A Scandalous Adventure (16 page)

Susannah came dangerously close to dropping the lamp. It was only the need to keep it steady and upright that gave her time to tamp down her fury. The sensible part of her knew that she could not physically tear Angriffer to pieces, that she was too weak, but the sensible part of her was fading fast. Every muscle in her body was tensed, ready to leap.

“But you can't just keep a dead body sitting around until you need it!” Hugo sounded ready to explode in panic.

“Calm yourself, Hugo.” Helga seemed to have recovered her control. “Let us hear what Dieter has to propose.”

Angriffer sighed again. “Really, Hugo, you talk as if I'm as much of a fool as you—your father. I'm not going to kill him yet. I'll just keep him in the cellar until he's needed. And, at the same time, that will keep him out of the way while your father helps the prince make a fool of himself.”

“Yes…” Helga drew out the word. “That could work. And these imposters will be destroyed with him. Yes.”

Susannah forced herself to back away slowly, pulling Lev with her. Helga's voice followed as Susannah turned around and ran back to the staircase, no longer caring if her footsteps made any noise in the passage.

She raced up the staircase and through her room, and burst out into the corridor. Two of Max's men were still on guard there. She grabbed the nearest one, a slim fellow, scarcely more than a boy, with flaming red hair. “Do you know where Captain Staufer is?” she demanded.

He shook his head, wide-eyed. “No, Lady.”

“Find him,” she said. “Find him at once and bring him here. And you!” She turned to the other man, who was staring at her as well. “You go find Josef. Now!”

Then she flung back into her room and tried to think. What should she do? What if Max had already left?

She would have to go after him. There was no other choice.

In the wardrobe she had her sister's exploring outfit, the one with the divided skirt that Elinor had worn in Italy. Elinor had told her to take it along, “just in case you have an adventure too.” Susannah had thought it ridiculous—she wasn't the sort to have adventures, and she was hardly going to be exploring anything at a spa with Aunt Augusta. Now, however, she blessed her sister for the thought. And her brother Ned for the pocketknife he had given her. Just as a precaution, he had said. She would take that along, and also the bottle of whatever it was that the intruder had left behind. She took it out of the drawer and checked that the cork was tight.

She intended to be prepared for whatever was to come.

In a trice, she was out of her dress and out of her corset. By the time she finished dressing, Josef was knocking at the door.

She swung open the door. “Is Captain Staufer still here?”

“No, Lady, he rode off. There was a message for him…”

She interrupted with an impatient gesture. “It was a false message. He is on his way to Krassau, but it's a trap. Angriffer's men are waiting to ambush him. Take me to the stables. We must catch him.”

She was prepared to drag Josef down the hall, but there was no need. He did not hesitate to believe her, thank goodness. Instead, he immediately headed off, barking an order to the guard who came running toward them, the guard she had sent in search of Max.

They hurried along and turned down a staircase she had not seen before—wood, not marble, but not as steep or grimy as the servants' stairs had been. In no time they were in the stables and three horses were being saddled. The gray mare, she assumed, was for her. The young guard was arming himself with a bow and arrows. She stumbled when she saw that. A bow and arrows? This was the nineteenth century, not the Middle Ages! She looked at Josef in surprise.

“Emil knows the forest near Krassau,” he said with a grunt. “He will make sure we do not lose the route.”

Well, that was useful, she supposed. At least Josef was armed with a rifle. She looked again. Two rifles. She had been afraid he would not take her seriously. She did not know if she should be grateful that he had listened to her—or worried that he did not seem to consider this an unexpected development.

They were out a gate at the rear of the castle before Susannah realized that Lev was accompanying them. Josef turned at her exclamation of distress but grinned. “Have no fear. If he cannot keep up with us, he will still be able to follow, and he may be of use.”

Remembering how Lev had terrified the intruder in her room, Susannah did not doubt the dog's usefulness. Besides, the large, white shape trotting beside her was comforting.

As they plunged into the forest, she had need of comfort. These were not the shady woods of England with gentle paths kept clear for ladies' rambles. This was the setting of an ancient folk tale, the sort of place that was inhabited by witches and trolls. Though it was still afternoon, the dense trees cut off the light so that it seemed almost like night. What would it be like when the sun had set? The darkness would then be impenetrable.

