by Bell, Hilari
If we could free Mistress Margaret and take her and Rupert home, I could claim the reward. If we couldn’t free her, I could convince the others, Rupert included, that we needed to get help from the Liege ... and still claim the reward. If we took the straightest route back to the palace, not needing to stop and figure out where our quarry had gone next, we could probably reach Crown City in less than three days.
“Let’s go get your friend,” I said.
But Michael pulled Chant to a stop. “Listen.”
The sound he’d heard was a faint, but persistent series of bangs. Then they stopped, and I had just concluded that whatever it was had finished when they started again.
“Come on.” Michael kicked Chant to a canter.
Kathy followed immediately, but I took a moment to curse before sending Tipple after them. I don’t like running horses over rough ground, but I liked the thought of Kathy learning about my fears even less.
Michael had been thrown onto a saddle before he could walk, and judging by Kathy’s horsemanship, their father must have treated his girl children the same way.
Fortunately, we didn’t have to go far. The sound of banging, soon interspersed by shouts, grew louder. The woods thinned and the old keep came into view.
This close to the mountains, rolling foothills had begun pushing their way out onto the river plain, and this keep had been built on one of them. It must have a well inside because there was no stream in sight, and this had prevented them from building a moat — but every other defensive measure of the day was visible. The tall stone walls sported towers at the corners, and there would be a walkway behind the rampart, where bowmen could hide and swordsmen could fight. There were even spouts for them to pour hot oil and pitch down on invaders, and it was just as well there was no one on the ramparts now because the place was being assaulted. After a fashion.
Rupert stood in front of two great wooden gates, secured with iron hinges, banging on one of them with a rock. As we slowed to a trot, he dropped it and ran back a dozen paces to shout, “I know she’s in there. I saw her at the window! And if she’s hurt in any way, I’ll devote my whole life and all the Liege’s power to tracking you down. Meg! Meg, can you hear me? I’m coming!”
It didn’t look to me like he was coming anytime soon. When Michael and Kathy dismounted I took all the horses and tethered them, including Rupert’s weary, once white stallion. He seemed grateful for the attention.
I was happy to leave the distraught Heir to Michael and Kathy — if he’d been waving his arms and babbling at me, I’d have been tempted to slap some sense into him. Though as I drew near enough to see him better, my exasperation lessened. The fancy gold-embroidered coat had been traded somewhere along the line for one of plain cloth, which went badly with his silk vest. His britches were so dusty they almost matched the coat, and several days of stubble bristled on his chin. He looked so bedraggled that it occurred to me to wonder what it had been like to travel across the countryside for five days without escort or servants, for what was probably the first time in his life.
And he hadn’t quit. All things considered, the kid had earned some slack, even if this was nonsense.
“I saw her at the window.” His voice was hoarse with shouting, emotion, or both. “She was looking out, almost as if she was waiting for me. She screamed when she saw me, and they came and dragged her away. But she’s in there!”
“So that’s when you started pounding on the gates with a rock?” I asked pleasantly.
It cut through his hysteria as Michael and Kathy’s sympathy hadn’t, and he glared at me.
“I knocked and demanded admittance. But no one answered.”
“And then you started pounding a rock on gates designed to withstand a battering ram?”
“Then I walked around the walls,” Rupert said with some dignity. “Looking for a postern door or some other way in. But this is the only entrance.”
“So then...?” I asked.
Color rose in his stubbled cheeks. “I started pounding on the gates with a rock. And you’re right, ’tis stupid, but after all this time... She’s in there!”
He looked like he was about to pick up the rock again, and Michael spoke hastily. “So now what?” His voice was low, having clearly realized that just because we couldn’t see them, that didn’t mean they couldn’t hear us. “Fisk, can you burgle us in?”
“Are you mad?” My voice was quite a bit louder than his, and Kathy cast me a questioning look. “This place was designed to keep an army out, and the gates are latched on the inside. Unless you can fly, there’s no way in short of siege ladders and catapults. We’ll have to go back to the High Liege and get a writ. And a troop to enforce it.”
“Go back?” Rupert’s voice didn’t just rise in volume, it shot up half an octave. “I’m not leaving this spot till I’ve got Meg with me!”
“And how do you propose to get her out of there?”
I let the silence draw out long enough to make it clear he didn’t have an answer, and then went on.
“We can’t be sure that... Whose fief is this? Baron Tatterman? We can’t be sure he’s the one holding her, even if it is his keep. But now that we know where she is, the Liege can write up a writ and warrant demanding that Tatterman either release her, or aid the Liege’s troops in getting her out. It’s not even noon yet. If we rented fresh horses and made really good time, we might be back here with a troop in three days.”
We probably couldn’t, but it wasn’t so ridiculous that anyone who might be listening could discount the possibility.
“But what if—” Rupert began.
My clever darling laid a hand on his arm, and only Michael and I were close enough to see her nails dig in.
“Fisk is right, Rupert. We can’t assault a keep with just the four of us. The faster we leave, the sooner we can return. Call up to Meg, and tell her we’ll be back soon, and set her free.”
