Pymfyd"s honest face took on a set of mulish obstinacy. "We cannot ride into town so free and easy, to rub elbows with the b.u.mpkins! Can you imagine Her Majesty"s disapproval? You would be chided and I would be beaten. We must turn back, since the day advances."
"It is still early! Devonet and Chiodys are only just settling to their needlework."
Pymfyd gave a cry of consternation. He pointed westward along Old Street. "Folk are approaching; they are gentry and you will be recognized! We must be gone before they arrive."
Madouc heaved a sigh. Pymfyd"s logic could not be refuted. Reining Tyfer about, she started back along Fanship Lane, only to stop short.
"What now?" demanded Pymfyd.
"A party is coming up Fanship Lane. That is Ca.s.sander on the bay horse, and it is no doubt King Casmir himself on the great black charger."
Pymfyd gave a groan of despair. "We are trapped!"
"Not so! We will cross Old Street and take cover up Fanship Lane until the way is clear."
"A sound idea, for once!" muttered Pymfyd. "Hurry! There is no time to waste; we can hide behind yonder trees!"
Touching up their horses, the two trotted across Old Street and north along the continuation of Fanship Lane, which quickly became little more than a track across the meadow. They approached a copse of poplar trees, where they hoped to take concealment.
Madouc called over her shoulder: "I smell smoke!"
Pymfyd called back: "There will be a crofter"s hut nearby. You smell the smoke from his hearth."
"I see no hut."
"That is not our great concern. Quick now, into the shade!" The two took themselves under the poplars, where they discovered the source of the smoke: a fire over which a pair of vagabonds roasted a rabbit. One was short and big-bellied, with a round flat face surrounded by an untidy fringe of black beard and black hair. The second was tall and thin as a stick, lank of arm and leg, with a face long and vacuous, like the face of a cod. Both wore ragged garments and tattered buskins. The tall vagabond wore a high piked cap of black felt; his fat comrade wore a low-crowned hat with a very wide brim. To the side were a pair of sacks in which they evidently carried their belongings. At the sight of Madouc and Pymfyd, the two rose to their feet, and stood appraising the situation.
Madouc gave the two a cold inspection in return, and concluded that never had she encountered a more unsavory pair of rogues.
The short fat vagabond spoke: "And what are you two doing here, so fresh and airy?"
"That is none of your concern," said Madouc. "Pymfyd, let us proceed; we disturb these persons at their meal."
"Not at all," said the short vagabond. He spoke to his tall comrade without taking his eyes from Madouc and Pymfyd. "Ossip, have a look down the lane; see who else is near."
"All clear; no one in sight," reported Ossip.
"Those are fine horses," said the burly rogue. "The saddles and fitments are also of fine quality."
"Sammikin, notice! The red-haired brat wears a golden clasp."
"Is it not a farce, Ossip? That some wear gold, while others go without?"
"It is the injustice of life! Were I to wield power, everyone should share alike!"
"That is a n.o.ble concept indeed!"
Ossip peered at Tyfer"s bridle. "See here! Even the horse wears gold!" He spoke with unctuous fervor: "Here is rich ness!"
Sammikin snapped his fingers. "I cannot help but rejoice! The sun shines bright and our luck has turned at last!"
"Still, we must exert ourselves in a certain way that we know of, in order to safeguard our reputations."
"Wise words, Ossip!" The two moved forward. Pymfyd called sharply to Madouc: "Ride off at speed!" He wheeled his own horse, but Ossip reached out a gangling arm and seized his bridle. Pymfyd kicked out vigorously and caught Ossip in the face, causing him to blink and clap his hand to his eye. "Ah, you little viper; you have shown your teeth! Alas, my poor face! What pain!"
Sammikin had made a dancing little run toward Madouc, but she had kicked Tyfer into motion, to ride a few yards up the lane, where she halted in an agony of indecision.
Sammikin turned back to where Ossip still hung to the bridle of Pymfyd"s horse, despite Pymfyd"s kicks and curses. Sammikin, coming up behind, seized Pymfyd around the waist and flung him rudely to the ground. Pymfyd bellowed in outrage. Rolling to the side, he seized up a broken tree branch and, jumping to his feet, he stood at bay. "Dogs!" He brandished the limb with hysterical bravado. "Vermin! Come at me if you dare!" He looked over his shoulder to where Madouc sat rigid on Tyfer. "Ride away, you little fool, and be quick! Fetch help!"
Sammikin and Ossip without haste took up their staffs and closed in on Pymfyd, who defended himself with might and main, until Sammikin"s staff broke his branch into splinters. Sammikin feinted; Ossip raised his staff on high and struck Pymfyd across the side of the head, so that Pymfyd"s eyes looked in opposite directions. He fell to the ground. Sammikin struck him again and again, while Ossip tied Pymfyd"s horse to a tree. He started at a run toward Madouc. She finally roused herself from stupefaction, wheeled Tyfer, and set off up the lane at a gallop.
