Chapter 26

26

E llyn had thought the worst part of the descent was behind them, but she was wrong. There were sections of the path so eroded, she traversed them with her heart firmly lodged in her throat. With no rope anchoring her to anyone in front or behind, she had to concentrate on every placement of every footstep and try not to glance at the stomach-churning void beside her. There were stretches of sheer, flat rock where she had to turn sideways and inch across with her back pressed to the wall. Twice she thought to turn back. And twice she closed her eyes and called upon a surge of strength to help her move forward.

Near the bottom, where the path jutted out into the bay, there were tidal pools trapped between massive boulders. There was no visible way around and she had to walk through the pools, wading knee deep in the cold water. Where the surf crashed against the rocks, icy spray rained down like a heavy mist over her head and when she finally reached the bottom and the path widened onto the crushed shingle of the beach, her tunic was covered in a layer of fine salt water beads. She was brushing them off before they could soak through when a flash of solid steel came out from behind the boulder she had stopped beside.

Ellyn gasped as the sword came close enough to her throat for her to feel the tiny rush of air.

"Good God, woman." Rennwick stepped out of the shadows. "Have you ever actually obeyed an order someone has given you?"

"Only once," she said calmly. "When I was sent to pick a basket of berries. Since then, I have made my own decisions."

He held the sword at her throat a moment longer, then lowered it and slid it back into its leather sheath. "Did Roger not try to stop you coming after me?"

"I did not ask his permission. Nor did he see me go. None of them did. I was quite… stealthy, which we need to be if we are going to cross a flat stretch of land."

" We are not crossing anything. You are going to stay here and wait for the others."

"Is that another order, sirrah?"

He stared at her for a full minute before he reached out and pulled her forward. Before she could draw a startled breath, his mouth came down over hers, his lips hot and forceful, the kiss as much a threat as a promise. It was a savage, searing kiss and should have frightened her, but when he released her, she could sense the grudging admiration in his voice.

"I am not ordering you, I am asking you to please stay here and wait for the others. Is a request more to your liking?"

She slowly licked the taste of him off her lips then nodded. "Mine, yes. But I am not sure how they will feel."

She pointed over his shoulder to the silhouettes of two guardsmen walking along the rim of the slope that ran around the bay.

"Christ almighty!" He pulled her down beside him, crouching in the shadow of the rocks. He peered around the boulder and swore again.

"Can you see any more?"

"Just the two. I think."

"I doubt they would spare more to watch a deserted bay. Nevertheless, we do not need them sending up an alarm. By the measure between old King Henry's nose and thumb, I say two hundred yards?"

Ellyn shook her head. "More. Well over three."

He cursed and retrieved his crossbow from where he had left it behind the boulder. He put his foot in the stirrup and took the lever from his belt, hooking it around the string to wind it back and lock it onto the trigger bit.

Ellyn, meanwhile, unslung her longbow, drew two arrows from her quiver and stuck one point down in the ground. While Rennwick was still fumbling to fit a quarrel into the trough of the crossbow stock, she stood, nocked an arrow, drew and shot. She retrieved the second arrow and loosed it before Renn had looked up at the sound of the first thwanggg of the string

He poked his head above the rock to watch.

The first arrow struck one of the guardsmen and sent him sprawling out of sight. Before the second guard could react, he was clutching at his chest and tumbling in an almost graceful arc over the edge of the slope to the rocks below.

"Three hundred and twenty," she said, having measured the distance in seconds.

Renn stared. After a moment, he drew a breath and stood, leaving his crossbow in the armed position. "Exactly how far can you shoot that thing?"

"As far as I need to."

"Then for a certainty I need you to stay right here and watch the top of that ridge for any more unexpected surprises."

"But—"

"There is no but . Wait here for the others. And try not to shoot me on my way back."

"A sennight ago, it would have been sorely tempting," she muttered.

"A sennight ago… I thought you were a nuisance."

"And now?"

"Now, Ellyn the Archer," his sigh came with a crooked smile. "Now I think you are quite frankly amazing."

He slung his crossbow over his shoulder and headed across the shale, moving from one cluster of rocks to the next, keeping himself to the shadows. Ellyn watched for what seemed like hours, but there were no more silhouettes patrolling along the slope and no sounds of anyone coming down the path behind her.

She closed her eyes and tried to sense if there was any danger ahead, but since she had been sensing nothing but danger since they entered the undercroft, the effort was fruitless.

Her instincts were trying to tell her something, however, and bristling with impatience, she pulled her hood up to cover the pale blur of her hair and set off across the bay.

When she reached the far side, she had to scramble up an embankment that was too soft for to gain good footholds. Slipping and cursing, she finished the last few feet on her knees.

Partly because she was almost on her belly, and partly because Harold Falconard was not as negligent as they had supposed, Ellyn did not see the ring of guardsmen standing below the rise until she stood and was brushing the loose sand and dirt off her clothes.

There were eight of them.

She tried to unsling her bow, but they moved too quickly. Two of them grabbed her arms, a third moved in to snatch the dagger from her belt and won a hard kick in the ballocks for his trouble. In her struggles, the hood of her tunic was yanked off and the long silvery braid of her hair uncoiled down her back.

"Well, well, well." Luther de Vos leaned a forearm across the horn of his saddle and looked down at her. "Enndolynn Ware. You have given us quite the chase, girl. And now here you are, all on your own, delivered neatly into our hands."

"I am not on my own," she spat.

"Ah. You think to be rescued by the chivalrous champion, Rennwick de Beauvoir? Alas, I do hate to crush your hopes, but one should never put one's trust in a man who sells himself to the highest bid."

"Liar!" she gasped. "You are lying!"

"Am I? How do you suppose we knew to be in this exact spot to wait for you?" He straightened and turned his head to speak to someone behind him. "You can come forward now. I fear she will not believe me until she sees with her own eyes."

Ellyn saw movement in the shadows and a moment later, Renn walked out from behind the shield of de Vos's horse. He carried his crossbow by his side and had a hand around the hilt of his sword.

Up to that very moment, Ellyn had continued to fight against the hands restraining her. At the sight of Renn, standing unbloodied and at ease, the strength drained out of her arms, her jaw went slack, and her legs seemed to lose the ability to hold her upright.

"You really should not have followed me," Renn said. "But since you have…"

He raised his crossbow and pressed the trigger, releasing a bolt point blank in Ellyn's direction.