A Girl of White Winter

by Barb Hendee

  An arrow struck his right shoulder and then another protruded from his left arm. With a cry, he dropped the sword. An arrow hit his thigh, and his leg gave way.

  This all happened so fast that I was unable to take much in. One instant, Royce had been reaching for my waist, and the next instant, our guards were all on the ground, too wounded to fight—but none were dead. Only Trey, Royce, and I remained untouched.

  “Don’t move!” commanded a voice from the trees.

  Four men rushed in from different directions to surround us. They had dusky skin and black hair, with long bows and quivers slung over their backs and carrying short swords. Scraps of cloth, tied around their heads, covered the lower parts of their faces.

  At the sight of the masked men coming toward us, the eldest guard somehow pulled his sword and tried to stand, but the tallest of our assailants put a sword to his throat.

  “Drop it,” he ordered.

  Another wave of fear rose up, and I was not sure how much more I could bear.

  Royce’s head moved back and forth, taking in the sight of all four of our attackers, but Lord Trey stepped forward.

  “Take whatever you want,” he said.

  My breaths came in short gasps as the leader strode toward us. He was even taller than Royce. His hair was cut very short, and his eyes were black. Like the rest of his men, even in the cool evening, he wore an open, sleeveless vest with no shirt beneath, exposing long, defined muscles in his arms. Looking to Trey, he began to say something and then saw me.

  The words never left his mouth. He stared, and I drew back against the side of my horse. He looked at me with the same startled quality of most men, but then his expression shifted to something else. Even amid my fear, I could see it: a searching recognition.

  I did not know him.

  Royce stepped in front of me.

  Another of the masked men came striding toward us. This one was of average height for a man, perhaps a head taller than me. His build was solid, and his hair hung halfway down his back.

  He gripped the hilt of his sword. “Everyone stay where you are,” he called to our guards. “We won’t be long. I’d rather not kill anyone, but I will if I must.” Turning his head, he said to the other two men who’d attacked us. “Get the wagon and horses.”

  As of yet, Royce hadn’t said a word. His body was rigid. The man with the long hair moved to one side to take a quick of view of me, but he merely nodded to me once, and I swear I saw humor in his eyes.

  “My lady,” he said lightly.

  “Just take the horses and wagon and go,” said Lord Trey.

  “We intend to,” the man answered. “Along with that silver ring you’re wearing.”

  At first, I’d thought the tall man was the leader, but now I wondered. The longhaired man appeared to be giving the orders.

  Without hesitation, Lord Trey removed his ring and handed it over.

  The tall man moved to the left to continue studying me.

  “Do you know who we are?” Royce asked quietly, and the rage in his voice made me shiver. I hoped he would not take some foolish action. “I am Lord Royce Capello, and this is my father.”

  “I don’t care who you are,” answered the longhaired man. “Just another rich noble.” He watched his other two comrades as one gathered our horses and the other climbed up in the wagon to take the reins. Then he turned back to us.

  “Any other jewels or metal trinkets?” he asked as if we were conducting a business transaction.

  But when he took a step closer to inspect my neck and ears, Royce moved between us. “Keep away from her!”

  “The girl has no jewelry,” Trey said, his voice calm.

  The longhaired man gripped his sword tighter and studied Royce but then stepped back. Though I couldn’t see his mouth, I sensed he was smiling.

  “All right, then,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure.” He turned away, walking toward our gathered horses. “We’re done here.”

  Although I was still frightened, I was beginning to understand these men were thieves—who’d taken pains not to kill our guards. They would take anything of value and leave.

  After a brief hesitation, the tall man began to walk away as well, but suddenly, his head swiveled back toward me.

  “We take the girl,” he said.

  His companion spun around, and all traces of joviality vanished. “What?”

  “Lay a hand on her, and I’ll have the king’s army hunt you down,” Royce said.

  Pointing his sword at Royce’s chest, the tall man ordered, “Step away.”

  My fear turned to terror as a roaring began in my ears, and I heard an echo of Royce’s voice back at the manor.

  I want the girl.

  Again, the man motioned with his sword, but instead of stepping aside, Royce rushed inside his guard, shoving him with one hand and grabbing his sword arm with the other.

  I had never seen men fighting, and I could not seem to breathe.

  But the struggle didn’t last long. The tall man used one foot to sweep Royce’s leg, and Royce went down. The man kicked him in the head twice. Both times, as his foot connected, I heard a thud.

  “What are you doing?” his longhaired companion nearly shouted.

  “Get back,” the tall man ordered Trey.

  Royce’s eyes were closed, and for the first time, Lord Trey looked alarmed as he stepped away. His alarm grew when the man reached out and grasped my wrist.

  “No!” I cried.

  His longhaired companion stood in shock. But I was dragged forward, and the roaring in my ears grew louder. Before I understood what was happening, my wrist was free and two strong hands grasped my waist, lifting me onto a horse. Then the tall man was up behind, reaching around and taking the reins with one hand. His other arm encircled me.

  “Go!” he called.

