Roo grimaced.
His shoulder hurt to the touch, but Luis assured him it was without infection. When the bandage was changed, Luis said, ‘That should do it for now. We’ll clean it again tomorrow night when we reach Wilhelmsburg.’
Roo said, ‘A bed!’ He grinned at Karli, Helen, and the children. For the first few days on the road the children had treated the journey like an adventure, but since this morning Abigail had been asking when they were going home. Karli had tried to explain that it would be a long time, but a ‘long time’ more than five minutes was lost on the three-year-old.
Camp was relatively calm, though the mercenaries Roo had hired looked more and more nervous as the days wore on. Roo and Luis had spent enough time around soldiers to know these were men used to sitting quietly, scaring off bandits, and rarely having to pull sword or bowstring.
Krondor had fallen. That had become apparent from the incredible tower of black smoke that appeared in the west, two days after they left, and from the increase in traffic on the road east. More and more Roo spied the hired guards engaged in quiet conversation, and he suspected they were ready to bolt at the first sign of serious trouble.
Roo had talked to Luis in private about his doubts as to the reliability of the mercenaries, and Luis agreed. Luis saw to it he spent enough time around them both to bolster their resolve and to make it clear he was ready to deal harshly with anyone who didn’t earn his pay. Roo knew that he had a better chance of keeping his little caravan intact once they reached Wilhelmsburg. They would rest, leave after a night in one of the inns Roo owned, then make for Ravensburg. Roo had promised the men a partial payment of their wages, and a little gold in their pockets would keep them in line.
If Erik’s family and Milo’s were still at Ravensburg, Roo would take them to Darkmoor. He knew that eventually Erik would end up there. Roo had thought about where he had been shipping arms and supplies for the last year, and where his wagons had taken tools and equipment, and the one thing Erik had said to him, ‘Nightmare Ridge.’
He knew Royal Engineers had bolstered old roads or cut new ones along the rear side of the ridge, hundreds of miles long, that ran along the entirety of the eastern half of the Calastius Mountains. The range looked like a squashed, inverted Y, with one long leg and a short one. The long leg ran from just east of Krondor to the Teeth of the World, the great range that ran across the north of the Kingdom. The short, eastern leg ran from Darkmoor to north of the town of Tannerus, where the legs met. Roo had figured that with Sethanon as the aliens’ ultimate goal, crossing the mountains north of Tannerus took them too far from their goal. Anywhere to the south of that point, they’d have to best Nightmare Ridge, and Roo knew that if the bulk of the Kingdom Army was waiting along that granite wall, there was a chance they’d survive. If the enemy could be kept on this side of the ridge until the snows fell, the Kingdom would be victorious.
But it was only three weeks after Midsummer’s Day and the snows of winter seemed ages away in the warm evening. Raised in Ravensburg, Roo knew that the snows could come early, but he also knew they could come late, and that only an oracle would know which would be the case this year. In any event, the earliest they could see snow would be in six weeks, and ten or twelve was more likely. Perhaps heavy rains – they were common – but snow was months away.
Roo went to the fires and chatted with Karli and Helen and tried to talk to the children. Children were still a mystery to him, though their mere presence didn’t inspire the great discomfort it once had. He even found little Helmut’s insistence on putting everything in his mouth amusing, though it seemed to wear Karli to a thin edge. Jason spent time with the children, keeping them diverted, a talent for which Roo was greatly thankful.
Helen’s children were older, and he could talk to Nataly and Willem, though the things they found interesting were a mystery to him. Helen was a calm in a sea of chaos, her ready smile and soft voice soothing to those around her. In the firelight, Roo realized he was staring at her as the children prattled, and he looked away. He saw Karli was watching him, and smiled at her. She smiled back, in a tentative way, and he winked and mouthed, ‘Everything is fine.’
He sat back, trying to keep from putting pressure on his wounded shoulder, and let his gaze wander back to Helen. He yawned and closed his eyes, the impression of her burned on his memory. She wasn’t pretty, though she was far from ‘raw-boned’ as that bitch Sylvia had called her. She was what some men might call handsome. But her two most appealing features were large brown eyes and a broad, ready smile. And she had a firm, still-slender body.
Roo then wondered if Luis could be anything but mad to think this woman, this wonderful caring mother, could love a gutter rat like himself. Sighing, Roo let his body give in to a comfortable doze, as the chatter of the camp faded away, and the soothing warmth of the evening and the sound of Helen’s voice lulled him.
