White Lion's Lady Read Online Free Page B

ambling trod now deserted save for the ladies and their convoy of attending guards. And a shepherd with his flock, Isabel noted upon closer look. The old man stood about a furlong up the road, directly in the way of the traveling party, his sheep seeming to be hemmed in from the front and back, unwilling or unable to vacate the road.
    “Get those beasts out of the road, graybeard, and let us pass,” one of the armed escorts ordered.
    The shepherd merely stared, wide-eyed, unspeaking and uncooperative. Isabel wondered if he was deaf, for she could plainly hear the impatience in the knight’s voice. She could also hear the jingle of arms and gear; she couldsense the nervous anticipation of the horses as their riders waited in wary silence.
    Something felt queer about this delay. Something was frightfully wrong here. Isabel tried to lean farther out to get a better look at the situation up ahead.
    “Back inside now, my lady,” one of the guards advised in a low, even voice. “There is no cause for concern.”
    But there was. Isabel knew it by the schooled calmness in the man’s tone. She swallowed hard and sat back as she was told, praying she was only letting her imagination get the best of her. “ ’Tis nothing, I’m sure,” she told Felice, who was scowling across from her. “A shepherd and his flock have blocked the road. We’ll be off as soon as they’ve gone.”
    “I will tell you only once more,” the leader of the guards said to the shepherd. “Clear the road and let us pass.”
    “Oh, for pity’s sake,” Felice grumbled, loud enough for all to hear. “Trample the imbecile if he won’t make way!”
    The toe of Isabel’s slipper connected sharply with Felice’s shin, silencing the woman at the very moment that the true cause of their delay became horrifyingly clear to all. From out of the surrounding trees, an arrow flew. It hit its mark with lethal accuracy, claiming one of the guards and plunging the rest of the traveling party into chaos.
    Isabel and Felice could only listen in terror as an ambush ensued outside over the bleating of frightened sheep and the surprised shouts of the guards. There was the whoosh of more arrows, the pained cries of the men and horses, and soon thereafter, the metallic clash of blades. The horses carrying the litter shifted nervously amid the skirmish, making the veiled conveyance sway and lurch frightfully.
    “We’re being attacked!” Felice wailed, bursting into tears. “Dear God, we’re going to die!”
    Isabel wanted to calm the woman, but there was nothing she could say. Fear robbed her of her own voice. Shebraced her outflung hands against the framework sides of the shifting litter, struggling to keep a grip on her surroundings, as well as her sense of reason. She did not have to see the battle taking place outside to know that unless they took action, all too soon she and Felice would find themselves thrust into the fray.
    “Felice,” she hissed to the screaming young woman. “We can’t stay in here and wait for these brigands to find us. We will have to try to escape.”
    “Escape?” Felice hiccupped, her eyes wide and filled with tears. “But I’m afraid!”
    “So am I. Take my hand and let’s jump out the back of the litter.”
    Outside on the road, there was a clash of metal on metal, then a man cried out in agony. A horse gave a shrill whinny and sidled into the litter, nearly tipping it.
    “Felice,” Isabel whispered fiercely. “We must go now.”
    She reached out with one hand, but the sobbing girl would not take it.
    “We’ll be caught!” she croaked in protest. “We’ll never make it!”
    “It’s our only hope,” Isabel argued, scarcely harnessing the urge to shake Felice out of her mounting hysteria. “We have a good enough chance of escape, but we must go now.”
    Felice shook her head and sobbed. “No! I can’t go out there, Isabel! Please don’t make—”
    Stones crunched as heavy boots drew up beside the litter,