Hilda tolerated Thomas’ presence, but Thomas didn’t want to press his luck. The next morning, after suffering her black looks during breakfast, he took the hint and decided he would leave by noon. In the meantime, Torht asked that he and Odda go to the woods to search for discarded antlers while the bone carver worked on a knife handle for Eanflaed, a commission from Oswy.
Thomas was apprehensive that they might encounter Redcap once again, but there was no sense of the other Fey disturbing the peace of the morning. They looked where Torht had told him he had found antlers before—on game trails through the underbrush where overhanging branches would snag the antlers and in places along the trail where the deer would have to jump over an obstacle or ditch. Torht had warned them not to get
