Page 64 of Kingdom of Chains

‘Halt!’ boomed a voice behind her.

She did not waste time looking over her shoulder to see if the person was speaking to her. Holding her breath, she swung her legs over and dropped blindly down the other side, hands clawing at the air as she tried to judge the distance to the ground. She saw it at the last moment, softening her knees just in time to prevent serious injury. She fell forwards, landing on her hands and knees, where she remained for a few moments in shock. But there was nothing quite like the shouts of angry men from the other side of the wall to get one moving again. Scrambling to her feet, she took off at a run.

The numbing fear, combined with darkness and low-lying branches intent on taking out her eyes, made for a challenging course. She knew she needed to head north until she reached the road and then follow it east. The problem was she did not know if she was headed north and did not have the luxury of time to stop and figure it out. She had to rely on the boundary fence for guidance, the very fence she needed to get away from.

Margery glided down beside her.

‘Tell me this is north,’ Isabel panted.

The eagle lifted into the air, disappearing into the trees on her left.

Isabel pulled up and turned in a circle for a few breathless moments, realising she had accidentally lost sight of the fence anyway. She decided to follow Margery.

No sooner had she begun to run again then she heard the gentle rumble of hooves.

Horses.

There were horses coming her way.

She stopped once more, trying to decide whether to run or hide. But hide where? Behind a tree?Upa tree? Could she even climb a tree? Certainly not quickly. But she also could not outrun a horse.

‘Isabel!’

Her blood turned cold as Hodge’s voice reached her. He was close—much too close.

All logic abandoned her, replaced with primal fear. She took off after the eagle, despite having lost track of her again. She simply ran.

‘Isabel!’ Hodge shouted. ‘I know you are out here!’

Was it just her imagination or was he closer than the last time he had called her name?

She slowed, struggling to hear the horses over her thudding heart.

‘My beloved.’

That was forty feet away at most.

She stilled, frozen in place, with no idea which direction the voice had travelled from.

A hand clamped over her mouth at the same time an arm caught her by the waist. She screamed but was forced to swallow it.

‘Not a sound,’ a familiar voice whispered into her ear. It was Blackmane.

He swung her to the other side of him and retreated behind a wide trunk just before horses came into view. Isabel was trembling all over, her chest heaving from her running efforts. Blackmane was a striking contrast of calm stillness. He kept a hand firmly over her mouth, the other pinning her to him.

‘Isabel,’ Hodge said. ‘I know you are close. I can feel you.’ He stopped his horse barely twenty feet from them. ‘Please. Let us not do this. Return with me now, and we shall figure this out together.’

Blackmane made it clear via his tightening grip that she was not to take Hodge up on that offer. A long, drawn-out silence followed as Hodge waited for her to show herself. She focused on quietening her breathing, afraid he would hear her.

‘I want men combing every inch of land within a three-mile radius of the camp,’ Hodge said to the guard riding next to him.

‘Yes, my lord,’ the guard replied as he turned his horse around. Then he cantered away.

Hodge remained where he was for some time, looking around and listening. They waited him out. What else could they do?

Finally, he pushed his horse into a trot and continued south—or possibly west. She really had no idea at that point.

When they could no longer hear the horse, Blackmane removed his hand from her mouth, one finger at a time. Themoment the pressure on her ribcage eased, she turned in his arms and buried her face in his uniform. This man, whom she barely knew, was beginning to feel like the only safe place she had left.

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