I only ask that Emma’s body be buried respectfully in the cemetery beside her daughter. Fault her with nothing but having a soft heart.
Katy nearly let out a wry chuckle in spite of herself. If Emma had ever been accused of anything, it was not having a soft heart. Still, she continued.
She was taken by the Black Eve this past night. By the time you read this, I shall be gone, but hold no grudge against her, only against me if you must. She was a good woman, and she worked hard to serve others. Don’t deny her this last honor.
Katrin
As soon as the ink was dry, Katy folded the parchment carefully and sealed it by pressing her thumb into the warm green wax she’d prepared. She was nearly ready to go when she remembered the letter she’d taken the week before. Though it had been in Sir Christopher’s writing, she had finally realized that she would never be able to read it in good conscience. Not when it had Peter’s name on it in his father’s hand. So she left it on the desk and made her way down into the town.
The streets were dark and cold despite the summer weather. She had no trouble sneaking past the sentries and running between the tall dark buildings to the governor’s mansion. Silently, she climbed up onto his porch and placed her letter on the step. As she turned to hop back off the tall porch, however, the door opened behind her.
“Well, this was a brave thing to do.”
Katy’s heart faltered at the sound of Sir Odhran’s voice.
As she tried to run, he grabbed her wrist and held on tightly. He was surprisingly quick for a man of his girth. She struggled and fought, but the former knight was stronger than she was, despite the limp in his right leg.
“Please!” she said as she fought to wrench her arm out of his grasp. “I’m leaving! I’m going to the forest and never coming back! You’ll never have to see me again!”
“Then may I ask why you’re here on my porch?”
“Leaving a letter!” She continued to pull as she nodded at the step. “Emma died from the plague last night! I only wanted to ask that she be buried!”
Sir Odhran yanked her around to face him. His smile was a bit too wide for the early hour, and his breath smelled of ale. Silver whiskers dotted the face that was usually neatly trimmed, and his eyes were sunken in his head.
“I promise,” she breathed, “I’m leaving. You’ll never see me again.”
“You’re right. You are leaving. But it won’t be to terrorize any other villages you stumble upon.” He tightened his grip on her arm and leaned back into the open door. “Bearnard!” he shouted. “Get down here.”
“What for?” Bearnard appeared at the door, still rubbing his eyes. They bulged, though, when he saw Katy.
“We have a town hearing to conduct.” Sir Odhran shoved Katy at Bearnard. “Take her to the square—”
Bearnard let out a shout as Katy sent a short burst of power down her arm. He let go of her just long enough for her to flee down a back alley toward the woods. She could hear Sir Odhran shouting for her to be caught, but she didn’t linger long enough to hear what he said after that. She was tempted to turn right and head to Firin Reaghan’s house, but deep down she knew better. When he was sober, Sir Odhran never bent the rules. Some strange vestige of his days as a knight wouldn’t allow it, or so Peter had once said. But in his drunken state, Firin Reaghan could very well end up hanged as well if he was caught helping her. So she continued to sprint south. She had to get to the woods.
7
A Will to Rival
Peter stopped his horse and listened. Downing was still several miles away, just visible down by the harbor. A surprising number of lamps had been lit for the early hour, as it was not yet light, and the village bell echoed across the fields.
“Well, you were right. Something is amiss.” Antony stopped his horse beside Peter’s. The rest of the men followed suit.
“I just hope it’s worth losing half a night’s sleep,” Benjamin said with a yawn.
Peter held his hand up and put a finger to his lips. “She’s nearby.”
“How can you tell?” Briant called from the back.
“I can feel her.”
The men exchanged glances with one another, but no one said anything. They’d accepted long ago Peter’s strange ability to sense danger lurking nearby. According to Antony, Peter had been right too many times to question it.
“Perhaps we should—”
But before Domnhall could finish, Peter and his mount shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow. He would get a scolding later for venturing into the forest without his men, but he didn’t care. Her trail was thin. Peter didn’t have time to slow. He drew his sword instead and raised himself into a crouch on his horse as he approached the first man he spotted. Then, as he passed the man, he slowed enough to knock him to the ground. Then he circled back.
“Where’s the girl?” he shouted, pointing his sword at the dumbfounded stranger. Or was he a stranger? The sag of the man’s mouth reminded him somewhat of the ugly butcher’s son, but he didn’t give a whit whether he knew the man or not. “Where is she?” he repeated, pressing his blade against the startled man’s throat.
“She...she ran into the woods!” The man pointed with a shaking hand to the south. “She went that way!”
“Why are you all in the woods chasing her?”
“Sir Odhran...he...he said if we lost her this time...that we’d all hang for it,” the man stuttered. “Even if it meant going into the woods!”
The old fool must have been drunker than ever. Peter shook his head and turned without a word to make chase again, following the shouts and torches barely visible up ahead. The sky was beginning to gray just enough to ride at a good speed without his own light.