Suddenly Roo was awake, as shouts from the distance turned the camp into bedlam. Men ran and for a moment Roo blinked in disorientation as he tried to assess the situation. The children were lying under blankets so some time must have passed since he dozed off.
After a moment, Roo had his bearings and his battle training came to the fore. Calmly, so as not to alarm the children, he said, ‘Karli, Helen, get up!’
Helen came awake and said, ‘What?’
‘Get the children into that wagon!’ He pointed to one nearby. ‘The coach won’t last on these roads if we must run.’
Luis ran up and said, ‘Riders, heading this way, fast.’ He had his dagger in his hand. Since his right hand had been injured, Luis never wore a sword anymore, but with his left he was still a deadly knife fighter.
Roo and Luis quickly doused the low-burning fire, in the hope the riders hadn’t caught sight of the weak flames in the distance. Had they come hours earlier, they would have spotted the camp without difficulty.
Some of the mercenaries were now running for their horses, and Roo shouted, ‘Get the wagons going!’ It was still two hours or more before dawn, but the horses had benefited from resting most of the night. With luck, they could be away before whoever approached saw them, and continue on, arriving at Wilhelmsburg earlier than anticipated.
Drivers ran to get the horses into traces, and Roo tried to help as well as he could with the injured shoulder. Jason knew nothing about weapons or wagons, but he carried whatever he was told to fetch, and Luis was a rock. But the mercenaries were Roo’s biggest concern. Now they were being asked to stand steadfast against hard, vicious men who had been fighting for years.
The wagons began to get under way, and Roo got into the saddle for the first time. He felt stiffness in his right shoulder as he moved his sword, but he knew that his own was one of the few swords he could count on.
Roo hovered at the rear of the caravan, watching the west anxiously, to see the approaching riders. As the wagons rumbled toward the highway, Roo glimpsed figures in the west, darker silhouettes against the murk. He could only pray they would be cautious, fearing they were approaching some of the Kingdom’s army, rather than a desperate band of civilians fleeing before them.
For long, terror-filled minutes, they moved over the grass, until they were back on the compacted dirt of the highway. As soon as the metal-bound rims of the wheels began to turn over the dirt and gravel of the road, Roo felt his tension lessen. The farther along they were, the closer to Wilhelmsburg, the better their chances of survival.
Then a half-hour later a man ahead shouted, while another screamed. Shouts from the south side of the road told Roo the riders he had glimpsed had crossed the highway, ridden up on a parallel course until they were certain this was no army column they shadowed, then ridden ahead to spring an ambush.
Roo shouted, ‘Turn north!’ and drew his sword. Ignoring the pain in his arm, he pushed his horse forward to engage the first enemy fighter he could find.
It didn’t take him long to find a ragged-looking rider hacking at the guard on a wagon six ahead of Roo’s own. The mercenary guard was defending himself well enough, but other riders were coming fast.
Roo didn’t try anything fancy. He slammed his heels hard into his horse’s sides, forcing the animal into doing something it didn’t want to do, crash into the other horse. The rider from the Queen’s army was thrown to the ground as his mount reared unexpectedly, and Roo shouted to his guard, ‘Kill him!’
Roo urged his horse forward, toward the riders, who were only a wagon’s length ahead. Then Luis was at his side, reins tied around his right wrist, dagger in his left hand. Roo wanted to tell him to get back and defend the women, but he was too busy trying to stay alive.
Roo killed one man and drove another off, turning his horse to find Luis nursing a cut on his right arm while holding his bloody dagger. Roo said, ‘You madman. Next time stay behind with the women and if you’ve got to cut throats, do it from there.’
Luis grinned and said, ‘I think I have to. I’ve never been that good a rider.’ He used his chin to indicate his wound. ‘I’d do better on foot.’
Roo marveled at his calm. ‘Go get Karli to dress that. I’m going to see how badly we’ve done.’
Roo rode to the head of the little caravan and found that two of his guards were dead and two others had run into the early-morning gloom. The remaining six, with Luis, himself, and Jason, were barely enough to defend two wagons, let alone a dozen. Roo didn’t hesitate. He said to the mercenaries, ‘Get back to the last wagon.’ As they rode back to the end of the line of wagons, Roo turned to those drivers still on their wagons and said, ‘Get moving now! Straight on to Wilhelmsburg and to the Inn of the Morning Mist. You get there in one piece, I’ll give you a year’s wages in bonus.’
