by LeRoy Clary
Alexis charged from the darkness closer to the mountain pass. She trotted up to me and nuzzled me, searching for a hidden apple. I took her halter and led her down the trail, thinking that if any of them had left with our things, they wouldn’t go through the pass. If they had, Alexis would have run on ahead or the other way, so two of them went in the direction we were headed.
Searching the road with the lamplight revealed there were the hoofprints of a pair of horses. The edges of the prints were dried and crumbling. Those Alexis was making were of consistent texture and moisture. Tater is the tracker, but even I could tell the other horses had departed long ago. Making a full turn, I looked for Springer. Then called to him. Nothing.
There were also bodies in the meadow, the two who had been on watch and those who fell during the initial attack. If the men had remained hidden until we were in the meadow, and especially if they had waited until we had dismounted, the attack would have been successful without the loss of life to them. That is twice our enemies had failed to win when they should have. We couldn’t expect to have that sort of luck without encountering some bad.
Back at the fire, I said, “Two men left on our horses.”
Elizabeth said, “We’ve searched everything while you were gone. Every coin we had is missing, along with anything valuable a person could quickly sell, even the dragon armor Tater had.”
“They went to sell what they could, and to buy food, clothing, and blankets.”
She nodded and shrugged. “But they won’t be back until tomorrow. By the time they rode down to where they could use our money to buy things, it had to be dark. Stores would be closed. They won’t return until late morning at the earliest.”
“They won’t like it when they get here,” I said.
Kendra spoke for the first time, “Because we killed so many?”
“Because we will be waiting for them in ambush down the trail before they are warned.”
“We will be waiting,” Elizabeth said. “Kendra will tend to our wounded while we set our own trap. I intend to not only get our belongings back but to keep us safe.”
“I prefer to go with Damon,” Kendra said. “It is not right for you to go with him into battle.”
“But I am your princess and order you to remain here. Obey me.”
I hadn’t often heard that tone of voice from Elizabeth but knew to respect it. So, did Kendra. I was going to sleep unless they needed me, and when they didn’t object, I checked on Tater and made my bed near him.
As expected, Elizabeth never woke me for my guard duty. She and Kendra traded off the watches. I awoke and touched the tender lump on the side of my head. It was coated with dried blood, and that was probably the injury that had knocked me out. The fire was burning, and as I sat up, Tater stirred. He faced me and winked if squinting one eye more than the other constituted a wink.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Like I slept half of yesterday and all night. Where’s Springer?”
“We don’t know. Can’t find him.”
“Damn it all, now my brother is going to charge me full price for that ugly mutt.”
“We killed about a dozen men, four or five in the meadow, the others are here. Two probably still alive.”
“How’d you do it?”
Any mention of magic was out. “I managed to slip the ropes and untied Kendra. We took out the two guards and used their bows to fire at the rest when they were sleeping.”
Tater didn’t look as if he believed me. He had doubted we were strong enough to sleep outside in the valley near the inn. I said quickly, to cover up any questions he might ask, “They stole everything of value. We think the two who left to sell our stuff will return today. We’ll be waiting.”
He glanced down at his left arm as if just discovering it was broken. He said, “Just so’s you know, Springer tried to warn me before the attack. I didn’t listen because I was too excited to find a place to stay for the night.”
I rolled over and closed my eyes but didn’t go to sleep. My head throbbed, my leg still hurt, and so many issues kept invading my mind. The events of the day kept swirling around inside—and the interaction that my sister seemed to be having with dragons didn’t make sense to me. Why would they seek her out, yet the Blue Lady had as much as admitted that was true. And who was she? What was she? There seemed to be easier explanations until I considered the facts and those testy facts returned me to the beginning of my worries and I started all over with my story. There are times when it’s easier to deal with falsehoods that partial truths.
So, my mind moved from thinking about all that to what bothered me most, excluding the idea that I’d killed several last night, and they were the first to have the same physical characteristics we shared. There were also the inconvenient facts that those same men had tried to kill us, and that important people from our palace were flocking to Mercia like ravens to a corpse, and that I had no inkling of what to do tomorrow, except be prepared to kill two more men we didn’t know.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I finally fell asleep, then tossed and turned. The faces of the dead hovered just below what my mind pictured, always there, always ready to step up to the forefront. I wished for a method to conjure images of each to study. The sameness of their features too great to be an accident, but since none of them spoke our language, how could we communicate? In a rush, I understood a new fact. At least one of them could speak with us. He was the one they sent with our valuables to bargain them away and return with food and other essentials. It seemed certain that shopkeepers in the country wouldn’t know the Kondor language.
It made sense, one of the few predictions I felt comfortable in making. With it, my mind settled down, and the next thing I was aware of was Kendra waking me. Elizabeth was sleeping, and Kendra placed her finger to her lips to keep me quiet as she pointed to the far end of the clearing.
She almost tip-toed there, then on to a small hillock that overlooked the meadow. We sat in the damp grass covered in sparkling frozen dew and faced each other. I waited.
