The Camelot Spell - Laura Anne Gilman [28]
“Whatever it carries save our food,” Ailis bargained. “Killing children by starvation is no better.” Gerard had kept the map on him, and his belongings were tied to his own saddle. Anything she or Newt had placed on the mule could be well lost if it let them live. Hopefully the boys would agree.
The leader waved one hand carelessly, and two of his followers began going through the mule’s packs, removing the packets of food and waterskins, first sniffing them to make sure they contained nothing more interesting than watered-down wine.
“Down you get, little merchant,” one of the bandits said, appearing by Ailis’s side with unnerving silence. His hands were huge, and he lifted her down from the saddle without trouble. She held her breath, thankful that she had tucked up the skirt she wore over her trousers in order to ride, praying that the darkness would keep him from noticing her gender.
“Be good,” she said to her horse, patting it on the neck as the bandit led it away. She felt terribly isolated on the ground, and the look Gerard was giving her when he dismounted to take up the discarded foodstuffs made her feel even worse. So when the leader strode toward her, she had to force herself not to run from him, but stand tall, every inch the defiant boy they thought she was.
The other bandits had already disappeared into the darkness with their prizes, barely a word spoken among them. Their silence was more frightening than anything else.
“You.” The bandit leader gestured to Newt. “Take up your companion, boy. It’s the least you could do.” He vanished into the shadows as Newt moved his horse closer, putting out a hand for Ailis to take and pulling her up behind him.
She could feel Newt’s back tense when she put her arms around him, but this horse was wider and higher up from the ground than she was used to, and she wasn’t going to risk falling—especially since he had the reins. Not that she didn’t trust him, but it was a long fall to the hard ground and…
She suddenly realized that Gerard was still staring at her with that disbelieving, betrayed expression on his face, clearly visible in the moonlight.
“What?” she asked him. “What was I supposed to do? Let them take everything we had, maybe kill us, too?”
“I wouldn’t have—”
“You would have argued, maybe challenged them? And where would that get us, except dead? And no mission, no Merlin. So we’ve lost one horse and the mule. They let us keep most of the supplies, which they wouldn’t have if I hadn’t amused them.” Not to mention, which she wasn’t going to, what they might have done if they had realized that she was a girl. She shied away from that thought and went on. “You’re afraid that with two of us on Newt’s horse we’ll move too slowly? Do you want me to get down and walk then?”
Neither boy answered. Ailis felt as if they were blaming or, worse, punishing her for their loss of goods. She felt a cold tension burning inside her at their continued silence. It was as though it were consuming everything in its path, leaving her hollow and shaking, caught up in an abyss. Her mouth opened to scald them with her anger, but no more words came out. A tight fist clenched in her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
“Let’s go,” Newt said finally, moving his gelding forward and startling Ailis who wrapped her arms around his waist to stay on. He could jibe at Gerard’s pretensions endlessly for the entertainment of it, but seeing Ailis so angry at the other boy made Newt uncomfortable.
“Go?” Gerard repeated stupidly.
“Moon’s going to be overhead soon.” Newt looked up and the others followed suit. It seemed like hours while they were facing down the bandits, but in truth it had only been a span of minutes. The moonlight still slanted down onto the water, but the path somehow seemed less solid, more of a dream or an