“I’ll ask the questions,” Sir Jerrold barked, his eyes flashing. “If you did not run away with the witch, then why are you two outhere?”
“We did run off,” Calrain said, “but not on account of any witch. I grew tired of my master’s treatment of me and decided to leave. I am done with letting him work me to death, and starving and beating me on top of it. Three times now he has denied me my promotion, which is well overdue. If he will not allow me to join the Brotherhood, then I see no reason why I should continue to serve it. My years of apprenticeship are long over—there is no reason I should not be free toleave.”
“And you?” Sir Jerrold demanded of Riann. “What is your excuse for abandoning your lord? Were you not just recently promoted toknighthood?”
“Yes, and I had planned to return,” Riann said stoutly. “But Calrain is my friend, and I could not let him run off alone in the night without protection. My plan was to escort him to the capital, and then meet up with my fellow knights, who should have left for the capital already. I was originally meant to go with them anyway,” he addedsourly.
A kernel of truth makes the lies taste sweeter,Tariel thought. Bits of both Calrain’s and Riann’s stories were true, giving their emotional reactions an authenticity. If they made it out of this alive, Tariel would have to kiss them both soundly for not cracking under thepressure.
Sir Jerrold curled his lip. “What a spoiled brat you are,” he said, backhanding Riann with his armored hand. The cut on his lip split even wider as his head snapped back, and blood gushed down his chin. “Running off and neglecting your duties merely because your lord refused to indulgeyou.”
“As a newly minted knight, it is myright—”
“You have no rights.” Sir Jerrold backhanded him again, then struck Calrain as well for good measure. Tariel clenched her hands into fists as magic crackled at her fingertips. She wanted to leap from the branches and charge at Sir Jerrold, but she could not risk revealing her position. “Your stories would seem plausible, but for the fact that we found an extra bedroll, and you have three horses. How do you explainthat?”
“It is always prudent to take extra provisions,” Calrain said quickly. But even he seemed to know the explanation was flimsy. “And we needed an extra horse to carry them, ofcourse.”
Sir Jerrold snorted. “An answer for everything.” He shook his head. “Your needs do not supersede the law. Stealing horses is a capital crime, punishable by hanging. We will take the both of you back to Tyrook Castle for a proper interrogation, and put you both on trialthen.”
Sir Jerrold had Calrain’s and Riann’s hands bound with sturdy rope, then ordered his men to search the village again for any sign of Tariel. Tariel held her breath as she watched the knights scour the homes, but they did not find anything out of sorts. She thanked the gods she was wearing the sole dress that she had brought along—if the knights had found women’s clothing in the loft, they would have known for certain Calrain and Riann had not traveledalone.
“Don’t forget to check the trees and bushes,” Sir Jerrold barked as the horses were roundedup.
Tariel’s heart sank—she had prayed the horses would be set free so that she might find them later, but it appeared that Sir Jerrold planned to take them along. She supposed she couldn’t blame him—the warhorses would fetch a pretty penny if he didn’t decide to keep them forhimself.
A knight approached Tariel’s tree, and she quickly waved a hand, casting an illusion. The bulky man squinted up in the trees as Tariel held her breath, but fortunately for her, all he saw was a squirrel staring down at him from thebranches.
“Nothing here,” he called, lumbering away. Tariel let out the breath, but the tension in her shoulders did not fade away as they tied Calrain and Riann to the backs of the warhorses, trussed up hand and foot. She would need to find a way to free her men from these monsters before they got back to Castle Tyrook, or they would meet the same fate Tariel herself had been so desperate toavoid.
19
Blast it,Calrain thought for what had to be the hundredth time that evening. His wrists and ankles were rubbed raw by the harsh rope, and his chest was so tight with anxiety he felt as if he could barely breathe. The horse’s jarring gait did nothing to make him more comfortable—he was tied across the back of a saddle like a sack of potatoes, only far lessuseful.
He turned his head to meet Riann’s gaze. The knight’s blue eyes were brimming with frustration, and he didn’t look to have made any headway with his bonds either. The knight who had bound them was good with knots,evidently.
“I can sense her,” Riann whispered. Calrain could barely hear him over the pounding of the horse’s hooves, but luckily he was close enough that he could guess most of what Riann said by reading his lips. “She’s coming afterus.”
Calrain turned his attention inward, toward the bond. Sure enough, he could feel Tariel closing the distance between them. But she was moving slowly, likely on foot, since Sir Jerrold had taken all their horses. There was no hope that she would catch up tothem.
Was this really their fate? To be carried back to Castle Tyrook and executed, after all they’d gone through to be free? Anger boiled in Calrain’s blood as he stared ahead at Sir Jerrold’s shining helm. The bastard had failed to find Tariel, so he was taking it out on them. Calrain supposed that under other circumstances, he would be glad that the witch hunter had turned his attention away from his beloved, except that Tariel was coming after them. How long would it be until they caught her,too?
The party rode in silence for several hours before stopping in a clearing to make camp for the night. Calrain and Riann were tied to a tree, the burls in the trunk digging into their backs while the rope chafed at their skin. They sat just far enough from the fire to be denied its warmth, while the rest of the knights joked and laughed and filled their bellies with roastedmeat.
“I hear the witch we’re after is quite a beauty,” one of them said in a leering voice. “Dark hair and curves that go on formiles.”
“Of course she’s beautiful,” another one scoffed. “All witches are. They use their wiles to entice men and blind them to their wicked ways. How else do you think women get away with such latitude in the Maroyan Empire? Heathens, the lot of them.” He shook his head indisgust.
A third man shrugged. “They may be heathens, but I bet their twats are just as warm and wet as any other woman’s. I’d like to have a go at her, make her scream a bit before we send her tohell.”
“You’ll get to hear her scream plenty once she’s burning on the stake,” Sir Jerrold growled around a mouthful of meat. His narrowed eyes gleamed like black coals in the firelight. “You lot should know better than to dip your wick in a witch’s cunt. There’s no telling if she might contaminate you with her magic, or put a curse on yourfamily.”
A visible shudder rippled through the men, and they said no more about it. Riann, who had tensed up beside Calrain, his hands clenched into fists, relaxed visibly, and Calrain let out a quiet sigh of relief. He hoped Tariel would stay out of harm’s way, but if they did capture her, at least she would not beraped.
“Of course, I said nothing about torturing her,” Sir Jerrold continued. He grinned viciously at the men, who cheered. “The people should see what happens when a real witch uses magic on her fellow men. By all accounts, she bewitched the servants and the soldiers into a magical slumber to escape. That alone should merit several lashings before we burnher.”
“Those vile bastards,” Riann snarled, straining beneath the rope. His muscles bulged beneath his jerkin, and to Calrain’s surprise, the rope began to fray. Experimentally, he strained against the rope as well, and it loosened evenmore.
“Wait!” he hissed, nudging his elbow against Riann. The knight immediately ceased moving. “If we do this now, the others willnotice.”
