Where was Gaultier? The forest was too quiet for all to be right.
She leaned forward to peer down the road. Suddenly there was a flurry of racing hoof beats. Anna recoiled, colliding with the knight. If not for him, she might have fallen backward, but he caught her against his chest with one arm and did not move at all. The hoof beats became louder as Gaultier shouted for the gates to be opened. Anna ducked low with instinctive speed. The knight remained utterly still, his grip tight upon her.
The horses raced past them, not four strides away. Even in the darkness, Anna knew it was Gaultier. She heard the jingle of the knight’s trap and heard his armor, saw the gleam of fine horseflesh and heard the gallop of a destrier.
She saw the golden-haired boy cast across the knight’s lap and struggling.
Percy!
The knight clapped his hand over Anna’s mouth before she could make a sound and ducked lower, fairly tucking her beneath his strength. “Percy?” he whispered in her ear.
Anna nodded vigorously and tried to reach for the crossbow. He kept it out of her reach, even though she did kick him.
“Be silent! There is not a clear shot.”
Anna peered through the growth to realize that he was right. Gaultier rode to the gates of the keep, his men clustered behind him. She could have struck the last one, but his armor might have repelled the arrow at such a distance. It was better to remain unobserved.
Even if she disliked that her captor was right.
“What is this place?” the knight whispered.
“Haynesdale keep.”
He frowned and eyed the keep again, as if he would argue the matter with her. What did a French knight know of her home? “It cannot be,” he murmured. “There is no mill.”
Anna frowned, astonished by his comment.
Why was he here?
What did he care about a mill?
What did his company want in these parts? They must be passing through, but why?
Anna thought furiously, recalling the detail of what she had seen even as the sound of hoof beats faded. Something had bounced behind that last knight in the party, a saddlebag of familiar size and shape, and she knew that Percy’s prize had been claimed, too. What had it been that Gaultier had decided to take Percy as well as the bag? Why would he take the boy to the baron?
Because there was something of import in that bag.
She twisted in the knight’s grip, wanting to see his eyes when he answered her. “What was in the bag?” she demanded, her words as silent as a breath.
“A prize beyond compare,” the knight murmured, his eyes narrowed so that she could not guess his thoughts. “Since you are responsible for its loss, you are going to help me to retrieve it.”
Before she could argue that, he hauled her back into the forest. He still held her wrist and she still wore his cloak. He marched through the undergrowth until they were well away from the village. “Let me go.”
He laughed. “And never see you again. I think not.”
She wrenched her hand free, pulling him off balance, then bent to bite him. His lips thinned and his eyes flashed, but Anna was free. She managed four steps before he caught her from behind. He had unfurled the length of rope and bound her with astonishing speed, securing her within his cloak with her arms trussed against her sides. She might have panicked at his intent, but he knotted the rope around her knees as well, hobbling her so that she could not run.
It also meant that he could not abuse her.
“Fiend,” she snarled as she struggled and wondered at this. “You dropped the crossbow.”
He only grinned. “Into a nice bed of leaves and snow. It is undamaged.” He picked up the crossbow and held it before her to prove his words. He slung it over his back. Then he spun her around, his hand on the back of her neck as they moved deeper into the forest.
“Guide me back to the camp of my fellows, and no trickery,” he commanded. “Speed is of the essence if Percy is to be retrieved before much befalls him.”
As much as Anna would have liked to have defied his command, he spoke good sense. Would he and his fellows truly help to retrieve Percy? She supposed they wanted that prize back.
But she wanted both crossbow and brother.
