The Lady of Fairhaven (16 page)

The forest was so dense, Gillian was unable to see out over the landscape. Whether the countryside was familiar or not was undeterminable. Her only hope was to attempt to travel north using the sun as a guide. With any luck she might find a village where assistance might be offered.

Climbing up the mountain proved to be much easier than inching back down. The slope was steeper on the north side of the mountain and in many spots she had to sit and slide down or kneel and crawl down backwards. It was a slow process and if anyone were following her they would catch her quickly. Her bound hands made climbing nearly impossible, but she had no time to stop to work the thongs loose.

Her knowledge of plants helped ease the grumbling in her stomach. She pulled up plants by the roots and picked berries as she walked along. But what she needed most was a drink of water.

Suddenly, Gillian froze. She had heard a noise from some trees a short distance away. She sat down and hid behind a large evergreen.

It was none too soon that Gillian felt herself freeze with tension when a wolf broke through the underbrush. The mother and her cubs scampered through the clearing in search of something. Keeping a good distance, Gillian followed along. Her hunch as to what they were looking for was proved correct when the mother and her babies stopped for a drink in a small creek. Gillian knew she could be easily taken by a wolf but felt her size might deter an attack. Luckily, she didn’t have to find out because in a matter of minutes the mother directed her little one's away from the stream.

She waited for the animals to leave before she drank her fill. The pounding in her head was subsiding slightly, and she was feeling much improved as the cool liquid slid down into her belly. Her progress had been meager and feared she was still very much in danger of being recaptured if she did not put more distance between her present location and her starting point.

Not taking but two rest brief periods had worn her out and every muscle ached from head to toe. Her stomach complained of the lack of nourishment it missed. Leaves and berries simply teased her stomach into thinking more was to come.

By the end of the day, Gillian was hungry and exhausted. Without fire, she was at the mercy of the elements and any wild animal that might come around looking for a quick and easy meal. Even if she had the benefit of such a luxury, she might not have built a fire. With it came smoke and the opportunity to be discovered by those who would kill her. Without much argument about next steps, she looked for ways to survive through another cold night.

Finding a fallen log made her decision easy. She bent down on hands and knees and scraped together fallen evergreen needles and broad leaves. Designing a nest, nestled along the tree trunk, Gillian lined the bottom of her bed with a thick layer of forest litter. A pile of the same material was stocked next to her little bed so when she climbed in, she would cover the warm, soft, blankets she had carried with the excess.

Waiting for nightfall, she spent time working on breaking apart her leather constraints. When the light became too dim to see, she nestled into her bed, covered herself with the two blankets she had brought with her and covered all of her with leaves except her head. For the present time, she was warm in spite of being hungry.

“
Where’s Dog,” Luke mumbled as he dismounted from his horse. Luke and the search party had traveled south along the road. They figured that the cart had most certainly followed along the road. His men were spread out, looking for any sign that a cart had traveled along the road or maybe turned off nearby. Just a few minutes earlier, Dog had been leading the men when he jumped from the road and ran through some brush. They hadn’t seen nor heard him for several minutes. It seemed an unlikely spot to leave the road if traveling with a lady. The forest was particularly dense and overgrown.

“
There he is,” shouted one of the men. Moments later, Dog emerged from the woods, his tail wagging and throat bellowing. Luke ran to the spot. Dog immediately reentered the woods and led him through the brush. When Dog stopped, Luke looked around. He didn’t see anything at first, but then, upon closer inspection, a snippet of chemise lace was discovered on a broken branch. Before any sense of the tracks could be fashioned, Dog had bounded into the woods, barking and sniffing, sniffing and circling. Having no other leads, the men led their horses to follow.

Within a few minutes they reached a camp some distance from the road. One lone man sat at a campfire. Dog continued a concentrated search of the area.

Luke approached first. “Come Dog!” he commanded. Dog scampered back to his side.

