“They are dense,” she agreed.
Myles shook his head and studied the area around them. “Now that I have been in here I am starting to think my father is right in that these woods should have been felled a long time ago. If only to step the rumours circulating about the priory.”
Estelle jerked and leaned back to look up at him.
“A priory? So that’s what that was,” she murmured.
“You have seen it?” He frowned at her. “The priory is in ruins. Did you see it the other night?”
Estelle nodded. “Yes, and an old lady’s cottage. She was the one who warned me to get out of the woods but disappeared before I could ask her how to.”
Myles looked at her. “I have just seen her. Do you know who she is?”
Estelle looked at him nervously. “No, I thought you might. I just assumed she was a villager.”
Myles shook his head. “As far as I know nobody should be living in these woods. They are part of the estate, and private property. I have never heard of a cottage, though, especially near to the priory.”
“Who is she then?” Estelle began to quake in her boots. “Do you think she is one of those cloaked figures we saw the other night?”
“I think she might be,” Myles sighed. “You may have ventured too near to them. Whatever they are doing in these woods it is illegal because they are trespassing. They shouldn’t be here, and they know it.”
“Which way do we go to get out?” Estelle murmured. Even though Myles was with her, the urgency to leave was just as strong as it had been before. She rested her head against his chest for a moment, taking refuge in the steady beat of his heart.
Myles cupped the back of her head and held her there while he placed a tender kiss on her forehead. “I don’t know. I have completely lost all sense of direction. Let’s just walk in one direction and see where we end up. As soon as we can reach the edge of these woods I will know where we are and can get us home from there.”
Estelle nodded. She knew that whether they were in the woods or not she would follow him anywhere. When he didn’t immediately move, she looked up at him. Before caution to warn her otherwise, she stood up on tiptoe and kissed his lips. He instinctively dipped his head and captured her lips in a fuller embrace.
Suddenly, the loud crackle of twigs and dried leaves nearby made him look up. Every instinct went on alert. He tried to tune into the cause of the noise but heard nothing else. When Estelle tried to speak, he shook his head and placed a cautionary finger over her lips. He pointed to the trees ahead. Estelle nodded and took his hand. Together, they began to walk.
Minute later, Myles stopped. He stared blankly at the floor while he tried to hear it again; the noise that was so disturbing he knew they had just stumbled across something dangerous.
“Do you hear it? Chanting,” Estelle whispered directly into his ear.
He nodded and crept forward. “I think it is coming from the priory. We are here, look.”
He quietly tugged a large branch down in front of them so that they could peer through the leaves at the aged ruins standing at the far end of a small clearing. It wasn’t the decaying stonework that drew their attention, though, even though the voids where there had once been window stared down at them like watchful eyes. It was the figures standing at each point of a pentagram, chanting rhythmically as they swung jars of what looked like smoking herbs before them that held them in frozen horror.
“Look,” Estelle whispered. She nodded to the edge of the ruins, to two figures, one more resplendently dressed than the others in a red and black cloak with a pointed hood. The one seemingly deep in conversation with the now familiar black cloaked figure also wore a cincture from which hung several items all of which looked sinister; a dagger; the skull of a small animal, several herbs of some sort, a small vial of something.
“What are they?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” Myles replied. He closed his eyes on a silent prayer that they wouldn’t be noticed. “Devil worshippers of some kind I expect.”
Estelle shook her head. “It’s evil.”
“They aren’t worshipping God, now, are they? The church is several miles away, which is the reason they are here no doubt,” he added.
Estelle could hear the anger in his voice. “Just don’t try to challenge them on your own. There are more of them than us and we don’t know how to get out of here.”
“I do now,” Myles sighed. “We are not lost any more. Just stay close to me.”
He scoured the area but could see no more than six people.
“What?” she asked when she saw his frown.
“There isn’t a cottage in these woods, Estelle,” he said, his breath barely above a whisper.
“There is,” she insisted. “It is over there.”