Page 14 of Arrows and Gems
Trusting the slope to buy some time, he slowed to a maintainable lope and caught his breath. Accepting the informant’s claim that General Valentin would send critical information with a lone messenger may have been foolish. But Cap hadscouted the area. He should have seen the guards moving in.
He would have if not for that confounded runaway.
Maybe Rouge was right about her. A distraction to lure him out wouldn’t carry messages. She’d given them time to trap him. And like a fool, he’d fallen for it.
He saw the shadow edging next to his own before he heard the footsteps. Drawing his sword, he whirled to face his pursuer. The match was quick, but two other men were already upon him and a third was standing back, bow at the ready.
“Give up, Le Capuchon,” one of the men panted, brandishing his sword. “You can’t escape, and the General is eager to meet you.”
Not an option. But how could he get out of this one?
Slowly sheathing his sword, he scanned the men facing him. One had been in his unit before everything fell apart. Just gullible enough to believe a ruse – he hoped.
“You think you’ve caught me?” he laughed, deepening his voice. Waving a careless hand at the surrounding forest, he said, “You may have me outnumbered, but the very trees are my allies.”
One guard gave him a skeptical look. The other two glanced around nervously as Cap brought his hands up in imitation of Jean-haut. “Trees, heed my call!” he boomed.
He felt ridiculous, but he had to sell it. If they flinched, he could put an arrow in the archer and flee.
The skeptical guard snorted. “Do you really expect us to—”
A startled yelp from the archer cut him off. Cap’s eyes widened as a tree limb swept the man off his feet. The other two spun toward him, but they stumbled to their knees when the vines creeping up their legs pulled them to a stop.
That shouldn’t have worked. But Cap wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
Unsurprisingly, Jean-haut appeared a few steps later. “Ithought I told you to warn Tucker,” Cap groused without heat.
Jean-haut winked. “Aren’t you glad I never listen to you?” He patted his chest. “Besides, I can do that from a distance. That woman really did throw you off, didn’t she?”
Cap didn’t spare the breath for a response to that.
Fifty feet from the horses, an arrow whistled by a little too close for comfort. Cap swung around, sending an answer while Jean-haut plunged through the trees. Racing after him, Cap spared Rouge a glance as she hesitated by their captive’s horse.
“Leave it!” he bit out. “The General can have her.”
“Wait!” their captive called as Cap spurred his horse after the others. “What about—I thought you said you weren’t bandits!”
Ignoring her, he ducked under a branch in his path. It creaked as it expanded, growing across the trail to hinder pursuit. Not that it mattered – none of the guards were mounted. Between that and the young woman they left behind, they should be safe.
Hooves pounded behind him.
Unless one of the guards had borrowed her horse.
Holding back the words he wanted to utter, he spared a glance over his shoulder. The sight made him huff a relieved laugh. Instead of a determined guard, a riderless horse chased after him. Its saddlebags flapped in the wind, shedding a few papers.
He shook his head. He hadn’t meant to steal her horse, but he couldn’t afford to return it.
CHAPTER 7
Helena
Helena watched with frustration as her horse joined the general exit. Except for a few items scattered on the ground, it carried everything she’d brought from home. Her favorite books, her clothes, all her money...
But what upset her the most was Le Capuchon riding away with her most prized possession on his back.
“He stole my bow!” she ground out to no one. “That good-for-nothing bandit stole my bow!”
A moment later, apprehension edged out her anger when several men sprinted through the trees. Her tension eased a little when she spotted Amitian dark blue on their clothing.
