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There was a low brick wall in the back of the house, a place for flowers and kitchen herbs. Ty crouched down behind the wall, forcing Dysan down in front of him. He kept turning to look at Chris, as if he expected her to disappear and he wanted to be able to go after her as quickly as possible.
They were at the end of the wall when Ty stopped and put his head up. The forest was several yards away and Chris could hear men talking nearby on the other side of the wall and the dogs in the distance. It would probably be only minutes before the guards found them.
Tynan leaned back against the wall and checked Dysan’s derringer to make sure it was loaded. “Chris, I want you to stay behind us. I’m going to use Dysan as a shield and get us to the forest. You think you can do that? I don’t want any more trouble than I already have. No going back for the others.”
It was obvious that he hadn’t believed her when she’d said that she would obey him.
Tynan looked toward the forest for a moment then back at Dysan. “And you give me any trouble and I’ll blow your head off.”
“All right, let’s go,” he said, grabbing Dysan and pulling him upright.
They left the safety of the wall and stepped into the open ground—but they stopped there because no one was even interested in them. They could see about a dozen guards, one with four dogs on a leash, but not one eye was turned in their direction. The guards were frozen where they stood, staring at something around the corner of the house.
Chris could hear bells in the distance.
“Get back!” Tynan said to Chris, shoving Dysan back toward the wall.
“What is it?” Chris asked.
“I think it’s a peddler’s wagon,” Ty said. “Pilar used to work on one. If it is them, then we’ll do better to leave with them. The dogs will smell our trail in the forest in no time.”
“But how do we get out? We can’t just walk to the wagon. And what do we do with him?”
“We leave him here, then we make our way toward the front of the house. We’ll figure out a way to make Prescott see us.”
Chris watched as Tynan tied one of Dysan’s ankles to a spike in the top of the brick wall, allowing the rope to fall only enough so that Dysan wasn’t dangling, but he was very uncomfortable. “Something tells me that I ought to kill you now,” Ty said under his breath. “I think you’re going to be nothing but trouble and there’ll come a time when I’ll regret having missed my chance.” He looked up at Chris. “You ready?”
“Ty, are you sure it’s Asher and Pilar? Maybe it’s really a peddler’s wagon and they’re actually locked in the cellar.”
Ty didn’t answer but grabbed her arm and pushed her back toward the house. Looking inside the window he made sure no one was about then climbed inside and helped Chris after him.
She followed him as he led her through the house, keeping her back to the walls as he instructed her, while he checked each room they passed for signs of a guard. Once, he slipped inside a room and Chris heard a dull thud, as if a body were hitting the floor, then he returned to the hall and motioned for her to follow him.
Chris didn’t question how he came to know the plan of the house so well, but just trusted him. He stopped in a bedroom at the far end of the house.
“It’s Pilar, all right,” he said after looking out the window. “She’s on top of the wagon dancing, and Prescott is driving. I don’t know how much longer we have before they get tired of watching her. On second thought, considering what Pilar’s wearing, we may have the rest of the week.”
He turned back to Chris. “How fast can you run?”
“I…I don’t know. If someone’s chasing me, I guess I can run rather quickly.”
“I’m going to create a diversion and I want you to climb out the window and run to the wagon and get in the back. Think you can do that?”
“But what about you? I can’t go off and leave you.”
“After the way you were kissing Dysan, what do you care about me?”
“Dysan?” she asked, bewildered. “I was trying to get a knife from the box. I had to divert him. Tynan, are you jealous?”
“Definitely not. Now, are you going to get out there or are you going to waste time and maybe get us all killed?”
She nodded at him, but she didn’t like it. She hoped he wasn’t going to do something that would get him caught again. She didn’t think Dysan would be so easy to overpower the second time.
“Good girl,” he said and started to turn away, but then abruptly turned back and pulled her into his arms. His kiss was hard and quick, so quick, in fact, he only undid three buttons, but it was a kiss filled with feeling. He released her as abruptly as he’d taken her. “I’ll be all right,” he said over his shoulder. “You just get yourself out of here when you hear the gunshots.”
It seemed to Chris that it was the longest few minutes of her life while she waited for Tynan to begin firing. She crouched below the window and peeped out to see the tall, gaudily painted peddler’s wagon surrounded by men with rifles over their shoulders. On top of the wagon was Pilar, dressed in odd, voluminous trousers of pale blue silk and a tiny top of matching silk. It was apparent that the costume hadn’t been made for someone of Pilar’s dimensions because the fabric strained everywhere, threatening to split apart at any moment. Chris guessed that that was half of the men’s fascination with her—the hope that the garment would give way while they were watching.
While Chris was watching Pilar undulate, there suddenly came the sound of gunfire from the back of the house and the guards’ reaction was instantaneous. They all took off running toward the sound.
