Knight's Prize by Sarah McKerrigan Read Free Book Online Page B

enchanted elves. Forsooth, Rand almost
believed, by the exaggerated accounts of the outlaw he sought, citing the man
as nigh invisible, as fast as lightning, as quiet as death, that The Shadow was
such a creature.
    Rand
shook his head. 'Twas little wonder the lords continued to be terrorized by
the robber when they endowed him with such impossible talents and such an
ominous name. The Shadow indeed. No doubt he was a mere mortal of desperate
means who answered to Wat or Hob or some other humble appellation.
    Thus
far, however, Rand had been unable to find even a trace of his passing
in a few hours of hunting. No crumbs or coney carcasses lay discarded by
the path. None of the mos s on the rocks was flattened by the weight
of a rob ber's
arse. No scent
of smoke lingered on the air. No branches had been bent into a shelter. No
human dung lit tered
the leaves. Naught existed to indicate anyone took refuge in the wood at all.
    He
was examining a broken stick on the path when he felt that telltale prickling
on the back of his neck again, the prickling that told him he wasn't alone.
    Carefully,
so as not to raise suspicion, he picked up a dead tree limb by the side of the
trail and began stripping off the side branches, humming as he did so. When he
was finished, he stabbed it into the ground a few times, testing its strength
for use as a walking stick. But all the while his senses were highly alert and
finely tuned, listening for the slightest breath of sound, looking for the merest
flicker of light.
    Behind
him. He was certain the intruder was behind him.
    Whistling
softly, he proceeded down the path at a jaunty pace, letting his purse dangle
and bounce from his belt, sending up a merry clank of coins sure to tempt any
robber.
    He
knew the thief must be following him, though he was making too much noise
himself to hear any pursuit. Rounding a spot where the path curved and
disappeared momentarily, he let a piece of silver drop to the ground and moved
on, as if oblivious to his loss.
    But
instead of continuing down the trail, he ducked behind a screen of bushes and
hefted up the walking stick, waiting to waylay the unwitting outlaw.
    The
instant he saw the flash of blue cloth, he sprang forward. But to his horror,
the scoundrel he collided with was neither Wat nor Hob. 'Twas Lady Miriel.
    What
happened next, he wasn't sure. In one moment, he was lunging toward her, trying
in vain to slow his momentum. In the next, he seemed propelled forward with
even greater force, past her and into the holly bushes opposite, as if the
walking stick had taken on a life of its own and catapulted him there.
    "Oh!
Rand!"
    After a a moment of stunned
disbelief, he managed to disentan gle h imself from the shrubbery, wincing
as the sharp
leaves scraped his cheek. What the bloody hell had just happened?
    Miriel
stood before him, her trembling hands clasped at her breast, all innocence, but
for the sliver of a silver coin visible between her fingers. "Are you all
right?"
     
    Chapter 5
    MIriel
didn't know why she'd bent down to pick up that dropped coin.
Perchance 'twas simply instinct bred from long years of watching every farthing
of the household accounts. But now she suspected it had been a trap. Rand,
sensing someone was following him, had j dropped
the coin intentionally, meaning to waylay who ever
retrieved it. j
    The
fool was fortunate he'd lost no more than his balance. Startling her like
that, he might have suffered far worse than just a few holly scratches. If she
hadn't caught herself at the last instant, she might have broken his arm   or sent him into temporary oblivion with a
sharp blow to the chin.
    Not
that he didn't deserve it. Her instincts had proved correct. The varlet was up
to something.
    She'd
been following him for a while now. Solving the troubles at the castle hadn't
taken long. She'd sent a lad to another monastery for more wine. She'd employed
tears to convince the spice merchant to lower his price. And she'd suggested
the