The Piper's Pursuit Read online

  Steffan started rousing the children and handing them bread. Some clutched their bread to their little chests and then fell back to sleep.

  Steffan gently lifted one boy by his arms and sat him up, tapping his cheeks with his fingers until the boy’s eyes opened.

  “Eat your bread,” Steffan told him, but in a kind tone. “We have to get to the town and to safety. Be brave. That’s good.”

  Kat followed his example, waking the girls and insisting they eat their bread. “When you finish, drink some more water.” The water was cold and would help them wake up.

  Finally, they were all awake and began climbing back up the stream bank. Once they were all on the road and walking, Kat fell in beside Steffan.

  “Did you have any trouble finding bread?”

  “I bought some from five different bakeries, so as not to look suspicious. But at the last shop, the woman had such a kind face—she reminded me of my mother—I asked her if she might have room for some orphans I’d found on my travels.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She said yes. Her children are all grown and she would be happy to look after them. Also she said she has a stable where I could sleep. She even showed me where it was. I told her I would go fetch the five orphans and come back. I was afraid if I told her I had forty-seven more, she would become suspicious of me. But when we go back, I’ll show her the others and explain. I’m sure she’ll let us all stay in her stable, at least for now.”

  Kat’s heart soared, then caught in her throat, keeping her from speaking. She had to swallow before saying, “That is wonderful.”

  “Yes, I charmed her with my smile.”

  And your kind blue eyes and handsome face and perfect manners. “No doubt she also was impressed by the silver coin you used to pay for your bread.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “But I’m very happy you found a place we can hide. It was very resourceful of you.”

  She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and found him looking at her the same way.

  “Are you complimenting me? Commenting on one of my many good qualities?”

  Kat shook her head. “You are resourceful, that’s all I said.” She was too afraid to admit that she did indeed see other good qualities in him. He would gloat too much if he knew. Besides, she was already trusting him more than she was comfortable with.

  But barring any sudden changes, he had shown himself to be determined, brave, noble, kind, protective, and sacrificial, concerned more about these children who were no relation to him than about his own gain. He could easily have taken those bags of silver coins and left her and the children to fend for themselves.

  The children kept walking, and soon travelers became more frequent. They’d already met three or four more on the road, all of whom had raised their brows at so many children and asked about them. Steffan successfully deflected the questions, but . . .

  “Should we try to get off the road when people come?”

  Steffan’s mouth was more tense than usual. “I wondered the same thing. But it’s probably too late now. Hennek will eventually discover that we came this way. We just have to have the children well-hidden before he reaches us.”

  They would need a lot of God’s favor for that to happen.

  Eighteen

  When the town wall was in view, Steffan motioned for Katerina to help him herd the children off the road. A small copse of trees would help hide them.

  “We’re almost there, children,” he said, then lowered his voice as he leaned closer to Katerina. “We should go in a few at a time. Do you think Albrecht and Verena can take care of some of the children while we take others into town?”

  “We can,” Albrecht said, chiming in from just behind Katerina.

  “Very well. Here is the plan. Katerina and I will take about ten of the youngest children, and I’ll show her where the stable is. Albrecht, you and Verena watch over the rest. Then I’ll come back here and take another group until we’re all inside the stable. Then I’ll take the five youngest to Frau Goschen and they can stay with her.”

  Albrecht nodded, then went to relay the plan to Verena.

  Steffan and Katerina gathered the children who looked the most tired and got back on the road. They would surely be noticed with so many children, and he would also surely be noticed coming back in with even more children. But just then, a crowd of travelers came along. Steffan hurried through the gate in the middle of the crowd. The guards didn’t seem to even notice them.

  They walked down several streets to the small bread shop. Behind it and down a tiny alley, they came to the stable. No one was around, so he ushered Katerina and the children inside.

  In the dim light, they directed the children to the clean stalls. They lay down on the hay and seemed to fall asleep immediately. His own eyes burned from lack of sleep, but he’d gone without sleep many times during battles and when he had been traveling with the Teutonic Knights. He could go as long as he needed to.

  “Lie down and sleep with the children,” he said to Katerina. “I’ll go and fetch the rest.”

  “I feel guilty sleeping while you are doing that.”

  “You are needed here, to protect the children. So lie down and sleep. You’ll awaken if there’s danger.”

  She acquiesced and lay down beside the children. She stared up at him with just a wisp of a smile, her eyelids already starting to droop.

  Steffan hurried away, his heart racing as it always did when she showed a bit of trust in him.

  * * *

  Katerina heard the soft sound of a horse chewing. She opened her eyes. Where was she? Dim, muted light was visible at a crack in the wooden wall beside her. Was that the light of morning or of the coming night? Her heart beat fast as she sat up and glanced around.

  Hay surrounded her, and several children lay asleep nearby and breathing heavily. Had they slept here all day? The last thing she could remember was Steffan coming back with the remainder of the children, then lying down in the middle of the stable, placing his body between them and the only door.

