Page 37 of Peregrine's Call
Not long afterward, Robin was mounted on her own horse, accompanied by Pierce on a spirited rouncey, with mounted and armed grooms riding behind them. Despite the reminders that she was still under guard, Robin felt wonderful. Being in the woods again, out of the castle walls, was a glorious freedom. She couldn’t help but smile, and Pierce was actually a charming companion. He rode near her—but not too near—and spoke about his own experiences riding in the area, some stories obviously embellished to entertain her. He talked about the state of the country in only the most general terms, and more or less seemed perfectly content. Robin was puzzled. The Pierce she was seeing now bore little resemblance to the stories she’d heard of him. Maybe he’d changed? In any case, he didn’t look like a man on the run, which was what the message to the king suggested.
They rode out of a wooded area to the edge of a wide plain rolling off to the west. Hunched mountains stood blue in the distance, but closer was a tall, solitary hill with the ruins of some ancient stones on the top.
“How beautiful!” Robin said, taking the scene in. “What is that place called?”
“The name has been lost, my lady, but the locals say the fairies guard it, and anyone foolish enough to climb to the top will face their wrath.”
Looking at the formidable ascent, she could believe it.
“A proposal, my lady. We’ll race to the base of that hill. No fairies will threaten us there.”
She nodded. Without warning, she signaled her horse, and let out a laugh as the wind pushed her hair off her face. The horse responded to Robin’s nudges and sped up into a smooth canter. Robin felt as if she were flying.
Soon, the hill loomed in front of her, and she reluctantly pulled up so that the horse came to a halt only a few yards from the face of streaky, glittering rock. Robin turned to watch Pierce catch up.
“I’ve won!” she proclaimed once he was in earshot.
He slowed a moment later, glancing behind him at the grooms, who were struggling to make the same pace as the nobles’ horses. When Pierce reached her, he rode close enough to grab the reins of her horse. “Congratulations, that was perfect. We have only a moment of privacy, my lady. You must listen closely.”
“What?” Robin asked.
“If this morning hasn’t already made it obvious, I’m not free to come and go from my own castle. Your companion is the one man here who can help me. Will you ask him if he’s willing to get me out of here?”
“You want Octavian to help you escape your own castle?”
He glanced toward the grooms now thundering up behind them. Then he looked back at her, his gaze intense.“Will you ask him?”
“Yes!” The agreement burst out of Robin before she even quite understood what she was promising.
Pierce heaved a sigh. “If he agrees, signal me by saying the wordmousewhen you see me next.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll arrange a meeting to discuss it. Now hush. We must pretend we’re discussing matters of no import at all. And smile, my lady.”
When the grooms reached them, Pierce was telling her that if he’d known her horse was so swift, he’d never have proposed a race, and asked for the horse’s lineage, which Robin of course didn’t know.
“My lord,” she retorted. “You should credit the rider. I would have won that race no matter what horse I rode.”
He laughed. “That sounds like a challenge, Lady Robin. Would you—”
“My lord, you should not do that again!” the first groom interrupted, his eyes narrow.
“Oh, leave off,” Pierce said dismissively. “It was perfectly safe. It’s open ground the whole way, and you had us in sight from the beginning.”
“We have our orders, my lord,” the other man said, more apologetically.
“I’m sure you do.” Pierce’s voice was dry, and he threw the tiniest glance toward Robin. “Well, that’s enough freedom for one day. Lady Robin, you feel your horse had been put through her paces?”
“And then some, my lord,” she murmured.
They rode back in a group, the grooms keeping quite close now. She couldn’t wait until that evening to discuss what had happened with Tav. She saw him on the east battlements, and climbed up to join him.
He nodded to her once she reached him. “Good ride?”
“For the most part.”
“What does that mean?” Tav still looked quite casual, but he’d tensed up.
