“What do you mean none of the slavers would take the girls. Were you asking too much?” The duke was incredulous; a slaver not wanting young pretty girls was unfathomable.
“No I mean I could not give the girls away. There are Chundo warriors looking for the girls and no slaver will have anything to do with them,” replied Bailmont.
Now the duke was worried. His plans were going awry. The Chundo were fierce warriors and if they were looking for the girls it meant nothing but trouble for him. ”Alright, we take all the girls with us, I’m sure you won’t mind keeping the older one around longer anyways. If the Chundo are in the city looking for us then we need to leave now. Have the men prepared to go as soon as possible.”
“I already purchased horses and food sir. As soon as you are ready, we can leave.” Bailmont was damn efficient. The duke should not have been surprised that his otherwise detestable servant would always be ready and prepared for any situation. As distasteful as the man was, he still served a purpose. The duke needed him now more than ever.
…
Ashuna returned to the hill with the horses. The duke and his men were already leaving the city with the girls. Nathan pointed out the group of horsemen, as they made their way out of the port city. ”There, that group is the one.” Verin counted the horses and riders. Fourteen riders minus the three hostages left eleven. The duke must have picked up a couple local guides.
While they rode, Verin explained some of the logistics of Mithbea to Nathan. “There are three main kingdoms in northern Mithbea. Pailtar sits at the most northern tip of the continent, the kingdom of Thune is far along the eastern coast, Balta along the western coast and Morthon in the middle, to the south of Pailtar. From Pailtar to Meron, the capital city, is mostly badlands, desert with little vegetation or water. There are a few watering holes along the way, tonight they will likely stay at the closest watering hole. This would be a good place to try retrieving the girls.”
“Ashuna agrees. Tell me, when you attacked those bandits back in the mountains, at what time did you attack?” asked Ashuna.
Verin smiled knowing exactly what Ashuna was suggesting. “Right before first light, when the sentries are most tired. I think you are right we do it the same way.”
Knowing where the water hole was and where Ava was, allowed Nathan and his companions to take a route that did not directly follow the duke and his men. By doing so, they avoided any chance of the duke’s men noticing that they were being followed.
This was wise because Bailmont himself had dropped back to check the behind and see if anyone was following. When he caught back up to the duke and the others, they were already making camp at the water hole.
“Any sign of followers?” asked the duke.
Bailmont shook his head. “No my lord, there was no sign of anyone following, but from what our new scouts tell me, there only a few watering holes between here and Morthal. So if they are coming, we would not be hard to find.”
The duke, still nervous about the Chundo, relaxed a bit when Bailmont reported no one following them. “Okay, we will have three watches, three men per watch. Bailmont you are on first watch.
It was almost midnight when Nathan, Verin and Ashuna closed to within a mile of the watering hole. Nathan had been working on a plan for a while, and was now ready to share it with the others.
Chapter thirty nine
“ASHUNA, WHAT ARE the chances of you sneaking into the camp, past the sentries?” asked Nathan.
Ashuna smiled. “The chances are very good. What is your plan?”
“Verin will sneak up and get close to their horses. He will find whatever sentries they post near them and shoot them. You will sneak into the camp, cut the girls free and take them to the horses. You and Verin put the girls on the horses and take them back to here, grab our horses then take them all back to Pailtar. Without horses, they cannot catch you going back to Pailtar.”
Verin could not argue with the plan so far. Sneaking in killing a few sentries and riding out with all the horses sounded much easier than three men trying to fight eleven. “Alright, but what are you going to be doing while we are sneaking in and stealing the girls and horses. How are you getting back to Pailtar without a horse?”
Nathan had a grim look of determination on his face. “When Ashuna gets the girls to the horses, I will provide a distraction so you can get them out safe.”
“As for getting back to Pailtar, it is not that far. I can travel on foot and only be a couple hours behind you” Nathan paused; he knew his plan had flaws when it came to his own part, but he was more concerned with getting his friends out. “Just get the girls to the safety. If I don’t make it back, take them to Balta with you. They will need someone to look after them.”
