by Aaron Thomas
“Stand watch?! No, you said I could join you on a hunt!”
Bowie started to shout back, “That was before we started to find scouts on our hunts! I thought we were going to hunt deer or rabbits, not men.”
Auburn’s face became as red as her hair, “I’m going.” She spurred her horse forward, passing several men in line.
Bowie didn’t follow, he just shouted as she left, “No, you’re not!”
The rest of the morning went with Bowie getting looks from Auburn until he tried to stop looking at her. He knew she would get over it eventually. He thought maybe he could take her hunting when the battle was over. Perhaps teach her how to use the parts of the animals to make more supplies or even become a butcher. They didn’t speak until later, in the early afternoon. Bowie had called the troop to a halt and told them to set up camp.
He noticed Auburn approaching soldiers and fletchers alike. She handed them a brown satchel that they would later hand back after going to their horses with it. She hadn’t come to him asking to join him on the hunt or even looked at him for more than a couple of seconds. He noticed she seemed to have gotten over being mad. She smiled and was pleasant to all she interacted with. Bowie finished organizing the men to backtrack from his new camp to Ria’s. He knew that a little after nightfall, John would be joining Ria with his section of men.
Bowie kept an eye on Auburn as she disappeared into a tent that was made for her. He waved down one of the soldiers that would be joining him on the hunt and told him to gather the men. It was past time they had been on their way and he wanted to leave while Auburn was in her tent. He personally checked each man for a day’s rations, arrows, bandages, and an extra bow string.
Once each was checked, he gathered them on the line and watched each man start to walk straight out until they reached a distance where they could just see the man on each side of them. Bowie watched as soldiers slowly started to progress forward, then pick up speed as they kept pace moving together through the trees. Each time one of them saw something they would stop and signal the man next to them with an bird call. The signal carried down the line until every man stopped. Birds and animals running away from the group gave notice of no enemies to worry about. Before long Bowie was jogging to keep the line moving at a pace that would bring them to Ria’s camp before midnight. He knew they would have a few stretches that would slow them down, but he didn’t like being in the forest at night so he pushed ahead to keep them from it.
Bowie noticed one of his archers among the trees, squatting in the open a short distance in front of him. He cursed, wondering why the soldier had moved ahead. He didn’t recognize the soldier but held up his hand and called out for the men on either side to slow as they approached. The soldier was facing away from Bowie and had on a black hat like the other men. A long braid of hair extended from the back of the hat. The closer he came, the more he recognized the her. Auburn.
“I told you not to come.” He said as he walked up to her.
She was removing an arrow from the scrawny rabbit she had killed.
“I am not here to hunt with you. I am here to hunt by myself since you will not take me with you.”
Bowie squatted and thought for a moment while Auburn took a spare cloth out of her satchel to wipe the animals blood from her arrow.
“You need to go back to the camp,” Bowie said, motioning the other men to keep the line steady
“I don’t think so,” Auburn said. “Since your men are scaring all the animals to the north, I should push out in front of you to find some game.”
She started to walk away, putting another arrow in the bow. He caught up to her as the line of men followed his lead on the advance.
“You can’t do that, we are not hunting game. We are hunting the enemy.”
Bowie stalked at a steady pace to catch up to her. She had changed her clothes into the tight leather breeches of a man which were particularly to snug around the hips. She wore a plain linen shirt and a men's leather vest. Her hair fell over her shoulder in a braid the same as it was when he gave her her first lesson. He took ahold of her arm and she turned to look at him with fierce green eyes.
“I’m hunting with or without you,” she said. “You can tie me up if you like and pack me away to camp, but I will get out and I will come hunting.”
Her jaw was set tight and she stood with a straight back in defiance. He looked at her and thought she might have looked better in the men’s clothing. He shook the idea from his head. It was replaced with the thought of tying her up, which wasn’t any better.
Bowie sighed, “Fine, but stay behind me and stay close. If we find any game, I will let you take the shot.”
