“What do you think of Davlin?” Conlan asked softly in English, mindful of Eleanor, who slept, slumped against his back, in the saddle behind him.
“I like him. He’s smart, sure of himself, controlled, and I get the feeling he could handle himself in a fight,” Will said, struggling to hide a massive yawn. He felt like he could sleep for a week, and the aches and pains he had earned earlier were starting to make themselves felt, but thankfully his headache had dropped down to a dull throb he could almost ignore.
Conlan nodded and rode alongside in thoughtful silence for a while as the sky took on a brighter hue of blue, the sun heading towards the horizon. Will’s mind drifted, not really thinking of anything beyond where Brutus was stepping and trying not to move his body too much, so that Amelia—sleeping soundly with her head on his shoulder—would not wake. He was quite used to silence where Conlan was concerned. In fact, until Eleanor had turned up, the silences had tended to outweigh the actual conversations.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Conlan asked eventually. “You looked very unwell earlier.”
Will nodded, a sickening spasm of guilt running through his stomach. “I’m fine. It was just a lot of water to move, and I still have a headache from getting clobbered by Moylan.”
“You’d tell me, if there was a problem?” Conlan asked.
“Yes, if I thought there was something that would impact my ability to do my duty, I’d inform you,” Will said, the sickening feeling squeezing him mercilessly.
There was a pause. When he spoke, Conlan’s voice was full of hurt.
“I didn’t ask as a king, Will. I care as your friend.”
Will’s mind went blank. Speechless, he turned to stare at Conlan, who dropped his head, switching back to Dwarfish in his distress, a heavy, wounded rumble under his words.
“It should not stun you into silence to discover I care.”
Will smiled warmly. “I have always known you cared. It just took me by surprise that you would mention it.”
“I should have said it before this, but better late than never.”
Will nodded, and then changed the subject, moving back into English, hoping to ease Conlan’s obvious discomfort.
“How far do you think we can trust these Protectors?” Will asked, voicing his underlying concern with their current arrangement.
Conlan shrugged. “The oath they took is a binding one; our fates are now one. I have no choice but to trust that, but I wish I could have had more time to get to know them before they took it.”
This did not really answer Will’s question, but it was most likely the best he was going to get. The two men dropped into companionable silence again.
After a short while, a large night bird let out its strange high-pitched squawk somewhere behind them. Will tensed, Brutus froze, and Amelia mumbled something incoherent in her sleep.
What am I so jumpy about? Maybe it was the creepy night ride, but perhaps it was something else. Will had learnt, from bitter, painful experience, to trust his instincts. He sat straighter, squinting into the dark.
“Something?” Conlan murmured, suddenly much more alert.
Will scanned their shadowy surroundings.
“Feels like we’re being watched,” Conlan said quietly, voicing Will’s thoughts.
Will nodded, staring into the almost-dark. “Maybe it’s just paranoia?” he suggested, his eyes scanning their surroundings, trying to penetrate the deeper shadows, but even as he did so, the feeling of being watched was fading.
Conlan frowned. “Both of us get a paranoia attack at the same time?”
“Okay, unlikely,” Will agreed, peering through the trees around them. “But I don’t have the feeling anymore, do you?”
Conlan shook his head. “Maybe it was just an animal?”
“Maybe…”
Will was not convinced. He had felt the intent behind their observer—it had not been an animal. It could just be a local. Someone who did not want trouble any more than they did and was just being cautious? So why am I finding it so hard to relax?
Next to him, Conlan was tense and vigilant too. Without needing to discuss it, they both forced their horses into a faster walk, only allowing the animals to slow back down when the brown rump of Amelia’s horse, Lady, with Teris and Elroy sat astride her, was within shouting distance.
Staring at Elroy’s back, Will frowned. They really have become part of our lives. The thought made him a little uncomfortable. How was this going to work? Will began to wonder where Conlan’s head was in all this. He appeared to have taken on the mantle of leadership, but how far did that extend?
“Conlan, what’s the plan?”
He was purposely vague. From experience, he knew that Conlan would give more away with his interpretation of the question and the focus of his answer, rather than with his actual words.
Bet he’s going to tell me all about how he plans to get Gregor out of the North Tower!
“It’s changed things, with twelve of us, not five, but I’m thinking we should travel for a few days.” Conlan spoke slowly, working it through as he spoke. “I want us out of range of those Protectors. They might not have known for certain we were there, but I don’t want to take the risk. We need to find another town, check it out and then send Eleanor in to contact Remic. I was thinking Gallendary might be good for this; it’s about two days’ travel from here at this pace. When we’re asking Remic for his help, we need to ask for money for food too—foraging is just not easy with this many of us. Besides, if we’re buying carts anyway, we may as well carry supplies. We can also get rid of Mickle’s arthritic old nag and that mule, which will give us a little extra money. The horse Davlin brought is quite decent; we can put it into a cart harness with Brutus, then Pal and Amelia’s horse can pull the other cart. We also need to start working on our ‘player’ skills and train the Protectors to fight up to a level that I find acceptable. Davlin might know how to use a sword effectively, but I’m betting the others have no idea. And we’re going to need to do most of this as we travel. But I think it’s possible.”
