Page 106 of Raven's Rise
Rafe was just about to admit he was right when he heard footsteps. He turned to the door, grateful Angelet wouldn’t hear his worrying.
But it was only Cecily who came in, her brows drawn. “No one’s seen Angelet,” she said. “Not since this morning.”
“She was in the orchard,” Rafe said.
“I’ve just sent someone to look. Perhaps she walked to a different place, to sit under shade or…”
A maid hurried in. “My lady, she’s not in the orchard, but her sewing was under an apple tree. She wouldn’t have simply left it there. She was very careful of her work.”
Rafe’s fists balled up. “Something’s wrong,” he repeated, more vehemently.
Alric put a hand up. “Let’s not jump at shadows. She must have seen something, or been needed.”
“Find Goswin,” Rafe instructed the maid. “He might know what happened.”
The maid nodded and hurried out.
By then, Rafe wasn’t going to sit back down until he knew what was going on. He told Cecily to summon him with any news, then he left the room, followed by Alric. They encountered Octavian almost immediately.
The younger knight didn’t look unduly worried when Rafe explained the situation, but he said, “First things first. She’s likely somewhere within the walls, but I’ll go ask the gatehouse if she’s left. Then we can focus the search inside.” He turned and walked briskly toward the gatehouse.
“So it’s a search now,” Rafe muttered.
“Just a term,” Alric said. “She’ll be under a tree somewhere, and she’ll laugh at all the fuss over nothing.”
But the fuss was not over nothing. Another servant said that Goswin couldn’t be located either. Rafe grimaced. “Jesu, I never thought I’d miss seeing that boy’s face.”
Then Octavian returned with one of the gatehouse guards.
“Listen to this man’s report,” the knight said, then gestured to the guard to speak.
“My lords,” the guard began nervously. “The lady who’s a guest here…she walked outside of the walls this morning.”
“When?” Rafe demanded.
“Um. About mid-morning. She was with one of the men-at-arms.”
“Who?” Alric asked. “I’ll have him summoned.”
“I don’t know, my lord. Peter? No, Peter’s not so tall. Gunter, maybe…” The guard looked confused.
“Did the man come back to the gate?” Rafe asked.
“No. No, they walked west toward the woods, and then…no one saw anything.”
“Angelet wouldn’t have just walked off,” Rafe muttered to Alric. “And certainly not with someone who was a stranger to her.”
“Unless he told her something to get her to go with him. A threat.”
“She was in the manor walls. She would have screamed.”
“Then he tricked her?”
“How?” Rafe burst out.
“Her boy went missing too, you said.” Octavian turned to the guard. “How about the boy? Did he leave the manor this morning?”
“Oh, a whole pack left. But they’re like wild animals, running about and chasing each other. I couldn’t say if he was among them.”
