“See!” she shrilled, but stopped berating Spinner and Haft. She caught up with Zweepee. “Give me some bandages,” she said gruffly. She took the bandages Zweepee shoved at her and turned to tend Birdwhistle’s wounded arm.
“Lie down,” Zweepee told Haft.
“It’s nothing,” Haft protested, holding a hand over the gash in his belly. “Bandage someone else first.”
Just that fast, Fletcher was standing over him. “When my wife tells you to lay down so she can tend your wound, you lay down,” he rumbled in a much deeper voice than he normally used.
Haft looked up at him—Fletcher was taller than Spinner, who was taller than Haft. “You know, you’re lucky I’m wounded. If I wasn’t already bleeding, I’d break you across my knee for talking to me like that.”
Fletcher laughed. “Lay down and let Zweepee take care of your wound.”
Haft looked down when his sleeve was tugged. “Not you, too,” he growled. Wolf looked up at him around the sleeve he gripped in his mouth and growled back at him. He tugged again.
Zweepee, a tiny woman, reached her hands up to Haft’s shoulders and pressed. “Lie down like a good boy and let me take care of your wound,” she said in the kind of voice a mother uses when tending a young child’s boo-boo.
Haft rolled his eyes, but lay down on the ground. Several bees buzzed about the wounded, as though examining the wounds to see if they held nectar.
Fortunately, most of the wounds were minor though two Blood Swords were dead and space had to be made on a wagon for two others injured too badly to walk. It wasn’t long before the company was on the move once more. The same quartets as before scouted ahead. Captain Dumant of the Blood Swords was nowhere to be seen, unlike his seven men who were clearly happy to be added to the company.
Some time later, Haft became aware of voices coming from the road.
“Why are we stopping?” he heard Alyline demand, her voice was almost shrill.
“Because we’re moving faster than the scouts and we caught up with them,” Spinner replied softly, his voice straining for patience. “The scouts have to stay ahead of us if they’re to do any good.”
“Pfagh, they aren’t doing any good now. Look at Wolf.”
Wolf yipped, and jumped in stiff-legged play in the middle of the road some twenty yards ahead of them.
“See? He’s already scouted ahead, he says it’s safe.” She trotted forward and leaned low in the saddle to scratch Wolf behind his ears. Wolf whined in pleasure.
Spinner muttered something Haft couldn’t make out from his position off the road, then called out, “Scouts in.”
Haft swore softly. It wasn’t that he mistrusted Wolf, it was more that he didn’t fully trust the animal. How could a wolf truly know what presented a threat to a human party? Besides, he couldn’t forget that wolves are dangerous animals.
He spun to level his crossbow at the sound of a branch snapping in an unexpected direction, swore again when he saw Kovasch and Meszaros walking toward him through the forest.
“You’ve got to stop sneaking up on me,” he snapped. “Or one of these days I’ll shoot before I know who you are.”
“We trust your quickness of sight,” Kovasch said with a barely contained smile.
“As much noise as you’re making, anybody in a mile would know you’re coming, then I’d have to save you.”
The former poachers exchanged glances, Meszaros offended, Kovasch amused. They’d gotten awfully close to Haft before the Frangerian Marine had heard them.
“Mount up,” Spinner told the scouts when they all reached the road. He turned his head slightly so they couldn’t see the lingering imprint of Alyline’s hand on his cheek. “We’ll go faster if everybody’s riding.”
“Someone can still come in on our flanks. The rest of those bandits are out there somewhere,” Haft replied as he hesitantly mounted the docile mare that had been his since weeks before when they left the border between Bostia and Skragland. He heeled his horse and pulled on her reins then trotted off the road. Birdwhistle followed at his signal. Meszaros and Kovasch joined them when Fletcher nodded at him. Fletcher himself led Kocsokoz, Hunter, and Archer off the right side of the road.
“Ulgh!” Wolf whined, shaking his head. He looked indignantly up at Spinner, as though in complaint that nobody wanted to believe him. “Ulgh,” he said more firmly and began loping down the road, head held unnaturally high. He looked for all the world like he was showing them the road was so safe they could simply walk along it without even bothering to watch where they were stepping.
