The Prince of Lies (Night's Masque, #3)(119)

“You think it will be easy, to snatch the boy from under the guisers’ noses?”

“No, but… It’s just a school. What threat can a few children be?”

“A school run by guisers,” Gabriel said. “We’ll be lucky to escape with our wits – and our souls – intact.”

Ned made the sign of the cross.

“You knew what you were getting into when we left London,” Gabriel added.

“Yes, but… It’s not like we really had a choice, is it?” He looked ahead, to where the twins were disappearing into the hazy distance. “Besides, any guisers come near me, we’ll see how much they like a buffet round the head with a steel fist.”

He dropped the reins and worked the mechanism in his false arm, opening the brass fingers to reveal the bumpy surface of the palm, studded with beads from a former spirit-guard. Gabriel rolled his eyes and nudged his horse closer until their knees bumped together.

“Just be careful,” his lover said in a low voice. “I don’t want to lose any more bits of you.”

“Any bits in particular you’d like me to hold onto?” Ned murmured, reaching across to squeeze Gabriel’s thigh.

Gabriel slapped his hand away. “Be serious.”

“I’m always serious,” he said. “Especially when I’m jesting.”

Gabriel sighed and kicked his mount into a canter. Ned followed, clutching the reins with his good hand and praying he would make it as far as Stow without falling off.





CHAPTER XXXII



They had to ask directions twice more, and each time Coby grew more nervous. Shawe undoubtedly had been warned of their coming, could have posted sentries or be using magical means to spy on them…

“We’ll bring Kit home safe, don’t you fear,” Mal said at her elbow.

She turned with a start.

“I didn’t even see you ride up–”

“Too busy looking ahead, eh?”

He gestured down the road. All that could be seen from here was smoke rising from behind a wall of trees, but she guessed they had reached the priory. She told him about her concerns.

“Undoubtedly true, but what choice do we have?”

“None,” she sighed.

She reached out, and he took her hand and bent to kiss it. The mismatched trots of their mounts slammed her knuckles against his mouth.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry.”

He looked up and grinned at her. “There, that’s better. It’s good to see you smile, if only for a moment.”

She nodded and looked away, tears welling in her eyes again. Even a kind word was more than she could bear right now. Better to be firm of purpose and think only of what was needed to defeat their enemies. Cold steel, in hand and heart.

“You’ve done this before,” Mal said, seeming to catch her mood. “How do we go about it?”

“We should ride straight past the priory as if we were on our way elsewhere. Then tie up the horses and double back, look for a way onto the land without being seen. There must be gardens around the back, or outbuildings or something.”

“Of course. You did something similar at Suffolk’s house, when you rescued me.”

Coby managed a brief smile. “Just like old times. Though I’m glad it’s not just me and Ned this time.”

They rode a good half-mile past the entrance gate until they found a narrow path cutting through the woodland. Mal dismounted and motioned to the others to do likewise, and they led their horses deep into the trees. After a few hundred yards they came to a clearing, where a large blackened patch of ground marked the site of a charcoal-burner’s activity. The nearby hut was sound but clearly had not been occupied in weeks; a thick flush of summer weeds blocked the door.

“This is a good a place as any to leave the horses, I reckon,” Mal said.

He forced his way into the hut, and he and Ned deposited their supplies. Meanwhile Sandy went round the horses, touching his forehead to each one’s muzzle and murmuring something to it in a foreign tongue. When he was done, the beasts went back to grazing the long grass around the edge of the clearing.

“What did you do to them?” Gabriel asked.

“I simply calmed their thoughts, so that they will stay here without needing to be fettered. Much easier to flee quickly that way.”

“We’ll scout out the grounds first,” Mal said as he emerged from the hut. “One of us should wait here with the horses, just in case.”

Gabriel stared pointedly at Ned, who reluctantly put up his hand.

“I’ll stay. I won’t be much use in a fight anyway.”

“Very well. Everyone else, weapons at the ready. Shawe has no doubt been alerted by his allies in London, so they’ll be expecting us.”

“Are we going to have to fight our way in, like Venice?” Coby asked, trying to keep her voice level for Mal’s sake.

“Not if I can help it. We don’t want to give them an excuse to threaten Kit.”

“Then how…?”

“We’ll work that out when we’ve scouted the grounds and gained a better estimate of how many of them there are and what their defences might be.”

“What if there are children in there, as young as Kit?” Coby said. “It’s one thing to take on a grown man like Shawe, but I won’t harm the little ones.”