Martyr's Fire by Sigmund Brouwer

Author:Sigmund Brouwer [Brouwer, Sigmund]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-73209-5
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2013-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

“Our friend Thomas is free,” Hawkwood said. “Yet there is much that troubles me.”

Katherine watched his features closely. There is much that troubles me too. I cannot shake my last vision of him. The reins in his hands. The stallion in full flight. And her … far too beautiful, and Thomas behind her on that horse, holding her far too tight.

Katherine did not voice those thoughts. Instead, she said simply, “I am sorry you are troubled.”

They stood at the crossroads outside the town walls of York. Behind them lay the confusion and chaos of an entire population buzzing with the incredible news. The lord’s daughter has been taken hostage! Kidnapped in daylight beneath the very noses of the courtyard knights!

Those same knights had already scattered in all directions from the crossroads where Hawkwood and Katherine and a handful of travelers now stood, each knight engaged in useless pursuit of a powerful horse long since gone on roads that would carry no tracks.

Hawkwood, however, had his head bent even lower now as he searched the hard ground of the well-traveled roads.

“Stay with me,” he said softly, leading the horses. “We shall talk as we follow Thomas.”

“Follow Thomas?” Katherine echoed with equal softness. “Half an army runs in circles of useless pursuit. If he has escaped them, most surely he has also escaped us.”

Hawkwood laughed quietly. “Hardly, my child. Do you not remember the puppy he left behind with his secret treasure of books?”

Of course. In the excitement of his escape, Katherine had allowed herself to forget that Thomas must soon return to the cave that held those books.

“Yes,” she said quickly. “We shall find him there. We know he’ll have to get back to his books within several days. After all, regardless of his plans, he will not let the puppy die of starvation.”

Hawkwood continued his low chuckle. “That only demonstrates that once again when you think of Thomas, you think with your heart. You wish him to have the nobleness of mind that would not let an innocent animal die a horrible death.”

“It is otherwise?” Katherine challenged, even though her face flushed at Hawkwood’s remark.

“Perhaps not. But others might believe Thomas will return to his puppy merely because of the more valuable books nearby.”

Katherine ignored that. “So we proceed back to the valley of the cave and wait.”

“Not so,” Hawkwood replied. “That is far too long, and time is now too precious.”

“Until then?” Katherine asked. She did not want to think about the days Thomas would pass in the company of such an attractive hostage, one who had once claimed a true love for Thomas.

“We will find Thomas by nightfall,” Hawkwood promised. His head was still down, and he still examined the ground carefully.

“That shows much confidence.”

“No,” Hawkwood said, smiling. “Foresight.”

Hawkwood grinned triumph and then hurried ahead on the road that led northeast to Scarborough on the North Sea.

Several minutes later, Hawkwood stopped and dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Speak truth now,” he warned. “An hour back, in York, you

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