Page 67 of Heart of the Hunter (Band of Bastards #3)

“No,” Anora screamed as she saw the flash of a blade as Payne drew his dagger. She tried to pull free of her captor, but he only clamped his hands tighter on her shoulders to keep her in place.

“If you kill me like this,” Hunter growled, “everyone will know that you could only best me with my hands tied behind my back. Look at the disgust on your guard’s face. Even he knows this is the way of a worthless craven.”

Anora feared that Hunter expedited his demise with his taunts, but then she saw the mistrustful look on Payne’s face as his gaze darted to the man behind Anora to assess his response.

“Fight me like a real man, Payne,” Hunter continued. “Untie me and let’s settle this, man to man.”

Payne laughed, the sound wicked and ominous. “If that is what you want, I am not afraid. God favors noble blood, not fatherless bastards.”

Anora couldn’t believe that Payne would acquiesce to Hunter’s request. That was too easy.

He had to be playing at something. Her eyes were on Hunter to gage his reaction, and from the slight narrowing of his eyes, she assumed he didn’t believe it either.

Her mind raced frantically for a way to help Hunter, for what she could say to Payne to redirect his ire.

Hunter’s eyes widened suddenly, and she heard a low grunt as his jaw clenched, but Payne blocked her view of him, and she couldn’t see the cause of his distress.

As she jerked to break free of the guard a clamoring broke out near the main gate, but the commotion only caused the guard’s grip to tighten painfully on her arms. Payne spun to assess the commotion, and Anora saw the blade of his dagger dripped with blood.

“No,” Anora cried out in a strained voice. The breeches stretched over Hunter’s thigh were red with his blood and the stain grew as she watched in horror.

“Anora,” he growled, his clear gaze locked with hers. “Get out.”

“Get her inside and lock her in my chamber,” Payne ordered the guard as he strode across the bailey toward the gate house.

Anora squirmed and lashed out with a kick to the guard’s shin and managed to break free of the man. She ran to Hunter and slid her hands over his as she inspected him for other injuries.

“Get to the tunnel, Anora,” Hunter urged. “Leave me.”

Anora ignored him and circled around the heavy wooden pole to work on the ropes at his wrist. Her fingers had barely skimmed over the knots before she was picked up by a strong arm around her waist and dragged away from Hunter.

“Let me go,” she said through gritted teeth as she kicked, squirmed, flailed her arms, and swung her head trying to inflict damage on the man in any way possible. Her reward was a hard cuff to the ear, but it did not dampen her fight.

Her protests echoed in the stone stairwell of the tower as the guard tried to push her up the winding stairs.

She braced her feet against every step and forced him to lift her by the waist to get her over each one.

By the time they reached the first level, her stomach felt like it had been pummeled from how many times the guard had to squeeze his forearm into her to hoist her up the stairs.

“I don’t have time for this,” he grumbled in her ear. He shoved open the door to Payne’s solar and threw her into the room. He closed the door behind him and paced back and forth in front of it as he glared at her.

Anora went to stand in front of the blazing fire, holding out her hands to the heat as she glanced sidelong at the tapestry hanging on the back wall that covered the entry to into the passageway behind the great hall.

The guard had to know about the corridor, but she realized that he would have no reason to think that she knew about it.

She decided her best chance at escape was to get the guard to leave her alone in the room. But how?

Shouts and some screams could be heard through the narrow window opening out onto the yard below. She saw the guard’s head jerk in that direction as he balled his fists, likely restless to join the fight.

Inspiration struck. She pressed herself against the wall next to the hearth as though she wanted to hide from the fight and crossed her arms protectively over herself. “Are we safe in here?” she asked in an exaggerated, shaky voice.

“Aye,” the guard grunted, but he’d stopped pacing and faced the door to listen for anyone in the tower stairwell.

“It doesn’t sound good,” she said with feigned fear.

The guard went to the narrow window to look out over the castle yard, then stalked restlessly back to the door again. He did this a few times before he finally turned to Anora and pointed a finger at her. “Stay here and don’t come out.”

Anora nodded vigorously with wide-eyed innocence and pretended to cower in the nook between the wall and the hearth.

“You leave this room, and I will personally wring your pretty neck,” he warned, then turned on his heel and took his leave.

Anora waited a few moments until she was sure he was gone, then ran to the window to see what was happening. The opening was narrow, but she could see men fighting on the castle wall. She scanned the castle yard. Guards ran across the bailey, but they ignored Hunter who was still tied to the post.

Hunter had instructed her to get to the tunnel below the castle, but she couldn’t leave him vulnerable and defenseless.

She went to the door and opened it a crack to assess if she could get to the lower floor undetected, but the first thing she heard was Payne’s voice as he berated the guard.

