by R A Lewis
“Obviously. But then what?”
Liam sighed and stood up to look at her, running his hand through his hair.
“We’ll wait till we see the carriage coming on the road, then we’ll cut down this tree.” He slapped a large tree beside him that would easily span the road once felled. “It will force them to stop. If they don’t release him when we ask, we’ll attack. As simple as that.” Roguelyn rolled her eyes. It was never as simple as that.
“Fine.” Liam turned away from her, and began chopping down the tree with his sword. Roguelyn watched him, wondering what he’d do once his blade was dulled from chopping. Henndo beside her pulled an extra blade from his pack and laid it down with a small smile to Roguelyn.
Half an hour lapsed before they heard the sounds of hooves on the road and saw a dust cloud rising. Liam quickly finished felling the tree. It landed with a loud boom, dust and debris rained down in its wake. Once the dust cleared, Liam led the way down the small rise they stood on and into the center of the road. They stood about arm’s length apart, ready for anything. Roguelyn looked sideways at Henndo on the other side of Liam. Henndo’s face was set. For a moment she was sorry they’d dragged him into this. She was sorry she’d dragged anyone into it but she couldn’t have done it alone.
The carriage drew closer, slowing as the driver noticed the people and the tree in the road blocking their path. There were only five guards on horses alongside the carriage, plus the driver. Roguelyn felt her confidence wane. She was a good fighter and could maybe take on two at a time but she had no idea of Henndo’s skill. Could she and Liam handle all five and the driver? The driver pulled his team of horses to a stop a dozen feet in front of Liam.
“What are you doing there?” he called, his voice rough. The guards on either side pressed forward, coming up closer to the three of them.
“Release your prisoners and we’ll let you go in peace,” Liam called, not shifting his stance one bit, his arms crossed his chest.
The driver laughed derisively.
“Not likely!” he sneered at them across the horses’ withers. “Put down your weapons and let us pass, and maybe we won’t kill you!” Liam then unsheathed and raised his sword, Roguelyn and Henndo doing the same.
“That’s fine. I was hoping for some exercise.” Roguelyn glanced sideways at his nonchalance and her lips came up into a smile. Liam began advancing forward. The guards on their horses moved towards them. Roguelyn focused all her attention on her first opponent. The first guard rode towards her, yelling a battle cry. He was young and she hoped he was inexperienced as he slashed down at her. After his first few blows went wide Roguelyn realized that he hadn’t done much fighting from horseback. She slashed up as she rode past a second time and her sword caught him in the stomach. He cried out and slumped over in the saddle clutching his stomach. He did not make another pass. A second guard came towards her, his big horse pushing past the young man slumped in his saddle.
The man was tall, and despite the determination in his eyes, he didn’t hold his sword with much confidence. He swung down at her suddenly, and she stepped back, allowing his swing to pass by her. She chopped at his saddle, severing the saddle cinch and unhorsing him as the saddle slid off. The horse reared at the sudden loss of his rider and bolted, dumping the man on his bottom. His sword flew out of his hand and Roguelyn moved in, holding the sword to his throat as the man raised his hands. She ordered him to his knees and she proceeded to instruct him to remove his belt. She took his belt and used it to tie his hands behind his back as she had him lay face down. She’d done enough killing for one night. Once that was done, she looked around her to see how the others were fairing.
Henndo had a guard man on the ground as well, but that man had retained his sword. He was considerably better trained than Roguelyn’s opponents had been and Henndo was barely holding his own. Liam had the final two guards at blows, and they seemed evenly matched. Roguelyn raced towards Henndo, her sword pumping in her hand. She attacked the man from the side, taking him by surprise. Henndo gave her a grateful look as he backed off, breathing heavily. He was no swordsman, but he had done a great job keeping this man at bay. The man turned, having barely dodged her swing, and engaged her in battle. He swung low, aiming for her legs which she jumped to avoid. Once she landed, she lashed out at his unprotected right side. Her sword caught him in the shoulder and he yelled, jabbing wildly in her direction, the tip of his sword catching her on the side, tearing through her shirt and scraping along her ribs.
