CHAPTER 6
Cap
In retrospect, he should have known something was wrong the moment he laid eyes on the source.
Cap’s breath rasped in his throat as he charged up the steep slope. An arrow lodged itself in a nearby tree, spurring him to move faster. He’d had close calls before, but this was the worst.
Beside him, Jean-haut’s foot slipped on a shallow bit of dirt. Digging in his feet, Cap spun and brought his bow up. He buried an arrow in the shoulder of the nearest guard while the forester scrambled back up.
“Get back to the horses,” Cap panted. He blocked out the anguished cry caused by his next arrow. “Make sure they’re ready.”
“But Cap—”
Cap’s eyes picked out his next target as he shuffled backward up the rise. Only a little farther to smoother ground. “I’ll catch up.” Smirking, he added, “I have longer legs.”
His friend scowled but took off. Cap lamed the sword arm of another guard, then sprinted the last few yards to level ground.
Trusting the slope to buy some time, he slowed to a maintainable lope and caught his breath. Accepting the informant’s claim that General Valentin would send critical information with a lone messenger may have been foolish. But Cap had scouted the area. He should have seen the guards moving in.
He would have if not for that confounded runaway.
Maybe Rouge was right about her. A distraction to lure him out wouldn’t carry messages. She’d given them time to trap him. And like a fool, he’d fallen for it.
He saw the shadow edging next to his own before he heard the footsteps. Drawing his sword, he whirled to face his pursuer. The match was quick, but two other men were already upon him and a third was standing back, bow at the ready.
“Give up, Le Capuchon,” one of the men panted, brandishing his sword. “You can’t escape, and the General is eager to meet you.”
Not an option. But how could he get out of this one?
Slowly sheathing his sword, he scanned the men facing him. One had been in his unit before everything fell apart. Just gullible enough to believe a ruse – he hoped.
“You think you’ve caught me?” he laughed, deepening his voice. Waving a careless hand at the surrounding forest, he said, “You may have me outnumbered, but the very trees are my allies.”
One guard gave him a skeptical look. The other two glanced around nervously as Cap brought his hands up in imitation of Jean-haut. “Trees, heed my call!” he boomed.
He felt ridiculous, but he had to sell it. If they flinched, he could put an arrow in the archer and flee.
The skeptical guard snorted. “Do you really expect us to—”
A startled yelp from the archer cut him off. Cap’s eyes widened as a tree limb swept the man off his feet. The other two spun toward him, but they stumbled to their knees when the vines creeping up their legs pulled them to a stop.
That shouldn’t have worked. But Cap wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, Jean-haut appeared a few steps later. “I thought I told you to warn Tucker,” Cap groused without heat.
Jean-haut winked. “Aren’t you glad I never listen to you?” He patted his chest. “Besides, I can do that from a distance. That woman really did throw you off, didn’t she?”
Cap didn’t spare the breath for a response to that.
Fifty feet from the horses, an arrow whistled by a little too close for comfort. Cap swung around, sending an answer while Jean-haut plunged through the trees. Racing after him, Cap spared Rouge a glance as she hesitated by their captive’s horse.
“Leave it!” he bit out. “The General can have her.”
“Wait!” their captive called as Cap spurred his horse after the others. “What about—I thought you said you weren’t bandits!”
Ignoring her, he ducked under a branch in his path. It creaked as it expanded, growing across the trail to hinder pursuit. Not that it mattered – none of the guards were mounted. Between that and the young woman they left behind, they should be safe.
Hooves pounded behind him.
Unless one of the guards had borrowed her horse.
Holding back the words he wanted to utter, he spared a glance over his shoulder. The sight made him huff a relieved laugh. Instead of a determined guard, a riderless horse chased after him. Its saddlebags flapped in the wind, shedding a few papers.
He shook his head. He hadn’t meant to steal her horse, but he couldn’t afford to return it.