  Kat stood and saw he wasn’t there. Had he abandoned them? The children were not his responsibility; they were hers. She was from Hamlin. Steffan was a duke’s son from Hagenheim. Why should he care? But she would never abandon these children. She didn’t want them to feel like she had, alone and afraid.

  Kat yawned and stretched out her stiff back. She had to find food and water for the children and ensure they had a place to stay the night. Had they gone undetected all day? Or did the owner of this stable know of their presence?

  Kat started counting the little sleeping forms, lying close together like puppies around the warm stable. Forty-seven. Where were the other five children?

  Her heart began to pound. Had someone snatched them? Taking them to do hard labor for someone as sinister as Hennek?

  Albrecht sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What is it?”

  “Five children are missing.”

  His eyes flew wide. “What? How many did you count?”

  “Forty-seven.”

  Albrecht blew out a breath and shook his head. “The other five are in the house with Frau Goschen. The woman from the bakery?”

  “Oh yes. I forgot.” Kat sighed and held a hand over her heart. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right. Do you need anything?” He yawned.

  “No, no, go back to sleep.” Katerina went back to the place where she’d been sleeping and sat down and rested her head in her hands. “I can do this,” she whispered. “I can take care of these children.” She didn’t need Steffan. She didn’t need anyone. She never had needed anyone. She’d become too dependent on Steffan, and now he was gone. Well, it was a good lesson for her. How foolish she had been to think he would stay, and so foolish to let him take the lead and rescue them. She—

  “Is anyone hungry? We’ve brought bread and cheese.”

  A woman, plump and smiling, stood inside the door of the stable holding an apron full
of bread, and crowding behind her stood five more women.

  The women all came inside and started bending down and talking with the children and handing them the bread from the woman’s apron. Coming in behind them was a man carrying a large basket. Steffan.

  The air rushed into her lungs. Steffan had not left them at all.

  This was the same feeling she had each time Steffan had protected her. A wave washed over her. Her knees actually went weak as Steffan gave out the small rounds of cheese to the children.

  Kat stood back while the children went forward to receive the food. She watched as they took the bread. Some of them immediately bit into it. One little boy sniffed it first. One girl clutched the bread to her chest and took some cheese with her other hand and went to sit down.

  “Katerina.” Steffan was motioning for her to come to him. He had no idea she had just been thinking he’d selfishly left her and the children to fend for themselves.

  She moved through the sea of children and made her way to Steffan.

  “Katerina, these are friends of Frau Goschen. They want to help us by taking in some of the children.”

  “Oh.” Kat nodded at them as they introduced themselves to her, each of them smiling and looking like friendly, kindhearted mothers. Kat could feel the tears damming up behind her eyelids.

  “Do you know which of the children are orphans?” Steffan was speaking in a low voice by her ear, so close his breath rustled her hair. “One of the women is childless and would love to adopt a few of them.”

  “Ja, that is me, Frau Gruber.” The closest woman grasped Kat’s hand. “I have longed for a child for five years now, but we are still childless.” The woman’s eyes were swimming in tears, then one dripped from each eye.

  Katerina had never been able to see someone cry without crying herself—a silly thing that she had always been able to conceal before, but now, as her own tears fell, she had nowhere to hide her face. But she wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  “I shall go get Albrecht and Verena. They will know.”

  She looked for the two older children while the women went back to talking to the children and handing them ladles of water from a few buckets they had brought.

  “Albrecht, do you know which of the children are from the orphanage?”

  The boy hesitated and drew his brows together.

  “It’s all right. There is a woman here who wants to possibly adopt some of them. But we won’t let her take them if they don’t want to go.”

  “Very well.” His expression changed.

  “Come and you can introduce her to them.”

  They went back to where the woman was talking with a little boy. Albrecht said, “This is Berthold. That is Margret. Over there is Hans. This is Christobel and Caspar—they are brother and sister—and that is Dietrich and Helena and Anna. Over there is Fronika.”

  “Is that all? Only nine orphans?”

  “I am also an orphan.” Albrecht crossed his arms over his thin chest.

  Perhaps the fact that he was an orphan and had lived at the orphanage explained why Albrecht was always putting himself in charge of the children and taking the lead. He was used to taking care of other children, and unused to anyone taking care of him.

  “And Verena?”

  “Her mother lives near the orphanage.”

  “I would like to take all the orphans,” Kat heard Frau Gruber say to Steffan.

  Steffan looked around until his gaze rested on Kat.

  “I have a large house,” the woman said. Her lips were smiling while her eyes pleaded. “And I have servants who can help me with the children.”

  Albrecht bent and talked to each of the children, asking them if they wanted to go with the woman, telling them he believed she was safe and that they would be treated well. The children all agreed to go, and Frau Gruber took hold of one of their hands, her face aglow. Albrecht watched them filing out of the stable.

  “You are to go with her too, Albrecht,” Steffan said.

  Just then the woman turned and looked at Albrecht.

  “Go on, Albrecht.” Katerina motioned for him to go.

  “No, I should not.”

  “Why not?”

  His expression was troubled, then hardened. “She doesn’t want me. I’m too old. Mothers and fathers only want young children and babies.”

