Authors: Barbara Ann Wright
Katya rubbed the back of her neck, trying to stop the ache that was creeping up from her shoulders. “A false trail?”
“Perhaps.”
“Crowe, are we even close to the manor house?”
“I know this is the right area. The memories I saw in the pyramid correspond with what I’m seeing now. It just…rings true. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
Katya gestured at the forest. “And yet, no manor house. And these tracks don’t lead anywhere.”
“Oh, they lead somewhere,” Brutal said. “Round the garden path.”
“Back to the road?” Maia suggested. “Maybe Crowe can get a better bearing.” She shifted when Crowe gave her a sullen glance. “Another bearing, I meant another. Nothing wrong with this one…”
“Back to the road,” Katya said, her excited mood gone. “Let’s follow this double-backing trail.”
Averie took point again, and Katya bent close to Crowe. “Why are you always giving Maia dirty looks or heaps of sarcasm?”
Crowe stared at his pyramid and didn’t look at her. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Why are you always so
mean
to the girl?”
“Can we please focus on the mission before we wander into a great big trap?”
“Certainly,” Katya said, but she promised herself she’d have an answer later. The trail led to the road as they’d guessed, but just before they reached it, Averie rushed back to them.
“There’s someone lying in the road,” she said.
“Dead or alive?”
“I can’t tell.”
“The trap we’re expecting?” Brutal asked.
Katya clutched her pommel. “If we suspect traps from every angle, we’ll never get anywhere. Pennynail, drag this person to the gap just ahead. Averie, stay by the road, and once you’ve checked our mystery guest out, signal us either to come forward or stay back.”
The two sped away. “Spread out,” Katya said. She almost wished for a little ambush to release the tension. Ahead, Pennynail dragged someone into sight, and Averie bent over the person before waving the Order forward.
“Who is it?” Katya dismounted. Close up, she saw it was a man, face-down, with a knife sticking out of his back.
“The wound’s not that deep.” Averie lifted the fabric of his coat and peeked under it. “His clothing shielded him a little. He’s got a coat, a shirt, and what looks like an undershirt…two undershirts.”
“Two?” Katya asked.
Averie turned the downed man’s face to the side. His nose was a mess, bloodied, bruised, and swollen, undoubtedly broken. “He’s pretty young. I’d guess he was bulking up to impress everybody.”
Katya sucked in a breath as she recognized him. “Lord Hugo.”
“Will you cut these clothes down the back, Pennynail?” Averie asked. “Carefully. This knife would have fallen out by now if he’d been lying on his side.”
Using one of his thin stilettos, Pennynail sliced the fabric in half with a soft rip. Katya bent closer. The knife had penetrated Lord Hugo’s back an inch or so. Luckily, it was small; the weight of it hadn’t torn it from his flesh.
“This needs Brutal,” Averie said.
Katya waved him forward. “Bring the patch-up kit, Brutal.”
He eyed Lord Hugo’s wound. “Not so bad.”
“What do you think?” Averie asked. “A quick pull and then bandages?”
“Nah.” Brutal rooted around in the medical satchel and pulled out a handful of soft bandages. “Had a brother fall against a table last year during a duel. Got a knife stuck in his leg, and one of the chapterhouse heads wrapped a bandage around the knife, on the wound, and then pulled it out. Then they could put pressure on it right away, see?”
“Good thinking.”
Katya watched them work. They could fix up Lord Hugo, but then she intended to wake him and find out why he was there. As soon as the knife left him, however, he came awake with a grunt and tried to push off the ground. Brutal shoved him down, pushing on the wound. Lord Hugo cried out, and Katya knelt by his head. His eyes rolled, panicked.
“Easy, Lord Hugo,” she said. “We’re trying to help you.”
He focused on her face. “Highness?”
“That’s right. Can you sit up so we can wind a bandage around you?”
As he did, his clothes slipped down his arms, exposing his rather skinny chest. He made a grab for one of his shirts, but Katya made him sit still. As Averie wound the bandages around his bare torso, he squirmed and wouldn’t meet anyone’s gaze.
