Secret Heart (40 page)

“
These
are your orders,” Roarke said. Ignoring Garit’s anger he raised his
voice so every man in the hall could hear him and the women, too,
for they were appearing one by one, looking bewildered at being
wakened so early. “First, we need a small force to man the outer
walls and prevent Walderon from doubling back and trying to take
the castle by surprise.

“
Second,
we need people to track Walderon and his henchman through the
tunnels and to stand guard down below, at the moat entrance. It’s
clear now that Walderon has learned about those passages. We don’t
want him leading his people into Thury by the way we
came.

“
And
third, we require a goodly company to track Walderon and Burke
wherever they go, to rescue the ladies and bring them safely home.”
He went on to divide their men into three groups. Garit immediately
objected to being given command of the castle.

“
It’s my
right to take Walderon,” Garit insisted. “I want to ride with
you.”

“
No,”
Roarke said, “we need you here.”

“
Do as
you’re told, lad,” Lord Giles advised, intervening before the
quarrel that Roarke was expecting could erupt. “Hold your beloved
Chantal’s castle in her name until we return.”

Garit stuck out his jaw for a moment, but
when Lord Giles gave him a hard look, the younger man relented.

“
For
Chantal, I’ll do it,” he said.

“
Good
man.” Roarke clapped him on the shoulder. “Lord Giles, let us be
off. Walderon has had more than enough time to make his escape.
Once he’s outside the castle walls, Jenia and Lady Sanal will be in
mortal danger.”

Jenia was almost across the staggered
stepping stones, nearly at the far side of the moat, when she heard
a shout from the battlements.

“
Move,
curse you! Stop dawdling!” Walderon prodded her from behind. “I’ll
kill you if you delay me.”

With her
hands tied and with Walderon’s loot cradled in her arms, Jenia was
finding it difficult to keep her balance. She was almost grateful
to Mott when the oversized brute grabbed her by a sleeve and pulled
her up the bank to join him there. She collapsed next to Sanal, who
was next across.

Walderon fell to his knees nearby, groaning
and swearing as he broke entirely free of the magical binding Lord
Giles had placed on him. Such a forceful freeing was always
painful, so Walderon needed several moments to recover himself.
When he stood and glared down at the women, he seemed to Jenia to
be taller and more malevolent than she remembered.

“
Get up,
both of you,” Walderon ordered. He pulled Sanal to her feet by
wrapping one fist into her loose hair and dragging her upward.
Sanal cried out in pain, but for once Walderon was in too great a
hurry to hit her.

Jenia
scrambled to her feet before Mott could treat her in the same way.
The bundle she carried was awkwardly shaped and it seemed to grow
heavier the longer she held it, but she wasn’t going to risk a
beating from Walderon by complaining.

“
My
lord,” Mott warned in a whisper, “someone’s coming. I hear
horses.”

“
Lord
Walderon, is that you, safe and alive?” came a voice through the
darkness. “Aye,” Walderon responded. “Who are you?”

“
I’m Hal,
one of your men-at-arms, sir. And this is Wat with me. Burke sent
us to scout the area, in case you should need help getting away. We
expected you to sneak out through the wicket gate, or the postern
on the other side. We’ve brought an extra horse for you, my
lord.”

“
I’m
pleased to know Burke is thinking for once,” Walderon said. “I told
him I’d try to escape after nightfall. I will take my wife with me
upon my horse. One of you take Matilda Jenia and do not, under pain
of death, let her escape. My man, Mott, can ride pillion on the
third horse. Don’t delay. My absence has been noted and I intend to
be gone from Thury before those fools can mount a
pursuit.”

Mott took the bundle Jenia had been carrying.
Then he tossed her roughly up to the man called Hal. When he handed
the bundle up to her and Jenia almost dropped it, Hal caught it and
steadied it in her arms.

