by Sigrid Kraft
It doesn’t sound as if Branden and the officer are the best of friends. In fact, he sounds quite hostile. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, Aileen thought, but the best was still to come.
“Although it is against the law of Ardeen for Branden to claim ownership of you, the Prince seemed not to want to antagonize our beloved Branden completely. So His Highness suggested a game, which Branden accepted gladly.” Then Lord Boron explained to Aileen the terms of the game and finished with a truly meant wish: “I hope, you know how to use your chance.”
They’ve arranged to hunt me down, the barbarians. “I don’t need more than that,” she replied coldly. The officer nodded and without looking at Branden, he commanded:
“Well, then free her of the bonds... and don’t forget the magical armlet, Branden.”
Branden did as he was told, gazing lustfully at her curves. His closeness was almost unbearable for Aileen. It will be the last time I have to endure the presence of that monster. The new hope restored her confidence.
“See you soon, beloved”, Branden whispered in her ear and he was so close that she could feel his stinking warm breath on her skin. She kept silent, refusing to acknowledge him with so much as a glance.
“Come!” The officer said and she gladly followed him outside.
He took her to the garrison and the sight of all those men disheartened her. The Lowlanders have so many men. And there are so few of us. We never had a real chance and our band simply melted away.
All the men they passed sprang to attention and saluted Aileen’s liberator. Some addressed him as Lord Boron and she quickly grasped that this was the commander of the Black Guard himself. He was very obliging to Aileen, providing her with everything she could use on her escape, and even selecting the mount, a strong brown stallion, himself. Finally, he made a point of accompanying her to the garrison gate.
“Leave now and farewell,” he prompted, but Aileen still had questions to ask:
“What’s going to happen to Eryn?”
“Don’t trouble yourself, he will be safe. As far as I know, he finds himself under a very powerful protection. The Towerlord of Aleroth himself has some interest in the lad’s well-being, and as long as the lad behaves properly, he’ll be treated well and won’t want for anything. That has been promised, and the Prince of Ardeen keeps his word. But don’t make the mistake of trying to free him. If you do, you run the risk of endangering everything that has been achieved, not to mention possibly making things a great deal worse.”
Some distance away from the main gate, Branden Hold was still hovering around, watching them. Lord Boron and Aileen had both noticed him before and now the commandant lowered his voice:
“But I for one have no problem if you succeed in freeing this world of that lousy vermin, Branden Hold. I hope you are skilled with the bow.”
Aileen grinned scornfully: “Well enough, I would say. I will do my best.” Then she leapt into the saddle and waved goodbye. “Thank you so much, Commander. You are an honorable man.” Then she kicked the mount with her heels and galloped off.
The track she left for Branden was clearly visible. He’ll follow me, which is just what he should do.
First she was keen to put a good distance between her and the garrison. Lord Boron might be a man of honor, but I won’t trust his words blindly. Perhaps the Prince will reconsider and then they will chase after me.
Briefly, her thoughts dwelt on the Prince. In bed, he had been a much more sensitive man than Branden, but it still hadn’t been her free will, and so she had endured it the same way as she had endured Branden’s effrontery.
It had already been dark for a while, but Aileen rode on by the light of the stars. At last, she settled down to rest for a few hours. At the break of dawn the next morning, she was on her way again. First she traveled cross-country over meadows and through woods, but then she came upon a road. It was the long road leading to the north. Taking it would bring Aileen back to Falgars Vale, but she had a different goal. She turned south and followed the road for some distance. When the surface became stony and hoof prints couldn’t be seen any more, Aileen dismounted and led her horse off the road. She intended to leave no marks. A small wood presented a good hiding place and it was here she decided to set up a camp. Aileen tended to the horse, giving it a friendly slap on the neck while it fed on some leaves.
Let’s hope there are no dangerous creatures around. “I hope, too, that you can defend yourself, as I have to leave you alone now.” She petted the stallion’s ears, took her bow and set off.
At a steady jog, she retraced her steps to the place her old track passed and then prepared a look-out behind a bush at the edge of the wood. Now all I have to do is wait patiently till Branden comes along. When he turns up he’ll get what he deserves.
After a while, it began to rain, and Aileen noticed a giant conifer close by. She sought shelter under its big branches, where almost no rain penetrated. Getting soaked to the skin while waiting for one’s prey is something I can definitely do without.
Branden was on tenterhooks as time seemed to pass agonizingly slowly and the advantage his lady had been given was growing greater by the second. Then Prince Raiden found it amusing to detain him even longer while he joked about Branden’s increasing impatience. Branden may not have shown his feelings, but it required no effort for the Prince to see behind the stony mask of the man’s face. And what common sense didn’t reveal – magic did. In the end, however, Prince Raiden grew bored with the game and let Branden go. While hurrying outside, Branden focused his thoughts on the hunt that was about to begin.
