I heard the sounds of victory but they were the sounds of my enemy and not of my men. The victory had been limited for these men, however, as all they had gained was more weapons when they already had plenty and little else. There had been no food and no woman slaves for their use. Outlaws do not capture men for slaves so I was surprised that I still lived.
I was bound and thrown against a boulder. An inattentive guard stood nearby but seemed preoccupied with the celebration a short distance away from us. He had no reason for concern, however, as I was in no condition to do anything more than lay as I was. Sticky blood clotted in my hair, I bore the inevitable minor cuts of combat and feeling had still not returned entirely to my hands.
A woman came to me and began cleaning my wounds. She was young and in most circumstances would have been considered quite beautiful. Even now in my dazed state and after a difficult winter she still looked lovely to me. She had a fair complexion and resembled someone I had once met but I could not recall who at the moment.
“Do not speak Seker,” she said to me as she gently nursed me. “Your injuries seem serious to me and I do not want to see you die now, though you will not live long anyway. Kanchoh wishes only to amuse himself at your expense.”
“My men...” I muttered.
“The outlaws brag that they slew all of them, but I believe they lie. Many of this band were slain and I have heard more than one mutter at the fierceness of the fight. I believe that many of your Sekers escaped. But expect lies of victory, for they never admit to less than that.”
“Are you Sofeeah?” I managed to gasp through the pain. My senses were returning to me along with my memory. If we were in Kanchoh’s band then this woman must be the daughter of the Urak of the Great House of Tonalah of Runah. Woman were rarely kept long in outlaw camps for they were a constant source of conflict. Then too she much resembled her mother.
She hesitated before answering me. “I am only a slave now. It matters not what I was called before my captivity. I am slave and do all that I am told. Do you understand what that means? I serve my master in all his desires and I serve any others he may order me to and with simulated passion for these men will not tolerate a cold woman. I am a slave, call me that and forget the past, as I strive to do each day.”
“What will happen next to me?”
“You will die shortly. Kanchoh has delighted when he learned that the officer in command was not perished but still lived after the battle. He ordered you brought here but will soon call you before him and take much of the night to slay you. He only wished the blood washed from you so that you would not appear as seriously injured as you are. He desires to take credit for slaying you and there will be greater glory in it for him if he can convince others you are not close to death.”
Most men in any world go their entire life and never know the extent of their capabilities. I had learned that there was so much more of which I was capable than I had ever thought possible before coming to Doridia but now, now I must reach within myself and find strength for should I fail to do so I would perish this night and damn Sofeeah to a short lifetime with these evil men.
I willed myself to breathe deeply and tensed the muscles of my body. I gripped Sofeeah’s hand in mine and with all my strength squeezed until she cried out. With all my will, I sat up and nearly blacked out but forced myself to remain conscious and strong.
“We must strike now before they come for me. My strength will return because it must,” I whispered into her ear. “I am not yet strong enough to kill but I can walk and if we get away from this camp before they know we are gone perhaps we can escape. We must try, there is no other way.” Strength continued to flow through my being and I began to move all my limbs. “Who much do you hate them Sofeeah? How much?”
Her face hardened in a death mask and she hissed, “With all the hate there is, Seker.”
“Then kill the guard. Check in back of my neck, down bit and see if my throwing knife is still there.” She checked and soon removed a small, delicately balanced knife which I had especially prepared, “Now,” I said, “take it and approach the distracted guard from behind and strike across the side of his throat.”
She gripped the small blade and looked at the guard with all the hate a woman could possess but she did not move. “I cannot, Seker. I am not trained and I would make a mistake that would ruin your plans before they even begin. Let me do it my way. Silence, watch.”
She moved and short distance from me and lay the dagger concealed between two stones and then stripping all of her clothes from her she approached the guard. I lay back as I had been and watched what transpired through narrowly slit eyes. She called out softly and he turned to face the naked woman. She gestured for him to remain silent and pointed to the ground where I knew the knife to be concealed. Running lightly to the ground she lay upon her back and spread herself for the guard who unthinking now that this woman he has forbidden to touch went to her driven by his passion and sudden urgent desire. He lay fully clothed upon her and no doubt sought to bring this joining to a hasty conclusion before he was discovered and slain for his violation, not of her but of the rules.
He pulled his soiled tunic up and reached down for himself but in that moment the slave girl, laying naked upon the ground, clutched my small, finely honed knife and drove it deeply into his throat, clutching the man to her as his warm thick blood gushed from the wound and upon her naked breasts. His rigid body thrashed about convulsively upon her but she held him fast. He sought to cry out but managed only a barely audible gurgle that only hastened his passing. In a moment, the rigid body lay still and the slave girl rolled him to her side and stood before me, covered in the sticky blood of her enemy.
