Unable to stand anymore, Roux surged forward. "Enough!" he cried, and he put all the long years of command he'd learned into his voice.
Heads turned in his direction. Several townspeople drew back from him fearfully as the English soldiers converged on him with drawn swords and maces.
Roux drew his saber with a rasp of metal. "Set her free!" he thundered. "By God, you'll set her free or you'll know the fiery pits of Hell yourselves for judging her so harshly!"
Before he could take another step, something crashed into the back of Roux's skull. The English soldiers took away his saber and kicked him dozens of times, breaking his ribs and the fingers of his right hand. They stopped short of killing him.
While Roux was being beaten, the English commander took the maiden warrior's famed sword and raised it high. The broadsword, plain and unadorned, gleamed in the firelight. He put the tip against the ground and his foot at the center of the blade.
The broadsword shattered, falling into fragments in the mud.
Peasant and soldier pushed forward and snatched the shards from the trampled mud. The commander tossed the hilt deep into the crowd.
Smoke obscured almost everything by then, but Roux still saw her. She continued praying until the end, until finally the flames climbed her body and she sagged against the restraints.
Roux wept, barely hanging on to consciousness.
"Did you see it?" an English soldier shouted suddenly. The frantic note in his voice drew the attention of his comrades away from Roux. "Did you see the dove? A white dove left her body at the moment she died!"
Consternation filled the crowd. They drew back from the blazing pyre. The French separated from the English. In that moment, Roux couldn't hold on any longer. He sunk into familiar inky blackness.
Chapter 1
Lozère, France
Present Day
SHE WAS BEING followed.
Annja Creed knew that from experience. She'd been followed before. Stalked, actually. On two occasions – once in Venice and once outside Berlin – the experience had ended in violence.
"Wait," Annja told her young guide.
Avery Moreau, seventeen years old and French, his hair a thick black shock and his demeanor sulky, stopped. Thin and lanky, dressed in his American jeans, red pullover and gray Nike hoodie, he didn't look as if he'd be particularly helpful in a physical encounter.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I want to look at this." Annja stood in front of the shop window and gazed with interest.
The young man glanced at the window, then back at her. "You're thinking about going fishing?"
For the first time, Annja took her attention from the reflection of the two men following her and really looked at the shop window. Pierre's Rods And Flies was written in French.
It was funnier, Annja supposed, in English. Kind of an unintentional double entendre. But it was a bad cover to stop and check out the guys following her.
"In case I stay up on the mountain," Annja said.
"You're going to stay in the mountains?"
Actually, Annja wasn't planning on that. She had a day hike in mind. But she was getting a later start than she'd have liked. Finding provisions and supplies in Lozère was proving more difficult than she had expected.
"I'm not planning to," Annja replied, "but I've learned to be ready for anything."
The two men following her were in their early twenties, no more than two or three years younger than she was. They looked like hard guys off the street, dressed in leather jackets and jeans. Attitude rolled off them in waves. An old woman carrying a bag of groceries crossed the street to avoid them.
They weren't, Annja decided, the kind of guys who normally hung out in a small tourist town like Lozère. Metropolitan arenas seemed to be their more likely hunting grounds. They looked like the kind of men a single woman in a strange place would do better to avoid.
She wasn't afraid, though. At five feet ten inches, athletic and full-figured, and in shape from running, climbing, and martial arts, she knew she could take care of herself. Her chestnut-colored hair was tied back. Wraparound sunglasses hid her amber-green eyes.
However, she was worried about the young man with her. Avery Moreau didn't look as if he'd had to fight thieves in his short lifetime.
What are you doing here? Annja wondered. Why would anyone be following me?
"What will you do with fishing gear?" Avery asked.
"If I get trapped in the mountains," Annja explained, "by a storm or by bears – " She looked at him. "You did say there were bears, didn't you?"
He shook his head. "Wolves. I said there were wolves."
Annja nodded. "Right. Wolves, then."
The two men weren't going away. They stood across the street and tried to look inconspicuous. It didn't work. They might as well have been standing there with fireworks going off and wearing Scottish kilts in a Marilyn Monroe pose.
Who are you? Annja wondered.
She'd been in France for two days. She was rooming at a bed and breakfast outside of Lozère. So far, no one had bothered her.
But that was before she'd come into town and started asking questions about La Bête. The creature was one of French legend and its mystery had never been solved. She'd come to Lozère in an attempt to solve it.
And to get paid by Chasing History's Monsters, the cable show she did occasional pieces for to subsidize legitimate work in her field. It was strange how archaeologists could get paid more for something that remained mysterious, riddled with myth, and might never have been factual at all than for an honest look at history.
During the past two days, however, the local populace had learned that "the insane American woman" – they didn't know how well she spoke French or how acute her hearing was – was seeking the legendary monster.
"Well?" Avery prompted. He acted surly, as if he had something else he'd rather be doing.
"What?" Annja asked.
"Did you want me to take you to your car?" Avery had arranged to rent a truck that Annja would drive up into the Cévennes Mountains.
"In a moment." Annja nodded toward the shop. "Let's go inside."
She led the way, opening the door and causing the little bell over it to tinkle. Avery followed glumly.
Inside, the shop had a wooden floor and a simple demeanor. Shelves built into the walls held lures, line, reels and other fishing gear. Racks in the center of the room held up waterproof pants, vests and shirts. Farther back, displays of rubber boots, waders, seines and other equipment filled the floor.
"May I help you, miss?" a tiny old man behind the scarred counter asked. He polished his glasses on his shirt, then blinked at her and waited.
"Yes," Annja replied in French. "I'm looking for a tent pole."
"You don't have a tent," Avery said.
The old man pointed to one of the back corners.
Annja spotted a bin containing wooden dowels an inch in diameter and four feet long. They were treated and varnished, improving their strength against wear and the elements.
Retreating to the back of the shop, Annja took one of the rods from the bin. She spun it experimentally for a moment, moving it from one hand to the other, and found the dowel acceptable.
She returned to the counter. "This is great. I'll take it."