Page 52 of The Stag & The Owl
She rode under the light of a quarter moonuntil she made the woods’ edge sometime before midnight.Pullingout the spyglass, she searched the mountainside and sighted thelight of a small campfire at the top of the pass where she’d leftRoark to make his stand.She scanned the trail she’d taken down themountain and saw no movement.The men weren’t worried about beingseen, or they wouldn’t have a fire.They obviously didn’t thinkshe’d come back.She was one woman against five men, why would shewhen she’d gotten away?
“Because they don’t know me,” she whisperedinto the tuckered-out mare’s ear.Her mother had killed a man witha blade to his chest defending her father, and her grandmother hadkilled a man with a staff defending her grandfather.Hergreat-grandmother had killed one of the men sent to kill her in aknife fight, and bore a scar across her back to the end of her daysfrom that battle.“They don’t know the women I’m descended from.But they will.”She patted Etain’s neck.“They will.”
Dismounting and staking Etain to graze, Alinapulled off Etain’s saddle and went through her packs, taking stock.Keeping the otter cloak out, she packed everything up, refilled herwaterskin, resaddled Etain so she could ride at a moment’s notice,and lay down on her bedroll with the cloak over her, missing thecomfort and warmth of Roark’s body curled around hers.She prayedto every god and goddess she knew to keep him safe as she laytrying to figure out how to get him free.
She woke with a start to Etain’s worriedwhinny in the pitch of night.She pulled her waist blade and stoodby the mare.“What do you hear?”she whispered.The mare’s earsflicked forward.“What is it, eh, girl?”
The mare tugged at Alina’s hold on herbridle.Alina held on tight to keep her from throwing her head andletting out a loud whinny, giving them away to whoever or whateverwas out there.
“Shhh, Etain,” she murmured, stroking themare’s neck and glancing around, though she couldn’t see more thanten paces in the dark.“Quiet, girl, let me listen.”
She tilted her head this way and that,finally hearing what sounded like shuffling footsteps at the edgeof the trees.She let go of her horse and pulled out one of herboot daggers, hiding behind a tree as the shuffling grew closer.Etain tossed her head, snorting, as a great, hulking shadow emergedfrom the tree line.A different horse whinnied loudly, and Alinapeered around the tree, her heart in her throat and her blades atthe ready.
A horse stood at the edge of their littlecamp, its reins dangling as it bobbed its head up and down andneighed softly at Etain.There was a saddle on its back, but norider.Alina waited and listened, but she didn’t see or hearanything beyond the clearing.She stepped out from the tree andwent to Etain, laying a hand on the mare’s neck.
“It’s all right, Etain,” she crooned, takingin the rangy roan.“I think the poor beasty is even more frightenedthan you are, aren’t you, beasty?”she said, keeping up her softpatter as she slowly approached the horse.“Are you all alone outhere in this scary place?”The horse tossed its head but didn’tbolt as she stopped and held her hand out for it to sniff.“Did yourun away from those bad men?”The horse dropped its head and Alinaplaced her palm on its nose and gently rubbed.
“Did Roark unseat your master?Did he sendyou to find us?”She ran her hand down its neck and over itswithers.“You’re rather skinny for such a large,” she peeked underits belly, “gelding.Would you like to stay here with us for thenight?Maybe join us on our journey?”The gelding nickered andAlina chuckled softly.“All right then, Beasty,” she said, naminghim after her big coursing hound at home who he put her in mind of.“Welcome to our scraggly band of would-be rescuers.”
She left the gelding saddled as she wentthrough the bags, finding only a cleanish tunic, a small sack ofdried field beans, a few strips of dried meat, and a flint.Therewas a rope tied to the saddle and two skins, one half full of waterand the other half full of wine.She untied the wineskin and took along drink, then capped it and set it aside on the bedroll.Sheneeded to think.
“I have two horses now, both with saddles, soI can switch off between them, which will keep them fresher thanthe brigand’s mounts.”She stared down at the wineskin, and thetale of her grandmother’s and grandfather’s adventures during thehundred-league race came to her.She patted her tunic pocket withthe vial of White Milk.“I know what to do,” she told the horses.“I just have to figure out how.”
By the moon it was closer to dawn than night.Alina ate one of the meat strips from Beasty’s saddle andpositioned herself at the woods’ edge where she watched themountain’s ridge through the spyglass as dawn broke.Soon enough,she spied horses coming down the northern slope she’d raced downyesterday.Her heart stopped.There were five horses but only fourriders, and Artur was the riderless horse.Her heart beating in herears, she focused on the riders one by one as they got closer.There, in the middle, she was certain she recognized Roark’s broadshoulders, the way he sat his mount, the shape of his face, hishair, his cropped beard.
She gave a feral grin.There had been fivebrigands yesterday, and there were only three today, which likelymeant Roark had killed two of them.
She watched until they were less than aleague away, and then she tied off Beasty to Etain’s saddle,mounted Etain, and rode deep into the woods enough to stay hiddenbut close enough to watch the men through the spyglass.
***
Roark held on to the saddle horn, his handsbound together at his wrists.The nag he was riding plodded alongbehind Ned and between Cam and Shaw.The remaining members of theragtag band that had finally managed to knock him out coldyesterday with the hilt of a short sword to the back of his head.He licked his dry, cracked lips and tugged at the rope around hisneck, which Shaw, who seemed to have taken the loss of their twocompanions the hardest, had control of.
They were following Etain’s and Alina’s traildown the northern slope of the mountain, and Roark hid his grinwhen they had to backtrack to find where Alina had turned Etaininto the woods.They managed to track the mare’s hoofprints to asmall stream, where Roark convinced Shaw to let him dismount anddrink while Ned and Cam rode up and down the water’s course tryingto pick up Alina’s trail.
After drinking his fill, Roark dunked hishead in the water, letting the cold wash away much of his hazinessand a little of the throbbing ache in his head.He stood andstretched some of the kinks out of his body after a cramped,uncomfortable night floating in and out of consciousness while tiedto a tree, worrying about Alina.
Ned rode back from searching upstream, and hedidn’t look happy.
“I didn’t find a thing,” he said.Which wasrepeated by Cam when he rode back from searching downstream a bitlater.
Ned eyed Roark, who worked on keeping hisface a blank mask.
“The laird’s men said she’d be trying to finda ship to sail out on,” Ned said.“Odds are she’s riding straightfor the North Sea Firth.”
“Which is due north,” Shaw said.“So why’dshe go west into the woods here?”
“To throw us off her trail,” Ned said.Helooked at Roark, who purposely widened his eyes.“Aye, that’s whatshe’s done.That’s where she’s headed.”He jerked his head towardRoark, who glared back at him.“Look at him, he knows I got theright of it.”He cackled with anticipation.“Mount up, we’re ridingnorth.”
Roark let out the grin he’d been holdingback.“It won’t do you any good,” he said.“She’s halfway there bynow.”
“Seeing as how the firth is a three-day ridefrom here, I doubt it,” Shaw said, giving Roark’s noose a sharpyank.“Now mount up and shut up.”
“Can I at least pack my horse’s hoof with mudbefore we ride again?”Roark asked.Though riderless, Artur’s limphad worsened in the two leagues from last night’s camp to thestream.“If I don’t pack it, his stone bruise will abscess.”He’dheard them talking about selling the stallion as soon as they gotto a town last night.“He’ll be worth nothing to you if thathappens.”
“Make it quick,” Ned said.
Roark held his hands out for Shaw to untiehis wrists.“Don’t forget I still have a hold of this.”Shawgrinned, showing several gaps in his teeth, and gave the ropearound Roark’s neck another quick yank.
