Page 64 of Peregrine's Call
Once Pierce walked off into the trees, Tav rode up closer to Robin. “Which direction are we going at the moment?”
“Almost due south,” she replied. “I haven’t seen a good route leading back eastward yet.”
“That’s not my concern,” he said, shooting a glance toward the way Pierce had gone.
“Don’t we want to go to London?”
“Pierce suggested that rather strongly, but I’m not inclined to bow to his whim on every matter.”
“You don’t trust him.”
“Not even a little bit. Pierce is being too sanguine about this whole escape. He’s definitely not told us everything, and he won’t share what he knows unless he has no other choice.”
“So what do we do? If you fear he could run away, you could restrain him.”
“I don’t want to alert him to my suspicions, and restraining a man for two weeks of travel is far more trouble than it’s worth. We need him to cooperate.”
“We could go somewhere besides London. Or stop our journey somewhere, send a message, and wait for aid.” She didn’t say it, but the obvious answer was Cleobury.
“We can’t go to Cleobury,” Tav said, just as if she had spoken out loud. “Pierce would fight us the moment he realized the destination.”
“Then how about Martenkeep?” she suggested. Martenkeep was a newly refortified castle lying very close to the Welsh border. Robin had been there several times, since the castellan was a close friend of the de Vere family. Sir Rafe had worked endlessly to make his castle a stronghold that even the fiercest enemy would think twice about attacking.
Tav shook his head. “Rafe was also involved in the fiasco. Pierce will remember him.”
“But that happened before Rafe learned his true name and title. At most, all Pierce would know is that Martenkeep has a castellan named Raphael Corviser. What are the chances that he’d connect that name to a soldier he once encountered five years ago in a different place entirely?”
Octavian stared into the distance, his expression considering. “Very well. We’ll head for Martenkeep. But keep our destination to yourself. The less Pierce knows, the better for all of us.”
At that moment, a rustling in the trees signaled Pierce’s return. He remounted, and they continued on.
The weather grew colder throughout the afternoon. Robin doubted they’d find any sort of shelter as good as the camp, and she was correct. The best she could discover was a shallow cave, barely more than an overhang in the rock. On the journey north, she and Octavian had slept in a similar place with no difficulty. But it was weeks later, and the shift toward winter was dramatic. The horses remained close together all evening, as did the people. The fire burned fitfully, and sleep proved elusive when a cold rain began to fall in the middle of the night.
The next day, the group continued, their moods all much worse. Robin wore the monk’s robe over her boy’s clothing and wrapped her cloak over that. She still shivered. Pierce grumbled to himself, and snapped out answers to even the most benign questions. Octavian said very little, remaining stoic about the weather. But whenever Robin glanced back at him and he didn’t realize she was doing so, his expression was miserable.
The rain stopped shortly before noon, but then a sharp wind swept through, chilling them further. Robin sensed snow in the air and worried about the horses if the path should turn icy.
An hour later, Robin called for a halt by the edge of the creek. The horses all came to a standstill, nickering in the frigid air. She turned her own horse in a small circle, looking around carefully.
“What is it?” Pierce asked nervously. “Are we being followed?”
“No. I mean, yes, I’m sure your onetime friends are somewhere to the north, hoping to find us and kill us, but that’s not why I’m stopping.”
“We should keep moving,” he said. “Iinsistwe keep moving.”
“Shut up,” Octavian said. “Let Robin think.”
“Why?”
“Have you learned nothing?” Tav sounded irritated as he replied. “Because she’s our guide and our only chance to get through the Ardenwood in one piece.”
Robin nodded. “See that stand of pine trees by the creek? There’s another path that begins very close to here. The creek is a marker. I just need to remember if it’s upstream or downstream from this point.”
“Guess one and let’s move,” Pierce said.
“No. If I’m wrong, we’ll lose precious hours and perhaps walk right into our enemies. Now hush.”
Robin took a deep breath and closed her eyes, listening to the sounds around her. She remembered a time many years ago when she stood in this very place, a lone girl in the woods, hoping to track down game or find a homestead or farm where she might beg for some food.
