The Way to Freedom: The Complete Season Two (Books 6-10) (The Way to Freedom Collection Book 2)

by H. M. Clarke

  “Are you suggesting the men of Fort Foxtern can’t do their duties without help?”

  “No, but you should not refuse to use a tool that can be of use.”

  Jerant shook his head. “A tool needs to be reliable and trustworthy. The armies of the empire operated well enough for centuries without the Hatar Kalarthri. We do not need them now.”

  “You really hate them that much that you would risk your men?”

  Jerant’s face hardened and he starred long and hard at Oded.

  “My men do not need the protection Kalarthri Flyers. As acting commander, I have made my decision. I do not need your liberal motives and agenda influencing my orders or the Freemen quartered here. Until the Emperor has made his decision as to who is in command, Provost Marshall Brock and any of his cronies have no power here.” With that Jerant turned on his heel and strode from the room. He did not acknowledge Harada’s presence. The Hatar Kalar was beneath his notice.

  “You warned me what he would be like,” Oded said without looking at the Hatar Kalar.

  “You still had to go and experience it for yourself though,” Harada replied as he stepped up next to Oded.

  “That I did. And now I feel like I need a bath.”

  And now Oded and Harada watched as that force marched through the gates of Fort Foxtern and out into the wilds of the Bhaliger mountains.

  “Jerant is a fool,” Oded repeated for the umpteenth time.

  Harada gave no reply. Oded was just giving voice to his frustration and he had been listening to him vent all morning.

  “We could send out a flyer to keep an eye on things,” Harada eventually said.

  “Jerant would know. He is watching us. Can’t you see his underling a few tents down?”

  Harada nodded. “I’ve seen him, though I thought he belonged to the Justicars.”

  “Doesn’t matter who the man whispers to. He’s reporting our actions to his master. Be that Jerant or Inman, the result will be the same.”

  “Felian will want to keep track of you especially and move against us to find out what we are doing.”

  “And as we are supporters of Garrick, we will be key people to discredit.”

  “You will be. I’m only a lowly Hatar Kalar. I am beneath notice,” Harada replied with a laugh.

  Oded turned to look at him.

  “You may be a lowly Hatar Kalar Harada, but your father still respects you.”

  Harada frowned.

  “Seeing as how I haven’t seen my father for over a year now, I can’t see how that would worry anyone.”

  “You underestimate yourself and your importance Harada. You and your brother both do it. Garrick is heir to the throne and he needs to step up and take ownership of it.”

  “Why do you think he and Warrick have gone to Hered?” Harada replied a little stiffly. “They are the best placed to find out exactly what the lay of the land is there.”

  “Or get their heads removed from their stuck out necks,” Oded muttered.

  “All we can do is continue our search for Kalena.” Harada moved forward to stand next to the Colonel in the doorway.

  “We’d better. All Garrick’s plans hinge on us finding that girl.”

  CHAPTER Five

  North

  Dearen awoke in a cold sweat.

  She sat up, letting the furs fall away from her and the sudden touch of the cold morning air made her shiver all the more.

  A glance at the tent flap and the neatly rolled blankets told Dearen that Hauga was already up and was probably eating breakfast by the campfire.

  But something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

  The strange feeling she had before falling asleep the night before was now stronger and the urge to head North was pulling hard at her mind. Dearen had to consciously restrain the urge to move and to keep herself in her bedroll.

  ‘Good morning Dearen. Nice to see you up.’

  Dearen heard Hauga’s mind voice. He must have felt some of her waking thoughts.

  ‘Good morning Hauga. How is breakfast?’

  ‘Excellent. Are you hungry?’

  ‘Ravenous. Can you bring me something to eat?’

  ‘You don’t want to come out?’

  ‘Not until I warm up a bit.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll be there with food shortly.’

  ‘Just give me enough time to get dressed.’

  ‘It’s time like this that you wish you had fur like the rest of us don’t you?’

  ‘I just have to think about fleas and I’m thankful I don’t.’

  Dearen heard Hauga’s chuckle and then there was silence.

  Throwing off the furs, Dearen rolled off the bedroll and grabbed up her trousers and shirt. She was just pulling up her boots when Hauga appeared at the tent entrance, bringing with him the smell of beef stew.

  Dearen’s stomach rumbled in response.

  Hauga ducked into the tent wearing a small grin that showed his canines to good effect.

  ‘At least your stomach is glad to see me.’

  “My stomach is biased and only wants you for your stew.”

  Hauga shrugged his large shoulders.

  ‘You have to take what you can get in this day and age.’

  “I’ll give you that. And I am glad that you are here. I need to talk to you about something.”

  Hauga’s eye ridges shot up in surprise. ‘Have I done something wrong?’

  “No, no. Nothing like that. Here, sit with me on the bedroll and we’ll eat as we talk.”

  Hauga nodded and handed Dearen the bowl as he lowered his large frame on the bedding next to Dearen. Both spent the next few moments eating in silence until Dearen rested her spoon in her bowl and turned to look up at Hauga.

  “Something strange happened to me last night. Nothing bad mind you,” Dearen added quickly as Hauga’s feline features creased in concern.

