Page 119 of The Robber Knight
“W-what?”
“Ayla, pull yourself together!”
Ayla's head swam. The mere idea that whileshe was calmly sitting in this room talking to Reuben, theMargrave's men might be advancing towards the village, bent ondestroying anything in their path... no, not might be.Were. Theywereacross, theywerecoming, because of her foolishness. Thiscouldn't be happening.
“Go! Ayla, go!”
Somebody grabbed her by the arm and pushed.Blinking, she stared down at the man before her. Oh yes. Reuben. Hewas here. What did he want from her?
“Go!” he snarled again. “Go now!”
Somehow, she managed to find her voice.“W-what do you mean, go?”
“Go, ride out there! There might still betime! If the Margrave's men landed far enough from the bridge andthe village so as not to attract attention, they might need sometime to march there. Ride out and warn your people! Bring everybodyback with you to the castle. You've had them prepare for anemergency retreat, haven't you?”
“Yes... I ... but...”
“No buts! You have to go, now!”
Ayla could see that he was right abouteverything. She had to leave and bring everyone to safety. Well,almost everything. There was something that had to be done beforeshe went.
The realization pierced her more painfullythan any pain in her life ever had. This was it. The end.
She swallowed, hard.
“Yes,” she said. “I must ride. But there'sone thing that must happen first.”
“What?”
“You must leave.”
“What?”Reuben looked completely taken aback. It was such a funnyexpression, his wild, black hair sticking out in all directions,his gray eyes wide open, that Ayla would have laughed—if she hadn'tfelt so terribly heartbroken.
“Don't you see,” she choked out, moisturebeginning to brim her eyes. “It's your last chance! If the enemyhas really crossed the river, we will soon be surrounded—then thetrue siege will begin! No one will get in and... and no one willget out. This is your last chance to escape.”
Reuben's face was impassive. “I thought I wastoo ill to travel, that it would kill me, even more surely thanstaying here would.”
“You were, Reuben. You were too ill. Butyou've made an amazing recovery over the last couple of days. Youcan manage a short horse ride, I'm sure. I'll help you down to thestables, you can pick any horse you want. Just ride fast, and makesure these filthy villains don't catch you. I couldn't bear it ifsomething happened to you.”
Slowly, his face still not showing anyemotion, Reuben reached up and cupped her face with his right hand.She felt as though she might splinter into a thousand painfulpieces.
“They won't catch me, Ayla.”
Oh. So he was a good rider. That was good,wasn't it? She wanted him to ride away quickly, didn't she? Shewanted him to be safe. Yes, she definitely wanted that.
“Because,” Reuben added, not taking his eyesor his hand off her face, “I am not leaving.”
What?
“But you must! You must leave!”
“Telling me what to do now, Milady?” Hecocked an eyebrow. “You forget, I'm not one of your vassals, youcan't order me about as you please.”
“I... I don't mean that you have to gobecause I said so,” Ayla said, trying without much success tosuppress the swell of joy in her heart. “I mean you have to go foryour own safety.”
“Well, I give a devil's pisspot about mysafety,” Reuben said, with a grin that very nearly made her laugh.What was the matter with her? Enemy soldiers were marching uptowards her castle and she was happy because a man had decided tostay here?
Then again, the man in question wasReuben.
