Since Jane was wide awake anyway, she decided to take a look. She rose and, as quietly as she could, dressed again. If possible, she wanted to overhear anything they might have to say.
10
Out in the hall, Jane thought about waking up Steve. Then she decided not to bother him. She could wake him later if she learned something important. otherwise, he might as well get some sleep.
Jane took a deep breath and walked down the stairs. She knew that women had a more restricted role in this society than in her own, but without Marcia to advise her, she had no idea if she was doing something unusual now or not.
Downstairs, she recognized the men sitting near the fire. She counted seven, the same number of captors Hunter had reported. Three wore plain, black robes; two others had embroidered robes; a couple of them wore brown tunics and sword belts. As Hunter had said, they had all eaten dinner there earlier. When a young man in a plain black robe saw her, his eyes widened and he whispered anxiously to his companions.
All of them turned to look at Jane. She forced a slight smile, and nodded to them as she approached. The men by the fire watched her in silence.
Jane could not decide if they were staring because she was a foreign woman alone at this hour or if they simply had not wanted to be disturbed by a stranger.
“Now,” said one of the men.
Together, every one of them leaped up and sprang toward her. Before she could call out, one of the men in black robes had clamped a hand over her mouth. Others grabbed her arms and legs, lifting her bodily off the floor.
“Hey-” The innkeeper started, but at the sound of a sword sliding out of its sheath, he fell silent.
Jane twisted around to look at him. One of the men held a sword against the innkeeper’s throat. She flailed again, kicking, and realized that she could neither get free nor make enough noise to wake up Steve. With one hand, though, she managed to switch on her lapel pin. Hunter would hear whatever noises her communicator happened to transmit.
Jane’s captors marched her out of the inn, into the cold night air. They held her faceup, and over the silhouettes of their heads and shoulders she could see the moon and the tops of trees against the sky. She could tell that she was being carried down the slope, in the same direction Hunter had gone with Xiao Li.
Steve dozed fitfully. The long ride on horseback had tired him, but leaving Hunter chained to a tree for the night bothered him. He understood Hunter’s desire to be left alone for now, but that didn’t help him sleep any better. When footsteps pounded up the stairs, he woke quickly.
Suddenly Steve noticed static hissing from his lapel pin. Before he could listen more closely, whoever had just run up the stairs thumped on his door. Steve picked up his robes to hold in front of him and found his way to the door in the darkness.
“Who is it?”
“The innkeeper, sir.”
Steve opened the door a crack. “What’s wrong?”
“One of your companions, sir. The foreign woman with the brown hair.” The man held a burning candle on a small tray. The light of the flame flickered over his face, which was lined with fear.
“Jane? What about her?” Steve’s worry V vas followed by a surge of adrenaline. Something had really gone wrong.
“The other guests carried her out of here-by force! With a hand over her mouth and a sword at my throat, I could do nothing, I assure you-”
“I believe you,” said Steve, fumbling his robes on as quickly as he could. He stepped past the innkeeper to rap on Marcia’s door. Then he remembered that they were supposed to be married; the innkeeper would expect to see Marcia in his room. “Excuse me, will you?” He found a coin in his robes and gave it to the man.
“Thank you! I promise you, sir, I had no choice-this is a fine inn. Nothing like this usually-”
“Pleaseexcuse me, all right?” Steve demanded, taking the candle from him.
The innkeeper bowed quickly and hurried away.
“Marcia.”
“Hmm?” She sounded sleepy.
“Is Jane in there?” He tried the door and found it unlocked. Slowly, he opened it only a little. “You decent?”
“Come in. I’m under the covers. Uh-no, she isn’t here.”
By the light of the small candle, Steve saw Marcia move up on one elbow and draw hair away from her face. The room was essentially the same as his. Jane’s bed had been disturbed, but was empty. He did not see her clothes anywhere.
“What’s going on?”
“She’s been kidnapped, too. Get dressed and bring your coat. I’ll wait out in the hall.”
“What?”
“Hurry up.” Steve backed into the hall again and closed the door. He got his own coat out of his room and picked up the cloth bag, as well. The need to improvise meant that they might not be coming back. He would call Hunter as soon as he had spoken to the innkeeper again.
Marcia joined him, fully dressed but much more groggy than he was. She had obviously been sleeping soundly. He hoped this meant she wouldn’t lecture him all night.
“Did Jane leave anything in the room?”
“No.”
“She must have gotten dressed for some reason. Come on.” Steve led her downstairs, where the innkeeper was anxiously warming his hands by the fire.
“Where are we going?” Marcia asked, her voice still rough with sleep.
“I’ll tell you outside.” Steve turned to the innkeeper. “Can you tell me anything else about what happened?”
“Not very much, sir. The other guests came back in rather late and sat down by the fire to warm themselves. Then your friend came downstairs-”
“On her own?”
“Yes, sir. She just walked down here, and they got all excited and grabbed her. They ran outside with her. As I was saying, I had a sword to my throat, or else-”
“Yes, I understand that.” Steve thought for a moment. Freeing Hunter was now a necessity. If Hunter couldn’t break the chain holding him with his own strength, then Steve would have to help. He pointed to the poker leaning against the side of the fireplace. “I want to borrow that.”
“Eh? What’s that, sir?”
Steve walked over and picked up the poker. “I’ll need this. Do you mind?”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but of course I will be needing it, too.”
“Yeah, all right.” Steve pulled out a couple more coins and tossed them to the innkeeper. “I’ll bring it back when I’m finished with it.”
“Thank you.” The innkeeper bowed again.
“Let’s go,” Steve said to Marcia. They hurried outside into the cold mountain air and walked a short distance from the front of the inn.
“Are we going to get the horses?” Marcia asked.
“Uh, no. Too noisy. I’m not sure exactly what happened to Jane, but we have to stay out of everyone’s sight if we can, until we find out. We’ll have to find Hunter on foot.” Steve turned on his lapel pin. “Hunter, Steve here.”
“Yes, Steve.”
“Jane’s been kidnapped. From what the innkeeper said, I guess it’s the same bunch of people who jumped you.”
“I suspected something of the sort had happened to one of you-”
“What? Why didn’t you call and wake us up?” Steve was startled. “You’ve just been sitting there, even under the First Law?”
“I have been puzzling over how to respond. For only the last few minutes, I have been receiving static and the sounds of footsteps and breathing from someone’s lapel pin, but nothing more clear than that. I did not call because I fear, even now, that her captors are listening to our voices coming out of the air and will be even more fearful than before. Once you called me, however, the damage was done. I must have your help to free myself.”