"It is a trick to tempt us to lower the bridge," said Connor.
"Aye. Take ten lads, climb the ladders and look over the wall. We must know if we are surrounded." He waited for Connor's nod and turned his attention back to the woman outside. All the families were inside the wall, everything was being handled and there was no reason not to just wait for the woman to say or do something. The Ferguson woman only stood there, looking up at the window.
A while later, Justin came in and stood behind Rachel at the window. "What do you think she wants?"
Rachel shrugged.
"I have no idea," Kevin answered.
Said Justin, "Connor has the lads on the wall, but they report seeing nothing so far."
"Good." Still Kevin waited. An hour passed, the woman sat down on the dirt road, and it was clear she had no intention of leaving. Still, she did not say or do anything to indicate what she wanted.
Connor finally came back carrying two chairs, but none of them wanted to move from their positions at the window. Nevertheless, he was more than happy to sit down. "I changed the guard."
"Change them every hour until dark," said Kevin.
When Rachel left for a few minutes, Justin turned to Connor. "My wife wants to know if something frightened Rachel yesterday."
Connor thought about it for a moment. "She did not seem frightened. She let me get close to her for the first time."
Kevin looked amazed. "She let you get close to her? Have you looked for injuries?" Justin chuckled and Connor rolled his eyes just before Rachel walked back in.
Another hour passed. The afternoon shadows were steadily growing longer and would soon cover the woman outside. Finally, she stood up and turned toward the trees. She said something and the two missing MacGreagor boys ran out of the forest to her.
When the boys appeared, Kevin closed his eyes. Tired of standing, he finally took a seat next to Connor and left Justin and Rachel at the window. "First the Fergusons kill a man, a lass and a child. Then they return the missing boys. Why?"
"It is a trick still," Connor mumbled.
Justin wrinkled his brow. "Perhaps, something has gone wrong and they are not yet ready to fight us."
"We cannot just leave the boys outside the wall. They must be terrified," Rachel said.
Finally, the Ferguson woman cupped her hands and shouted in Gaelic, "The Fergusons did not do this. We found the boys hiding in the woods."
Kevin and Connor walked to the window while Justin thoughtfully rubbed the side of his face. "Our lads saw no Fergusons when they searched the woods. The boys would have come to us when we called out if they could."