She glanced ahead. The sweep of forest angled downward. At the bottom, the rush of water thundered along a twisted path, pummeling boulders blocking its way, roaring past fallen trees cluttered with ice, to sweep out of sight.
“Go right, then follow the flow until you see a thick stand of oak and birch. The Romani will be hidden nearby. My stepfather and I visited a bit more than a fortnight ago. If they have moved, we will look in the stump to see if they have left a missive mentioning theirnew location.”
He nudged his warhorse forward, half-walked, half-slid down the steep incline. “Why did we not check there first?”
“’Twould take a half day’s travel, which I had hoped to avoid.”
A whinny had him glancing toward the ridge. His body tensed. “Hold on.” He kicked his steed into a thick stand of fir. Cailin leaped off the horse, then ran back with a limb thick with needled bristles and erased their tracks before slipping into the dense cover beside her.
Another whinny sounded, then voices. Ahead, a group of knights rode into view as flurries of snow blustered past, laying a silky layer of fresh snow atop which Cailin had erased any sign oftheir passing.
“’Tis the earl’s men,”she whispered.
Each second crawled past as the group meandered along the bank, pausing every so often to search their surroundings.
Another gust of wind-tossed snow swirled past.
“Bloody freezing,” one of the knights grumbled. “By now, they are hunkered down. If they had left tracks, with the snow falling at a rapid rate, they will behidden by now.”
“Aye,” another voice called out. “’Tis a fool’s errand to keep searching for them.”
The lead rider halted, scoured the area. “’Twill serve us little if we canna see if they rode through here. We will make one more sweep of the area, then return to the castle.” He urged his horseinto a canter.
“That was close,”she whispered.
“As much as I would like to remain hidden, we must leave,” Cailin said. “With them scouring the woods, they might stumble upon us.”
He guided his horse around a large stand of rocks, following the knights’ trail to obscure any sign of their departure. A good distance along their path, he veered closerto the river.
Orange-red smeared the sky as the last of the setting sun faded beneath the horizon as they reached the top of the next ridge. An icy howl of wind screamed past, for a moment blinding him.
“Is Taog’s campmuch farther?”
“Nay. ’Tis a ways yet.”
He scowled at the fading light and drew the horse to a halt. “’Tis too dangerous to continue. We must find shelter before it grows too dark.”
She tugged her cape tighter as she scanned the murky landscape. “If the earl’s men are nearby, they will have a difficult time seeing us.”
“There is—”
Shouts rose as dark shapes charged out of the thick churn of flakes, surrounding them. “Drop your weapons or die!”
Chapter 9
Sword readied as he sat upon his warhorse, Cailin peered through the thick flakes of falling snow toward the warning voice. The soft pad of steps a short distance away in the knee-deep smear of white assuring him that he and Elspet were surrounded. The slide of her dagger against leather scraped from where shesat behind him.
“We are but traveling through,” he called out, cursing that he hadn’t sought shelter before his uncle’s guards had returned and had now placed her life in danger. Blast it, as long as he drew a breath, the bastards wouldn’t touch her.
A long moment passed, then a large, fierce-looking man stepped into view. Claymore raised, snow-laced wind whipped against his thick black beard. “Push down your hoods soI can see you!”
Cailin’s grip tightened onhis broadsword.
Elspet laid her hand on his shoulder. “Wait!”
“Do you know him?” Cailin whispered as he eyed theformidable man.
“Aye.” She secured her dagger. “’Tis Taog MacCarron, the man we seek.”
