The woman turned.
Dawn patted her chest, smiled, and pointed to the open door.
“What will you do?” Flanna asked with concern.
“Something will be found for her,” Turbett answered and turned to Dawn and raised his voice. “Go outside to the front of the keep. There is probably a line already there of people who are waiting to be reassigned chores.”
“She has no voice; she’s not deaf,” Flanna snapped.
Dawn hastily slipped out the door leaving Flanna and Turbett arguing. She walked to the front of the keep and Turbett was right. There was a line of villagers waiting to enter the keep and a longer line then she had expected. She wondered if Cree would be assigning chores. If so she had no desire to see him, especially after last night.
She had berated herself most of the night for having made such a foolish decision in not attending the festivities as Cree had ordered. She had never expected Cree to come to her cottage and she had not at all expected to find herself aroused by his presence and the lust she had seen in his eyes. She had to keep her distance from him or else she might do something she would regret. Silent laughter shook her chest. What difference did it make if they coupled? Everyone had assumed that they had already done so. And when she stood on line with the others they would all assume that the mighty Cree had found her lacking and now paid her no mind. She would suffer their wagging tongues whether she had coupled with him or not.
But not just yet, she decided to make a quick visit to Lila and see how they all were doing. Then she would return and stand on line with the others.
She jumped when she was poked in the back and quickly turned around.
“Have you been assigned a chore?” a large warrior with a ragged scar running across his cheek asked.
She shook her head.
“On line with you then,” he ordered and gave her a shove. “There will be no idle hands in Cree’s village.”
Dawn reluctantly joined the others waiting on line and was surprised to see Old Mary a few people ahead of her. She wondered what possible chore the old woman could be given, her hands too gnarled to be of any use.
The line moved slowly and Dawn was grateful that she had worn her wool cloak, a late autumn chill stinging the air. She glanced around the village and noticed several hunters returning with fresh kills while villagers eyed the meat with hungry eyes. They had existed mostly on porridge, kale and berries. Meat had been for Colum and his men alone.
She also spotted Elsa with two women from the village who appeared pleased to be following her. Dawn wondered if they had been assigned to the healer. It got her wondering where she would be placed, and how she would be treated in her new position.
Finally, she entered the keep and was relieved when she saw that it was the tall, blond man who she noticed had been by Cree’s side more than any other warrior. She heard someone call him Sloan and assumed that he was Cree’s right-hand man.
She listened as chores were assigned particularly when Old Mary stepped forward.
“And what do you do, Old Woman?” Sloan asked.
“I listen, I hear, and I know things,” Mary said her head nodding in cadence with her words. “No one pays an old woman mind.” She laughed.
Dawn would have laughed along with her if she could. Old Mary was right. No one paid her mind, just like no one paid attention to a woman without a voice. She and Old Mary had always been invisible to most.
She expected Sloan to dismiss her and so she was surprised when he inquired.
“What do you know?”
“I know where Colum keeps a locked chest and I know how he escaped.”
Sloan summoned a nearby warrior with a flick of his finger, whispered something to him that had him making a swift exit. He then directed Old Mary to take a seat by the hearth and told her to enjoy the hot cider. The woman turned a toothless grin on him and shuffled over to the table.
The next few people that followed took longer, Sloan thorough in his assessment of where to place each one. Dawn grew nervous as her turn neared. Sloan asked many questions and she wondered if he would understand her gestures or grow impatient with her.
She was one away from it being her turn and she prayed that it would go well for her when suddenly Cree walked up to Sloan, his back to Dawn. After a few whispered words, Sloan nodded toward Old Mary and Cree turned and was about to approach the woman when he spotted Dawn.