Pymfyd"s head lolled to the side, with blood trickling from his mouth. Sammikin stood back with a grunt of approval. "This one will carry no tales! Now for the other."
Madouc, crouching low in the saddle, galloped up the lane, stone fences to either side. She looked over her shoulder; Ossip and Sammikin were trotting up the lane in pursuit. Madouc gave a low wild cry and kicked Tyfer to his best speed. She would ride up the lane until she found a gap in one of the fences, then dash away across the downs and back to Old Street.
Behind came the vagabonds, Ossip pacing with long stately strides, Sammikin pumping his arms and scuttling like a fat rat. As before, they seemed in no great haste.
Madouc looked right and left. A ditch flowing with water ran beside the lane on one side with the stone fence beyond; to the other, the fence had given way to a hawthorn hedge. Ahead the lane curved to the side and pa.s.sed through a gap in the fence. Without a pause Madouc galloped Tyfer through the gap. She stopped short in consternation, to find that she had entered a sheepfold of no great extent. She looked here and there and all around, but discovered no exit.
Up the lane came Ossip and Sammikin, puffing and blowing from their exertion. Ossip called out in a fluting voice: "Nicely, nicely now! Stand your horse; be calm and ready! Do not make us dodge about!"
"Quiet" is the word!" called Sammikin. "It will soon be over, and you will find it very quiet, so I am told."
"That is my understanding!" agreed Ossip. "Stand still and do not cry; I cannot abide a wailing child!"
Madouc looked desperately around the paddock, seeking a break or a low place over which Tyfer might jump, but in vain. She slid to the ground, and hugged Tyfer"s neck. "Goodbye, my dear good friend! I must leave you to save my life!" She ran to the fence, scrambled up and over and was gone from the fold.
Ossip and Sammikin called out in anger: "Stop! Come back! It is all in fun! We mean no harm!"
Madouc turned a frightened glance over her shoulder and only fled the faster, with the dark shade of the Forest Tantrevalles now close at hand.
Cursing, lamenting the need for so much exercise, and calling out the most awful threats that came to their minds, Sammikin and Ossip scrambled over the fence and came in pursuit.
At the edge of the forest Madouc paused a moment to gasp and lean against the bole of a crooked old oak. Up the meadow, not fifty yards distant, came Ossip and Sammikin, both now barely able to run for fatigue. Sammikin took note of Madouc, where she stood by the tree, coppery curls in wild disarray. The two slowed almost to a halt, then advanced a sly step at a time. Sammikin called in a voice of syrup: "Ah, dear child, how clever you are to wait for us! Beware the forest, where the bogies live!"
Ossip added: "They will eat you alive and spit up your bones! You are safer with us!"
"Come, dear little chick!" called Sammikin. "We will play a jolly game together!"
Madouc turned and plunged into the forest. Sammikin and Ossip raised cries of wrathful disappointment. "Come back, you raddle-topped little itling!" "Now we are angry; you must be punished, and severely!" "Ah, vixen, but you will squeak and gasp and shudder! Our mercy? None! You had none for us!"
Madouc grimaced. Uneasy little spasms tugged at her stomach. What a terrible place the world could be! They had killed poor Pymfyd, so good and so brave! And Tyfer! Never would she ride Tyfer again! And if they caught her, they would wring her neck on the spot-unless they thought to use her for some unthinkable amus.e.m.e.nt.
Madouc stopped to listen. She held her breath. The thud and crush of heavy feet on the dead leaves came frighteningly close at hand. Madouc darted off at an angle, around a thicket of blackthorn and another of bay, hoping to befuddle her pursuers.
The forest became dense; foliage blocked away the sky, save only where a fallen tree, or an outcrop of rock, or some inexplicable circ.u.mstances, created a glade. A rotting log blocked Madouc"s way; she clambered over, ducked around a blackberry bush, jumped a little rill where it trickled through watercress. She paused to look back and to catch her breath. Nothing fearful could be seen; undoubtedly she had evaded the two robbers. She held her breath to listen.
Thud-crunch, thud-crunch, thud-crunch: the sounds were faint and cautious but seemed to be growing louder, and, in fact, by chance, Ossip and Sammikin had glimpsed the flicker of Madouc"s white smock down one of the forest aisles, and were still on her trail.
Madouc gave a little cry of frustration. She turned and once more fled through the forest, picking out the most devious ways and the darkest shadows. She slid through a thicket of alders, waded a slow stream, crossed a glade and made a detour around a great fallen oak. Where the roots thrust into the air she found a dark little nook, concealed by a bank of foxglove. Madouc crouched down under the roots.