Spinner shook his head at the wolf. Before leading the column on, he called to the two quartets of scouts, “Find food!”
Two miles along, the main party caught up with Wolf where he lounged in the middle of the road, watching over a pile of rabbits and a brace of pheasants. On one side of the road, Fletcher lay back against a boar that Archer and Kocsokoz had helped him bring down. On the other side of the road Haft, Kovasch, and Birdwhistle were gutting and skinning a stag, two does, and a fawn they’d killed.
“We eat well tonight!” Alyline exclaimed. She spun her stallion about and cantered back to the camp followers to organize them in setting up firepits over which to roast their plenty.
“Not until we find a bivouac for the night,” Spinner called after her.
Haft sidled his mare up to Spinner. “May as well bivouac here,” he grumbled. “You know that women never listens to you.” He spat to the side. “Damn woman never listens to anyone.”
Spinner shot Haft a pained glance. He really didn’t want to be reminded of how little attention the Golden Girl paid him. As coldly as she treated him, nobody would ever guess he was the one who had rescued her from a most horrible slavery. He really hadn’t understood how important her dancing was to her—and how essential her own sothar player was to the dance.
CHAPTER
NINE
Yellow shafts of sunlight spiked through breaks in the tree cover as the middle of the following day found the company only four miles beyond the night’s bivouac. Birds sang and darted from place to place in the canopy. Insects buzzed and flitted about, some drinking fluids from the passersby. Bees trailed them. Basking lizards froze in position and held their ground in imagined invisibility.
Scouts were sent out the same as on the days before, but the only danger they found was the danger they presented to the forest’s animals. The scouts bagged three dozen quail, an elk, and five deer. Not to mention the rabbits and squirrels Wolf added to the harvest when he wasn’t ranging ahead or far to the flanks. Movement was slowed enough by the hunting that many of the women and children foraged along the way, joking, laughing, and singing as they went. Fletcher began calculating how soon he should call a stop to the hunting; it wouldn’t do to continue to take so many animals; they wouldn’t have time to dry all the meat before it started going bad. Nor should they take so many that the animals would learn to flee at first sign of men.
Spinner was also concerned about the slow pace. The time needed to preserve the meat didn’t occur to him, though he did wonder at how easy the hunting was—it was as if these animals didn’t know about hunters and weren’t afraid of man. His concern was the need to find a town or village. Zweepee had told him the band was almost out of thread and needles, and other supplies they couldn’t easily make themselves were running low. Except for those few items the company already had in good supply, the peddlers had already sold all of their most useful goods to members of the band. The slower their travel, the longer it would take to find a town, and the more things they’d run out of. For the first time, Spinner understood the emphasis Lord Gunny Says put on logistics, a topic to which he’d never before paid any attention.
Haft’s thought processes were much more direct and immediate. Game’s ready to be caught? Catch it and eat it. Is this a road? Roads lead to villages and towns; don’t worry about it; we’ll reach one sooner or later. In the meantime it’s a fine day, game is plentiful,
there’s just enough breeze to blow off the light sweat raised by the exertion of walking, the insects aren’t too bothersome and there isn’t a bandit or Jokapcul to be found. So just relax. Stay watchful in case bandits or Jokapcul do appear, but otherwise relax and enjoy the day.
That was the situation when Wolf came galloping back along the road, his tongue hanging out with sweat flying off it.
“Whoa!” Spinner pulled on his gelding’s reins and signaled a halt. Behind him, tackle creaked and wagons groaned as the column shuddered to a stop. Voices called out asking what was happening, why did they stop.
Wolf didn’t slow his charge until he was nearly on the lead riders. Then he leaped and twisted about, but was so close and going so fast his momentum carried him as far as the hind legs of Spinner’s mount. The gelding shied as Wolf landed rump first, skidded backward a few feet, then tumbled over and rolled. He quickly jumped out of the roll and landed on his feet. He bounded forward to Spinner’s side and stood with his forepaws on the gelding’s withers, which made the horse prance nervously aside. Wolf dropped to all fours and panted heavily for a moment, head up to look at Spinner. A small puddle grew beneath his lolling tongue.
