She landed on her side. He landed on top of her. He quickly rolled to the side, then stood and tried to help her.
He was tugging on her right arm. She grimaced against the pain. "Are you hurt?" the child asked, his fear obvious in his thick Gaelic burr.
"Just bruised," Deni answered in Gaelic. She slowly regained her feet, then noticed her bliaut was torn at the shoulder seam.
They were standing in the center of a narrow clearing.
She was shaking from head to toe. "We've had a close call, we have," she announced. "Lord, I was scared. Were you?" she asked when the boy looked up at her.
The child nodded.
They both smiled then. "We gave him what-for, didn't we?"
"Aye, we did give him what-for," she said, thinking to herself what an adorable child he was. He had long red hair. It curle
