As the sun headed downward, Raven and Landyn proceeded down the road.
Ahead, the slosh of horse’s hooves in the mud echoed through the trees.
They rounded a bend and mounted Templar Knights came into view. As they rode closer, Raven saw a squadron of knights riding beside three wagons, each wagon holding three wooden crates. She eyed the guarded wagons and the crates in them, surmising something of importance was inside.
A horse carrying her father charged up to them. He came to a halt, mud flying about her horse’s legs. Worry and anger battled in his eyes. “What happened?”
“Your daughters were not at the chateau,” Landyn explained.
Her father’s stare snapped to her. “Raven?”
“Their horses were still stabled there,” she replied sullenly.
He lifted his focus to the road behind them, torn.
Raven waited for him to give the order to return to the chateau. She felt guilty that, as leader and the oldest sister, she couldn’t find them. “I would have gone after them, but I didn’t know where to start.”
Landyn nodded. “It was as if they had disappeared.”
“No one just disappears,” her father answered, displeased. He steadied his horse and his lips thinned before he turned his gaze to Raven. “You should have followed my instructions and waited at Sybil’s farm.”
Raven took his harsh reprimand like a bolt to the heart. She nodded, bearing full responsibility for their disappearance.
The knights and wagons traveled by them.
“John,” Landyn said quietly. “Brother Nicolas was murdered.”
Her father straightened in the saddle, his fingers tightened around the reins, his expression filled with anxiety.
Raven stared at her father. He must return to the chateau now. He had to be as worried as she was about Sage and Willow.
His cheek rippled as he clenched his teeth. He scanned the wagons and then the horizon. “It’s almost nightfall,” her father said and looked at Landyn. “We’re not going to make it to Robert’s farm. The rain and muddy road slowed us down.”
Raven glanced at the surrounding landscape. Thick trees of a forest spread out on one side of the road and an open hill on the other. The trees would offer them protection from the elements, but they could also hide robbers.
“Send scouts,” her father told Landyn. “Inform Robert we will not be stopping. Send some knights into the forest to search. I don’t want to be ambushed here.”
Landyn nodded and spurred his horse toward the troops, shouting orders.
Raven watched him for a moment. Her father was happy with Landyn. No, his anger was directed solely at her. She urged her steed beside her father’s. “You’re not going back to the chateau?”
“For what reason? You said the girls were not there.”
She shook her head in confusion. “What about Sage and Willow?”
He turned a harsh stare on her. “We will meet them at Sybil’s. That was our plan if we got separated.” He stiffened his jaw. “You girls should be there now.”
Another reprimand. Downtrodden, she sat atop her weary steed, soaked to the bone. The storm had drenched her. The water ran beneath her leather armor onto her chemise. She felt like a sodden rat.
Her father cast a disparaging look at her before galloping toward the front of the caravan.
Raven’s fingers curled around the reins. She was worried about Sage and Willow, but there was nothing she could do now. She urged her horse after her father, calling, “Father.”
He paused.
She halted her horse at his side, lifting her chin. “I can help you,” she insisted. “I am as skilled as any of these knights. You know I am.”
His hair was tied back away from his face. A dark beard was beginning to shadow his chin. “I told you and your sisters to wait at Sybil’s farm,” her father countered. “You were not supposed to be here. It is dangerous. I didn’t want to involve you girls in this.”
