He sighed faintly.
“Your daughters are not here, Alastor,” he said quietly. “Recall your sons.”
Alastor was leaning forward on his saddle horn as if he had no strength left. Grief threatened to overwhelm him. He nodded, but he didn’t make any effort to call to his sons, so Christopher sent men to round everyone up. He would leave a few men behind to collect the dead and attend the wounded, but The Marshal had to know what had happened. He turned to Adam, riding off to his left.
“You are missing wagons, too, are you not?” he asked.
Adam nodded seriously. “It seems so,” he said. “But I also saw wagons belonging to me with the group that we just passed, the one moving up to follow the rest of the army at Berwick, so I did not lose all of them. At least I did not lose my daughters…”
He trailed off, an expression of pain across his face. He was feeling greatly for Alastor, who was weeping silently and trying not to show it. The knights began returning to the main body of the army and Christopher raised a fist to gain their attention.
“This situation changes our objective,” he said. “Our original intention was to decimate the Scots army, but now they evidently hold the de Bourne sisters as hostages. Mayhap that was their intention all along, so it seems to me that we must reconsider our orders. I do not want to go rushing headlong into the Scots only to have them hurt the women.”
That was a very real possibility and they were all quite aware. David reined his horse next to his brother.
“They could use those woman to keep us at bay, Chris,” he said, hoping Alastor wouldn’t hear him. “We cannot let this entire battle be dictated by two women hostages. You know this. There is too much at stake. Hell, they could use them to keep us off the Northmen when they come, too.”
“I’ve considered that.”
“Mayhap they’ll threaten to kill them if we advance against them.”
Christopher held up a hand to quiet his brother. David had a point – they couldn’t let two women dictate their actions, as unfortunate as it was. But they also couldn’t let the women be harmed.
He looked around to the men surrounding him – David, Peter, the three de Bourne brothers, Alastor, Adam and John de Longley. Fine men and fine knights. But his gaze mostly moved to Peter.
An Executioner Knight.
That gave him an idea.
“Come,” he said. “We retreat back to our original encampment from this morning, where we first stopped and mobilized. But first, we secure this bridge with three hundred men. David, break out enough men from all three armies. Those men will remain here and hold this bridge at all costs. The rest of us – we return. Plans have changed and we must discuss the situation with The Marshal before proceeding.”
It seemed reasonable enough. Alastor wasn’t too keen to leave that very spot, the last place his daughters were, but Christopher and Ares managed to convince him that they needed to retreat in order to plan the rescue of his daughters. Everyone was acutely aware that the hostage situation wasn’t a good one.
They needed to figure out how to get the women out alive.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Her head was killing her.
Corisande had awoken beneath a big oak tree, the last shades of day turning the landscape dark and eerie. She had no idea where she was but the moment she started to move, Gaia stilled her. She begged her to remain silent and unmoving.
That only confused Corisande further.
“What happened?” she asked.
Gaia was pressed up against her and Corisande could see her eyes darting about nervously.
“The Scots took us,” she said, trembling. “Don’t you remember? The man hit you on the head!”
“What man?”
“The man who stole the wagon with us inside it!”
Corisande lay there a moment, digesting what her sister was telling her. It took her a moment to remember the raid on the encampment, with Scots pouring out of the trees and stealing the wagons. She remembered leaping into the wagon where Gaia was clutching the bench, unable to convince her to let go.
And then… nothing.
Slowly, she started to sit up.
“Nay,” Gaia hissed, pushing her down. “They keep asking who we are, but I start crying and will not answer. They are waiting for you to awaken so they can ask you.”
Corisande shoved her sister’s hands aside, pushing at her because Gaia was trying to keep her down.
“Cease, Gaia,” she said irritably, finally sitting up and regaining her balance. She groaned softly, a hand to her head. “I feel terrible.”
Gaia looked at her anxiously. “What are they going to do to us?” she asked, tearing up. “Are they going to kill us?”
Corisande could see an encampment in front of them, with cooking fires spitting sparks into the night sky. A fog was rolling in from the sea, however. She could see it creeping in over the eastern hills.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Gaia huddled against her. “I do not know,” she said. “I think we are near Berwick. I could see a big city down that way.”
She was pointing to the south, but Corisande couldn’t see anything. It was too dark and there were hills in the way. Her head was killing her, she was confused and cold and hungry, and her patience was at an end. She stood up, with Gaia trying to pull her down again.
“Nay, Cori!” she gasped. “Where are you going?”
Corisande yanked her arm away from her sister. “Stay here if you want to,” she said. “I am going to find out what is going on.”
Determined, she marched across the mashed grass towards the encampment of Scots. Gaia ran after her, clinging to her, and she found herself dragging her sister along. Gaia was so much dead weight as Corisande approached a group of Scots huddled around the nearest fire.
“Who is in command?” she demanded. “I want to speak with him.”
The Scots looked at her in surprise. One of them stood up, setting his meal aside to face her. His eyes grazed her from top to bottom, lingering on her breasts before returning to her face.
“Sit with us, lassie,” he said. “None of us have had the privilege of speaking with a proper English lass before.”
Corisande didn’t like the way he was looking at her. He made her skin crawl.
“If you do not take me to your commander, I will scream as if you are driving dirks into my heart,” she said. “I’ll scream loud enough to bring the English from Berwick. Will you take me your commander or should I start screaming?”
The man frowned, putting up his hands. “No need tae…”
Corisande started screaming. She screamed as loud as she could and when the Scots moved closer to her to shush her, she screamed louder and encouraged Gaia to scream, too. Soon, both of them were screaming their heads off and the Scots around the fire looked on with shock. Their screaming brought more Scots, however, running from all directions.
They were attracting quite a crowd, standing there and screaming as they were. It was quite unsettling and Corisande was coming to wonder if the screaming tactic had been a good idea. She brought attention, of course, but not the right kind. Finally, a tall, slender man with dark hair and a dark beard arrived, looking at the woman and the men surrounding them as if something terrible surely must have happened.