Slave's Gamble

by Jay Stonesmith

  Another flickering light appeared to the right of them, illuminating gnarled tree trunks and twisted branches as it arced to and fro. Merisca's body tensed. She pushed Ordella down. The light bobbed closer, and the clomp of heavy footsteps pierced the silence. Ordella's breathing quickened and her head throbbed.

  "I can't see anything, Gav," said Clem, the man with the deep voice. A lantern light shined against the side of the cart. "Probably just a fox."

  "I'm sure you're right, but it must've been a really big one. That was quite a bang we heard," Gav replied.

  Ordella chewed at her lip. The sack! She'd left the empty sack in the cart on top of the others. She crossed her fingers. Surely they wouldn't notice it tonight.

  The light moved to the other side of the cart.

  "Look, there's nothing here. I vote we get back to our fire and refill our mugs." Clem chuckled. "Unless you think one of our passengers has risen from the dead and is making a run for it."

  "Don't speak like that," Gav said. "Stranger things have happened around here."

  Clem snorted. "Don't believe everything old Gippen tells you. Next, you'll be telling me you've seen his robed man marching across the countryside with a demon dog yapping at his sides. It's all a load of tripe." He swung the lantern around. "Let's get back to our drinks."

  The small glowing lantern moved through the darkness towards the brighter light of the campfire. Ordella sighed and yawned. Merisca put her arm around her, and she nestled her head against her friend's shoulder. A warmth spread through her aching limbs. She smiled. They'd taken the Slave's Gamble and won.

  *****

  "It's time to get up."

  A firm hand on Ordella's shoulder jolted her awake. Her head throbbed, and she reached up and touched it. A strip of cloth had been tied around her forehead, holding in place a wad of leaves over the bump on the back of her head.

  "Don't fiddle with it," Merisca said.

  Ordella let her hand fall.

  "You're lucky it's not worse." Merisca reached over and adjusted the bandage, pulling the edges tight. "I could only find some common threadleaf. It'll do for now, but if I spot any scabwort, I'll add it to the dressing. It'll really help with the swelling."

  Ordella nodded, her mouth parched and her tongue thick. How long was it since she'd last had a drink?

  "Water," she said.

  Merisca stepped over to a lichen-covered log and picked up a cone-shaped cup propped against it. Ordella grasped it, drew it to her lips and drank down the liquid in one gulp. It was sweet and cool. She wiped her mouth and examined the cup. It had been made from a single piece of birch bark rolled into a point and held together with a row of wooden pins. Hawthorn needles, perhaps.

  She smiled at Merisca. "You've been busy."

  Merisca laughed. "I thought you might be thirsty when you woke up." She pointed over her shoulder into the forest. "There's a stream not too far from here."

  Ordella scratched at her cheeks.

  "Don't," Merisca said. "It will only make it worse. The rash will start to fade soon. The effect of the ointment doesn't last long."

  Ordella studied Merisca's face. The skin on the bridge of her nose was raw and blistered, and her cheeks were red.

  "Does my face look as bad as yours?"

  Merisca smiled. "It'll be gone before you know it."

  Ordella reached up to her face again, then stopped herself and sat on her hand.

  "How did you escape?"

  Merisca gazed into the trees. "I was lucky," she replied. "I woke up outside the walls, close to where you were dumped, and I was able to move my arms and legs. I got out of the sack and was just about to start searching for you when I heard the Kelsharlans arriving with their cart. I hid behind some bushes until they had loaded all of the sacks and started on their way."

  "Did you know which sack was me?"

  Merisca shook her head. "I knew you must've been inside one of them, but I couldn't tell which it was." She brushed a leaf from her tunic. "When I thought it was safe, I followed along behind the cart, making sure I wasn't spotted. When you jumped, I was hiding in the forest, not too far from where we're sitting right now. And the rest you know."

  Ordella took a breath. There was so much to take in.

  Her eyes widened.

  "What is it? Merisca said. She touched Ordella's arm.

  "The sack." Ordella gestured in the direction of the track. "I left it in the cart. Surely they'll have found it by now." She stood up. "They'll know I'm missing. We have to get moving."

