Three years ago...
"I was hoping you would come, really, but I figured you would not risk it!" Ysabella uttered with excitement as she wrapped her arms around Alex.
"I believe it is not proper to embrace with such intimacy in such social event as this one, even if you are embracing a good friend," Alex said with a laugh.
Emma joined in, saying, "And you talk like us! Marvellous!"
"Hello, Ned, hello Barto," Ysabella said to Alex's cousins. They simply grunted with a nod.
"They refuse to talk beyond what they are used to," Alex said with a wink. "Perhaps I found the best way to shut them up, eh?"
Ysabella and Emma laughed.
"Ysabella had told me of your second meeting and I envy it!" Emma said.
"Ah, you can always visit us," Alex said. "And you shall not meet any rope. Am I right, Barto? Ned?"
Her cousins grunted in answer.
"You look beautiful, Alex," Ysabella stated with awe. "I barely recognized you!"
Alex rolled her grey eyes and leaned closer to her friend, "Am wearing me breeches underneath, me friends. This bleeding gown's not comf'table at all!"
The twins roared in laughter.
"Is the Guard brother of yours here?" Alex asked, hoping her anxiety did not show.
"Of course!"
Alex blinked and let out a dramatic sigh. "Ah, too bad then." She turned to her cousins. "No gold for tonight, cousins."
Ysabella and Emma rumbled with laughter once again.
From the corner of her eye she saw the same brother coming toward them, his eyes on her.
Bloody hell, she never dreamed to ever catch an Everard's attention!
*****
Alex was smiling, perhaps allowing a chuckle every now and then.
She closed her eyes as Siege ran down the dim road away from Beechworth.
It did not go as well as she had hoped and she had not seen her friends because their brother took it upon himself to intimidate her simply because she was not one of them. And perhaps, well, she was a bandit.
She had robbed from countless people in the past and should one base a hanging on the number of robbery she had committed, she was quite certain she would find herself hanging dead in the middle of a burning pyre.
She could not blame Ralph Everard for being a Guard. He could blame her for being a bandit. Sometimes she blamed herself too, but not this time.
She came with good intentions.
And she had done the best she could.
She told someone and that someone went to tell someone else. If Ralph went to wherever Nicholas Everard was, then it would have been better.
Forest Lady's message was delivered.
She must be at peace now, yes?
But something nagged in one tiny corner of Alex's mind.
Why did the Guards follow her? She had not sensed them when she left Meriwether. Where did they start following her? She had been careful not to be followed.
And then something clicked and she frowned.
Unless they were already waiting near Whiston.
Unless they knew she would be there.
The hairs at the back of her nape stood at the realization. A shiver ran up her spine.
Had she just escaped the very same people the Forest Lady was running from?
Alex had fallen off her horse countless of times in the past when she was first learning. And every time she fell, the moment before the impact on the ground enveloped very slowly before her eyes. Her heart would stop and the sounds around her would become muffled and distant, almost absent. And then it would all rush forward as she hit the ground, time overcoming what it had missed.
It was happening to her now, only that she was not falling. She was still on top of Siege, riding down the uneven road. It started slow at first, like falling off a horse. And when the impact came, it hit her hard. The immense sense of fear overwhelmed her that she almost let go of Siege's reins.
Suddenly the faces of her family—of her father, of Barto and Ned—and everyone in Meriwether flashed before her eyes.
The Guards had seen her face. They knew what she looked like. And they would surely be hunting for her.
If she went home now, she could bring home with her trouble.
Bloody hell, what had she gotten herself into? What did Forest Lady been running from? Who had she been running from?
She knew now that Nicholas Everard's bride did not run away as what the Herald had been saying. The look on Ralph Everard's face earlier confirmed it.
Could it be that someone powerful was behind all this? For surely, no one would dare go against a powerful family such as the Everards.
Alex's thoughts came to a halt when she heard distinct noises behind.
Horses.
She looked over her shoulder and cursed.
Bloody tarnation she was being chased again!
*****
Ralph did not know which direction she went.
Which path did she take?
It took him hours before someone told him that he saw a woman riding a black horse toward the direction of Hamswick.
Ralph cursed under his breath. It was certainly her.
Hamswick was almost half a day away from Beechworth by horseback.
He ought not to waste time. The bandit may believe her task was done, but if Ralph did not find her first, she could very well be a potential victim.
Ralph was following a horse's tracks and although it was possible that he was following the wrong one, he had no other choice for it was the only fresh one he could find.
But somewhere along the way he saw additional tracks.
Ralph was suddenly driven by alarm as he saw three additional set of hooves.
It was only then that he started to hope it was not the bandit's tracks he had been following all along because if it were, he was not certain he would find her alive.
*****
Alex kicked Siege, urging the horse to run faster.
But the men chasing her must be riding on well-fed horses.
She still had a long way before she reached Hamswick. And by the way Siege was running, Alex was beginning to fear that she would have to deal with the men with bare hands—and teeth should the chance permit it.
Her heart hammered stronger against her chest when she heard the three men shout behind her, striking their horses to shorten the distance between them and Alex.
"Ack!" Alex shouted at the top of her lungs. She hated to use it, really. She truly did.
But she ought to if she wanted to survive. Siege would soon tire, having had no food since their last stop before Whiston. And her mare was old, Alex feared to admit.
As if hearing her thoughts, her horse made a high pitch whine, demanding that Alex grab for it.