Ashuna shook his head. “You take too much of the risk, let Ashuna stay and fight while you ride with the girls.”
Nathan gave a laugh. “I’m taking too much risk? You two are the ones having to sneak into the camp without getting yourselves killed. Besides, in the time it takes you to get the girls on the horses Verin will be doing a lot of damage with his bow. There will be hardly anyone left by the time you are gone.” Nathan sounded more confident than he felt. He was nervous that he would not be up to the task and that either Ashuna or Verin were much better candidates for this dangerous mission, but Nathan simply could not ask a friend to take this risk. It was his job to do.
Verin was not so sure of this. But, he had witnessed Nathan fighting amongst the bandits without armor. With his new vraber skin clothes and weapons, Nathan would be a formidable opponent for any number of enemies. They would do it his way.
Once it was time to move they split up and separately made their way towards the camp. Nathan was crawling forward until he was about a hundred feet away from the camp. He stayed in that position and watched, trying to see movement. From what Nathan could tell there were two sentries, one by the horses, and one walking a perimeter around the camp. Wait no; a third was sitting up in a tree.
Nathan carefully slid his bow up beside him and put the quiver of arrows beside him. When the time came, his first shot would be into the palm tree.
Suddenly, Nathan saw the sentry walking stop and bend down. When the sentry was bend down he seemed to disappear right into the ground it was still so dark out. The sentry quickly got back up and continued his rounds back closer to the camp. The sentry appeared to have a different gait now. Nathan realized that it wasn’t the sentry. Ashuna had killed the sentry and taken his place! Nathan had been watching the whole time and hadn’t noticed the change, and from the lack of noise in the camp no one else had noticed either. Nathan silently congratulated Ashuna. The warrior was stealthy, silent and deadly.
Ashuna, now pretending to be a sentry, walked slowly past the girls towards the horses. Then like it was an afterthought, he turned and went back to the girls. Putting his hand over their mouth’s he gently woke each one in turn. Softly whispering into each girl’s ear to stay silent and nod if they understood. Once each girl had nodded Ashuna whispered to all three. “I am with Nathan Stoneblood. When I rise quietly get up and walk with me to the horses. When I get on a horse you do the same, understood?”
The three girls were scared but at the mention of Nathan they knew that this was a rescue. So they nervously nodded and waited for Ashuna to rise.
Slowly Ashuna rose and started walking towards the horses. Ava then Rose and Sharon soon followed after.
When Nathan watched the group rise and begin to walk towards horses he quickly took aim at the sentry in the tree. He waited for the sentry to move or make a noise. When Ashuna and the girls got to the horses without being challenged the sentry started to sound out an alarm. Nathan released his arrow and silenced the man. Once the body started to fall towards the ground Nathan readied his bow for the next shot, waiting to see movement among the sleeping bodies. Chaos broke out as the falling body awoke the sleeping soldiers.
As Ashuna got the girls onto the horses, Verin was t
aking aim at the bodies of the sleeping warriors. The second Ashuna cut the rope and started leading all the horses away from the camp Verin began to fire. The imbued bloodstone bow was amazing. His aim and accuracy benefited from the lightweight and the arrows flew with far greater velocity than he had imagined possible. The bodies lying close to the fire made easy targets and he concentrated on these, firing as many arrows as he could. Soon a scream came from one of his targets, he put his bow away and quickly followed Ashuna and the girls. He had done as much damage as possible, now Nathan was on his own.
Duke Evollan woke to the sound of a scream. Shouting followed. Alarm coursed through his veins He peeked out of his tent. He searched for the source of the dreadful noise. One of the men was half sitting up with an arrow through his chest. Within a blink of an eye, a second arrow pierced the man’s chest and he fell back to the ground. The duke panicked. He looked towards the horses only to see the cut picket line. Turning, he looked for the girls. They too, like the horses, were gone. The men were moving frantically around him trying to locate the hidden archers. Another man fell then another. The duke spotted one of the scouts they had hired in Pailtar; running up to him, he grabbed the man by the arm and hissed “Get me out of here.”
