The odious catcher clung to her back with his arms tight around her and nuzzled her in a sick imitation of a lover.
She was so scared she could barely think straight. All those months sleeping with one eye open, hearing footsteps behind her every waking moment, shadows lurking around every corner. And her worst fears had come true.
Should she try to escape? Did she have any chance?
“What’s going to happen to me?” she said.
“The writ says you’re to be presented to a Lord Macias in Hoyna for verification. After that, you’ll be executed.”
That was a lot of travel just to get back to Hoyna. What would the guardsmen do to her? Surely nothing worse than what waited for her in Macias’ hands. Considering what she’d done, he’d surely torture and defile her before killing her.
“Presented? You can’t be serious,” Alaina said. “You have to know what he wants with me. Have you no honor?”
An open hand struck the back of her head. “You dare to question my honor? A filthy mage who fled justice has no right to even speak to one such as me.”
She had no response for him, and they fell into silence for a number of miles.
“I have plenty of honor,” he said. “I also have men to pay and to feed and to outfit.”
“I’m nothing to one such as you.” Alaina managed to hold her tongue in check for once. “Surely I can’t be worth much.”
The catcher laughed. “Depends. As a mage for whom a writ has been issued, you’re worth a single triad if I were to turn you over to a local magistrate. Returning you to the town who issued the writ increases the bounty to three.”
“Such a piddling amount for so much trouble,” she said. “A week on the road?”
Maybe he’d decide just to kill her and get it over with. Better than the alternative.
“True enough,” he said, “but you’re worth quite a bit to this Lord Macias fellow. He’s offered a bonus of twenty triads for your return. No good business man could pass up such profit.”
Twenty! There’d be no turning him from his course given that amount. She had to get away.
Frantic, she scanned the road as woods passed in a darkened blur. Wait. That path. Did she recognize where they were? Wasn’t there a bridge in a few miles? She had to stall. Distract him.
“What kind of rads-infested excuse for a man would sacrifice his honor for a measly twenty gold pieces?” she said. “Huh? Giving a maiden to a man who intends unspeakable affronts to her?”
The catcher just laughed. “You do value your virtue highly, don’t you? Twenty gold? Maybe I should give my men the option of you or the money. Which do you think they would take?”
She concentrated on a tree limb high above her and wished with all her might for it to strike him down. Nothing happened. Not that she’d expected it to.
“Don’t try to use your power against me, mage. I can make it so that you can’t, and you wouldn’t like the methods I use.”
The bridge approached rapidly. She stared hard at a large boulder at its foot.
“Wench! I told you—”
Alaina elbowed him in the stomach with all her might. He grunted. His hold relaxed.
She threw herself off the horse. Her shoulder slammed into the ground, and she sank into mud, her body twisting and sliding. Something struck her head. A rock.
Ground? Mud? Rocks? She’d been aiming for the stream the bridge crossed. Her only chance had been to swim to safety.
She tried to rise. Her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. Spots danced in front of her eyes, and she groaned.
Hands. Rough. Grabbing her. Binding her with rope.
The guardsmen threw her, stomach first, over a saddle. There’d be no more escape attempts.
They rode the rest of the way to his camp in silence. Once they dismounted, the men tossed her inside an iron cage on top of a wagon, not cutting her binds until the door was locked tight. She curled into a ball.
Maybe it was all for the best. Whatever she had to go through, there’d be a noose waiting for her at the end. No more running. No more hiding.
No more guilt.
5.
Auggie dismounted inside a small clump of trees a quarter mile from where the catcher and his men had entered a camp.
“Come on, Benj! Get a move on,” he said, raising his voice over strong gusts of wind from an approaching storm.
“Just a sec.” Benj ran his hand over one of his mount’s legs.
What were the catcher and his men doing to Alaina? If they mussed a hair on her head, Auggie was going to kill them all. “Stop fooling around with the stupid horse.”
“I thought I felt a hitch in his stride.”
