Page 54 of The Piper's Pursuit

Her eyes started closing on their own, her head nodding.

She forced her eyes open and slapped her face lightly. She had to stay awake.

A little boy was whispering in Steffan’s ear. Steffan got up and walked with him to the edge of the woods. He stood guard while the little boy went into the trees. A few moments later he came back out and smiled at Steffan.

When Steffan sat down beside her again, he said, “Go to sleep and I will keep watch. After an hour or so of rest, we will continue on.”

“I shouldn’t.”

“Yes, you should. There is no sense in both of us staying awake.”

Perhaps he was right. “I shall stay awake and let you sleep the next time we stop for a rest.”

“Of course.” One side of his mouth went up. Did he wink? She wasn’t sure.

She lay down on the grass. She probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, but she would close her eyes.

“Katerina?” Steffan’s voice drifted into her dream of lying in a meadow in the sun.

Katerina opened her eyes to see him kneeling beside her in the dark, with only the pale moon to see by.

She sprang up. “I’m awake.”

“We need to get everyone up and keep moving.”

“Of course.” Katerina felt a little sick. No doubt the children would feel even worse to be awakened from their short rest, but they had to do it. They had to be cruel, at least for tonight, in order to save them.

She and Steffan called softly to the children to wake up, having to gently shake some of them. Albrecht and Verena helped as well. When they finally had all of them back on the road, they moved forward at the slow pace of the youngest children, who looked as if they were sleepwalking, their eyelids nearly closed.

One little boy walked with his head practically resting on his own shoulder. When he gradually came to a stop, Steffan knelt in front of him, said something in a low voice, then picked him up and held him against his chest, the boy’s head on Steffan’s shoulder.

The rest of the children plodded along, but how long could they last?

Two hours later, Katerina carried one little girl in her arms. Steffan was now holding two, and Katerina was already seeing a bit of gray in the sky, brightening up the night. Was it already dawn? How would they escape Hennek now? They were still quite a way from Keiterhafen, and several of the children had been stumbling, unable to keep their eyes open or lift their feet high enough to avoid the dips in the road.

How much farther could they go without rest and sleep?

The sky grew lighter. Her arms burned under the weight of the little child sleeping on her chest. Her shoulders ached and her eyes hurt as if they’d been scratched by grains of sand. But they had to keep going.

She hadn’t realized she’d slowed her own pace until Steffan’s broad shoulders were in front of her. If he could keep up his pace while carrying two children, she could surely do it with one.

The other children marched on like little tired soldiers.

The sun was over the horizon now, shining through the trees at their backs. She kept walking, though her feet and legs ached and her stomach felt sick. Still no sign of life, besides the occasional hare that flew swiftly in long leaps over the road in front of them. Soon Hennek’s men would discover the dead guards and missing children and come after them.

Sounds drifted toward them from the opposite direction as a man came into view driving a donkey loaded with sacks.

Her spirit rose. She could ask this man how far they were from Keiterhafen.

Steffan slowed, peeking over his shoulder—and over the child’s head that rested on that shoulder. He waited for Katerina to catch up to him.

“Don’t ask the man anything about Keiterhafen. We don’t want him to be able to tell Hennek that’s where we were going.”

Yes, that was wise. “But don’t we need to know how much farther it is?”

“It doesn’t matter how much farther it is, we have to keep walking. Or find another place to hide.”

It was true enough.