Chapter 31
Earlier that day, the knights had made one discovery very quickly—a group of boys ran toward Alric, shouting that one of their number couldn’t be found.
“We’ve been looking for ages!” one shouted.
Rafe asked, “Was it Goswin?”
“The new boy, yes!”
“Where did you see him last? Were there any others in the woods today?”
The boys conferred, and reported that a big man asked one of the boys the way to Cleobury, and if they were at hide and seek—which prompted the boy to start exactly that game. The man had been armed, and he was described as a giant.
“A stranger,” Alric said under his breath. “And a giant, if he’s bigger than Peter, as the guard described. He must have watched the boys playing and took Goswin when he was hiding during the game.”
“But where?”
The boys directed the knights to the area of the woods where the game had been played. There, they found evidence of several people walking. That led to a clearing, where they found signs that a whole group of people had been there, with horses and all.
“Too many riders,” Octavian said. “Too many to be hiding out in the woods, that is.”
“They were afraid to use the road this close to Cleobury,” Alric agreed. “We’ll have to track this backwards. They might have gone through Bournham without resorting to stealth. We’ll ask if a party of this size rode through today, and which direction.”
In the nearby village of Bournham, where Alric was very well known, several residents told him that a party of at least ten men came through in the morning, and then again later in the day.
“There were women too,” added Margaret Dyer, whose giant tubs of fabric dye sat in the yard of her business. She always saw who passed by, since her work kept her outside much of the day. “One or two, I think. Odd, for the men looked to be soldiers. They rode out the north way.”
Alric thanked her, and they rode on.
“North could be anywhere,” Octavian said. “They could be hours away by now.”
“We’ll keep looking till we find a reason to stop,” Rafe said. He hated to think that Angelet was getting further from him by the moment. Why had he wasted a whole morning talking to everyone but her?
“There’s a place I’ve got in mind,” Alric said suddenly. “If they’ve been following you, Rafe, they might have come across it. You wouldn’t have noticed on your ride here—you had other concerns.”
At Alric’s instruction, the three men rode toward the abandoned farm he told them about, one that had yet to gain another owner after two years of neglect. “They might be using it, if they needed to stay close for a few days.”
The knights rode on. Though anxious to reach their destination, Rafe still had the impression that someone was following them.
He looked back often, but saw no one. He decided that he’d been trailed for so long he no longer had any ability to forget the feeling—he would simply have to get used to the creeping sensation of being followed for the rest of his life.
The bright sun crawled across the sky, then began to drop toward the horizon. Rafe felt that everything was taking too long. It took too long to discover Angelet’s absence. Too long to hear about Goswin. Too long to prepare to ride out.
Then, Alric pulled his horse to a stop where the road climbed a small rise, obscuring the other side. The others followed suit.
“The farm is up ahead, just beyond this hill. It’s possible they took Lady Angelet there.”
Octavian nodded, saying, “We should plan how to approach the place.”
“Here’s the plan,” Rafe interjected, already nudging his horse to the front. “I’m riding directly there. If I see anyone I don’t like, I’m killing them. You two can follow me.” He kicked once and was off.
“You used to make better plans!” Alric called after him.
Rafe didn’t care. Hitting the top of the rise, he reined Philon in so he could judge the scene before him. The startled horse reared once.
“Stop that,” Rafe muttered. He saw a farm below, where people moved about.
He nudged Philon once, and the horse sped down the slope toward the ramshackle clutch of buildings.
A small group of people stood near what looked to be the stables, and a few more were emerging from the house.
Several horses cropped grass in a paddock.
One of the figures wore a pale blue gown. Angelet. She was being held in place by a huge hulk of a guard. But her eyes were on Rafe.
He picked out the other figures, identifying the irritating Ernald, as well as the maid Bethany, and Goswin. The other men looked like hired soldiers.
Rafe jumped down from his horse, drawing his sword.
“Ernald!” he yelled. “This is your doing?”
The lordling lifted his chin into the air. “You shouldn’t have come after us. You shouldn’t have taken Angelet away in the first place. Made my life quite inconvenient these past few weeks.”
“I offered to fight you before, at Dryton,” Rafe said to Ernald. “I won’t wait any longer.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Ernald retorted. “You’re alone, and I’ve got ten men with me. In fact,” he added, raising his voice, “the first person to kill you will get an extra reward!”