Auggie clenched and unclenched his hands around a rope and paced around the small clearing while Benj checked each hoof. Since when was he so meticulous? He couldn’t have picked a worse time to choose to be responsible.
Finally, he straightened. “Must’ve been my imagination.”
Auggie wasted no time setting out through the forest. He trampled brush and left branches swaying in his wake. After several minutes of hiking, he glanced back. “For the love of the Holy One, will you please walk faster?”
Benj pointed his gaze toward the sky, his face a mask of bemused exasperation in the faint light, but he sped his pace. The wind whipped trees and bushes all about, obscuring the sound of their passage, and they reached the edge of the camp a short while later as fat raindrops began to fall.
Alaina shivered inside an iron cage on a wagon, her blank face pressed against the bars. She looked miserable. Terrified. Freezing. Dejected. And all because of Auggie.
Why hadn’t he left her alone instead of forcing her to have a drink with him? And if coercing her wasn’t bad enough, he just had to make the situation worse by picking a fight with Emar.
Auggie clenched his fists. He’d gotten her into the situation, and by the Holy One, he was going to get her out of it.
He scanned the camp. In addition to the catcher and the three men who had been at the tavern, only four other guardsmen milled about the site. A picket line, however, secured at least two dozen horses, and two-man canvas tents dotted the area around a monstrous purple and orange pavilion topped by a banner depicting an oared ship.
Way too many men for him and Benj to fight alone. They should have jumped Emar outside the tavern. What to do? Calling for reinforcements was out as there was no legal justification for freeing Alaina. The best Auggie could do on that front would be to delay the inevitable.
“After the camp settles, we’ll bust her out.” It killed him to leave her in that cage for another minute, much less what was likely to be more than an hour, but no help for it.
“We cannot do this, big man,” Benj said. “I’m all about fracturing the occasional rule, but you know how your father’s going to react when he hears about this. Stealing a catcher’s bounty is a crime. The least he’ll do is have us both flogged.”
“It’ll be worth it.”
“C’mon. That guy is probably just yanking your chain. I bet he’ll let her go in the morning if you don’t butt in.”
Emar’s voice boomed from the camp. “Make everything ship-shape you sea-kissed dolts. We move her out at first light.”
Auggie eyed his friend.
“Seriously man, just let this one go. We can scare up a hundred prettier—and more willing—girls.”
Benj had never understood the responsibility that accompanied privilege. Would that Auggie had the same blindness. As much as he wanted to flee, he couldn’t ignore duty when it stalked him.
Auggie forced words through clenched teeth. “She’s in there because of me.”
Was that really his only reason, though? Alaina was definitely pleasant to look at, but more than that, she hadn’t fallen all over herself when she’d learned he was the heir to the duchy. In fact, it had seemed to be a turnoff. He’d never had a woman act like that.
The occasional drop of rain turned to a steady drizzle, plast
ering her hair to her head and dress to her body. He’d never seen anyone who needed him more but wanted him less.
Auggie had to at least try to woo her, and if being the niskmo didn’t do the trick, rescuing her from death sure the blast would. He spent the next half hour alternating between regretting each second she spent imprisoned and imagining in vivid detail how she would reward him when he sprung her from that cell.
Finally, all but a lone sentry, huddling by the sheltered fire with his back to Auggie and Benj, retired to the tents, and Auggie waited another excruciating half hour to give everyone time to settle into their bedrolls.
Gusts of wind roared through the trees. The rain intensified, coming down in sheets. Alaina lay curled in a ball at the bottom of her cage. Water poured onto her through the steel bars. A fresh tremor hit her.
If Emar didn’t kill her, the rain and cold would. Enough waiting. Time for action.
Auggie didn’t bother with stealth as he stood; the roaring gales and thundering water would conceal his movement. “Follow me.” He marched toward the guard.
