Page 71 of The Tempest
Athdara shook her head vaguely. “A lot of men.”
“Where?”
“The Black Cock.”
Elisiana came away from the fabric and stuck her head out of the stall, seeing what Athdara was seeing. There were, indeed, dozens of men outside of the Black Cock. A small army, essentially, of men neither of them recognized.
Elisiana frowned.
“Where did they come from?” she asked.
“The road from the east,” Athdara said. “I heard them, but I thought it was thunder. Did you not hear them a few minutes ago?”
Elisiana shook her head. “I did not,” she said. “But who would bring an army so close to Blackchurch? Surely the gatehouse guards see them.”
Athdara suddenly ducked back into the stall, taking Elisiana with her. “What if it is that pirate that the men are speaking of?” she said. “Bloody Maude’s son, the one who disappeared. What if he’s returned with an army?”
Elisiana’s trepidation grew. “And Bloody Maude is at the Black Cock.”
“With Astria.”
They could no longer control their fear after that. Athdara handed Elisiana her daughter, the child that was permanently attached to her hip. “I must go for help,” she said urgently. “But you must hide. If those really are pirates, they are going to come to this stall because of all of the merchandise. Go hide with the smithy down the road. They won’t raid his stall.”
Elisiana took the little girl, who started to whine for her mother. “I will,” she said bravely. “And I’ll tell the merchant to take all of his most valuable things and hide them.”
Athdara nodded quickly. “Hurry,” she said. “I’ll go for help.”
“Be careful!”
As Elisiana dashed to the rear of the stall with the children, Athdara went to the front and peered from the front door again. Somehow, she was going to make it across the road without being seen, and her best chance of that would be to move down to the end of the avenue and dash across it into the trees. Through that bank of trees, she could get to the road that led to Blackchurch, but she’d be completely visible once she got onto the road. She had to hope she could run to Blackchurch faster than those at the Black Cock when they realized there was a lone woman on the road.
And a lone woman was vulnerable.
But she had to go.
Slipping into the back as Elisiana had done and hearing her daughter crying as Elisiana carried her away from the merchant stall, toward the town smithy’s, Athdara paused a momentbefore heading off to her right, in the direction of the Black Cock. She thought she might be able to see Astria and possibly get her away from any danger. As she drew closer, slinking along a small alleyway that ended in the livery area of the Black Cock, she suddenly caught sight of someone. But it wasn’t Astria.
It was Hobbes.
“Hobbes!” Athdara whisper-yelled, waving at the man. “Hobbes!”
Hobbes had been standing just inside the alleyway as it led from the livery yard, watching the tavern, but he heard Athdara’s hissing.
Quickly, he made his way over to her.
“Hobbes, who are those men?” Athdara demanded, grasping the man’s hand. “What are they doing?”
Hobbes was distressed. “It’s Payne’s brother,” he said. “I recognized him because he stayed here for a few days. He’s come back and he’s brought someone who knows Lady Lismore. There’s going to be a battle, my lady. Everyone is armed. I must go to Blackchurch and tell them!”
“Nay,” Athdara said quickly. “I will go. Get your wife and servants out of the tavern. Get anyone you can out of the tavern. I will run to Blackchurch and tell them.”
“Very well,” Hobbes said, relieved that a young woman was willing to run, because he wasn’t in the best of health. “You must hurry!”
Athdara simply nodded and ran back the way she’d come. She ran past the merchant’s stall, in the direction of the smithy’s, only she stopped short of reaching the area that smelled of fire and hot steel. This was the easiest place to cross the road, so she made sure it was clear before making her break to the other side.
By the time she hit the trees, she was flying, sailing through the foliage, scratching her legs and arms. But she continued to run. At one point, she stumbled in a hole, but she picked herselfup and continued on until she was paralleling the road that led to the main Blackchurch gatehouse. The trees were thick here, so she couldn’t run very fast, which meant she had to get out onto the road.
Where she could be seen.