Katya had the grace to look away until Averie finished. Lord Hugo clutched the remains of his coat around his thin body. “Is Miss Starbride all right?” he asked, his voice distorted by his broken nose.
Katya paused, trying to tell herself she’d misheard. “Who?”
“Miss Starbride.” He glanced around. “Isn’t she here?”
Katya gripped him by the shoulders and pulled him close. “Tell me everything that happened to you this day, Lord Hugo. Tell it clear and in order.”
He swallowed hard, but he followed instructions. Blood raced through Katya’s temples as he spoke. She didn’t believe for one second that Starbride thought she’d gone hunting, or that Starbride had planned a good-natured surprise. She had acted exactly as Katya imagined she would. Only instead of confronting her, Starbride had followed her, the damned little ferreter of secrets!
Lord Hugo winced as Averie wiped the blood from his face. “The robbers said they wanted ‘one of her friends.’ That must be you, Highness.”
“Did you recognize them?”
He started to shake his head, and then stopped, grimaced, and reached for his face.
“Describe them.”
He did, adding the name he’d caught: Cassius. Katya paced and bit her index finger. She didn’t recognize the name or the descriptions. “They wanted one of us and got her instead.”
“No doubt for ransom,” Lord Hugo said.
“And how do you know that, Lord Hugo?”
He shifted. “Well, if you two are romantically involved…”
Katya knelt in front of him so quickly he shrank back. Brutal laid a large hand on his shoulder. “And how do you know we are…romantically involved, Lord Hugo?”
He blinked, and Katya could almost see the fear ooze across his features. “I…assumed, Highness, after she said she wanted to surprise you, and after Lady Hilda seemed so interested in your relationship…”
Katya’s fingers rested on the grip of her rapier. “And who else have you and Lady Hilda been talking to, eh?”
Lord Hugo glanced at her rapier and then her eyes. “No…no one, Highness.”
“As I recall, this is twice you’ve been caught following Starbride.”
“I wanted to protect her this time. The first time was a mistake.”
“Where did they go?” He shook his head slowly. Katya stood and slid her rapier from its sheath with a slow rasp. “Where did they go?”
His unblinking eyes grew wide as saucers. “I don’t know, Highness. I was incapacitated.”
“Convenient, that,” Brutal rumbled.
“Where?” Katya pointed the rapier under Lord Hugo’s neck, forcing his chin up.
“I swear on my honor and on the ten spirits, I do not know.”
Katya turned from him, sheathed her rapier, and marched to Crowe. “Can you pyramid him?”
Crowe’s mouth turned down as if he’d bitten into something sour. “The king’s pyradisté pyramiding a nobleman without a trial will have them all in a tizzy. The traitors would suddenly find themselves overburdened with allies.”
Katya clenched her fist. “What if you erased his memory?”
Crowe gave her an angry look. “I’d have to take out the entire thread of this incident, maybe of Starbride, maybe of you, and it would look damned funny if he suddenly forgot who
you
are. Someone would catch on, and then they’d take him to the Pyradisté Academy, and holes in his memory would be discovered.”
Katya nearly told him to do it and be damned, but he leaned forward, cutting off her thoughts. “You can’t kick the anthill like this, Katya, not for one of us or for Starbride. We have to find another way. Your threatening him was bad enough.”
Katya strode back to Lord Hugo as Brutal and Averie helped him to his feet. “If you’re lying to me…”
“I swear I’m not!”
Katya leaned close to Averie. “Get me a path to follow.” With a nod, Averie hurried away. Katya stared at Lord Hugo again. She couldn’t let him loose to go blabbing at court, but she couldn’t share why they were out in the middle of nowhere. “Lord Hugo, you have a chance to redeem yourself.”
His chin lifted again, his eyes glittered, and she knew he blamed himself for losing Starbride. Tickle his pride, give him a way out of guilt, and he’d do anything.
“You will help me rescue her.”