  A clatter of hooves and the rolling of wheels sounded. Darkness was falling, and I was aware of nothing but the movement of the horse, the arm around my waist, and the roaring in my ears.

  Then I lost awareness of anything at all.

  * * * *

  I remember hearing the sound of an angry voice.

  “Stop.”

  I could still feel the arm encircling my waist. Our horse slowed. Full darkness had fallen, but I had no idea how much time had passed as I tried to take in my surroundings. The longhaired man was on Royce’s horse. He nudged the animal so that it blocked ours from moving forward.

  “Caine, what are you doing?” he demanded.

  Caine.

  That was my captor’s name.

  “Raven, we don’t have time for this,” Caine answered.

  “No one can follow us…yet. Get down. Right now.”

  The arm around my waist tightened as Caine swung his leg over, and a moment later, I was on the ground. We were in the forest, but the moon shone through the trees, and I had my first clear look at both men, as their cloth wraps were gone. They appeared in their late twenties or early thirties. Caine’s features were narrow and his cheekbones were high.

  Raven—as Caine had called him—had a broader face with a solid jaw.

  The other two men in the group were now off their horses and came to join us. These men appeared in their late thirties with weatherworn skin. Their black hair hung to their shoulders.

  “What are you doing?” Raven asked again.

  “She’s coming with us,” Caine answered.

  “Do you want the king’s army hunting us down?” When no answer came, Raven pointed at me. “Look at her! Have you ever seen anything like that?”

  Anything.

  They spoke as if I were not a person.

  “No,” Caine answered slowly. “I have not.”

  Raven turned to me. “Who are you?”

  I dropped my eyes to the ground, not
knowing how to answer. Who was I?

  Reaching out, he lifted my chin with his finger. “Look at me. Who are you to those two nobles back there? A wife? Sister?”

  This was an easier question, and I shook my head.

  “Then who?” he demanded.

  “I…belong to Royce,” I whispered.

  “Belong?”

  “My own lord traded me for a piece of land.”

  He breathed out through his teeth.

  But Caine nodded to him. “You see? She’s property. I could have told you that without asking her. No one is coming after us.”

  “Logan won’t like it. Neither will Grandfather.”

  Caine gave him a level stare. “She comes with us.”

  Sighing, Raven looked back to me. “What’s your name?”

  My throat felt as if it was closing, but I managed to answer. “Kara.”

  He motioned to the two older men. “This is Tannen, and that’s Badger. You’re safe with us.” His following glance at Caine made me wonder about this assurance.

  Then, I was forgotten.

  “We need to get back to our own horses before making camp,” the man called Badger said. “And tomorrow, we’ll need to get to a road or this wagon isn’t going much farther.”

  Casting around, I saw that we were deep in the forest, and these men had been driving the wagon around the trees and through the brush. Though their swords had long been sheathed, all the men but Badger still wore bows and quivers slung over their backs. Now, they took these off and tied them to their saddles.

  I dreaded the thought of getting back on a horse.

  Thankfully, instead of lifting me, Caine laced his hands.

  “Up,” he said.

  I’d never mounted a horse on my own, but I knew what he wanted. Stepping into his hand, I swung my over leg over and settled my skirt to ride astride. He came up behind me again, reached around, and took the reins.

  There were eight saddled horses plus two harnessed to the wagon. Caine and I rode one horse. Raven rode another, and Tannen rode a third, but he had the other five connected on a long lead. Badger drove the wagon. Raven led the way, and within moments, I could hear Badger swearing as he tried to maneuver through the dense brush.

  I felt numb and lost. I kept thinking of my lady and how alone she must be feeling.

  Perhaps an hour later, we rode into a clearing where four other saddled horses walked about, eating grass and brush. They were on long ropes tied to stakes in the ground. But our arrival caused some excitement as the new horses entered. An abundance of sniffing and snorting sounded, and the space felt smaller with so many horses gathered inside.

  Badger drove the wagon into the clearing, and it moved more easily over the open ground.

  “Thank the gods,” he said in relief. “Raven, you’d better get us to a road tomorrow.”

  Caine hopped down and lifted me off the horse, allowing me to become steady on my feet. Then all four men set to work tying off the horses to settle them for the night.

  A few moments later, Raven walked to the wagon and jumped up into the back, opening trunks and rifling through burlap sacks. “There’s a pouch of silver,” he called. “But the rest is mainly men’s clothing. The tunics are silk, and there are a few cloaks worth selling.”

  He hadn’t opened my trunk yet.

  “Those trunks are worth keeping,” Tannen said.

  Raven hopped back to the ground, holding up a burlap sack. “You hungry?” he asked me.

  It was still hard for me to speak, but of the four men, he frightened me the least.

  “Thirsty,” I whispered.

  At my single word, his expression turned abashed, and he strode over to a saddle lying on the ground. After unlashing a canteen, he walked back, holding it out.

  “Here.”

  I drank the water gratefully as the four of them passed around apples and biscuits from the Capellos’ food stores. Caine offered me a biscuit, but I shook my head. I didn’t think I could swallow more than water.

