by Lee LaCroix
As much as it irked Ilsa not to help her family who had been weakened by imprisonment, she had to agree with him, for she also saw the watchful eyes of the nearby soldiers. She fell into rank behind her family, and they continued out of the camp without remark. The seven made their way past the dock and onto the grassy flat beside it. The ships were alight with torches, and Garreth spied two men keeping watch on the closest one. The men on the ship seemed to pace the deck aimlessly like they were lost in thought or sleepwalking of a sort. The sentries paid no mind to the group’s passing, and Garreth dismissed them as he led the group over the trench and continued westward along the bayside.
“We will definitely need to take the waterside path now. I suspect those fellow prisoners will make their escape any time now. When they do, it will not be careful, and there will be much alarm,” Garreth explained as they continued.
The group was nearly to the mountain pass when a metallic ringing rose over the gentle churning of the waves beside them. Into the water, Garreth threw the torch that had been guiding their group through the driest path possible and waved the party onto the grassland once again.
“Hurry across the plain now, we must be past the blockade before Deepshine warns them of our plot. Use whatever strength you have left, we will need it,” Garreth explained and broke into a quicker pace.
The two rangers kept stride with him, and Ilsa urged her family on from behind. A sound from afar, repetitive and clamorous, began to rise in the ears of the fugitives and rescuers alike. Garreth peered down the dirt road and glimpsed the sight he had feared; two torchbearers on horseback speeding towards the mountain path.
“Everyone, get down,” Garreth spoke as he put his stomach to the cold grass.
They all watched the horsemen speed by with both heads a swivel as they looked into the plains for their escapees. However, the scouts did not see them because the party’s clothes of darkness aided in their camouflage.
“We have no further need for hurry. Catch your breath and rest for a moment,” Garreth continued as he rolled over onto his side.
Garreth watched the horsemen ride into the mountains and disappear around the bend, and he waited until all traces of light were gone. Garreth stood the group up, and they all paced up the mountain pass, which was soon enclosed in the narrows with only the thin stripes of moonlight to guide them. The seven ventured through the black until new light appeared on the slopes below, and they continued until they could see the roof of the barracks from the around the bend.
Garreth rallied them at the roadside and asked them to wait while he climbed up a steep ridge. Novas looked up as his father kicked down loose rock with his ascent, causing a noisy rustling on the side of the road. Garreth made it to the top of his perch unseen and looked down at the blockade. It was even more occupied than their previous journey through. One archer on the roof, another across the road on a wagon bed, two steel-plated guards at the door, two men on horseback, and six more highwaymen spread across the length of the road. Six torches in total illuminated the pass from wall to wall, and the spread of light nearly reached their position at the roadside. Garreth climbed down the ledge to describe his plan, and Domminal, Ilsa, and Novas poked their heads around the corner to survey the area as well.
“No, Ilsa. Anyone but you!” Ilsa’s mother cried out, and Ilsa soon moved to quiet her mother.
“It has to be me, mother. Do not fear. I have trained for this, and I am in good hands, I promise,” Ilsa assured with a soothing touch.
Her mother returned to silence but could not hide her dismay. Garreth went over the plan once again, and Novas and Domminal snuck across the road, trying their best not to scatter too much gravel. They made their way up the side of the wall and found some cover behind jutting rocks. Ilsa tried to maintain her composure as she strode out onto the middle of the road and approached the barricade. At first, two of the highwaymen thought it was a trick to the light or a waver in the flame that caused the streak of shadow, but soon it emerged from the ground fully formed and strode towards them, and they left their post and approached.
“Halt! Who goes there! Hold it right there!” one commanded with his hand held high.
The archers nocked their arrows into their bows and primed their target. With strings withdrawn completely, they waited for their moment.
“It might be one of the escapees,” the other mentioned.
“You’ll need to come with us now. There’s no way past,” the man continued to shout. “Show us your hands!”
“Gladly,” Ilsa whispered as she withdrew her slate daggers from their bindings, their deep lustre glinting in the reflection of the fire light.