Lord Hugo nodded before wincing and touching his face. Katya just kept from rolling her eyes. He hadn’t even asked why they weren’t summoning the king’s Guard, as if he’d already assumed they’d storm the heights and rescue Starbride themselves. That was what all the great heroes from the storybooks did, wasn’t it? No self-respecting hero sent for the Guard. When they led him to the horses, he stopped and stared at Maia with his mouth open.
Maia frowned and glanced down as if worried she’d spilled something on the front of her coat. “What is it?”
“I beg your pardon,” Lord Hugo said. “It was…nothing.”
Brutal gave him a nudge. “Keep moving, my lord.”
Katya filed his reaction away for later and mounted up. Brutal lent him a cloak and hoisted him onto Averie’s horse. Lord Hugo’s eyes bulged at being handled as easily as a babe in swaddling, and he stared at Brutal with naked awe.
Averie waved them on. “Two horses led off the road by three people; the last set of footprints is much deeper than the other two. He was carrying…something.” Her mouth a tight line, she looked away.
Katya’s jaw clenched. The “something” had to be Starbride. With a start, she realized that as angry as she’d gotten, her pyramid necklace hadn’t tingled once. “Lead on.” She rode near Crowe again. “Is my necklace working?”
“I haven’t sensed anything wrong.”
“I’ve been close to rage, and it hasn’t tingled or burned.”
Crowe smiled, seemingly pleased with himself. “I told you I made it extra strong. Your anger isn’t even affecting it. It should keep the Aspect contained despite your feelings.”
Katya resisted the urge to touch her chest and remind herself that the necklace was still there.
Crowe cleared his throat. “You know this is a trap.”
“Of course.”
“She might already be dead.”
Katya turned her head slowly, her stomach roiling at the thought. “We will act as if she’s still alive, Crowe.”
“Katya, I don’t wish to hurt you, but—”
“She’s alive.”
Up ahead, Averie signaled them to halt. “There’s a large clearing ahead,” she said when she returned. “This path is a very old one, not used for a long time and then used heavily recently.”
“Crowe?” Katya asked.
He nodded. “I can find out if anyone is using a pyramid nearby, but if the traitor pyradisté is watching for us, he could be doing the same thing.”
“It’s a risk we have to take if we’re going to use pyramids at all,” Katya said. “Do it.”
Crowe pulled a pyramid from his satchel and went silent a moment. “Nothing, as far as I can tell.”
“Search instead for active pyramids.” She could
not
force the pace; she had to remain calm. If only her necklace would burn as a reminder. “Averie, you and Pennynail creep toward the clearing. If you see any kind of structure, stay at the edge of cover and send Pennynail to scout while you watch.” They started off. “Wait. Maia, go with Pennynail. Cover him and watch for archers. Step in his footsteps, though,” she cautioned her. “Keep a keen eye for traps.”
“I don’t sense any active pyramids in the immediate woods,” Crowe said.
“Good, then you’re going to tail Maia tailing Pennynail. I want to know what exactly is ahead of us.”
Lord Hugo sat swathed in the dark red fabric of Brutal’s cloak, pale and nervous, his bruised face darkening by the second, and his mouth open to breathe. “What shall we do, Highness?”
“We wait.”
If these traitors thought that kidnapping Starbride would make Katya careless, well, they were right. If she’d been alone, she would have been careless, but she had the Order to think about—and Lord Hugo, providing he was innocent. She couldn’t throw away their lives in a fit of passion.
Maia, Averie, and Pennynail returned in a clump. “It’s the remains of a manor house,” Averie reported.
“No active pyramids in the woods,” Crowe said. He stooped, out of breath, and then straightened with a grimace. “I’m no longer built for sneaking.”
“No traps,” Maia said, “at least, none that we saw. No visible people, either.”
Katya tapped her chin. “Brutal and I go in first. Maia and Crowe, come in just after us and get ready to cover us. Pennynail, search for Starbride. Averie, you and Lord Hugo will watch for anyone escaping. If anyone does, you’ll have to follow him, Lord Hugo, especially if he looks like he’s carrying someone.”