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“Sorry it took so long to find a way to rescue you,” Ria said as she set to work on the lock on Tor’s cell. Ellen went to the other cell to make sure nobody needed healing.
“Is everyone alright?” Bellak asked as he heard the lock click.
“Vicky is fine,” Ria assured him. “She has not been eating or sleeping properly, but from the look of things, nor have you.”
The door opened and the men poured out as Ria set to work on the second lock.
Tor went straight up to Ellen and took her in his arms. “Are you alright? Were you mistreated?”
“No. All of us were treated well.”
As soon as the second cell door was open, William tried the same move on Ria, but she stepped back out of his reach. “Do not even think about it,” she warned.
“We should get out of here sooner rather than later,” Patrick interrupted. “Where are our weapons?”
Ria gave him a pained look. “I have no idea. I have not been able to find them, nor any of your things.”
“It does not matter,” Tor assured her. “You have got us out of the cells, that is all that is important right now.”
Patrick took the lead, running quietly up the steps and easing the door open. There was nobody in sight so he signalled for everyone to follow.
They all cautiously made their way down the corridor, Ria moving to the front when Patrick was unsure where to go. She took them directly to the rear exit, through which the other ladies had gone earlier, but as she turned the last corner she almost walked into a guard.
Hearing a noise behind him he spun around and opened his mouth in surprise when he saw Ria. It was the young man she had almost managed to have a conversation with in the gardens.
“What are you doing here?” he asked. “You should still be locked up.”
She smiled at him and shrugged her shoulders. Then he spotted Patrick standing behind her. He opened his mouth, then closed it again when he recognised him as one of the prisoners the King was keeping locked up in the cells under the castle.
He looked back at Ria once more and winked at her. “I have not seen a thing,” he said quietly. “Good luck. You are going to need it.” He then walked away, acting as though he had not witnessed anything.
“Do we have a problem?” Patrick asked.
“I do not think so,” Ria said, her uncertainty evident in her voice. “But we should hurry up just in case.”
Everyone made it to the stables without being seen and were pleased to find that the ladies had found enough horses for them not to share. Doubling up would have meant going slower and might have caused the guards at the city gates to be suspicious. They even had Torrick’s warhorse with them.
Bellak walked straight up to Vicky and pulled her into his arms. “I am so sorry,” he whispered into her ear.
Torrick took Liselle’s hands in his and gently kissed her lips while Jem approached Marie. Not caring what anyone thought, he hugged her. She was completely taken by surprise and it took a moment before she hugged him back.
“What are those?” Ban asked, spotting the bundles that had been placed beside the horses.
“Food,” Vicky explained. “Not much, but it is better than nothing.”
“Good thinking,” Tor said with approval.
Everyone was mounted up before Patrick noticed that all of the women had their bags. “Why do you have your belongings?” he asked.
Ria gave him a smug grin. “The King returned them to us. I guess he liked us more than you.”
“That is so unfair,” he said sourly as he urged his mount forward.
Miraculously they all made it out of the palace grounds without being held up. As soon as they heard a number of horses approaching, the guards opened the gates to allow them through. Their job was to keep people out not in so it never occurred to them that they should stop and question the riders.
The city was silent as they rode through, keeping their pace slow and sedate so as not to draw attention to themselves. The guards at the city gates were happy to open them, regardless of the hour, and sooner than expected they were galloping away from King Fidel.
No direction was considered; they just wanted to put as much distance between themselves and Ingle as they could, and quickly.
When the sun was high overhead Tor looked around at the monotonous landscape. Wherever he looked he could see nothing but the road and prairie. There weren’t even any trees in sight that someone could climb to get a better view.
“Does anyone know where we are?” he asked. He automatically looked toward William and Jem.
“We rode south from the capital so we should be somewhere near Kelmer, unfortunately,” Jem informed him.
“Why do you say unfortunately?”
It was William who responded. “The city falls between two provinces and the Lords who run those provinces hate each other. For generations the two families have argued over who owns the city and the royal family have decided not to interfere. Last time we were in this area we only just managed to avoid a huge battle.”
“May I suggest we find somewhere else to camp?” Seth put forward, but Tor could not agree.
“The horses need a rest. We will continue on for a while in the hope that we find ground that is more suitable to camp on, but we cannot go on for too much longer. Hopefully there is some shelter somewhere up ahead.”
William shook his head. “The land around here is all as barren as you see. Why anyone decided to build a city here is beyond me.”
