"Don't get any funny ideas." She pulled the bow and quiver from where they hung from the horse's flanks
"Believe me, I'm out of ideas. Funny or otherwise."
"Lean right."
Crowe did so, though his eyes kept darting towards her face, which was uncomfortably close. Gabriella ignored him for the moment and leaned as far to the right as she could, until she was almost cradled in the crook of his left arm. She shoved her arm, with the bow, past his head, prompting an annoyed grunt and a sickening weave to the horse's course, then nocked and drew with her right.
The bowstring missed Crowe's ear by a finger's-breadth, but the arrow it loosed hit the leading goblin in the face. It screeched and fell from its mount.
Gabriella strung another arrow and loosed it. Then another and another. Three more goblins fell and the pursuing group slowed. In a few moments, they were out of sight and only a steadily rising dust could remained, where the remaining goblins were no doubt falling upon their less fortunate comrades.
"I think we're clear," Gabriella said at last. "Give it ten more minutes, then we'll slow and walk the horse down. Carrying both of us can't be easy."
"There is that." Crowe tensed and she quickly drew a dagger from her boot and wrapped her wrist around his neck, the blade against the artery of his throat.
"If you're thinking the horse would be happier carrying only you, I'd think again. You don't want to try that kind of leverage."
Crowe's eyes burned into hers. "I'm in no hurry. So... What do I call you?"
"Enlightened Sister."
"I meant your name, not your title."
She smiled faintly. "My name is Sister DeZantez in the Order of the Swords Of Dawn."
He blinked and rubbed a hand through his hair. "That's very long winded. Don't you Faith types have a shorter name? A given name?"
"Given names are for family and friends and we're neither, so I don't owe you one."
He shrugged. "I'm happy to be friends with any woman. My name's Travis."
"So I've heard."
He merely nodded. "It's as good as any, Dez. Did you have anywhere special in mind to go?"
"We need to get back Solnos. Our soldiers-at-arms, and Kannis' mercenaries, along with any others in the area, can hunt down any goblin stragglers." She didn't mention that she thought Erak would be disappointed if he didn't get a taste of some actual action. She looked on the bright side, though; if he had come south with her, he might have been the one shot from his horse and she couldn't bear that.
It wasn't going to be as easy as either of them had thought. They had dismounted as the sun emerged, to allow the horse to rest from the exertion of carrying two people. They had come to a shallow part of the escarpment overlooking the approach to Solnos, just to be sure of throwing off any possible goblin pursuit.
"Well, God-girl," Crowe said. "Thanks for the help with the gobboes, but I'll be going now. See you around, maybe."
"How long has it been since you went to confession?" Gabriella demanded threateningly, stepping in front of him.
Crowe feigned a look of surprise. "Does the Faith still do that? I must say, I'm shocked."
"Very funny," Gabriella said. "Been a good little monk who never puts a foot wrong, have we?"
"Can't say I've tried being a monk. I've tried putting my feet in some interesting places though. Are my eyes tricking me, or is that smoke on the horizon?"
"That's Solnos!" Gabriella immediately thought of Erak and wondered whether he was all right. It was one thing to think of him enjoying campaigning against a few goblins, but not so pleasant to imagine him on the defensive against an entire warband. Her mind kept throwing up images of a besieged church and, worse still, goblins rampaging through it in search of food and trophies. "We have to get back to town."
"No." Crowe held up a hand, then pointed at her. "You have to get back to town, Dez. You, not we. I don't give a monkey's toss for your roach-infested town and I care even less for spending time in the company of a Faith Confessor."
Gabriella narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't giving you a choice."
"And I'm not accepting any decision of yours, love. You got me out of the Huntress before the goblins got to me and I got you out of town before they caught up with us." He stood. "I'm sorry, Dez, but that's all there is to it. We're even."
She rose. "We're not even. You are my prisoner, Crowe."
"In your dreams, pet."
