On the way back.
Chad always felt that something was wrong around her, and although she had been raised mute, her hearing and vision were sharper than normal.
She could sense the presence of another person among the trees, the sound of another footstep muffled in the darkness and the sound of falling snow, and the soft thud of clothing accidentally brushing against a branch irritated her keen nerves from her years as a knight.
And that voice kept following her.
Who was it?
As she wondered, a grey figure suddenly emerged from the snowy forest, and at the same time a long, dangerous sword came straight at her.
Chad immediately dodged the blow by turning her head to the side.
By the light of the moon, Chad could make out the longsword in the man's hand, engraved with the crest of House Ackerman.
The Ackermans had been at odds with the Lancasters for centuries, and now that she was on the Duke's side, the Ackermans were bound to want to get rid of her.
Hadn't they sent several mercenaries to capture her just a few years ago, but now only this one?
Chad thought as he drew his sword from his belt and faced the man.
The man was wearing a mask of armour and could not be seen, but Chad felt that he looked familiar, as if he had seen him before.
After a few rounds, Chad knew that this man was no match for him. The stances used by the man in grey were haphazard, as if he was deliberately concealing his past habits with a sword, but on reflection Chad could see a certain familiarity in his stances.
This is clearly a sword technique taught by her master- Lionel. .
Chad kicked the man into the snow and when the man in grey got up, Chad was behind him.
With that, she slashed at the iron cover of the grey man's helmet, and the faceguard slipped off.
The man hastily covered his face with his hands.
Unfortunately, he was not as quick as Chad, and with that one glance, Chad had caught the outline of the face, and she could hardly believe it.
The face under the mask was Enoch.
Though not related by blood, Chad has always seen Enoch as her brother and trusts him immensely.
"Chad ..."
Chad heard him sigh.
Enoch couldn't have come to kill her for no reason, so there was only one possibility, the person who wanted she dead was Orville.
"The Duke ...," Chad looked at Enoch in astonishment, and then signalled, "has abandoned me?"
Enoch did not answer immediately, but after a long pause said, "I have never been as good a swordsman as you, and the Duke knows that, He must have sent me here with the intention of letting you live, all you have to do is wound me and then flee south and find a remote village to hide ..."
Without waiting for him to finish, Chad shook his head.
Orville, of course, knew of their strength, but he didn't send Enoch to give Chad a chance to live, he just wanted to test Enoch's loyalty because he saw that Chad and Enoch were usually on good terms.
Chad understood the truth of it, she knew best the character of Orville, for she had served him for ten years, and if she had not understood the mind of the Duke she would have been a rotting skeleton in the ground.
If Enoch didn't bring her body back, it would be Enoch who died.
Enoch had been so good to her over the years that he couldn't have gone along with Orville's words and killed Chad, but Chad would never have killed a brother who was good to her just to survive.
"If the Duke hadn't bought me back with gold coins, I wouldn't be alive as well as I am today," Chad gestured in sign language as he threw his longsword into the snow, "My life was originally owned by the Duke, and now that the Duke wants, there's no reason why I shouldn't give it back to him ..."
Before Chad could do the full sign language. Enoch, who was only half an arm's length away, suddenly slashed at the back of her neck with one hand, put her in a coma, instantly.
Enoch wrapped his other arm around her to keep her from falling into the snow.
Enoch's heart skipped a beat when he first heard the Duke's order, he never thought the Duke would kill her, just that Chad would be severely punished at best.
The Duke was so unpredictable, but in the ten years Chad had served him, Chad hadn't nearly done anything wrong.
Only this time, Chad was given to death by the Duke, simply because he is unsuspectingly approached by amaid with malice in mind who turns out to be a spy ambushed on the estate, and how innocent his poor brother Chad is!
Enoch knows in his heart that his simple, shy brother Chad has never been in love, and this time, his innocence has been let down, even as his life will be taken from him!
While he was frozen in thought, a few owl calls came from a short distance away, short calls that seemed to be urging Enoch on.
Enoch looked deeper into the jungle and saw several figures hiding in the forest, waiting for Enoch to give the word and they would come and take Chad away.
But at the same time there was a slight shaking of the leaves in the jungle and Enoch heard the sound of horses' hooves hitting the ground and then he saw another figure coming on a horse.
The horse was followed by another, and then both horses stopped sharply in front of him, and the man on the horse said, "Lord Duke has orders for you to take Chad back to the territory. ...wait....what happened to him?"
"I knocked him out," Enoch paused, turning sideways to hide Chad behind him, and then asked, "Is the Duke's order ... to see the living or the dead? "