Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series Read Free

get caught. This thought had barely crossed his mind before he was sprinting back. Keenan had got them out of the torture room, and he deserved better than to be left to be killed.
    Trestus slid to a stop beside the prince.
    "Help me!" Keenan repeated.
    Fool, Trestus thought. Would I really be coming back if I didn't intend to help? "Can you run?"
    "Yes. I don't think it's broken."
    Reaching down, Trestus grabbed the saddle horn and heaved with all his might. The horse barely seemed to budge but it was enough. Between Trestus heaving on the horse by the saddle and Keenan pushing the back of the horse with both hands, his leg slid out from beneath the horse.
    "Hurry!" Trestus said, pulling the prince to his feet. He paused only long enough to point straight ahead. "Enstorion seemed to be going straight. You follow him and I'll try to help Kara." Then, without waiting, he turned and ran northwest into the forest.
    Trestus had seen where Kara entered the forest and he did his best to follow her. In some parts of the woods, it was easy to see where she must have gone, because in those places, the trees had grown so close together that he knew she had to have gone through the small gap where a tree had fallen over. There were other places, however, where the forest opened up and there were multiple paths she could have followed. While trying to move as fast as possible, Trestus paused at these places and looked for any clue to where she had gone. Broken limbs, bushes pushed askew, and a couple of shoe prints all helped him follow her path. Elated as he was to find her trail, he was nevertheless horrified at how easy it was. If he could follow her this easy, then so could their pursuers.
    He pushed through a couple of thick bushes and broke into a small clearing. Knee high grass covered an oval area maybe twenty yards long and another ten across. The ground gradually sloped upwards and the far side of the clearing looked to be becoming a small hill. Movement off to his right caught his attention and he turned to look, and then dove to the ground. A small sapling, several inches thick, shot upwards at an angle and he felt the small tree tug on his shirt as it passed over him.
    Hitting the ground hard, he rolled over, trying to pull his sword from its sheath.
    "Trestus!" Kara called breathlessly. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were one of those men. You scared me half to death."
    We're even then, Trestus thought as he allowed himself to slump to the ground. The girl had nearly killed him and he was rushing to help her. Maybe he ought to ask her to protect him instead.
    "Why are you following me?" Kara asked as she helped him to his feet. "I thought we were supposed to split up."
    "Well, we are, but I thought that you might," he trailed off, not finishing the sentence. Her left eyebrow was twitching and that was never a good sign. She must have guessed that he had though" wt she would need his help. He reached down and took her by the hand, "Listen. Berate me all you want, just do it later. We have to get moving before they find us." He took a step into the clearing, heading towards the small hill on the far side, but Kara didn't move.
    "Too late," she said quietly.
    Trestus turned and saw that she was quite right. Four men were working their way through the forest twenty yards behind them. "Run!" he shouted.
     
    Derek stepped away from the edge of the gulley and faced the three armed men. They had the look of soldiers who were out of uniform. They wore simple enough clothes, the like of which would fit in perfectly along the highway, but these men were muscular and too well armed to be ordinary farmers or caravan workers. They didn't have any armor on their arms or legs but signs of chain mail poked through tunics. They had dark hair and a week's growth on their cheeks.
    The soldier in the middle stepped forward, "It doesn't have to be like this. We don't want to hurt you. Just come with us and you'll be fine."
    Derek smiled. "A truly