“Aye!” Angus trotted his horse up alongside of Ciaran’s, looking past him at Bannon. “Our fathers take us out tae reave cattle when we are wee things.”
A snort came from behind them.
Bannon looked over his shoulder at Ian, who’d been quiet thus far. “What?”
He shrugged, looking so like a younger, more carefree version of Ciaran. He was a handsome kid, but didn’t have that roughness around the edges that the rest of them did—not even when he was cursing bogles this afternoon. It made Bannon wonder if Ciaran had had that same innocent quality when he was Ian’s age. Somehow he doubted it. “I never had a reaving rite of passage.”
“What do ye call this?” Ram asked.
“I call it sneaking out and giving ye nae choice but tae take me.”
Smirking, Ciaran nodded. “Aye, he has a point. But we dinna make ye go back.”
“Only because I threatened tae follow ye again and bring Fiona with me,” Ian said with pride in his voice.
Bannon chuckled. He really did like Ian. You had to respect a kid who wasn’t afraid to blackmail. “My point is, rite of passage or not, it’s still wrong to steal.” He practiced getting Flùr to speed up a bit by tightening his knees. When Flùr sped up, Bannon quickly released the tension in his legs and Flùr slowed.
“Nae, nae, nae.” Angus shook his head. “We all do it. They steal from us; we steal from them. Like Ciaran said, it’s the circle of life.”
“Still not using that the right way,” Bannon mumbled.
“Everyone does it,” Angus continued as though he hadn’t heard.
“If everyone jumped off a cliff….” Ack! Bannon slapped a hand over his mouth, horrified at what nearly came out of his mouth. He’d nearly repeated one of his father’s favorite sayings. Egads, how bad was it when he was turning into his parents? He sounded like a real stuffed shirt.
“Think of it as sport,” Ian interjected.
“Done.” Bannon nodded. Because it was better than turning into his parents. “What happens if we get caught?”
“They will try tae shoot us with arrows, so try nae tae get….” Ciaran’s voice trailed off, and he stopped riding and held up his hand.
Everyone complied except Bannon, who’d been concentrating so hard on controlling his mount with his legs that he momentarily forgot about the reins. He stopped a yard or so in front and pulled back on the reins to get Flùr to back up. When he got even with Ciaran, he grimaced. “Sorry,” he mouthed.
They sat in front of a thick stand of trees.
Ian came up between him and Ciaran and whispered, “What is it?”
“I thought I heard something,” Ciaran said softly.
Bannon didn’t hear anything except the soft breeze rustling the tree leaves and crickets. Matter of fact, he didn’t see much either. The sky was cloudy, but the moon went behind a particularly thick cloud at the moment, and the light dimmed like someone slowly dragged a blanket over a lamp. Supposedly they were close to the base, according to Ram, but nothing looked familiar.
Reaching back, he made sure his fragger rifle was still tied to the saddle behind him. A possible encounter with the IN made bogles look like kittens. Oh, he knew they had to break into the base if there was any chance of getting home, but he was not looking forward to it. They didn’t have enough intel. Honestly, he didn’t think all the intel in the galaxy would make him comfortable with the idea. He knew he could kill if need be, but he didn’t like it and damned sure didn’t want to be the one killed. A chill swept over him at the thought.
Ciaran shook his head. “I guess it was just the wind.” He waved them on.
When Bannon started forward, Ciaran reached out and grabbed his arm.
As everyone else disappeared into the copse of trees, Bannon glanced over at Ciaran and felt as though someone had walloped him upside the head. Would he ever get used to those intense nearly black eyes? For several moments, he just took in that handsome face, and Ciaran did the same as though he were content just to watch Bannon. It made Bannon warm all over. It made his stomach tingle and his chest tighten. The idea of staying here with Ciaran was sounding less and less crazy.
“Please be careful. Follow my lead.”
“Got it.”
“And dinna get shot with an arrow or stabbed.” With that, Ciaran hurried into the tree line.