Forty yards became twenty became five. The man didn’t stir until Auggie was almost upon him. He turned and shouted a surprised yelp that died on the wind. Auggie’s fist hit his cheek with a satisfying crunch, cutting the cry short. The sentry sprawled onto his back.
Benj used his knees to pin the guardsman’s arms and covered his mouth with one hand. “Another peep, and you’re done.”
Firelight reflected off Benj’s knife blade, and the guardsman’s eyes widened. He nodded, slowly.
After trussing the sentry’s limbs with the rope and gagging him with a dirty handkerchief, Auggie climbed onto the wagon holding Alaina. He grinned as he swaggered to her, the very image of the conquering hero.
She staggered to her feet, groaning as she unwound her body from its curled position. “What are you doing? Get out of here!” Her words came as a hoarse whisper.
Her rain-soaked dress clung to her in all the right places. He broke his gaze away when he realized he was staring. “What?”
She grasped the bars with a death grip. “Leave me be. Go!”
Huh? The instinct for self-preservation alone should have made her clamor for him to rescue her. Maybe her every inclination was to do the exact opposite of what she should. That certainly explained why him being the niskmo had been a turnoff to her.
“My lady, these men will kill you.”
“This is none of your concern.” Her voice cracked.
“All this is my concern! Now, stand back while I get you out of here.”
Moisture welled at the corners of her eyes and let loose to merge with rivulets streaming down her face. “You’re just like every other noble I’ve met—doing whatever you want regardless of the law. Get away from me!”
Auggie stepped back. Did she mean that? But how could she? And if she did, should he listen?
No. He couldn’t just leave her to die, regardless of what she wanted.
Enough talking and thinking and wavering. He drew his sword.
A padlock held the door closed. He stuck his blade through the rusty shackle and bore down on the hilt. A screech cut through the pouring rain, and the hasp shattered.
Loud. Too loud. Even the kind of louts employed as guardsmen wouldn’t sleep through that.
Auggie clanged the door open. “Let’s go!”
She backed all the way against the opposite bars.
“We don’t have time for this.” He let out a frustrated roar before ducking inside the cell and grabbing her. She offered only token resistance as he tucked her under his arm.
A groggy man emerged from the nearest tent. Benj rapped him on the head with the hilt of his sword. More tent flaps opened.
“Go!” Auggie yelled.
Benj fled down the road toward the horses. Auggie followed carrying Alaina like a sack of potatoes.
He glanced back. A couple of the guardsmen staggered about, clearly confused. Three others ran toward the horses. Two more raced after Auggie.
Benj darted into the woods and mounted. Auggie vaulted onto his horse and pulled Alaina up behind him. They made directly for the road.
Lightning flashed, and Auggie looked toward the camp. The two pursuers on foot were too far away to be any concern. The rest, though … “Five riders a hundred yards back.”
“The fort?”
Auggie nodded as they galloped.
Water gave the wind a harsh bite, and Alaina plastered herself to his back. A raging storm, death tracking him, and a pretty girl’s embrace—how could life get any better?
She trembled, the quivering of her body evident even through the thickness of his cloak. Poor thing must be terrified.
An icy blast hit him, and he shivered.
Idiot! If he was cold, she must be freezing wearing just that thin dress—that delightfully thin dress.
Auggie shook off the mental image and nudged her away from him long enough to doff his cloak and hand it to her. But maybe he shouldn’t have. Given her inclination to do the exact opposite of the thing she should, he half expected her to throw the garment onto the muddy road in disgust.
Instead, a flurry of movement greeted the gift as she secured the heavy material to herself before latching once more to his back. She must have really been cold.
Auggie glanced back again. Lightning flashed and revealed the men chasing them. They drew closer.
The weight of the extra rider combined with Auggie’s bulk slowed his mount, but at least the horse’s footing seemed stable despite the stream of water flowing beneath its feet. Thank the Holy One for his father’s diligence at devoting taxes to maintaining the roads!
Unfortunately, Emar and the guardsmen experienced the same benefit. And they rode faster horses. Making it to the fort was going to be tight.
