Page 14 of The Robber Knight
“That's the devil! Run! He's not human!”
And another voice, trying to be commanding,but quivering with fear: “Stand and fight, you cowards! Fight orthe Margrave will have your heads!”
Ayla tried to catch a glimpse of what wasgoing on, but the foliage was too dense; it blocked her view.
And then, a second later, she was almost gladfor it. From the center of the clearing came a truly frighteningsound, an animalistic growl that seemed to reverberate around theentire forest and make even the trees shudder with fear. Ahailstorm of blows followed, and a cacophony of cries of humanpain.
“Stand and fight, or the Margrave...”
“Dammit, I don't care about the Margrave!Run!”
“Run for your lives!”
“Stand and fight, I say! You have sworn anoaaaarrr...!”
The cry ceased abruptly.
“Captain! Captain!”
But the captain did not answer.
Instead, another sound reverberated aroundthe clearing, a sound even more frightening than the growl: adevilish laughter, seeming to glory in the violence and gore.
“Damn you! I'll kill you for that, I'll killy—”
But apparently, this man was not any moresuccessful than his commander and dozens of other men had been. Theunknown force that had growled and laughed like the devil cut himshort in mid-sentence.
“He's not human, I tell you! Run!”
“Run!”
The cry was picked up by many a fearful man.Then, suddenly, another terrified voice shouted:
“Conrad! Get him from behind! The others, getout of the way, now!”
There was azitt-noise, a thump, and then, suddenly, there wassilence.
Utter silence.
Ayla was just about to peek around a tree andrisk a glance into the clearing, when a man's hand grabbed her frombehind. A scream raced up her throat, but before it could escapeher mouth, a gloved hand clamped down over her lips.
“Are you totally insane?” Burchard hissedinto her ear and dragged her back. “-Milady?” he added as a politeafterthought.
She shook her head.
“Well, you give a pretty damn goodimpression! Look!”
Slowly, he removed the hand from her mouthand pointed to a gap up between the branches of two tall trees,where the black and silver banner of the Margrave was visible.
“I had to come and see whether we couldhelp,” she hissed back.
“Of course you had! I almost wish I let yougo out there just so I could have watched what you would havetried!”
“Really?”
“No, of course not,” the steward growled.“Now let's get back before they notice us.”
“No. We're not leaving until we have madesure that we can't help any of these unfortunate souls that havefallen prey to the Margrave.”
