“Then you will help me fight Middin’s brat?”
“Gilead? Gladly. The boy’s a prick. He won’t be hard to conquer. Your true difficulty is the landscape. The White Cap Mountains are hard to cross, even if you know them, and the Narrow Sea is treacherous at best.”
Wolfric stared at him for a long moment before turning to his sons. “Rulfric, go get those guards to get these ridiculous shackles off Pelor. And if you see Hepner, tell him to prepare Cal’s old room for Pelor. It seems we have found his replacement.”
Pelor let his lips pull up in a grin. He couldn’t have planned this better, even if he’d tried.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bethany stared down at the little village tucked between two steep hills. Erin had been watching it for an hour now and the sun was beginning to set. Bethany didn’t know what he was looking for, but she kept quiet, happy to be out of the saddle and resting against the wide trunk of a fir tree. The landscape was beginning to feel a lot more like home, and the more it changed the more she relaxed. At the same time, a trickle of nervousness was beginning to dance around her stomach. She had to remind herself that they still had the long trek through the dangerous mountains still between them and her family. She had time yet to figure out what she would say to them.
“What are you looking at?” she asked once the sun had reached the peaks of the distant mountains and the cool night air made her shiver; it was getting colder as they neared the mountain range.
Erin sighed and walked away from the edge of their own hill to sit down next to her. He took a piece of the jerked beef from the bag sitting in her lap and munched on it for a second before answering.
“We need to get some winter clothing before we go any farther into the mountains.”
“We gonna buy some from that village?”
Erin shook his head. “Don’t get mad, but I intend to steal what we need. We still only have those two coins. I’d like to keep them for an emergency.”
“What sort of emergency would require money?”
“Highway men, for example.”
“We could always give them Galindo,” she said, nodding toward her horse.
“You’ve named him?” Erin asked.
“Finally. Felt bad just calling it ‘horse’.”
“Galindo is better than Dinner. Any meaning?”
“In Tokë, there is an old story, myth really, of a great warrior saving a princess from a horrible monster that resides in these mountains.” Bethany’s eyes trail up the great peaks lining the northern horizon.
“And Galindo is the hero.” It was a statement not a question.
Bethany’s mouth quirked up into a mischievous grin. “No. Galindo is the monster.”
Erin laughed, settling down a little closer to her as another gust of wind ripped through their light clothing. Over the past couple months, as they journeyed through the hotter lands of the peninsula, their winter clothing had been slowly used here and there for a varieties of things. The leather sleeves to her jerkin had been used to patch their boots. The warm blanket had been cut up to replace the wearing backpads used to protect the horses’ flesh from the rubbing on the stiff saddles. The sweater had gone missing entirely.
“Now, you’ve changed the subject long enough. Why not sell Galindo?”
“Because a victorious princess should not return home on a scrawny donkey named Dinner.”
Bethany burst out laughing at the picture he had painted. The knight tried to shush her, but in the end they both laughed until their sides hurt.
When they finally stopped laughing, Erin spoke, “I promise I will not steal anything that they cannot replace easily. They are nearing the end of their winter, while we are heading into a place where winter never ends. They can replace the items, while we cannot afford to spend months sitting around the fire knitting sweaters and tanning hide to made new boots.”
Bethany let out a sigh. “All right, but take no more than we need.”
“I’ll do my best,” he said, patting her knee before climbing to his feet. “Stay here with the horses. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
Bethany nodded. She spent her lonely evening tending to the animals, giving them an extra-long rubdown, and building a little fire. She ate a little more food, but forced herself to stop when the hunger pains subsided. They would need the food more later. The light of the hidden sun was just beginning to fail her when she started to grow concerned.
He said he'd be back in just a few hours. Surely it has been longer than that!
Bethany’s mind raced as she thought through her options. She could go in on foot, or take one of the horses and scope out the town. Her mission wasn’t to steal the supplies herself, but to simply make sure Erin was okay. In a split second, she had made up her mind. She raced to Galindo’s side. She felt more comfortable with Éimhin, but Erin’s horse was so large she looked ridiculous on it. On Galindo she only looked a little out of place.
As fast as she could, she saddled Galindo, grabbed what remained of the Bumi riding cloak, and swung herself up into the saddle. Éimhin was still hobbled. She would have to trust the horse not to wander too far, and trust the donkey to stay near the horse. The first issue worried her a little, the second, not at all.
Bethany nudged Galindo into a trot down the hill. In the valley, she pushed the horse into a gallop, keeping his pace up all the way to the edge of the village. As she neared the village she quickly realized it wasn’t a village at all but a sprawling town, tucked into multiple different valleys. She had no doubt Erin had bitten off more than he could chew.
At the edge of the town, she slowed Galindo down to a walk. Both her and the horse were gasping. She should have slowed the horse long before so as not to look so winded. Thankfully, no one on the outskirts of the town seemed to notice. Bethany wandered through the town, trying her best to look like she knew where she was going. It was difficult to do this and systematically search the jumbled city.
She hadn’t been wandering long when she heard a big ruckus a few blocks away. Bethany turned toward the sound, forcing herself to keep from kicking Galindo into a full-fledged, panic-inducing run. Hurrying would draw attention.