"Aye! Aye!" she cried out, bending low against the horse's back while reaching for her old saddlebag. "Forgive me, father, for I shall sin," she muttered as she straightened her back, gripping Siege's reigns with her left hand while the other steadily held the pistol.
Moistening her lips, Alex prepared for her last chance of survival.
She counted to ten and by nine she pulled back the reigns and Siege rose to her hind legs. Alex pulled the reigns to the left while she hoisted her hand on her left arm, taking aim.
And then she pulled the trigger.
Siege made a nasal sound of distress as she fell back on all fours.
She cursed under her breath when she realized the three men were still unhurt, approaching her with great speed.
Taking a long breath, Alex closed one eye and aimed again. Any noise became distant as her mind focused.
The sound of the shot rang along the empty and dim road. Along with it were a loud thud and a panicked whine of a horse.
Then time resumed its pace and Alex's heart hammered with it as the two remaining men neared. She took another shot but deliberately missed the man in front, the bullet grazing an arm. The man shouted, almost toppled off his horse. She took another and missed the second one.
It worked. The two men struggled with their horses as the two animals went wild, running past Alex and Siege and down the road, faster and more urgent.
Alex rang one more shot and another until the two horsemen were out of sight, not giving them or their horses any chance to make a turn and attack her with weapons.
She veered Siege around to approach the fallen horseman. Its horse ran past them, following the other two ahead.
Her hand started to shake as she checked her load. Merely one bullet left.
As she approached she saw the man struggle for his own weapon inside his coat pocket but Alex would dare not allow it. She had wasted enough bullets which would surely be hard to replace without her father discovering it.
"Don't move, guv!" she said, pointing her old pistol at the man on the ground.
The man's hand froze inside his pocket, but his face contorted from panic to hatred to murderous.
Alex sighed. "I almost killed ye, guv," she said, steadying her hold around the pistol. "Remove yer hand from yer pocket."
The man growled at her.
Alex cocked the pistol.
The man's jaw twitched. "You'll regret this, wench."
"'Cors, I will," Alex said with a smile. "Me 'Pa will kill me, see? I promised never te use a pistol." She motioned with her head. "But ye bleedin' men make it diff'cult. Now, remove yer hand from yer pocket."
The man slowly did as he was told, baring his dirty, brown teeth at Alex. "Remove yer coat, guv. Throw it to the side." The man did as ordered.
"Now, show me how yer hands are cleaner than yer teeth," she ordered.
The man held up his hands.
"Now, come closer," she said. "Nae, nae, to my horse's head."
The man's eyes widened.
Alex moved her pistol. "Now, guv, please." She smiled when the man obliged. "Now, place yer hands on me horse. Do it, guv. She'll not bite."
The man shook his head. "You're crazy! I would not—"
"I tell ye me horse does not bite," she coldly ordered, narrowing her eyes.
The man looked away from Siege and blindly reached for the horse's head.
Siege made a sound and the man jumped in alarm.
Alex caressed Siege's mane.
"See, guv? She does not bite!" she said with a chuckle. "But she's hungry, see? One wrong move from ye and she'll think yer hands are her long-awatin' carrots."
As the man stiffened in front of her horse, Alex leaped from Siege's back, the pistol still pointed at the man's head.
"Me father taught me how te shoot, see? But he hated it when he realized I'm a good shot." She tugged at the long rope attached to the saddle. "And fer months he did—"
Her words were snatched out of her throat when the man suddenly jumped on her. That, of course, she did not expect.
But she did consider the man would consider it. The two of them rolled on the ground, her pistol thrown off somewhere during the struggle.
The man punched her across the face and Alex shouted, scrambling over the man, wrapping her legs around him, grabbing him by his hair. Before the man could throw her off, Alex bent down and bit his nose.
The man cried in pain, pushing Alex away with a powerful force. She scrambled on the ground, turned and jumped on the man again as he rolled on the dirt road, covering his bleeding nose with his hands.
As the man shouted again, this time his voice filled with fury, Alex sent her elbow between his legs where his groin was.
She jumped to her feet to watch the man curl in pain, shouting about how he would kill her.
"Oi, step aside, Siege, 'tis me fight," she said to her horse when it started to move toward the man. She grabbed for the rope. She returned to the man and tied the rope around him tightly.
"I have male cousins, guv," she hissed at the man when he struggled as she tied his hands behind him. "I know 'bout yer frail manhood." She spat blood from the man's nose on the ground when her work was done. "Bleedin' hell, I hate usin' me teeth!"
*****
Ralph was rushing his horse down the road, his mind flying to different endings for this bloody chase.
First, the bandit could be dead by the time he found her. If she was not friends with his sisters, he would do the honorable thing and provide her with a burning ritual.
Second, the bandit could be dead by the time he found her. If she was indeed friends with his sisters, he would do the honorable thing and prepare a burning ritual for two.
Third—
His thoughts came to a halt when he saw an odd collection beside the road—a black mare, a bedraggled woman with wild messy hair about her and a man with a rope around him slumped on the ground.
As he neared, Ralph's eyes widened.
The horse was still black. The woman looked worse with one side of her face swollen. The man had a bleeding nose and dried blood at the corner of his lips.
He met the bandit's lovely grey eyes. She tried to smile at him but her face, which was starting to swell, prohibited a full one.
Just staring at the three creatures in different states of suffering, Ralph was able to read the entire story.
An escape. A chase. A fight. A marvelous, unexpected win.
Bloody hell, this was not one ending he could have ever imagined.