“I told you to bring her to my chamber, not my solar.” The volume of his voice grew as he ascended the stairs in the direction of the solar.

Anora didn’t hesitate. She ran to the tapestry and slipped behind.

it, bounded up the couple of steps into the passageway, and scurried as quietly she could toward the first alcove.

The corridor was mostly dark, but pools of dim light shone where the small openings into the hall below were built into the wall.

The alcoves were embrasures with arrows slits in them along the passageway, but they did not afford any light through the narrow openings due to the rain and overcast skies.

As she slipped into the first embrasure, she thought she heard the whoosh of the tapestry being pulled back with some force, and the scuff of boots on the stairs.

She pressed herself as deep into the alcove as she could and willed her heart and breath to slow down.

The sound of three soft footsteps reached her ears in the quiet of the corridor, then it was silent.

She put her hands over her mouth to muffle the sound of her breathing and waited.

After a long moment that seemed to last an eternity, she heard the footsteps retreat back into the solar, and then heard Payne shout her name.

The sound faded as he continued to call her name and Anora assumed he had left the solar and was ascending the stairs to search the upper levels for her.

With her heart in her throat, Anora hurried along the passageway to the next embrasure, then stopped to listen again.

The tower stairs were around the next bend, and one floor below that, access to the castle yard.

Men were running down the tower stairs as they shouted commands, but Anora couldn’t discern what they said.

She waited until it seemed the last man passed by, then hurried from her hiding spot and followed the men down the stairs.

It was risky, but she prayed she would go unnoticed in the confusion once outside.

When she reached the bottom of the stairs, a cacophony of shouts and screams reached her ears.

She stuck her head out the door to see men running to the gates with swords and bows in hand.

It did not escape Anora’s notice that this was the same place where less than a fortnight prior she and Hunter had snuck along the castle wall in the darkness to get to the chapel across the way.

It seemed a lifetime had passed since then.

There was a small outcropping of a stone wall that she had to get around but then she would be able to see clearly into the bailey.

She looked in all directions, including above her, then flattened herself against the wall and scuttled to the corner.

Everyone’s attention was on the wall above where men were fighting and the clash of swords rang out, the sound only slightly dampened by the steady rain.

A thud next to her made Anora jump and she spun around with the expectation she was about to be captured, but no one was behind her.

Something from the wall caught her attention and she looked up in time to see a body fall from the parapets to the ground below.

The man landed in a heap of oddly angled limbs, his sword still in his outstretched hand.

She did her best to ignore the dead and dying men falling from the castle wall into the bailey and returned her attention to Hunter.

As she rounded the corner and looked out over the wide expanse of the bailey, she saw men emerge from the chapel doors but then quickly retreat back in as a hail of arrows rained down on them.

Her heart leapt at the hope that the men were Hawk’s soldiers. If they had gained entrance to Castle Whyte through the tunnel and attacked the castle guard unexpectedly from within the walls, they might have a chance of overpowering Payne’s soldiers, even if outnumbered.

Across from the chapel, and in the center of the yard, Hunter was still tied to the pole.

He didn’t see her as she started across the bailey toward him because his attention was focused on the melee around him.

At first, she didn’t see the figure behind him, but when he turned his head to say something over his shoulder and shifted slightly, she thought she saw Tommy’s wet mop of dark hair.

He was working diligently on the ropes at Hunter’s wrist with the knife, and Anora broke into a run to get to them and assist.

A scream broke from her throat when she was knocked to the ground and the breath was knocked from her lungs.

Something—or someone—heavy had her legs pinned down.

She pushed against the ground with her arms to lift her head and chest as she tried to pull her legs free, but she couldn’t get out from under the dead weight on top of her.

“Anora!”

She heard the angry shout and squirmed frantically to roll out from under the body splayed across her lower half.

Payne yelled again from the direction of the gate and ran toward her, his face contorted in a menacing sneer.

She saw him glance toward Hunter as he barreled down on her, but when he realized that Tommy was cutting the ropes to free his captive, he stopped.

He looked back and forth between Hunter and Anora, then let out a roar of frustration and turned toward Hunter.

Anora saw the blade in Payne’s hand as he stalked angrily toward Hunter and Tommy and panic ripped through her with sharp talons of fear.

“Hunter,” she screamed in warning as she tried to roll onto her back and push the man off her.

He had a quiver still on his back and arrows were strewn around him where they scattered as he fell from the wall.

As an archer, he was thankfully not as large as many warriors, but it still took effort for Anora to roll and squirm out from beneath him.

“No!” she screamed as she pushed to her feet in time to see Payne drawing back his arm in preparation to stab Hunter where he was still tied to the pole.

Oh, God! No!