They proceeded slowly, often riding single file because the path was so narrow. Actually, it hardly deserved to be called a path. Often it seemed to be little more than an opening between trees. Emil peered ahead as if he were uncertain himself. They moved at little more than a walk. She could have gone faster on foot.

Frustrated, she longed to gallop so she might reach Max before he rode into the ambush, but she could see that would be madness in terrain like this. Reckless speed would only endanger the horses. She tried to tell herself that Max would have had to go slowly too, but she only half believed herself.

She was finding it difficult to believe anything about her present situation.

What was she doing here? How had Lady Susannah Tremaine, a very proper English lady—all the dowagers approved of her and introduced her to their grandsons, their very boring grandsons—come to be here? What was she doing riding through some foreign forest in an effort to rescue a Sigmaringen officer?

She did not do this sort of thing. She was cautious, careful—not the sort of person who went dashing off into forests. She did not recognize herself.

All she knew was that she had to help Max. She had to save him. If she could not do that, nothing else in her entire life was of any importance.

They had been traveling for nearly two hours—two endless hours—when Emil pulled to a halt. Another wider trail crossed the one they were following. He looked down, frowning.

She pulled up next to Josef. “Are you sure he knows the way?”

Without taking his eyes from Emil, Josef nodded. “Yes. He has been taking us on an old way that is shorter. Rough, but it cut many miles off our trip. He is looking now to see if any have been here before us.”

Emil made a satisfied noise and looked up. “The count passed on the main path, not long ago. We will follow him now.”

“No worry,” Josef assured her with a proud smile. “Emil knows. He is my grandson.”

Susannah followed obediently, praying that Emil did indeed know what he was talking about. She was none too certain of that herself, but at this point, what choice did she have? At least they were moving more quickly now. The path was wider and, without trees pressing in on all sides, it was brighter too. She trotted behind the two men with Lev at her side, thinking that they really should go faster. Max might not be far ahead of them, but he still was ahead of them and riding into an ambush.

Emil pulled up suddenly and raised a hand. Josef stopped as well, so perforce she had to halt too. She started to ask why, but Emil said, “Do you hear?”

She looked at him in annoyance. “I don't hear anything.”

“No birds, no animals moving about.” He nodded, frowning. “We must hurry.”

The two men kicked their horses into a gallop, and Susannah followed. Moments later, they heard a shot, followed by shouts.

Too late, too late.
Fear was a hard rock in her stomach.

The noise ahead continued. That must mean that he was alive, mustn't it? A cry of pain, but a high-pitched voice. Not Max.
Good
, she thought viciously.

Josef shouted something, and Lev went charging ahead, a huge, spectral creature moving silently.

The dog was just ahead of them when they burst into a clearing, where two men were bent over a third. Without a sound, Lev leaped on the closer one. The man's cry was cut off abruptly when he thudded into the ground.

When the second man saw them, he pulled out a wicked-looking knife, but an arrow struck his chest. He stared at it as if amazed before he fell to the ground.

It was all over very quickly. While Emil and Josef collected the attackers, Susannah flew to Max. He was collapsed on the ground, his head and his jacket bloody. She felt his head around the bleeding wound very gently, but there seemed to be no broken bone. With trembling fingers she pulled his jacket apart and off his shoulder. No wound, there was no wound. It was not his blood.

But he was unconscious. From the blow on his head? The cut had not seemed that serious. He groaned slightly when she lifted him, and there was a smell. She sniffed. It was familiar.

Then she saw the bottle, spilling its drug into the ground. Of course. It was the smell of that stuff her intruder had carried, the stuff she was carrying herself in the bottle in her pocket. If she had needed evidence that all these events were connected, she had it now.

She sat back on her heels. That's right. They used that
stuff
on Max because they hadn't planned to kill him. They had intended to capture him. She shook her head to clear it. The smell was making her dizzy too. Well, their plan had been disrupted. Right now, she needed to take care of Max.

She pulled him away from the spill as best she could, fearing that it could be dangerous for him to keep breathing the stuff in. It was making her light-headed just being near it. She knelt beside him, laying his head in her lap, and gently brushed the hair from his face. With a sigh, he turned his cheek into her hand, almost as if he knew she was there.

