by John Migacz
CHAPTER 6
Balthus and Adrianna walked their luses to the stream and let them drink. They wouldn’t be out of the forest before nightfall and Balthus was looking for a good place to make camp. His first choice for a “good place to camp” was a lively inn, but on the road he liked to shelter well off the trail in an easily defensible position. Balthus’ time spent in service to the King left him always thinking of defense, no matter how safe an area seemed. That mindset had saved him several times.
Balthus squatted and lowered his water bag into the stream. He thought about the mess they could be riding into and sighed. “I am still confused by Lotho’s letter.” Glancing up at Adrianna, he repeated a line from Lotho’s message: “Lothogorn Castle has been besieged by Baron of Yorburg with an army of three thousand mercenaries.” He rose, hung the bag on his saddle, then mounted. “Yorburg never had the coin to put three men together, let alone three thousand. First, he would have to pay a large amount to buy a backbone.” He shook his head. “And his pretext of attack, that hundred-year-old boundary dispute? Something’s wrong there.”
“Someone had to put him up to it,” agreed Adrianna. She tightened a bedroll strap that had loosened. “I hope Lotho’s weathering the siege well. He never had much of a standing guard, only a few hundred men and some peasant conscripts. He has always relied on the King and good rapport with his neighbors.”
“Don’t worry about Lotho’s defenses. He’s more distrustful than I am.”
Adrianna raised an eyebrow. “That’s hard to believe.” She mounted her luse and patted its neck. “What does he expect us to do?”
“Ride in and vanquish all his detractors, of course.” Balthus grinned and flexed his large biceps. His smile faded and he shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”
“And besides, what could be more fun?” mimicked Adrianna in a lowered, blustery voice.
Balthus grinned and spurred his luse forward.