Lost on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  The cavalry finally vanished behind the grove, still guarding their allies. Men from the other army began scouting the battlefield, examining the many bodies lying on the ground. Anybody wearing red was stabbed twice before being dragged to a growing pile of corpses. The few men wearing elaborate armor were examining a map and pointing in the direction of the retreating army.

  "I don't recommend talking to anyone," I said. "This is an army on the march. They are not likely to accept that we are simple traders."

  "Why not? You have a token declaring us a trade organization," Elizabeth said. "That's more than enough. What do you need, your own army?"

  "I'd love one," Steve said quietly as he watched the soldiers continue to loot the corpses of their dead opponents. "These guys aren't exactly showing mercy."

  "God, you're all cowards!" Elizabeth screamed. She dashed forward, ducking under Hencktor's attempt to grab her, and strode towards the nearest soldier with an elaborate helmet.

  "Shit!" I hissed. "Everyone, we better move." I looked to the left and found that the thicket we hid in followed a ridgeline. There was a gully heading away from the road. "Follow the gully!" I hissed.

  Martha led the coeds in a quick dash down the gully, following it as it curved to the right. Lydia paused long enough to load the crossbow and looked out at the field.

  "I could shoot her from here," she said calmly. "Do you want me to?"

  "Don't!" I snapped. "Right now she's alone as far as those soldiers are concerned. We are better off not alerting them to our presence."

  "But she's going to tell them about us," Eddie moaned.

  "And if we aren't right here when they search, they are more likely to blame her for providing bad information," I snapped. "Move!"

  Eddie got up and followed the rest of the group down the gully. I started backing down the path as Lydia paused to watch the situation. When I reached the bend and was about to lose sight of her, she shouldered the crossbow and dashed after me.

  The gully deepened rapidly, and by the time we could no longer see the entrance, the walls were about eight feet high. I looked over to see Steve standing on a rock in the wall and peering under the thicket that lined the rim. There were two more stones nearby and I jumped up on one, scrambling a bit as the ground crumbled under my feet.

  I had to lean into the dirt to steady my position, but I was able to see through a narrow gap in the thicket. The soldiers had noticed Elizabeth, and two of the more plainly dressed ones were approaching her. They held their swords in front of them and were scanning around. From my vantage point I could see Elizabeth's mouth move, but the continuing moans of the wounded drowned out what she was saying.

  The two soldiers did not relax, but one moved his sword to his shield hand, holding it upright against the inside of his shield and grabbed Elizabeth's arm. The former lawyer struggled briefly, but the other soldier brought the tip of his sword to her neck. She slumped, allowing the first soldier to lead her back to the officer.

  There was a click next to me. I turned to see Lydia leaning forward, and resting the loaded crossbow on the ground. She was aiming directly at Elizabeth.

  Elizabeth was shouting something as the soldier brought her in front of the officer. She wrenched her arm from his grasp and stood with her arms crossed under her breasts. We still could not hear what she was shouting, but the officer stood quietly before raising a hand and pointing towards the thicket.

  Immediately, five soldiers approached the thicket where we had just been hiding. They spread out, encircling the edge of the thicket before approaching cautiously. Two had spears they thrust into the brambles. The tips of the spears bounced and swayed as the soldiers twisted them. They moved down the thicket, but none tried to move through the thicket. In the gully, everyone was standing and holding their breath.

  The soldiers turned back to the officer. One slowly shook his head as the others reformed into a squad. I glanced back over at Elizabeth in time to see the officer knock her to the ground with a backhand. He turned towards the woods and shouted something.

  "Shit!" Steve cursed as about twenty crossbow men stepped out of the trees and aimed in our direction. "He's going to have them fire into the thicket."

  "Everyone get flat against this side of the gully," I hissed. "Put your packs over your head if you can!"

  The group dove to the ground, lying against the wall of the gully. Steve and I ducked down, covering our heads. Above us, we could hear a faint whistle as the crossbow bolts rained down on the thicket.

