaks for both of them and weapons for himself. Despite the rough platform made to keep the children off the floor, the blankets and other small comforts, it was a sad, unhealthy place. The fact that Kirstie so clearly cared for the children and they obviously made no attempt to leave this dismal place added the weight of truth to her dark tale.
    He studied the children—four boys and one girl. All were beautiful in the way only a child can be. Despite their interest in the food Kirstie gave them, however, theywatched him. The fear and wariness upon their faces