As Peter continued to follow her trail, his mind vacillated between anger at the men for hunting her, worry for Katy, and the ridiculous excitement, even amidst it all, of finally seeing her again. As he knocked another man on the back of his head with the hilt of his sword, Peter imagined the sunny smile he’d missed for so long, the one that had brightened his life for twelve years and filled his mind for the last eight.
He was so close. If one of them hurt her now, he would make sure that man suffered a hundredfold what he had done to Katy.
“She’s this way!” someone shouted.
Peter pressed his horse faster. Most of the men he spotted were on foot and easy to pass. And to his excitement, the faster he pushed, the stronger her trail felt.
He could hear the men at the lead slowing and calling out about how they’d lost her. If he hadn’t been so angry that they were hunting her in the first place, Peter would have smiled. They might have lost her, but they hadn’t been her best friend for twelve years. He, however, could sense her more strongly than ever. Carefully, he arced his path to give the men a wide berth. So good was his aim that he nearly trampled the girl herself.
“Please, just leave me alone! I don’t want to hurt anyone!” Katy threw her hands up in defense as she backed up.
For a long second, Peter was nearly too shocked to respond. The young woman before him was definitely Katy. Her eyes were still the same vibrant blue as the autumn sky, and the shape of her face was so etched in his memory that he could have painted an exact portrait, had he possessed any skill.
And yet the girl before him was a stranger. She had been twelve last time they’d seen each other. Or was it thirteen? He couldn’t recall. But he hadn’t expected her to look so much like...well, a woman. Her hair, which had once been the color of honey and strawberries, had darkened to a shade nearly as dark as his. It cascaded down in waves that reached past her waist, and he suddenly had the ridiculous desire to touch it. Just to see if it was real. Her face had lost its girlish roundness, and even beneath her loose cloak, he could see...curves.
That wasn’t right. Katy had never had curves.
Of course, he had known she would be a woman of twenty years by now, but Peter realized that for some reason he’d still been expecting to fin
d his little twelve-year-old shadow ready to jump up and follow him around again.
Judging by the look on her face now, however, as she moved from fear to shock to something that looked oddly akin to anger, following him around was the last thing on her mind.
“Peter?”
Before he could answer, footsteps approached. Peter jumped off his horse, sword still drawn, and clunked the fellow on the head with the butt of his weapon. The man crumpled to the ground, but instead of looking relieved, Katy looked incensed.
“Peter.”
“Yes?” He took a step toward her and held out his arms, but instead of running to him, she only took a step back.
“Peter,” she said again.
Peter frowned in confusion. “Yes. I am Peter.” Was he really that hard to recognize? He’d gotten taller, of course, and years of continuous training had finally produced at least half the man he’d hoped to be. But the sudden unmistakable burning in her eyes made it clear that she definitely recognized him.
And she was furious.
“I hear something this way!” a man called out in the distance.
“Eight years,” she said, shaking her head as she turned and began to walk away. “Eight years, and you choose now to come back? Today of all days?”
Peter began to follow her but glanced around just in time to see another one of her attackers break through the brush. He grabbed the man by the collar and hurled him against a tree. “Katy, can we talk about this later? I would really like to get us out of the woods!”
She whirled around. “Oh, now you want to come for me? After eight years of not caring whether I lived or died?”
“That’s not true!”
“I thought you were dead, Peter! I mourned for you! Every day I lived with the weight of knowing that your death was my fault!”
All the anticipation and joy Peter had harbored in his heart, the blissful reunion he’d imagined every day since leaving his best friend behind shattered into chagrin and regret as he watched large, angry tears begin to roll down her face.
“Katy, I…I’m sorry! I wanted to get back here! I’ve been planning to come back, but my uncle—”
“Well, I don’t need you! I’m doing just well and dandy on my own!” Katy turned and began to walk again in the opposite direction. As she did, another man broke through the trees. Before the man could even lift his sword, Peter had kicked him in the gut and broken his nose. “Oh yes,” he glared at her, “I can see that.”
“You’re distracting me!”
“You’re being stupid! Let’s get out of this forest and—”
“Behind you.”
Peter twisted just in time to find Bearnard Odhran charging toward him, dagger drawn. With two quick flicks of his sword, Peter had him disarmed and at sword point. At first, Bearnard sneered and began to make threats, but as soon as his eyes met Peter’s, he looked even more frightened than Katy had. Of course, he had reason to.
“Call the hunt off,” Peter said, staring him down.
“You’re…you’re dead!” Bearnard looked as though he might fall over.
“If that’s the case, then I’m here to haunt you.” Peter grabbed him by the collar. “Now call it off!”
“I can’t!” Bernard glanced over at Katy. “My father—”
“Will be answering to me,” Peter growled. “Now call it off!” He pressed the blade against Bearnard’s fleshy neck just a little harder. Trembling, Bearnard brought a little bugle to his lips, but it took two pathetic attempts before he was able to blow a signal loud enough to hear.
As he watched, a cold wave rippled up Peter’s arms and made his hair stand on end. And it wasn’t from Bearnard or his pathetic posse. Peter needed to get Katy and his men out of the forest. Now.
“Leave these woods and take the men with you,” Peter hissed, “or their blood will be on your head!”