The man at the campfire upon seeing Dog had drawn his sword. “How came you this way, good sir? This is a long way from the well traveled trail.”

“
I am hunting,” Luke answered truthfully. “It mattered naught which direction I took. I could ask the same of you.”

“
The same.” the man said. “There is much game in these woods.”

“
Indeed,” Luke said with a warning tone, “and much variety. Have you seen anyone else out here? Mayhap a woman?”

“
A woman? Why do you ask?” The man inquired. As he spoke, the man took a step backward and his hand shifted its grip on the hilt of his sword.

“
A lady was taken from Fairhaven just yesterday. Do you know of this?”

The man’s eyes grew wide with fear then he turned suddenly and ran hard toward his horse, tethered to a nearby tree.

“
Dog!” Luke commanded as he pointed at the running man. As if Dog had read the knight’s mind, he bounded after his prey and leaped forward, catching him in the calf of his leg. A scream of anguish broke the still forest calm.

“
Remove this fiend!” the man yelled. “He bit into my leg. Call him off.”

Luke walked toward the man slowly. Bending over him, he only watched as Dog bit again into the man’s leg with a shaking and tearing action. “Only when you answer my questions.” Seeing the man was still not willing to talk, Luke said, “I must confess, I have no patience and neither does my dog.” This said, the man lifted his arm and gritting his teeth from the pain, whispered, “I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Now please call off the dog.

“
Stay Dog,” Luke said. The animal loosened his grip on the man’s leg but stood at the ready to sink his fangs in deeper. His constant snarl warned the man of his preference.

“
Aye, My Lord, Aye. What should you want to know?”

“
You have seen the lady then?” Luke asked. He watched the man through narrowed angry eyes.

“
Aye. Me friend and I were to take the woman from Fairhaven. It was part of an agreement. A woman had said it was her wish to see the lady gone. She was worth a great deal of money to us. We wrapped her in her own tapestry. When we came here, she was still out cold. The lady who hired us said the drug should last but a few hours, but I never saw the woman come around”

“
What do you mean you never saw her come around? Where is she now!” Luke roared.

The man had regained his composure and was eyeing Luke and the other men differently. “Well now,” he said with a lilt to his voice, “there’s the problem.” Taking a sitting position, the man said, “You see, I went to meet my friend at our place, and he never showed up. He left me alone with this problem. I suppose you are here to collect the chit and collect the reward for yourself. I imagine there are many who would like to do this.”

“
It is dangerous to abduct a lady.” Luke said with an almost feral growl.

“
The bounty the lady offered made it worthwhile. The tale has passed far and wide. There are probably many that would claim her and the money. She is comely and would warm a bed nicely.”

To hear the man speak of Gillian like this infuriated Luke, but he knew that as long as the man thought he was out to collect the reward, he might keep talking. “Where is she now?”

“
When I went back for the lady, she was gone.”

“
You left a lady alone and unconscious in the forest?” Luke clenched his fists and started to move toward the man.

With arms raised, the other knight said, “She couldn’t go too far. She was tied up.”

Luke could take no more of the man’s stupidity. He raised his fist and let it fly, connecting solidly with flesh and bone. The man’s jaw popped with the impact and he sat straight down on the ground. Luke grabbed him up by his tunic to inflict a second hit.

Simon reached around and grabbed Luke’s shoulder. “If you want him to lead us to his old camp you had best leave the man conscious. But I have no doubt Dog can find it without the man’s aid. I have half a notion to bloody the man myself or leave him helpless like he did with our lady.” Luke’s hands released the man and let him fall to the ground.

By nightfall, Luke and his party of searchers had found the man’s first campsite. Pieces of leather strips lay on the ground within a hollow filled with leaves.

Turning toward the would-be kidnapper, Luke said, “What provisions did you leave with the lady?”

