Page 60 of The Piper's Pursuit

When the women had taken as many children with them as they could accommodate, Frau Goschen agreed to take the few who were left back to her house.

“What will you do now?” Frau Goschen asked Steffan.

“I’ll buy a horse and ride to Hagenheim and get some help from my father. Then I’ll go back to Hamlin and arrest Hennek and all his guards and anyone who helped him or knew of his scheme.”

“When?” Frau Goschen asked.

“Now, if you’ll sell me a horse.” He gave the plump woman, who was probably old enough to be his mother, his heavy-lidded smile, but there was something strange about Steffan’s appearance. His cheeks were flushed, but the rest of his face seemed pale.

“I will give you a horse.”

“I wish to pay for the horse. I doubt that I will be able to bring it back to you.”

“Very well, then.”

“I shall go too.” Katerina took a step forward.

“No, you stay here to help look after the children.”

So he was planning to leave her here? But more importantly... “You can’t ride hard for two or three days when you’ve had no sleep.”

“I slept today.”

“How long?” Was she being silly? Or worse, enamored of him? But something told her it was far more foolish to let him leave without her.

“I slept a few hours.”

“Barely three hours, I would guess.”

Frau Goschen spoke up. “It will do these children no good if you fall asleep atop your horse and fall off and break your neck. You should sleep a full night before you go.”

Steffan’s jaw hardened, though his eyelids stayed half closed. “You two are worse than my mother.”

“We are encouraging you to be sensible.” Frau Goschen’s hands were on her hips. “I raised three men, and I know how stubborn you all are. But you will not be able to stand against the both of us. And if you think on it, you will see that we are right.”

“She is right.” Kat adopted Frau Goschen’s calm but firm tone. “It is sensible to sleep first, and also sensible to take me in case you have trouble.”

“Oh no.” Steffan held up his hands and shook his head. “You are not coming with me.”

“Why not? I can ride as hard and as fast as you can.”

“Can you?”

She wasn’t sure she could, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. “You need me, in case something happens to you.”

“What could happen to me?” Steffan gestured broadly with his hand, his brows lowering.

“You could get attacked by robbers or fall in a ditch, or your horse could break its leg.”

“It is true,” Frau Goschen added. “No man is immortal, and you cannot help if your horse steps in a hole and breaks its leg. It has happened to my husband’s brother. He had to walk for days in the rain and nearly died of a putridness of the lung.”

Hearing Frau Goschen speak of putridness reminded Katerina of Steffan’s injuries. “You also need to let a healer look at your wounds.”

“He has wounds?”

“Yes, on his arm and his chest.”

“I shall take him at once. We only have one good healer in town and—”