“I was. I am. But one shouldnae rely on such a trick working that weel. They have held fast to our trail for this long. That means that at least one of them has some skill.”
Gisele did not find that news very comforting. She wanted reassurances. She wanted to be told that their enemies were gone, well and truly lost in the wilderness, never to haunt them again. As she struggled to quietly follow Nigel, Gisele wondered if he grew as weary of this game as she did.
When Nigel finally chose a campsite for the night, Gisele nearly cheered aloud. She was weary to the bone and not at all sure where they were after all the twists and turns Nigel had indulged in to elude the DeVeaux. After they had spent from dawn to dusk running for their lives, she also wondered how and when Nigel had decided they were safe enough to stop for the night.
She tended to her horse and slipped into the shelter of the surrounding wood for a moment of privacy. As she spread her bed out she glanced at the fire Nigel had built, and frowned. It was a small fire, well sheltered by encircling stones, but such a light could still be easily seen from a distance in the night. When he returned from stealing a moment of privacy for himself, Gisele sat down on her bedding and looked at him. She blithely ignored his brief but telling glance at her bed, which she had spread out on the same side of the fire as his.
“Are you certain we should have a fire?” she asked. “Welcome though it is, is it not a beacon for our enemies to follow?”
“They are too far away to see this wee light,” he replied.
Gisele blinked slowly, and stared at him hard for a long moment. “And just when did you decide they were a safe distance away?”
“Not many moments after they hied off down my false trail.” He watched her closely as he set out the remainder of the rabbit, the last of their bread, and a small chunk of cheese. He suspected she was angry, but he was not sure why she should be.
“Then why have you made us ride so hard and fast for hours?” Gisele grabbed a share of the food and struggled against the urge to strike him.
“I felt it best that we put as many miles as we could between us and them.”
As she chewed on the stale bread, she fought to control her anger. He was right. Itwaswise to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the people who were so eager to kill her. She was achingly tired, and she dearly wanted to blame someone for that. Nigel was not the one, however. The one who deserved her fury was far beyond her reach. She was going to have to try to accept her lot with more grace and patience.
“I ask your pardon, Sir Murray,” she said quietly as she accepted the wineskin he held out to her and took a small drink, a little dismayed at how nearly empty it was. “I am tired, and am in an ill temper.”
“That is easy to understand, lass.”
“It may be, but you do not deserve the sharp edge of my tongue. It is not your fault that I ache and am enduring a miserable ride across France. I but search for someone to pay for this unjust discomfort I am suffering, and there is no one. The man who set me on this much cursed path is dead, and beyond the reach of my curses.”
He patted her shoulder in a brief gesture of sympathy. “If justice has been served, lass, your husband is suffering dearly, enduring far more torment and torture than ye could e’er mete out.”
“Do not be so certain. I can mete out a great deal.” She weakly returned his grin.
“’Twill soon be over.”
“Will it, or will I simply be further away than I have been before now?” She sighed and held up her hand when he started to speak. “Do not trouble yourself to try to soothe my ill humor. That is all it is, an ill humor brought on because I am tired and cannot have what I want.”
“And what do ye want, Gisele?” Nigel asked softly.
“I want to go home.” She grimaced. “Merde, I sound like a small child, but there is the truth of it. I want to go home. I want to sleep in my own warm, soft bed, bathe whenever the mood overcomes me, and eat whatever and whenever I want. I want to have no more reason to feel sorry for myself. And, for all of my complaining, I do recall that you suffer the same as I. I want that to stop, too. You deserve this no more than I do.”
“But I am hardened to these discomforts, and ye arenae. I should try harder to remember that.”
“Non, do not change what you are doing and must continue to do to keep us alive,” she said firmly. “For itisus now, not just me. The DeVeaux are hunting me, but they would kill you without hesitation, either because you stood in their way or because you have helped me. I cannot swear that I will not again whimper over my pains or feel sorry for myself, but you must pay it no heed. Running for one’s life is much exhausting, and I do not often behave well or with any wit when I am so tired.”
“Few of us do, lass. Ye can rest this night, for we have lost that pack of dogs.”
“How can you be so certain? They found us, and I would never have believed they would.”
Nigel shrugged. “I dinnae have a good answer for how they found us. They were lucky, and we were unlucky. It may be no more than that. I didnae hide our trail weel. I sought distance o’er secrecy. Now I will pay more heed to secrecy.” He smiled gently when she hastily raised a hand to cover a wide yawn. “Rest, wee Gisele. It has been a long day.”
She sprawled on her bedding and weakly wrapped herself up in her thin blanket. “And there are many more long days ahead, are there not, Sir Murray?”
“Some, aye,” he replied as he settled down on his bed. “’Tis getting into and out of a port that will prove the hardest.”
Gisele cursed softly. “Of course. The DeVeaux will have them all watched much closely.”
“Verra closely.”
“Pardon?”