  “Nonsense! You’re not that old. You must go or . . . you will hurt her feelings. Go on!”

  “Come.” Frau Gruber’s expression was gentle as she looked him in the eye. “Albrecht, is it? You can be my helper. Come, Albrecht, and if you do not like our home, you can come back here.”

  “Yes, Albrecht, come!” Some of the younger children began to call him, smiling as if it were a game and they wanted their friend to come and play.

  The invitation proved too irresistible. He started toward them.

  Verena was staring after him now, her lips slightly parted. Albrecht turned and saw her. He ran back to her, and they threw their arms around each other. They said words that were too quiet for Kat to hear, then Albrecht hurried out with the rest of the orphans, following Frau Gruber.

  When the women had taken as many children with them as they could accommodate, Frau Goschen agreed to take the few who were left back to her house.

  “What will you do now?” Frau Goschen asked Steffan.

  “I’ll buy a horse and ride to Hagenheim and get some help from my father. Then I’ll go back to Hamlin and arrest Hennek and all his guards and anyone who helped him or knew of his scheme.”

  “When?” Frau Goschen asked.

  “Now, if you’ll sell me a horse.” He gave the plump woman, who was probably old enough to be his mother, his heavy-lidded smile, but there was something strange about Steffan’s appearance. His cheeks were flushed, but the rest of his face seemed pale.

  “I will give you a horse.”

  “I wish to pay for the horse. I doubt that I will be able to bring it back to you.”

  “Very well, then.”

  “I shall go too.” Katerina took a step forward.

  “No, you stay here to help look after the children.”

  So he was planning to leave her here? But more importantly . . . “You can’t ride hard for two or three days when you’ve had no sleep.”

  “I slept today.”

  “How long?” Was she being silly? Or worse, enamored of him? But something told her it was far more foolish to let him leave without her.

  “I slept a few hours.”

  “Barely three hours, I would guess.”

  Frau Goschen spoke up. “It will do these children no good if you fall asleep atop your horse and fall off and break your neck. You should sleep a full night before you go.”

  Steffan’s jaw hardened, though his eyelids stayed half closed. “You two are worse than my mother.”

  “We are encouraging you to be sensible.” Frau Goschen’s hands were on her hips. “I raised three men, and I know how stubborn you all are. But you will not be able to stand against the both of us. And if you think on it, you will see that we are right.”

  “She is right.” Kat adopted Frau Goschen’s calm but firm tone. “It is sensible to sleep first, and also sensible to take me in case you have trouble.”

  “Oh no.” Steffan held up his hands and shook his head. “You are not coming with me.”

  “Why not? I can ride as hard and as fast as you can.”

  “Can you?”

  She wasn’t sure she could, but she wasn’t going to admit that to him. “You need me, in case something happens to you.”

  “What could happen to me?” Steffan gestured broadly with his hand, his brows lowering.

  “You could get attacked by robbers or fall in a ditch, or your horse could break its leg.”

  “It is true,” Frau Goschen added. “No man is immortal, and you cannot help if your horse steps in a hole and breaks its leg. It has happened to my husband’s brother. He had to walk for days in the rain and nearly died of a p
utridness of the lung.”

  Hearing Frau Goschen speak of putridness reminded Katerina of Steffan’s injuries. “You also need to let a healer look at your wounds.”

  “He has wounds?”

  “Yes, on his arm and his chest.”

  “I shall take him at once. We only have one good healer in town and—”

  “I am well. I don’t need a healer.”

  “Nonsense. It can’t hurt to let her look at you.” Frau Goschen took hold of his arm and pulled. “Come.”

  Steffan threw up his hand. “Very well. But we are wasting time.”

  Frau Goschen shook her head. “Come.” Over her shoulder, she said to Kat, “I’ll be back soon for the children.” She pulled Steffan with her out of the stable.

  Katerina sighed in relief. The flushed look on his face had worried her, but she’d been too afraid to make a fuss over him.

  She sat on the floor with the children who were left. They talked quietly with Katerina as they ate their bread and cheese. They were quiet, but their eyes had lost that dazed look and they seemed less afraid. They even smiled. Katerina felt much better too, but they weren’t out of danger yet. Hennek was surely looking for them, and he had too much to lose to give up.

  She didn’t want to frighten them, so she put on a smile and they talked lightly about their favorite foods and their favorite feast days. Soon, a couple of the more adventurous children began to pet the friendlier horses in the stable and to jump about. Others asked when they would see their mothers.

  “Soon, very soon,” Kat answered with a smile. “Only a few more days.”

  Just as she was beginning to think it should be time for Steffan to return, he appeared in the doorway with Frau Goschen. Kat quickly read their faces. Steffan’s expression was humble, while Frau Goschen was frowning. But as soon as she saw Kat, she came toward her.

  “It is a good thing you mentioned Steffan’s wounds, Fräulein,” Frau Goschen said. “The healer saw the beginning of a putridness in the wound on his arm, and possibly on his chest.”

  Kat’s throat seemed to close up. She tried to swallow but couldn’t get past the constriction.