“Then we head to the nearest water and hope that the fighting is over or at least there is a temporary ceasefire,” Tor announced. Nobody was surprised by the comment. Though they would have liked to keep travelling, they knew that pushing their horses much more would be a mistake.
Seth asked which direction the city lay in and turned his horse toward where Jem pointed.
“Why are you going that way?” Patrick enquired. “Surely it is safer to head away from Kelmer.”
“Logically the city should have been built near a water supply. Head toward it and we should find the river.”
What he said made sense, so everyone reluctantly followed. It did not take long to find a source of water and, while it was in the open and not easily defended, a place to camp was decided upon.
Luckily the river was full of fish and Nosmas was able to put a spell on them, making them leap out of the water and onto the bank.
They did not want to risk lighting a fire, but not everyone was prepared to eat their fish raw, so a compromise had to be found. The sun had yet to set so the flames giving away their position in the dark was not a major concern, but smoke was. Vicky came to the rescue by announcing that she knew of a spell which would disburse any smoke before it rose too high.
Thick leaves were found growing beside the water and, while they were not edible, they were not highly flammable and offered protection for the fish when they were thrown into the fire. As a result the meal was adequate, but not satisfying.
A double guard was set and nobody slept well that night. While it was good to be free, the threat of re-arrest as well as being caught in a province war hung heavily on them.
As soon as the sun rose they packed up and left, hoping to get as far away from potential trouble as quickly as possible. The morning was uneventful and as people began to relax the usual banter, which had been missing the previous day, began once more.
The sun was high in the sky when they came across a man in uniform lying across the road. William, who was leading, dismounted and cautiously approached. He did not respond when William called out to him, so he gently shook him. When the man made no indication that he was conscious, William placed his fingers on the man’s neck, looking for a pulse. Failing to find one, he looked up at Tor and shook his head. The man was dead.
Without waiting to be asked, William turned the corpse over, revealing a deep cut across the man’s chest. The amount of blood staining his clothes indicated the depth of the wound. Even if he had been alive, William doubted that anyone would have been able to save him.
Despite the red stains, he recognised the uniform and informed Tor that it belonged to one of the two Lords who were at war. Patrick joined William and quickly felt the body all over, trying to determine how long ago he had died.
Based on the stiffness of the body, as well as the lack of smell, he estimated it to be no more than a few hours. While it was possible he had been injured a long time before that, given the seriousness of his wound it was doubtful.
He had died with his sword still in his hand and Patrick picked it up from where it lay discarded beside the body. It felt like grave robbing, but it was necessary. Any weapon they could lay their hands on might make the difference between someone in the group living or dying.
A quick discussion was held and the decision was made to continue onward. Tor was not the only one to hope that the fighting had taken place some distance away and this was just a forward scout or a rear guard, or that the battle was either over or had moved on.
Not long after they had left the corpse where it lay they came across another one. This one was a young man, barely into adulthood, and was dressed in the same type of uniform. The cut across his throat told them that death had been mercifully swift.
As they continued along the road the number of bodies increased. Two different uniforms were identified, clearly showing that the two Lords William had mentioned were still fighting.
It was not until they came across the mutilated corpse of a woman that Tor called another halt. She was naked and the things that had been done to her body left Tor praying that they happened post mortem. He called for someone to cover her up before he would let any of the ladies come close enough to see.
He took William, Jem and Patrick aside to discuss taking a different route. They had hardly any weapons between them so any sort of fight needed to be avoided at all cost.
They discussed options. If they continued to follow the road, they expected to find more and more dead bodies. Leaving the road and going cross country was feasible as they no longer had the cart, but they did not know in which direction the fighting lay and they could well end up in the middle of it.
In the end they decided to continue on for a while longer. Tor asked the magic users if there was any spell any of them knew which could indicate in which direction the fighting was continuing, assuming it still was, but none of them could help.
Thankfully no more remains were found by the side of the road and as time passed their concerns moved away from being caught in a skirmish and toward what they could do for food.
Smoke could be seen in the distance, across the plains, and the conversation turned toward the possibility of it being a farm. Discussions were again held and the majority expressed a wish to check it out. Tor had no real objections, so they left the road and trotted toward the smoke.
William was in the lead and as he crested a small hill he called a halt. The smoke had become thicker and blacker, indicating it was not caused by a cooking fire.
