Page 53 of Castle of Refuge

“Let us go confront her.” Lord Dericott started to walk past her.

“No!” Audrey caught his arm. “Send for more men... before you talk to her.” She was still gasping, still trying to catch her breath.

Lord Dericott looked confused.

“She has a giant with her.”

“A giant?”

“A very large man. He is frightening, believe me.”

“Golding is with us. He has his sword.”

Audrey was doubtful even a trained guard with a sword could defeat Umfrey in a fight, but she did not want to insult Lord Dericott or his guard.

“Maris is very wily. You never know what she might do. What did she set fire to?”

“How did you know about that?” Lord Dericott asked.

Golding looked sharply at her.

“Maris said she had created a distraction. And you both have ashes on your faces.”

“She set fire to some wood and tried to burn down the stables.”

“She wanted to make sure you did not come to escort me back to the castle after the children’s lessons. She wanted to force me into going back home with her.”

Lord Dericott raised his eyebrows. “So that’s why she did it.”

“Was anyone hurt? The horses?”

“All is well. My men put out the fire before it burned through the wall.”

“Thank God.”

“Come. Let us find this sister of yours and her giant servant.”

Audrey went with them. “Please be on your guard and do not turn your back on her. She is capable of anything.”

“Trying to burn my horses in their stable, and for what she did to you, I verily believe you.” Lord Dericott spoke quietly and with a serious tone.

As they walked back toward the church, everyone was sober. Some villagers stopped and stared curiously as they walked by, but no one spoke. Finally, when they reached the lane to the church, Lord Dericott stopped and squatted, looking down at the ground.

“This must be the giant’s footprint.” He pointed it out as his guard leaned down.

“And that is the sister’s.” Golding gestured toward the small footprint beside it.

“Where did they go?”

Golding followed the footprints while Lord Dericott stood and scanned the area. But Audrey saw no sign of them.

After losing their trail in the trees, Golding and Lord Dericott went into the village and asked some of the people standing about if they had seen a young blonde woman and a very large, strange man. Several said they had, but they did not know where they had gone.

When they had given up on finding them, they went to find the parchment texts Audrey had dropped.

“Forgive me for dropping them in the dirt,” Audrey said.

“No harm seems to have come to them,” Lord Dericott said, picking them up and holding them in his huge hand without crushing them. “It was more important for you to survive than the parchments. Your students could get new texts for their lessons, but they could not get another teacher such as you.”