The Wretched of Muirwood (Legends of Muirwood 1)

“I am not your sister. I am only a wretched. Yet maybe…just maybe I can help you.” She squeezed her hands in frustration. Why wouldn’t he believe her? “The Aldermaston will not let them kill me. He is not that vicious.”

“I do not even know where I am going. So how can you help me get there?”

“I may know where you are going. If what I have heard is true, Garen Demont is mustering at Winterrowd.”

His eyes blazed, his expression frantic. “This you learned from the sheriff’s men? They know the gathering place?”

“How else would I have heard it? Do you know where Winterrowd is? If you are not Garen Demont, then you are loyal to him?”

He clenched his teeth even tighter, fighting to master himself and his frustration. Then he sighed heavily. A haggard look crossed his face. She knew she had won. “I am not Demont. Demont was the Earl of Liester. My father, the Earl of Forshee. The earldoms border each other. In a few months, I reach my majority where I may be invested with the earldom. Right now, my uncle holds it for me.” He sighed again, twitching with dread. “My name is Colvin Price. The king is my cousin.”

Lia gave him a satisfied smile, but kept her arms folded imperiously. “It took you long enough to tell me. So. You are joining the rebellion?”

“I am.”

“Where is Winterrowd?”

“I do not know. It is a coastal town, west of here. Somewhere in this Hundred. Demont landed in the country of Pry-Ree a fortnight ago. Do you know of it?”

She shook her head.

“It borders our realm to the north, separated by a little water, but there are ports on the south side not far from this Hundred. Not far to cross if you have enough boats. Much faster than traveling by land. When I learned about the summons, he had already set sail. His agent, a knight-maston, was to meet me at the outskirts of Muirwood Abbey and lead me there.”

“The knight-maston that brought you here?” Lia asked.

“I do not know. I never met the man.”

“He seemed to know you.”

“I would not doubt it. Perhaps he was told. Perhaps I misjudged him. When I came, I went to the village first, but did not feel safe there, even with a storm blowing. Too many questions. Too many suspicions. So rather than sleeping at one of the inns, I rode south, and then circled back towards the abbey another way. Someone followed me from the village. I thought I escaped him into the woods during the storm, but I remember hearing a noise, turning around, and something struck my head. I thought I had been captured. When I awoke, I was in the kitchen, sick to my stomach.”

“Yes, I had almost forgotten that part,” she replied, wincing at the memory. “A knight-maston brought you to the kitchen. You may have been running from him without knowing he was there to guide you.”

“Indeed. And yet I worry. I have been thinking on it and it makes sense. That when the sheriff arrived in the village, whoever it was who saved me was captured himself.”

“He seemed a clever enough man to me. Why would you fear his capture?”

He walked back through the stone doorway and stood facing the sky. “Because they were searching for me at the Abbey yesterday.” He turned and looked at her. “How else would they have known I was here? How would they have known to search the kitchen?”

Lia swallowed. That made sense. Hope wilted. “Then the knight-maston…is not coming back for you tonight. Is he?”

Colvin – that was his name – looked troubled. “I fear he will not, and I do not know the way to Winterrowd.”

“If the sheriff’s men are still looking for you, the road will be watched.”

“If I stay at Muirwood under the Aldermaston’s protection, then I have risked everything in vain. That is why I do not claim the protection of sanctuary. The Abbey may protect my life, but it can easily become a prison with the Aldermaston my keeper. There is too much to risk trusting him with my identity. I have come this far. I must go on. Demont needs to know that the king’s men are on the hunt and know about Winterrowd.”

Lia swallowed, feeling worse. “The sheriff said last night that the king was coming. The king himself.”

“Then it is even more urgent that I leave,” he said darkly. “My horse – where is he? You can help me get it? I could leave tonight.”

Lia bit her lip, thinking quickly. Then she remembered something – the orb in the Aldermaston’s study. The one she had seen him holding in the night that shone like a lamp. “I can lead you to your horse. Maybe I can also help you find the way to Winterrowd.”