Read Online Isle of Tears by Deborah Challinor - Free Book Online Page B

spectacular, in Isla’s opinion. There were pork, fowl and eel, waxy potatoes, and ruddy kumara that were gold inside, an assortment of greens, and fresh bread. And best of all, so far as Niel was concerned, no neeps. All of it except the bread had been cooked in pits in the ground and had taken some hours. The McKinnon children had been given something to eat after they’d arrived, but they were still ravenous by the time the feast was served. It was filling, tasty and slightly smoke-flavoured, and not so different from the fare her mother had prepared, Isla decided, except that Maori food seemed to be less seasoned.
    ‘D’ye make your own yeast?’ she asked Mere through a mouthful of warm, crusty bread. ‘Mam does, and it takes her ages.’ She stopped, then corrected herself. ‘Mam did.’
    ‘Ae, it is made from potato.’
    ‘Aye?’ Isla was surprised.
    Mere nodded. ‘I’ll show you one day.’
    They were sitting on crowded mats in front of the largest of the village’s houses, the food spread out before them, and it seemed that the whole of Waikaraka had turned out to share the feast.
    One person in particular captured Isla’s attention, and each time she stole a glance at him she discovered that he was staring at her, which made her blush fiercely. He was a young man, probably not much beyond boyhood judging by the sparseness of his facial hair, but already tall and solidly muscled. Thin black lines radiatedout from between his eyebrows across his temples, formed tiny swirls on the flares of his nostrils, and curved down to just above his full lower lip. His shoulder-length hair was black, as the hair of all the Ngati Pono seemed to be, and tied so that it sat at the base of his strong neck. White teeth gleamed every time he smiled, which was often, his nose was straight and strong, and his eyes twinkled under strong brows. He was very handsome indeed, and Isla suspected that he was fully aware of the fact. She felt extremely uncomfortable under his gaze, but couldn’t seem to stop herself looking at him.
    Niel leaned over and grumbled, ‘That laddie’s staring at ye. Shall I tell him tae be off?’
    Isla realized with a start that he was jealous. But the ‘laddie’ was almost half Niel’s size again, and she flinched inwardly at the thought of what might happen if her brother tried to assert his supposed authority as head of the McKinnon family.
    Niel wasn’t the only one who had noticed the young man’s interest.
    ‘You have an admirer already,’ Mere commented as she nibbled a piece of meat off a bone.
    Isla’s face reddened even further, but she kept silent, not at all sure what to say and wishing the young man would stop being so rude.
    ‘That is Tai Te Ruanuku,’ Mere said, ‘my nephew. Wira’s sister’s son. He is seventeen years old, a promising young warrior, and very popular with the girls. There, now you will not have to ask.’
    ‘I wisnae gonnae ask anything!’ Isla blurted, and turned so she couldn’t see Tai any more. ‘D’ye no’ think he’s a bit cheeky, doing that?’
    ‘Doing what?’
    ‘Staring like that!’
    Mere considered this for a moment. ‘No. Obviously he has taken an interest in you.’
    ‘Well, it’s lucky ma da’s no’ here. He’d give him a good skelping.’
    Appalled, Mere exclaimed, ‘He would scalp him? Cut off the top of his head?’
    ‘Eh? Oh, no,’ Isla replied hurriedly. ‘Skelp him. Give him a smack.’
    ‘Ah.’ Mere relaxed, and inclined her head towards Tai. ‘If the behaviour is not to your liking, you could speak to Wira about it.’
    But the prospect of complaining to Wira about something so trivial was too daunting, so Isla went back to her food, hoping Mere would understand that the subject was now closed.
    The rest of the meal passed confusingly for the McKinnons, as people kept standing to give long speeches that the children couldn’t understand, and Mere insisted on introducing them to what seemed to be everyone in the