Ross nodded. "You sent him home with his tail between his legs?"
"I killed him."
"Good. Then I guess you have all the time in the world to go find your woman."
Lennox rode out. He would find her and tell her how he felt about her.
He searched for hours but found nothing. He stopped when he caught up with a man leading a cart. "Hail," he called out as he came up behind the man. "I'm looking for a woman."
"Aren't we all," the man replied without looking up. "If you see mine, let me know. I am owed five pennies for her."
Lennox slowed his horse, so it kept pace with the cart. Something about him was suspicious, but Lennox could not put his finger on it. He was about to pull out his sword when he thought of Rose and how she had handled the guards on the mountain. "Tis a sorry state when a woman outwits a man," he said, reaching into his purse.
"It is that."
"I have eight pence on me and am in search of good stories for court. Have you a tale worthy of such a sum?"
"I can tell you a tale of woe the like of which you have never heard before and will never hear again."
"Go on, my good man."
"I was accosted by a monk not two days ago and do you know what he asked of me?"
"What was that?"
"If I would like to make five pennies. Just came up to me in the Two Feathers and asked me while I’m drinking the dregs."
"And what did you say in response?"
"The man coughed violently, spitting into the dirt before continuing. "Yes of course. Five pence is a lot of money."
"Not as much as eight and your story does intrigue me. Pray continue."
"I was to wait in the wood and retrieve his missing wife. She had strayed from their home for no good reason."
"A monk with a wife? That is a first."
"I told you it was a good story. Well, I lay in wait as he told me and along she comes like he says and I get hold of her and what does she do?"
"I've no idea."
"Unties her ropes and then vanishes. There was something of the witch about her to disappear like that."
"How unfortunate," Lennox said, his fists clenching but his voice remaining calm. "Where did the monk want you to take her?"
"That's the oddest part. There's a twisted old oak just inside the Wildwood. I was to tie her to it and leave her there. The purse would be inside for me to collect."
"And where are you going now?"
"I'm going home. Let monks find their own wives."
"Here," Lennox said, leaning down with the pennies in his hand. "Enough for the tale."
Leaving the man’s groveling a thank you behind him, Lennox spurred his horse forward. He could only hope he got to the Wildwood before the monk. He had a horrible feeling he knew who the monk was.
He rode fast until he reached the Wildwood. He did not stop for food or rest, and by the time he got there, his horse was stumbling from fatigue. He left it at the final village before the wood, paying one of the villagers to look after it until his return.
He headed into the wood. It was late afternoon and clouds were gathering, threatening rain. The twisted oak was easy to find, standing in a clearing on its own, surrounded by ash trees, towering over them all.
