Camilla turned her head very slowly. Her eyes searched the area frantically. She followed her ears, trying desperately to find exactly where that strange, unnatural sound had come from.
She looked past the carriage. She looked toward the side of the dirt road. She looked at a large old oak tree standing just a few yards away in the shadows.
Up in the high branches of the oak tree, partially hidden by the dark green leaves, she saw another masked man.
He was crouching carefully on a wooden branch. He held a long, heavy wooden and metal weapon tightly in his hands.
He was loading a musket.
The long, hollow metal barrel of the weapon gleamed very brightly. The smooth metal caught the orange and red light of the setting sun, making it shine clearly through the green leaves.
An overwhelming flood of panicked questions rushed into Camilla's mind all at the exact same time. Her brain struggled violently to process what her own eyes were seeing.