  "Sit down," Merisca said. "I don't think you've got anything to worry about." She took the cup from Ordella's hands and placed it on the log. "Clem and Gav didn't seem like the types to make a job last longer than it has to. Searching for you would only delay them. Besides, with the amount they drank last night, they probably won't discover your empty sack until they get to wherever they're going. And by then, we'll be long gone."

  Ordella chewed her lip. If only she'd hidden the sack when she'd had the chance. Gav might see it and conclude that a corpse had risen from the dead, but surely Clem would work out what had really gone on. He was bound to guess she'd escaped into the forest.

  She glanced behind her. Even this close to the road, the forest was dense. How would they even know if they were being followed?

  "I suggest we head for the stream." Merisca straightened her tunic and picked up the bark cup. "We can rest there for a while."

  Ordella stood up, stretched her arms and legs, then ran a hand through her tangled hair. Her bare feet sank into the rotting leaves, and a thick mulch squished up between her toes. The sensation reminded her of being a child and running through the woods near her home in Rittle. She lifted her toes again and pushed them down into the mud.

  A sob rose in her throat and escaped from her lips. She covered her face with her hands.

  "What's wrong?" Merisca said. "Why are you upset? We can go another way if you'd rather."

  "It's not that." She wiped at her tears. "I'm not sad exactly, it's just that I realized that I'm never again going to feel the Warren's flagstones under my feet. I'm never going to go to sleep in my cot knowing my grandmother is doing the same in the bunk next to me." She sniffed. "I'm glad we did what we did, it's just strange. The Warren is all I've known for years. I've grown up there." She turned around and gestured at the trees. "Out here, on this side of the walls, there are no Riggetts and Timmens and Billys, or even Lord Skerricks telling you what to do. I'm grateful for that, but it all feels a bit overwhelming. I'd forgotten what it feels like to have a choice."

  "Just give it time. You'll get used to it. A few days spent in the forest, and the Warren will seem like a lifetime ago," Merisca said. She grasped Ordella's hand and squeezed it. "Let's get moving, shall we? Put some more distance between us and the road."

  Seven

  The stream bubbled over a bed of reddish brown pebbles, wending its way between beech trees and willows. Ordella and Merisca walked beside it, following the flow of its clear waters deeper into the forest.

  Dense clumps of hogweed and willowherb grew on the banks, and tree roots emerged from the soil, snaking their way to the water's edge.

  They stopped by a cluster of boulders encrusted with lichen and coated in moss. The riverbanks sloped more gently here, and Ordella pushed her way through the vegetation and stepped into the channel. The water came up to her calves, and the current gently pushed against her. She sunk her feet down into the riverbed, bent over, cupped some water to her lips and slurped it down. Then, being careful not to soak the strip of cloth bandaging her head, she splashed water over her blistered face and scrubbed the dirt from her knees and forearms.

  Merisca climbed up on to the boulder closest to the stream and sat down, her bare toes hovering above the water's surface. Ordella waded out of the river and lay down on a patch of grass next to a clump of knotleaf.

  "Was my grandmother on the cart?" Ordella said.

  "I don't know," Merisca s
aid, "but I think it's quite likely."

  "Where are they taking her?"

  Merisca shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that one either." She turned to Ordella. "The cart might have been headed to a burial site, but I don't know why they wouldn't just bury the bodies closer to the Warren."

  Ordella stared at the forest on the other side of the stream. She recognized most of the different types of trees from her childhood. Oaks, beech trees and silver birch had surrounded her village, yet she didn't recall the large trees with the smooth pinkish grey trunks that seemed to be commonplace around here.

  "So where do you think we are?" Ordella said.

  Merisca glanced up to the sky. "Based on where the sun is, we're heading south. You were loaded onto the cart close to the Warren's walls, and the path you were on went to the east. We've got to be somewhere along the northern fringes of the Border Wood."

  Ordella pointed southwards to the forest on the other side of the stream. "So the city of Gilmar is somewhere way over there."

  Merisca nodded. "Is that where you want to make for?"

