“Get over there,” Pagnell commanded, pushing her toward the table. “If you say one word I’ll slit your throat.”
Too tired to reply, Alyx moved, sank down to the floor before an empty fireplace in a shapeless heap.
“Explain,” the fat man said to Pagnell.
“What, uncle, no welcome, no wine?”
“If your news is good enough, I will feed you.”
Pagnell sat down in a chair before the table, studying the sputtering candles. It wasn’t that his uncle was so poor that made him use such cheap tallow but that for the last three years the man had done little except wait for his own death.
“What are your feelings toward Raine Montgomery?” Pagnell asked softly, watching with interest as his uncle’s face turned from white to red to purple.
“How can you say that man’s name to me in my own house?” he gasped. Three years before, in a tournament, Raine had killed Robert Digges’s only child. No matter that the son had been trying to kill Raine rather than just unhorse him or that his son had already killed one man and severely wounded another that day. It had been Raine’s lance that had taken Robert’s son’s life.
“I thought you felt the same way,” Pagnell smiled. “Now I have a way to repay the man.”
“How can you? The man hides in the forest and not even the King can find him.”
“But our good king doesn’t have the bait that I do.”
“No!” Alyx shouted, getting to her feet with what strength she had left.
“See,” Pagnell said, amused, “with every breath she takes she defends the man. Whose child do you carry?”
Alyx gave him a stubborn look. If she hadn’t tried to reassure Elizabeth about the Montgomery men, Pagnell wouldn’t know about her relationship with Raine, but Elizabeth had helped her.
“Pagnell,” Robert commanded, “tell me all of your story.”
Briefly, Pagnell told his version of the story, that Alyx had used her voice to entice him. Then, when he’d gotten close, she’d disappeared into thin air. Later, he’d gone looking for her and she’d leapt on him with the force of demons. He showed his uncle the scar on his head. “Could a little thing like that have left such a scar unless she were helped by the Devil?”
Robert gave a weak laugh, a snort of derision. “It sounds to me like she outsmarted you.”
“She’s a witch, I tell you.”
Robert waved his hand in dismissal. “All women are witches to some extent. What does the girl have to do with Raine Montgomery?”
“I believe she’s spent the last few months in his camp and it’s his child she carries. If we were to let it be known that we mean to burn her as a witch, he’d come after her. And when he does, we’d be ready for him. You could have him, and we could share the King’s reward.”
“Wait a minute, boy,” Robert interrupted. “Look at her! You mean to use that as bait? Raine Montgomery can have his pick of women. No doubt there are lean pickings in the forest and she probably does carry his child, but why would he risk his life to come afterthat?And why would you spend so much time searching for a flat-chested, hipless, plain-faced child such as her?”
Pagnell gave his uncle a look of contempt before turning to Alyx. “Sing!” he commanded.
“I will not,” she said firmly. “You plan to murder me anyway, so why should I obey you?”
“You will die,” he said evenly, “but the question is whether you will burn before or after the child’s birth. If you disobey me I will see that the child dies with you. Now sing for your child’s life.”
Alyx obeyed him instantly, her hands on her stomach as she lifted her voice in a plea to God for her child’s life.
There was a long silence when she finished, both men watching her intently.
Robert, rubbing away the chills on his forearms, spoke first. “Montgomery will come after her,” he said with conviction.
Pagnell smiled in satisfaction, glad his uncle could see why he’d spent so many months searching for the girl. “In the morning we begin the trial, and when she’s found guilty we will tie her to a stake. Montgomery’ll come for her and we’ll be ready for him.”
“How can you be sure he’ll hear of this in time? And if he does come, are you sure you can take him?”
“I tossed the chit in a cellar for a few hours and let it be known to the pretty boy she was with what I planned to do with her. He rode away like a shot and I’m sure he was headed south toward the forest where Montgomery hides. And as for men, there won’t be time for him to collect them. Now he’s surrounded by criminals and out-of-works. None of them can ride a horse, much less wield a sword.”