As Ilsa spun, she brought the first dagger into the highwayman’s neck with a backhanded thrust. While she propped up his standing corpse, the two archers let their arrows fly into him. In turn, the two bowmen were pierced by arrows from Domminal and Novas. Ilsa withdrew her dagger and stepped to the side, dodging the downwards strike of the second highwayman’s sword. She twisted again to follow up with a counterattack, but the highwayman anticipated the action and ducked below her gouge at his neck. The highwayman followed up with a spinning slice from his broadsword, and Ilsa leapt back, narrowly dodging the tip of the blade. As the man regained his balance, Ilsa made a short sprint, jumped onto him, and then gripped his torso with both her legs, forcing both blades into his chest. As the man hit the ground, she rolled over him and returned to her feet just in time to see the other four highwaymen pacing towards her.
The steel-armoured guards slammed on the barracks door three times and then lumbered off their positions down towards the road and Ilsa. They had only made it a few feet from their resting places before they were rocked by the heavy-tipped arrows of Novas and Garreth, and they grabbed at their chest in surprise. With a roar, the guards tried to dislodge the bolts from their armour. When they realized their painful futility, they snapped the arrows in two and tossed them upon the dusty floor, but not before another volley had arrived. The yelling increased as they withdrew their weapons and charged the woman on the road, but a third volley of arrows dropped them to the dusty floor where they moved no more.
Ilsa sized up the four highwaymen that approached, who were hungry to fulfill their blood duty and quick to claim vengeance for their fallen allies. Ilsa reached into a pouch and dropped a small sphere to the surface of the pass. Almost instantly, it began to spin and throw out a thick smoke. The highwaymen looked shocked as the smoke obscured the vision of their target. Ilsa leapt through the shadow, turned aside one of their swords with her left hand, and then plunged the right dagger into a heart before disappearing back into the shadow.
Two men left the barracks, thumping down the stairs, but did not make it to the roadside before they were struck down by more arrows. One highwayman looked at the other two in disbelief, charged into the smoke with his blade raised, and then brought it down with all his might. There was a loud yelp and then the sound of a falling body. The two remaining highwaymen held their ground as they stood shoulder to shoulder with blades held up at the ready. They kept their eyes peeled as the hissing device came to a stop, and the smoke began to dissipate. When the shroud was gone, the remaining two saw their ally motionless on the ground and that their attacker was nowhere in sight. They looked at each other with wide eyes and then peered around. Out of the corner of their eyes, they briefly saw the shade that would be their doom as it sprung up from behind and plunged daggers into the back of their necks. The men came free of Ilsa’s blades and fell to the floor.
After climbing down from the ridge, Garreth brought Ilsa’s family forward, and Novas and Domminal hurried in tow. Garreth handed Ilsa’s parents off to her and waved Novas over him. Together, they gathered a torch in each hand and set fire to the barricades, the barracks, and the wagon. Ilsa unhitched the startled horses from their tethers and put her family upon their backs, and the animal’s temperament improved as they made distance from the tumult of the barracks’ bi
llowing fire. With the horses at a comfortable trot, the party strode out of the light of the mountain pass and into the darkness of the grassy plains to the west. Although the horses were discouraged to travel where they could not see, it did not take the group long to find the campsite from the night before and light a calmer fire to ease the jittery protest of the animals. Novas, Garreth, and Domminal passed around what remained of the bread, cheese, and deer jerky, and everyone ate their fill. They soon became exhausted from the conflict at the barricade or the rigours of imprisonment.
“We will rest here for tonight. Be wary to keep the fire low. I have no doubt they will send more scouts to the mountain pass this night. It was far better to dispose of the barricade now than meet a further fortified one later,” Garreth explained.
Domminal nodded in agreement.
“We are in good hands, Mother, fear not. Garreth, Novas, and Domminal are some of the finest of the Crown Aegis that I’ve seen. The success of our escape is proof enough,” Ilsa stated as she rubbed at her mother’s shoulders, trying to ease her nerves.
