Chapter 8

Gypsy already knew who she wanted as the new scout. The problem was convincing him to take the job. As she studied Rhem’s last map rehearsing what she was going to say, a few of the mercenaries gathered around her. Everyone knew they needed a new scout and because the pay was substantially more a few were more than happy to risk Gavin’s wrath for it. For a few moments she ignored the small group, continuing to scrutinize the map trying to figure out where Rhem lost the trail. Looking up she made eye contact with each one of them and said, “I assume you’re all clustered around me because you want the scouting position.”

“I’ll do it for triple the pay and an hour with you,” Nero broke in, gathering a few dry chuckles from the assembled group.

Gypsy grinned and placed her palm on the handle of her saber. “You’re not qualified,” she said icily. “For either job.” Nero recoiled from her. It was a small subtle movement that few others around him caught but her. Gypsy scanned the crowd looking for Trajan. “Besides I already know who I want as the new scout.”

Trajan was standing off to the side of the crowd with his arms folded across his chest. He’d be the best choice out of all of them. There must be some way of convincing him to take the job.

“You’re all dismissed and I suggest you take full advantage of this break,” she said.

The mercenaries wandered off grumbling. Everyone except Trajan. He remained standing where he was. Gypsy made her way over to him. “You’re the most qualified,” she said.

“But the least willing,” he replied.

“I was afraid you’d say that. There must be something you want if the pay isn’t enough to motivate you,” she said.

“What I want isn’t in your power to give.”

“Try me. Maybe the general can find a way to get it for you.”

Trajan glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot. “I want my sister released from the emperor’s harem.”

Gypsy stood there shocked. It wasn’t that his request was so outrageous; it was that the request was the last thing she expected him to ask for. “How long has she been in the harem?”

“Two years,” Trajan replied.

“Let’s go talk to the general and see what he says.”

“He’d promise me anything to find his wife. You expect me to take his word for it?”

Gypsy arched her back working the kinks out. “If you really want to win your sister’s release, what have you got to lose? Besides if Gavin can’t secure her release I know my mother can…if we find her in time.” She felt pain build in her sinuses, the precursor to tears, and she quickly rubbed it away. But she was confident that if anyone in this motley band of misfits could track her mother, it was Trajan.

* * * *

Gavin was silent for a full minute after Trajan presented his offer. He looked down into the ravine and then he said to Gypsy, “You think this is the best man for the job?”

“I know he is, Excellency,” Gypsy said. She hoped she was right.

Gavin eyed Trajan up and down. “Which is your primary profession? Bounty hunter or mercenary?”

“Bounty hunter, sir,” Trajan replied.

“How many bounties have you recovered?”

“Twenty-one.”

“How fast can you plot a route?” Gavin asked.

“I can’t plot one. I never learned to write, Excellency.”

Gypsy and Gavin exchanged looks. Trajan’s revelation wasn’t too surprising since most males in the lower classes never attended school. “I can meet with him after his rounds,” Gypsy offered, “and sketch the route myself.”

Gavin’s frown deepened. “That’s an extra duty for you, Gypsy.”

“I know, sir. But I don’t trust anyone else to do it. You know as well as I do that we’re probably going to have to backtrack and we need to pick up the trail again as soon as possible,” she said.

“Alright,” Gavin said, nodding impatiently to Trajan. “The position is yours. I need a route in half an hour.”

“And my sister?” Trajan asked.

“I promise you I’ll get her out of the harem,” Gavin said. “I don’t know how yet, but I’ll see to it that I get her out. But that’s only if I get my wife back alive. Do we have a deal?”

“Yes, General,” Trajan said. “We have a deal.”

Gypsy approached Gavin’s hyperia and began to rummage through the saddlebags.

“What the bloody hell are you doing in my things?” Gavin grumbled.

“I need your territory map. Where is it?” she called back over her shoulder.

“On the other side. Why?”

“I told you I need it,” she said as she pulled it out and came back over to the large boulder that her father was leaning against. Unfolding it she laid it on top and placed Rhem’s crudely drawn map next to it. She made a motion to Trajan who came to stand next to her.

“I’ve been doing some thinking and my thought is this: The outlaws killed everyone else and took her, probably because she’s a doctor. This wasn’t a random attack. She was targeted. That tells me that they need her to treat someone. We’ve already passed all of these towns,” she said, gesturing to some names on the map. “The next group of towns is still a few days’ ride. I’m guessing that their destination is one of these three towns. Mannus, Rathara or Slytok. If Trajan can grab her trail again we should be able to figure out within the next day or two which one they’re headed to.”

Gavin seemed to consider this for a moment then nodded. “That makes good sense.”

Trajan rubbed his chin while looking down at the map, “How can you be sure they’re not taking her somewhere else? Maybe to a town beyond these three.”

“Because the next town is another six days’ ride and then you get into the larger cities. If they needed a doctor they would go to the closest place to get one where they have the least risk of getting caught, and Sanguar is only a four-day ride at most. She ran her index finger along a blue line on the territory map. “I think this is where you last caught her scent, when I met with Rhem. We need to backtrack toward there and try and find more markings along the way. Hopefully we won’t have to backtrack the entire way.”