“Catch your breath, Wolf,” Spinner said, “then tell me what you found.” It was a fine day and he was feeling good, even if he was concerned about the band’s logistics.
Alyline leaned to look over the gelding’s shoulder at Wolf. Wolf looked up at her for a second, turned his head away, then sat with a faint whine.
“That’s how a proper dog is supposed to behave,” she told him with a crisp nod.
Wolf replied with a sharp Ulgh! and bounced back onto all fours.
“I think he doesn’t like being called a dog,” Spinner said. “He’s a wolf, and proud of it.”
The Golden Girl sniffed. “Dogs are descended from wolves, and I think there’s more than one dog in this wolf’s lineage.”
Wolf looked at Spinner as though exclaiming, The nerve of her!
Spinner shrugged. He couldn’t tell Alyline anything without getting an argument.
Wolf had his breath back. “Ulgh!” he barked, and grabbed Spinner’s trouser leg where it bloused before tucking into his boot. He gave it a tug as he stepped along the road, then let go and barked “Ulgh!” once more.
“What do you have?” Spinner asked as he heeled the gelding to walk with the wolf.
“Ulgh! Ulgh!”
“You have to speak more clearly than that if I’m to understand you.”
“ULGH!” Wolf grabbed Spinner’s trouser again and worried it almost out of the boot.
“All right, all right,” Spinner laughed as he jerked his trouser leg out of Wolf’s mouth. “I’m sorry if I made fun of you. Show me what you found.”
Wolf looked at him suspiciously, waiting for another joke at his expense. When Spinner didn’t offer one, he began trotting along the road.
Spinner twisted in his saddle and waved forward at the people and wagons behind. He tapped the gelding’s sides to get it to keep pace with Wolf. Alyline cantered ahead of them.
Silent had returned a moment earlier from one of his frequent solo scouting forays. He moved his horse into the Golden Girl’s place on Spinner’s right.
“Mighty fine looking little bitty woman,” he rumbled as he watched Alyline diminish into the shadows and distance—she was “little bitty” only in comparison to his hugeness. “Too bad she’s going to get herself into some serious trouble one of these days.”
Spinner grunted. “I think any trouble she gets herself into will find itself in even more trouble before she’s through with it.”
Silent barked out a laugh so loud and sharp it startled the nearby horses and turned all heads in his direction. Then he turned serious.
“You’ve seen your share of trouble, my friend, and she’s seen worse. But, I’ll tell you, together you haven’t seen anywhere near the worst people have to offer.” He didn’t have to lean to look over the gelding’s back at Wolf. “What’d you find up ahead, Wolf, a town?”
“Ulgh!” Wolf said excitedly and wagged his tail.
“See?” he said to Spinner. “Wolves are easy to talk to. All you have to do is ask leading questions.”
Soon the thocking of wood chopping echoed distantly through the forest. The thocking ebbed and stopped by the time the lead riders reached a clearing so large they could hardly see across it. Alyline was sitting her stallion, waiting for them, peering into the town, almost a mile distant, that centered the cleared area. To the north, mountains jutted above the forest, beginning their progress as the spine of the peninsula.
“Where are the people?” she murmured with an unsettled edge in her voice.
The place didn’t look deserted, it showed no sign of having been ravaged by invaders or bandits, but not a soul was in sight.
Haft and Fletcher joined Spinner, Alyline, and Silent to look over the town and decide what to do.
“Now what?” Spinner asked, almost to himself.
“Don’t ask me,” Silent said. “You and Haft are in command here.”
“We need to find out where the people are,” Haft said. “Find who’s in charge and,” he looked back at the column of wagons emptying into the cleared area, “see if we can get some help for our wounded.”
Spinner nodded, Haft was right. “Haft, Silent,” Spinner said, “put out security, get the rest of the soldiers into defensive positions around the wagons. Haft, join me when you’re satisfied with the disposition. The foot of those mountains,” he nodded to the north, “is our rally point.”
