Lion's Bride - Iris Johansen [110]
The soldiers rushed forward, the gates swung open, and they rode through.
A wild surge of joy soared through Thea.
Kadar rode up to the wagon and said in a low tone, “We can’t look as if we’re in too much of a hurry, so we’ll go at a moderate pace until we’re out of sight.”
“I want to ride,” Selene said.
“We’re all aware of that. Later.” He spurred on ahead of the wagon. “I’ll go ahead to spy out the road over the hill.”
What awaited them over that hill? Thea tensed as she remembered how fragile was the freedom she had welcomed so joyously.
“This wagon is too heavily loaded.” Ware’s voice was as tense as Ware felt. “We’re going to have to move fast. Is it worth your life?”
No, but it represented two long years of her life. Disappointment washed through her. “Can we hide the wagon somewhere and come back for it?”
“There’s a grove several miles up the road. We can hide it there.” Ware paused. “But I won’t promise we’ll come back for it. It may prove too dangerous.”
Not for her. She would find a way to retrieve her precious silks. “Then we’ll hide the trunks and wagon and loose the horses to return to El Sunan.”
“I didn’t think you’d be this sensible,” he said slowly.
“I’m not stupid. I can see that we must move quickly. I won’t risk our lives.”
Kadar was waving from the top of the hill.
No riders in sight.
They had just finished hiding the trunks and wagon deep in the grove and brushing all signs of their passing away with branches when Kadar heard the hoofbeats.
He lifted his head like one of his falcons scenting wind. “He’s coming.”
Ware went still. Then, as he heard them too, he exploded into motion. “Take the horses and watch out for the women, Kadar.” He ran toward the road.
Thea was right behind him.
Dozens of torches moved in a molten stream from the north. The horsemen would be there within a few minutes.
“What will we do?” Thea whispered.
He drew her back into the screen of trees. “Pray that Kemal won’t decide to water the horses at the brook. He may not. It’s only a short distance to El Sunan.”
“And if he does?”
“Circle around the south end of the grove and hope we’re not seen.”
She watched with horror as the fiery torches bore down on them. It would be her fault if they were captured, she thought, stricken. It had been at her insistence that they’d stopped to hide the wagon instead of abandoning it. Their lives might be forfeit because she had wanted to ensure Selene’s and her own future well-being.
The flames came nearer.
The hooves beat louder on the rocky ground.
The riders were close enough now so that she could see the cloud of dust surrounding them.
The banner.
The golden eyes of the lions shimmered with a strange luminosity in the torchlight. Thea shivered, as if those eyes could pierce the shrubbery and see them where they hid.
Idiocy. She was being as foolish as Kemal. This was a banner made of silk and thread and the fruit of her labor. It was fear that made her imagine anything else.
Her glance moved to Kemal riding behind the banner. His expression was grimmer than she had ever seen it.
The riders were only a few yards away now.
She held her breath.
Kemal hesitated, glanced at the grove, made a half motion as if to rein in.
No, please. Go on.
The flag bearer had drawn even with the trees behind which Ware and Thea were hiding.
Shimmering golden eyes.
Don’t stop, she prayed.
Kemal shook his head and his spurs dug into his horse.
The riders swept past them in a roar of thunder and a cloud of dust.
Thea sank back against the tree, limp with relief.
Another chance. They had been given another chance.
“Come along.” Ware took her arm and drew her away from the road. “It’s only a reprieve. The moment Kemal reaches El Sunan and finds we’re gone, he’ll wait only to change horses before he sets out again. We have to make use of that time.”
“And where do we go from here?” Kadar was striding toward them. “Dundragon?”
“Where’s Selene?” Thea demanded.
“I told her to stay and tend the horses. I wasn’t sure what I’d find here.” He asked Ware again, “Dundragon?