“I had gone into town. Lady Patience had given me the afternoon. And I needed to get a few things … for my candles.” As she spoke, her trembling lessened. I tilted her chin up so that she looked into my eyes.
“And then?”
“I was … coming back. I was on the steep bit, just outside of town. Where the alders grow?”
I nodded. I knew the spot.
“I heard horses coming. In a hurry. So I stepped off the road to make way for them.” She started to tremble again. “I kept walking, thinking they would pass me. But suddenly they were right behind me, and when I looked back, they were coming right at me. Not on the road, but right at me. I jumped back into the brush, and still they rode right at me. I turned and ran, but they kept coming ….” Her voice was getting higher and higher.
“Hush! Wait a bit. Calm down. Think. How many of them? Did you know them?”
She shook her head wildly. “Two. I couldn’t see their faces. I was running away, and they were wearing the kind of helm that comes down over your eyes and nose. They chased me. It’s steep there, you know, and brushy. I tried to get away, but they just rode their horses right through the brush after me. Herding me, like dogs herd sheep. I ran, and ran, but I couldn’t get away from them. Then I fell, I caught my foot on a log and I fell. And they jumped from their horses. One pinned me down while the other snatched up my basket. He dumped it all out, like he was looking for something, but they were laughing and laughing. I thought …”
My heart was hammering as hard as Molly’s now. “Did they hurt you?” I asked fiercely.