She jumped a bit and clapped her hands, then she cleared her throat and took her serious look again. Bowie narrowed his eyes, realizing he had been defeated.
“If we run into any enemy, you will stay behind me and do exactly as I say.”
Bowie waited for a response. She nodded her head and he turned to advance the line. They had already wasted enough time. He was sure he could hear her do a couple more excited bounces behind his back.
The next two hours were filled with apologies, twigs snapping, a slip of ‘ouch’ caused by a thornbush, and Bowie was sure he heard a squeal when a large winged insect flew by. Each time, he would stop her and show her how to avoid the next twig snapping or showing her which bushes have thorns. He was able to keep her noises to a minimum, but he was sure the large winged insects would take some getting use to.
With the squeals cut down to a more manageable level, the lines started to make better progress getting to Ria’s camp. Then came the grumblings of stomachs. Auburn’s growled first and then Bowie’s echoed. He was sure if her’s hadn’t started, his wouldn’t have. Bowie waved his arms to each side, signaling the men to take a break and fill their stomachs. Each man in the line crouched where he stood and started eating. Bowie’s particular meal was berries and a piece of bread with cheese. Auburn’s was much of the same only with more berries, which she didn’t share.
The forest was quiet except for the occasional bird or animal noises which were blocked out by the wind moving through the leaves far above head. He was sure the scene would have been romantic except for being on a hunt for the Fire Realm. Bowie would have been happy to be alone in the forest, but Auburn’s company was pleasant enough when she wasn’t near Ria. He watched as she checked to make sure her Braid was holding and that she hadn’t dirtied her clothes. He thought it could be worse. He could be spending the day with one of his men who he was sure hadn’t bathed in days. Bowie sniffed at his shirt and found it less than adequate. He needed to wash. Bowie knew it was probably bad being downwind of him all day but he couldn’t help needing to be in front of the woman.
He watched her fill her stomach and try to hide her chewing behind the brim of the large black hat. Bowie thought Auburn looked better in it than he did. He straightened his own hat and gathered the remnants of his meal. Standing, he looked to the east and west and checked to see if his men were ready to start moving. They both stood and looked to the north, checking for any movement. When they found none, they continued on their trek north.
Once Auburn’s stomach was quelled, she moved as silently as the other men and they started to pick up the pace. Bowie knew they would be out in the forest after dark. He hoped that Ria’s camp remained steadfast and didn’t send out a search for them. That would likely end in his own men shooting each other.
The sun had already started to set and his men had tried to move quickly to make up for lost time. The line of men approached a small stream that had cut into the earth over the years. The result was a deadly barrier gorged into the ground his men would have to pass. He could hear the stream but couldn’t see it because it dipped almost straight down into the land. Bowie kept low to the ground, stalking at half his normal height while his men kept a watchful eye in front of him from an angle. When Bowie reached the edge of the stream’s small valley, he trie
d to figure out the best way to descend to the water. When he looked back to wave Auburn forward, he saw his men waving to him from behind a tree. He knew what it meant and waved Auburn to stay where she was.
Bowie took off his hat and slowly stood to his full height but was unable to find the reason for their caution. The shadows now cast on the ground from the setting sun made it hard to see anything in great detail, but in one of the shadows he could see movement. He looked to the side and used hand signals to tell them he was moving into range of the movement. His men were to stay still and warn him of any increasing danger.
Carefully, Bowie made his way down the muddy slope into the bank of the stream below. One small leap across to the other side of the stream met him with a moss and root overhang which he took comfort in being able to hide beneath. Bowie did his best to keep quiet while walking along the soggy mud bank. He was looking for a good place to climb up without being seen.