Now I rose to my knees and much too slowly crawled to the dead body. I stripped the weapons from him as Sofeeah pulled her tunic about her. I reached deep within myself and found the strength to rise but I was forced to lean upon the slave girl least I fall.
“Now,” I gasped, “into the darkness and to our freedom.”
ll. The Hunt
We cowered in the brush like wounded animals as the outlaws searched in the forest for us. We had made more progress in the short period we had been allowed before the camp had discovered our absence than I had anticipated. My strength had grown and in a short distance from the camp I had been able to feel once again in my feet and hands. I staggered, leaning heavily on Sofeeah as we pushed to put all the distance between us and the camp as possible. We had managed to stay ahead of the search at first, and in the dark I was confident that we could evade capture, but with the return of light we must be well concealed or be discovered.
I pushed my beaten body for all I was worth for if we were successful I would have all of the following day to recover. Before darkness lessened we began our search for a place of concealment. Unfortunately a party of searchers was making their way towards us and in haste we crawled far back in to a thick patch of brush, bristling with thorns. We crouched in the center without knowing if we would be concealed once the darkness lifted. The woman held me close to her bosom, seeking to keep each of us warm and to give strength through touching. Almost at once I passed out.
~
Day came and with it the search. Men passed close to us on several occasions but fortune was with us and the place of concealment we had selected with such haste offered us good protection from the searchers. We remained silent and dare not speak.
Hunger and thirst were becoming a problem for me and I thought for Sofeeah as well but there was nothing to do but remain where we were if we wished to live. Late that afternoon, a duo of outlaws elected to rest on the edge of the brush in which we cowered.
“This is hopeless. They could be anywhere,” one of them grumbled to his companion.
“Quiet. Do you want Kanchoh or one of his trusted men to overhear you? Of course, it’s hopeless but our leader is engaged at the loss of his love slave and will not give her up easily.”
The first spoke again. “If
he wants us to keep searching then we’ll have to start sharing her. I’ll not waste my time, when I could be hunting for game, searching for some slut for Kanchoh to poke. I’ve taken about all that I intend to from that man. Who does he think he is to come into our band and then take over, ordering us about and insisting that we prey exclusively upon the caravans of his former Urak?”
“That’s brave talk when you are with a friend,” the second one answered, “but you know as well as I do just who he is. He’s our leader because he slew the last and he will remain our leader until someone slays him. So let’s hear no more of your grumbling which could put both of us on the ground unless, of course, you are prepared to face Kanchoh in combat. I thought not. Let’s move on and at least act like we are searching.”
“All right, but from the looks of that officer we brought back last night he is long since dead and who cares if Kanchoh’s slut is gone. Say, you don’t suppose the slave could be hidden in this patch do you?”
“Who cares?” the second answered. “I am not about to crawl in and find out. You saw what she did to Hankot didn’t you? I wish that she had taken care of Kanchoh the same way. Come on.”
I was very pleased by what I had overheard from the two outlaws during their rest by our place of concealment. If most of those involved in the search for us felt as they then our chances for escape were better than I dared imagine. Thirsty and hungry as each of us were, I took heart and gestured in silence for Sofeeah to sleep as I also intended to do for we would need to be as rested as possible for our flight that night.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully except for our feelings of discomfort and by nightfall we were each eager to make good our escape.
~
We moved cautiously until the rise of the moon that night then, reasonably assured that no enemy was close enough to overhear us, we continued until dawn at the fastest pace I could manage. The strong moonlight helped us immeasurably. I now believed that I had suffered a mild concussion when I had been captured and once the bleeding stopped I was returning to nearly my former self, although I was still plagued with dizziness and weakness.
We risked exposing ourselves for a few minutes in the moments before dawn to drink our fill and for my companion to gather some roots which she assured me were edible. We located a place of relative security and after eating fell into a deep slumber.
Late in this first day of our escape, I had risked some conversation with Sofeeah taken during our brief stops. She informed me that Kanchoh’s band had actually numbered just over two hundred men when we had approached it. Evaldor had apparently taken us within sight of a guard who manned a high place and then away from the band to allow them time to marshal their forces then he had led us into the narrow gorge which had proven such an effective site for ambush.
Nevertheless, my men had done well and inflicted terrible casualties on the outlaws along with taking heavy losses themselves. Still, she was convinced that most of my Sekers had been able to retreat and that only my capture had enabled Kanchoh to call the battle a victory. Evaldor had escaped from the Seker who held his chain and returned after the battle to claim his reward for leading us into the ambush. Instead, Kanchoh had beaten the man for losing the outlaws he had led against the caravan and most of all for failing to bring back any valuables. By way of gratitude he had only banished Evaldor and not slain him.
