The Hunter Read online

  Janet’s mind was already racing with all she had to do. She would prepare to leave immediately, staying just long enough to say goodbye to the Hendeses, gather her belongings, and with any luck procure a horse. The feast would help in that regard. “I can.”

  The words had barely left her mouth before they heard footsteps and the sound of voices.

  “Where did she go?” a man said angrily.

  Janet felt a flash of alarm but told herself it was nothing. Probably her next dance partner looking for her.

  The two women’s eyes met in the darkness. “Go,” Janet said. “Someone is coming.”

  The woman nodded. “Godspeed,” she whispered, and to Janet’s surprise, she leaned over to give her a quick hug before turning to go.

  But the woman had barely taken a few steps when disaster struck. “There!” a man shouted. “After her! Don’t let her get away.”

  A man came running toward them—a big man. Janet didn’t have time to think. She acted on instinct, and her first one was to protect the other woman. Right as the man started to run past her, she stepped in his path.

  Her intention was to trip him and sidestep out of the way, but it didn’t work out the way she had planned. Her skirt tangled in his foot, and he was able to grab her. They hit the ground together.

  The blow jarred the air from her lungs, but she recovered fast and immediately scrambled to her feet. Unfortunately, the big oaf did as well. He was even taller than Ewen, although he didn’t smell as nice. This man stank as if he labored with pigs all day.

  She would have twisted away, but his hands were like big, meaty manacles. “What is the meaning of this? Unhand me!”

  Surprisingly, he did. The authority of her tone must have startled him. The man was big and bulky, with a peasant’s flat face, blunt features, and a neck that seemed crunched into his shoulders. If it was possible to look thick-headed, he did a fine job of it.

  Janet relaxed a little. Talking her way out of this shouldn’t be too difficult. “How dare you attack me like that! Look what you’ve done.” She held up her skirt. “You’ve ripped my gown. Do you realize how much this cost? You can be assured that I will be sending you an accounting for the repair.”

  He backed up a step or two, and she tried not to laugh. “I didn’t mean—”

  She didn’t let him finish, keeping him on the defensive. “Do you make it your business to accost innocent women in dark alleys?”

  “Nay, I was told … He told me—”

  He looked toward the street, and Janet glanced over at the man who was approaching. He was the one who’d issued the order.

  He was about twenty feet away and looking right at her.

  “It is you,” he said. “I thought so but wasn’t sure. It’s a long way from Italy, Sister Genna.”

  The blood drained from her face. Oh God, the priest from the market! She wasn’t going to be talking her way out of this after all.

  But there was one thing she could do. Before the big oaf collected his wits and reached for her again, she ran.

  Twenty-four

  “After her!” the priest shouted. “Guards! Don’t let her get away.”

  Janet shot down the wynd as fast as her legs would carry her.

  One glance over her shoulder sent her pulse jumping through her throat. Figures were shadowed at the mouth of the wynd behind her. A half-dozen soldiers, maybe more. They’d been closer than she realized.

  She took some comfort in the knowledge that her source had likely gotten away, but that was dampened by the realization of what was at stake. If she didn’t get out of here, if she didn’t get to Bruce in time, it could all be over.

  Knowing she had only a few minutes to get out of the village before they blocked off the roads, she turned at the first corner and plunged down another dark wynd.

  She could hear them chasing behind her, but she didn’t think about it. Her lungs were bursting and her legs were weakening, but she didn’t slow. She kept her mind focused on getting out of the village. If she could make it to the forest, she had a chance.

  But they were fanning out behind her. Closing in.

  She needed a horse. But that would have to wait. If she could just make it to Rutherford, she would be able to find something.

  And maybe …

  Her heart squeezed, and it wasn’t from the lack of air in her lungs. She had no reason to think he would be there, but if Ewen had come after her, Rutherford would be her best chance at finding him. “I will find you.” His words from when they were being hunted came back to her. “She’s heading for the forest!”

  Her stomach dropped, hearing the horse and rider close behind her.

  But she was almost there. A moment later she plunged into the heavy darkness. It swallowed her like a tomb. A figurative one, she hoped.

  She experienced a fresh burst of energy with the knowledge that the trees would slow the horses down and raced through the brush and bracken, pushing limbs out of the way when she could see them, not noticing the scratches that tore through her skin when she could not.

  The sounds behind her started to fade. She kept heading in the same direction, praying that it was the right one, but the darkness and trees had taken away her sense of direction.

  After another handful of minutes, she had to stop. Bending over, she gulped in air like a starving person. She might be able to walk for days, but running at full speed for twenty minutes had sapped her of every bit of her energy.

  Yet she had to keep going.

  Slower now, but still running, she threaded her way through the trees. Please let it be the right direction.

  For so many reasons, she wished she had Ewen with her. He wouldn’t get lost, which was more than she could say for herself. With the clouds, there weren’t even stars to guide her. She was going on instinct now, looking for any sign of something familiar. It was less than five miles between Roxburgh and Rutherford, with forest between them most of the way. The road was to the north of where she hoped she was.

  The sounds were gone now. But she didn’t let herself relax, knowing the forest could absorb sound as efficiently as it did light.

  That was why she didn’t hear him until it was too late.

  A man grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her side with his big, steel-clad arm. A leather gauntlet slammed over her mouth before she could scream. Her feet kicked wildly but uselessly in the air. “I have ’er!” he yelled.

  Something wasn’t right. Ewen’s unease had begun to grow about an hour ago. The lad was late.

  “He should be here by now,” he said.

  “Perhaps he was delayed by the feasts?” Sutherland suggested. “It seems to be quite a celebration, if those fires are any indication.”

  From their vantage on the hill, they could see the main gate and into the castle courtyard. Roxburgh Castle sat on the tip of a small peninsula of land at the juncture of the rivers Tweed and Teviot. The village lay behind and was mostly blocked from view, but they could see the roar of the fires.

  By this time of night, the gate to the castle would normally be closed, but due to the feast, people were still flowing freely in and out.

  “I’m going in there,” Ewen said.

  “Are you mad? Roxburgh Castle is one of the most heavily defended castles on the Borders. There are at least five hundred English soldiers garrisoned there right now, waiting to resume the war, where one of their greatest objectives is to kill the members of Bruce’s famed secret army. And you are just going to walk right in there without a plan and hope they don’t notice you?”

  Ewen gritted his teeth. “Aye. I’m sure as hell not just going to keep standing here. With the feast, this might be my best chance to get in there. And I do have a plan. I’ll relieve one of the men-at-arms celebrating in the village of his attire.”

  “That’s a plan? It’s bloody suicide, that’s what it is.”

  “If her contact is at the castle, Janet could be there right now. The feast would be a perfect