Haft nodded. He didn’t see anything wrong here, even if no people were in sight. But then, The Burnt Man Inn had looked fine to him as well, and he’d been very wrong about it. He looked at the mountains that rose to the north; finally, a rally point that could be seen from all around. He went to assemble the soldiers and made sure everyone knew where they were to meet and reassemble if they got scattered or lost.
“Fletcher,” Spinner continued, “circle the wagons in that area,” he pointed to a nearby copse, “and make sure all the women and children are inside the circle. Then stay in command while we go ahead.”
Fletcher nodded. “Right.” He turned and went back to move the camp followers into place.
“You go to the wagons with the other women,” Spinner said to the Golden Girl.
She sniffed and didn’t move.
Spinner looked away from her and his gaze fell on Wolf. “You stay here, boy. Help Fletcher and Silent.”
Wolf whined, the whine quickly shifted to a low growl. Spinner wasn’t sure if the wolf was disappointed or relieved at being left as security for the wagons and women.
After some further discussion, they decided to bring Xundoe the mage with them. The five set off into the town.
If “town” was too grand a word, it wasn’t too grand by much, for the place was too large to be a village. A straight road led into the center of the town. At first the road passed between fields; grain on one side, vegetables on the other. To the south of the town were orchards of fruit trees; to the north, water fowl splashed and swam in ponds. Beyond the fields, clumps of small houses, mostly of thatch and wattle, sprouted helter-skelter, seemingly plunked down wherever whim decreed, with large swaths of open land between, as though they huddled together clan by clan. Tendrils of smoke rose from some of the houses. The thatch on most of the roofs looked to be in need of repair. Few trees stood among the houses, only a few copses stood in the open ground between housing clumps. The houses in those outskirt clumps were smallish and looked not in good repair. Closer to the town center they were larger, with the largest ones closest to the middle. Those largest stood two or even three stories high and sat comfortably spaced on individual lots. All seemed to need fresh paint or other repairs of some sort. Carriages were visible behind some of the larger houses.
The clops of the horses’ hooves echoing from the houses emphasized the stillness around them. Beyond the houses were the
workshops of metal workers and other craftsmen. Warehouses stood behind the shops and crafts. They passed a stable with a blacksmith’s forge behind it. It was eerie to see all those workshops and the forge sitting silent and unattended. Nearer the center of the town the road was lined with shops but their displays seemed sparser than they should. Nobody was shopping or selling.
Spinner and Haft rode side by side into the town with Silent and the Golden Girl close behind. None of them had weapons in their hands, but all had their weapons ready to draw at an instant’s notice. Xundoe brought up the rear. His fingers nervously tapped the spell pouch laid across his saddle and he hoped he wouldn’t need to use the small demon spitter and two phoenix eggs he brought, and that they’d be enough if he did.
“They’re all inside, watching us,” Alyline said softly.
“I wonder what they are afraid of,” Spinner said, almost as softly.
Haft looked around the settlement. No watch towers or breastworks, no defenses of any sort. “If I lived in a place like this and I saw fourscore armed men approaching, I think I’d be afraid, too,” he said.
Silent kept his peace.
Xundoe thought long before speaking. “The land here is rich, the crops are growing lushly, but the town looks poor. I wonder why?”
At length they entered the town center, a largish square ringed by a road paved with gravel that was dampened with oil to keep down the dust. To their left was what looked like the hall of a prosperous town. A surprisingly large inn that stood opposite the hall reminded Spinner of The Burnt Man; he didn’t know what use so remote a town had for so large an inn. They would have thought the institutional-looking building on one side was a barracks, if the town had been large enough to need so big a garrison. The fourth side held a mansion and two smaller but no less grand houses. A canopied stage, perhaps a bandstand, graced the side of the square before the town hall. The inn had its own corral and stable, which were visible around its side. Other roads as straight as the one they’d ridden entered the square from the north, east, and south. To the east, the edge of the forest was much closer than on the west. They turned toward the town hall and saw the first people.
Demontech: Rally Point: 2 (Demontech Book 2) Page 10