The teamsters didn’t hesitate, but at once shouted and got their animals moving. Roo rode to the remaining six guards and said, ‘We’re going to defend the last wagon. I’ll personally kill the first man who tries to run away.’
Luis said, ‘You think they’re coming back?’
‘Absolutely. I think we just surprised them when we put up a fight.’
‘How many?’ asked Jason, trying not to look frightened. The former-waiter-turned-bookkeeper had never been exposed to violence beyond an alehouse brawl before, and was trying mightily to be a calming influence on the children.
‘Too many,’ said Roo. He got out of the saddle and led his horse to the rear of the wagon, tying her reins to the tailgate. He then moved to the front and mounted, picking up the reins from the wagon driver, who sat shaking, and said, ‘Hang on.’
He turned the wagon northward and shouted, ‘Follow me!’
The six guards, Luis, Jason and the wagonload of his family and the Jacobys headed away from the road. Roo knew it was a desperate gamble, but if he could get far enough from the highway when the raiders returned, they might not miss the one wagon seeking to find the small, little-used road eastward, while they pillaged the wagons trying to race to the east.
‘They’ll never make it,’ said Luis.
‘Probably not, but if any does, I will make good on my word and give the driver a year’s wages in gold, on the spot.’
Luis settled back into the wagon bed. It was crowded as he and Jason sat with the children and the two women, but at least for the moment they were safe.
Their luck didn’t hold long. Roo had found a small game trail that led into sparse woodlands, but it forced them into a gully that eventually became too narrow for the wagon to navigate. They backtracked until they found another route north, and again tried to find a way to the small road leading east.
Near midday, riders could be heard over a small rise, and for several tense minutes, Roo, Luis, and the mercenaries waited silently with weapons drawn while Karli, Helen, and Jason kept the children quiet. When the last rider passed, less than twenty yards off but out of sight, Roo signaled to turn toward the east and see if they could find yet another route.
By sundown they were completely lost in the woods. Around a cold camp, they discussed options, and one of the mercenaries said, ‘I’m for just leaving this wagon and striking east, Mr Avery.’
Roo said, ‘How well do you know these hills?’
‘Not very, but our boys are to the east, so you said, and any road worth calling such is going to have enemy cavalry riding along more likely than not, so if we keep to the woods we could slip past them.’
Roo said, ‘Between here and Darkmoor Province there are a dozen little villages, give or take, and we might blunder into one of them, but if we don’t have a local guide, what we’ll find is a sudden rise that turns into a big enough hill it might as well be a mountain for how easy we can get around it.’ He glanced around the quickly darkening woods and said, ‘It’s easy to get turned around in the woods if you don’t know the way. You could be heading right into the enemy’s arms if you don’t know what you’re doing.’
The camp was so somber the children were silent, looking at Roo and the other adults with large eyes. Karli and Helen did what they could to reassure them, but in a quiet way so as to encourage their continued silence.
After a moment, Roo said, ‘But I think you may be right. Unload the wagon and get blankets and food. Leave the rest and we’ll start walking tomorrow.’
The mercenaries glanced at one another, but no one seemed willing to say more, so they did as ordered. Roo sat and quietly watched his children, the Jacobys, and the others in the failing light.
Helen had his son on her lap, singing to him softly as Karli held Abigail in her arms. Willem leaned against his mother’s shoulder, fighting off sleep, determined to stay awake while Nataly was already asleep, on a blanket between Helen and Karli. Jason made himself useful repacking the food so it could be carried, and Luis kept close to the mercenaries, keeping them calm and promising them bonuses when they got to Wilhelmsburg.
When the children were all asleep, Karli came to sit next to Roo. ‘How is your shoulder?’ she asked.
Roo realized that he had not thought about it since the encounter with the raiders, and he flexed it. ‘A little stiff, but I’ll be all right.’
She leaned in to him, whispering. ‘I’m frightened.’
He put his left arm around her. ‘I know. But if we’re lucky we’ll be safe tomorrow.’
She said nothing, just sitting there, stealing comfort from his presence. Throughout the night they sat silently, dozing, but unable to sleep, as the night noises of the woods kept startling them.