Will smiled. “You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
Conlan gave an irascible growl, although he spoke in English. “Yes, I have. You don’t need to sound so surprised!”
“I’m also impressed, if that helps.”
There was silence, but Will got the impression Conlan had just rolled his eyes.
“Most of it was Eleanor’s input—still impressed?” Conlan asked with pointed sarcasm.
Will smiled. “Actually, yes. You and Eleanor make a great team.”
Conlan snorted. “If we can stop arguing for five minutes so we can have a rational conversation!”
“You need to work on that,” Will said, wondering how open Conlan would be to phase two of his plan.
“I tried telling her to shut up. I pointed out that she was being annoying and stubborn. She just yelled louder.”
“Have you tried listening to her?” Will asked.
“She should be listening to me!”
“And who’s the stubborn one again?” Will asked softly.
Silence.
“You listened when Davlin wished to express an opinion,” Will pointed out. “Try that with Eleanor.”
“Davlin is one of my men. He has experience. It’s not the same,” Conlan said.
“And Eleanor is very bright, a creative problem-solver and bound to you even more than the rest of us. Ignoring that resource is not in our best interests,” Will continued doggedly. “Eleanor screams and yells because she thinks that’s the only way she can get your attention. There might be less arguing if she knew you would listen to her and value her opinion.”
“I do listen to her and value her opinion. I listen to you all. We’ve been voting for months, haven’t we? But things are different now. I have men, men who are looking for a strong leader—not some idiot who can’t pull on his own boots without a woman to help him.”
“You’re ignoring Eleano
r because she’s a woman?” Will said, his incredulous tone a little too loud, making Amelia stir fitfully.
“They’re Protectors, Will!” Conlan whispered harshly. “Not the People of the Horse, not the Dwarves or the Elves. They’ll have no respect for me if it’s obvious I take advice and direction from a woman. In their eyes, it makes me weak.”
“We’ve had this conversation before, Conlan. I always thought women’s equality in Mydren was something you wanted. Watching the amazing leadership team I know you and Eleanor can become… what better introduction could these men have to the idea that women can be just as capable as men?”
“Giving women basic rights, making it possible for them to own property and businesses, getting them educated… yes, I want that, very much,” Conlan said, pausing to think about what he wanted to say next. “But I can’t achieve it overnight, and we’ll need the help of these Protectors to have a chance. I don’t want to alienate them or look less capable of leading.”
Will huffed. “You’ll look capable of leading if you do it well—and you’ll be able to do it better if you use Eleanor’s talents. How do you think you’re going to make the changes you want for Mydren if you don’t have the courage to attempt to change the hearts and minds of six Protectors and an Enforcer?” Silence. I’m losing him. Wanting to make sure he had made his point quite clear before Conlan told him to shut up, Will continued. “Worrying about what other people think is a waste of effort; no matter what you do you’ll never please everyone. Focus on what you know is right, and the respect and loyalty of those that matter will follow naturally.”
Without another word or glance, Conlan urged Meran into a trot, heading towards the head of their motley band. Will sighed. I pushed him too far. It would be days before Conlan calmed down enough to talk like that with him again.
Phase two had been a failure.
Conlan pushed them to keep moving over the next two days, stopping only to let the men and horses grab a few hours’ sleep when it was unavoidable. Their cold, unsatisfying rations—eaten in the saddle—added a constant nagging hunger to Will’s list of aches, pains and general discomfort.
The third day it rained cold, heavy, soaking drops, with a wicked wind that tossed the water in unexpected directions. Amelia began to clear it, but Conlan asked her politely, but stiffly, to stop. Confused, Amelia had complied. Will explained that Conlan was most likely using the adverse conditions to take the measure of the men who travelled with them: who complained, who got bad-tempered, who carried on regardless. Amelia nodded thoughtfully, then decided that Conlan did not need to take her measure, and she created a shield over Brutus to act as an umbrella against the worst of the weather.
There was palpable relief when they could finally see the chimney smoke of Gallendary in the distance. I need a large, hot meal, many hours of unbroken sleep and at some point soon, a good wash and change of clothes, Will thought as they scouted out a camp. Davlin suggested a flat, sparsely treed, raised hill for their camp, explaining it would offer better visibility and would be easier to defend if necessary. Mickle wanted to camp closer to the stream in the valley they had come through to reach the hilltop. Conlan agreed with Davlin’s caution.
Organising the camp, Mickle, with a vindictive smile on his face, immediately put Davlin on water-hauling duty—and when Elroy went to help Davlin, Mickle quickly found another task for him on the other side of the camp. At which point Will, making sure Amelia was happy assisting Kip in unpacking and setting up his kitchen, ignored Mickle’s impotent glare and went to help Davlin. As he headed off, he could not help but smile at the tired exasperation in Amelia’s voice as she tried to get the Dwarfish word for ‘spoon’ right, yet managing to call it a ‘bucket’ each time.