  The quick actions of everyone and the walls of the gully protected the group. Martha gave a small 'eep' of pain when a nearly spent crossbow bolt nicked her shoulder before coming to rest on the ground, but no one was seriously hurt. The crossbowmen followed up with a second volley before we could hear the officer shouting again.

  I climbed back up to peek over the rim of the gully. Two soldiers now held a frantically protesting Elizabeth between them as the officer stalked around her. The officer stopped occasionally to ask questions, before resuming his circular walk.

  As we watched, three more men approached. Two were pulling a small cart, while the third carried a huge axe. The cart was brought to a halt next to Elizabeth, and the men proceeded to roll a large tree stump to the ground. They immediately flipped it up so that a flat surface faced the sky.

  "Dear god," Lydia said. "Ron, what are they going to do?"

  "Execute her," I whispered.

  My two quiet words were followed by a long moment of silence in the gully. The coeds began a frantic scramble to climb the walls and see what was going on.

  Elizabeth had collapsed to the ground. I could see her mouth moving, but the soldiers ignored her as they dragged her the short distance to the block and forced her head down. The moment her head touched the block, Elizabeth fought like a wildcat to break free, but the two soldiers jumped on her back and held her down. Once they were sure she was unable to get up, the man carrying the axe strode up and placed the blade of the axe above her neck. He raised the axe to the sky and with a grunt we could hear from the gully brought it down.

  The axe hit the wooden block with a thud. Bile rose in my throat as Elizabeth's headless body slowly leaned to the right and then fell to lie on the ground. Behind me I could hear Esme sniffling.

  I turned around to find that Hencktor had his hand covering Lisa's mouth. He noticed my gaze and shrugged. "She was about to scream. I figure that after you had all of us move just before your companion approached the army meant you didn't want them to notice you."

  I could hear Steve snort beside me. "Considering it looked like she was trying to sell us out. At least she didn't prosper from her attempt at treachery."

  "Still, those troops might decide to search a bit more. And from how they treated Elizabeth, I'm guessing that rape and murder is definitely on the menu if they find us," I whispered. I pointed down the gully, on a path that would take us away from the battlefield. "Let's be going."

  Immediately Lydia started down into the gully. Henck took a moment to whisper something in Lisa's ear and then dashed forward. As always, he put himself to Lydia's right and supported her as she led the group onward. The others formed a file behind her. I glanced back one final time at the soldiers. The thicket made it difficult to make out, but it looked like the soldiers had thrown Elizabeth's head onto her body and were now returning to the army.

  "Think we should get the body?" Steve asked as the soldiers marched away.

  "No," I replied with a sigh as I turned to follow the group. "They might be watching to see if anyone approaches."

  Steve nodded. "It doesn't seem right to just leave her lying there, but we can't risk it. Even with Henck joining us, we couldn't fight off one squad if they attacked."

  Heather dropped back to join Steve and me. "I don't get it. She was at the tavern, and saw how the men there treated us. She even was involved in the problems that caused us to leave Linktrum early. Did she really expect that she was safe appr
oaching those soldiers?"

  I nodded. "True, but think about her complaints every night. Elizabeth was still thinking like we were living in New York, or some other big city. She thought that the men here would see her as a self-assured and successful woman."

  Heather laughed at that and pointed forward to where Henck was helping Lydia step over a stone and onto a log that had fallen across a stream. "Watching Henck since he joined us, I'm not interested in being seen as self-assured anymore. He dotes on Lydia."

  I glanced forward to see Hencktor holding Lydia's hand to steady her as she leapt from a rock to the far side of the gully. The moment she was secure on her feet, he said something to her, causing her to giggle. She slowly released his hand and scrambled quickly along a trail I could just barely see as Henck turned back to offer his hand to Lisa. "He helps all of us," I said.

  Steve gave a loud guffaw. "Sure he does, but Lydia's always first, and you know it."

  Heather giggled as I snorted in frustration. "He got you."

