Page 15 of The Robber Knight's Love
“We are already too late. Whoever they were,they have lost the fight. May God have mercy on them.”
“And what if there are wounded?” she asked ina whisper. “We can't leave yet.”
“Milady...”
“Don't argue with me, Burchard. It'll besafer to leave once they've gone anyway. While they're here, theycould hear us moving through the underbrush.”
“Or they could hear us arguing!”
“Exactly. So you'd better give in,” Ayla saidwith a sweet smile.
Burchard scowled at her. “I hate it whenyou're right.”
Together, they cowered in the dense foliageof the forest and listened to Falkenstein's men shout andargue.
“We have to bring the others back tocamp!”
“Are you mad?” a haughty voice sneered inresponse. “What if there are others like him lurking around? Do youtruly want to chance another such encounter?”
“We can't just leave them here!”
“Look around you, man! They are dead! Alldead! Not one of the blows that devil struck missed its mark! Let'sleave them and get back to the camp. But before we go, you'll getme his things. Everything.”
“What? I'm not going within twenty feet ofthat monster!”
“He's dead.”
“He'spossessed![21]Didn't you see what we didto him? And he didn't cry out once! Not once, Conrad!”
Ayla smiled grimly. Whoever had been fightingFalkenstein's men, they seemed to have held their own.
“Yes, he might rise from the dead and killyou,” the man called Conrad said in his deadly sweet voice. “But,on the other hand, if you don't do as you are told, I will put anarrow through that empty head of yours! What do you think theMargrave will have to say when we tell him we lost an entirebattalion of men to... that! And without any proof? Now go!”
“Yessir! As you say, Sir!”
Behind the trees and bushes that hid themfrom sight, Ayla leaned closer to Burchard and whispered: “Did youunderstand the meaning of any of that?”
He shook his head, frowning—even more thanusual.
“Get on with it!” Ayla heard Conrad's voice.“Cut the arrows off, if you need to, but hurry!”
“No, it's all right. I can get it off easilyenough; the arrows went in between two armor plates. Excellentshooting, Sir.”
“I want results, not flattery. Get on withit, I say!”
“Yessir!”
There was movement in the clearing. To judgefrom the sound, someone was dragging around something heavy. Thenthey heard the clinking of metal.
“Can you make out a coat of arms?” the mancalled Conrad asked.
“No, Sir. Everything is matted withblood.”
“Give it to me.” A short pause. “Hm...something red, definitely.” Conrad laughed. His laugh was asunpleasant as his voice. “Not that that's saying much. Everythingis red with blood here. All right, let's get out here beforeanother one of these maniacs comes along.”
“Yessir.”
The sound of heavy boots retreated from theclearing. As best as Ayla could tell, they were moving eastwards.While their trampling and the clinking of armor could still beheard, she and Burchard said nothing, didn't move a muscle. Stilland silent, they sat among the trees and waited for their enemiesto disappear.
