Chapter 10
Rinaldo awoke to find his mother leaning against the cart with her arms crossed over her chest. Her pale face was smeared with dirt and sweat and Ganelon’s blood. Her dress was soaked in the robber’s. Her delicate cheek bore the mark of Ganelon’s knuckles. On her forehead was a lump the size of a coin. Aya clenched her lips together in a tight, thin line and did not look at her son.
Rinaldo stood carefully, testing his balance. He could already feel his eyelid swelling closed. He felt queasy. “How do you know him?”
“It’s late,” Aya snapped. “Get in the cart.”
Rinaldo drove the team down the road, anxiously scanning the trees on either side, alert for any trouble. The sun slowly bled into the horizon as Rinaldo and Aya approached the gates of a town. A man stood there, peerin