She cried out, clutching her right side as blood poured down. Breathing in sent a searing pain through her chest. She looked up to see the man’s right arm was drenched in blood and hanging useless at his side. His eyes were wild with pain and desperation as he watched her. Suddenly, he lunged, trying to take advantage of her injury, but Roguelyn was well trained, and she stepped to the side, allowing her sword to come up, and impale him. He stopped mid step as her blade entered his center, a look of utter disbelief on his face. She looked at him in pity as he slid off the end of her blade, falling lifeless to the dirt. Henndo came up beside her and placed an arm under her to steady her. Together they limped towards the carriage. The driver sat frozen in fear on the front seat.
Liam finished off the other two men he’d been fighting and followed behind them. He put his sword to the driver’s throat.
“Where are the keys?” The driver shakily threw them down, putting his hands up in supplication, in pleading. “Tie him up,” Liam said to Henndo as he picked up the keys from the ground and started towards the carriage and Roguelyn. He looked up and saw her clutching her side, her hand now covered in blood. He started towards her, his hand outstretched as if to catch her or help her. As he reached her, she pushed away his hand and shook her head.
“Open the carriage. I can wait.” Liam’s face hardened slightly but he turned, searching the keys for the right one to open the door. Roguelyn held her breath, partly from the pain, but partly in anticipation of seeing her father for the first time in over a year. Liam turned the key in the lock and pulled open the door. Inside was total darkness and Liam leaned in. Roguelyn could hear some words being spoken and a muttered response. Liam reached inside and helped someone to stand and step out.
Roguelyn almost collapsed as she saw the man’s face.
Chapter 25
Gaillart Ashdown used to be thick with muscle, his six-foot frame strong. But now his dark hair hung limp around his gaunt face, the skin sallow and sunken, and his frame greatly reduced. His appearance stuck Roguelyn like a punch to the gut, hollowing her out. He had suffered immensely in Hargrave’s dungeon, but his smile was still quick, and his face still held the kindness Roguelyn had missed.
He stepped down out of the carriage. His beard had more grey in it than Roguelyn remembered. She cried out at the sight of him and ran forward, stumbling and clutching harder at the pain in her side. Gaillart’s eyes came up, and when he saw her his eyes went wide with shock. He threw his arms open just as Roguelyn threw herself into them. They both collapsed towards the ground, one clutching the other. Roguelyn finally let all her feelings she’d been hiding come flooding out and she sobbed into his frail chest. Gaillart smoothed her short hair, murmuring to her.
Liam stood to the side, confusion clear on his face, eyes darting between Roguelyn and her father. Henndo smiled sheepishly and turned away to begin the task of burying the dead. As he turned away, he snagged Liam’s shoulder and turned him away too, to give the father and daughter some privacy. Liam kept looking back over his shoulder as he and Henndo cleared the bodies of the dead men, hauling them off the road and into the shelter of the trees.
Roguelyn finally sniffed, her eyes puffy and swollen from tears to look up at her father’s face. He looked down, love and kindness in his green eyes that were so like her own.
“How are you here, Lyn?” His voice croaked, not the usual deep bass she was used to. So much wasn’t what she was used to. It was the first time she’d heard tha
t pet name spoken in what felt like forever. It melted a part of her she hadn’t known had frozen over.
“It’s a very long story, papa. But I came to rescue you.” He smoothed his large hand over her cheek.
“Thank you, my girl.”
“Papa, what did they do to you?” He smiled.
“Not nearly enough to break me. I will be alright, especially now that you are here.” Roguelyn helped him to stand as Liam and Henndo came out of the woods, leading their horses.
When they caught up with Roguelyn and her father, Liam offered his horse to the duke.
“My name is Liam, your Grace. I am one of King Fairburn’s spies.” Gaillart nodded and shook Liam’s hand.
