The guards huddled together, giving the carpenters a wider berth. As soon as they had passed, the guards surrounded Kilian and Andreas again.
“What do you have in your cart?”
“Goods,” Kilian answered tersely.
“Just goods?” He seemed skeptical. “An advocate and the brother of an escaped murder suspect are bringing goods over the Neckar. You expect us to believe this?”
“Believe what you want to. Now let us through,” von Balge demanded gruffly.
“You’re not going anywhere,” the guard decided. “Clean out the cart. I want to see what’s inside.”
“You have no right to do this,” Andreas protested.
“The sheriff decides what’s right in Heidelberg, and it’s our duty to enforce the laws on his behalf.” He pushed past Andreas, who stood protectively in front of the cart. “Now let me through before I break both your legs.”
Two men pushed Kilian and Andreas back, while the other guards began to dump baskets, blankets, and boxes out onto the bridge. When they managed to empty about half of the cart, a guard called out, “Here’s something!” He hurriedly lifted another box, and a young woman, her head covered in a simple muslin veil, jumped out. She could only take a few steps before the guards grabbed her. Her blood-smeared dress made the guards’ ringleader smile broadly. “Well, well, what have we here?”
The young woman kept her head down.
“Well, if it isn’t the little murderer.” He glanced at her dirty face. “Take all three to the sheriff. There will be a nice reward in it for us.”
The horse was taken away, but the cart still stood near the bridge as the carpenters returned from unloading the wooden beams. There were only four now, but no one noticed. Everyone was too busy celebrating the alleged killer’s capture.
Chapter Eleven
Madlen was relieved, but it wasn’t yet time to rest. She had to get as far away from Heidelberg as possible before the guards realized they’d been tricked. Madlen chuckled at the thought of the sheriff’s anger when he realized that Irma had been turned over to him instead of her. Poor Irma. She hated having to put on that bloodstained dress. But she’d done Kilian one huge favor. Madlen had pulled on her brother’s hose, shirt, and jacket and topped it all off with an old hat. She carried the huge wooden beam with some of Kilian’s friends. As her brother had said, nobody would give the carpenters a second look while he and Andreas von Balge staged their distraction and Irma was found hidden under boxes. If the circumstances hadn’t been so dead serious, Madlen would have found it easier to laugh.
But now that she was outside of Heidelberg and completely alone, she didn’t feel like laughing at all. At the beginning of her journey, on the path that took her north over the hills toward Heppenheim, she’d walked so quickly that she hardly had time to think; the only thing that mattered was escaping unnoticed. But now, half a day later, she felt empty and frightened to be somewhere so unfamiliar. She would have turned around if she wasn’t sure she would end up dead. But what would life be like for her now? Everything was new and uncertain. She didn’t know. Kilian had advised her to join a group of traveling merchants as soon as possible. She was easy prey as a woman traveling alone. She trudged on, her oversized shoes making it difficult to move forward. Again and again, they’d slide off and she’d lose her balance and fall.
She stayed close to the edge of the forest, where she’d be able to hide easily if she happened upon a horde of unruly men. But she didn’t see a soul all day. Although it was still afternoon, it had started to get dark. She decided to look around for a safe place to sleep for the night. Faster than expected, she found shelter under several trees that must have blown over during a fierce storm. She gathered branches and tried to build up another wall for added protection. But it didn’t amount to much, so she simply sat as close as possible to the tree trunk. She drew up her legs to her chest then threw her arms around them, longing to be in the warm cottage with Kilian, even with her mercurial father. It was better than being alone in this godforsaken wilderness, without any prospects. She thought about whether she should take Kilian’s advice to find her father’s sister in Worms, though it was a good deal away from here. Still, it would probably save her life. The sheriff wouldn’t look as far away as the Rhine. She had almost no memory of her aunt. She’d only seen the woman once, more than ten years ago. Madlen remembered that Agathe’s eyes looked like her father’s. Other than that, the two seemed to have nothing in common. Whenever the topic of his sister came up, Jerg had nothing but bad things to say. Madlen had no idea why the two had had a falling out. And maybe that wasn’t even the case. Maybe they just didn’t get along. Each one lived their lives the way they wanted, and they didn’t want anyone to get in the way. Reinhard, Agathe’s husband, had been dead for years. How he died, Madlen didn’t know. She had to admit she’d never been that interested in any of her relatives until now. She’d make a decision where to go first thing tomorrow morning. Perhaps the opportunity to join a group of traveling merchants would present itself. Where she would end up, only the good Lord knew.