Days of Gold Read online

  “I didn’t plan to,” Edilean said. “I plan to sneak in and put this to Tabitha’s throat.” She pulled a long, thin-bladed knife out of a leather holder at her waist, hidden under her jacket.

  “But that isn’t the plan you told me. You can’t—” Cuddy began, but cut himself off. All he could do was look at her with wide eyes. “You’re going to get yourself killed,” he said.

  “Maybe,” Edilean answered. “But I owe someone something and I’d like to pay it back.” She looked at him. “What I really plan to do is create a diversion, a loud one that will distract everyone in the camp. And while they’re looking at something other than Tabitha’s tent, I want you to go inside and get the jewels.”

  “Jewels?”

  “Necklace, earrings, all of it. They may be in a box, but they may be in a bag. Whatever they’re in, I want you to get them, then get out.”

  “And what do you plan to do to distract them?” he asked suspiciously.

  “I have some things in mind. Just follow my lead and I’ll try to keep people from seeing you. Are you clear on this? Any questions?”

  “No, Miss,” he said, still wide-eyed, and thinking that maybe she’d planted a barrel of gunpowder somewhere and it would be set off. That would send everyone running.

  It wasn’t long afterward that Cuddy rode beside her and whispered, “Here. This is where we go in. Miss, I was thinkin’ about it and I don’t think you oughta do this. It’s dangerous. You only know one of the women, and she’s a thief. There are men in there and there’s no tellin’ what they’ve done. I think they’d as soon slit your throat as let you take anything away from them.”

  “Then I’ll have to risk it,” Edilean said. “I told you that I owe someone and I mean to repay the debt.”

  “Is it worth your life?” Cuddy asked, and his tone wasn’t respectful.

  “It is,” she said, looking hard at him.

  “Well, then, I guess we better go.”

  “No, Cuddy, you stay back. I’m going to go in there alone, and when you hear a commotion, you’re to come, and you know what you’re to do.”

  “Wouldn’t be much of a man if I followed your plan exactly, now would I?”

  She smiled at him. “If you see me draw my knife, get out of the way. I may do some of my own throat slitting.”

  “I’ll do that,” he said as he smiled back at her.

  They tied their horses firmly to trees, and began the long walk into the forest. The moonlight was bright, but the overhead branches blocked off much of the light.

  Edilean, walking behind Cuddy, had difficulty keeping up with him. His stride was much longer than hers and she was trying not to trip on fallen branches and stones.

  “There!” Cuddy said at last.

  Through the trees she could barely see what seemed to be a fire, but it was a small one.

  “It looks like they’re all asleep,” Cuddy whispered, “but they probably have a lookout posted somewhere. Miss, I really think we should go back. This isn’t for us to do.”

  Edilean just shook her head no, and silently motioned for him to follow her. They were very quiet and got within sight of the camp within minutes, with no alert being sounded. Near the fire were half a dozen or so tents that consisted mostly of blankets draped over a rope, but they’d keep the rain off. Inside each one, Edilean could see the dark forms of what had to be people.

  “Which one is hers?” she whispered to Cuddy.

  He pointed to the one on the far end.

  “Stay here and I’ll go to it,” Edilean whispered, but Cuddy shook his head no.

  She nodded back in return, letting him know that he couldn’t keep her from doing this.

  Reluctantly, Cuddy obeyed her—or seemed to. Ten seconds after she disappeared into the forest, he went after her.

  Edilean silently made her way through the woods to the tent that Cuddy had pointed out. Her plan was to sneak inside, put her knife to Tabitha’s throat, and tell her it was either her life or the diamonds.

  Edilean put the hilt of the knife in her mouth, and went to her hands and knees to crawl into the tent. Her heart was racing and her breath was coming fast, but she had no doubt whatever that this was what she had to do.

  She lifted one side of the blanket tent and looked inside. There Tabitha was, lying on her back, one arm outstretched, and looking as innocent as she told people she was. Just two more feet and she’d be there. When she was at Tabitha’s head, Edilean sat back on her legs, lifted the knife and—

  The next second, she was grabbed from behind by the waist and swung out of the tent and into the cold air. For a moment she thought it was Cuddy who’d grabbed her, but she saw it was a man she’d never seen before. He had black whiskers and his breath was foul.

  “Let me go!” She fought against him.

  “You expectin’ him to come save you?” the man asked, his big arm tightening around her waist.

  She looked to one side and saw Cuddy lying on the ground in a heap. He didn’t seem to be breathing.

  “You’ve killed him!”

  “Naw, he’s all right.”

  Edilean saw Cuddy move, but she couldn’t tell how badly he was injured.

  “What the hell are you doin’ here?” Tabitha asked as she crawled out of the tent and saw the man holding a squirming, fighting Edilean.

  “Came to kill you,” the man said, his voice highly amused. “Woulda too, if I hadn’t caught her.”

  Tabitha looked genuinely surprised. “You wanted to kill me? Why?”

  “You have something of mine,” Edilean said.

  “Angus ain’t here.”

  “I’m not—” Edilean gave a double backward hit with her sharp elbows to the man, and he released her.

  “I oughta—”

  “Go away,” Tabitha said to the man, dismissing him as though he weren’t of any worth. She looked back at Edilean. “I didn’t take your man.”

  “He’s a bit big even for you to slip into your pocket,” Edilean said, and she heard someone suppress a giggle. She didn’t look around her, but she could hear sounds of people moving about as they got up to watch the drama.

  Tabitha picked up Edilean’s knife off the ground and looked at it in shock. “Why would you come out here to do this? My life ain’t bad enough for you?”

  “Bad life?” Edilean said in anger. “You told Angus a lie about why you’d been transported and you ran away from the man who paid your bond. It seems to me that you have caused the bad, not them.”

  Tabitha glared at Edilean, her eyes flashing in the moonlight, then she pulled down the side of her blouse to reveal her shoulder. Even in the moonlight Edilean could see the red scars. “He branded me! Put his initials on my shoulder with a red-hot branding iron. He did it because I told him that I’d work for him but not sleep with him. Yes, I’m a thief but I’m not a whore.”

  Edilean refused to be swayed by the thick, raw mark on Tabitha’s shoulder because she saw a flash in the moonlight. Tabitha was wearing all three of the bracelets from the parure that Edilean had given Angus.

  “Those are mine,” Edilean said, nodding toward the bracelets.

  Frowning in puzzlement, Tabitha touched the diamonds, then she looked at Edilean in disbelief. “These are real?”

  When Edilean said nothing, Tabitha said, “Lord a’ mercy,” and took a few steps backward.

  “You stole them from Angus and I want all of it back,” Edilean said.

  Tabitha was looking at the bracelets in wonder. “I thought they were pretty but I never thought they were... What? Diamonds?”

  Edilean said nothing, just glared at Tabitha.

  “You were going to kill me to get them?” Tabitha asked, her eyes wide. “You were gonna sneak up behind me and...” She put her hand up to her throat and looked at the man standing behind her.

  “I’ll take her into the woods and I’ll make her sorry she bothered you,” the man said.

  Tabitha looked at Edilean. “All I have to do is say