Page 10 of The Duke's Price
Three men trekked out of the darkness. No. One man and Perry’s two ladies, dressed in men’s clothes, and behind them the shadowy shapes of half a score more. “Miss Henwood, Princess,” Perry said. He didn’t take his eyes off those approaching, but relaxed a little when neither of his ladies seemed concerned.
“Ruth and Bella,” the princess corrected him, sharply. “Miss Henwood and the princess remain in Estrellas.”
Fair enough. “I beg your pardon, Miss Bella.” The others were now close enough for him to recognise one of the men as Madre Katerina.
“Well met, Excellency,” said the nun. “You have made good time. We did not expect to see you until tomorrow. Mateo, we have no need to stop for the night, since Richport and Fernando are here already. We shall carry on into Spain while the others make their way into France. The more space we can put between us and the border, the less chance that Sombras will catch up with either party.
A wolf howled and the remaining travellers—all nuns dressed as men, Perry realised—shifted closer together.
“That’s the way, sisters,” said Madre Katerina. “Keep close together. The wolves, if they are hungry enough, will attack a person on his or her own. They will not disturb a large party such as our own, and it is only an hour or perhaps a little more to the horses that Matteo has ready for us.”
Miss Henwood and Bella looked hopefully at Fernando, but he didn’t notice, as he was focused on the mother superior.
“You will take care,Madre,” he ordered. “I do not wish to have to explain your demise to my mother.”
“Ishall take care, cousin,” said Matteo. “I also have to answer to my mother.”
Madre Katerina smiled fondly at them. “Matteo and Fernando are my nephews, Ruth,” she said to Miss Henwood, “and the best guides in the mountains. Go with God, my daughters. My sisters and I shall pray for you.”
“And we for you,” Miss Henwood replied.
They hugged, and then each of the nuns needed to hug the governess and the princess, but after that, the two parties quickly parted, the larger group heading down the obvious road, and Fernando going first up a slope where randomly placed stones formed a stair of sorts. “Stay close together,” he ordered. “I do not want to be fighting off wolves. We have perhaps thirty minutes more to our horses. How close behind us do you expect the pursuit, honoured ladies?”
“We do not expect to be missed until tomorrow, when people arrive for Mass,” said the princess—Perry had better get used to thinking of her as Bella.
Fernando nodded his satisfaction. “We can stop and wait for dawn,” he decided. “We will still be five or six hours ahead of them, even if they have a tracker good enough to see we broke from the main group.”
He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the moonlight. “And we are about to go downhill over solid rock. Take your time, and don’t slip.”
When they heard the wolves again, closer this time, he merely said, “They will, God willing, cover our scent with their own. Even El Diablo’s dogs will not be able to find us.”
Their haven for the rest of the night was a hut that defied logic to seem almost smaller on the inside than it looked on the outside.
Bella and Ruth—if the princess was to be called by her first name, then the governess would be as well—were assigned one of the two cots that lined the walls. They were tall enough that they would have to sleep snuggled together with their knees bent, Bella with her back tucked up against Ruth’s front.
“I am too long for these beds,” Perry pointed out. “I shall sleep on the floor. Walter, you and Fernando take the cot.”
“Take the loft,” Fernando suggested, pointing to a ladder, but when Perry looked, the loft was even smaller than any of the cots, so the two ladies took that spot and Fernando and Walter had a cot each.
Perry wrapped himself in the blanket that Fernando gave to him, and tried to make himself comfortable under the table, which was the only space available to him.I am getting too old for this.
Despite his misgivings, he slept, to be woken out of a deep sleep by the sound of a gunshot. He sat up and was reaching for his own gun before he was fully awake, which was probably why he forgot about the table and fetched his head a blow.
“What is it? Don Carlos?” he asked as he stood, this time being careful to avoid the table. Walter and Ruth turned to look at him. All he could see of the princess was her feet hanging over the edge of the loft bed.
“The wolves,” said Fernando, who was standing on the ladder to fire out the window.
“They are trying to get at the horses,” Ruth told him, “but Fernando says the brush fence will hold. We are shooting to give them cause to abandon the attempt.”
Walter handed Perry a second loaded pistol as Fernando got down from the ladder to reload his rifle. Perry climbed until he could rest his elbows on the bed and take aim at the shadowy shapes that circled relentlessly around the brush stockade.
One of them yelped, and Bella crowed with delight. “I got one,” she said.
“Let’s see if I can get another,” said Perry. He took careful aim and fired, and was rewarded with another yelp.
After a few more casualties, the wolves gave up, melting into the darkness. Perry didn’t think any of them were seriously injured, but he wasn’t going out into the night to check.
“I shall make some breakfast,” Fernando offered. “It will be first light in an hour or two.”