A tangle of roots stretching down to the water’s edge proved to be strong enough to climb. He put his bow over his shoulder and an arrow in his teeth. His legs straddled the root, using it as a rope and he pulled himself towards the ledge above his head. About half way up he heard a squelch and a splash. Looking behind him, he saw Auburn laying in the water scrambling to get back to her feet. Bowie dropped from the root and helped her up and pulled her with him underneath the overhang. He knew they would have to stay put and let his men fight in order for the two of them to stay alive. The element of surprise and advantage of higher ground was now gone.
“Sorry,” was all Auburn could say.
A bird call alerted him to danger coming. They had found the enemy.
“They’re coming, get your bow ready. You kill anything that drops down that way and I will do the same this way,” Bowie said readying his own.
Bowie pulled an arrow as far back as he could and locked his shoulder into a comfortable position. Auburn did the same as John and Tyler had taught her. Bowie heard a loud war cry from overhead as a large and bearded man splashed down in front of him. He let his arrow fly but only struck a shield. The man closed the gap and began swinging his axe. Bowie found himself pressed up against the dirt wall with nowhere to go. Glancing to his right, he found Auburn pulling an arrow from her quiver and stepping over another Fire Realm soldier who laid face down in the water.
The man swung again at Bowie as he danced amongst the roots. The man was struck in the back of his shoulder by Auburn’s arrow. A swing of his axe fell short and grazed Bowie’s hip as he took the opportunity to escape the wall of dirt he was pressed against. Bowie ran towards Auburn, who let another arrow fly. This arrow struck the man’s muscular neck and went clean through, protruding out the other side.
The pain in Bowie’s side cause him to stumble along the shore line with his bow in one hand bracing himself with the other as arrows passed overhead both directions. Traveling upstream from where they had first started, Auburn and Bowie helped each other and watched the ridge that formed the sides of the stream’s gutter. Bowie watched a few blades of grass push to one side and he knocked an arrow before a man with leather skin parted the grass with a curved blade. Bowie quickly dispatched the man through his eye.
A bird call could be heard from somewhere on the troop’s side of the gutter, giving the all-clear.
“Hold the line!” Bowie shouted out and he was sure that hand signals were being passed from soldier to soldier.
Soon enough, one of his men poked his head over the wall of dirt and saw Bowie sitting along the bank and Auburn still searching the ridge for movement. Bowie held the wound on his side that saturated his clothes with blood.
“We are already across the stream in most of the line. They caught two more trying to escape.” The soldier, he remembered as Mark, looked down and saw Bowie’s bleeding hip. “Fetch Bobby!” he called out to the nearest troop member.
Auburn was eased by the sight of another archer on the ridge and pulled a piece of cloth from her pack. After getting some water from the stream, she pressed it against Bowie’s wound to clean the dirt from it. Bowie winced in pain but grit his teeth to look tough in front of Auburn.
“Oh come now. I’m sure a small cut like this couldn’t hurt that bad,” Auburn said, pulling out a second cloth to bandage.
A laugh from above let him know that by the end of tomorrow, everyone in his troop would know how he had winced. He would never live down the moment. Soon enough, a hard-breathing and plump soldier; Bobby, came sliding down into the ditch. He pulled a needle and thread from his pouch and was having a hard time threading the needle.
Bowie was watching his hands closely, “Perhaps we should get a more steady hand to sew me up.”
The soldier from above chortled back, “Nonsense, Master Crescent. Bobby here has a knack for surgery. Just not good with running long distances. Give him a minute and he’ll straighten right up.”
Bobby nodded his head in agreement, still trying to catch his breath. He went to wash his hands in the stream and wiped the sweat from his brow on his sleeve. Auburn took to cutting a thick piece of root and washed the dirt from its length. Just before Bowie wondered what the root was for, she shoved it in his mouth.
“Bite this, I think it will help,” She said as she slid in behind Bowie on the bank.
