Chapter Twenty-Two
She was uncomfortable.
She was nauseated and her head hurt. Katiana was gradually aware that everything on her body was hurting and her face felt strange. Hot and swollen. As she opened her eyes, she realized that she was looking at a horse’s legs and a road. Somehow, she was hanging downward, watching the road go by.
She had no idea how she got there.
Feeling sick, she started to stir, only to feel a firm hand on her back.
“Hold still. If you value your life, you will hold still and keep silent.”
It was Ansel. Terror filled Katiana. She was on a horse, a running horse, and somehow her brother had her, but she had no idea what had happened. Thinking hard, she remembered the great hall and the soot. No… wait… Something happened after that. A servant with a note.
From Zora!
Now, things were coming back to her muddled mind.
She’d gone to the kitchen yard to speak to Zora, who was too afraid to go into the great hall because she wanted to speak with Katiana uninterrupted.
They were talking about trees and bees. And then…
then she remembered nothing. Everything had gone black, and here she was, waking up on the back of a horse. With her brother.
God’s Bones, what is happening?
“Ansel,” she said, squirming. “What has happened? Let me down!”
Ansel hit her on the back, and Katiana yelped. “I told you to stop moving if you value your life,” he said. “I meant it. Be still.”
That told Katiana quite a bit, in truth.
Her brother was in control. She wasn’t allowed to move or talk.
She was hanging off a horse that was running…
somewhere. When Ansel smacked her on the back, that told her that this situation was something dark and terrible.
She was in danger. Ansel was taking her somewhere, and she had no idea what was at the end of this road.
She didn’t want to find out. Something told her that she had to fight for her life now or she would have no life left to fight for.
As a child, she would cower when Ansel beat her. She’d been no match for him. She wasn’t much more of a match as an adult, but she had something now she hadn’t possessed back then—courage. Courage to help herself, to stop her brother from harming her.
It was time for Katiana to fight back.
She had to save herself.
But she had no weapons, nothing to use. The only thing within arm’s reach was Ansel’s right leg and foot.
The edge of the saddle and the cinch were below her.
But she turned her head slightly and could see the horse’s reins to her left, about at her shoulder’s level.
If she stuck her left arm out, she could grab the reins about mid-neck.
Fight back!
Carefully, she reached down and grabbed the cinch to steady herself.
With the other hand, she suddenly reached out and grasped the reins, yanking as hard as she could and using her grip on the cinch as leverage.
Her abrupt action pulled the horse’s head around to the right, and the animal screamed as it was twisted up by the yanking rein.
That caused the beast to stiffen up and trip, and suddenly, the horse was going down.
Ansel tried to grab on to the mane, or the saddle, but he was sent flying as the horse went down at speed.
Everything went crashing to the road.
Since the horse fell onto its left side, Katiana was able to keep her grip on the cinch, and it kept her from flying off.
She ended up splayed across its belly. Feeling her feet against the rocky road, Katiana was able to stand up rather quickly.
A quick glance over her shoulder saw her brother on his side, several feet away, but stirring.
Katiana took off running.
They were in the farming area of the border, so the land was mostly farming fields surrounded by wooded areas.
Katiana knew she had to make it to a wooded area if she had any chance of hiding from her brother.
She couldn’t count on the fact that anyone knew she was gone from Berwick, much less assume help was coming.
For all she knew, she was on her own and in the fight for her life.
Literally.
She didn’t know the area, so she didn’t know which direction to run.
Head aching and stomach lurching, she ran for a heavily wooded area at the edge of a field, hearing her brother shouting her name behind her.
She couldn’t even look back to see if he was running after her or if he was just shouting.
All she knew was that she had to make it to that wooded area.
She ran like the wind.
The safety of the trees welcomed her. She plunged into the foliage and dared to stop, just for a moment, to see if her brother was behind her.
He was indeed trailing after her, running in her direction, but he was holding his left arm against his chest. That told Katiana that he’d hurt himself in the fall, which was a good thing.