She has already gained a considerable advantage, but I’ll wager she will try to lure me into an ambush. Unfortunately, she feels this great hostility towards me and she is an incredible trapper. I haven’t forgotten that fact and caution is probably advised! But I’m not a fool and in the end I’ll win that game and get my lady back. I thoroughly enjoyed your company, my love, even if you didn’t share that feeling. Sadly in fact, because I think that we are a pretty good match for one another.
As soon as the citadel gate was behind him, Branden drove his team of horses to the village. Just the day before he had arranged a deal to sell the coach, it being definitely too slow and unwieldy for a pursuit. Although he tried to speed things up, the bargaining and the packing of his belongings on to two horses set him back another hour.
Finally, he headed for the spot where he had seen Aileen riding away, and before long, he found her track and followed it. I’ve been in the tracking business for long enough to know that this track you’ve left me is too obvious, dearest. I must be cautious. It is only thanks to that precious caution that I have been allowed to grow so old... and the use of a little magic, of course.
Branden had in his possession a number of useful artifacts himself, and Prince Raiden’s ring had been a valuable addition to that collection. Unfortunately, he had had to return that formidable gem. As he himself was unmagical, magic always exerted a great fascination on Branden, a fascination that had encouraged him to learn incantations and the use of artifacts. Now he put on some of his precious rings and activated them. At once, a magical shield offered him protection and another ring magically revealed Aileen’s track. Every human being and every animal had their own magical pattern of glowing light, which could – similar to a normal unmagical track – be seen for a while until it faded. The good thing about such a track was that it was visible even on stony ground, where normally no hoof print could be detected. Aided by these double powers of perception, Branden was able to follow the track at great speed.
He made good progress until the rain started, turning quickly into a heavy downpour, which soaked him to the skin.
Pestilential weather! He swore, but the abuse didn’t impress the weather at all. On the contrary, it seemed as if the rain even increased. He drew his hood low over his face and slowed the horse to a walk. Now it was much more difficult to find the track, not least because rain had the effec
t of washing magical tracks away, which meant that it soon started to fade. Branden was now forced to fall back only on his trapper’s skills.
Some time later, the cursed rain stopped and the sun came out again. Branden hadn’t lost the unmagical track, even if he had to follow it the normal way once the magic had faded. A certain unease came upon him as he had now been traveling for several hours. He observed his surroundings nervously, checking if there might be a good place for a hideout.
I know you will be lying in wait for me somewhere. I treated you well, but you were always so cold, giving me the blame for so much. But what can a man do against the power of love? And you are so very beautiful, I had to take you. To own you. I always cared for you and still at the first opportunity, you run off. That’s unkind. Very unkind indeed...
He was reflecting thus on the past when suddenly his track was crossed by a lot of other tracks. In the multitude of hoof marks, Branden was no longer able to make out the right track.
What on earth have they done here? He wondered. Several horses had trampled up and down the spot, transforming the sodden ground into a muddy field. It would have been only half the problem if the troop had merely crossed Aileen’s track. But they seemed to have turned in the same direction. Angrily, Branden swore rudely. Now it would take him a very long time to find the track again.
Meanwhile, Aileen waited in vain for her persecutor.
The day is almost over now and the track I laid is really easy to follow. Damnation, where’s he got to? He should have been here ages ago. Soon it will be too dark to see anything.
Aileen waited another half hour, but Branden failed to make an appearance. She decided to return to her camp. It was with considerable relief that she found the brown stallion dozing where she had tethered him. She loosened the rope and let the horse graze. After the mount had fed well, Aileen decided to return to her ambush again. The precious horse was her greatest asset and the great distance between ambush and camp filled her with unease. However, it was too risky to take the stallion closer. A single neigh at the wrong moment would give her away in an instant.
Branden searched a while longer and at last found the track again. Now he hastened to make time. The sky was already growing dark and soon there wouldn’t be enough light left to see the hoof prints in the earth. Suddenly, his magical ring once again showed him a faint glimmer and Branden rejoiced:
Magic is indeed a fine thing. Now I can keep going through the night. Which is exactly what he did.
Aileen returned to her ambush, but as chance would have it, Branden had already passed that spot a long time before while Aileen was tending to the stallion. The whole of the next day, Aileen waited to exact her revenge, but there was no sign of Branden as he had already passed. He was, in fact, ahead of her now. The next day, rain set in and finally destroyed the magical signature, so Branden lost the track where Aileen had hit the northern road. He reined in his horse and considered which way to take. In the hope of finding the track again, he dismounted and analyzed the ground minutely, but he found no hint which direction she might have chosen. Just then, he noticed mounted men approaching from the north, still some distance away. Branden swung himself into the saddle and rode towards them. They were three young lads, wearing the badge of the craftsmen’s guild on their tunics. It identified them as carpenters by trade. They did not seem to be in any particular hurry, judging by the way they joked with each other and the laughter that could be heard from afar. Branden approached them and gave a friendly greeting: “May the Gods favor you, gentlemen.”
They returned the greeting, and Branden asked: “Have you been traveling on the road all the time?”
A lean man with a sparse beard answered: “Yup, we have.”
