Mist on the Moon

Some hope for her

Despite her fear, Evie knew what the man was trying to find out. To learn if she would be valuable to him in ransom. "Sir, I am in love with a knight. We are to be married. I came because I did not want to be long separated from him."

"Ah, love," said her interrogator. He then seemed to look away momentarily as if he too had at one time known love. "So your lover is on the battlefield fighting against us. Perchance we should let him know that we have captured you and that you are now completely in our power. If he is in love with you I am thinking he would do anything to get you back. Don't you think so, lady?"

Evie turned away from him, not liking the direction of his questioning. But he started again.

"Just how valuable are you, my lady? Not so much to your knight but to the king?" He waited for her answer but none came. "Don't want to answer that question? Well, we shall find out. What is your name?"

Evie didn't answer him, instead shook her head back and forth no.

"We have ways of finding out, my lady, though I would hate to mar your appearance."

Stefan, standing next to her whispered something in her ear. "My name is Evie," she said in strong voice to her questioner. She realized from what Stefan had told her that withholding her name would hide nothing as anyone would know she was the only woman fighting with the knights.

"Thank you, Evie," replied the commander. "We will soon learn just how valuable you are to your knight and more particularly to the king." He turned to his right hand man standing near his side and whispered something to him that Evie wasn't able to hear. The man immediately strode out of the spacious tent.

"As for you, Evie and your knight, we shall see what to do with you. Your hope should be that you are valuable to the king, for if he will pay a large enough ransom no harm will come to you. If not. . ." his voice trailed off. "In the meantime, if you truly have value, I would like to see your supposed vaunted skill with the bow." He spoke to two of his attendants on his other side.

"Take them away," Evie heard him say, and the two, taking them by their arms, led them out of the tent.

* * *

That same night Trent received word that Evie and Stefan were in the hands of the enemy. It came in the form of a letter attached to an arrow that whooshed into a tree next to a knight guarding the perimeter. The knight rushed to hand it to Trent who was standing with his friend Daniel when he opened it. It read:

King Trent

We have taken your knight Stefan and Lady Evie. They are now in our possession. If you want them back, especially Lady Evie, whom we believe is important to you, you must accept our terms. They are, refrain from attacking our forces and agree to pay 5000 pounds sterling. I will await your answer by nightfall tomorrow. Otherwise, it is too bad what will happen to them both, especially as we know that Lady Evie is awaiting her wedding day.

Pesha, Commander

Trent read the missive by the light of a torch. He shook his head angrily and said to Daniel, "They have captured Edie and Stefan and now they want 5000 pounds sterling to release them."

"5000 pounds! Oh, I was afraid she would be trouble. But she brings it on herself."

"Where to get so much silver," said Trent, casting his eyes on the ground in thought.

"My lord! You are surely not going to actually give it to them. The girl is foolish and simple minded. You have told her, your wife has told her not to get involved and yet here she is. She does not listen to reason. Trent, you have no responsibility for her."

Trent turned to Daniel, his friend since childhood. "Daniel, I know you are right. Evie is a complete ninny and yet I like her. More than that, I am afraid to think what they might do to her."

"But, my lord. Do you really dare to ask all the nobles, the knights and even the clergy to dig deep into their coffers to ransom a girl? One who is not a queen or even a princess?"

Trent looked into the distance, thinking. Then he put a hand on Daniel's shoulder saying, "I know, Daniel, that you always give me good advice. If it were only me I might do as you say, but Evie is Cara's sister. I know Cara would be devastated if we sacrificed Evie to the Magyars."

* * *

Cara received a message from Trent late the following day. It was delivered from the battlefield to her door by a swift courier. Though she was feeding Kirah and Brendan at the table when it arrived, she didn't want to wait to open it for any news from the battleground was important. "Wait, Kirah. Mommy needs to read this."

"Dada" said Brendan.

Cara looked at her twins. Already they surprised her sometimes how smart they were. "Yes, Brendan. A letter from dada." She stood at the side of the table holding the paper in one hand as she read. "Oh, no!" She turned to Kirah and Brandan. "They got Evie. They captured your Aunt Evie!" A tear began to trickle down her cheek.

The children looked on, not knowing why their mother suddenly had tears in her eyes. They likely had no idea of what it meant to be "captured." Cara sat down, for she felt the need to steady herself for this letter. Her head bent down to the missive in her hands, she read further. She shook her head, marveling at the amount of money the Magyars were demanding for Evie's release.

When she came to near the end of Trent's letter his words mystified her. They were not written in plain German but in such a way that was hard to understand. The words he wrote were a mixture of baby words and a few that were their own special words for when they were alone together. Cara tried to concentrate. Then, suddenly it came to her. Trent was telling her in a way that no one else would know that he, Daniel and Justin were making plans for how they could free Evie and Stefan. Cara smiled, but only for a moment. For she quickly realized how dangerous such a mission might be. She crossed herself before setting the letter down on the table as she went to attend to Kirah and Brendan.