Page 41 of The Piper's Pursuit

Of course they’d go to Hagenheim and come back with his father’s army. And unfortunately, the guards probably knew that as well. But he was desperate. He had to save Katerina and the children who were trapped in the mine.

“What should we do?” one of the guards muttered to the others. “Hennek specifically said not to kill them with the sword.”

“We can’t let them go,” another said. “And we don’t have another wolf to attack them.”

“Why couldn’t we let them go? If they go away and never return.”

“Are you daft?”

“Straw for brains,” another growled.

“Get us all killed.”

“Well, we can’t sit on him all night,” said the one sitting on Steffan’s legs.

“Maybe we could have our way with the girl.” The one holding on to Katerina ran a hand down her cheek.

She turned her head and spat in his face. The man slapped her across the mouth.

“I’ll kill you!” Steffan struggled to break free, but the men only held him tighter. They weighed too much, and the three of them could hold him down all night if they wished.

“You can’t kill anyone,” the guard taunted. “And I can do what I want.”

He couldn’t let this happen.God, You can’t let it!

“Hennek didn’t give us permission to have our way with the girl,” the guard with the even voice said. “They’re both supposed to die with obvious marks on them from the wolf.”

“Then what do you say we do? Stay here in the woods all night and wait for someone to find us in the morning?”

“Lock them up in the mine. Then we’ll send someone to find out what Hennek wants us to do with them.”

They muttered and mumbled, then hauled Steffan to his feet. They pushed him forward, and he stumbled but managed to catch himself as they moved toward the mine entrance. His chest was bleeding, stinging, as his shirt clung to the blood. And he was pretty sure they’d broken a rib when they punched him in the stomach.

Somehow they had to escape.

***

Katerina had to save herself and the children. And Steffan. Though she never would have thought she would have cared about saving him.

But how she was to save anyone at this point was a mystery.

They made their way toward the mine. The first guard squeezed between the rocks and lowered himself down. Then they pushed Steffan toward the hole and he made his way into the mine. A second guard went next, then Katerina.

They made their way through the narrow tunnel as they had done earlier that day, with the guards occasionally shoving them in the back to make them walk faster.

Her eyes met Steffan’s. His gaze was sharp—watchful and wary.God, this feels like certain doom, but You, O Lord, can turn this into victory.

God had saved her out of other bad situations. Surely He would save her again.

They continued into the mine, encountering another guard, whose eyes widened upon seeing them. Inside the larger cavern, the children were no longer working with their picks. She noticed bundles on the floor, then one moved and coughed, and she realized the bundles were the children lying down, sleeping.

The other two guards who were in the mine left their posts and gathered around the four guards with Steffan and Kat. They spoke quietly.

Kat focused on the children as she counted the sleeping bodies. More now than they’d seen earlier. The children started to awaken and sit up, staring at Steffan and Kat. But it was their eyes that made her heart sink. Their eyes were dull, their expressions nonresponsive. Except for one boy and girl, lying at the far end. Their faces became more alert. They appeared to be the oldest of all of them, perhaps eleven or twelve, and they turned to each other and seemed to be conversing. But the guards didn’t notice the children. They were all curiously staring at Kat and Steffan.

“I say we should kill them now,” one guard said. “Hennek wants them dead. And we don’t want to risk them escaping.”

“But Hennek wanted them killed by a wolf, and now they’re both dead.”