She grabbed his shoulder and spun him round. As soon as he realised he was turning, he threw his weight into it, whipping his fist up and out. Knuckles cracked against bone and Gabriella fell.
Crowe mounted his horse. "Give my regards to the Faith and don't be stupid enough to run into me again. I don't like to kill pretty girls, but I'd be a liar if I said you'd be the first."
She caught up to him ten minutes later, carefully walking the horse through the brightening day, trying to stay as quiet as possible. She had known the horse wasn't rested enough to ride yet and, for that matter, she expected that so did Crowe. He was just trying to get a good lead on her. It didn't work. The look on his face when he saw her was almost worth the pain in her jaw.
Gabriella marched up with surprising speed. Crowe didn't have time to react before she slammed the palm of her hand into his jaw, then spun and side-kicked him in the solar plexus so hard that he crashed to the ground several feet back. He roared in pain.
He started to swear, but she kicked again before he could get another word out.
"Don't say a thing, sinner," she snarled. "Not a bloody word!"
He glared instead. She flexed her fingers, vaguely hoping he'd provoke her again. Her jaw and cheek still throbbed and she could taste blood. "You know, my father says that any man who hits a woman is no man at all."
"I hit a Knight of the Swords," Crowe snapped back. "If you think being a woman exempts you, then you're touched in the head. You can't have it both ways."
"One way is all I'm interested in." That was when she hit him again. When he woke up, he would be in Solnos.
CHAPTER 10
Crowe could hear real things over the din in his head: hooves splashing in mud. Wood snapping and the crackle of burning. The smell of wood smoke and burning clay was already in the air. On the road leading to the town, the earth was churned and damp, a few injured or dead horses slumped where they had fallen. A number of boxes, baskets and weapons were scattered around, though there were no signs of bodies.
It was hard for Crowe to tell, however, because he was hog-tied and hung across the haunches of the strawberry roan. He tried to move and was rewarded with a slap across the rump from the flat of a blade.
"I wouldn't move if I were you, sinner. If a rock doesn't crack your skull, I'll make sure this fine beast does."
"You're going to regret this, Dez."
"I lost ten good men at the Huntress," Gabriella snapped. "I already regret it."
Even before she had entered the town, the wails of women and children, pawing frantically at the ruins of a few homes at the edge of the edge of the settlement, could be heard. Evidently the Golden Huntress wasn't the only place that had been visited by the goblins while she was out there. Solnos itself had suffered too, or at least the outskirts had. It didn't look as if whatever had happened had got into the centre of town and she knew Erak would have led the defence.
Things seemed more normal in the centre and only the relative lack of people shopping in the market square indicated that something was amiss. Leaving Crowe where he was slung, Gabriella dismounted and ran into the church, expecting to congratulate Erak.
He wasn't there and a cold ball gathered in the pit of her stomach "Erak?!"
There was no response.
She ran through the vestry and the cloisters and saw no sign of Erak. The ball of ice in her stomach spread its way up her spine and threatened to shake tears loose from her eyes.
She burst back out into the plaza in front of the church and looked wildly around before re-mounting her hor
se and riding back to the edge of town, where people were still fighting some small fires. That was where a job needed doing, so that was where Erak would probably be. She was right; in the front of the bucket-chain tossing water onto a smouldering fence, was Erak. There were some other vaguely familiar faces in the bucket-chain and then she saw Kannis, directing those of her men who were helping out.
Erak was all that mattered to Gabriella, though. Relief flooded through her and she ran to him. The pair hugged tightly in the middle of the street.
"Good show you're putting on, Dez." Crowe's said. "The timing's in rather bad taste, but I can't say I don't approve."
Gabriella didn't want to let go of Erak long enough to go and hit Crowe. "The goblins attacked the Golden Huntress as well," she told him.
"I ran into them while I was following that rider. They shot my horse out from under me. At first I thought they were men trying to stop me catching up with him."
"Like at Kalten?"