Bethany reached what seemed to be the town’s central square. From her vantage point on top of the horse, she saw a group of guards drag Erin out to a central platform. Somehow, despite the mob surrounding him, Erin spotted her. Their eyes met, and Bethany perceived a tiny shake of his head. Before she could respond, the guards jerked him against a sturdy post mounted on the platform.
Bethany dismounted and led Galindo up to the back of the crowd. The platform was high enough that she could see Erin clearly, despite her lack of height. The guards tied Erin to the post. They flipped his shirt up to reveal old scars. Another guard fingered a long whip for a moment to the sound of the crowd cheering before he brought it down on Erin’s back.
Bethany flinched with each strike. She wanted to leave, to walk away from the jeering crowd and the sound of the Erin’s muffled cries, but she forced herself to stay. It wouldn’t do anyone any good to leave and thereby not know the outcome. She had to find out what they would do with him when they were finished. Without this information she couldn’t stage a rescue.
It was a long, agonizing hour, but finally they stopped the grueling punishment. By the end Erin could barely stay on his feet, and Bethany could barely look at him. She kept her eyes on the ground, trying her best not to cry. As the guards climbed off the platform, the crowd began to disperse. Bethany pulled Galindo to the side to let the pedestrians pass, one eye still trained on her friend.
The sun was disappearing behind the distant peaks of the White Cap Mountain when Bethany finally pulled herself back up into her saddle. They still hadn’t removed Erin, and she had a sneaking suspicion they intended to leave him strung up until morning. Bethany nudged Galindo down a side street. She made a few more turns, always keeping the location of the square fixed in her mind. Finally, she found a narrow alley. Sh
e glanced down it, confirming that no doors or windows opened onto it, before leading the horse into its confines.
And there she waited.
It felt like an eternity before the city grew quiet. No one noticed her tucked in between two two-story buildings. When the moon crept high enough in the sky for her to see it from her hiding place, she dragged Galindo out from between the buildings. They went at a slow walk, cautious of any noise they heard. Bethany stopped them often, pulling the big horse behind piles of crates or into alleys if she thought anyone was nearby.
Twice she was nearly caught by guards, just barely making it into an alley before they passed her on the road. Bethany was ready to scream with fear and anxiety by the time she made it back to the square. Most of the torches had been removed with the crowds, but a few still burned near a distant building. Bethany tried her best to stay in the shadows as she crossed the square, lining Galindo up with the edge of the platform. She clambered up the steep steps and into Erin’s line of sight.
He blinked a few times from a groggy haze, his eyes slowly focusing on her.
“No,” he whispered. “No. Run Beff. ‘un.”
Bethany ignored his murmuring and pulled her dagger out from her boot. She slit the ropes tying his wrists to the post and dropped the dagger as she ducked to catch him. A grunt of surprise escaped her lips as his full weight landed on her. Bethany barely kept her knees from buckling under his weight. Each step was a struggle, but she finally got Erin to the side of the platform, where she lowered him onto Galindo’s back. Bethany jumped off the platform, tossed the riding cloak over Erin’s body, and grabbed the reins. Moving slowly, she led the horse out of the square.
The walk out of the city was slow and agonizing. Erin kept mumbling about how she needed to run. She was finally forced to cut a piece of the cloak off and gag him. It broke her heart to do so, but he was making too much noise. It helped, but only a little.
Finally, when Bethany was sure she couldn’t hold her tears in any longer, they reached the edge of the town. Bethany swung herself up onto the horse, wedging herself under Erin’s body. She urged Galindo into a fast walk, not daring to push him harder for fear of further wounding Erin’s battered body.
It took her another hour to get back to their campsite. Éimhin was right where she had left him, and Dinner not for away. She rushed to gather up their supplies and saddle Erin’s horse. She tied Galindo’s reins to Éimhin’s saddle, mounted Éimhin, and urged them further into the foothills. She had to put as much distance between them and the city as possible.
Bethany found their old trail and, using the mountains as a guide, headed northward. They were now into land Erin had never traveled, and she knew her guess was as good as his. By dawn, she was barely able to stay in the saddle, and their navigation was being handled more by Éimhin’s instincts to stay on the trail than any intelligence on her part.
Finally, when the new sun was nearing its zenith, Bethany urged Éimhin off the trail. She found a little dell with a tiny stream running through it. The animals went straight for the water and began drinking. Bethany dismounted and went to Erin’s side.
“Erin,” she whispered, touching his cheek.
He was out cold. Not knowing what else to do, Bethany grabbed his arms and dragged him off the horse, using her own body to cushion his fall. It hurt. She would have an abundance of bruises by morning. Using all her strength, she got Erin positioned “comfortably” on his stomach. For a second, she considered lying down next to him and going to sleep, but she forced her aching body to keep moving.
When will this battle end? she wondered as she pulled the cloak off his mangled back.
She had been the recipients of enough whippings to know how much pain he was in, though she doubted she had ever been whipped quite so severely. Masters knew there was no point in whipping a slave to the point of being unable to work; guards, on the other hand had no such concerns.