  "Never mind," I growled. "Right now we need to get far away from here."

  Behind, we could hear the faint shouts of orders being given to the soldiers from the battlefield. Thinking darkly of the way Elizabeth had been treated, we ran on.

  Chapter 17: No Rest for the Weary

  We kept scurrying through the gully for more than an hour before Eddie collapsed from fatigue and fear. Al and Henck ran over to check on him as the coeds stumbled to a halt.

  "No more," Eddie gasped. "I can't run another step. If they are going to catch us, let them."

  Martha and Esme slumped to the ground as Al pulled Eddie up to a sitting position. I was trying to listen to sounds of pursuit, but the gully was silent. Taking a chance, I found a rock and sat down on it.

  "That was unpleasant," I muttered as I looked over the others.

  Eddie leaned towards me. "Why didn't we save her? You knew that was going to happen, didn't you?"

  Steve got up and smacked Eddie in the back of the head. "Save her how? Once the soldiers saw her, the only thing we could have done was get captured."

  "And would that have been bad?" Eddie asked.

  "Don't know, didn't want to find out," I admitted. "It's possible that the trade token would have been accepted. That might have kept us alive, but there isn't exactly anyone we could have pled our case to if the soldiers decided that it was a fake token. And even if they did accept it as real, we might have been forced to stay with them until it was too late to get to the Wizard's Academy before the snow falls."

  "Is that soon?" Lisa asked.

  "The first snow will fall in about ten days," Hencktor said as he scanned the sky. "After that, few people will travel the roads until spring."

  "Natalie, how are you holding up?" I asked. She was stretching her legs, but paused to look at me.

  "I'd rather not run like that again," she said. "But I can continue walking. Where do we go from here?"

  I glanced over at Heather, who shrugged. "We should exit the gully, but follow it," she said. "I'm sure it will lead us to a river or lake and from there we can find a new road to follow."

  "Which way?" Lydia asked, looking around.

  Heather looked around. Finally she pointed off into the distance. From where we were sitting, it would require climbing out of the right side of the gully. "The Wizard's Academy is in that direction. I think."

  Eddie snorted, but Al jumped up to cover his mouth before he could make a comment. I just nodded. "Five more minutes, and then we start moving."

  The next five minutes was spent in silence. Kariy went around and offered water to everyone, quietly putting the canteens away when they were empty. Finally, no one was gasping or groaning, and I stood up.

  Fatigue caused a few pains as I took my first steps, but I shook out the impending cramp and walked over to the one wall of the gully. In the hour we had run along the bottom, the walls had grown several feet higher. I looked for a gap or side passage that might reduce the climb.

  There was none in the vicinity, so I started walking deeper into the gully. Behind me, the shuffling of feet was a quiet testament to the fact that everyone followed. I kept the pace slow but steady as I looked for a passage. Eventually, I found a break in the wall. It looked like a previous flood through the gully had undercut a large rock, and gravity had brought down a sizable amount of dirt. The slide was slippery but stable; and using the spear as a crutch and support, I scrambled out of the gully.

  There were a few rather scraggy bushes at the rim of the gully. I found an opening and stood up. The bushes only stood right at the rim of the gully, giving way almost immediately to tall grasses that covered rolling hills. I paused to look around.

  "Hey Ron! Is it clear?" Steve called from below.

  "All I see is grass," I called back. "Can everyone climb up?"

  "How about I throw up a rope," Henck shouted. "It would be easier for everyone if they had it to support their climb."

  I looked around. A couple of the bushes had fairly thick trunks. Kneeling by one for a moment, I pushed against the base. The trunk held firm.

  "I can tie it down. Throw the rope up and I'll get it secured."

  There was a moment, and then a coiled mass of rope flew up to land on the ground in front of me. I grabbed the rope and released the coils. I wrapped one end around the bush's base four times and then tied a rather inexpert knot with the end of the rope. It did not seem secure, but I decided to risk the knot and threw the other end down.