"Very like and for similar reasons - it was the man who attacked you. I recognised him from your drawing." Erak sighed apologetically. "I'm afraid he disappeared when a goblin scouting party interrupted us. I came back here just in time; there were goblins arriving in town. Luckily this lady and her company were here as well." He indicated Kannis.
"Nice to see you again," the mercenary woman said with a crooked smile. "Though I'd have preferred it to be under less stressful circumstances."
Gabriella wanted to smile, but found that she couldn't. She was too tired and too certain that things were not going well. "I got caught up at the Huntress. My prisoner there and I were the only survivors."
"All ten soldiers?" Erak paled.
"All ten and everyone else at the Huntress. Everyone human anyway. A couple of whores might have got away, but I don't think anyone else did. I didn't expect to come back to this but then we saw the smoke from a couple of miles away."
"There were only about a score of them."
"There were at least twice that number at the Huntress.
"We saw them off quite easily. They didn't get beyond the first street. Like I said, they were scouts."
"Like yourself and Brother Brand here, we ran into some goblins." Kannis said. "We came down here for the market, to buy feed for the horses, and food for ourselves, and when we tried to leave... We found it more difficult than we thought. There are goblins setting up camp on the north side of the river, and they've circled round to the east as well. There are only about thirty of us and there were a lot more of them. We barely made it back into town. A scouting party is one tenth the size of the warband," she added. "That's the minimum."
"Two hundred?" Gabriella asked Erak. "Does that sound about right to you?"
He nodded. "And at least twice as many following, if that's the size of scouting party that attacked the Huntress."
"And they've got Solnos fairly well surrounded by now," Kannis said.
Gabriella went back to her horse at last and cut Crowe loose. A couple of soldiers emerged from the bucket chain to take charge of him. "Lock him up."
"Are you out of your tiny mind, Dez?" Crowe protested, holding up a hand for their attention. "You know they're coming here and you know you need to get the hell out!"
"You mean I need to get your cleansing arranged before it's too late," Gabriella retorted.
"What if I helped you?"
"What help could you give?" Erak scoffed.
Crowe nodded towards Gabriella. "Ask her. She'll tell you how good I am. Not that I'm one to brag, you understand."
"He is a decent fighter," Gabriella admitted. "I'll give him that."
"Look, mate," Crowe said to Erak, "where could I go, exactly?"
"Nowhere, unless you're a good magician," Kannis said bluntly.
Gabriella didn't react outwardly, but Crowe saw something in her mismatched eyes and nodded encouragingly.
"Yeah, Dez, you listen to her. Whatever happens, I'm stuck with you lot right now. If I'm going to have a chance of making it out of this town it'd be a better chance with your soldiers and the rest of the rabble. If you're stupid enough to try to fight - "
"We're not running away," Erak said firmly.
"There are too many to fight," one of the mercenaries said suddenly. "This guy's right, Captain. Let's break out. With the Knights and their soldiers-at-arms we'd be half again as many fighters. We might have a chance to break out."
"We might," Kannis admitted slowly.
Gabriella stepped in between them. "Can you do me a favour, either way? Pick three or four of your best riders. Send one each to Andon and Fayence, maybe as far as Gargas. Requesting reinforcements from the Order and subcontracting with some other mercenary bands. I presume there are others in the area?"
"Some," Kannis agreed. "I wouldn't recommend all of them."
"Are there any you would recommend?"
"I can think of a couple." Kannis said at last. "Whether they're close enough, or still all vying for business in the Anclas, I couldn't say."
"I've already had a message sent to the scrying chamber at Andon," Erak added. "At least the Preceptory there already knows what's happening here."
"Then I'll see to riders. One man might get through where a group can't." Kannis said and returned to her men.
"You should tell these apes to let me go." Crowe said, jerking his head towards the soldiers who still held him by the shoulders. "I can't go anywhere and you're going to need every blade you can find. Those gobboes aren't going to tell the difference between you and me. We're in the same boat. And if push comes to shove with that lot, I'd rather have you lot watching my back."