Tor rode up to him to assess the situation. The source of the smoke appeared to be over the next rise, so the two men, along with Nosmas and Torrick, rode on alone.
The sight that met their eyes was not a welcome one. It was, indeed, a farm, but what appeared to have been the farmhouse was on fire. Nearby barns looked like they had been smashed and dead animals could be seen in the fields.
William suggested turning back, but Torrick pointed out that there may be someone still alive, but injured, and they should make sure before abandoning them. Tor nodded his approval and the four men rode slowly forward.
No sign of life could be found and when Tor called out, nobody replied. He dismounted and walked toward the nearest building, which was only partially intact. The others did the same, each choosing a different ruined building. William went toward the farmhouse, but the flames were still too hot for him to enter. He walked around the side, hoping that another entrance may be useable, but stopped as soon as he saw the pile of bodies.
He called out and Tor, Nosmas and Torrick came running. William did not need to say anything; the scene spoke for itself.
The pile must have contained at least a dozen corpses; men, women and even a small child, none of them dressed in a uniform. From their clothes they appeared to be the farmhands and their families.
Tor turned away. “It is always the innocent that suffer the most in war,” he muttered to himself.
“We should bury them,” Nosmas said, but Tor shook his head. It would take too long and he wanted to get everyone away as soon as he could in case the men who had done this were still around. It could have been bandits, but he didn’t think so. This close to evidence of a battle suggested that this farm had been overrun in the fighting and the killing had been done by soldiers.
They returned to where the others were waiting and gave them the bad news. When Tor instructed William to lead them back to the road, nobody disagreed.
It was approaching nightfall once more when the first sounds of a battle reached their ears.
“We should consider changing direction,” Patrick suggested.
Before Tor could respond, Jem shouted, “Get down.”
Everyone instantly obeyed, sliding off their horses and using them as cover as an arrow struck the ground near them, closely followed by two more.
Tor frantically looked around him. They were out in the open and vulnerable. The only shelter appeared to be a low hill from which the arrows had originated. As soon as the rain of arrows ceased Patrick leaped back onto his horse and galloped toward the hill.
Tor swore and made to go after him, but Torrick held him back.
“I will go,” he stated. “Your life is more important.”
Without waiting for the Prince to respond Torrick remounted his steed and urged it up the hill. Half way up he heard a scream and increased his speed.
When he reached the top and looked down he saw Patrick wiping his sword on the clothes of the man he had just killed.
“There was only one,” Patrick said when he noticed Torrick’s presence. “Here, take this.” He threw the sword and Torrick caught it in his right hand. Patrick then picked up a bow from the ground and pulled the quiver off the dead man’s back.
“Are you any good with that?” Torrick asked as Patrick climbed onto his horse’s back once more.
“Better than most.”
“You stupid, idiotic, imbecile,” Ellen yelled at Patrick as soon as he returned. “You had no idea how many men were there. You could have been killed.”
“What, again?” he said sarcastically.
Ellen looked at Tor. “You talk to him. I give up.”
“I will be wasting my breathe. Now we need to decide on a plan. I do not think it is safe to continue, but I do not relish the thought of going back.”
“Unless I am mistaken, there should be a small village nearby. Maybe we can leave the women there while we investigate the road ahead,” William suggested. He ignored the glare he received from Ria.
Tor nodded. “Alright, lead the way.”
As they continued down the road the sound of fighting grew louder. When the roofs of houses could be seen in the distance they quickened their pace.
A short while later they arrived at the village. It consisted of no more than a dozen houses and a smithy, but at least all of the buildings appeared to be intact. There was no sign of conflict as they rode forward, but also no signs of life.
Tor called out, but nobody answered. He scanned the area carefully, assessing for threats, but nothing he saw caused him any concern. He dismounted, signalling to the others to follow his lead.
Walking up to the nearest building he knocked on the door. There was no sound of movement inside, so he cautiously pushed it open, surprised that it was not locked.
The inside of the cottage was small and homely. All of the furniture appeared worn, but clean, and nothing seems to have been disturbed. He called out once more before entering, then searched the house from top to bottom, Patrick at his heels.
“It looks like it has just been abandoned,” he commented. “Maybe the villagers saw soldiers approaching and fled before they arrived.”
“Maybe,” Tor agreed, but there were other possibilities; ones he did not want to think about unless he had to. “Search the other buildings,” he ordered and Patrick immediately left the house.
The inspection did not take long and soon it was concluded that the village had become a ghost town.