“
Well, none!” The man sounded astounded at the question. “I was planning on coming right back for her. Haven’t you heard anything I’ve said to you?” The man immediately realized he never should have said what he had. Trembling slightly, he quickly added, “She did have two blankets to keep her warm. And she must have enjoyed them because it was as cold as it could be. I know because I certainly had no benefit from them.”

They tied the kidnapper up and decided to leave him until their return. They rode on, following Dog as he sniffed his way through the forest

The men were forced to make camp in the dark. Although he feared Dog might lose the sent, Luke also knew the horses would never be able to find their way through the rough forest at night. Half crazed with worry, Luke knew the afternoon air was already too cold and the temperature was bound to keep falling enough to cover ponds with ice.

The next morning, Gillian awoke stiff and achy, but well enough to drink heavily from the brook and be on her way. She was considerably weaker than the day before. A lack of food had sapped some of her strength. If she stayed in place, however, she feared her abductor might find her, and if she didn’t move on she would surely die of exposure.

Again she set off to the north. Her route followed the stream and it allowed her cool drinks if nothing else. She stopped twice to eat some berries, but the thorns hurt more than the nourishment refreshed her. Gillian’s journey had been uneventful until she heard some rustling noises in the shrubbery along the water’s edge.

Gillian only glanced to her left but it was enough to send a chill throughout her body. The same female wolf she had avoided the day before was staring at her from some bushes. Her gray and white face was beautiful. She appeared alert to the world around her and curious.

Out of sight, Gillian could hear the cubs squeaking their encouragement from a safe distance. Backing away from the animal slowly. Gillian carefully picked up a handful of river stones and prepared herself for an attack. Her only weapons were rocks and two blankets that she herself would need if she planned on surviving another night without a fire.

There was no way she could defeat a wolf. This most certainly was going to be her end. Gillian reached behind her, careful not to take her eyes off the wolf. She was feeling for some sort of handholds on the rocky face of the cliff. Finding one, she slowly turned and pulled herself up the cliff. As she turned her head back to look, she could see the wolf had crept ever closer, ears pressed back against her big head and her white fangs gleaming, ready to tear into her. But by luck, Gillian was able to pull her body out of the reach of the menacing animal. The wolf watched from below, waiting for its next meal to come tumbling down.

The climb was not difficult except for the straps still binding Gillian’s wrists. She had to make sure both feet were securely placed before moving both hands up. Climbing about twenty feet up the vertical face, Gillian paused at a narrow ledge about half way up. The most difficult part of the climb was now behind her. Resting for only a couple of minutes, she returned to the climb. At last her fingers securely bit into the rock crevices and Gillian was able to push with her legs to hoist herself up and over the lip of the ledge. She sat there catching her breath before noticing she was only on a ledge a good twenty feet from the top. Exhausted, she wondered how she would ever be able to climb any farther up. It was going to be a very difficult climb with only a few places to grab onto. The ledge had no horizontal path the wolf might climb to reach her, but there was a possibility that it might reach the top and trap her. But for right now, she at least felt safe. The ledge was wide enough for Gillian to sit and rest and not worry.

For some time she worked her wrists over the jagged edges of broken rock. After some time her arms trembled from the exertion, and she forced herself to rest. She knew she would never be able to move up the cliff without freeing her hands. As she waited for her arms to regain strength, she watched the wolf pace below. With renewed efforts, Gillian again sawed the leather thong over the sharp rocks. Several times she heard the wolf attempt to climb up to her. It only reinvigorated her efforts. Soon the razor sharp fragments cut into her wrists and a trail of blood dripped down over the stone face. She was forced to stop trying to break through the tough leather binding her.

Gillian had no intention of finding out if a wolf could get to the top. She was going to climb up. Her fingers slid on the crumbly surface and cut on sharp stones, but she was determined to succeed. Within an hour, she had only about five feet to the top. Her strength was almost gone and her fingers cut and nails broken. There were no second chances. Either she made the summit or possibly freeze on the ledge.