Escape from the Past Read Online Free PDF Page B

fabric. It would be easy to slice through my T-shirt and skewer my heart. I remembered the riders in the forest, their cruel eyes and the ease with which they’d attacked the bleeding man. What had possessed me to wander up here? Bero was back in the village. He wouldn’t have helped anyway.
    “Get one of the squires and a chain,” the first guard said. “I’ll keep him secure.” His partner nodded and raced off. I stood unmoving, trying to ignore the steel on my chest and the armorclad paw on my bicep. The clip clop of horses became audible. I tried to see who was coming, but I was too afraid to move near the unyielding sharpness. Men’s laughter and what sounded like animated chatter grew louder. Horses neighed and snorted. I remained frozen, heart pounding in my ears, having trouble getting enough oxygen. Any second I’d pass out like a girl. They’d call me a wimp which would definitely make me lose the damn game.
    The guard ignored me and stared over my shoulder. I thought of my comment to Bero on how to speak up to the Lord. It had been easy to say. Bero would laugh at me now.
    “What seems to be the matter?” a voice called from behind.
    “My Lord.” The guard bowed his head. “We caught a suspicious intruder, a probable spy. We await your orders.”
    “He came from yonder.” The second guard who’d returned with a huge sour-looking youth pointed in the general direction of Bornhagen.
    “Then there is no better time than now, say I. Turn him ‘round.”
    The guard yanked me to face the group. Not ten feet away towered one of the largest horses I’d ever seen. Its humungoushead swung back and forth as if it were proud of the armored breast and nose shields. On top soared Knight Werner whose piercing blue eyes searched my face. For a moment, the world retracted into stillness. I felt my knees wobble.
    Any moment now they’d cut off my head. Hadn’t Bero said the Lord would kill me? Yet, the Lord of Hanstein neither showed anger, surprise nor fear. Nobody spoke as I stood pinned between the guards, their hands iron cuffs on my arms. I smelled them, their unwashed bodies and filthy hands. I wanted to leave the game. Return to the safety of my former life. Now! I sucked air. My room might as well have been on the moon. Werner’s men waited, probably ready to charge on command.
    “Your name is Nerds,” Werner finally said. The blue eyes were unsettling.
    I stared up in surprise. “I’m Max.”
    “Then what is the odd script on your robe? Are you a ruler’s son?” He pulled his sword and pointed toward my chest. I kept my eyes on the tip of the blade when I remembered. The right side of my T-shirt had a kind of logo showing the word
Nerds
underneath a crown. Despite the filth, the printed word and image were clearly visible. Bero hadn’t noticed because he probably couldn’t read.
    “I…it is a fashion where I come from,” I stumbled. I wanted to kick himself, having opened the door to more disaster. Werner’s knights broke into chuckles.
    Werner retracted his sword. “Most interesting. Tell us, you come from where?”
    “A distant place, My Lord,” I said, attempting to buy time.
    “I’ve traveled afar, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem ten years ago.” Confidence radiated from the knight’s voice. “You speak like a foreigner. Are you on a quest?” Werner’s expression was still more curious than suspicious. A glimmer smoldered in his eyes as if the blue had been turned into gas flames.
    “You could say that. It is a quest of sorts.” I stopped, but theLord of Hanstein had not moved a muscle. “It’s difficult to explain, My Lord…” I racked my brain, but nothing smart came to mind.
    Thirty pairs of eyes stared at me as I tried grasping for some idea. But my mind had turned to mush and I lowered my head. I thought of the dungeons I’d read about in history class, dark holes filled with rats, without ventilation, water or light. People were thrown in and dragged out barely alive