her childhood recalled to her memory. He met her eyes a moment, then perhaps he saw himself through them, for suddenly he looked away again.
He had been the king of the woods, the lord of brigands, notorious outlaw and highwayman. There had been ballads, plays and stories about him. The Ghyer, deadly and delicate as a spider, fierce as a mad wolf, clever as a weasel. But that had been fifteen years ago and more.
He was still lean, gaunt even. His cheeks were hollow, and his lithe frame was all angles. His face was pocked and dashed with scars, all the baggage of a long life spent amongst rough company. He still had that spike of a beard that, together with his cropped hair, was now white peppered with grey. There were liver spots on the backs of his hands. Were he a respectable citizen, they would not have drafted him for the army.
The corner of his mouth twitched, and she knew that her thoughts must be plainly visible on her face. His expression was not of anger but of pain.
‘Not so very much to look at, am I?’ he said, and his voice sounded as old as he, not the easy lilt remembered from her childhood. It made her wonder what her father would have looked like now, had he lived. Such was her shock that she had no sense of the danger here, of the guns. A fraught, wire-taut stand-off was strung out between them like a tightrope, and she walked it without even thinking.
The Ghyer made a gesture, almost dismissive, to take in his men and his camp, with just an echo of the grace that she remembered. ‘It’s not the band I had when your father came down on me with his dozen and some, and his wizard’s fire, and put paid to all my little dreams of empire.’
She said nothing, but her musket was now pointing at him directly. He looked at it and sneered disdainfully. ‘It is enough,’ he said. ‘In a land where all the men have gone to war, my half-dozen is all the army I require.’
‘You are despicable. How can you do this to your own country in its time of need?’ she asked. A quiet current of laughter passed through his men.
‘Lascanne has never needed me,’ he replied. ‘Now put your toy away before you break it.’
She tightened her hold on the musket, wondering how it would feel to fire. Grant’s horse stamped nervously, but he kept his own aim steady, his solid face expressionless. The two brigands with firearms shifted unhappily.
The Ghyer sighed. ‘I thought, when I came to reclaim my kingdom, that I would at least have your father to deal with. Now all I find are silly little girls.’
Alice spat at him, and Griff raised his hand to slap her again, but obviously thought better of it. Emily was starting to realize how lucky she had been. They had caught the brigands off guard, thinking themselves secure in their tree-walled fortress. Things would go very badly for all concerned, though, when the first trigger was pulled.
She could see no obvious way out.
‘Imagine my surprise,’ said the Ghyer, emphasizing each word deliberately, ‘imagine how I felt, when I found that my old enemy was dead these last twelve years, and by his own hand.’
Emily felt as though she had been struck. Her hands twitched on the musket and the barrel jerked. The Ghyer flinched and ducked back, and for a moment he was just an old man, tired and frightened.
There was a long period of silence before he cleared his throat and continued, with a harsh, ragged laugh. ‘I see, in his absence, you’ve grown up into a man.’
To Emily’s shame, Alice giggled slightly. She put it down to nerves.
The Ghyer glanced between them, one hand raised peaceably. ‘Just put the gun down. Your man can go, and you and your sister’ll come to no harm. I mean to ransom her, and you’ll get the same. Ransom works best with undamaged goods.’
‘Ransom?’ she echoed.
‘Of course.’ He smiled, revealing teeth that were uneven and yellow, with gaps. ‘Why not ransom? Two ladies of quality. The authorities will pay a good price for your safe return.’ His eyes glinted, and that gap-toothed smile widened.
Emily looked him right in the face, a face that had been pared down by the trials of his life until it was too transparent to hide the truth.
‘You would never give us back alive,’ she told