“I have seen you around the court in years past. I’m Duke Ashdown but you may call me Gaillart. No need for formalities in this situation.” Liam nodded his assent, but refused to make eye contact with Roguelyn. Henndo extended a hand to the duke.
“I’m Henndo Anson. Bard by trade and happy to make your acquaintance, your Grace.” He smiled broadly, getting an answering smile from Gaillart.
“Really, no need for formalities, I mean it. We are all equals here. You both have shown more bravery than I ever could. And thank you, for helping keep my daughter safe and helping her free me.” Henndo squeezed Roguelyn’s shoulder, but Liam only nodded curtly to the duke. Roguelyn felt hurt and guilty for not telling him the truth. She desperately wanted to speak with both her father and Liam, but not together and not right now.
“We need to get out of here. The king…his men will be after us shortly. We need to go north and then east back towards the border.” She took the reins of her horse for Henndo. Liam jogged away in order to catch the horse of the man Roguelyn had taken as prisoner. “What should we do about him?” She inclined her chin towards the man who was now tied up and propped against a tree a distance away and not in ear shot.
“Leave him, his own people will find him soon enough,” Liam said without looking at her. Together, the four of them mounted and rode down the road east towards the capitol. After 10 or so miles, when they were uncomfortably close to the capitol, they came to a fork in the road. They turned north, away from danger, and began making their way back towards home. Hopefully the king’s men were so preoccupied with his death that they wouldn’t think to follow them. This didn’t stop Roguelyn from looking over her shoulder as they rode, watching for pursuit.
Liam continued to ignore Roguelyn for the next few days as they fled. Roguelyn spent the evenings around the campfire and the hours they rode recounting her tale for her father. She left out some of the more sordid details of her encounters with King Hargrave, but he got the gist of it. When she was finished, he hugged her tight, tears streaming down both their faces.
“I am so sorry, Lyn. You did not deserve that. But you did the right thing. Both with that soldier and the king. No one will blame you for self-preservation, no one will question your motives, at least not while I’m around.” His face was set as he said this. Roguelyn’s heart settled. He had answered the question she’d been wondering since she’d first slid her knife into Cole. Was this the right thing? She’d spent a while crying on her father’s shoulder and her guilt at having taken Cole’s and the King’s lives left her feeling light.
Henndo had asked to sit in on her story.
“I love a good story, you know that. Besides, I think this is one for the bards, something we could sing about for years to come.” Afterwards, Roguelyn had stood to go to bed, and Henndo had stuck out a hand to her. “Glad to meet you, Roguelyn.” He’d grinned at her as she shook his hand, and then she pulled him into a hug. At least Henndo had not decided to hate her for her lies. She had looked over to Liam across the fire. He’d been listening, but not engaging, and he’d glanced up at her for a moment, nodding his head slightly. Hope bloomed in her chest.
As they reached the road that turned east, Roguelyn finally found a way to be alone with Liam. He had left camp to collect firewood. Here, the forest was dense, and she was able to follow him for a ways without being seen. She walked softly through the underbrush, a light snow filtering through the pine trees above. It was much colder up here in the north of the kingdom, but Roguelyn barely noticed. Liam paused by a tree, and Roguelyn took a deep breath before stepping out and approaching him.
“What do you want?” he asked, his voice heavy and almost sad. He didn’t look at her, only stooped to pick up another piece of firewood. Roguelyn approached cautiously and stood just behind him. She reached a hand towards his shoulder, her fingertips brushing his coat. He shivered and she took her hand away.
“I wanted to talk with you in private,” she said, her voice soft.
“What is there to talk about? You lied to me about who you were. End of story.” Roguelyn winced at his words.
“I know I lied. But I thought you could understand why, once you heard my story.” Liam shook his head, almost in dejection rather than denial.
“I’m trying. You were never a spy, you pretended to be a boy, then a girl. You lied about who you were and then you killed the king. It’s hard for me to know what is the truth.”
“I’ve told you the truth. I’m not sure what else I can say.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair, a quirk Roguelyn realized she loved. That shock ran through her as she watched him.
