Suzanne Robinson (38 page)

Oriel watched his face. It bore the lines of hardship, rage, and grief, but his eyes reflected some measure of peace. Perhaps his own wrath had worn him out.

“Time to go, mistress.” Midnight stood and pulled her to her feet.

“Where are we going?”

“To a place where I’ll be safe when my sweet Blade comes charging out of his castle in search of you. He’s been told the time and place, you see And how much you will cost as well.”

Darkness had closed in by the time they reached the place of assignation. To her it seemed unremarkable, a mere clearing in the thickest part of the woods. Midnight ordered a fire built in the middle of the clearing, but he and his men avoided it once it blazed high. Guiding Oriel to a place beside a tree that looked as tall as a keep, he snapped his fingers, and all but one of his ruffians vanished. They accomplished the feat so quickly she couldn’t see where they went. The remaining man looked like a tree with legs, so tall was he.

“Mistress Oriel,” said Jack Midnight, “meet Long Willie. It’s time, Willie.”

Long Willie swooped down on her from behind. Wrapping his arms around her, he lifted her in the air. Oriel screamed, but her cry was muffled when Willie clamped a hand over her mouth. She kicked Willie’s shin, but he responded by squeezing the air out of her body, and she subsided.

Midnight stood back, hands on his hips, and examined her. “Now, is that any way for a gentry mort to behave?”

“Mmmfff.”

“Now, you mind your manners. Your pretty betrothed should be here soon. He’s been told to come to the fire with the ransom. He’ll be furious, but he’s got no choice but to comply, considering the things I said I’d do if he disobeyed. Willie, take Mistress Oriel for a ride.”

She was tossed over Willie’s shoulder, and she began pounding his back. Without warning they rose in the air, and she realized he was climbing the tree. The ground receded quickly, yet still Willie climbed. She stopped pounding him and clutched at his belt. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prayed for wings.

When they stopped, she opened her eyes again, and was immediately sorry. Willie had climbed almost to the top of the tree. She never knew she was afraid of heights. Hanging upside down, the branches beneath her seemed mere threads that would break under her weight if she fell. Mayhap the sight of Jack Midnight far below, dwarfed by the height of the tree, worsened her fear.

Willie shifted her, then set her on a branch next to the trunk. Once free, she clutched the trunk with both arms. Willie drew a knife and held it to her stomach.

“Now you be quiet, mistress.”

She looked down at the knife, but caught sight of the ground, hugged the tree, and shut her eyes again. Silence fell as they waited for Blade to appear. She heard the logs on the fire hiss and pop. An owl hooted in the distance, and to Oriel it seemed she’d been in the tree for the better part of a year. Every time she braved a peep down at Jack Midnight, she grew short of breath and buried her face in the crook of her arm. She was never going to leave the tree. She would grow old in this tree.

Willie stirred, and she braved a look. A cloaked and hooded figure walked into the light of the fire. Jack Midnight called out Blade’s name, and she heard the
singing of metal as a sword was drawn from its sheath. She forgot her fear as the sword appeared at Midnight’s back, its point digging into his doublet.

“Midnight,” Blade said as he stepped from the shadows, “you’re a curse on mankind.”

Midnight turned to face Blade. “Recovered from your little cut, have you, my treasure?”

“My thanks, René,” Blade said to the figure by the fire. He looked at Midnight. “I’ve had my fill of cheats and cozeners of late. What do you want?”

“Why, to return Mistress Oriel to her lord.”

“Oh, her.”

“Don’t you want her?” Midnight sounded surprised.

“I suppose I do. She’s unruly and quite mutinous to my rule, and she continually puts herself in danger when she should be in some withdrawing chamber sewing, but she is wealthy.”

Oriel hugged her tree and glared at Blade. Willie was sniggering.

“Where have you put her?” Blade asked with little interest.

“She’s nearby. Where is my loot?”

“It’s nearby.”

Midnight laughed and looked up. “Willie?”

Willie shook Oriel by the arm, and she screamed. At the sound of her voice, Blade’s attention wavered, and Midnight sprang aside, drawing his sword. Blade attacked at once, driving his weapon down at Midnight.

The thief parried and countered with an upward-slicing cut Blade hopped backward and slashed down with his own sword. Thieves emerged from their hiding places, but they contented themselves with cheering their leader on. By the fire, René remained motionless, separated from his master by a crowd of ruffians.

Forgetting her fears, Oriel peered down at the two opponents. They danced across the forest floor, scattering
thieves in their wake. Firelight glinted on sword blades, and she saw Midnight lunge at Blade.

Blade turned sideways and smashed his weapon down on Midnight’s. The thief pulled his sword free, and without pause, lunged again. Blade swirled his weapon around that of his opponent. His sword circled Midnight’s in a dizzying maneuver that flicked the thief’s weapon out of his hand. He darted forward and touched his sword point to the base of Midnight’s throat.

An abrupt quiet fell over the thieves. Several turned to René, but he was gone. Blade smiled at Midnight, who was out of breath.

“Tell your man to bring her down,” Blade said.

“I think not, my treasure. I want my gold, and I don’t believe you’ll kill me.”

“You know me, but not well,” Blade said. “I’ll cut off your nose.”

“And my men will cut off your pretty head.”

