Page 59 of Peregrine's Call
“Why issheleading us?” Pierce asked.
Exhilaration flooded through Robin’s veins. She was free, after days of confinement. “Because the Ardenwood is my home!”
Chapter 23
Robin knew the way toRainald’s old camp in her bones. She couldn’t explain why she turned right when she saw a certain hill, or why she laughed when she passed by an ancient tree with wide, twisted, moss-covered branches.
It was an hour past dawn when she saw the outer walls of the old camp. She drew an arrow from her quiver and readied it, just in case unfriendly types had moved into the camp since she’d left it. Behind her, she heard the men drawing steel, responding to her own movements.
But the camp was deserted. The quietude filling the place was broken only by the soft sounds of the forest—birds in the high trees, and the wind playing with the few leaves left on the branches.
“It’s safe,” she announced as she rode in through the open gate.
Octavian looked around skeptically, his eyes darting from one place to another as he assessed possible threats. Pierce just exhaled, his spine bent with weariness.
They all dismounted and walked around the old camp.
It had been five years since she left this place, but time and the forest were already devouring the evidence that people had lived here. The wooden stockade fence surrounding the camp was green with moss. Many of the posts were rotting from the top, causing the fence to lean inward at some points and outward at others. Some holes at the base were large enough to allow wildlife through.
The structures inside fared better, probably because they’d been built out of sturdier materials. Cottages that had been barracks for the outlaws still stood, the roofs mostly intact. The house that had been Rainald’s own—tucked under a spreading oak—also stood, but Robin felt uneasy about entering it. Even when she lived here, Rainald’s home was something special. She was called there by the lord himself, and never entered without permission.
“This is your so-called haven, Lady Robin?” Pierce asked at last. “It looks like an outlaw’s den.”
She smiled. “You’re not entirely wrong.”
The lord turned to Octavian. “So she’s dragged us to a deserted lair for raiders and masterless men. Is this where she learned her archery?”
“I stand before you, my lord,” Robin said. “You could ask me. And yes, I learned it in the Ardenwood. I hunted game like all the others who called—” She broke off abruptly, just before she was about to announce Rainald’s name. Pierce must never realize she was connected to Lord de Vere.
Pierce noticed her odd silence, but he said only, “Why did you not flinch when you had to shoot at men instead of game?”
“I defended the camp when I had to, and I defended myself whenever the need arose. You think women can’t fight?”
“Ladiesare not meant to fight.”
“Lady Robin seems to be unusual,” Tav said from where he stood nearby.
“Oh, don’t keep up this charade,” Pierce sneered. “I’ve heard you both. I’ve seen you both. I accepted your flimsy story about a meek Lady Robin being stranded in the woods until the brave Sir Octavian happened by to rescue her. But you both talk and act as if you’ve known each other for your whole lives. I won’t ask what the truth is. Just don’t think you’re fooling me.”
Robin looked to Tav, who gave a shrug and said, “Let him think what he likes.”
The words were noncommittal, but Robin sensed the warning in them. Pierce was pretending not to care, but he was man who thrived on secrets. If he found out who Robin was, he’d use it to hurt her somehow. Tav wouldn’t tell him, and neither would Robin.
“Yes,” she said calmly, with a slight nod to Tav. “Let him think what he likes.”
The sun was rising higher, a pale yellow disk in the hazy sky. They’d have to rest—both themselves and the horses.
“We’ll use this cottage,” she said, pointing to the best preserved one. “There’s plenty of dry wood around to make a fire. Pierce can gather it and stack it by the door.”
“I will not,” he retorted. “I don’t take orders from those beneath me. Not a knight from some desert waste. And especially not a common-born girl playing at being a lady.”
The words stung. Robin opened her mouth to reply, but her words failed her.
Octavian, however, had no trouble responding. Tav didn’t even draw his sword. He just stood at his full height and looked down at Pierce. “You’ll do as she says. From this moment, until you’re no longer my responsibility, you have one duty, which is to obey every little instruction given to you.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me? You’re charged with my safe passage to the king.”
“I won’t kill you,” Tav said. “But I can shut the cottage door and leave you outside to sleep in the cold.”
