“Slow down,” she said with a chuckle. “ ’Tis the truth I’d welcome a bit of fresh air.”
Crispen’s face lit up. “Then you’ll come? Really?” He all but danced out of her reach and around the hall.
“If you’ll give me a moment to don warmer clothing, I’ll be glad to come out with you as long as you have the laird’s permission.”
Crispen nodded eagerly. “I’ll go ask him now.”
“Very well. I’ll meet you back belowstairs in a few minutes’ time.”
She watched as Crispen dashed out of the hall at full speed and then shaking her head, she headed toward the stairs to don clothing appropriate for the bitter cold.
When she returned, both Cormac and Gannon stood in the hall surrounded by Crispen and several other children. They looked wearily in her direction as she approached.
Grinning, she made it a point to enthusiastically greet each of the children and then she asked if they were ready to proceed outdoors. Surrounded by their lively chatter, she stepped into the cold and shivered as chill bumps prickled up her spine.
“ ’Tis cold today!” she exclaimed.
“Aye, ’tis,” Cormac grumbled. “Too cold to be standing still watching over children.”
Keeley slanted a sly smile in Cormac’s direction. “ ’Tis likely Christina will be joining us.”
His expression brightened and then he glanced rapidly in Gannon’s direction and adopted a more bland look.
“Come on!” Crispen urged. He tugged at Keeley’s hand until she gave in and hurried up the hill toward the area where the children played.
Teams were quickly formed and Keeley groaned when she realized the game was tossing balls of snow at one another with as much force as they could muster.
Thankfully for her, Gretchen was on Keeley’s team and she was quite adept at hitting her target. The boys howled with outrage every time Gretchen pelted one of them in the face.
Breathless with exertion after an hour of steady warfare, they called a truce and stood, hands on hips, gasping for air.
Crispen and Gretchen were whispering in low tones and kept staring over at Cormac and Gannon.
“You ask,” Crispen muttered.
“Nay, you ask,” Gretchen demanded. “ ’Tis your father’s men. They’ll more likely do it for you.”
Crispen jutted his chin out. “You’re a girl. ’Tis fact girls always get what they want.”
Gretchen rolled her eyes and then punched him hard in the arm.
“Ow!”
Crispen glared at her and rubbed his arm. “We’ll both ask.”
Gretchen smiled serenely and the two ran in Gannon’s direction. Keeley watched with interest when the two warriors visibly recoiled. Then they began shaking their heads and making negative gestures. They frowned, then scowled, and the children argued on.
It wasn’t until Gretchen’s expression turned from fierce determination to pitifully woeful that the men began to look uneasy. Her big eyes shimmered with tears and her chin quivered.
“Oh dear. They don’t stand a chance now.”
Keeley turned to see Christina approaching, her eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Gretchen isn’t opposed to using womanly wiles if it gains her what she wants. A more clever lass I’ve never met,” Christina said ruefully. “If she can’t beat capitulation from someone, she’ll turn on the pitiful eyes.”
“I’m dying to know what they want,” Keeley said.
“Whatever it is, it looks like they’ve been successful.”
Cormac looked up and his eyes brightened when he saw Christina. Gannon turned in the direction of the keep while Crispen and Gretchen trailed Cormac as he walked over to where the two women stood.
“Gannon’s going to fetch his shield!” Crispen crowed.
“His shield?” Keeley asked.
“Aye,” Gretchen said. “To slide down the hill on.”
“ ’Tis a sin to abuse a shield thusly,” Cormac muttered.
“ ’Tis good fun to ride down the hill atop them,” Crispen piped in.
Gannon appeared in the distance, the sun glinting off the large shield that he bore up the hill. When he reached the crowd of children they cheered.
Intrigued by the notion of sliding down a hill on a warrior’s shield, Keeley leaned closer to examine the object. ’Twas certainly large enough to hold a child or even a small adult.
“How does it work?”
“ ’Tis placed down like so,” Gannon said, placing the outward face onto the snow. “Then someone climbs atop and another gives them a push down the hill.”
Keeley’s eyes widened. “Is it safe?”
Gannon sighed. “Not if we allow them to slide into the loch or the courtyard where the men are training. The laird would be furious.”
“Then we must go the other way,” Keeley said, pointing away from the keep and the stone skirts.
Cormac eyed the next hill, sloping upward from the slight crest they were standing on. “Aye, the lass is right. We’ll need to go over the top of the next so we stay away from harm.”
“Yay! ’Tis a much steeper hillside to ride down,” Crispen cheered as they slogged up the rise through the snow.
“Me first!” Robbie cried as soon as they were looking down at the valley below them.
“Nay, ’Twas my idea and I did the asking,” Gretchen protested. “ ’Tis only fair I go first.”
“Let her go first,” Crispen muttered. “ ’Twill be her who is killed if ’tis not safe.”