  “I had a strange feeling come over me. Or maybe it is more like a compulsion.”

  ‘What is it? What did you feel?’

  “Something in my mind is telling me to head North. There is something North that I need to find, and that needs me to find it.”

  ‘Something wants you to find it?’

  “That’s the feeling it’s giving me.”

  ‘Has this feeling told you what ‘it’ is?’

  Dearen shook her head. “No, but whatever this is, it feels familiar to me. It feels ‘right’. Something inside of me is responding and wanting to go.”

  Hauga’s yellow eyes peeked at her from under their furry brows.

  ‘So. You want to go North?’

  Dearen took a moment to respond, to organize her thoughts and to ‘get a read’ on her internal gut feeling.

  “Yes, I do. I think if I ignore it, it’s just going to get stronger and stronger until I do what it wants.”

  Hauga looked back into his bowl as he twirled the stem of his spoon around between his clawed fingers.

  ‘That’s going to be a hard thing to do now that you are Cearc.’

  “I know. With us confronting the Arranians and then maybe fending off those interlopers from the South, the Dymarki need their leader.”

  ‘Do you think this could be something that can help us keep our ancestral lands?’

  Dearen shrugged. “I don’t know Hauga. I don’t know exactly what this is. I just know that it feels very familiar, like, a lost part of me that is trying to return home.”

  Dearen frowned and placed her bowl down on the floor.

  “My gut feeling is that this could help me find out who I was before I woke up in that cave, and maybe tell me what had happened to me and why I have lost my memory.”

  ‘Or it could be something that takes you away from us Dearen.’

  Dearen reached around as best she could and gave Hauga a hug. “I would never leave you Hauga. You’re my brother, and I would never leave my people, especially now that I am their leader. You took me in, no questions asked, looked after me and let me contribute to the
clan as best I can. No one could ask for better than that.”

  ‘Thank you Dearen. But this might be something that you have no control over.’

  “And the only way we’ll know is if we go to find out.”

  ‘You’ve made up your mind to go then.’

  “I suppose I have. And for all I know, this might be something that can help our people as well.”

  Hauga snorted.

  ‘I don’t have a good feeling about this Dearen. This is not a normal situation to be in. The Dymarki do not get strange feelings in their heads to ‘Go North’.’

  “But I was not born a Dymarki Hauga. I am a Bareskin, a human, as you so elegantly pointed out to me this morning when I woke up.

  ‘So you think this happens to Bareskins a lot then?’

  Dearen shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t remember my life before I woke up in your cave. All that I know this could be an everyday occurrence for Bareskins.”

  ‘Having weird feelings might explain why Bareskins are the way they are.’

  Hauga tried to make his comment humorous but Dearen, for some unknown reason, felt a little offended. She tried not to let it show.

  “Does that explain the way I am?” Dearen could not help but ask.

  ‘I didn’t mean you Dearen. You’re one of us. You’re my sister. You are Dymarki. You are The Cearc.’

  “And as your Cearc. You must do as I command,” Dearen shot back.

  ‘The term is ‘strongly suggest’ but in essence. Yes. But you do not need to command me to help you. I am your brother, I would do nearly anything to help the family.’

  “So you’ll help me go north and find out what this ‘feeling’ wants me to find?”

  Hauga nodded. ‘Yes’

  “Excellent. Now we just have to work out how we are going to do this without leaving our people leaderless. Hopefully whatever this thing is that is calling me can be quickly found and we can get back home before anything can happen either with the Arranians or the Southerners or with Raga’s clan. Otteran is a resourceful woman, I’m sure she can distract the people long enough to cover for us.”

  ‘I’ll bring in Drusa to take temporary command of the Muster while we’re away. He will be able to keep Raga and his people in line. If we are not gone for long, Drusa should be able to cover for us.’

  “Don’t worry Hauga. If we don’t find what we are looking for within a week, then we will come back.”

  ‘The Council are not going to like you disappearing like this.’

  “Raga and the others will have to learn to live with it. If I don’t go than this feeling is going to keep growing in me until it drives me insane.”

  ‘When do you wish to leave?’

  “As soon as possible. The quicker I find what this is, the quicker we can come back and defend our homeland.”

  Hauga stood up with his empty bowl and held his hand put to Dearen. She picked up her bowl from the floor and silently handed it to Hauga.

  ‘I’ll go and hand these in to get washed and then I’ll get Drusa. He’ll continue the training regime that you have planned. The rest of the clan will support him.’

  “I’ll begin packing as soon as we have informed Drusa what we are doing and what he and Otteren must do while we are away. Then we’ll head north.”

  CHAPTER Six

  The Cliff

  ‘They are loud.’

  ‘Very. Can you smell anything?’

  Dearen heard Hauga wuft a couple of deep breaths.

  ‘They don’t smell like Arranians. But they are Bareskins.’

  Dearen felt a small twinge of relief that they were not Dymarki. Since they had left the camp that morning, she had been paranoid that once the Dymarki had discovered she had gone, that they would come after her. The fact that they have not means that Otteran and Drusa have been able to keep them secret.