“Did anyone find any weapons?” Torrick had the sense to ask.
William shook his head. “If those who lived here had any, they took them with them. Even the smithy is devoid of all tools.”
“This seems as safe a place as any,” Tor announced. “I suggest the ladies choose whichever house is most easily defended while the rest of us scout out the terrain ahead.”
“Bellak, Ellen, Vicky,” he continued, ignoring the muttered comments coming from Ria’s direction. “Should trouble arise, use your magic in any way you see fit. Protect Marie, Liselle and Hurst.”
He then turned his attention to Modo. “I would like you to stay here. Look for cellars or anywhere else that can be used as a hiding place should soldiers enter the village before we do. Also look for food.”
The vexen nodded then entered the nearest building. Tor turned toward Ria, who was looking at him expectantly while casually playing with one of her knives.
“Other than Patrick and Torrick, you are the only one armed, so you had better come with us.”
It was not what she had been expecting to hear and the smile she gave him could almost be classed as sweet, providing your peripheral vision did not pick up the knife.
Nobody voiced any objections so those who were to remain behind went into a huddle to discuss which building they should occupy while everyone else remounted.
Those on horseback rode through the village and continued along the road. An hour passed before the first soldier appeared. He was lying by the side of the road with half of his left leg missing. Somehow he was still alive. From the amount of dirt on his clothes and face, it looked like he had dragged himself from wherever he had been injured.
Nosmas dismounted and approached, signalling that everyone else should remain where they were. The man stared at him with wild eyes, too scared to even speak.
The wizard spoke gently to him, reassuring him that he meant him no harm. He carefully examined his stump, assessing the damage to the major artery. It was beyond his skill to fix. The man had already lost too much blood and, even if Nosmas could stem the flow, it would not be enough to save him.
He told the man the bad news, saying that all he could do was put him out of his misery sooner. The soldier already knew that he was dying, so nodded his approval. He was in tremendous pain and did not want to suffer any longer.
Nosmas called Torrick over and held the soldier’s hand while Torrick swiftly thrust his sword into the soldier’s heart. The man twitched twice, then went still, his hand going limp in Nosmas’s. While Torrick cleaned his sword, Nosmas let the dead soldier’s hand drop to his side, then gently closed his eyes.
The sword that lay beside his body was rusted and not very sharp, but it was better than nothing, so Nosmas picked it up and handed it to William. He could not help wondering how many more dead men they would have to find until all of them were armed once more.
They continued on, finding more and more dead and injured soldiers. Those they found alive were quickly assessed, but all were beyond saving. Acting like angels of mercy, Tor and his team ended the suffering of those who needed it, collecting weapons as they did so.
By the time the first attack came, everyone was armed, though far from adequately.
Ria leaped from her horse onto the nearest soldier. Her knives would be of little use to her unless she was on the ground. She could have thrown them, and her skills in this area were very good, but she did not want to risk being defenceless while she retrieved them.
She handled herself well, ducking under sword thrusts and getting in close enough to insert her knives into her attackers, piercing whichever organ was easiest to reach. Some died, others were wounded enough to no longer be a threat.
Patrick stayed on horseback, shooting arrows at anyone in a uniform. Men fell and soon his quiver was empty. Seth dodged between pairs of fighting men, defending himself when he needed to, and pulled the projectiles from the still twitching corpses and returned them to Patrick.
They found themselves engaged by both sides of the fight and were soon surrounded, making retreat no longer an option.
Jem and William fought back to back, protecting each other. They had used this tactic many times before and it worked well.
Nosmas, Tor and Torrick stayed on horseback for as long as possible, slashing down at their attackers with their swords then trampling them under hoof.
From somewhere Ban had obtained a mace and was swinging it around him, rendering whoever it came into contact with unconscious.
Soldiers from neither side of the battle were well trained and it did not take long for them to realise that Tor and his companions were a superior force. Many died. Those that did not soon decided that running away would be a better option than facing the far more experienced fighters.
When there were no enemies left to face, Tor assessed his people. Other than a few bruises, there were no injuries. Miraculously, even Patrick had managed to stay alive.
“That was too easy,” Ban commented.
“It is not over yet,” William informed him. “Those that escaped are probably heading back for reinforcements.” He turned toward Tor. “We should have killed them instead of letting them go.”
“I do not kill unless I need to,” the Prince told him sternly. “Especially when they have their backs to me.”
