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Page 265
Although he could still hear horses coming through the trees, they sounded fewer and more distant than he would have expected. A few minutes later Walter spotted a widening where a forest glade came to the edge of the track, and he shouted for a halt. When they were grouped together, he explained what he wanted them to do if the path should end or if what he hoped were true and the path opened onto the main road they had been traveling.
"And do not be so foolish," he said sharply to Sybelle, "as to stop and wait for me again when I bid you go forward."
She did not reply, but the golden eyes that met his were in no way chastened. And, if there was some fear in them, it was not such as to induce stupid, hysterical reactions. Walter felt ashamed of his criticism, believing that Sybelle, too, must have realized the danger of their parties being separated. But there was no time to take back his words. That would have to wait until they were safe. A single gesture set them in motion again.
Walter had had his ears cocked for the sound of pursuit while he gave his orders, but the resistance they had put up by the woodcutters' huts seemed to have made those who followed them cautious and they started before any pursuers appeared. The track was widening again, and in another minute or two they passed several more huts. Here the road bent left again, not simply another twist but a definite heading northward. Walter shouted a warning that they were likely soon to come upon the main road. "Lady Sybelle in the middle and shields up!" he bellowed, suddenly aware that it was not only caution that had made the sound of hooves behind so faint. There were fewer men following.
Walter had had the thought before, but among his other concerns he had not stopped to wonder where the other men had gone. Now he realized that the leader of the pursuers probably also had guessed that the forest track might come out on the main road if it did not stop at the woodcutters' huts. Likely he had divided the troop and sent some of the men back. They would have made faster time on the broader, smoother road, which would also be straighter and shorter than the track his party was following, and there were the few minutes he had stopped to give instructions. If so, their pursuers could be waiting at the intersection.

 
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