  ‘And they are heading in the same direction as we are?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Hauga and Dearen were on the edge of a small cliff that followed the bubbling stream they had run across. It was late afternoon and the two had decided to rest for a little while before pushing on to the north.

  ‘They’re obviously not Pydarki otherwise we wouldn’t have heard them this far out.’

  ‘No. The Pydarki are more surefooted than that.’

  ‘That only leaves the Southerners then.’ Dearen shifted her weight, they had been crouching in the brush ever since they had heard the first sound of movement and the long stay was making her muscles ache in protest. ‘What has brought them this far into the Bhaligiers? Weren’t they holed up in their place in the Southern pass?’

  Hauga shrugged. ‘I have no idea. But whatever has brought them here cannot be good for us.’

  ‘I agree.’

  A loud crunch echoed through the close-packed trees quickly followed by a soft curse. The group was close now. Dearen glanced up at Hauga.

  ‘They sound like they are going to be moving right beneath us if they keep to their current path.’

  Hauga gave a brief nod.

  ‘Do we want to back away now or remain hidden and wait for them to pass?’

  ‘We wait for them to pass. That way we’ll get an idea of which way they are heading and then make sure we don’t follow them.’

  ‘Good idea Hauga.’

  Dearen and Hauga then hunkered down to wait for these interlopers to pass by.

  It was only a short wait before the first Bareskin came into view along the edge of the riverbank. He was quickly followed by several more.

  The first man was dressed in thick linens and light leathers with a bow and quiver strapped to his back. The others were dressed in thicker leather clothes and chainmail and were armed with swords and other blades. Clearly fighting men.

  The last man out from the trees was dressed in finer attire and the hilt of his sword showed gilding but was utilitarian apart from that.

  ‘An officer. Army men then.’

  Dearen nodded. ‘What are they doing this far north?’

  ‘Do you want to follow them?’

  ‘No. We need to keep heading north ourselves. These men have posed no danger to us.’

  ‘Yet!’

  ‘Yet. If they had been Arranians then we would follow. But they are not and we need to keep focused on why we are out here and to get back home as soon as possible.’

  ‘Yes, Cearc.’

  ‘We’ll wait, see where they go, and then continue on our journey.’

  Hauga gave her a curt nod and turned his yellow eyes back to the men below them.

  The group moved slowly (and noisily) along the creek bed and just as the group came to the widest point of the ground between the cliff face and the creek, the man at the back raised his hand and whistled.

  All the heads before him turned back to look at him.

  “It’s getting late in the day. There is enough room for us all to camp comfortably here tonight. We’ll stop, fill up our water canteens and set camp. I want us ready to be on our way again at first light.”

  The man then looked up at the open expanse of sky above them as if looking for something. Dearen glanced up as well but could see nothing. After a moment the man looked back to his motionless men.

  “Well, get to it. And remember to leave room for Trar.”

  “Yes Lieutenant,” they all called back before turning his words into action.

  ‘Dearen. What now?’

  ‘It looks like we’ll either wait until nightfall to get away. Or if you think I’m good enough, we could try to make our way around them now.’

  ‘I think it best we wait ‘til nightfall. No offence, but you still need a lot of practice to be able to walk quietly in the woods.’

  ‘No offence taken. I know my limitations Hauga.’

  Dearen looked down through the bushes to the men below. They had chosen the flat beach right below them and were busy setting a campfire and gathering water.

  ‘We’ll wait until they gather to eat t
heir evening meal, then we’ll move to get away from here.’

  ‘Good idea. Bareskins are ruled by their stomachs, they will not be listening for your clumsiness.’

  ‘Gee, thanks for the nice compliment Hauga.’

  ‘What are brothers for?’

  Dearen gave him a weak smile and then settled back to wait.

  CHAPTER Seven

  Lost Friends

  The sun was only a fingers width above the mountains to the west when the Bareskins below called out to the rest of the group that dinner was ready.

  Dearen could smell the thick, meaty aroma coming from the contents of the pot from where they sat perched on the cliff top. It smelt like a thick, hearty stew and Dearen’s mouth began to salivate. That pot smelt a lot better than the dry meat jerky that she and Hauga were looking forward to eating later that night.

  ‘Let’s make our move now while their attention is directed to filling their bellies.’

  ‘We’ll back away and then make our way north along the cliff.’

  Dearen could see Hauga’s slight nod of acknowledgement in the last light of the day.

  The two backed away a good distance from the edge of the cliff making sure that they could not be seen by those below and started to make their way north, following the cliff and the river.

  Keeping their attention focused on the Bareskin camp below them, they had barely gone beyond the cliff overhanging the camp, when Dearen heard a loud shout of alarm.

  Both she and Hauga stopped instantly. The shout came from not that far ahead of them.

  ‘Did you remember to count the people in camp?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Neither did I.’

  ‘We forgot to keep track of where all their sentries were set.’

  ‘No use worrying about it now.’

  Dearen still mentally kicked herself. It was such a trainee mistake.

  ‘Let us just try to get away. The cry might not be about us.’

  Dearen gave Hauga a sharp look which she knew Hauga’s good low light vision could see.

  ‘It might not be.’

  ‘But most probably is,’ Dearen mentally mumbled.