Our second full day of march carried us further from Kanchoh’s band. We traveled very late that afternoon and then well passed the middle point of the night before stopping. We made a fireless camp and although famished slept at once. The following morning I intended for us to travel during the daylight hours for it seemed safe enough and would greatly improve our distance. Also, it would enable me to hunt for game for if we did not receive substantial nourishment soon we would be unable to travel at all.
This third day of our flight was warm and did much to ease our discomfort. Sofeeah was able for the first time to wash all of the blood of the slain guard from her and by this day I felt nearly recovered from the blow sustained to my helmeted head. The blow had been powerful and without the helmet I would have perished. I fashioned crude weapons with which to hunt and devoted much time just before dark in seeking any kind of game.
I considered myself fortunate to kill three rabbits and with some reluctance permitted us our first fire since fleeing the camp. We built it within a carefully concealed location and I selected nothing but small pieces of wood which were very dry so that no smoke would rise to reveal our presence. These precautions may appear excessive but outlaws are experienced in the forest and many of them are renowned for their tracking ability. I was confident we were undiscovered but Kanchoh was not one to give up easily and he surely possessed several expert trackers who could still be on our trail. I did not wish to make the chase easy for them.
The campsite was against a small cliff and within a hollow in the rock. Not really a cave but it did provide more shelter then the open. I spit the bits of flesh upon green sticks and set about working on a bow with my knife as Sofeeah tended the meat. We spoke in soft whispers.
“Do you know in which direction we are headed?” I asked.
“Yes, it is away from all caravan routes and deeper into the forest,” she replied.
“Then there is little likelihood of our stumbling upon another band so far from civilization.”
“That is true,” she said. “Even the outlaws do not wish to venture overly far from their established lands. The beasts rumored to live here exist and only a fool or a desperate man exposes himself to such risk.”
I nodded for we both knew why we took this course. We must be certain we were not being pursued before we dared a return to a caravan route or attempt to approach a city.
The meat was very tasty and except for there being so little of it did much to improve our spirits. Seeking to encourage Sofeeah I said, “With the bow I should be able to improve the food situation for us considerably and prevent further hunger.”
I had told her that I had met her parents and that one of my reasons for leading my Sekers into the forest had been to achieve her rescue. Surprisingly she had not asked me any questions about her family and in fact spoke of nothing except our most immediate concerns.
Relaxing a moment or two before returning to the manufacture of arrows I looked upon my companion for the first time. She did greatly resemble her mother, although following the difficult previous winter she was quant and angular. Her cheek bones were set high upon her face and lent an air of aristocracy to her appearance. She was too thin for me to find physically appealing but I reminded myself that this was not her normal appearance. She possessed delicate features and a finely sculptured face, but I was distracted from appreciating her beauty by her eyes. She constantly looked about her and seemed frightened as if she were some dog accustomed to being whipped for almost any presumed infraction or for nothing at all. She looked defeated and was not confident that we would escape the outlaws.
I had at first taken her actions against the guard on the night of our escape to be that of a woman determined to win her freedom. Instead, her actions had been that of a desperate creature which had gone to the farthest reaches of its endurance and sought to strike back, determined not to perish without some act of revenge. That her act had also provided her means of escape was entirely secondary and she accepted her present state with little or no hope for the future. Something had been taken from her this past winter and it was something far more precious than her virginity.
The fire burned itself out and she came to my arms, not in a sensuous manner but because the nights were still frigid and this was the way in which we had given warmth to each other since the first night. She held me to her as one might hold a convenient non-hostile dog to keep from being too cold.
~
I spotted the men at midday just as we cautiously peaked a small ridge. I had directed our route over this place for I saw a small clearing at the top of an otherwise dens
ely vegetated hill and I was confident that we could pass over it without being seen but the clearing would offer me a clear view behind us. I had stood and watched for some time, enough to cause my usually passive and docile companion to grow impatient. I had her carving arrows and I noticed with pleasure that she was better at it than me. Doubtless she had had some practice with it in her captivity. I was irritated that she had said nothing of this to me earlier as I struggled to make my first half dozen.
I could see little more than that they were a small party perhaps four or less and that they moved cautiously. The leader ranged ahead of them and seemed to be the tracker. I gestured for my companion to make ready. We trotted and walked in rotation the remainder of the day and my companion accepted it without once asking why we did it. I did not hunt game as we had no time and we made camp only late in darkness and without a fire. Except for some roots and the three rabbits we had had nothing to eat since leaving the camp. We fell into a sleep of exhaustion but I had us up before dawn and on the move. I pushed us until late afternoon but by then I knew that we would have to obtain food because neither of us could maintain this rate one more day without nourishment. As we traveled all that day I thought and by afternoon had decided on a course of action which, if successful would solve both our problems and if not, well, we would no longer have any problems.
Caravans of Doridia: The 2nd Chronicle of Jon Hunter (The Saga of Jon Hunter Book 2) Page 8