Bethany used Erin’s dagger, having lost hers on the platform, to cut up what remained of the cloak. She used one piece, dipped in the icy water of the stream, to clean his back. Halfway through the process he began to stir. She finally had to stop.
“Be’hany?” he asked, his words still slurred.
“I’m right here.” Bethany cleaned the rag in the stream and mopped his face. “I’m right here. But I need to finish cleaning your back. I need you to hold still.”
“You shou’n have come.”
“You can yell at me when you feel better.”
Bethany dipped the rag back in the stream and rung it out over his back, the cold water washing away more of the blood than her meager attempts with the cloth had managed.
“Dinner,” she called to the donkey.
To her surprise, Dinner came to her side. She grabbed their empty water pouch from one of the sacks on his back and filled it in the stream. Using the pouch, she rinsed off his back until it the rivulets ran clean down his sides.
Bethany spent the rest of the afternoon replacing the cold, wet cloths. The temperature of the water was low enough to help reduce pain and swelling, if she could just refresh the cloths often enough. When the sun was beginning to dip toward the horizon, Erin woke again. Against her advice, he pushed himself up onto his elbows and stared at her. She was too tired and sore to think of something to say.
“Thank you for saving my life,” he said politely, though she suspected he was more angry than appreciative.
Bethany forced a smile to her lips. “Don’t worry. I won’t do it again.”
He nodded slightly. “Good.”
“Let me change your cold cloths, then I really should take care of the horses.”
She did so and finally collapsed next to him.
“Now sleep, little princess. I’ll stay awake for a few hours while you rest.”
“You need to stay on your stomach.”
“I will, so long as you sleep.”
Bethany couldn’t argue with him.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Bethany woke the next morning feeling a new level of soreness. They had spent the night taking turns sleeping and watching. Bethany looked around to find Erin sitting up, with a fresh wet rag hung over his back to keep the wound cool.
“You shouldn’t be up yet,” she said as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.
“Can’t really wait for me to recover. We need to put more distance between us and the village.”
Bethany wanted to ask what had happened, but bit her tongue instead. It seemed obvious that he had been caught, and she doubted he wanted to relive the experience.
“I rode as long as I could,” she said a little defensively.
“Bethany I wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for you. I’m not complaining, but the fact is we need to keep moving. If you’ll just bind up my back, I’ll manage.”
Bethany didn’t argue. She had seen him work through worse.
When his wounds were bound, she saddled the horse and helped him onto Éimhin’s back. By the time he was settled, his face was pasty white and sweat was beginning to dribble down his cheeks.
“I’m okay,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t say anything,” she responded before swinging herself up into her saddle.
They rode in silence for a number of hours, climbing well into the mountains before anything happened. The forest was silent one minute and punctuated with cries the next. Without trying to count, Bethany saw seven men jump out of the trees and charge at them.
She and Erin both drew their swords, though how they were going to defend themselves against so many she didn’t know.
Bethany quickly realized that fighting from the back of a stubby-legged donkey was vastly different than fighting from the back of a well-trained warhorse. Galindo spun without her asking, protecting his rear from attacks while simultaneously bringing another attacker within range of her sword. Even Dinner was causing havoc, running through their attacks, his ugly, yellow teeth chomping down on any bi
ts of flesh he could find.
Despite their best efforts, Bethany was beginning to grow desperate. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Erin take a slice across his leg. She knew he must have already been in agony, his back blazing with each swing of his sword, but he fought on, his swings never wavering.
Bethany felt a fiery pain across her exposed side just as the air filled with arrows. Within seconds, their enemies collapsed to the ground, arrows sprouting from their bodies. Erin and Bethany both glanced around, trying to find the source of their salvation. Slowly, a few Lurran men appeared from within the shadows of the forest.
“Are you all right?” asked one of them.
Bethany was about to respond when her eyes fell to a crumpled pile of white hide. “Dinner!” she cried before spilling off Galindo’s back.
She ignored the archers as she raced to the donkey’s side. The animal had been sliced open from shoulder to rump. To her disgust, the wretched animal was still alive. Bethany closed her eyes and plunged her short sword into the donkey’s neck and yanked it forward. The donkey gave one last jerk and collapsed into death.
A hand touched her shoulder and Bethany looked up to see Erin standing over her. She blinked to clear the liquid from her eyes.
“Seems pretty silly to cry over a donkey, I know.”
He shook his head. “It’s not silly to mourn the loss of a friend, even if that friend’s a donkey.”
Bethany’s tears turned into a few spurts of laughter. It was hard to cry and laugh at the same time, but she managed it.
“You’re wounded,” stated the Lurran.
Bethany turned to look at them, suddenly aware that she and Erin had been ignoring their rescuers. She climbed to her feet, her hand instinctively going to her bloody side.
“Thank you,” she said, giving them a little bow.
“Where is it you are going, traveling through our land?” asked a tanned, white haired man.
“We are trying to reach Dothan. We seek no violence.”
“As we saw.”
Bethany hesitated for a second. “I am Princess Bethany Kavadh, daughter of King Middin, may he rest in peace. I am trying to get home.”
The Dothan Chronicles: The Complete Trilogy Page 56