It didn’t help, and neither did her cold, soaked clothes. He did his best to hold still as Bobby poked the needle through his flesh. Bowie tried to think of anything else and found himself taking some pleasure in feeling the warmth from Auburn’s body seeping through their wet clothes. The needle went back and forth and then Bobby gave a tug, pulling the two pieces of bleeding flesh closer with every pass. Soon, the wound was closed and Bobby was cleaning his hands of Bowie’s blood.
Bowie began to relax and felt the tears that had run off his face. He quickly wiped them away as he pulled the root out of his teeth where it had sunk in. He realized that Auburn was still clutching his chest pulling him into her and gave her hand a pat. She released him and cleared her throat, the air once again cooled his wet clothes where she had been pressed.
“We will need to keep an eye on that,” Bobby said as he placed a cloth over the wound.
“Thanks, Bobby.” Bowie said as he pulled his bloody shirt down over his hip. The skin pulled tight as they helped him to his feet and he took a couple steps before he let go of the soldier. Bowie then realized he still had to climb his way out of the gutter and cursed under his breath. He went back to the root he had originally thought to climb and led the way to the top. He noticed Auburn biting her lip as he climbed.
When he arrived, he saw what the others had seen; at least ten bodies of slain enemies laid in an small open area near the far side of the stream. Bowie was glad he hadn’t poked his head over the top. Auburn might have accidently saved him twice in a matter of minutes, but he wasn’t going to let her know.
When his soldiers saw him, one came over and saluted. “My lord their weapons and armor are gone.”
“Gone?” Bowie asked.
“We ran down every man we could. Two more were killed to the northeast, one more to the northwest. When we returned here, all their armor and weapons were gone. Even the two that jumped to attack you had been stripped of weapons.”
“Then there must be at least a couple we missed. Gather the men off the line. I want to travel together the rest of the way to the camp. The enemy could be behind us now,” Bowie turned to help give the signal but winced in pain from moving too quickly
His men started looking around as if expecting an attack at any moment. Bowie gave the signal to gather in. Bobby was called to look at two other men; one with a twisted ankle from the descent into the stream and another, Palvey, who had taken an enemy arrow in the chest. The second man was dead.
Palvey’s body was carried back on a makeshift litter. Bowie did his best to help carry the boy’s body, but was once again stripped of his effort. During the slow walk back to camp he learned more about the slain boy. He made a
mental note to cross him off his list of names of his troops. Bowie had just managed to write down the names of his squad to help him remember them, now he would have to cross one off and that hurt more than the pain in his hip.
The darkness of night could not explain the pitch black that they saw during their trek home. The lack of a moon and trees to block any star light made it difficult to see the roots and dangers underneath each step. Each man took a battering on his legs until they could find their way back. Bowie coached Auburn on where the dangers were as he crossed them. He only knew she was still there by the sound of her voice answering him.
Torches lit the horizon as they called out to his men in the camp only a couple hundred paces away. Bowie reached inside his shirt and felt the warm trickle of blood leaking out of him. His stitches had broken open. A crowd of soldiers poured out of the camp praising their arrival. Bowie’s squad was relieved of Palvey’s body, John called for men to fetch shovels for his burial. Most of the men seemed happy to see so many return, Bowie was glad so many still remained unharmed. Yet that gladness was tinged with melancholy over Palvey’s death.
He trudged past Ria who offered to energize him. He wanted no part in what seemed like a gift for his failure to protect a man in his command. He wanted to tell Ria that he was finished and that he couldn’t even protect a girl. The words John spoke to him rang loud in his head, The men will not follow me.
Chapter 15 - Wind Omens
It took a considerable amount of time to find a graveyard and bury Palvey, but Bowie wouldn’t leave until he had seen it done right. Bowie’s normal schedule had been long forgotten in his efforts to get both Ria’s and his troops combined, organized and on the road. Auburn hadn’t said much since arriving back in the camp and had mostly taken to staying in Ria’s wagon. The road seemed extraordinarily quiet. Only the sounds of wagons and horses were present. This section of his troop was a complete day behind Bowie’s normal schedule.