It would work in her favor. Beyond her brother, back by the road, she could see that the horse was up, grazing on the grass that lined the road.
If she could only make it back to the horse, she could escape her brother.
That had to be her goal.
But first, she had to survive Ansel’s pursuit.
The wooded area was heavy with foliage on the ground as well a thick canopy in the trees, making it dense and dark.
Katiana hunted down a big stick, something for defense, before hiding in some of the heavy bushes that were near the edge of the wooded area.
She hoped that Ansel would come into the area and think she’d run deep into the forest. As he went in pursuit, she would slip back out and make a run for the horse.
Silently, she waited.
Ansel stopped running when he entered the trees.
Katiana could see him from her hiding place, and he was panting heavily with exertion, looking around as if trying to decide which direction to go in.
But the forest was quiet except for the birds overhead, meaning he didn’t hear any running or gasps from a panicked lady in the distance. Katiana hadn’t thought about that.
Ansel just stood there, listening.
Waiting.
“It would be better if you showed yourself to me,” he said loudly. “If I find you, I will take it out on your hide. That was a very foolish thing to do, Katia. You could have killed us both.”
He was met with tweeting birds and the wind through the branches. Then he began to walk, his gaze moving over his surroundings.
“I suppose you’re wondering where we are,” he said.
“You’re also wondering why you’re with me.
Your friend, Zora, helped me. She truly wasn’t your friend, Katia.
She only said that to get you alone. You see, she wants your husband.
She has a right to him. Her father was negotiating a betrothal between Titus and Zora.
You didn’t even have that. You just married the man, though I suspect it was because he had to marry you.
I’m sure you did what many women do—spread your legs to catch a husband.
How very cunning of you, little sister, but not cunning enough.
I had plans for you before you married de Wolfe, and I have plans for you now. ”
He continued walking, slowly, as he spoke.
He came within about twelve feet of Katiana as he passed by the clump of underbrush she was hiding in, but he continued on into the forest. Katiana watched him, her heart in her throat and a stick in her hand.
Every moment she hid from him was like torture because she was terrified that he was going to spot her.
Praying to God that he wouldn’t.
“You are wondering what plans,” Ansel called out.
“It is simple, really. You see, our father left us nothing. Whatever de Edington wealth there was is gone. All I inherited was the castle and the lands and little else. I wish I’d known that before I suffocated our ailing father in order to get what I wanted, but I suppose that cannot be helped now.
You are the only thing of value I have, and it was my intention to sell you to the highest bidder.
But your marriage to Titus thwarted my plans. ”
He was wandering further away, but Katiana was still coiled, still terrified.
She understood that he had murdered their father to gain his inheritance, which didn’t surprise her in the least. She hadn’t expected anything less.
But the whole part about selling her was very strange.
Ansel came to a halt about thirty feet away, standing in a small clearing with sunlight streaming down through the canopy.
He turned in her direction, and she froze, remaining as still as possible, so he wouldn’t see any movement in the bramble.
She was wearing a garment that her mother-in-law had loaned her, lightweight wool the color of wine and a linen shift to match.
The wine-colored wool blended in with the shadows, but it was the shift that concerned her.
If he saw white moving amongst the leaves, he would surely find her.
“You cheated me out of a fortune, Katia,” he said, lifting his voice to the trees.
“You were mine to do with as I pleased, and you cheated me by marrying de Wolfe. Berwick says that they will offer compensation, but I doubt it will be what I want. Titus has already married you, so they do not have to pay me much. But Zora had a wonderful idea, and I must say that I am ashamed I did not think of it first. She is giving me money to remove you from Titus’ side.
I am, therefore, taking you to Thomas of Lancaster, and I am certain he will pay me a fortune for you.
So, you will still serve my purpose. I will still have my money in the end.
And you… you will be the captive of a man who has killed the lover of the king.
I doubt he’ll have any reservation in killing the wife of an enemy. ”