As the sky lightened, a few hours before dawn, Roo quietly said, ‘Get the children up.’
As Karli did so, Roo said to Luis, ‘We need to be moving before dawn.’
‘Which way?’
‘East and north. If we run into an obstacle in one direction, we head the other. But we only turn around and go south or west if there is no other way. Eventually we’ll reach that road I told you of, or we’ll hit the farms outside Wilhelmsburg.’
Luis nodded. ‘The mercenaries are not to be trusted.’
‘I know, but if we make it clear they stand a better chance with us, staying in a group, than they would on their own –’
The sound of horses alerted them and they both turned, to see the six mercenary guards riding out in the pre-dawn gloom. ‘Damn!’ said Luis.
Roo said to Jason and Helen, who were now awake, ‘We don’t have time to eat. Grab what you can and let’s get away. If there are any raiders nearby, they’ll hear that clatter and come looking.’
The children complained, but their mothers quickly silenced them, and handed them pieces of bread to chew on while they walked. Roo had studied their surroundings the evening before and had spied a small dry creek bed that ran to the northeast. He decided that would most certainly take them upward, into the foothills, so he would follow it until they found a clear route to the east or north.
The going was slow. The children couldn’t move quickly and they tired easily, but they managed to keep going for a full hour. Then they had to rest.
There were no signs of pursuit. After resting for a quarter-hour, Jason picked up Helmut, freeing Karli from carrying the youngest of the four children.
They continued along, finding the way difficult, with deadfalls and debris providing constant obstacles. When it was near midday, they heard distant sounds of fighting echoing through the trees. They couldn’t tell from which directions the sounds came.
They moved on.
Erik said, ‘We’ve done well.’
Greylock said, ‘Given the total collapse at Krondor, well enough.’ He consulted reports that had come his way from positions to the north and south of him and said, ‘We have one nasty surprise.’
‘What?’
‘Great Kesh has moved to occupy everything in the Vale of Dreams.’
Erik said, ‘I thought Prince Erland had arrived at some sort of treaty with them?’
‘Apparently the Keshians didn’t agree.’
Erik shrugged. He was eating his midday meal with Greylock. Owen’s command would be pulling out after they finished eating, once Erik’s men had finished occupying the position Greylock’s command had dug. Erik’s men were pleased they didn’t have to create the barricades and could rest until the enemy put in an appearance.
‘As I judge things,’ said Greylock, ‘you must hold here for five days instead of four.’
‘I’ll try for six,’ said Erik.
Greylock nodded. ‘News from the north is good. Captain Subai and the Pathfinders have been able to get their men through the mountains with little trouble.’
Erik laughed. ‘Wait until the enemy is up there in strength.’
‘Well, part of the plan is to keep them from getting up there in strength.’ Owen sighed. ‘Reports are the fighting is the hardest in the north. There’s a company of Hadati alongside some of our boys, and they’ve dug in near a tiny pass southeast of Questor’s View.’ Erik called up from memory the maps he had studied and nodded. That position would have to hold; to let the enemy through in numbers up there would give them a clear route down the eastern face of the mountains, bypassing Darkmoor, straight to Sethanon. ‘But the enemy isn’t up there in sufficient numbers to dislodge them.’
Erik said, ‘I’m too tired to think. Once we’re dug in, I’m going to sleep.’
Owen rose, laughing. ‘I doubt it. You’ll check everything twice before you’ll decide you’re sufficiently dug in, so you won’t sleep until nightfall.’
Erik shrugged. ‘How much time have we gained?’
‘Two days. We still need to pick up three weeks.’
Erik said, ‘I don’t know if we can.’
‘If we don’t, we’ll have massive fighting in Darkmoor and along the ridge.’
‘What of the Armies of the East?’
Owen said, ‘They’re behind the ridge, waiting.’
Erik said, ‘I wish they were right over there.’ He pointed to an area where his men were readying weapons and supplies.
Owen put his hand on Erik’s shoulder. ‘I understand. It’s difficult watching your men get ground up bit by bit. But it’s necessary.’
Erik said, ‘Prince Patrick made that clear to me, as did Knight-Marshal William. But no one said I had to like it.’
‘Understood,’ said Owen. Turning to a sergeant of his command, he said, ‘Sergeant Curtis!’
‘Yes, General?’
‘Get the men ready to march.’
