deadly things or each other.
The air rushed from my chest and my stomach flipped until we stopped swinging. We hung there, next to each other, swaying back and forth and dangling upside down.
We were pinned low enough to be an inconvenient length from the branches above yet too high to touch the ground below.
Both of our satchels dropped to the earth in the chaos, just out of reach. I tried to keep my traveling gown from giving in to gravity and embarrassing me further while keeping a close eye on my pouch.
My sword had also managed to come unclasped and lay in a pretty silver slash against the cluttered forest floor.
“Dragon’s blood!” I screeched at it.
Oliver reached for our pouches while I struggled with my dress, but even his long arms couldn’t quite reach.
A voice came from behind me, sending a trill of fear over my skin. “And here I thought we were going home empty-handed.”
Another voice answered from our side. “Luck was on our side today, Dravon. For we have not caught a simple dinner, but riches enough for many dinners.”
“You will find nothing but empty pockets and worthless purses from us,” I answered. I tried to make out their forms, but it was difficult from this position. I twisted around but couldn’t hold myself in place. The most I made out was rawhide hunting boots and black leathers.
Bandits, to be sure.
Dragon’s blood!
“Paupers then,” the one called Dravon laughed. “In the Blood Woods? Didn’t they tell you to come ready to pay the toll? Passage through our land is not free, lass. You either pay with gold or you pay with your life. We require one or the other.”
“Or both,” his companion laughed.
I twisted again, ignoring the pain in my ankles from where the rope dug into my skin. I could see them more clearly and was surprised to find how young they were.
I had expected men like the ones we met in the tavern last night, bearded, bulky, and boorish. But these were young men, only a few years older than Oliver and I, well-muscled with cleanly shaven faces.
“You can have neither,” I told them. “Cut us down so that we may be on our way.”
They laughed at my brashness. I couldn’t blame them, but I figured it was better to be bold than afraid.
Something cold and distinctly metal brushed over the bare skin of my calf. A sword. “The lady has asked us to cut her free, Eret.”
“I did not ask,” I clarified. “I commanded.”
Oliver muttered a warning under his breath, but my heart tripped as I tried not to stare at my satchel sitting just out of reach.
“Unfortunately for you, my lady,” the one called Eret snarled. “We have forsaken both king and crown so that we can live freely, meaning free from commands. Even from lost paupers wandering through our woods.”
I tried to hide my gasp of surprise. “Rebels.”
They snickered. “Who else did you suppose claimed the Blood Woods?” Dravon asked.
I had not known the Blood Woods had been claimed. Nor did I know that the rebels had infiltrated this much of Tenovia. The information we’d built our plans around had been dated. Not much news traveled as far east as Father Garius’s monastery.
This, specifically, would have been noteworthy.
Despite my surprise I squared my upside-down shoulders. “I didn’t suppose anyone claimed the Blood Woods. I supposed they were as wild and uninhabited as always, left to the ghosts and savage beasts that have always occupied this corner of Denamon.”
“Desperate times, m’lady,” Eret sneered. “The rebel army has made allies with the ghosts of the Blood Woods. We live in peaceful harmony among the vicious beasts and reclusive pagans. Some might even say we’re fighting the same war.”
“And what war would that be?” My voice did not waver despite my panic. “As far as I know the realm is at peace.”
“Then you do not know much, trespasser.” The man leaned toward me. “Where are you from that you don’t know of the whispers of war and conquests of the Rebel Army?”
I clamped my mouth shut and shot him my most defiant glare.
“And what have we here?” A new voice boomed.
“Arrick,” the two men said at once. Eret moved back several steps and bowed his head low out of respect.
I turned and shared a look with Oliver while the rope creaked from the branches above. The new man walked around us slowly. Until he hovered over me, watching intently.
I felt Oliver start praying next to me. His