Chapter forty
WHILE THE DUKE SLIPPED off into the night with the help of the scout, Nathan was busy firing arrows into anything that moved. As he heard the thundering hooves of the fleeing horse’s carrying his friends he knew it was time to create his distraction.
Nathan let out a loud war cry, a fierce yell at the top of his lungs; the remaining warriors now had a target and began to move towards Nathan’s position. Nathan fired his bow as quickly as possible. Between his position and the camp, the ground was soft sand. Despite their best attempts, the warriors were not able to make quick time in reaching Nathan.
Nathan could see one warrior moving off to the side keeping to the harder rockier ground. His path would bring him around to Nathan’s flank. However, it was a wide approach and gave Nathan plenty of time to focus on the other remaining three warriors coming directly at him. He fired at the closest man, hitting him in the chest with his arrow.
Dropping his bow off to his side, Nathan pulled out his newly forged and magically imbued sword and dagger. The first warrior to reach Nathan swung his sword down hard at him; Nathan blocked the attack with his sword. The sun has started to come over the horizon but the light was still poor and attempting to block with the dagger would have been risky. This did not prevent him from using the second blade to attack with. Nathan sent the dagger into the warrior’s chest.
A sharp pain in his side let Nathan know that the second attacker had swung his sword at Nathan’s exposed side. Had it not been for Nathan’s vraber skin shirt, he would have been sliced wide open. Nathan spun and attacked. The warrior, surprised that Nathan seemed uninjured, was barely able to raise his sword in time to ward off Nathan’s attack. As the warrior back-peddled, Nathan pressed his attack using both sword and dagger to keep the man off guard. Before long, the warrior slipped in the soft sand and missed his defensive block. Nathan’s sword sliced through his neck with no resistance.
Nathan turned. The last warrior was standing over Nathan’s bow and quiver of arrows. The man was smiling at him “So you are the great northern boy that the duke hates so much. I have to thank you. If it were not for you, we would still be in Progoh and I would not have gotten to spend so much time with those lovely girls. Sharon was nice but when I am done with you I am going to get Ava back and enjoy teaching her the ways of a sex slave before I sell her.” Bailmont baited his youthful opponent. Anger made men make deadly mistakes. Moreover, the warrior before him was barely a man. He was mentally adding another kill to his credit.
The way the man was taunting Nathan almost made him lose his temper, but the many lessons on breathing had finally taught Nathan control. He kept his anger at bay and prepared to rush at the man.
Bailmont knew he would be able to pick up and fire the bow before Nathan could get close enough to be of any danger. As he reached down for the bow, he noticed the fine jewel in the handle. Only a silly boy would waste such a fine jewel in a weapon he thought. The bow would be a nice bonus once he finished with the lad. Bailmont growled deep in his throat like an animal. The sound intended to evoke fear.
Nathan, unaffected by the taunts, knew that his bow would be useless to the man. Seeing the man’s eyes drop to the bow Nathan charged.
When Nathan rushed towards him, Bailmont reached down and picked up the bow. Gods, it is heavy he thought. The weight of the bow made his upswing much slower than anticipated and Nathan was gaining ground quickly. Bailmont slid the arrow into position and began to pull back on the string, but nothing happened. He was not strong enough. In frustration, Bailmont threw down the useless weapon to pull out his sword. He would end this the old fashion way, with a sword. He anticipated gutting him slowly and watching the life fade from his eyes. It fascinated him to watch death. It made him feel powerful. He was eager to feel that power again.
As Bailmont reached towards the ground, grabbing at the bow, Nathan was already moving. Confident that the bow would not work Nathan focused on getting close to Bailmont. When Bailmont threw the weapon to the ground Nathan was already in position. While Bailmont looked down to grab his own weapon Nathan threw his dagger towards the chest of the vile rapist. Bailmont grabbed the pommel of his weapon as the dagger pierced through his heavy leather armor and deep into his shoulder. His downward movement was the only thing that stopped the dagger from piercing into his heart. The pain and shock of being injured slowed the duke a fraction of a second. The short amount of time cost the man his life. Nathan still charging forward into him ran his sword deep into Bailmont’s chest.
