The leader barked back, “If Claybrook finds out you called his future bride anything but Lady Margaretha, you may not be in any condition for fighting.”
He grunted and muttered something under his breath.
Margaretha had stopped crying to listen to them. She hoped they would hurry. At any moment, Colin might emerge from the forest and try to save her. If he did, he would be outnumbered and surely would be killed.
“You will take me back to my mother? Is she still safe?”
The leader looked at her for a moment. “Lord Claybrook had no plans to kill your mother.”
“Will you take me to her, then?”
“Of course.” The leader dismounted. “You may ride with me, Lady Margaretha. I am Sir Gisborne.”
Margaretha nodded.
He helped her onto the back of his horse, where a sort of extra saddle was attached behind his own. Then he and the rest of the men mounted their horses and they set off to the north, back the way Margaretha, Colin, and Toby had come.
O God, please keep them safe. Don’t let anything bad happen to Colin and Toby. Bring them to Marienberg, and bring help to Hagenheim.
Colin snatched his dagger out of his belt and glanced down at Toby. The little boy’s eyes widened. He took Colin’s offered hand and Colin crept toward the sound of the men’s voices. Before he reached the end of the forest, he heard horses’ hooves, the sound moving away from him to the north.
Colin ran. He made it to the road in time to see five horses and Claybrook’s men moving at a fast trot down the road. On the back of one of the horses was Margaretha.
“No. No, no, no.” He sank to his knees in the dirt, covering his face with his hands.
“Was ist das?” Toby asked, catching up to him.
Colin put his arm around Toby. He had to be calm and in control, for the child’s sake. But what could he tell him? They couldn’t even speak the same language.
“Wo ist Margaretha?” His eyes were wide and trusting as he patted Colin’s shoulder.
“Where is Margaretha? She’s gone away.” By now, he understood a little German, a few basic words and phrases, but it was much harder to speak it. He shook his head at the little boy, wishing he could explain to him. “We must go to Marienberg. Margaretha must go to Hagenheim. But we will go to Hagenheim too. Margaretha muss nach Hagenheim gehen. Wir müssen nach Hagenheim auch gehen.”
Toby tilted his head, understanding Colin’s German words, but clearly confused as to why Margaretha was no longer with them.
“Margaretha needs us to go get help. That is what we will do. Come.” And they set out again.
Claybrook’s men tied Margaretha’s hands and ankles together at night to keep her from escaping.
“I shall tell Lord Claybrook that you touched my ankles, that you used undue force, if you so much as think about making one wrong move,” Margaretha promised the men. She even stipulated which of the men was allowed to tie her up. “Not you! Him.”
Why not give them trouble? They didn’t deserve her courtesy.
She also made certain to talk without ceasing. She asked them, “Why did you dare to come to this country with Claybrook? Didn’t you understand his intentions? Didn’t you know he only wanted to take what did not belong to him?”
Finally, after many more such questions, the leader answered her, “Such is the nature of war. A man cannot win a fortune for himself without action, without warring with another.”
“I daresay you think these Germans deserve to have their lands and their towns taken from them by force. You have a right to make your fortune at their expense, you think?”
Margaretha gave them no rest. On the third day, Sir Gisborne threatened to tie a cloth around her mouth, gagging her. Margaretha fell silent.
She was overjoyed to finally see the towers of Hagenheim Castle come into view. The men’s veneer of manners was wearing thin after she had deliberately plagued them the entire time.
She could hardly wait to see her mother and sisters and brothers again and find out how they were all faring — especially if there was any news of Father and Valten.
As they entered the town gate, it was guarded not by her father’s men, but by Claybrook’s. Inside, few people were on the streets. The ones who were looked somber, or even afraid. Some looked up and recognized her, sitting on the back of Sir Gisborne’s horse, and they covered their mouths in horror, or even burst into tears. When they were passing through the most densely populated street of all, Margaretha called out, “Take courage, Hagenheim! Duke Wilhelm is coming! He will prevail!”
Several cheers rang out as many people raised a fist in the air.
Sir Gisborne hissed at her, “Be quiet! I’ll gag you yet.”
But Margaretha only smiled and waved at the people who were staring at her from their doors and from their second-and third-story windows. Some of them smiled, and they all waved back at her.
“Claybrook may force his rule over them,” Margaretha said to Sir Gisborne’s back, “but their hearts belong to Duke Wilhelm.”