  "I haven't really thought about it," Ordella said.

  Surely in Gilmaria she'd be able to find someone who'd served with her father and knew his fate. She glanced to the west. Or perhaps she should start out in Rittle, her home village, or what was left of it after the Kelsharlan attack. It would mean days of walking through the forest, but maybe there was something there, a clue to his fate that she'd missed as a child.

  Ordella shook her head. She was about to mention the promise she'd made to her grandmother, then stopped. It didn't feel right to repeat Gwenith's last words aloud. Even to Merisca.

  "Where do you think we should be heading?" Ordella said.

  "Let's follow the path of the stream for a while." Merisca ran her hands through her curly hair. "Before too long, it's bound to lead us to houses and people. I'm sure we'll be able to find a hot meal and a night's rest in exchange for a few hours of hard work. After that, we can plan what to do next."

  "That's if there's anyone left in the Border Wood that the Kelsharlans haven't killed or marched to the Warren." She could almost taste the bitter smoke from Rittle's burning thatch, and hear the screams of her neighbors as they were struck down. "The Gilmarians turned their back on us when my village was attacked, and I'm sure the people in these parts won't have been protected either."

  "Gilmar's doors weren't always barred," said Merisca. "We'll just have to hope they've have had a change of heart."

  "They won't have done. Not if King Rellmar still sits upon the Charred Throne."

  Merisca shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows. Stranger things have happened." She peered into the trees. " I think we should get moving. Perhaps whoever we meet will be able to fill us in on what's happened in our absence."

  Ordella stood up and reached for the knot that secured her bandage. She pulled it tighter over her wound. Merisca seemed so sure they were going to find other people in the forest. Ordella bit her lip. Surely she was mistaken. The Border Wood villages and all who lived in them were long gone. She straightened her tunic and stepped up to the boulder where her friend was sitting. Still, if Merisca wanted to follow the stream deeper into the forest, she'd go with her. It certainly wouldn't hurt to travel away from the road.

  The sun was now high in the sky, and the trees' leaves cast dappled shadows on the forest floor. Ordella wiped her brow with the sleeve of her tunic. Merisca had picked some roseberries, and Ordella popped one in her mouth, holding the pink fruit between her teeth. She bit down. Sour juice squirted over her tongue and she winced then quickly chewed the waxy pulp and swallowed it down. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now.

  Merisca stopped in front of her.

  "What's that over there?" she said, staring to her right. "Beyond those trees." She pointed towards a stand of silver birch. "It looks like a pillar of some kind."

  Ordella narrowed her eyes. Yes, she was right. There was something.

  She followed Merisca and plunged into the forest. They pushed through fronds of bracken and soon reached the thick, square-edged wooden post that'd caught Merisca's attention. Taller than a man, the piece of timber sprouted up through the forest floor on the edge of an overgrown clearing, its surface blackened and brittle. Burnt scraps of wood and pieces of broken tiles were scattered around its base. Ordella ran her hand across the pillar's sawn face. It must've once been the corner of someone's house.

  Merisca gestured to the heart of the clearing.

  "There's more of them over there." Ordella followed her gaze. Partially hidden by vast coils of thorny brambles and encircled with tangleweed were the shells of four other structures.

  Ordella stepped through the undergrowth until she reached the largest of the buildings. Its thatch roof had long since fallen in and rotted away, but its wall timbers were mostly intact.

  She levered the thorned bramble stalks out of her way and managed to squeeze through the gaps between the posts without getting scratched. She stood in the middle of what must have once been the building's main room. The straight edge of a hearthstone poked through the mulch that now covered the house's floor, and in the corner of the room stood the collapsed remains of what might've once been a large chest. Moss and fungus coated its blackened wood panels.

  Ordella bent down in front of it and grasped its lid with both hands. The wood was rotten, and it came away in large chunks. She peered through the hole she'd made. The chest was empty.

  She stood up and faced the clearing. Merisca was heading towards the other three buildings, clustered in a semi-circle around a stone structure. Ordella picked her way through the building's skeletal walls and jogged over to her friend.