Over the next several miles, the pursuit closed at a steady rate. A dirt path branched off ahead of Auggie to the left. Should they veer onto the muddy trail? The danger of a slip would force Emar to slow. But the same peril would face Auggie as well, with much worse consequences should a horse falter.
He accepted that kind of risk for himself and Benj all the time. But Alaina?
Benj drew his attention, and their eyes met. He gestured toward the path. Auggie shook his head and dashed past the turnoff.
Over another half hour of frantic travel, the catcher and his men continued to gain. Their galloping hoofbeats sounded loud even over Auggie’s mount and the howling wind. Only a few miles remained to safety, but there was no way the overburdened horse was going to make it ahead of the pursuit.
Blast it! Auggie would be rads-infested before he let that accursed catcher get his hands on her again.
“Benj! Take her!”
He looked at Auggie like he had lost his mind.
“That’s an order! Now!”
Benj moved his horse close, and with a wince, Auggie slowed. The catcher pulled that much closer.
Auggie reached behind and grabbed, gripping the back of her dress and his cloak tight in his fist. At least she didn’t weigh much. He lifted her like a wet kitten.
Alaina yelped. “What are you doing?”
“Grab hold!”
She clutched at his hands while screaming for him to let go. The legs of the horses churned. Dim light made the passing ground a blur.
If he dropped her, she’d be trampled. No way she’d survive, and even if she did, Emar was right behind.
He ignored her cries and swung her out of the saddle. Benj grabbed her waist and pulled her down in front of him.
“Go!” Auggie yelled.
Benj and Alaina galloped ahead of him.
Auggie drew his broadsword in a smooth motion. He swiveled his horse around to face the enemy. With the lead guardsman mere yards away, Auggie swung.
The rider jerked his reins to the right, and his horse darted that direction, careening off the road. Hooves slid in the mud. Over half a ton of man and animal crashed to the ground with a sickening
crunch.
The next rider lowered his head. Auggie’s sword connected, sending the man flying off the horse. The remaining three pursuers halted and gathered for a unified charge.
Auggie spun and galloped away, opening a hundred-yard lead.
He topped a hill, and lightning revealed Benj, with Alaina clinging to him, waiting as the iron portcullis inched upward. As soon as the gate cleared the top of his mount’s head, he and Alaina ducked and burst into the safe confines of the stockade.
Auggie flattened himself against his horse. Not slowing from a full gallop, he darted under the iron bars and slashed at a thick rope to drop the counterweight. The gate plunged closed.
Emar and his remaining two men pulled up shy of the barrier as Auggie reined to a halt.
“What’s the plan?” Benj said.
“Gather dry clothes and as many provisions as we can carry on foot.”
Benj saluted ruefully.
“And find out the status of the platoon the colonel was going to send after those rustlers.”
Benj grinned. “Yes, sir.” He deposited his stunned cargo on the ground before riding toward the stable.
Auggie turned to a stormy-faced sergeant. “By order of the crown, keep those men from entering.” He collected Alaina and nudged his horse toward the kitchen.
6.
Water fell in a steady stream from Alaina’s dress onto a rough-hewn oak floor. Despite hot coals in a brazier and the blanket wrapped around her, she shivered, and though she was hungry from skipping supper, she pushed food around her plate with her fork.
August perched on the edge of a low bed. His knees jutted toward his chest, and his plate balanced precariously on top of them. He cut his meat into dainty bites and chewed each deliberately.
Why was he stalling? Better to just get it over with.
They hadn’t exchanged more than a few words since he carried her from the camp. Silence hung over the room like an oppressive fog, and she could stand it no longer. “There are much easier ways to get much more willing tavern wenches to bed you. Why are you going through this much trouble over me?”
“I’m not trying to … I mean—” His plate crashed to the floor and shattered. He cleared his throat. “It is my duty to protect my citizens—”
Abuse of Power (Rise of the Mages 1) Page 3
