Chapter 2 Ahnna #2
“Well, if I’m right and it’s her, it will be gold I’m wagering in games of dice,” the younger voice declared.
“Gold polished to a shine by Prince James himself and offered to me with a smile for delivering Ithicana’s bitch for execution.
Though in truth, I might find it hard to keep from doing the killing myself to avenge Good King Eddie. ”
A third man gave a loud snort. “Right, Johnny. Sure you will. Can’t slaughter a goat but you’ll be first in line to slaughter a woman. Mark my words, you’ll take one look at the Ithicanian princess and piss your trousers.”
“Will not!”
The older men chuckled but then fell silent as they caught sight of Dippy.
“Might be that Johnny’s nose was right after all,” one of them whispered. “Weapons ready. They say she’s as dangerous as a cornered mountain cat.”
They weren’t wrong, but leaving corpses in her wake was a surefire way to put James on her trail.
Even if she could hide their bodies, the trio were victims of Alexandra’s schemes, believing they were rightfully hunting the murderer of their king.
Ahnna was not in the practice of slaughtering innocents to save her own skin.
They drew close enough that she could see their faces in the lantern light. A grizzled man with a thick beard and thicker-set shoulders, a man with a wild tangle of red curls, and a boy, sixteen, if that. Likely all family members.
“Good-looking horse,” the boy said, approaching Dippy while the other two examined her meager belongings, none of which would give away her identity.
“Though she’s said to be riding a bay gelding with no markings, so this ain’t him.
” He gestured to the star that Ahnna had colored on her horse’s forehead with chalk. “But I don’t recognize him either.”
“Still warm,” Red Curls muttered, holding his hand over the charred remains of Ahnna’s fire. “Whoever it is, they’re close.”
“Traveler, perhaps.” The grizzled man adjusted his grip on the axe he carried, his instincts correctly warning him that a threat was near. “Or another bounty hunter with the same idea as us that she’ll head to Amarid.”
Don’t look up, Ahnna silently willed him as he turned in a circle. Move along so no one gets hurt.
The boy moved closer to Dippy, stroking her horse’s neck. “You’re a beauty, boy.”
Anxiety built in Ahnna’s chest as she willed him to leave her horse alone. Not because she feared Dippy being taken, for horse theft was a hanging offense in Harendell, but because he was the one thing down there that could be tied to her.
Don’t be friendly, she silently instructed Dippy. Try to bite.
Instead, her gelding snuffled at the boy’s pockets, looking for treats. The boy smiled and rubbed Dippy’s forehead, and Ahnna’s heart sank as the chalk smeared.
No.
The boy frowned. Pulling his sleeve over his hand, he used it to rub at the white star. “Da,” he whispered. “His mark is just chalk. This horse is disguised.”
All three fell entirely still, and from her perch in the tree, Ahnna could feel their fear. Could smell it. Her soul cringed because it was lies told about her that inspired it. Lies that she, and by association all Ithicanians, were murderous monsters who hunted in the dark.
Go, she willed them, despite knowing that word of this discovery would reach James. Trust your instincts and run.
Cold wind howled through the trees, pulling at the strands of hair that had come loose from her cap, but Ahnna didn’t move. Only watched the terrified men below silently debate what they wanted to do.
“It’s her,” the grizzled one whispered. “I sense it in my bones.”
“What do we do?” the boy asked. “She could be watching us right now.”
“It’s three against one,” Red Curls growled. “And she’s only a woman. With the reward we’ll get for bringing her in, we’ll live like lords for the rest of our lives.”
Go looking for me, then, she silently instructed. Search the woods.
Because she’d only need a matter of seconds to tighten Dippy’s girth, and then she’d be off like a shot, her escape route already planned. This was far from the first time Ahnna had been hunted.
“You think Good King Eddie went down easily?” Grizzled said. “This is no ordinary woman. We take the horse so that she’s stuck on foot, and then we send word to the garrison for reinforcements. Prince James will see us rewarded well enough for the information, and we’ll be alive to spend it.”
The boy untethered Dippy. If they took him, there was no chance that she’d be able to outrun the Harendellian soldiers and their hunting dogs.
It seemed that whatever luck had taken her this far had run out.
Drawing an arrow from her quiver, Ahnna dropped from her perch, landing almost silently next to the men. Leveling an arrow on the grizzled man with the axe, she said, “Do what I say, and you will exit this situation alive.”
Red Curls hefted his knife, but Ahnna only shifted her stance so that her arrow was leveled at his son. “Use your heads, gentlemen. This isn’t a fight you will win.”
Grizzled lunged.
Ahnna took a quarter step to her left and let her arrow fly. It struck his upraised axe, knocking it out of his hand, but before he could react, Ahnna had another arrow nocked and aimed at his forehead. “Last chance.”
Grizzled lifted his hands, as did Red Curls.
“Good.” Ahnna didn’t lower her weapon. “Remove your bootlaces. Red Curls, you tie up the old man and be sure to tie him tight. Boy, you tie up your father.”
She watched in silence as they obeyed, her scrutiny ensuring that the knots were tight. When they were restrained, she nodded to the boy. “Toss me your laces and get on your knees.”
He complied without argument. Once he was kneeling, Ahnna hooked her bow over her shoulder. The restraints would only slow them down, but short of killing them, which she wasn’t willing to consider, it was the best she could do.
“Hands behind your back.” She picked up his laces. “For what it’s worth, I didn’t kill Edward. Alexandra had him murdered in order to put William on the throne, then framed me.”
“Liar,” the boy whispered. “Everyone knows you Ithicanians are murderous savages. It was you who stabbed him forty-seven times.”
God have mercy, forty-seven? Ahnna swallowed to clear her throat. “If that’s the case, then why are you still breathing?”
Instead of answering, the boy flung himself at her.
Ahnna easily sidestepped, and he fell past her. Except rather than catching himself, his arm buckled. His head struck a rock with an ominous crack.
“Johnny!” Red Curls shouted, even as Ahnna cursed the foolishness of young men.
Ignoring the protests of the men, she crouched next to the boy and carefully rolled him over. He was breathing, but he’d split his scalp and it was bleeding heavily. He needed a physician.
Logic demanded that Ahnna tie him up, because she needed every bit of head start that she could get. Except not even in her lowest moments of the Maridrinian invasion had Ahnna stooped to sacrificing the lives of children.
“He needs a physician.” She rounded on the grizzled man. “Do you know where to find one?”
“Aye,” he said between his teeth.
“I’ll let you go, but rather than troubling me, you’re going to take him to get help. Do you agree?”
He nodded, eyes filled with fear as she tightened Dippy’s girth and fixed her saddlebags in place, along with the rope she used to tether him.
Approaching the old man, she shoved him to the ground so that he was prone.
“Remember that I didn’t kill you. And know that I didn’t kill Edward either.
Tell James what I said when you see him.
Between the two of us, he’s the backstabber, not me. ”
Ahnna sliced her knife through his bootlaces. In two quick strides, she vaulted onto Dippy’s back, because it would be speed not words that kept her alive. Without a backward glance, she galloped into the night.