Page 65 of Heart of the Hunter (Band of Bastards #3)

H unter walked up to the portcullis gate of Castle Whyte soaked through from the cold rain and flanked by two of Payne’s guards.

“What have we got here?” a guard behind the gate asked as they approached.

“Found him nosing around in the forest just beyond the clearing,” one of Payne’s guards responded.

“Is that so?” the gate guard responded as he motioned for the portcullis to be lifted. “What business did you have in the forest, boy?”

Hunter did not respond.

The guard to the right of him cuffed him on the back of the head. “You were asked a question.”

Hunter bit down on his lip to keep himself from killing the man. “I was looking for fairy folk.”

The guards looked at him quizzically, and the guard who cuffed him said, “Same shite he told us.”

The portcullis was lifted and the gate guard stepped forward. “Little thick in the head, aren’t you?”

Hunter shrugged.

“Bring him to the hall,” the gate guard ordered. “Payne is there and will decide what to do with him.”

The portcullis clanged behind Hunter as it lowered back into place to secure the castle.

As they walked across the bailey toward the hall, Hunter scanned the castle walls, assessing the amount of security Payne had in place.

Four guards walked each section of the wall, which was more than he typically had, but the fortress was not as fortified as he would have expected considering the baron had kidnapped a woman and a child from the holding of a rival lord and that retaliation was inevitable.

Red and the four Hawkspur soldiers who rode with Hunter to Castle Whyte were hidden in the forest near to where Hunter had created enough of scene to attract the guards and get captured.

The day was early, and despite the rain and heavy cloud cover, it was still not dark enough for them to access the secret tunnel that would bring them into the chapel within the castle walls.

Cover of night was required to cross the clearing at the base of the castle hill to get to the camouflaged entrance of the tunnel.

But Hunter wouldn’t wait until nightfall. He needed to know that Anora was alive and well, and he intended to create the diversion that would allow Red and the others to gain entrance to the tunnel without being detected.

As they entered the hall, Hunter scanned the room for Anora or Tommy, but neither of them was there.

Payne sat at the table on the dais with several other men and chewed on a hunk of meat while he listened to one of the men.

He was about to take a drink from his tankard when he turned his attention to the guards.

He slammed his drink down on the table and glared when he recognized Hunter standing between the guards.

“Baron,” one of the guards said as they approached. “We found this man lurking in the forest. He claimed to be looking for fairy folk.” He said the last with a derisive snort of laughter.

Baron Payne stared at him for a long moment, then said, “I didn’t expect you so soon, Hunter.”

“You know this man?” one of the guards asked.

“Aye, I do,” Payne drawled. “Was he carrying anything on him?”

“Just this.” The guard handed Hunter’s leather belt with his pouch to Payne and the baron immediately emptied the contents onto the table. He picked up a rolled bit of parchment and the pendant Hunter had obtained from the money lender.

“What is this?” Payne sneered.

“Your debt,” Hunter said in an even tone. “A debt you now owe to me.”

Payne opened the parchment and peered at the information written there, including the signature of the lender that transferred the debt holding to Hunter.

The baron’s lips went white as he pressed them into a straight line and slid his gaze to Hunter.

He pushed to his feet, walked slowly to the hearth, and threw the parchment onto the flames.

“The lender signed more than one copy of the debt transfer,” Hunter said quietly as Payne swaggered back to his chair and sat down.

The other men watched in stunned silence.

“Lord Hawk has the other copy, as well as another letter with my signature signing the debt holding over to him should anything happen to me.”

“It is nothing,” Payne said with a flip of his hand. “It is a legitimate business transaction. What did you expect to gain by purchasing the debt? Did you think to collect on it today?”

“Aye, I do.” Hunter glared at Payne. He wanted to kill the man here and now, but first he had to find Anora and get her out of the castle.

Payne narrowed his gaze at Hunter and tipped his head to the side as he studied him. “Let me guess. You think to use this to bargain for Anora.”

“Give her and the boy to me, let us leave unscathed, and the debt will be forgiven.” He didn’t really expect the baron to agree to the terms, but it mattered not. Before the day was over, the baron would be dead, and Anora would be safe in his arms where she belonged and had always belonged.

If the baron hadn’t already killed her.

He tamped down the bile that rose in his throat at that thought, but calmed himself with the knowledge that Payne’s pride would keep Anora alive. The baron wanted to possess Anora, and she was of no use to him dead.

Payne laughed, low and mirthless. “You think I would hand over my wife to you?”

A kick in the gut would have been less painful than the shock of the baron’s words.

“Perhaps you were not aware that I’ve known Anora since we were children. Our fathers were well-acquainted, and it has always been their desire we marry.” Payne popped a piece of meat in his mouth and chewed as he smiled triumphantly at Hunter.

“I would wager that once Frode is aware it was you who robbed his shop and killed his wife, he will not be so agreeable to the union.”

“My new father-in-law would never believe you over me,” he said with a sarcastic grin. “After all, we are old family friends.”

“I want to see Anora.” Hunter’s gut twisted with dread. If the sadistic brute touched her against her will or harmed her in any way, he would still kill him, even if what he said was true.