‘Sir!’ The sergeant turned and hurried away, shouting orders.
‘“General,”’ said Erik with a grin. ‘Suppose Manfred regrets discharging his Swordmaster?’
Owen said, ‘Ask him when you get to Darkmoor.’ Owen mounted his horse. ‘Besides, he really didn’t have anything to say about it. It was Mathilda who gave me the boot.’
At mention of his father’s widow, Erik said, ‘I suppose I’m going to have to deal with her soon.’
‘Only if you stay alive, my friend,’ said Owen, then he turned his horse and walked him away. Over his shoulder he said, ‘So stay alive.’
‘Fare well, Owen.’
Erik left the campfire and started inspecting his men’s positions. Owen had been right, and it was hours after sunset before Erik found time to sleep.
Roo, Jason, and Luis stood with weapons ready as the two women hurried the children up the bank to a cave. They had moved without difficulty for two days, finding rough trails that kept moving toward their goals. They had found a woodsman’s cabin, abandoned but untouched, where they had spent one night, risking a small fire, though Roo worried the scent of smoke in the air might reveal their position.
They had left the relative comfort of that cabin and were now no more than one day’s travel from the road Roo remembered, when they heard the sound of riders, growing louder by the minute. Roo didn’t know if the riders had picked up their trail or were just heading their way by chance, but either way they were rapidly getting closer.
From the sound of it, it was a small group, maybe a half-dozen riders or less, but with Roo’s shoulder injury, Luis having only one good hand and a dagger, and Jason having no experience with a weapon, even two skilled mercenaries would have been dangerous. If the riders had bows, Roo knew they were lost. Their best chance for the women and children was for them to get out of sight and stay in hiding. Roo and the two other men were determined to delay anyone coming their way long enough to facilitate their escape.
Roo glanced over his shoulder and saw Helen usher the children into the cave’s mouth, and he thought she smiled back at him. At this distance he couldn’t be sure.
Soon four riders came into view, at the far end of the little wash Roo’s band had been hiking. Roo said, ‘Jason, if this turns ugly, don’t try to be a hero. Try to hamstring one of the horses and don’t get killed. Luis and I will try to take care of the fighters.’
Seeing three men in their path, the riders slowed to a walk. Luis said, ‘If they stay in single file, they’ll talk. If they fan out, they’re going to fight.’
The four riders continued in single file. When they were a dozen paces away, the leader held up his hand and studied the three men. After a moment, he said, ‘Who are you?’
Roo realized they were speaking the language of Novindus, somewhat accented, so he judged they were from a different part of the continent than those Roo had visited. Roo hazarded a bluff. ‘My name is Amra.’
Hearing their own tongue, the four riders seemed to relax a little. The leader pointed to Luis. ‘And you?’
‘Haji, from Maharta,’ he answered without hesitation.
‘And you?’ he said to Jason.
Before Jason could open his mouth, Roo said, ‘He’s mute. His name is Jason.’
Jason couldn’t understand a word of this strange dialect, but upon hearing his name, he nodded.
‘What company?’ asked the leader as the second rider moved out of line and came to stand next to him. Both men still held weapons, ready to act if they didn’t like the answer.
Roo thought furiously. He knew things had changed radically in the Queen’s army since Calis’s Crimson Eagles had served in it. He knew the names of some companies, but had no idea if they still existed, or where they might be stationed. But he also knew no answer would get them killed as quickly as a wrong answer.
Softly, Roo said, ‘We were put into Shinga’s Black Blades after the battle of Maharta.’
The second rider said, ‘Deserters?’
Roo said, ‘No, we ran into some of the Kingdom’s lancers and they cut us up.’
Luis lowered his dagger slightly, as if relaxing, and said, ‘We got loose and ran. Somewhere along the way we got completely lost. We’ve been wandering around these woods for a week. We found a little food, but we’re pretty hungry. We’re trying to get back to our own side.’
Roo said, ‘Can you help us get back? We’re really not deserters.’
The other two riders moved their horses and took up the flanks. The leader of the four said, ‘Not deserters? That’s too bad. We are.’
Suddenly they charged, and Luis and Roo were diving out of the way. Roo hit the ground, rolled, and came up in a crouch, in time to see Jason standing rooted in terror as he was ridden down by the second rider, who unleashed a blow at the clerk. Jason ducked and lashed out with his blade, and Roo saw it wrenched from his hands as he was knocked to the ground and struck in the shoulder by a horse’s hoof. A horse’s scream indicated he had done some damage with his sword, but he lay on the ground, in blinding pain, unable to move.