Bearnard took one more long look at Peter’s armor before scrambling up and running back toward the village.
“Did you find her?” Antony rode into the clearing and looked around.
“She’s right—Oh no.” Peter didn’t wait to explain to his friend. Instead, he bolted after her, following her trail once again. As he ran, his skin tingled even more. “Katy, we really need to get out of this forest. Then I’ll explain everything! I promise!”
“I can’t go back!” she called from up ahead.
Peter pushed on harder. She might have been able to outrun him as a child, but if he still couldn’t match her, he might as well hang up his sword and armor now. “I don’t want you to go back! I want you to come with me!” He could hear her footsteps slow just a hint, so he increased his speed even more. “You can start somewhere new where no one knows where you came from or who you are! Not that I care,” he hastened to add, “but you can have a new beginning!”
Finally, he broke through to another clearing. He just managed to grab her arm and pull her to a stop before she took off again. What in the blazes had possessed her to come all the way out here? Even without his help, she could have lost Bearnard and the others long before.
“Where?” She regarded him with wary eyes. Another breeze alerted Peter to the mysterious presence, but he would have to tread carefully. Something had changed in his little friend. He could have easily predicted young Katy’s response, but the longer he was with her, the less he knew what to expect from the terrified young woman before him.
“The royal city,” he said. “Where else on this wretched isle would I live?” He gave her his best grin, despite the jittery feeling in his gut. “Besides, I’ve missed my shadow.”
For the first time, a slightest hint of a smile cracked on Katy’s face. “You mean the annoying little girl who couldn’t take a hint?”
“The little girl who believed in me.” He gave her arm a light tug. “So, will you come with me?” He shivered as he looked around at the trees. It was beginning to rain. “At least somewhere dry.” Somewhere not here. How did she not feel the danger?
Or what if she did and didn’t care? Peter felt new fear ripple down his spine. He had taken far too long to return.
She held his gaze for a long moment, her clear blue eyes unreadable. But then she looked at the ground. “I’m sorry...” She shook her head. “It’s too late for me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“I mean I just can’t, Peter!”
A familiar frustration, dusty with misuse, crept to the surface of Peter’s mind. He had forgotten how stubborn she could be. Well, he could be stubborn, too. “I’m not leaving here without you.”
“Well, then you’ll just be staying here, too, won’t you?”
“Carey says we need to go!” Antony called from nearby. Peter turned back to Katy and glared at her.
“We are in more danger here with every second we wait! Now, you are leaving this place if I have to tie you to my horse!”
Katy opened her mouth to reply, but whatever she was about to say was cut off by the rock that struck her on the back of the head. Peter watched in horror as she crumpled to the ground. He looked up just in time to see Bearnard running through the trees as fast as he could go.
8
Gambling on Dreams
“She’ll turn out alright,” Domnhall said, his hand still gently searching the back of Katy’s head. “I don’t even feel much of a bump.”
Relief flooded Peter, but it was immediately followed by a fresh wave of fury. He stood and whistled for his horse.
“Where are you going?” Domnhall asked, still kneeling on the ground with Katy.
“To give Bearnard what he’s deserved for the last twenty-odd years.”
“And you’re just going to leave her here?”
Peter was nearly on his horse, but something in the older knight’s tone made him stop. He turned around. “You’ll watch her,” he said.
“Of course we will,” Domnhall nodded once, “but will that make her any less frightened when she awakens?”
Peter drew in a deep breath through his nose. Everything in him yearned to chase the governor’s scoundrel son down and beat him to within an inch of his life. But as usual, Domnhall was right.
“I’ll go after him and bring him back if that’s what you want.” Briant leaned forward in his saddle.
But Peter shook his head. “Thank you. But this is something I need to do. Besides,” he knelt by Katy’s side and took one of her hands in his, “I know where to find him.”
Antony rode into the clearing, his dark eyes flickering between the trees. “We need to get out of here. The sooner the better.”
“Did you see something?” Tomas asked.
“No, but even I can feel that we’re being watched.” Antony shivered.
Peter looked at Domnhall. “Is she well enough to travel?”
“Aye. The rock barely grazed her. She’s in more danger of starvation and the cold.”
That was good enough for Peter. He scooped her up gently and draped her across the front of his horse where she could rest and he could keep her from falling off. Then he and the others set their horses at a quick pace as they headed for the nearest edge of the forest.
The sky was barely light enough by now that Peter could better see the details of her face. He considered it somewhat fortunate, however, that the thick woods they navigated kept him too busy to do so. While the young woman in front of him was definitely his Katy, there was so much to her that had changed. And he wasn’t necessarily sure he was ready for that.
“So why exactly were they chasing her?” Antony finally broke the silence as they neared the tree line.
Peter kept his eyes forward. “This town is rife with superstition. My father found her in the forest when she was a baby, and they’ve never trusted her because of it.”
“What for?” Tomas asked before turning and glancing behind him. “Benjamin, keep up.”
The Autumn Fairy (The Autumn Fairy Trilogy Book 1) Page 4