Rupert had broken out of his funk enough to realize we were up to something, so he did as he was told, and even mounted his horse and rode off with us. The way he kept turning to look back added verisimilitude, so I didn’t try to stop him.
He even waited till we were out of sight of the keep before he reined his horse to a stop.
“What do you think you’re doing? It would take at least five days to go to the city, gather a troop and get back here. And that’s assuming Father would give us even a writ, much less soldiers. I think those are his own men in there!”
“Baron Tatterman’s not particularly political,” said Kathy. “I don’t know if he’s involved in the tax thing, but he doesn’t come to court much. Why not ask him for help?”
Asking anyone for help was exactly what the source of the reward didn’t want us to do. But I saw no need to mention that.
“We’re about to find out who holds her,” I said. “They think we’re going back to Crown City to get a writ and an army, so—”
“They may think that,” Michael put in. “Or they may start wondering why we were discussing our plans so publicly, and think again.”
“It wasn’t my most subtle performance,” I conceded. “But they’ve got to believe there’s at least a chance we’re going to the Liege for assistance. And if they’re working for the Liege...”
“They’ll know he won’t give it to us.” Kathy’s eyes were bright with admiration, which I found quite pleasant. “So they’ll just sit there, because they know they’re safe.”
“And if they pack up their coach and run,” I went on. “We’ll know they’re not working for the Liege. In which case, we really should go back and get a warrant.”
The glow in my beloved’s face chilled abruptly.
“Rupert, you should know your father has offered Fisk and Michael a reward to bring you back. Though I don’t think Michael cares about that.”
“The reason I care about it is because I want to get married.” I tried not to let my exasperation show, but I may have failed. “I thought you wanted tha
t too, but if I’m mistaken, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know.”
“I don’t want to marry anyone at the cost of my best friend’s life.” Kathy didn’t even try to hide her anger. “I thought you understood that.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if either of you gets married,” Rupert said. “I want Meg safely out of there, and I don’t know...”
His voice cracked, but his determination never wavered.
Michael sighed. “There’s no point in this, for Fisk has the right of it. If ’tis the Liege who holds her, they’ll stay where they are. And she’ll be safe enough while you return to Crown City to deal with your father. For I see no way to pry her out of that keep with just the four of us.”
It was clear that Rupert didn’t like this, but he was thinking now and he nodded reluctantly.
“And if ’tis not my father who holds her? What then?”
“Then, even if they suspect we’re bluffing, they won’t dare to call it,” I said. “They’ll have to move her.”
“And in that case... Assume there’s one man in the coach with Mistress Margaret, the driver, and four men riding escort, that makes it six against the three of us.” Michael’s voice was serious, but the joy of “adventure” brightened his eyes. “Even so, they’ll still be more vulnerable to whatever we can contrive on the road than they are behind those walls.”
“Six to four,” said Katherine, who’d never been in a fight in her life. “And don’t count Meg out, either.”
Michael and I were tactfully silent. Unfortunately, Kathy isn’t a fool. At least now she was glaring at both of us.
“Don’t worry about that,” Rupert said. “’Tis not likely to arise, because I still think those men are working for my father.”
“Then let us find a place to make camp,” said Michael. “Somewhere we can watch the gates and remain unseen. In a day or two, we shall know one way or the other.”
Michael’s proposal was so sensible that none of us could argue — though there was plenty of aggravation to go around. Rupert alternately fretted and sulked. Kathy scowled at me, and tried to do things around the camp that would prove she could fight as well as any man — but after years of traveling together Michael and I had that process down pat, and she mostly got in the way.
There was no place to camp where we could see the gates and they couldn’t see us, which wasn’t surprising once you thought about it. But we did find a place where one or two people could hide and watch the gates. If anything happened, they could call back to the small gulley where we’d spread our bedrolls.
I don’t know if Michael was more worried we’d start kissing or that we’d quarrel, but he chose to watch with Kathy himself, leaving me to take the next watch with Rupert. That wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, because no one can stand on an emotional peak forever. After we’d both grown thoroughly bored staring at blank stone walls, I asked about his stint at the university where he’d met Margaret. We got into an interesting discussion of Magolis’ theory that history wasn’t based on individual actions, but on larger needs and forces. I thought Magolis’ ideas had some merit when it came to the great drought that started the warring period. If your people are starving, even a village mayor will take up arms, much less a baron with a troop at his disposal. If one of them hadn’t gone first, another would have. I was less sure about Margolis’ assertion that sooner or later someone would have united the Realm — the first High Liege had needed to be insanely ambitious and incredibly capable to bring that off.
Rupert not only thought the whole theory was nonsense, he argued his point cogently enough to prove Kathy’s claim that he had more brains than he’d showed so far.
Not that Kathy or I had been showing a lot of intelligence lately.
By late evening, we decided they were unlikely to set off tonight, the horses were thirsty and our water flasks were running low. We left Michael to keep watch, while Kathy, Rupert and I took the horses in search of a stream. When we found it, I loaned Rupert some clothes from Michael’s and my packs, and washed his dirty coat and britches while he gave himself a cold shave. Kathy took the time for a rough wash as well, splashing the cool water over her face and up her arms. She looked so lovely with the orange light of sunset gleaming in the droplets that ran down her throat and fell from the dripping strands of her hair...