  Still eating an apple, Raven jumped back up onto the wagon’s bed. I wasn’t paying attention, but I could hear him moving things around.

  “Kara,” he called. “Come up here.”

  He’d used my name.

  Without thinking, I crawled up onto the wagon’s bed and saw that he’d arranged several trunks with a space in the middle, where he’d laid down a cloak.

  “We can’t risk a fire,” he said. “But this should shield you from the wind. It’s the best I can do tonight.” He paused and added, “The rest of us are fine on the ground.”

  He’d gone to the trouble to make me a bed up here, and then he’d assured me it was a private space. His kindness left me undone, and everything that had happened to me from that morning to this moment came crashing down. I could feel my exhausted body begin to shake and unwanted tears sprang to my eyes.

  This reaction was not lost on him. Startled, he reached out and drew me over. “Lie down and use your own cloak as a blanket.”

  Like a child, I obeyed him and even let him arrange my cloak to cover me.

  “Go to sleep,” he said.

  My body and mind were so weary that I closed my eyes.

  Chapter Three

  The next morning, I woke up to male voices, but couldn’t remember where I was.

  “That sounds like a waste to me,” someone said.

  Sitting up, I realized I was in the back of a wagon, covered by my own cloak.

  Four men stood nearby, on the ground. Everything from the day before came rushing back: that I’d been a captive of Royce Capello, and now I was a captive of these strangers. I hadn’t eaten more than a few bites of an apple since the day before that, and I was cold. All four of the men were dressed differently this morning, wearing thick, woolen shirts and canvas jackets more suited to the weather.

  “We can put anything of value into sacks and tie them to the spare horses,” Raven said.

  “And just abandon the wagon and those trunks?” Tannen asked.

  “We’ll never get that wagon through these trees, and after…taking the girl, I don’t think we should risk traveling by road. Besides, if we ride straight east through the forest, we’ll make it home by nightfall.”

  Tannen grimaced. “Still sounds like a waste.”

  But Caine had already reached the wagon, motioning to me. “Come down.”

  I climbed down quickly, and he began pulling trunks toward himself.

  It was odd to stand there watching them go through Lord Trey and Royce’s possessions. They stuffed everything they could into burlap sacks until Raven opened the last trunk. This one was small, more of a chest than a trunk.

  It was mine.

  He didn’t touch anything inside.

  After looking at the gowns of white and ice blue, he glanced to me first and then to Badger.

  “This one’s not large,” he said. “Could we tie it to the back of a horse?”

  “Shouldn’t be much trouble,” Badger answered.

  In surprisingly short time, they had everything they wanted secured for a journey, with extra horses tied on long lines. The wagon and the trunks on the ground would remain behind.

  “Do you want to ride on your own today?” Raven asked me.

  I dropped my eyes. “I don’t know how.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She can ride with me,” Caine said. But this time, he mounted first and reached down. “Swing up behind.”

  Grasping his hand, I let him pull me up. Sitting behind him, the arrangement was more comfortable. But…where were we going? I didn’t want to go with these men. I didn’t want to go farther away from my lady.

  I wanted to go home.

  Clucking to the horse, he started forward, and I gripped his waist.

  * * *
*

  We rode all day.

  At one brief stop, I managed to eat part of a biscuit, but found myself growing more and more frightened by the fact that I couldn’t keep track of the path of our progress. We were in a forest, and Raven was leading. He appeared to know exactly where he was going, but the trees all looked the same to me.

  I remembered that he’d mentioned heading east and tried to keep my bearings.

  But by late afternoon, I was so weary from having spent nearly two days on the back of the horse that I found myself leaning forward into Caine’s back. Though I would rather not have touched him, I had little choice and kept my arms around his stomach.

  At some point, my eyes closed. I didn’t exactly sleep while needing to hang on, but I began to drift.

  “There it is,” Raven said.

  I opened my eyes. Darkness had fallen.

  Half turning his head, Caine said to me, “Hold on tight. The climb gets steep.”

  What did he mean?

  I couldn’t see much, but just ahead, Raven appeared to vanish into a line of tall brush, and Caine nudged our horse forward to follow. We passed through the brush as well, emerging into a natural chute with rock walls on each side of us. Suddenly, I felt myself sliding backward and gripped Caine’s waist tighter. Tannen and Badger followed us through, leading the extra horses.

  Without hesitation, Caine pressed onward, leaning down slightly, as we were on a sharp incline. When we reached a curved corner of the chute, Raven stopped ahead of us and held up his right hand. Caine halted our horse. Putting two fingers in his mouth, Raven let out three long whistles.

  Four whistles sounded in return, and we pressed onward—upward. The climb was so steep that our horse began to sweat in the cold night air. A flickering from above caused me to look up. Far above us, standing on the edge of the cliffs, I made out the shapes of men holding torches out over the edge.

  “Don’t be afraid,” Caine said. “Those are our own people, giving us light.” After a moment, he added, “But if Raven hadn’t signaled, we’d be dead by now.”