After they were gone, Mannig threw the wooden bar across the door and locked it.
But no one heard the bar being set; they were focused on finding Ghislaine. As Gaetan, Téo, de Reyne, de Moray, and Wellesbourne began milling around the apothecary’s hut and branching outward, searching the buildings surrounding the hut and every little crevice they could find, de Russe, de Winter, and St. Hèver went running towards the livery to collect their horses and search on horseback. They could cover more ground that way.
There was a huge sense of urgency among them, each man concerned for the safety of their little guide. Up by The Kings Head, where they’d recently eaten, there were fatted torches outside of the establishment, shoved into iron sconces and smoking heavily, but it was the only bit of light on the street so de Reyne and de Lara went to steal them. With the moon low in the sky, the city was in near darkness and they very much needed the light.
Now, with something to light their way, the knights went about calling Ghislaine’s name in the darkness, trying doors and, if unlocked, sticking their heads inside to see what was beyond. They startled more than one person that way. As de Russe and the others disappeared into the livery across from the cathedral, de Lara followed behind them with his torch. He was just crossing the road when he suddenly came to a halt.
Something in the muddy road had his attention.
There were footprints, but they weren’t normal footprints – the left one was normal but the right one looked like only half a foot, as if whoever they belonged to was favoring the right leg. It looked very odd. Better still, there were dog tracks beside it. Peering closely, Luc could see that the footsteps led all the way down the avenue that ran next to the church. It was a clue as far as he was concerned so he put his fingers in his mouth and emitted a piercing whistle that had the knights in the stable emerging.
He pointed to the ground.
“Here!” he shouted. “I think I have found her trail!”
That had de Russe, de Winter, and St. Hèver running from the stable, clustering around de Lara and looking at what he was pointing out. St. Hèver crouched down, touching the foot imprints and looking at the paw prints that ran alongside.
“This must be her,” he said. “It is a small imprint, a woman’s imprint, and I would know those dog prints anywhere. Denis, run and find Gaetan. He will want to know.”
De Winter ran off into the darkness, following the sounds of men calling for Ghislaine in the distance. But Aramis snatched the torch from de Lara and began to follow the footprints. When Luc and Kye went to follow him, he waved the men off.
“Nay,” he said. “Remain here and wait for Gaetan. I am going to see where these lead.”
Luc and Kye simply nodded, watching de Russe as the man practically ran alongside the footprints before taking a sharp right turn to follow them back behind the cathedral. At that point, he disappeared from their sight, but they knew why he was running. Better to make it to the lady before Gaetan did. All of that talk about both de Wolfe and de Russe being in love with the same woman was starting to play true, but both de Lara and St. Hèver simply looked at each other knowingly and shook their heads; if de Russe wanted to risk Gaetan’s wrath, then that was his business.
They weren’t going to get involved.
In truth, they were absolutely right – Aramis wasn’t going to wait for Gaetan. He wanted to find the lady himself because he was as concerned for her as Gaetan was, if not more so. He’d graciously agreed to stand aside because of Gaetan’s interest in the woman but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to show Ghislaine how much he cared about her. He would be the first to find her, the first to show her that he was the one, out of all of them, who was the most concerned. He was obsessed with locating her as he followed the imprints along the west side of the cathedral until they suddenly disappeared into a cluster of foliage next to the river.
That was where they ended. Now, he was stumped, trying to find her foot impressions in the mud beneath the canopy of trees but it was impossible. Even with the torch in his hand, there simply wasn’t enough light. Therefore, he came to an unhappy halt, unwilling to enter the cluster of bushes any further because he didn’t want to step on any of her imprints that might be there. Daylight would make them more visible and he didn’t want to tramp on anything.
For the moment, his search seemed to come to an end but a flicker of flame caught his attention. Isolated the source, he could see two men on the bridge several yards away, huddled around a fire to stave off the night and an idea occurred to him. Quickly, he climbed the slope to the road above where it connected to the bridge. Approaching the men on guard, he held out his hands to show that he had no weapons.
“Gentle men,” he said evenly. “I am searching for an injured woman. Have you seen a limping woman pass this way?”
He had startled the men, evidenced by the fact that one of them jumped up so fast that his three-legged stool toppled over. They didn’t have swords but they had clubs, and they grabbed at their weapons as the enormous Norman knight approached. Frightened and suspicious, they wielded the clubs, ready to strike.
“Woman?” one of them spouted off. “There’s been no woman tonight!”
Aramis came to a halt. “I believe you,” he said. “But I am tracking her footprints and they lead off over there near the river. She may be under the bridge. Do you mind if I look?”
The pair didn’t move, looking at him very apprehensively. “Where did you come from?” the second man demanded. “Who are you?”
Aramis knew they’d picked up on his accent. “I mean you no harm. As I said, I am looking for a woman who is injured. It is possible she is even under the bridge, hiding.”
As he said it, a group of men came charging up behind him, running along the path between the river and the cathedral. The thunder of their feet was enough to terrify the bridge guards completely, who suddenly began banging on a bell that was perched on the end of the bridge. It was obviously some kind of warning system because all around them, lights began flickering on in the homes. The toll of the bell carried and Worcester was coming alive.
That was not what Aramis had wanted to see. Quickly, he whirled around to the knights who were running up behind him, including Gaetan, and threw up his hands.
“Stop!” he roared. “You have just alerted the entire town!”
Winded, Gaetan came to a halt, looking around to see that, indeed, lights were appearing in windows and voices of alarm could be heard. The bridge guards were still banging on the bell and he could see, very quickly, that the situation was deteriorating rapidly. He grabbed Aramis by the arm.