She looked across to where Eadulf had been bound. He was not there. His severed bonds lay discarded, and nearby, a wooden platter on which the slices of venison still lay uneaten. Her heart lurched with a quick beat of hope.
There came to her ears the whinny of a distant horse, and the receding sound of the animal crashing along the trail beyond the clearing.
Then there came a cacophony of several voices crying at once.
‘One of the horses has broken loose!’
‘The Saxon! He is escaping!’
She heard Clydog’s almost hysterical cry: ‘The Saxon? Is it true? Has he gone?’
The outlaw came pushing into the hut, saw the severed bonds, and glanced down at Fidelma. His teeth clenched.
‘Have no fear, Gwyddel. We will find him. These woods are well known to us; we know them like the backs of our hands. When we bring him back you will both enjoy a pain so exquisite that you will be pleading for me to kill you in order to put an end to it. Death will come as a merciful release.’
‘First you will have to catch Eadulf,’ she spat back angrily. ‘So far, Clydog, you have not been able to fulfil any of your boasts. I doubt whether you can fulfil this one.’
She saw murder in his eyes there and then. As she braced herself, Corryn suddenly appeared at his side and caught his arm.
‘The Saxon is escaping!’ he hissed. ‘No time for this now. Your personal vengeance can wait.’
Clydog hesitated, eyes blazing. It seemed several moments before he had his temper under control. Then he turned out of the hut, shouting orders. Fidelma heard a movement in the clearing, the sounds of horses being mounted, and the snap of undergrowth as they departed. She was left alone in the darkness of the hut.
One part of her rejoiced that Eadulf had managed to escape and hoped that he would be able to avoid his pursuers. The other part of her mind sank into a troubled feeling of gloomy isolation as she realised that she was now alone and helpless at the hands of Clydog and his band of cut-throats. Clydog’s temper would be uncontrollable when he returned. She lay listening to the sound of the receding horses, and wondered where Eadulf would make for. She presumed that he would try to head for Llanwnda and seek help from either Brother Meurig or Gwnda, the lord of Pen Caer. But, even if he succeeded, it would be some time before he could bring rescuers back to this place, even if he could find it again, and provided Clydog did not move camp in the meantime.
She tugged futilely at her bonds. They were firm enough. She wondered how much time she had before Clydog and his men returned.
She prayed that Eadulf would elude them.
Then, in the darkness, she heard a sound. Turning, she saw the shadow of a man enter the hut.
Chapter Ten
Fidelma tried to struggle up to defend herself as best she could.
‘Quiet!’ hissed a voice.
Fidelma gasped in disbelief. ‘Eadulf!’ she whispered, partly in relief and partly in consternation. ‘What are you doing here? I thought you were long gone.’
Eadulf dropped to his knees beside her. She felt his hands working quickly at her bonds.
‘My hope is Clydog and his carrion thought the same as you; that I had escaped on horseback,’ came back his cheery voice.
‘How did you manage to free yourself?’
‘Simple. When the man brought me the venison, I asked him to loose one hand so that I could lift the food to my mouth. The idiot did so, thinking that he had restricted me enough, but I was soon able to pick at the knots and-’
‘Clydog will kill us both if he captures us again,’ she interrupted.
‘I know. I heard what was happening. Are you harmed at all?’ His voice was slightly embarrassed.
‘I am not hurt. But Clydog is hurt in more than his pride,’ she replied with grim satisfaction.
‘I knew that you would be able to keep him entertained with your defensive techniques. I was going to wait inside the hut and then release you. But when I heard Clydog had decided to make me a martyr in the fullness of my youth, I decided not to encourage such an ambition. I slipped into the woods unobserved and watched them take you back to the hut. Then I let loose one of the horses and gave it a slap on the flanks to encourage it to gallop off down the trail.’
He gave a quick exhalation of breath and Fidelma felt the rope round her wrist suddenly slacken.
‘I’m free!’ she said quickly, rubbing her wrists to restore the circulation.
Eadulf helped her to stand up.
‘What now?’ she asked him, knowing that he would have already thought out some plan.
‘I saw that they had left our two horses still tethered. I suggest we take them and ride in the opposite direction to the one which they have taken.’
They started out of the hut and then Fidelma suddenly pulled him back. He realised why almost immediately.
‘Halt!’ cried a voice. An outlaw who had been left on guard came racing towards the hut. They saw the flash of firelight on the naked blade of his sword. ‘Stand still. You cannot escape.’
Eadulf acted swiftly. He reached down, picked up a handful of mud and threw it at the man. It was not thrown with any degree of force but simply to distract the outlaw, who parried it with ease. At the same time, Eadulf dived towards a wood pile and seized the first log he could from the stack. He swung round, almost in the same rolling motion, and came into a defensive crouch as his assailant recovered, realising there was no danger from the makeshift missile. Not waiting for the outlaw to move, Eadulf was on him, brandishing the wood above his head. The men were too close for the sword to be used effectively, and a moment later Eadulf had sent the wood crashing against the side of the man’s head.
‘Come on!’ he called to Fidelma, even before the outlaw had fallen to the ground. Fidelma was already untying the horses. With Eadulf leading, they set off at a brisk canter along the track which led in the opposite direction to the trail which Clydog and his men had taken.
It was fairly dark and the woods with their canopy of branches increased the darkness. A sudden wind was whipping at the treetops. Fidelma glanced up into the darkness.
‘It will be raining before long, Eadulf,’ she called. ‘This wind is a harbinger of a storm, I’ll warrant it.’
‘Then it might help rather than hinder us,’ replied Eadulf. ‘At least it might hide any tracks.’
She could not be sure how far they had travelled, except that it was a fair distance, when a short time later the sky suddenly lit with a momentary flash of lightning, followed almost immediately by a harsh rumble of thunder which caused the horses to shy and whinny in protest. Rain, like cold, icy pinpricks, began to fall, quickly increasing in intensity.
‘We are not going to get far at this rate,’ Fidelma called. ‘Any idea where we are?’
‘I could not see the stars. There were too many storm clouds before this set in to be sure,’ replied Eadulf, ‘but I think we are heading west or south-west. The forest was due south from Llanpadern.’
His words were punctuated by another flash, and almost immediately the crash of thunder reverberated once again.
‘We’ll have to find some shelter out of this,’ Eadulf said. ‘This rain is too intense.’
‘It might be providential as the rain will wash away our tracks,’ replied Fidelma. ‘We’d best dismount and lead the horses. The thunder and lightning are making them skittish.’
Eadulf reluctantly acknowledged that it was the best course. He knew Fidelma was an expert horsewoman, learning to ride almost before she could walk. He was more used to travelling on foot. They dismounted and began to lead the animals along the track, feeling it turning to a muddy slushy mess beneath their feet as the rain gushed down through the trees.
It was just after another bright flash that Eadulf halted and pointed along a small pathway leading off the main track which had been illuminated by the lightning.