Page 60 of The Sword and the Damsel

“We’ve tied up the ones we found downstairs,” said Hugh. “Is she…?” Victor could see Brother Hugh’s disapproval written all over his face.

Victor shook his head. “Only passed out. I want her alive for questioning.”

The clouds cleared from Brother Hugh’s face. “I see you’re injured. Would you like me to remove the knife?”

“Please.” Victor was going to do it himself, but it would be cleaner if someone whose shoulder wasn’t screaming in pain did the honors.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

With a quick pull, Brother Hugh removed the blade. Blood poured down Victor’s arm. “Tear off the arm of my shirt,” Victor suggested, as Brother Hugh looked around for something to use as a bandage. “But before you do, tie her up. We don’t want her waking and causing trouble.”

Brother Hugh tore off a piece of fabric from the hem of her dress and used it to bind her wrists and ankles. Then he used the throwing knife to cut off Victor’s sleeve and bind the wound. Hemust look a horror, Victor thought with a wry smile. But then, what was one more scar when he already had so many?

The woman began to stir. Victor brought his blade to her neck. He had no intention of killing her, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Where is my wife?” he demanded as she opened her eyes.

“You must be Sir Victor. Sir Robert said you would come.”

She looked defiant despite the sword at her throat. He pressed the blade, and she hissed. “We would have had you if not for that little bitch you married. She escaped last night. Most of the household is out looking for her.”

That explained the curious lack of resistance. Victor had expected much more of a fight.

“Where is Sir Robert?”

“Ain’t seen him since he left to kidnap the lady. He’s probably headed up to Canterbury. Spends a lot of time there at an inn called the Black Rooster.”

Victor lowered his sword.

“Brother Hugh, we need to search the house to make sure my wife isn’t tucked away in some corner. Given how few are defending the house, I’m inclined to believe this woman, but we need to be certain.”

If Alais was out on the streets of Hastings with most of Robert’s household after her, she was in grave danger. He needed to find her as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, that likely meant enlisting his aunt’s help. Alais wouldn’t like that one bit.

He and Brother Hugh searched the third floor, then the second floor. On the ground floor, they found the rest of the Templars with Robert’s men tied up. “Have you searched this floor?” he asked them.

“We have. And we’ve searched the cellars. Nothing,” said Brother Eustace. “I’m inclined to believe their story that she escaped.”

Fear gripped his heart as he thought of Alais alone and unarmed in the city, pursued by armed bandits. Victor nodded, his course decided. “All of you, fan out and search the surrounding area. I must pay a visit to my aunt and enlist her aid.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

It turned outdarkness was as much a hindrance as a help in an unfamiliar city whose streets Alais did not know. She could no longer see Lady Helisende’s castle in the moonless night, and the twisting alleys of Hastings soon had her thoroughly turned around. Her pursuers, however, seemed to know the streets well, and they had not given up their search. Her wandering route took her from one dark alley to the next, driven more by the need to avoid detection than any sense of geography.

Alais was acutely aware of her own vulnerability as a woman alone at night, unarmed and dressed like a noble, even if she was disguised.

Shortly after she escaped, she found a clothesline in an alley. There was a cloak, and she took it. At least it would hide the fine make and fabric of her dress along with the ostentatious gold embroidery on the trim. It kept her warm too in the November chill, even if it did have an unsavory smell clinging to it.

Despite her disguise, however, she didn’t dare walk openly on the streets. Her pursuers questioned everyone they saw about her whereabouts. She’d watched them. Now word of a missing noblewoman had spread far and wide, and anyone who saw her might deliver her back to her captors in hopes of a reward. Avoiding major thoroughfares, she wended her way through side streets, ducking away to hide any time she saw someone coming.She tried to keep her course uphill. She knew the castle was the highest point in Hastings.

For the hundredth time, she wondered where Victor was at that moment, praying that he was safe and that he was coming to find her. They had so little time together before they were torn apart. What would he think of her now?

He hadn’t believed Robert’s lies before, but surely he would suspect the worst after her kidnapping. Better by far, though, to face Victor’s suspicions and ask for forgiveness than to become Robert’s for life.

Approaching footsteps sent her scurrying to find another hiding place. She ducked into a half-built building with no windows or doors, crouching down in the darkest corner, next to a pile of stones. Another set of footsteps approached.

“Did you find her?” said a rough, male voice.

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