Josef appeared at her side and stared down at Max, a puzzled frown on his face.

“I don't think he is wounded,” she said. “I think they used that drug on him.” She inclined her head to indicate the bottle.

He nodded, still frowning. “There were four of them. My lord laid out two of them.” He shook his head. “Only four. I would have thought…”

Emil appeared beside them, leading a horse. “The count's horse,” he said, gesturing at a cut across the forelegs.

“Ah,” said Josef. “That explains it. But stupid, if they wanted him alive. He could have broken his neck.”

Susannah had no idea what they were talking about, and her confusion obviously showed in her face, because Josef gave her an understanding look.

“They put a cord across the path to trip his horse. It's an old trick to bring down a rider, who is always thrown. But it's dangerous.”

“No way to know how badly the rider will be hurt,” said Emil, scowling in the direction of the captured men.

“But it explains why there were only four of them,” said Josef. “I would not send so few to take down Count von Staufer.” He sounded affronted, as if odds of four to one were an insult.

She nodded, looking down at the unconscious count. “I do not think he will awaken quickly.”

“No,” agreed Josef. “What should we do?”

That was not a question she had expected. Why was Josef asking her? When she looked up, she saw that Emil was also looking at her for instruction. Were they mad? They could not possibly expect her to know what to do now. But they obviously expected precisely that. Turning back to stare at Max's unconscious form, she chewed her lip as she thought furiously.

“We cannot wait here for him to recover consciousness. There is no way to know how long that will take.” She spoke slowly and was relieved to see the two men nodding agreement. “And then there are the attackers. Are they dead?”

“Only the one Emil shot.” Josef sounded regretful. “The others still live. Should we…?”

Good heavens! She was accustomed to giving orders to servants, but she was not going to give an order like
that
. “No, but…” She had an idea. “Are they going to be expected somewhere?”

Josef shrugged. “I will go and ask.” He strolled over to the spot where Lev kept guard over the men.

She could not make out what was being said. The voices were indistinguishable mutters. Then there was a growl, followed by a shriek—of fear, not pain, she thought.

Emil smiled. “They will tell Josef. No worry.”

She looked down at Max, cradled in her lap. No, she was not worried. Lev was welcome to nip off as many pieces of them as necessary to persuade them to tell what they knew. They deserved it.

It did not take long. Josef came back with a contemptuous look on his face. “They have no loyalty, no courage, these pigs. All my Lev needs to do is bare his teeth and they begin to babble.”

“But what did they say?” She did not really care whether or not they were cowards. She only wanted to know what their plans had been.

“They were to keep the count prisoner in a gamekeeper's hut until they received word to take him to Krassau. Beyond that, they say they know nothing.”

Susannah nodded. “Good. Then if they are not left here, no one will know they did not succeed. Can you hide them so they cannot escape and will not be found?”

Emil smiled. It was a confident smile, though not a particularly nice one. “Oh yes. I can do that. Is easy.”

She had a momentary qualm, suspecting that she would rather not know what Emil was planning. Then she remembered what had been planned for Max, and her qualms vanished. “And we need a safe place for Captain Staufer. It may take a while for him to awaken.”

At that, Josef and Emil conferred, but she could not follow the discussion. They seemed to come to some desirable conclusion, because they were both smiling when they turned back to her.

“We are not far from the count's lands. I know a small hunter's camp near here. The count will be safe there,” Josef said.

That seemed likely to be a good refuge. “But how can we get him there?” she asked. “He cannot sit on a horse by himself, and none of us is strong enough to hold him.”

“The cart,” said Emil.

“They would not have been able to carry him either,” said Josef with a satisfied smile, “so they brought a cart. It will do as well for a rescue as for a capture.”

Really, she thought, Josef had a very strange sense of humor. However, a cart would be necessary, so she nodded.

In short order, all was arranged. Josef drove the cart with Susannah supporting Max in the back. Lev stretched out beside Max, helping to keep him warm. Their horses, including Max's wounded one, were tied behind. Emil took care of the other horses, riding his own and leading the others with their burdens of bound villains.