Warrior Untamed Read Online Free PDF Page A

squatted near the corner of the building, his hand outstretched to offer a bit of food to a mangy dog.
    “You there,” Hall called, striding forward as the boy jumped to his feet. “What are you called?”
    “Donald,” the boy answered, shrinking back as Hall neared him.
    “Well, Donald, I need your help. I’m searching for a friend of mine. A young lad not too much older than you. Your employer remembers selling him a fine, fine mount. Unfortunately, that seems to be about all he remembers of my friend. Can you help me, do you think?”
    Hall reached into the bag at his waist and pulled out a shiny coin, holding it out to the boy.
    Donald’s eyes rounded and he snatched the coin before once again backing away.
    “I remember him, right enough. Though it was but a runted palfrey my master sent him out upon, no a fine steed as he claimed.”
    Hall had guessed as much from the old man’s demeanor.
    “Did my young friend happen to say anything about the direction he traveled?”
    Donald looked down to the coin clutched in his fist before lifting his gaze to meet Hall’s. “Will you be telling my master about this?”
    “I see no need to tell your master. The coin will be our secret, boy. A transaction between you and me for any information at all you can remember of my friend. It’s most important that I find him, and any little thing he did or said could be of value to me in my search.”
    The boy chewed at the corner of his mouth, eyes downcast, some internal debate weighing heavily on him until at last he made his decision.
    “Well enough, then. Yer friend traded me a sweetfor an extra bag of feed for his horse. He said the ride to Dunvegan would be a long one and he had concerns about the animal lasting the whole way there.”
    Dunvegan. It was the confirmation Hall needed.
    He and Patrick had begun their day in Inverness at the marketplace, quickly locating the shopkeeper who had purchased one of Mathew’s jewels. In his babbling about having bought the bauble fair and square, the merchant had mentioned the MacLeod stronghold.
    With some strongly worded persuasion and more of Hall’s silver to grease the path, the rat-eyed merchant had turned over the jewel that now resided safely in Hall’s sporran.
    “Anything else?” he asked, focusing once again on the boy. “Anything at all you can recall.”
    “Only that I dinna tell yer other friends as much.” Donald grinned and touched the pouch where he’d tucked away his coin. “But they were no so generous as you, good sir, so I dinna feel as obliged to help them in their search.”
    “Other friends?” There were no other friends. “Tell me about these men, lad. When were they here?”
    “They came through yestereve seeking yer friend, no even taking the time to feed and water their horses. When they left, they separated into two groups, each one headed in a different direction.” Donald leaned forward and lowered his voice as if toshare a confidence. “In truth, I was glad to see them gone so quickly. Beggin’ yer pardon, good sir, but fair odd they were, the lot of them.”
    “Odd, were they?” Hall leaned in conspiratorially. “In what way?”
    “Oh, aye, odd indeed. No expressions on their faces, no a one of them. Their eyes all strange and staring, as if they dinna even see what was before them, but looked after a vision of some sort.” Donald straightened and shivered. “I’ve no ever seen men look like that before, no even the ones deep in their cups.”
    Fenrir’s men, Hall suspected. Likely possessed and directed by the Beast himself.
    “How many riders were there?”
    The boy shrugged and lifted his arm, palm facing toward Hall. “More than I have fingers to count on one hand.”
    Six at the very least, then, if not more, broken into two tracking parties.
    “My thanks for your help, Donald.”
    “And mine to you,” the boy called back, patting the pouch at his hip before disappearing around the corner of the building.
    Hall