Page 123 of The Robber Knight's Love
Completing her circle, she slowed her horsedown beside Captain Linhart, who radiated tension and kept throwingglances over his shoulder.
“There you are!” he hissed as she appearedout of the darkness. “Would you mind telling me what is going onhere?”
Ayla was slightly taken aback. Linhart wasusually such a calm man. But she had, after all, ordered him toabandon his position without any explanation whatsoever. That hadto be a strain on a soldier. If she was being honest with herself,she was surprised that he had followed her orders without demandingan explanation.
“The attack on the bridge tonight was aruse,” she said simply. “It was meant to draw off the riverpatrols. While we fought, the enemy crossed the river somewhereelse, under cover of darkness. Soon they will be everywhere.”
Linhart said a word the meaning of which Ayladidn't know, though she thought she recognized it from one ofReuben's outbursts. His face reddened slightly. “Forgive me,Milady.”
She waved a hand. “I've heard worse.”
“So what do we do now, Milady? Must weretreat?”
“They have ten times as many men as we do.You're a professional soldier, Captain. What do you think?”
He nodded grimly. “What are your orders,Milady? March directly to the castle?”
“Not quite. I've warned the villagers andthey should be making their way up to the castle somewhere ahead ofus. We must remain between them and the enemy to protect them asbest we can.”
Linhart's eyes widened. “But you just said ityourself, Milady, we're outnumbered ten to one! What are wesupposed to do if the enemy catches up with us?”
“If it's the main force, there's only onething we can do.”
“And what is that?”
She gave him a weak smile. “We can diebravely.”
There were a few seconds of silence, but forthe sound of marching feet.
Finally, the captain nodded. “As you command,Milady.”
Ayla breathed a sigh of relief. “Anythingelse, Captain? If not, I have to get back to scouting.”
“Nothing. Just... be careful, Milady. Thosebastards want you more than they want any of us.”
“I'll bear that in mind.”
Ayla pressed her horse onwards again, and itshot into the dark. She continued making rounds around hersoldiers, sometimes meeting with the other rider, but nevercatching a glimpse of the enemy. It was beginning to make heruneasy again when, suddenly, she saw them.
Dozens of red spots appearing out of thedarkness, down at the river's bank. The light of the torches grew,and Ayla could make out the black forms of men, in stark contrastwith the glittering background of the river. One raised an arm andpointed up towards them.
An unmistakable gesture.
Ayla turned to look ahead. Against the faintglow of the castle, she could make out the crowd of villagersmaking their way up the mountain path. There was no way of tellingwhether everybody was there, but the crowd seemed large enough. Shelooked back at the enemy once more, judging the distance. They hadcome ashore quite a long way away from the bridge, and even fartheraway from the path Ayla and her people were traveling on, thank theLord!
“Do you see them, Milady?” Wecelo the scoutcalled, pointing down into the valley.
“Yes. But they're too far away to catch upwith us!”
“Seems they aren't even trying.”
Wecelo was right. Ayla couldn't see much,because all the surrounding landscape was black and she had to lookto the front often to prevent her horse from stumbling—but fromwhat she could make out of the enemy, the mercenaries seemed to beheading towards the bridge, not towards them.
Coming up beside Captain Linhart again, Aylaasked: “What do they want at the bridge?”
The captain shrugged and kept marching. Withthe tempo he and his soldiers were managing, the distance betweenthem and the villagers grew shorter and shorter. “Who knows? Maybethey see that it's pointless to chase us and want to gather thereto put up camp.”
“No, I don't think that's it,” Ayla mumbled.“I don't like it. I have a funny feeling about this.” The bridge...What could they get across the bridge that they couldn't get overthe river in small boats?
