Page 83 of The Knight's Pledge
Effie swung her horse round at once and saw the trio nearing where Lucan Montague—hanging far to the rear, as usual—had already brought Agrios to a halt in the center of the road, effectively blocking the way. Chumley and Bob thundered past Effie on her left, Gorman and James on her right; Kit Katey came alongside Effie.
The black destrier, Agrios, raised his head in an alert fashion giving the trio a wary sideways posture.
“Give way,” the front rider shouted at Lucan. “Give way, I say! I’ll run you through.”
Lucan Montague looked back at the man with a bored expression on his face. He didn’t reply.
“Oy!” The man riding behind gave a yelp as the four from the band surrounded him.
Effie and Kit Katey spurred their mounts, splitting to ride around either side of the group of men to flank the imprisoned woman.
“You are safe now,” Kit said, reaching out with her blade and severing the ropes with two quick, carefulupward slices.
The woman was wild-eyed as she scrambled to grab up the reins with hands that were purple-striped from the bindings and cold. “Hah!” She shouted, buffeting Effie’s mare to the side and bursting through the party, turning her horse back south and riding as if all the demons from hell were on her tail.
The rider in the front, realizing their prey was escaped, slouched down and attempted to charge where Lucan Montague sat atop Agrios, as still and perfect as a marble statue. The man drew his sword, holding it tucked in like a lance, his intent clear if Lucan failed to move, but likely more than a threat than an actual challenge—Effie well-knew the type that traded in human lives. All the same, Effie held her breath as the horse gained speed.
In the last possible moment, his movements a blur, Lucan drew his short sword, deflecting the attack with a sliding crash of steel while piercing the man’s unguarded flank. The challenger flipped backward over his horse’s rear, Lucan’s blade sliding free, and the horse galloped up the road, riderless. The man lay bleeding in theroad, unmoving.
Lucan took out a black kerchief and wiped his blade before letting the piece of fabric float to the trampled dirt and sending his blade home in his hilt. He looked up and met Effie’s gaze, but his expression never changed. He began riding toward her, and Effie’s heart caughtin her throat.
“Let’s have your purse,” Bob was saying to the second villain, still hemmedin by the band.
“We paid good coin for that bit!” the man argued shrilly, his fear just beneath the surfaceof his words.
“I’m sure you must have a little something left, love,” Chumley cajoled. “I’m a sheriff, you see, and that one there, who so neatly dispatched your mate? He’s one of the king’s own. So, you can give over what you have and escape London with your life, or you can take your chances with us and hope to live long enough to see the gallows.”
“Here! Here!” the man stuttered.“Have it then!”
“I rather fancy that cloak,” Bob said admiringly.
The man struggled to freehimself of it.
“Off you go then!” James Rose called gaily. He leaned over and slapped the horse’s rump. “Au revoir!” The pair raced up the road, swerving around the body of his fallen comrade.
Lucan drew near now, but his gaze turned forward. “Thomas, if you’ll accompany me. I’ve a feeling we shouldn’t all enter the city at once. There are some tasks I’d see to at the house so that you are prepared for the morrow.”
“Aye, Sir Lucan. You take care now, lass,” Effie’s father said to her. If Thomas Annesley was beset by nerves, he washiding it well.
Lucan looked to Gorman now. “Meet at the Strand.” He spurred Agrios into a trot, he and Tommy leaving the rest of them clustered together on the road.
No one said anything for a pair of awkward moments, and for some reason, Effie felt as if everyone was looking at her. Thankfully, Bob broke thetense silence.
“Are we to do anything with that one?” he said, motioning with his head toward the body in the dirt. “We’re fearful close to the gates. Someone could come alongat any moment.”
“I don’t clean up after Lucan Montague,” James said stiffly. “I say we leave him there. If questioned, we tell them that a man dressed in black dispatched him in defense of a mounted attack.”
“Aye,” Chumley said at once.
Gorman nodded. “Agreed. Keep itsimple. Effie?”
“Fine.” She turned her horse’s head southward once more.
She tried not to let her thoughts dwell on the idea that the last time Lucan Montague had ridden into London with her father, it had led to a sentence of death. He could even now take Tommy straight to the king and put end to the whole thing, gain his reward and be gone before any of the band even realized what had happened.
No, Effie told herself, remembering the way Lucan had dispatched the slave trader on the road. If he didn’t care at all, he would have simply let the man pass and not risked his life to make sure the villain never harmed another soul again.
Trust him, a voice said.Even if he cannot love you, he is always true to his word. And he knows Tommy is innocent.