“And have you encountered a woman on horseback?”
“On a brown horse?” asked the spokesman and Branden assented eagerly:
“Yes, on a brown horse. Perhaps I should explain: She is my wife and she is a little confused. When the Gods’ curse comes upon her, she suddenly runs off and I must search for her. I hope I will find her soon, before something bad befalls her. Especially because this time she has taken the horse. How long is it since you came across her?” Branden gave his voice a worried sound and the journeymen seemed to buy the tale.
“Three or four hours. Might even be five.” The thickset man added:
“You can’t blame the woman for running away. I mean, look at your ugly face.” The other two laughed at the bad joke.
Idiots. But they can say what they like as long as I am back on the trail again. “Thanks for your help,” Branden replied politely and bid them farewell. Then he turned north.
As soon as Branden was out of earshot, the three men snorted with laughter. The lean man said:
“Ha, we took the piss out of him good and proper.”
“How did you know that she rides a brown horse?” his comrade wanted to know.
“I didn’t. Just a guess. Most nags are brown, aren’t they? And now the poor husband is off hunting in the wrong direction and if we are lucky, we’ll meet his lovely wife on our way to the south.”
“I only want to meet her if she is pretty.”
“Pretty... and willing, that would be fine,” the third man put in, and the young lads talked for some time about their dreams of women as they rode on.
After two days, Aileen had to admit that Branden Hold was not going to turn up, and that somehow she had missed him. She had been so obsessed with the thought of revenge that the disappointment was now great.
I thought him a better trapper. The track was so obvious that anyone could follow it, she remarked, annoyed. Still angry, she left the spot and turned on the road north, the same road on which Branden was traveling, a good way ahead of her. A few miles further up the road, was a great crossroads where the westerly trading route crossed the northern road. Here, Branden decided to continue north along the road. Later, Aileen took the path to the west.
And so their ways finally departed, despite their being so bent on finding each other... even if for very different reasons.
The young woman decided to leave everything behind and to travel to a country far away from her former homeland. Too many bad memories were connected to that land. But going away also meant leaving Eryn behind. It would be absolutely impossible to get him out of the Prince’s fortress. With a heavy heart, Aileen dropped all thoughts of that and said to herself:
It is better so – for both of us.
Then she urged her horse on towards a new destiny.
7. Crushed
Eryn would dearly have liked the chance to exchange a few more words with Aileen before she left, for as things had turned out, he would never see her again. For a brief moment, he feared that the Prince had betrayed him and that Aileen now sat imprisoned in one of the dark dungeons, where the Prince could use her as a way of applying pressure if needed. But that thought didn’t fit with the circumstance that Eryn had been treated very well ever since he had left the hall, so the young man came to the conclusion that the Prince had kept his word. Besides, Eryn was enjoying the comfort he had been forced to do without for so long. Even if these were only small things.
It is astonishing how you value things that you have always taken for granted more dearly when you have lost them. A real bed, fresh clothing, a good meal, not to mention the bath...
They had led him to another room where a bathtub was filled with warm water. The fragrance of herbal soap filled the air. This was most luxurious, especially when a servant came to shave Eryn and cut his hair. He suspected this was in accordance with the Prince’s orders, because no one wanted to entrust Eryn with a knife right now, which would explain why two guards kept watch all the while. Nevertheless, Eryn took great pleasure in the procedure.
During the night, he was plagued by terrifying nightmares, an odd mixture of the recent torture, Aileen’s escape and the Black Prince messing around with his magic. But in the morning hours, Eryn fell into a deep sleep a
nd when he awoke, he felt stronger and refreshed – no comparison to the terrible days he had been through.
The room had a large window which let in the light of the morning sun. From here, it was possible to see the inner yard, with Branden’s coach still parked against the citadel wall. Lost in thought, Eryn was standing by the window when a plump, elderly maidservant came in. First, she placed a tray with food on the table and then she rummaged around in a bag that was slung across her shoulders and dug out three books, which she placed on the table beside the meal.
“The Prince sends you this. I am to tell you that he expects you to start your studies.”
Eryn thanked the womanservant, who was gone even before he could start a conversation.
After breakfast, he took a look at the books, leafing through the pages with unexpected interest. He knew that scholarly persons scribbled down their knowledge in books with those many signs they called letters. Eryn himself knew only a few of the signs. ‘Blacksmith’ and ‘merchant’ were among the symbols he recognized, because they had been written on signboards fixed to the houses in Falgars Vale. But never before had he held books like those three in his hands. They were written in fine, even letters and some pages were also ornamented with pictures. On one page, he found the Circle of Magic. But the countless other diagrams meant nothing to him. The second book contained only letters, so he put it aside very quickly. The last one had many pictures of castles and men. It seemed to tell a story. There were battles and stirring scenes, and formidable landscapes through which monsters or lonely warriors wandered. Eryn would have liked to know the story it told. Suddenly his interest was interrupted by the pounding of boots on the stone floor outside. The footsteps came closer, then the door swung open and the Prince entered.