Shocked, he grabbed the dog by the neck and tried to take the purse away, but the dog thought he was playing. He growled and pulled, and Kress pulled, but Kress finally lost his grip and the dog took off running.
Kress went in pursuit.
The dog headed back the way it had come and as it ran, it nearly rammed into Susanna, who was just emerging from a small path in between houses. Kress shouted at her as he ran by.
“That dog has Cadie’s purse!”
Startled, Susanna began to run after him, too, calling to the soldiers who were in the immediate area. Soon, the dog had several men and one woman chasing after it, and the animal thought it was all great fun. Kress nearly got hold of him at one point, but the dog was surprisingly fast and pulled away, running as fast as it could with its tail between its legs.
Somehow, the chase had caught the attention of the men that were moving to cover the western end of town, Achilles included. He was still on horseback, charging into the area where Kress, Susanna, and two dozen soldiers were chasing a big, gray dog. Kress made him get off the horse so he wouldn’t trample the dog, who had doubled back and was now heading south.
Kress directed Achilles and Susanna and the rest of the men to fan out and flank the dog, cutting off his path to the south should it try to escape. As everyone fanned out, creating a net of sorts that the dog couldn’t slip through, Kress came to a halt and whistled to the dog to see if he could get it to come to him. Winded, he walked calmly towards the dog, who had come to an unsteady halt, and whistled between his teeth.
“Good dog,” he said. “No more running. Come to me and let me have the purse, and I’ll give you a fat bone, you stupid, ignorant hound.”
The last four words were spoken with great annoyance, but at least the dog had stopped running. It was looking at Kress as if it wanted him to give chase again, but Kress was finished chasing. He was going to try another tactic now. But just as he came close, the dog suddenly disappeared into a hole in a stone wall.
With a growl of frustration, Kress went to the hole, trying to peer through, but there was too much debris to see clearly. That led him to inspecting the wall itself and he moved along the stone wall, which was about as high as his head, until he came to a wooden gate. He lifted the latch, but it was evidently bolted from the inside. Without hesitation, he stood back and lashed out a massive boot, kicking open the gate that splintered right down the middle.
Pushing his way through the demolished gate, he saw the dog standing in the middle of what looked to be a garden. When the dog saw him, it bolted into a small house that the garden wasattached to and Kress followed. The animal rushed through an open door and so did Kress.
And that’s when everything went black.
CHAPTER TEN
“Kress?”
He heard his name in the darkness, muffled and faint. He twitched, felt a massive amount of pain to the back of his head, and then realized that he was lying on the floor. Startled, he struggled to sit upright, but hands were on him, easing him back down.
“Lay down,” Cadelyn said soothingly. “Lay back down and rest a moment.”
Kress had let her push him halfway down before he realized it was her. Reaching out, he grabbed her as if fearful she was going to try to run away again.
“Cadie?” he said, blinking his eyes at her as the world around him rocked. “Are you well?”
Cadelyn practically shoved him down, back onto the floor, as someone handed her a wet cloth. “I am well,” she said. “And you do not have my permission to call me Cadie.”
He was muddled. “Wh… what?”
She smiled faintly, but it was not one of humor. More of a stern gesture. “You will not allow me to call you Kress, so you may not call me Cadie.”
Kress was still quite confused, struggling to figure out what had happened. But through the cobwebs, he understood her inference. “My apologies,” he said hoarsely. “Where am I?”
“In my home.” An old woman in worn but clean clothing bent over Cadelyn’s shoulder. “You chased my dog and I thought you had come to hurt us.”
Kress looked at the old woman as if he had no idea what she was talking about. He didn’t know who she was, or where he was, or anything else at the moment. But he did know that the cold rag Cadelyn put to the back of his head hurt like hell. But wisps of his memory returned and he suddenly remembered that damned dog he’d been chasing around.
“The dog,” he muttered. “It had Cadelyn’s purse.”
Cadelyn was leaning over him, both hands holding his head still as she held the compress to his scalp. “I know,” she said. “I have it back, though. His name is Goliath. He must have thought it was something to play with.”
Kress’ attention moved from the old lady to Cadelyn. “Why am I on the ground, my lady?”
He was back to being formal with her and she hated him for it. She was teasing him when she said he could not call her Cadie, hoping he would relent and it would ease the mood between them given the immediate situation, but it didn’t. He was just as stiff and formal as ever. She felt disappointment and sorrow claw at her.
“You are on the ground because you charged into this home, uninvited, and the lady of the house clobbered you with a club,” she said. “As she said, she thought you had come to hurt us.”
Kress lay there, looking up at her. “I came looking for you.”