At this, Oriel decided to tip the balance of this impasse. She was sitting on a branch level with Willie’s shoulders. She stuck her foot out and jabbed him in the stomach.

Willie cried out and flew backward, arms flailing. He disappeared, falling through cracking branches to land on a thick limb far below. After her kick, Oriel had clutched the tree trunk again and hidden her face. Another long silence ensued.

“Oriel?”

“Mistress?”

She peeped over her arm to see Blade and Jack Midnight goggling at her. Blade still held his enemy at sword point. She closed her eyes again.

“This is your doing, Midnight.”

“How was I to know she’d kick Willie out of the tree?”

“If she falls she’ll be killed, damn you.”

Willie groaned, and Jack Midnight raised his voice.

“I want my gold.”

“I want my lady.”

Keeping her eyes shut, Oriel called down to Blade. “He only wants something for his old age. He wants to give up thievery.”

“You be quiet,” Jack Midnight yelled.

“You?” Blade said. “You’ve been aiding traitors, not gathering funds for your retirement.”

“I know nothing of treason.”

“You deny serving Leslie Richmond?”

“Richmond and I were partners, Blade, my sweeting. Being a penniless younger son gave him a powerful dislike for lords, not unlike my own. He sent me word when travelers were to pass, and I robbed them. We shared the booty.”

“Never mind your thievery,” Oriel shouted. “Get me down.”

Midnight swept his arm up, indicating Oriel. “Your fair lady wants rescuing.”

“I’m no more of a fool than the last time we met,” Blade said. “Oriel, climb down.”

“If I could, do you think I would be hugging this cursed tree?”

Midnight leaned toward Blade and spoke in a low, caressing voice. “A fair puzzle, my gem. If you lower your guard to help her, you lower your guard to me. If you make her climb down alone, she’s like to fall.” Midnight laughed softly. “Like to fall and die at your feet. What is your choice, my love?”

Blade looked into the mocking eyes of his old enemy and cocked his head to the side. “Do you know how near you are to death?”

“And you?” Midnight asked.

“If you had harmed her, I would have hanged, drawn, and quartered you and every one of your men.”

Midnight’s smile slipped a little. “Is this my dear apprentice speaking?”

“It is. ” He nudged Midnight with the tip of his sword. “I still may impale your head on a pike and stick it on top of my keep if she’s hurt getting out of that tree. René, take my sword.”

René now reappeared from his hiding place behind
Jack Midnight, and skirted the line of thieves. He took the weapon from Blade, holding Jack Midnight at bay. Having relinquished the sword, Blade removed his belt and scabbard, and tossed them on the ground. He went to the tree and gazed up at Oriel. He could barely make her out in the darkness, and only because the moon and firelight aided him. He began to climb.

She was sitting in the bend of a limb close to the trunk in the uppermost branches, with her arms wrapped around it. He stood on an opposite branch.

“Oriel, come to me.”

“I’m not letting go of this tree.”

“Nonsense, come here.” He touched her arm, but she shrank from him, her eyes squeezed shut.

Gripping her wrist, he pulled, trying to free her from her perch. She cried out, and he dropped her wrist. She was too frightened for him to reason with her. Foiled, he chewed his lower lip for a moment, then crossed to the limb on which she was perched. Sitting beside her, he snuggled close and spoke to her calmly.

“Now,
chère,
I’ve come to take you down. You’ll be safe with me.”

“We’ll both fall.”

“I never fall. I’ve climbed trees much higher than this.”

He reached around and tore her arm from the trunk. She cried out again, but he put her arm around his shoulder. As he expected, once she felt his body, she threw herself in his arms and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Her arms squeezed so tightly he had to fight for breath.

“Put your legs around me,
chère.”

She complied, and he chastised himself for the licentious thoughts that suddenly came to him. Whispering encouragement, he began the long climb back to the ground.

“One last jump,
chère
, and we’re on the ground.” He winced as her arms constricted even tighter, then
hopped from the lowest branch to the forest floor. Planting his feet apart, he said to her, “We’re there. You can open your eyes and let go. Please,
chère
, you’re going to suffocate me. Start with your legs.”

He unwrapped one of her legs from his waist and guided her foot to the ground. She opened her eyes and lifted her head from his neck then, and stood. Slowly she relaxed her grip on his neck. He held her hands, and they stared at each other.

“I was in the tree,” she said.

“I know.”

“It was high.”

He grinned at her. “You’re beginning to sound like Joan.”

“Fear has made me simple.” She took a deep, quavering breath, then glanced at Jack Midnight. “What are we going to do?”

“You are unharmed?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll forbear killing him.” He pulled her close and addressed Midnight. “I’ve had enough of your interfering in my doings. I suggest you take yourself off and give up thievery before I really have to kill you. And take my advice. Don’t hire yourself out to traitors ”

Midnight laughed at him. “How was I to know Richmond was a traitor? I was only trying to earn a penny or two in honest labor.”

“Honest!”

Holding up a hand, Midnight forestalled his comments. “As I told your lady, I am retiring from the life of a highwayman. I don’t suppose you brought my gold at all, did you, my gem?”

“You know me.”

“As I feared” Midnight clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “I was looking forward to giving up thievery, but now it seems I must work longer than I intended.”

“Not here.”

“Why not? I hear there’s a rich young lord at the castle now.”

“Midnight, if you—”