“
I won’t
let you fall, my lady,” Hal whispered. “Just rest that bundle on
top of your legs and I’ll balance it for you.” He held the reins
with one hand, while with the other he secured the heavy bundle so
most of the weight fell on the saddle pommel.

“
Thank
you,” Jenia said quietly.

“
Consider
my help as repayment for the kindness you and Lady Chantal always
showed to my little boy, Joce,” Hal said.

Meanwhile, Sanal was not being handled so gently. She
screeched as Mott flung her upwards. Walderon grabbed her arms,
turning her roughly so that she and the sack of Walderon’s coins
were sitting in front of her husband.

“
Be
quiet, woman!” Walderon ordered. Without giving Sanal a chance to
arrange her skirts or settle herself more comfortably he kicked his
horse’s sides and set off across the meadow with Hal and Jenia
following. By the time they reached the forest, Wat had caught up
to them, with Mott riding behind him, arms around Wat’s waist and
grumbling all the way about having to share a horse.

At the
edge of the forest Burke awaited them, mounted and ready to ride
with the rest of Walderon’s people, whom Jenia could see hiding in
the shadows. Walderon never bothered to provide explanations to
underlings for his decisions, so after a few hurried orders they
all began to move through the trees, riding slowly along a narrow
path, with Walderon leading the way.

Jenia was able to make a fair guess as to
their direction because whenever they came to a break in the trees
she could see how the sky ahead and to the right of them was
lightening. Dawn was near and tracking them would be easier by
daylight.

Knowing
Roarke would waste no time once he learned she and Sanal were
missing, Jenia took hope. She told herself he’d find them soon,
before Walderon decided to order the women killed. She tried to
think of a scheme to distract Walderon, or to get herself and Sanal
away from him when the inevitable attack began. If only Sanal would
remain quiet and not anger her short-tempered husband.

Time passed, an agonizing period for Jenia as
they traveled ever farther from Thury and she heard no sounds to
indicate they were being followed. She briefly considered the awful
possibility that Roarke was searching in the wrong direction, but
soon discarded the thought. Roarke would find her wherever she was.
She knew it in her deepest heart. Still, a great deal of time
passed before Walderon called a halt near a small pond.

“
Let the
horses drink,” Walderon said, “but every man of you remain mounted.
I have a new arrangement to disclose.”

Jenia
tensed upon hearing those words, in fear that Walderon had decided
he no longer required his hostages and he’d order them slain before
he continued his flight. But her sly uncle had another plan in
mind.

“
The
track forks here,” Walderon said. “Hal, Wat, I want you to lead
half of my company westward.”

“
How far
west, my lord?” Hal asked, sounding unhappy. “Where shall we rejoin
you?”

“
Just
keep riding until dark this evening. Wherever you are then, make
camp and wait for us. We’ll find you after we have eluded the men
from Thury.”

“
My
lord,
we
are the
men from Thury,” Wat objected.

“
Are
you?” In the early morning light Walderon looked murderous and his
voice went hard and very, very cold. “Well, then, obey your
master’s command without argument.”

“
Aye, my
lord. What of the women?”

“
I’ll
keep my wife with me. Put Matilda Jenia on one of the spare horses
and let Mott hold the reins.”

“
Hal,”
Jenia whispered, “try to find Sir Roarke and tell him where we’ve
gone. He will reward you.”

“
Lord
Walderon is my master,” Hal said firmly, as if that simple
statement of fact precluded any further argument.

“
Did you
know my uncle is responsible for Lady Chantal’s death?” Jenia
asked. She was about to add that Walderon was a traitor to his king
and was fleeing to the Dominion, but Mott grabbed her and tumbled
her off Hal’s horse.

The
transfer to a spare horse was accomplished with no regard to
Jenia’s sensibilities. She bit her lip to keep herself from crying
out at the pain when Mott pulled roughly on her bound hands. He
then made a point of holding on to one of her thighs after he
ordered her to swing a leg over the horse’s back. She ended riding
astride with her skirts hiked up well above her knees and no way to
push the fabric lower. It was all she could do to keep her
seat.

