On the Patrin Path: Tales of Darkwood: Book 3 by Stacey Upton Bracey

Author:Stacey Upton Bracey [Upton Bracey, Stacey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: EWP Publications
Published: 2022-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bettina knocked on Gert’s door softly. Not getting a response, she stepped inside the darkened room. She half-expected to find the bed empty, Gert gone. But the girl lay sleeping in the tangled nest she’d made of her bed. One leg was outside of the quilt she’d made for her, the other tucked inside.

Moving quietly, Bettina looked for the chair she thought she remembered being in the room, but not seeing one, placed the small bundle of clothes she’d just finished sewing for Gert at the foot of the bed, where she’d find them in the morning.

It was so rare to see Gert quiet, and not moving some part of her body. There was nothing soft or vulnerable about her, even in sleep, but the stillness looked odd on her, as if something were wrong. She wished she could tuck Gert in, but it would only wake her.

Bettina brushed back dampness from her eyes. It was true, she thought. You love what you care for. It had just taken a little longer for love to grow and then seep through her like a wellspring. But love the twins she did, with every fiber of her being.

At least I can shut the window and keep her warm that way, she thought as a breeze wafted in, causing a shiver to run up her own body. Bettina reached for the iron hasp to close it when a stir of movement on the side street that ran next to the house caught her attention. She paused, waiting to see what had caused the shadows on the street to shift and tilt, running ahead of whatever was coming.

Moments later, she saw a group of soldiers. There were eight of them being led by a small boy and followed by a slender man on horseback. Bettina gasped as the group slowed right below her, then turned into the yard of Carlotta’s house. They crowded the narrow area, their weapons gleaming grey upon their black leathers. None of them whispered or spoke, and Bettina realized they were aiming for surprise.

The man maneuvered his horse through them, then gestured impatiently. The boy ran up the steps of her sister’s house and tapped on the door to the servants’ entrance. The man on horseback looked up, scanning the back of the house, and Bettina pulled her arm in before he could see her.

They were here for Harold. She knew it as surely as she knew her eyes were brown. The man on the horse must be that Marquis whose horse Harold had taken. Somehow, he’d followed the trail here. And if they couldn’t get Harold, Bettina was sure they’d think nothing of imprisoning and punishing his family in his stead. Having been on the road for a year with the Travellers, she knew that most folk thought of them as savages or animals, certainly lesser humans at the very least.

Thinking fast, she turned to Gert, and put a hand on her arm and shook her awake. Jumped back as Gert flashed a knife to her chest.

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