“I’ll not let you see her, but I will let her see you.” He nodded to the guards and they each grabbed Hunter by an arm before he had time to resist, not that it would have made any difference. “Bring him to the yard and tie him to the post.”

It could be worse, Hunter decided as the guards dragged him back into the bailey in Payne’s wake. He could have been thrown in the dungeon or run through with a blade on the spot by one of the guards.

His back was pushed up against a thick wooden pole that stood half again as high as a man and his hands were tied behind him on the other side of the pole. Once he was secured, Payne waved off the guards.

He dangled the pendant between his fingers in front of Hunter’s face. “You think this is enough to prove my guilt?” He laughed as he closed his fist over it. “I could have gotten this anywhere. After all these years, those pendants could have been bought and sold multiple times.”

“ Could have been,” Hunter said through gritted teeth, “but they haven’t. You kept them until recently.”

“You think you are so clever.” Payne drew back his fist and punched Hunter in the gut.

He’d been expecting the blow, but it still enraged him.

Good! The angrier he got, the less he noticed the pain and the more focused he became.

“It wasn’t as easy to turn them into coin as you thought, was it,” Hunter taunted.

“Not when your own father put up the reward for the thief. Every money lender and goldsmith in the land would have been on the lookout for the stolen goods.” He clenched his jaw and tightened his neck muscles in preparation for the blow to his face.

It stung but irritated him more than it hurt him.

“You know nothing about my father or what happened,” Payne sneered.

“True. But I’ve known many men like you,” Hunter said in a deliberately flat voice. “You’re a tiresome disappointment who can never live up to your father’s expectations, so you demean those who are weaker than you to make yourself feel better.”

The upper cut to his chin was more effective than the last punch as it knocked the back of his head against the pole.

He shook his head to clear it and stretched his jaw from side to side to ease the pain as he looked at the darkening clouds above.

The sky sporadically spit rain down and the wind whirled through the castle yard.

“Hawk is going to be disappointed when I kill you.” Payne’s eyes burned with hatred as he pulled a knife from the sheath on his belt.

“Aye, he will. But if I die, the marauder who set fire to the homes and farms of the tenants—the one now in Hawk’s custody—will testify to the Crown that he was hired by you, which is in direct conflict with the king’s edict that the Marcher lords are not to engage in war with each other.

” That got Payne’s attention, and Hunter saw the fear that flashed briefly in his eyes.

“It’s no secret you didn’t like the king’s decision to make Hawk lord of Hawkspur.

King Edward is not likely to intervene with Hawk’s retribution once he knows what you’ve done, especially if you add killing me to the list of grievances. ”

Payne clenched his jaw and the muscles in his neck bulged as he held the knife in front of Hunter’s face.

They locked gazes over the tip of the blade in a silent stand-off.

Hunter didn’t blink when the baron lowered the knife to his neck, then even lower, to the notch in his throat above the neckline of his tunic.

He pricked the skin there with his blade and Hunter felt the light trickle of blood that rolled down the front of his neck, but he did not flinch.

“I think it will do my wife good to see her old lover,” Payne jeered through a twisted grin.

The rain was coming down harder now, and the baron looked like a madman with his wet hair sticking to his contorted face as he bared his teeth at Hunter.

“To see with her own eyes that you will not be rescuing her.”

He grabbed the neck of Hawk’s tunic, pulled it taut, then cut through it with his blade all the way down to the bottom seam at his hips.

Then he cut through his shirt in the same way and pulled it to the side to expose Hunter’s chest to the cold rain and wind.

He felt his skin ripple into gooseflesh as he stood with as stoic an expression as he could muster on his face.

Payne saw the reaction of his skin to the cold air and his face lit up like a child given a toy.

He continued to cut Hunter’s tunic and shirt until he was left with completely bare shoulders, chest, and back.

It didn’t take long for the wind and rain to chill his skin so that each icy raindrop felt like a pin prick.

He had to strain to keep his body from shivering, his pride refusing to give Payne the satisfaction.

“Let us see how you fare after a few hours tied to this pole,” Payne said as he lightly scraped the tip of the blade across Hunter’s chest, not enough to break the skin but just enough to make it sting. “I think you may be more willing to negotiate the debt you think I owe you.”

Hunter watched the baron turn on his heel in the slick mud and stomp through the puddles back into the castle.

He gritted his teeth together and blocked out the cold that numbed his skin and stiffened his muscles.

Payne would be back, of that he was certain, but the longer he stayed away, the closer Hawk and his men would be to arriving at Castle Whyte, and the sooner Red and his men could gain entrance through the tunnel.

They’d ridden hard through the night to get to Castle Whyte, but each time they slowed to allow the horses some rest, Hunter would go over with Red the details of the tunnel, where it opened into the chapel, and the layout of the castle.

Red’s priority was to get to Anora and get her out of the castle before trying to help Hunter.

A shiver racked Hunter’s body as the rain came down harder.

He tested the ropes at his wrist, but they were too snug to escape.

His muscles started to ache and burn from his arms being stretched behind him.

He picked a window on the tower wall that he calculated belonged to Payne’s private chamber and focused his attention on it to block out the discomfort.

What he couldn’t block out was the fact that Payne had called Anora his wife .