“They look like us,” she said, never one to be anything but direct with me.
“They come from Kondor, which is across the Dire Sea.”
She accepted my offering and said, “We may have killed friends of our parents, relatives sent to rescue us, or whatever.”
“The whatever is my guess. None gave an indication of recognition, other than one identified Kondor as his homeland after he got a good look at me. He believed I might be from there, too.”
“Too bad none of them know our language.”
I allowed the beginnings of a smile. “One does. He’s the one that took our money to the town so he could buy food in the nearest store.”
She smiled in return. “Then don’t kill that one if you can help it.”
Kendra had a point. Until she spoke, our intent had to kill both men as they returned—and she hoped to question one of them. Her assumption that I was going to kill someone today also took me aback.
She changed subjects. “The Blue Woman has not returned. Can you feel her presence? She is near.”
“I was waiting for the proper time to speak with you both at once,” a voice emanated from the empty air near my left shoulder. I scooted away, ready to stand and fight.
The voice continued to emanate from thin air, without any appearance of the woman, not even the faintest flicker of blue, “However, this is not the time. We will talk later.”
“Wait,” I ordered, either too late or she ignored me.
“That was odd,” Kendra muttered. “And a little rude.”
I added, “Very coincidental for her to pop in just as we asked about her. Does she listen to everything we say?” The idea made me feel awkward. If the Blue Lady listened, did others? If so, who were they and how many? The answer was as elusive as the number of angels dancing on the head of a pin.
Kendra said, “She might. Otherwise, that was too coincidental. That one lone man who wat
ched on the top of the pass was not associated with these men. That brings up more questions.”
“You’re right. They don’t fit together if that’s the right word.”
“But we still face the question of why three mages, a lord, and princess, as well as the highest of the Heir Apparent’s staff, are all heading to Mercia.”
“I’m more concerned with you,” I told her, allowing no trace of humor to creep into my tone. “And the wyverns.”
“I thought you always called them dragons to be ornery, and so you could object when I tried to correct you.” She didn’t bother smiling.
“Back to the dragons,” I said.
Kendra said, “We can worry about them later.”
I slowly shook my head from side to side. “They say Mercia has them filling the skies. I have a nightmare of you walking outside and dozens of them halting their flights while all look at you and either attack or flock to see you. It’s hard to tell what’s worse.”
“That makes sense,” Kendra said. “Maybe after they see me once, they will ignore me.”
“That is possible,” I agreed with the sense of how lame it sounded when passing my lips. I stood and made a complete circle of the campsite in the morning light, looking for anything out of order, and didn’t find it. Kendra puttered at a few tasks in a distracted manner and finally waved me to join her. She pointed at a dead man. His position was beside the fire, and his body was in the way.
She then pointed the same finger to a path that went directly to the road, and the steep hillside beyond. We each took hold of a foot and dragged him. When we reached the road, I said, “He looks like us. This is hard.”
“Yes. We can’t let the bodies stay here and rot.”
“They will freeze, and we won’t put up with the smell, but we can’t throw them over the hillside like old garbage.” My principals told me to stand firm, ready to fight her if needed.
She acted as if she would balk, then relented. “You’re right. They look too much like us to do that. Is leaving them here any better? When the weather gets warmer . . .”
“The ground is too hard to dig. What else can we do?” I asked her.
She quickly bent and adjusted the body at our feet and crossed the legs and arms, the old sign of respect. We dragged two more and wore ourselves out before Kendra asked why we didn’t use a horse.
A rope tied to the saddle made it easy to drag another to lay beside the others, doing the same signs of respect to each, then we went to the meadow and drug them to join their comrades. By the time we were finished, I was cursing us for not using one of the packhorses from the beginning. Still, we had over a dozen men laid out side-by-side, and I wanted to express something profound. No words came. I was sorry but happy it was not us. Those were not the words I’d searched for.
Instead, I turned away and walked beside my sister to the campfire and threw more wood on it. I’m not sure the cold in my bones had anything to do with the weather. We sat and watched the flickering flames for what seemed a long time without speaking. Kendra checked on Tater a few times and assured me he was fine. We saw nothing of Springer, and yet we had walked all over the camp, looked inside the tattered tents and lean-tos, and called his name. Who would have thought I’d expend that much energy on a dog missing one ear?
Elizabeth had gone back to sleep after being awake all night. She woke and as she moved about, she noticed the missing bodies, turned to us, but said only, “We should get going before long.”
She was right. We didn’t want the pair that had gone down the mountain to return and catch us off-guard. I also didn’t wish to spend all day and perhaps another night waiting in ambush.
I said, “That lone man who tried to kill us worries me. He just does not fit with what we know.”
“These twelve should worry you more,” Elizabeth grunted. “What’s the problem?”
“I can’t tell, exactly. He was alone, and these were here. I can understand them not knowing of him, but not the other way around. If he was alone, why? He should have chosen a place down either side of the pass where there was no snow.”