The horse he had wounded stumbled, its right foreleg bloody from the deep wound Jason’s thrust had caused, throwing his rider over his shoulder. Roo had rolled and come up, ready for the second charge. Luis threw his dagger and took one of the men in the neck, killing him before he hit the ground.
The thrown rider was groaning as he lay on the ground, and Luis and Roo faced an equal number of opponents. Luis pulled a second dagger from his boot and crouched. The two men spoke softly to each other, obviously aware that Luis’s ability to throw his weapon made him a more dangerous opponent.
They shouted as they urged their horses into a charge, and they appeared to be charging both men, but at the last instant, the one heading for Roo turned and circled around to attack Luis from behind. Luis threw his dagger at the rider heading straight for him, who dropped over the neck of his horse, presenting almost no target.
Luis had anticipated such a move, and had thrown low, aiming at the man’s exposed thigh. The blade struck the man full in the right thigh, and he howled in pain as he sat up, trying to move away from Luis as his companion charged him.
Luis had a third dagger, carried in his shirt, out, and was throwing the moment the man sat up. He took the blade in the throat and fell over the rear of his horse.
Roo charged the man who rode past him, as soon as his back was turned. While he bore down on Luis, who was turning and attempting to get another dagger out of his sash, Roo held his sword above his head.
The rider slashed down at Luis, who attempted to dodge, but the rider compensated and caught Luis on his right shoulder, the blade biting deep. Roo’s blow caught the rider from behind, slicing deep into his leg. Bone was exposed as the rider screamed in pain and attempted to turn, only to lose consciousness in the saddle as he went into shock.
Roo quickly killed him. He rushed to Luis and saw the man was barely conscious. He was about to speak to him when he heard a scream from behind.
Roo spun to see the rider who had been thrown standing over Jason. The young clerk was on one elbow, blood running down his face from a scalp wound, while the soldier drew back his blade for a killing blow.
‘No!’ Roo shouted as he started to run. His legs were leaden, each step impossibly slow and heavy. He tried to hurry, but the soldier’s blow descended like a flash, and Jason screamed in pain. He had turned, and the thrust that should have silenced him left him contorted in pain, screaming.
Roo drew back his own blade, and swung with all his strength. He missed the soldier’s body, but sliced through the man’s wrist, and the sword tumbled through the air, the hand still holding the hilt.
The man looked at his bleeding stump in disbelief, not even seeing the next blow, which sliced the back of his exposed neck, causing his death as he slumped to the ground.
Roo knelt next to Jason, whose eyes were wide with pain and terror. ‘Mr Avery,’ he said, clutching at Roo’s shirt.
‘I’m here,’ said Roo, cradling Jason’s head.
Jason’s eyes were unfocused, as if he couldn’t see, and Roo saw the wound was a killing one. The head wound had come from the horse’s flying hoof, but the gut wound pumped blood in a quick rhythm, and Roo knew an artery deep in the body had been severed. Jason’s life was running onto the ground by the moment.
Jason said, ‘I’m sorry, Mr Avery.’
Roo said, ‘You did well.’
‘I’m sorry I betrayed you.’
Roo said, ‘What do you mean?’
‘I was the one who gave Sylvia Esterbrook information to pass along to her father,’ he said, then began coughing blood.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Roo. ‘How did you know her?’
‘When you first came to Barret’s, I told you of her, and told you she was wonderful.’
Roo’s head swam. The fight, his wound, and now this. ‘Jason, how did you and Sylvia do this?’
‘I would pass her servant notes,’ said Jason. ‘She would write back to me. She promised that someday, when I was rich, she’d tell her father about me.’
Roo was stunned. Sylvia had played himself, Duncan, and now Jason for fools. After a moment, Jason said, ‘Mr Avery. Please, sir, forgive me.’
Looking about the woods, with Luis lying unconscious or perhaps dead across the clearing, with the women and children hiding up in a cave, Roo could only say, ‘It doesn’t matter, Jason. None of it matters.’
Softly Jason said, ‘She kissed me once, Mr Avery. When no one was looking, as she got into her carriage, she leaned over and kissed my cheek.’ Then his eyes rolled up into his head and he died.