Without further discussion they continued along the road. Everyone wanted to make sure it was clear for a long way before returning to the women.
The next attack took them by surprise. There was no sound of fighting ahead of them and the men came out of nowhere. All were armed, though their weapons were as sub-standard as those of the other soldiers Tor and his team had faced. The attackers outnumbered them, but these, too, were not seasoned fighters and were easily disposed of.
Most of the men, and Ria, slid from their horses, preferring to face their enemy on foot. Patrick, Tor and Torrick remained mounted once more.
The fighting was fierce and frantic. Nobody saw the man who crept from his hiding place behind a bush, sword in hand. Nobody heard him approach a pair of combatants. Nobody was aware of the imminent attack until it was too late.
William felt the sword being thrust into his back and cried out. Jem turned in time to see his brother slide off the blade and crumple onto the floor.
“No,” he cried out and ran toward him, ignoring the soldier he was engaged with.
Patrick swiftly took care of the man he was facing, then killed Jem’s attacker before he could give chase.
He looked around for another target and saw that none were left.
Jem threw himself onto the ground next to William and took hold of his hand.
“I think this is goodbye,” William gasped as he trembled with the pain. They looked into each other’s eyes and both knew he was right.
“Not yet,” Jem insisted. “The wound is not that deep.”
“Liar. I cannot feel my legs.”
Jem did not break eye contact to look down. He knew the sword had probably severed William’s spinal cord and did not wish to see confirmation.
Nosmas rushed over to examine him. He took one look and shook his head. “This is beyond my abilities. Ellen may be able to help, but I cannot.”
Lacking even needle and cotton to sew up the wound, all they could do was bandage it up using strips of cloth torn from dead soldiers’ uniforms. By the time they had finished, William was unconscious.
As time was of the essence they did not waste any looking around for wood to make a litter. They placed William over the back of his horse and tied him in place. Blood was already soaking through the dressings and nobody expected him to survive the journey back. Not that anyone said so out loud.
They galloped along the road, not caring if they were alerting anyone to their presence. They needed to get back fast. If they took as long to return to the rest of their group as they had on their departure they may as well stop and bury William there and then.
They encountered nobody on their return journey and arrived back at the village sooner than they expected. Tor called out as they rode past the first building and Ellen ran out of one of the houses.
“What happened,” she asked, spotting William’s inert body.
“Sword through the back,” Jem informed her as he undid the cloth bindings that were holding his brother in place and carefully picked him up.
“Come with me,” Ellen ordered and Jem obediently followed her into the house she had just exited.
A few minutes later Jem returned. “Ellen says she needs hot water and the sewing implements from her bag.”
Everyone went to work, looking for what was needed. Ban found the village well and quickly hauled up a bucket of fresh water, which he handed over to Nosmas to heat with a spell.
When it was steaming he carried it into the house that Ellen had entered and found her in a back bedroom, along with Vicky. They had stripped off William’s tunic and were attempting to slow the flow of blood with magic. It was not working and as soon as Seth walked into the room with a threaded needle she changed tactic and attempted to sew the wound closed, sealing the severed veins as she did so. Luckily no artery had been cut or William would not have survived the ride.
Marie entered the room and Ellen ordered her to find clean cloth and a bowl. The wound needed to be cleaned then sterilised. When she returned, Nosmas poured some of the water into a clay container and then set about making the remainder even hotter.
Vicky searched through her bag for the ingredients she needed for a poultice and, when she failed to find what she wanted, rummaged in Ellen’s.
“I need honey or something else sticky that can bind the leaves together,” she informed Seth, who went to the kitchen to see what he could find.
Liselle was busy ripping up a sheet into strips. By the time the poultice was ready and had been placed on William’s back she had enough to wrap around him and hold it in place.
William had not woken up while the women worked and was deathly pale.
“How is he?” Tor asked a little while later when he entered the room to check on their progress.
Ellen looked worn out. “If he lives, which I doubt, he will never walk again. The spinal cord was beyond repair. I have managed to stop the bleeding, but he has lost so much blood I will be surprised if he ever wakes up.”
“I will give Jem the bad news.”
It was with a heavy heart that he left the room and sought out William’s brother. Modo had found a cask of wine and some of the men were drinking their sorrows. Jem’s glass, Tor noted, was untouched.
Jem looked up as Tor approached. He did not ask how his brother was, he didn’t need to; the look on Tor’s face told him all he needed to know.
“I am sorry. There is nothing anyone can do.”