“Would you have told me if we hadn’t rescued your father?”
“If we hadn’t rescued him, I would have eventually left,” she said, her heart squeezing at the thought, at the admission.
“So, you would have kept your secret, and me in the dark.” His voice turned cold. Roguelyn immediately regretted her words but she wanted to be honest with him. “I can’t believe I ever cared for you, imagined a future with you.” He turned away from her, and continued to gather firewood. She froze, her core going icy.
“You cared for me?” Disbelief and loneliness and sadness race through her, overcoming her senses.
“Of course. I thought I made it clear.” He walked away from her back towards camp. She stumbled to catch up.
“No, it wasn’t. I thought you didn’t like me.” She was genuine, but as she thought while they walked back to camp, she realized all his anger towards her, all his harsh words, only ever happened when she’d been in danger, been hurt. He had been the first one to offer help or action, but she’d only ever pushed him away. She stopped dead, melting snow dripping down the back of her neck and under her collar. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as a cold and sorrow so deep began to spread through her.
“Liam,” she whispered. Liam paused in his steps, looking back at her, his face strained and full of sorrow. But he turned away from her and kept walking. As he disappeared into the woods, Roguelyn’s heart broke. What might have been, what they could have been to each other, what he meant to her raged through her mind, leaving her breathless and hopeless.
Her father’s face was concerned as she stumbled back into camp an hour later, her own face tear-stained and wan. He started to reach out to her, but Roguelyn walked right passed him and curled up in her bed roll, hoping sleep would be a sweet release from the emotions warring inside her.
Chapter 26
A week passed before they reached the base of the mountains and the border between their two countries. Roguelyn had worried that Henndo might leave them at some point and travel back south towards his mother in the capitol, but he assured her that his plan was to follow this tale to its conclusion, no matter the peril. The border was what they thought was their last hurdle. So far, they had passed fairly unmolested within the bounds of Gadel, but the majority of the king’s troops were ranged along the border with Rayaven, and would likely make crossing difficult.
As they wound their way through the foothills, they realized there was only one place not covered in snow to cross in all of the Ryfe mountains. They would have to turn south and travel to the coast, where they could cross relatively safely through the cities of Hoatam and Wresley. Reluctan
tly they turned their feet south, but traveling this close to the border for this long meant their danger increased.
One evening, just as they were setting up camp, Henndo, who had been scouting the perimeter to make sure they could light a fire in peace, came riding out of the evening gloom at full gallop. He leapt from his horse in a cloud of steam that was rising from both horse and rider in the frigid air. A light dusting of snow covered the ground, and the sky promised more by morning. He was breathless as his feet hit the ground.
“There’s a company of soldiers riding this way,” he said this as he began repacking their camp. Roguelyn, Liam, and Gaillart jumped into action beside him, and in two minutes had the camp repacked and were mounting their horses. They rode further east and south, into the snowcapped wilderness of the border, hoping that by moving towards danger and cold, they would discourage others from following. Nobody would expect them to ride into danger.
They rode through the night, and when dawn broke they stopped in a small clearing. A soft white blanket of snow lay all around them, the snow untouched in the clearing. Roguelyn dismounted and handed her reins to her father as she moved slowly into the center of the clearing, marveling in the crunch of snow under her boots, the soft hush of the woods around them, and the clean smell to the air. Henndo and Gaillart looked at each other indulgently. Liam looked down at his hands, trying not to watch Roguelyn, as she watched her own footprints appear in the fresh fallen snow behind her, her breath a puff of smoke in the cold air. Roguelyn turned and looked at her companions. Despite all the fear that had pressed them forward, despite her sadness at Liam, she smiled and laughed. She bent down and scooped up a handful of snow and threw it at Liam, hitting him square in the face. A look of shock crossed his face as Henndo and Gaillart began to hoot in laughter at his predicament. It only took him a moment of wrestling with himself to decide to join in and Liam slid off his horse.