  The rope was immediately taut. A feminine grunt sounded out. I peered over the edge to see Victoria using the rope to pull herself up. Her face showed intense concentration and effort, but she fought her way up to the rim of the gully, where I offered her a hand in thrusting herself onto the plain.

  "That's a nasty climb," she gasped as she rolled away from the rim. "How did you manage it?"

  I glanced down to see Kariy working her way up the slope. She was sliding on the steep ground, but managed to reach the top. When she did, she glanced over at the knot I had used to tie the rope off.

  She immediately turned back. "Hold off a moment! Ron might be a good leader, but the knot up here is about to come undone."

  "I did the best I could," I said. "I've never had to tie many knots."

  Kariy snorted as she untied my knot and retied the rope. She pulled on it several times before turning back to the remaining members. "It's secure now."

  I was going to say more, but Kariy grabbed me and pulled me away from the rim, waving for Victoria to join us.

  Once we were away from the others, Kariy gave me a long hug. "Thank you for protecting us," she said.

  "What do you mean?" Victoria asked as she watched the hug.

  Kariy looked off in the distance, back towards where the two armies had fought. We could see a cloud of smoke rising into the sky. "There," Kariy said pointing. "The armies."

  "We might have been fine if I had approached and showed the merchant token," I said.

  Kariy shook her head again. "Maybe if the red army had won. They had a few banners."

  "Banners?" Victoria asked. "How does that matter?"

  Kariy frowned. "The few times that Linktrum or the dwarves sent guards to the mines, the units traveled with banners. Galmin talked about it once. He said that they used the banners to identify what city the unit was from. The soldiers that killed Elizabeth fought without banners. They might not have belonged to any city."

  I slapped my forehead. "God, I should have noticed that."

  "What?" Natalie asked. I turned to see her scrambling to her feet after finishing her climb up the gully.

  "The second army, the one that won," I said. "They didn't have banners out during the fight. Without the banners, it's hard to say if that was a force fielded by a city. It could have been some mercenary captain looking to win control of a kingdom."

  Victoria coughed. "Dear god. That means that they would likely have killed any or all of us if we had left the thicket."
>
  Kariy nodded. "They might have raped the women, but I'm almost positive Ron, Al, Henck, and Steve would have been killed."

  "You left out Eddie," Natalie said.

  Kariy giggled. "He'd have died of fright. It's not like the soldiers didn't already terrify him."

  "I resent that!" Eddie gasped out. We looked over to see that Steve and Henck were helping Eddie climb to the surface. I glanced around to see that everyone else was standing around, looking at the seemingly trackless plain.

  "Where do we go from here?" Lydia asked.

  I pointed in the direction Heather had used earlier. "Heather, you think our destination is this way right?"

  "Yes boss," she replied cheekily. "At least if we didn't get too turned around by the gully it is."

  "Well, we could just strike out across the plains, but it's a bit too easy to get lost," I said. "The gully is not going in the right direction, but it's not too far off, and it should lead to water."

  "Water again?" Eddie moaned.

  "Hey!" Martha said. "It worked very well last time. We found a road, and that helped lead us to the village where we met Kariy and Hencktor."

  "That wasn't due to finding water though," Eddie hissed. "In fact we crossed a couple streams rather than follow them."

  "It worked," Victoria said. "And standing here arguing isn't helping us find shelter, food, or a road. Let's move."

  The woman started walking away. Steve and I exchanged shrugs before dashing off after her. Behind us, we could hear the others joining in the march.

  I sped up a bit and caught up to Victoria. "What's up?" I asked.

  Victoria rolled her eyes. "I'm just tired of the idiots."

  I glanced back at the group. "I'm a bit surprised to hear you call our group that. Most of them have tried very hard."

  Victoria looked down. "Oh, I'm not talking about the majority of them," she said. "Really after that slime William left the only two problems left were Elizabeth and Eddie. Both are far too impressed with themselves. Well... were."

  I nodded. "Definitely lacking a bit of the sense in common sense. So this was all about silencing The Ego?"