I told her I’d never ask her to abandon Mistress Merkle to her fate, Kathy said she did want to marry me, and we went back to camp much happier than when we’d left it.
Michael must have figured that more making up would be good for us, because next morning he put us on gate-watch together — though crouching on hard ground behind a screen of bracken is not my idea of a romantic setting, and we were both half asleep.
We were just beginning to wake up enough for conversation when the gates opened and a coach rolled out, escorted by four riders.
Kathy warbled like a bird, which was the signal we’d agreed on. I noted that while the driver didn’t appear to be armed, all four riders wore swords on their belts. I only saw one crossbow, hanging off a saddle, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more.
We were too far from the road to see inside the coach, but the driver and escort outnumbered us five to three ... and to my considerable sorrow, it looked like that might matter.
I’d really been hoping that Rupert would be right.
He and Michael crawled up beside us as the coach rolled past, and it did match the description Quicken’s brother-in-law had given us; darkish wood, well-varnished but with very little gilt. I’d pictured the place where the crest had been scratched off as a circle or an oval, but it had four symmetrical branches coming off a central core, like a fleur de lis or a stylized flame.
The Heir was controlled now, but his face was white with the tension of watching his lover pass so near.
“If Father doesn’t have her, then who does?” The coach was pulling away, but he kept his voice low. “Who could possibly want to hurt Meg?”
“We don’t know.” Kathy’s soft voice reflected his pain and terror, and the fragment of irritation that still lingered from our quarrel left me.
“It might make sense if they were after you, Rupert,” she went on. “But if they were, they’d have run out and seized you when you were banging on that gate. So we don’t have any idea who’s behind this. Or why they’re doing it.”
“We’ve got to go.” Rupert turned to crawl back to the horses; the coach wasn’t quite out of sight. “We’ve got to go after them, now!”
Michael grabbed his arm. “Not so swiftly. We’ll follow at a distance, and wait till we can try something that might succeed. They think we’re all riding toward Crown City, so they may become careless.”
“I hate to say it,” I added, “but we really do need a writ and warrant. Even if we could overcome them — at least five men, likely six, and maybe more — what then? We can’t hold that many people prisoner. We’ll have to get help from the authorities, and without a writ...”
And as we all knew, Rupert was the best person to convince the High Liege to write one.
Then my sweetheart spoke up.
“You can forge a writ. Can’t you, Fisk? I know you’ve done forgeries in the past. You’ve bragged ... ah, you’ve said so.”
“Thank you, darling,” I said dryly. “You do know that forging a Liege writ is a hanging offence? Treason is one of the few crimes besides murder that carries that sentence.”
“I’ll get you off,” Rupert said.
“You can’t even get your father to give you a writ!”
“Fisk,” said Michael. “We don’t know who holds this girl, or what they intend by her.”
They were all staring at me, curse it. And Katherine’s heart was in her eyes.
“Oh, all right. We’ll go after her. And I’ll see if I can pick up what I need in the next large town. Forging a Liege writ isn’t simple. They use special paper, and...”
It may have been crazy. I knew it was crazy.
But when Kathy kissed me, it all seemed worthwhile.
Since I first took up knight errantry, I’ve done many odd things. I must confess, I never thought highroad robbery would be one of them, but the undeniable fact remained — we needed to hold up a coach.
And as the day went on, I found my respect for bandits rising; ’tis not as easy as you might think.
The first problem, as we shortly determined, is that ’tis difficult to set up an ambush for a coach you’re following.
Had we been ordinary bandits we could have chosen some lonely place, set up a roadblock, and robbed the first person who came into our snare.
We needed to rob one particular coach, whose destination and route we didn’t know. We might have simply followed them to a deserted stretch of road and ridden down on them ... had they not outnumbered us two to one, which made a straightforward assault sheer folly.
No, we had to ambush them. And if possible, we needed to whittle down their numbers as well.
No possibility of that arose till they stopped for luncheon the next day, in a town where the main road ran through, instead of crossing another road they might have taken. We’d been able to draw nearer in the busy streets, and when they pulled into an inn yard we simply rode past, and then turned down a side street to discuss the matter.
“I think they’re heading north,” Kathy said. “This is Littledean, which means we’re only about six miles from the Pottage River. Beyond that all the landholders are angry with the Liege about mineral rights. We’ll get no help from them, and it’s the last place the Liege wants to send a troop. From the gossip I’ve heard, what Roseman tried is giving some of them ideas.”
“Roseman failed,” I pointed out. “But if we can assume the coach will continue in that direction, let us ride ahead and see if we can find a place to block the road.”
“Even if we block the road,” said Fisk, “there’s still six of them and three of us.”
The barest thread of a plan was rising in my mind. “Mayhap not, if we can block the way so well that someone has to go get help to clear it. And no, Rupert, we can’t go back and assault them in an inn full of innocent bystanders.”
