The thought sent dread through her again.
Her father would say that was too close of an encounter. She had been careless. She bowed her head under his imagined chastisement. And then, he would say never to mind her hair. She was alive. Instead, she should figure out who these knights were.
“Are you well?” Marcus asked with sympathy, lowering the braid to place it on the ground.
Sage nodded. Her father was right. She stood and looked around at the two knights near her, and the other two Marcus had slain lying steps away. “I’m alive. You’re alive. Hair doesn’t matter. These men wanted to kill us.” She stood over one, her gaze coming to rest on the crimson stain spreading across his white tunic and on the red cross on his chest. Templar knights. But were they, really?
Her eyes narrowed. “These men are not Templar knights.”
Marcus glanced at them. “They wear the crest of the order.”
Sage bent and lifted the knight’s white tunic to reveal a brown tunic beneath. “They were disguised as Templar knights. But he wears no armor. This man is no knight.”
Marcus moved to the two other men he had slain. He knelt at one’s side and peeled back the man’s tunic. “No armor on this one, either.”
Sage stared down at the man she had killed. His dark hair lay across the weed-covered ground. His eyes were open and glassy, blood trickling from his lips. It must be because of the book. That was the only thing they had of importance that was worth killing over. Wasn’t it? She looked at Marcus. His hands skimmed the body of the fallen man, searching. How much did she truly know about him? Could someone want to kill him for another reason? Or was it an enemy of her father?
She glanced back at the man on the ground. But why were they disguised... Who would want to frame Templar knights? A sudden chill of realization ran down her spine.
The king.
It was rumored that the king owed the Templar knights a huge sum of coin, and he did not like how powerful they had become. Still, this was sloppy, as if it were organized quickly. Surely, the king would have been able to send more skilled men, or at least men who wore armor. Sage doubted it could have been the king.
Marcus cast a glance at the surrounding forest. “We should leave here and find another place to rest for the night.”
Sage nodded, her gaze scanning the darkening woods. She quickly moved to the book and collected the parchment, ink, and quill. She placed the book in her armor and put the ink and quill in the saddlebags by the horse.
Marcus searched the men, removing daggers, coins, and anything else of value.
Sage glanced again at the four deceased false Templar knights. Who were these men? Had the king truly hired them? Who would want to kill them?
What had she gotten into?