Once Mott
mounted his own horse, he jerked on the reins, while Jenia tried
her best to grasp the pommel with fingers gone numb. Without Hal to
bear some of the burden, the bundle she still held between her arms
quickly became a weight so heavy that it was torture to keep from
dropping it. She longed to let it go, but she feared if she did,
Walderon would order her immediate death. Or, he’d use his Power to
bind her so thoroughly that she could no longer think for herself.
The possibility terrified her.

Hal, on the other hand, had been freed of the
burden of carrying a woman. Without a glance at Jenia, he turned
his horse onto the western fork of the road and raised one hand to
bid half of the men to follow him.

Knowing
how stern a master Walderon was, Jenia was not surprised by Hal’s
actions, but she was surprised to hear a few muttered complaints
from the men he was to lead. These she took to be the result of the
men-at-arms realizing that Walderon was no longer lord of Thury and
the chances were good that he wouldn’t be returning there. Nor
could they believe he really would meet them later at their
nighttime camp. They must know Walderon would make his escape and
leave his people to fend for themselves. However, fear of him
apparently ran deep enough to send the designated half of those men
riding north as ordered, at least until they were out of Walderon’s
sight and hearing. Hal and Wat disappeared among the trees,
followed by their companions.

As soon
as they were gone, Walderon set out on the path leading east. Some
time later, as the path began to wind upward into the foothills,
Burke maneuvered his horse close to Walderon’s mount so they could
talk quietly. Jenia wondered if Mott was distrustful of Burke and
wanted to eavesdrop, because he moved close to Walderon. As a
result Jenia, riding only a rein’s length behind Mott, could also
hear what the two men said.

“
My
lord?” Burke asked. “Have you a plan that I should know about and
prepare for?”

“
We are
half as many people now,” Walderon responded. “Therefore, I expect
we will travel twice as fast.”

“
It’s
difficult to make haste while riding uphill,, especially with women
along,” Burke remarked, looking from the silent, drooping Sanal to
Jenia, who sat rigidly upright glaring back at him.

“
The
women will not delay us,” Walderon told him. “They wouldn’t
dare.”

“
I think
I begin to understand what you intend,” Burke said
eagerly.

“
Do you?”
Walderon looked straight ahead, not at his faithful henchman. Jenia
couldn’t see her uncle’s face, but the tone of his voice chilled
her.

“
Aye, my
lord,” Burke said. “You expect Sir Roarke and his people to follow
Hal and Wat, who are heading in the direction of Calean City.
That’s exactly where you would be most likely to go, in hope of
speaking to King Henryk before those foolish upstarts can reach him
and pour some false story about you into his ears. But we’ll outfox
them, my lord.”

“
We?”
Walderon’s voice turned even more icy.

“
I mean,
you will, my lord.”

“
Tell my
men to increase their speed,” Walderon said.

An hour later, Walderon called Burke to join
him again. By this time, they had come out of the trees onto an
open, hilly area. Just a short distance ahead of them rose the
stark ramparts of the Nalo Mountains. Jenia could see the cleft
where the pass began.

“
Burke,”
Walderon said, “I want you to take all of this company except for
Mott and Matilda Jenia, and lead them northward.”

“
My lord,
that will leave you with precious little protection should Sir
Roarke catch up with you,” Burke protested, turning a disparaging
eye on Mott.

“
Roarke
won’t catch us. Do as I say.”

“
Yes, my
lord.” Burke looked displeased, but he raised a hand as Hal had
earlier done and the remaining men-at-arms departed with
him.

“
Now,
Mott,” Walderon said when the others were well out of earshot, “we
will head east.”

“
East?”
Mott shook his head. “I don’t understand, my lord.”

“
We will
ride through the pass to the river,” Walderon said, deigning this
once to provide a partial explanation to a mere
man-at-arms.

“
I don’t
know the way through the pass,” Mott said.