“Should we not come with you?”
“No, we all ride on until we’re out of sight of the wood. Then I’ll run back sneak up on him. You keep riding for the castle.”
“Why not take him by force?”
“Because I want to take him alive if I can and having him think we’ve not seen him is the best way to do that. Now move before he notices.”
They rode on until they were round the next bend. “Keep my horse moving,” Andrew said as he jumped to the ground. “Try and shield it so he thinks I’m still riding with you.”
“Be careful,” Gillis said. “It could be a trap.”
Andrew didn’t answer, he was already moving off, crouching low, hiding behind the stalks of wheat. Was he being paranoid? What had he seen really? A momentary flash of a face before a figure vanished into the wood. Was that enough to send him crawling through the mud in the driving rain?
He kept moving forward. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. He wanted to turn back but he didn’t. Above his head thunder rumbled. A storm was coming.