Roo sat motionless, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. The boy had died thinking the murdering bitch was his perfect angel. Roo had not mentioned to anyone in the camp besides Luis that Sylvia was dead. Roo silently saluted her, for she had known what to do to get what she wanted from the men she had used. For Duncan, it had been the promise of power and money; for Jason, some child’s story of the princess and commoner finding true love – a kiss on the cheek and love notes – and for Roo? Roo laughed a bitter laugh as he let Jason’s head fall to the damp ground. He rose, thinking. For Roo she had promised a perfect love that doesn’t exist.
Before meeting Sylvia, Roo never had any idea that love was anything other than a myth believed by people less intelligent than he, or a useful lie to get a town girl to spread her legs, but never had he felt the lie of love to be so monstrous as he did at this minute. Even from the grave Sylvia haunted his thoughts. He reached Luis’s side thinking it unfathomable how three men could look at the same woman and see three different women, or how each could believe her lies so readily. And he couldn’t understand how he could still feel such longing for her while detesting her so deeply.
Luis’s breathing was shallow, and his complexion was waxy. He groaned when Roo tried to move him, and tried to help as Roo picked him up, slipping his uninjured shoulder under Luis’s good arm. Half staggering, half dragging his friend, Roo tried to get him to the cave.
When he was a short distance from it, Helen Jacoby looked out and when she saw Roo struggling to bring Luis to the mouth of the cave, she hurried down and helped the exhausted Roo.
They got Luis inside, and Roo discovered that the cave was large, though shallow. It was illuminated enough from outside that he could see everything clearly. Karli gasped as they entered the cave, and tears welled up in her eyes as she asked, ‘Jason?’
Roo shook his head.
Helen began tending to Luis while Karli tried to keep her own distress from further upsetting the children. ‘Who were they?’ Karli asked.
‘Deserters, from the Queen’s army.’
‘Will there be more?’ asked Helen.
‘Undoubtedly,’ answered Roo, resting on the cave floor a minute. ‘I don’t know if they’re going to be heading this way, but it means we have to be wary of any riders or men on foot we spy until we know for a fact they’re Kingdom soldiers.’
He sighed and stood up. ‘I need to find those horses and see if they have anything useful on them.’ He also needed to bury Jason and the four dead men, but he thought it best not to speak of it.
Staggering down the hill, Roo saw that the wounded horse was only a few yards away, but the other three had wandered up the hillside and were trying to eat the small patches of grass that grew around a small clearing. Roo wasn’t the expert that Erik was when it came to horses, but one look at the deep wound in the horse’s flank told him he wouldn’t recover without a healer’s aid; there was bone exposed and the horse limped as if hobbled.
He walked as calmly as he could to where the three horses grazed, and made clicking sounds and talked softly. Two of the horses started to move away, but one remained close enough for him to get his hands on its bridle. Roo checked the bedroll and found a few items of worth inside, a silver candlestick and some coins.
Roo tied the first horse’s reins to a branch on a deadfall and got the second. It also had a few items of worth on it, but nothing else of use.
The third horse was more interested in playing keepaway than in eating, so after Roo had chased it for about fifty yards, he started throwing rocks at it, attempting to drive it away so that should anyone else come across the wandering mount, it wouldn’t lead them back to Roo’s location.
Roo found one of Luis’s daggers still stuck in one of the dead men, and he pulled it out. He quickly put down the lame horse, whose screams caused the two remaining horses to shy. But he had tied them well enough that they remained where he had left them. Then he turned to the grisly task of searching the corpses.
Like all former soldiers, he found the idea of rifling the dead was repugnant, yet he knew that anything of real worth would be on these men. He discovered three pouches of gold and one of gems. Roo put the valuables on one of the two remaining horses and stockpiled the weapons. He had five daggers, a long knife, and six swords.
He carried these to the cave and deposited them inside. He asked Helen, ‘How’s Luis?’
‘Not good,’ she said softly. She looked at Roo and shook her head slightly.
Roo had seen enough wounds to know that Luis might not live through the night. He turned and went down the hill. He decided he’d move the horses after he disposed of the dead.
He had no shovel, so digging a grave was out of the question, unless he wanted to try to do it with one of the swords. He found a small fissure in the middle of the dry creek and he rolled the dead into it. He hated the idea of burying Jason with the four deserters, but the safety of his family was more important than anything else.
