CHAPTER 32 #2
Her roll must have been sloppy. Her arrows were scattered across the ground instead of in her quiver.
She turned to run again, but the rider’s shoulders jerked before he slumped forward.
As the horse ran past, Laurent dropped out of a nearby tree. “Are you all right?” he gasped.
“No thanks to you,” she snapped. “Where were you?”
He scowled. “I took out those riders for you. Should I not have?”
Holding back her annoyance, Helena gave him a tight grin and faced the road. “You’re right. Sorry.”
Laurent would never be her favorite person, but he shouldn’t suffer the effects of her fear.
She took in the current state of things. Cap had incapacitated the remaining guards. Tucker strolled between them, collecting money pouches and satchels from the ones that couldn’t resist.
Since tying a good knot remained outside Helena’s grasp, she left binding the uninjured guards to Laurent and Cap. Instead, she collected her scattered arrows, then set about relieving the guards of theirs.
“Do you have a medic?” Cap asked as he secured the leader’s wrists. “Your men will need care.”
“What does that matter to you?” the leader snapped. “You claim to fight for the people, but then you attack the king’s guards—”
“If the king’s guards would protect the people and swear allegiance to the man who should be king, I would leave them alone,” Cap said calmly as he pulled the knot tighter. “However, I do not wish them dead. Do you have a medic?” he repeated.
The leader nodded toward a middle-aged man who was snapping an arrow shaft sticking out of his own thigh. “Right there. I suppose it makes sense that an outlaw would support a murderer for king.”
Cap paused as he turned away. “I am not a murderer, nor would I promote one. But you could swear allegiance to Prince Cedric and support his sister as regent, instead of a usurper.”
After rescuing the medic’s supplies from Tucker’s collection, Cap signaled to Helena and the others. They gathered the stolen items and retreated south.
Helena’s shoulder began to burn, but she ignored it. The medic might untie his companions. Reaching cover was more important than a little cut.
Besides, Cap was running with one eye closed because of the blood dripping into it from a gash in his forehead. If he could wait, so could she.
He led them below a rise before turning west. About a mile later, they stopped at a small stream.
“We need to clean up before we reach the village.” Squatting on the shallow bank, he scooped up a handful of water and wiped it across his face. “Any dust that we need to brush off? Blood to rinse out of your clothes?”
Tucker held his arms out and looked himself over. “I only have a little—oh, whoops, I have something on my hem.”
“I’m clean,” Laurent replied.
“That’s what happens when you spend the whole fight in a tree,” Helena groused. She pulled off her cloak and knelt down to wash the back. “I’ll need a little help.”
“Margit, why didn’t you say something?” Abandoning his forehead, Cap turned to her and probed the wound with gentle fingers. She jerked away with a hiss.
“Heavens, Cap, that hurts! Who taught you wound care? Rouge?”
A half smile curved his mouth. “I had basic training in the guard, but she did add to it.”
“I thought she worked in the kitchens.”
Shrugging, he pulled a small cloth from his satchel and dipped it in the stream. “Her father works in the castle infirmary.”
Lifting the torn edge of her bodice, he dabbed at the slice from the mounted guard. Helena gritted her teeth and tried to wash her cloak without soaking the entire thing.
“You’ll have to wear that to hide this,” Cap said with a distracted air. “Do you think you can mend it before we return?”
“It will show, but I wasn’t wearing my cloak earlier. I doubt anyone will notice the change.” Helena scrubbed out a little more blood. Good enough. “Tucker, can you hand me my satchel?”
Somehow, Cap applied a basic bandage to her back despite her clothes. His hand trailed across her uninjured shoulder as he withdrew. “Alanna might have to sew you up later.”
“As long as I can still shoot, it will be fine.” Knotting off her thread, she cut it with her teeth and stowed the needle. “Now it’s your turn.”
He sat back on his heels. “I’m fine.”
“Cap, you can’t open your right eye.” She reached for the medical supplies. “That cut must hurt.”
“I don’t—”
Grabbing his scruffy chin, she huffed, “You helped me. Let me return the favor.”
Behind her, she heard Tucker snickering. Laurent shuffled his feet, but beyond offering to carry some of Tucker’s purloined goods, he was silent.
Cap sighed and settled forward onto his knees. “If you must.”
“Of course I must.”
Dampening the cloth, she carefully swiped at the blood on his face. She brushed away a stuck lock of hair, smoothing it past his cheek. “We could tie some of this back, even if it isn’t long enough to reach the nape of your neck.”
His left eye closed before he opened both, watching her with a strange expression. “That would look odd.”
“But it would be hidden under your hood.” Helena finished cleaning the cut and began spreading salve over it. It wasn’t deep, but with the amount it bled, she should add another layer. Not just over the cut itself, but on the skin around it. And it needed to be rubbed in.
“Margit,” he said softly. She looked down at him. “Aren’t you finished yet? We need to get back to the village before the guards catch up.”
“Right.” She forced her hand away from his face and snapped the lid back on the tin of salve. “Almost done.”
While she stowed the remaining supplies, he stood and offered his hand. She didn’t need it. He knew she didn’t.
But he wasn’t trying to rescue her.
Grabbing her cloak and the satchel in one hand, she let him pull her up with the other. The skin on his fingers was rough, calloused from years of swordplay and archery. And it was warm, despite the slight chill in the air as evening approached.
“We should go,” he murmured. But he didn’t let go.
“Aber ich mochte hier bleiben,” she replied, grinning as she squeezed his hand and stepped away. His eyebrows twitched toward each other, but he shouldered his pack and started walking toward the village.
But I want to stay here, she’d told him. And she meant it.
But the minstrel family needed to be complete before the guards searched the village. So Cap was right. They needed to go.
She watched his broad shoulders as he shifted into a jog. Cap would be on the move until Prince Raphael returned and pardoned him.
So if she wanted him to stay, she would need to help complete his mission.