Davlin said nothing as Will joined him at the stream in the bottom of the valley with two large water containers, merely offered a nod of respectful appreciation. The water was heavy, it was a long walk from the camp, and the proximity to the fast-flowing stream kept throwing off Will’s internal balance. All in all it was dark before the two men completed the eight exhausting trips needed to fill all the personal water containers, Kip’s three cooking pots and the horse’s leather drinking troughs. Will’s muscles were trembling and his headache roaring by the time they were done.
Placing the last heavy, sloshing trough in front of Meran and Davlin’s horse, the men stood, stretching their tired bodies. Davlin gave his horse an affectionate pat before they headed towards the smaller cooking fire to the right of the main campfire. It appeared everyone else had already eaten and were sat around the main fire talking or playing cards. But Amelia and Kip still waited for them at the cooking fire with welcoming smiles and the first decent meal Will felt like he had eaten in days. He was quite distressed to discover he had no real appreciation for it though—he just wanted to eat it as quickly as possible so he could sleep.
Once he was comfortable and full, Will leant against his saddle, which sat propped up against their luggage, his legs stretched out towards the fire in front of him. Amelia’s head rested heavily on his chest, her warm, soft, sleeping body snuggled into him. Despite his exhaustion, sleep was slow in coming, and he was debating whether he should move them to the larger main campfire. Kip had moved there when Davlin had bid them goodnight and headed off to wherever he went for his self-imposed sentry duty. But Will assumed Kip had left so that he and Amelia could have some private time, and while the smaller cooking fire would not last through the night, Will did not really want to give up the illusion of privacy it offered.
“Will?”
Will jumped, turning his head, and Amelia woke, blinking and yawning. Freddie crouched at his side, looked worried.
“Yes?” Will asked.
“I think Arran could do with some medical attention, but I don’t know how to offer it,” Freddie said.
“Pardon?”
“Arran disappeared earlier. I was suspicious, so I followed him,” Freddie said, without a flicker of guilt. “He doesn’t look well… I think he needs your help.”
Will smiled at Amelia. “Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”
She nodded, yawning again. Will kissed her forehead, grabbed his medical bag from their pile of luggage, forced his tired body up and followed Freddie.
Arran was a distance from the camp. They found him knelt at the edge of the stream Will had visited many times already that evening, although Arran had gone for a spot farther upstream, where soft sand led gently into the water. Will felt his energy jump with the running water’s proximity. Almost without thinking he linked his ‘overflow pipe’ energy string, as Eleanor called it, back into the water, putting effort into keeping his energy level balanced.
It was dark, but Arran had brought a lantern with him. In its yellow, flickering light, Will could see that he had ripped strips off his black robes and was using them to wash the caked-on blood from his thin, naked, violently trembling body.
See what I mean? Freddie asked.
Will nodded. Arran had taken a beating, cuts and bruises standing livid against his pale skin. And judging by the dried blood that stained his flesh, some of the injuries were serious.
Go back to the camp. Keep Amelia company for me. I’ll do what I can for Arran, Will said.
Freddie nodded. Jerking his energy free of Will’s head, he gave the young Enforcer one last sympathetic look before disappearing into the undergrowth.
Not wanting to frighten Arran into attacking him, Will purposely made noise as he stepped towards him. Arran stood, spinning round; he made no attempt to cover himself, but glared bitter distrust.
“Had a good look, Avatar of Water?” he asked, his voice flat and emotionless. Will had a strong sense of déjà vu. Conlan had said almost exactly the same thing to him the first time he had caught sight of the many scars that marked his body. Keeping his gaze fixed on Arran’s suspicious hazel eyes, Will walked forward.
“Arran, you are in pain. I can help you,” he said gently.
&n
bsp; Arran raised an eyebrow, and Will stared; the similarities between the Enforcer and Conlan were unmistakable.
“You are a healer?” he asked.
Will nodded. “Not the best, but the best you are going to find around here.”
“Very well,” he murmured, watching as Will cautiously approached. “I will not hurt you, Avatar of Water. You no longer have anything to fear from me.”
“Will. My name is Will, and you must excuse my nervousness, but my encounters with you so far have not been pleasant,” Will said.
Arran nodded, his emotionless expression so similar to Conlan’s. What did Eleanor call it? ‘The Daratus Effect’.
Will moved round Arran’s body, giving his injuries a cursory inspection. They were recent, maybe a week old at most. “Daratus is a brutal man,” Will said softly.
“Yes, he is,” Arran agreed. “But Daratus did not do this. I left before Daratus could punish me. If he had got his hands on me it would have been many weeks before I would have been fit enough to escape.”
“So who did this?” Will asked.
“Daratus’s other three Enforcers.”
Shocked, Will looked up. “Why?”
“Daratus will have instructed them to,” Arran said quietly. “He would never beat me if he thought I could fight back. After your escape, the other Enforcers stripped me of my energy. I have no personal shield, so they have done it many times over the years, practicing for when they would meet you and your friends. Anyway, there were three of them. Individually I am stronger than they are, but together it was more than I could fight against. They do not like me, and were rougher than they needed to be.”
Will stared at the fist-shaped bruises; ‘rougher than they needed to be’ was an understatement. Will had also taken note of Arran’s choice of words: ‘when’ they meet you, not ‘if’. So the Lords of Mydren had assumed the Avatars would return.
Will (Book 2) Page 6