“The Crown Aegis? Good lot you did when the Blackwoods came through, stole us from the road, and killed my retainer,” Mr. Vemsdower mumbled with a scowl as he looked downcast at the fire.
“Father!” Ilsa chided, blushing with embarrassment.
“No, no, that’s alright, Ilsa. He has a right to be mad. In the absence of her liege, the Queen has not had the strength to defend the kingdom properly, she had to turn to enforcers and thugs to secure her own well-being. The honour of the Crown Aegis and all those who upheld it fell to naught. But many, angry as you are, rose up against this new danger, and we dethroned the thieves and traitors from their throne. The same force that captured your family and Bouldershade were the ones that we removed from the capital itself. We rode from the city days ago to survey Bouldershade and we met Ilsa there, and together, we rallied the townsfolk against the Blackwoods and drove them out of town, but not before,” Garreth explained before Ilsa interrupted.
“Before we nearly lost the mine to their men, and they burned our home to ashes,” Ilsa explained, an angry whisper to her voice.
Her mother sobbed aloud with wet croaks within her throat and gasps for air, and her father grit his teeth with a growl.
“I can understand your anger. It is the same anger that is driving the people of this land back to the capital. They pour in by the dozens each day to join the Crown Aegis and to make right what has gone terribly wrong. And we will need the help of every good man and woman if we want to keep our homes safe from that army amassing just north of us. Pray, do not blame us,” Garreth concluded.
Seemingly unconvinced with Garreth’s tale, Mr. Vemsdower grumbled and said nothing, continuing to glare into the fire. Garreth sighed to himself and receded from the fire to check on the horses grazing at the edge of the fire’s light. Garreth scratched at one of the mare’s ears and then pet at its mane just like he had seen Greggor do. He looked towards the roads and the mountains as the pass still throwing up a noticeable light upon the peaks, but all seemed silent and still. Ilsa appeared behind him and took his hand in hers.
“Do not mind my father. He is a stubborn man and can hardly see beyond his own woes at the moment. Wulfred was like a brother to him… a brother that he did not have as a boy. And it pained him greatly to see him die in that manner. I’m sorry he tried to pain you with his words. He’s just a hard man. With time, he will see the true threat again,” Ilsa uttered to him.
“I will take your word for it,” Garreth replied, seemingly unconvinced.
“You did a good thing today, helping me and my family. I won’t forget it, or fail to repay it, I promise,” Ilsa said before pecking him on the cheek and walking back to the fire.
Act Three
Chapter Eleven
The next morning, the sun rose for the band of Deepshine escapees, and the midnight escapade drew the Vemsdower family into a deep sleep. Ilsa slept much better than she had in days knowing her family was safe. To the Vemsdowers, the cloth of the ranger’s traveling packs was a great comfort in comparison to the hardness of the prison floor. Domminal watched over the four and kept the fire ablaze in the day light, chasing away the chilling frost and dew. Novas and Garreth had gone beyond his sight, hunting for game to prepare for the waking meal. Domminal looked at the Vemsdowers and Ilsa in particular; she was not the average lord’s daughter.
He recalled when she revealed herself to them. He could not forget how her beauty had stunned him to silence. In her relations with the rangers, she had seemed cordial and good-natured, and her martial skills were definitely no shortcoming. Domminal tried not to feel envious of Garreth, for there was an obvious connection between the two. Domminal sighed and recalled the vow of solitude he had given himself long ago when he pledged to walk the land for good of the kingdom. All these people, too, would pass.
Not long after everyone had awakened, Garreth and Novas returned with three jackrabbits, and Mr. Vemsdower grumbled about the limited ration. The chase of the hares had taken them far afield. For every one they would down, the herd would scatter and reform at a further location. Making consecutive kills was a trial of patience and skill, but the hunters considered themselves lucky today. The group waited while Novas and Garreth prepared the meal, and Domminal and Ilsa fetched some wood to construct a spit over the fire. Garreth nearly forgot a bundle of spice in his pack, and then sprinkled it upon the roasting meat when it was ready.