  Merisca sat with her back against the stone edge of what was clearly an old well. She held a flower in her hand and plucked large white petals from its orange center.

  "Rub these on your skin. They'll stop the itching." She passed some to her.

  Ordella scrunched them in her fingers then pushed them across her blistered cheeks and nose. Almost immediately, a soothing wave washed over her skin and her face stopped stinging.

  Merisca held up what was left of the flower. "White ashpetal," she said. "We were fortunate to find any this late in the summer. It's one of the first plants to bloom after a fire has scorched the earth."

  "No wonder it likes it here then," Ordella said. She motioned to the burnt out houses. "The bastard Kelsharlans have torched just about everything. Same as they did to my village."

  She walked over to the remains of the nearest cottage. What had been the fate of those who had lived here? She placed her hand on the singed door post. A flint pebble with a hole in its middle hung from a rusty nail. A hagstone. Ordella snorted. It might have been successful at warding off evil spirits and stopping witches from crossing the threshold, but it certainly hadn't kept the Kelsharlans at bay.

  Ordella turned back to Merisca. Something moved off to her right. A flash of white and brown. She stood still and peered into the long grass.

  "Do you fancy some meat for dinner?" Ordella said. "There's a rabbit over there."

  Merisca smiled. "Cornering rats in the Warren when they're gorging on blood is one thing. Running down a rabbit in a forest when your legs are still stiff is another thing entirely." She laughed. "But go on, give it a try."

  The rabbit's ears twitched, and it hopped out of view behind the houses. Ordella stalked after it. Every few steps she stopped looking forward and bowed her head, scanning the floor.

  She peered around the corner of the building to her left. The rabbit was nibbling the grass. It hadn't seen her. She looked down again, gently scuffing at the dirt with her toes. There. Exactly what she needed. She bent down and dug a fist-sized stone out of the forest floor with her fingers. She wiped it clean on her tunic and weighed it in her hand. It would do just fine.

  Ordella crouched down and crept closer to the rabbit. It still hadn't spotted her. She risked another
step. The rabbit's ears flicked, and it rose up from the long grass. It swiveled its head left and then right.

  She took a breath. The muscles in the rabbit's rear legs flexed. Now! She leaped up and launched the rock with all her strength. The rabbit started to hurtle forward, but the rock struck it on its back. It yelped and spun around. Ordella was there. She pinned the animal to the ground and broke its neck with her hands.

  She held the rabbit up in front of her and smiled. How much easier it would've been to catch rats in the Warren if she'd been able to throw things at them. She ran her hand across the rabbit's side. All this meat for just the two of them.

  Ordella was about to take her prize back to Merisca, when she noticed the stone she'd thrown nestled in the grass. She reached down, picked it up and placed it in her tunic pocket.

  Ordella walked back over to the well. Merisca raised an eyebrow and laughed.

  "It must have been a slow one," she said, "unless you're much faster than I remember."

  "I guess I was just lucky." Merisca didn't need to know she hadn't even tried to chase it down. She placed the animal on one of the stone blocks.

  "We're going to eat well tonight," Merisca said. Her eyes flicked to the plants growing at the base of the nearest building. "Now if you could only catch us some parsley or some pepper sage." She paused. "Unfortunately, I haven't noticed any growing around here."

  Merisca picked up a stick from beside the well and handed it to Ordella.

  "Do you know what this it?" she said.

  Ordella took it from her and turned it in her hand. It was heavier than she'd expected, with a smooth, gray bark. She shook her head.

  "It's called drowel. It's hard to set alight, but once burning, it gives out a lot of heat yet hardly any smoke for others to see. I'm almost certain we're not being followed, but after seeing this"—Merisca continued, waving her hand at the buildings—"we'd be wise not to draw attention to ourselves."

  Ordella dug her nail into the wood's bark. It was hard and almost completely dry.

  "See what you can find around here," Merisca said. "I don't think you'll have to stray too far." She picked up the rabbit. "I'll see what I can do with this." Merisca stared at her. "Once we've got it cooking, there's something important I need to talk to you about."