He used the poorest of the six swords to dislodge dirt and cover the dead, then started carrying rocks to cover them. After an hour of this heavy labor, he was nearly exhausted and was on his knees piling up the rocks as best he could. He attempted to keep them below the lip of the fissure, so that when he sprinkled branches and leaves over it, anyone coming by might not notice the grave.
He was placing the last rock on the grave when something pushed him from behind.
Roo turned and was scrambling for the sword when he saw a curious horse looking him in the eye. The animal he had chased off had grown bored and returned, and had come down to see what he was doing. Finding the work uninteresting, the horse demanded Roo’s attention.
Roo reached out quickly and grabbed its reins. The horse shied, and pulled back, yanking Roo to his feet. He yanked once, cried, ‘Whoa!’ and let pressure off so the horse didn’t fly into a panic.
The animal responded and held its position. Roo led it to the others and tied it to the tree. He searched the blanket roll behind the horse’s saddle and found some more gold and a gem.
Roo looked around and tried to spot a better location to hide the horses, but couldn’t see one. If they were going to use them, he’d have to risk their being discovered.
Fatigue gripped him as he trudged up the hill. He thought it would be ironic in the extreme if he had gone to all the trouble of burying the five bodies only to have the three horses standing there give him away.
He looked at the dead horse and realized he’d have to attempt to cover it up before leaving, but decided he’d wait until the next day. Hiding the dead animal was pointless until he was ready to lead the living ones away.
He reached the cave mouth and found that Karli had distributed some more bread and pieces of cheese to the children. He took a hunk of each as it was handed to him and sat down. He couldn’t remember ever having been this tired.
Helen said, ‘His breathing is better, I think.’
Roo glanced over and couldn’t see any difference. ‘I think you’re right,’ he lied.
Roo chewed on the bread, finding it was drying out as the days wore on. Still, it was food, as was the hard cheese, and he welcomed the taste.
‘We have a skin of wine,’ said Karli, and she handed it across to Roo.
He thanked her and took a mouthful. The wine tasted particularly piquant in combination with the yellow cheese, but Roo was glad for it.
Helen said, ‘What do we do?’
‘There are three horses. If we can get Luis on one, and two of the children on each of the others, we can lead them out tomorrow.’
Helen looked at Luis and her expression was dubious, but she said nothing. Karli tried a brave smile and failed.
Roo chewed and swallowed, and let his body rest as best it could against the rocks. After finishing his food, he stumbled out of the cave and down the hill, and returned with the four blanket rolls used by the deserters. He didn’t care how filthy they were, these woods could get chilly at night and they couldn’t risk a fire.
After the blankets had been spread and everyone bedded down for the night, he sat staring into the night. Time passed and for all his fatigue he couldn’t risk sleeping.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Helen Jacoby appeared at his side, sitting down next to him. Softly, so as not to wake the others, she said, ‘I think he’s going to be all right.’
Roo whispered, ‘You’ve not seen a wounded man after he’s been strapped to a horse for a day or two. We may kill him if we move him.’
‘Can’t we stay another day?’
Roo said, ‘No. And Luis would be the first to tell me to try to get you to safety. Each day brings more soldiers, from both sides, as well as more deserters into this area.’
Helen slipped her arm through his, putting her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural act. She hugged his arm, and he was acutely aware of her full breast pressed against him and the scent of her hair. At last she said, ‘Thank you, Roo.’
Roo said, ‘For what?’
‘For being a kind and caring man. You’ve done everything for my babies a father would. You’ve protected us when other men would have left us in ruin and without resources.’
They were quiet a long time, and then Roo felt warmth on his shoulder as her tears soaked into the fabric of his shirt. He patted her hand and could think of nothing to say.
After a silent time, she reached up and turned his head toward hers. She kissed him lightly on the lips, then softly she said, ‘You’re a good man, Roo. The children love you.’ After a pause, she said, ‘And I love you.’
Roo was silent; then he said, ‘You’re the best woman I know, Helen. I admire you.’ He dropped his head, as if unable to look into her eyes, though how much she could see in this darkness was problematic. ‘And I’d be a liar if I said I haven’t thought about you, as a man thinks of women, but to tell you the truth, I find that I can’t bring myself to believe in love.’
She said nothing for a long time, then rose silently and returned to the children. Roo sat alone through the rest of the night.