“Cooks and killers! Well, I’ll be damned,” Mr. Vemsdower mumbled as he ate.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Garreth replied with a smirk.
When they had finished their meal, and the food sat comfortably in all their stomachs, they rose to make the final stretch back to Bouldershade. They made their way off the plain and back to the Great North Road where Garreth and Novas took up the back of the procession, and Domminal kept watch out front. The rangers still kept a cautious eye on their surroundings, but Novas’ attention was brought back to the skies by the feathered spectre who circled over them again. Novas wondered if it had feasted on rabbit too.
The uneventful venture that day had Novas quite bored with sentry duty. When trying to spot the animals of the plains began to dull at him too, he unshouldered his bow and withdrew an arrow. Novas kept a steady pace with the group and fired an arrow ahead of them towards a tree on the roadside. As they passed near the trees, he would stride up and dislodge the arrow from the tree and select a new target down the road. As his targets got farther and farther, the thickness of the trees became slim widths on the path ahead, but he never had to fetch an arrow in the grass from missing. The game occupied his youthful mind and kept his senses sharp albeit distracted. Before he knew it, the buildings of Bouldershade appeared around a bend in the road, and the tabards of the Crown Aegis waited on the northern border.
“I think we should rest here for now,” Ilsa told her family as they neared the Sundowner.
Mr. Vemsdower and his son went inside to help themselves to some drink while Mrs. Vemsdower approached Garreth and the rangers.
“Thank you ever so much for your bravery. You give me so much hope that all is not lost, and I will try my best to make sure my… surly husband sees the same,” Mrs. Vemsdower said as she took Novas and Garreth’s hands in hers and gave them a tender squeeze.
They nodded and offered up small smiles, and the woman went to join her family inside.
“I don’t suppose you’ll be staying around very long, will you?” Ilsa uttered.
“We must be getting back to Amatharsus, Berault and the Crown Aegis must be notified of the activity in Deepshine,” Garreth explained.
“Well, then I suppose this is where we part for now. Words cannot repay the thanks I wish to give to you three, but one day, actions will,” Ilsa explained.
She embraced Domminal and then tussled Novas’ hair. She hugged Garreth the tightest and longest and moved her mouth to his ear.
“Come
back to me,” she whispered; an utterance and a message of warmth, stirring the memories of past passions and a vow of a promising future.
She looked back at him with a smile and disappeared behind the wooden door of the Sundowner. Garreth was momentarily stunned, but Domminal’s clap on his shoulder drew him back to his senses, and they directed themselves southward into town. More merchants had set their stands aside the center intersection of the town, and the locale seemed to have become a popular with the townsfolk once again. The three rangers were recognized almost instantly and were called at fondly by few folk; the villagers introduced their shy daughters and tried to arrange courtship hastefully. Amidst their sincere apologies, the three withdrew with a bow and continued on their way. When they reached the Rusty Pickaxe, Garreth sent a guard to locate Behn and request his presence inside. They were just into their first sups of house ale when the steel giant came marching through the door.
“Aye lads, good to see you in one piece. I hear you brought back the Vemsdowers. That’ll kick the hornet’s nest, I’m sure. What other word from Deepshine?” Behn inquired off as he took a seat at the corner table with them.
Garreth explained all they had seen and done at the Deepshine camps such as the boats in the harbour, the trenches and spiky deterrence, the new buildings of the Deepshine camp, the siege weaponry, the smoky refinery, and the Vandarian encampment as well as the details of their jail breaking.
“I would expect nothing less from you three after all that has happened in this city and the next. I’m gonna have my troops on careful watch of the north and double the sentries down the road and the mountain pass. Bouldershade will stand as long as I stand,” Behn decreed as he watched the rangers work their way through their brews.
“Well that’s good to know, Behn. I know we can count on you,” Garreth affirmed.