The voices began to fade as the patrol continued along the lane, but Jonathan didn’t move.They must be patient.Acutely aware of Lise’s shoulder against his own where they squatted amongst the dirt and twigs, he could feel her trembling.
Dammit!This was all his fault.He should never have allowed her to accompany him.He could feel the rapid rise and fall of her breathing, smell the faint floral and citrus scent that clung to her clothing.If he leaned toward her in the slightest, he could brush her cheek with his lips.
He kept perfectly still and counted to twenty.Slowly.It felt like an eternity.At last, he nodded and rose to his feet, drawing her to stand beside him.
“They’re gone,” Lise whispered.
“For now.”Jonathan forced himself to step back, to put a proper distance between them.“But I doubt they’re going to give up searching, at least not for a few days.And it’s only a matter of time before they find where I left the horses.”
“Then we need to get there first.”Lise’s jaw set with determination.“Come on.We’re close.”
Moving deeper into the forest, halting frequently to listen for any sounds of pursuit, they followed what appeared to be a deer path through the undergrowth.The canopy overhead filtered the sunlight into shifting patterns of gold and green, making it a strange and beautiful place, despite the danger.
“It all looks so different coming from this direction instead of from the road,” he said, not sure she knew where she was going.“I wouldn’t be able to easily find my way back to them,” he confessed.
Yet she continued in a sure and steady pace.
The only sound now was the crunching of their feet and the birds calling to one another, and then, he heard it ...the babble of running water nearby.They went through another copse of trees, and there was the creek, a clear ribbon flowing over smooth stones, bordered by ferns and wildflowers.
Jonathan’s two horses stood where he’d left them, each tethered to a low bramble so they could easily forage or drink.Their ears pricked forward at his and Lise’s approach.
“Hello, you good beasts,” Jonathan murmured, running his hands over them to check for any issues.
“Did they cross the Channel with you?”Lise asked.
“No, I bought them after disembarking in Tönning.”Both the mare and the gelding seemed none the worse for wear, albeit a bit jittery after having spent the night in the forest.“I did bring my own saddles,” he added, glad to see the pack saddle necessary to carry his equipment was still securely fastened.
“We should leave now,” Lise said, glancing nervously around her.
Jonathan was about to answer when he again heard the soldiers, perhaps a different detachment, but they weren’t on the road this time.Voices, shouting to one another, echoing through the otherwise pristine landscape.
“They’re searching the forest,” he said.
Lise’s face went pale.“If they find us here with the horses.”She didn’t have to say more.
Frustrated at getting her into this danger, he looked around.It seemed there were plenty of places to hide if they abandoned the horses.“Either we’ll leave them behind and climb a damn tree,” he said, “or you’ll tell me you know of a nearby place we can hide them and ourselves.”
Lise’s eyes widened.“The oak!The Great Oak.It’s not far from here, deeper into the forest.Henrik and I discovered it years ago.It’s enormous, ancient.Some used to —” She stopped, color flooding her cheeks.
“Used to what?”
“There’s a legend about it,” she said quickly, then shook her head.“Never mind that now.Behind the tree, about a hundred yards, there are giant boulders.I used to call them the giant’s berries, and Henrik called them the devil’s dumplings.”She clamped her gloved hand over her mouth once more.“I’m sorry.I’m frightened and that makes me prattle.”
His heart twisted, both at being the cause of putting her in this fearful situation, but also at her honesty.
“Your prattle is enchanting,” he told her, untying both of his horses, “but let’s walk toward these boulders while you tell me more.”The longer they stood there, the more chance that the soldiers would happen upon them.
Lise grabbed the long lead of the pack horse, and Jonathan took hold of the reins of his mount.“Show me the way.I trust your sense of direction completely.”
Plunging into the forest, Lise moved with confidence.Jonathan followed, his heart pounding against his ribs.Behind them, the French voices faded.
In a very few minutes, an oak rose up before them, clearly hundreds of years old.Its rounded lobed leaves spread above them like a cathedral ceiling.Its bark was gnarled and ancient, covered in patches of moss and climbing ivy.Jonathan didn’t think three men could link hands around it.Maybe four.
He’d seen old oaks before.England was full of them.But this one struck him differently.Special.As they drew closer, he noticed something odd about its shape.Two massive limbs grew from the trunk about fifteen feet up, arching outward before they began their upward reach, creating a distinctive silhouette against the sky.Its impressive size made him think of the Cockpen Tree in the Sherwood Forest, an ancient, squat monarch of an oak with a trunk nearly three times the girth of this one.
This tree, if Jonathan wasn’t mistaken, was also an English oak, not the native Sessile oak.Ironic!Taller, perhaps more elegant in appearance than the Cockpen, it needed to conceal only two people and two horses, whereas the one in Britain was reputed to have hidden Robin Hood and perhaps all his merry men, too, in the hollow at its base and in its branches.
“It doesn’t have a large hollow,” she said, as if reading his thoughts and was her only remark upon the glorious specimen rising up from the forest floor.She didn’t dawdle, either.Instead, she swiftly bypassed the oak, continuing onward until he saw their destination.