Gabriella nodded to the soldiers, who released Crowe. "I'll be watching every move you make. And every soldier in town will have orders to kill you on sight if you try to leave."
"As chat-up lines go, I've heard better."
A little later, washed and refreshed, Gabriella and Erak met in the church to discuss their forces. There were a lot more people in the pews than there had been since the two Knights first arrived. Gabriella reflected that trouble seemed to improve people's religious fervour.
"How many warriors do we have?" she asked Erak.
"You, me, Crowe. Kannis' mercenaries if they'll stay, a sergeant, squires, and a platoon of men-at-arms from the Order."
"Archers?"
"Maybe half a dozen."
"Not enough." Gabriella chewed her lip. "We need Kannis and her men."
"You're right. I think she wants to stay, but her men are split. This would be a bad time for a Captaincy challenge among them, but I don't know a way to convince them."
"I do."
"Then you'd better make it quick. We need them to decide to stay."
"Gobboes don't tend to pay particularly well," Crowe offered from the doorway. "And your mate here -" he jerked a thumb at Erak " -doesn't look like he's willing to fork out for some hired help, so why stick around and get diced in between both sides?"
Erak clenched a fist, but then spun to face Gabriella. "What did you have in mind, Gabe? Press-ganging whoever's left?"
She shook her head and pointed to Crowe. "Like he said: Hiring them."
"The Swords don't need to hire help. And they can't get out anyway; they'll be slaughtered."
"That they would and that would cut down the blades we've got available. So we need them to choose to stay and this parish might afford to do that."
Erak grimaced. "Can you imagine what Eminence Kesar would say about us spending his treasury funds on drunken, whoring mercenaries -"
Gabriella smiled. "We don't spend his treasury."
"They won't work for a few free confessions, folks," Crowe reminded them.
Gabriella strode to a small chest and nudged it with her foot. "Stoll has coin of his own. We can use that. I'm sure he won't mind."
Gabriella grabbed the small chest and hoisted it on to one shoulder.
"Hey," Erak exclaimed, "where are you going with that? It was meant to help this com
munity."
"Now it's going to save them," Gabriella said without looking round. "How much more helpful could it be?"
Outside, she dropped the chest on the middle step up to the fountain, and saw that the mercenaries with the sharks-mouth tabards were already securing saddlebags onto their horses and some were in the saddle already. "Kannis!"
The mercenaries stopped loading their mounts and Kannis walked her horse over, followed by a few of her men.
"There will be no booty from this town or its people," Gabriella declared.
"Then, unless somebody makes a better offer, there will be no fighting for this town or its people." The mercenary who had earlier recommended trying to break out spat in the dust. "The Faith isn't short of a gold piece or three; it's hired whole armies before. So why not now?"
"The Faith isn't hiring," Gabriella said. "I am."
"What are you offering?" Kannis asked. She wore a relaxed expression, as if she was enjoying seeing where Gabriella's mind was going to take her. "Booty is scarce here." Gabriella kicked the lid off the chest. There was a collective gasp as the mercenaries saw the contents glitter in the sun. "A tidy sum," Kannis said admiringly.
"An equal share for every man who fights."
The mercenary who had wanted to leave leaned forward, resting his elbows on the saddle horn. "I've seen more."
"And since the war, I bet you've seen less."
"It wouldn't come to as much as a good haul of booty could."
"It's more than you've got now. More importantly, it's guaranteed. Booty's a chance you take - have people left their valuables around? Are they worth what you hope?" She shrugged. "This is a guaranteed fee, win or lose. And if we win, I'm sure the people of Solnos will be, shall we say, generous in their praise."
The mercenary sat back, eyes hooded. "Now, that might have been a worthwhile proposition before the Golden Huntress got burned."
"At least two of her girls didn't," Crowe chipped in. "And they're good value, believe me!" A raucous laugh went up, but Gabriella had the sense to ignore it, and keep her calm smile on.
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