“No,” Angelet protested. But her cry was drowned out by the shouting of others. Some came from the soldiers who stepped forward to fight Rafe. Another was a cry of dismay, howling that two more riders were coming.
Rafe turned to see Alric and Octavian galloping toward them.
“Ah. Reinforcements,” he told Ernald.
“Not enough. Anyway, you can’t do anything while I’ve got Angelet under my command. One word from me and she dies at Ulmar’s hand.” He nodded toward the big man, who stood by Angelet, his blade drawn.
Then Ernald’s expression changed. He was looking at Angelet with puzzlement. “What in hell are you smiling about, woman?”
Angelet was indeed smiling. Though she faced Ernald, her eyes didn’t seem quite focused on him, but rather on a distant point. She lifted one hand and pointed toward Ernald. “I see you,” she said, speaking slowly.
“I’m standing in front of—”
“Surrounded by gold,” she went on, oblivious to his outburst. “Gold as bright as the sun. Like the ocean at dawn.”
Rafe got a twinge in his gut. He’d seen that vacant look before. Angelet must have been under tremendous strain all day, and now another seizure was imminent.
Before he could say anything, Angelet took a step toward Ernald, then another. Ulmar remained rooted to his spot, unnerved by what was happening.
“I see you above this gold,” she continued. “No other but you.”
“And?” Ernald demanded, interested in spite of himself. “What else?”
Her voice was dreamy, disconnected. “Now you’re falling. You’re drowning. You’ll die.”
“Shut up with your rambling!” Ernald snapped. “Get back!”
Angelet didn’t react to his command. Her gaze was locked on Ernald, who appeared truly shaken by her words. Then she swayed on her feet, and crumpled to the ground. Goswin yelped and bent down to check on her, leaning in to see if she was breathing.
Rafe’s first instinct was to get to her as fast as possible, but there were too many other people in the way.
“Damn, she’s having another fit,” Ernald said. “Of all the times to suffer a vision.”
“What’s your order?” the massive guard named Ulmar asked.
“Leave her. She’s not going anywhere for hours. I’ve seen it. Everyone, get these men!”
Ulmar dutifully walked forward, though he clearly didn’t want to engage an armed, angry knight. And now Alric and Octavian had joined the fight, wreaking havoc.
Before Rafe could do anything—whether fight or try to get to Angelet—Goswin rushed toward him at full speed.
“Distract them!” he hissed. “She’s fine. She’s only playacting now!” Then he started to run in a circle around the group, drawing several pairs of eyes due to the way he was waving his hands and yelling.
Rafe glanced at the still form of Angelet on the ground. She certainly didn’t seem to be pretending. But he had to trust that she was. He rushed Ulmar, keeping the gigantic guard’s attention on him.
Fighting always made Rafe’s muscles tense and his whole body heat up as though a fever was coming on him.
He always felt like he could hear everything, smell everything.
No matter how many times he fought, each time felt like the first, the primal fear of death reaching out to him.
But having faced that fear so many times, Rafe also knew how to get through it, using his heightened senses to focus within the inevitable chaos that all fights created.
Ulmar swung his blade like a woodcutter swung an ax.
Rafe could tell the other man relied on pure mass and intimidation to win his fights.
However, Ulmar had probably never fought a trained knight before, and not one as well-trained as Rafe.
The big man showed not a trace of the fear Rafe always felt, but he knew it was there.
Despite his earlier hasty words, Rafe didn’t want to kill him, so he kept parrying, waiting for an opening to deliver a blow that would just incapacitate the man.
But the situation grew dicier when another guard rushed up to attack Rafe from behind.
He dodged the first blow, and ducked out of the way.
Ulmar howled as his next swing hit not Rafe, but his other ally. Rafe took advantage of Ulmar’s second of surprise to hit him hard in the side of the head with the flat of his blade. Then he kicked at Ulmar’s knee, causing it to buckle. The giant slid down, clutching at his head, moaning.
Rafe moved away, and saw that Alric and Octavian were both fighting just as he was. The two knights had started fighting as a pair, but got drawn away from each other, exposing their backs.
Yet another fighter went for Alric, wielding his own sword with much more skill than Ulmar did. Rafe yelled out a warning.
Alric turned just in time to avoid being struck. He shifted to avoid being trapped, and regrouped with Octavian.
Rafe turned, intent on getting to Angelet. All of a sudden, a crossbow bolt rushed past him and buried itself in the ground a few feet beyond, not far from Angelet’s prone form.