Bailmont looked down at the black sword that had penetrated into his chest, in a moment of clarity he noted the fine black steel, the thinness of the blade, the jewel sparkling in the helm. Magic, he thought to himself, never fight against magic. A rule he once had and should have followed. He looked up at the boy holding the magnificent weapon. One last surge of anger coursed through his body, a boy defeating him without suffering even one wound. Not in this lifetime he thought, knowing that that his time was ending. Bailmont, weak and fading fast, grabbed Nathan’s sword hand and pulled him in closer. Bailmont raked Nathan’s face with his gauntleted hand; the sharp metal sliced open Nathan’s cheek despite the lack of power behind the move. Bailmont looked at the cut with satisfaction, smiled and coughed up blood before speaking “Something to remember me by.” While he took his last few gasping breaths of air Nathan calmly removed his dagger from the man’s shoulder then pushed the man away letting his sword slide out of his chest cavity. Bailmont looked into the Nathan’s one last time. His last vision one of Nathan’s icy blue eyes.
Nathan let out a deep breath and wiped a small amount of blood away from his cheek. Seeing the life fade in his opponents eyes was unsettling. He told himself that is was a death deserved, earned and long overdue. He wondered if he would ever not feel a chill when he looked into the eyes of a man as life faded. At least this time he did not feel the need to empty the contents of his stomach. Nathan refocused his thoughts back to the task at hand and surveyed the camp, no sign of the duke, or the last scout. Torn between the desire to hunt the man down and head back towards Ava, Nathan took one last look into the desert before making his way towards Pailtar. The duke had escaped, a regrettable outcome, but his priority was the girls, not revenge. Nathan picked up the pace as he moved across the desert towards his friends and family.
Chapter forty one
AVA WAS RELIEVED beyond imagination to be sitting on the Lady Bonita, safely away from the deranged duke and the vile Bailmont, but she could not stop worrying about Nathan. When Verin and Ashuna had taken the girls, she had assumed that Nathan would be hiding out in the desert, or possibly back in Pailtar, waiting for them to return. It wasn’t until they reached the port city that she found out otherwise.
Rose had asked Verin where Nathan was and when he explained that Nathan chose to stay back and provide a distraction while the girls escaped she wanted to explode. Didn’t these stupid men know he was only a boy? That he would be killed and Ava would have no one.
Verin seeing the look she gave him tried to calm her down. “Relax Ava. Nathan is not a child. He has learned much in the last few months and those warriors who remained would give him little to worry about.” Verin was not as confident as he sounded. But he wanted to reassure the girls that things would all workout. He believed Nathan could defeat the remaining enemies, but there was that shadow of a doubt. Should he have stayed behind with his nephew? What if he had miscalculated Nathan's abilities? As he kept his doubts to himself, he realized how fond he had grown of his sister's son.
Ashuna agreed with Verin, “Nathan’s magic is strong, and he is a fine warrior. Those men are no more threat than the bandit chief that he defeated.” Ashuna smiled down at Rose, he had held during the ride back from the desert and now the child seemed comfortable standing at his side. A spunky little thing he thought to himself.
Ava looked as Ashuna as if he was crazy. Had Nathan magic? Nathan killed the bandit chief? What was going on? Ava’s mind raced with all the new information.
Verin took pity on her, he could see she still needed reassuring that things would be okay. It was obvious she was in the dark regarding his nephew's a'kil powers. He gave her a brief summary of all of his adventures with Nathan. “When we found the Bandit hideout, Nathan snuck in and led the attack while I provided cover. He single-handedly defeated the bandit chief. Afterward, we headed north and met Nathan’s grandfather. It was there his magical heritage was revealed.”
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