“Why was he there in the first place?” she asked.
“I have an idea. What if he was part of them? Or maybe running from them is a better idea? Or following them? He didn’t look like them, but maybe they chased him up there?” Biting my tongue was a good idea from the beginning, and I should have heeded it. From the intense expression Elizabeth wore, her next words were expected.
“Speaking of how they looked, did you happen to notice the similarities between them and you two?”
“We did.” Saying more would bring more attention to our origins a subject we wished to avoid, at least, for now. Kendra studied the ground at her feet with intense concentration. She was leaving what was said to me. Her actions were cowardly. If I made any mistake, she would later dredge it up and spill the tailings over me. Yet, I had no defense.
“They had your coloring.”
“And nose and hair,” I added reluctantly. “I’ll have to do an investigation on Kondor when we return home.”
Elizabeth turned her attention to Kendra, who avoided making eye-contact, and then back to Damon. “We shall speak of this at a later time. For now, gather what weapons you think we need and we’ll ride the pack horses.”
“Alexis is in the meadow.”
Elizabeth’s mood improved. She said, “Too smart for them to catch her?”
It may have been a reference to the old joke about her name, or simply an observation. I didn’t feel like laughing so shrugged as I continued, “There is not a spear I’d trust to throw, a knife that will cut a cooked trout, and the bows are poorly made. The arrows are straight, but the points dull. We can use the time we wait in ambush to sharpen them.”
With that, I stood. Elizabeth followed me, and we gathered a few extra blankets, some that were not as filthy as the others. I’d spoken to Kendra already, so went to my horse carrying four bows, one for each of us and spares. That is how little I trusted them. Either the wood would snap or the string, and I’d give even odds to any fool who would take the wager, but my side would be that something would happen to them. Never trust weapons not cared for.
We left the campsite and hoped to locate a nearby place to set our trap. Instead, the trail widened and remained closed on each side, one to a wall of granite and the other a sheer drop-off of a thousand steps and no good place to set our trap. We continued on the trail until almost midday, and I was getting anxious and trying hard not to show it. If the pair we were after had purchased what they needed early in the morning, we might encounter them at any time.
The trail started to descend steeply. Near the bottom, it traveled along a stream bank between two smaller hills, each no taller than the room of a large house. On either side grew lush shrubs taller than my head, thick and tangled. The distance from them to the trail was only ten steps, and we had the advantage of height. One on each side gave us all the advantage we needed to ensure our success.
“We don’t want to kill them,” I said without thinking of anything but the information about Kondor we hoped to gain.
“We don’t?” Elizabeth brought me back to my senses with a question I now had to explain. My mind whirled with possible explanations, but I eventually decided to tell part of the truth. “If one of them can speak our language, we can find out all the answers. If we kill one, it may be the one we need.” It felt better to tell her that, but not all. Not yet. And that caused me to feel horrible.
She had been the one to take us off the streets, to feed, educate, and nourish us. She trusted us, and we were supposed to trust her. If she ever learned we hid things from her, our relationship would crumble. Kendra and I might find ourselves living on the streets again. However, even more damning, were the feelings of betrayal. While they were not factual in a sense, we did nothing but hold back suspected personal information, they were no less real and necessary.
I finally responded as if I’d taken
the time to consider her question. “I think that the way between these hills is so narrow it provides a chance to attack without killing. We can stake out our horses behind the hills, and locate two places where we’re hidden, one on each side of the path.”
“And what then? Talk them into surrendering?”
Her tone warned me. I blundered on. “No, we stand from our cover and fire, one arrow each, at the thigh of the rider nearest.”
She rolled her eyes and sighed so heavily I had plenty of time to regret my suggestions. She said, “What do we do when they either run or shoot arrows our way? What if they have recruited more men? What if they anticipate this place as being dangerous and ride in prepared, or possibly return to their camp by another route and find your sister and Tater alone and unprepared to defend themselves?”
I tried to quell the hot anger rising inside. The more mental cold water thrown on it, the more steam rose. Even I was appalled at my comparison. So, came the unlikely decision to speak my mind, weak as it is.
Keeping my voice soft and earnest, “You bring up good questions. I cannot answer many of them but can use their past actions to infer what they will do. They used this road so they will return the same way. If they have more men, we will know it because I intend to find a place where we can watch the approaching road and determine if there are problems with more men, or whatever. We will then fall back to this spot and wait unless there are more men.”
“If they ride through here with arrows drawn?”
“My magic will be ready to foul any arrows aimed at us.”
She curled her fingers into small fists and placed them on her hips. “There. Was that so hard?”
“Hard?”
“To speak to me as an adult equal and offer your magic?”
That sounded like one of those trick questions both her and Kendra tossed my way lately. There was no right answer. If admitted, it meant I’d finally spoken to her as an adult equal, and by default, I had not been doing that earlier. That made me wrong. If I didn’t agree, I was still wrong. There seemingly was no way out of the situation.