another voice called from the trail, and they moved on. From my perch, I caught a fleeting glimpse of three soldiers in dark cloaks barely visible in the winter twilight.
No doubt they were loath to return to the sheriff empty-handed, and seeing only a single set of footprints leading away, they had no choice but to follow them. So, panting and cursing, off they went to continue the pursuit. When they had gone, I settled myself more securely on the branch to wait for whatever would happen next. The night was not getting any warmer, nor my cloak any drier; folding my arms across my chest to keep warm, I prayed to Saint Christopher that they would not be pulling my frozen corpse from the oak come Christmas.
Twilight deepened to night and the wind sharpened, kicking up gusts to drive the snow. I wrapped myself tight in my cloak and had just closed my eyes beneath my hood when I heard the creak and clatter of tree limbs nearby as if something big was moving among the branches. My first thought was that all the fuss and fury had awakened a bear or wildcat asleep in its treetop bower. Peering around, Lord bless me, but I saw a great dark shape walking toward me along the very bough I had chosen.
The thing came closer. “Get back!” I hissed, fumbling beneath my damp cloak for my knife.
“Hush!” came the whisper. “You’ll bring them back.”
“Bran?”
“Who else?” He laughed lightly. “Heavens, Will, you look like you were ready to take wing.”
“I thought you were a bear,” I told him.
“Follow me,” he said, already turning away. “They will be coming back this way soon, and it is best we are not here.”
Teetering on the bough, I edged after him, sliding one cautious, slippery foot at a time while clinging to a branch overhead. The bough narrowed as it went out from the trunk but, at the place where it would have begun to bend under our weight, I discovered another stout limb had been lashed into place to make a bridge, of sorts, on which to cross the gap between trees. This makeshift bridge spanned the trail below, linking two big oaks together.
And this was not all! No fewer than four trees were likewise linked in a mad squirrel-run through the treetops. We worked our way along this odd walkway until we came to another rope ladder, and so at last climbed down to a completely different forest track.
“You knew we would be chased,” I said the moment I set foot on solid ground once more.
“Aye,” he replied, “King Raven can see the shapes of all things present and yet to come,” he told me.
“Peter and Paul on a donkey, Bran!” I gasped. “Then you must have seen the sheriff and—”
“Peace, Will,” he said, chuckling at his jest. “Angharad might be blessed with such a gift on occasion, but I am not.”
“No?” I said, none too certain.
“Listen to you,” he said. “It does not take the Second Sight to know that any time you take arms against a company of Norman knights you might soon be running for your life.”
“True,” I allowed, feeling stupid for being taken in so easily. “That’s a fact, right enough. Still and all, it was a canny piece of luck they chased you the way you wanted to go.”
“Not at all,” he said, moving lightly away. “I led them. This way or another it makes no difference. We have worked all summer to prepare such deceptions. There are ladders and treewalks scattered all over the forest, and especially along the King’s Road.”
“Treewalk,” I said, enjoying the word. I hurried after him.
“Ladders and limbs and such,” he said. “It makes for easier escape if you can move from tree to tree.”
“I agree. But do the Normans never see them?”
“The Ffreinc only ever view the world from the back of a horse,” Bran declared. “They rarely dismount, even in dense forest, and almost never look up.” He shook his head again. “I should have told you about all that, but I confess I did so want to see your face the first time we used it.”
This revelation stopped me in my tracks. “I hope it gave you enjoyment, my lord,” I said, the complaint sharp in my voice. “I live to provide amusement for my betters.”
“Oh, do not take on, Will. No harm done.”
“I thought you were a bear, I did.”
He laughed. “Come. Iwan and Siarles will be wondering what has