by Alex Janaway
‘Hey there,’ Cade said brightly. ‘Been quite a chase, huh?’
The dwarf did not respond immediately, looking past her to the wagons and beyond. Scowling, she sniffed and spat. ‘What?’
‘What?’ replied Cade.
‘What do you want?’
‘Oh, just felt this might be a good time to get your view on something.’
The dwarf shifted in her saddle and stared hard at Cade.
‘See, it’s like this,’ said Cade continuing on gamely. ‘I was wondering, if, considering it all in the round, whether you might entertain the notion of calling it quits?’
The dwarf muttered something in dwarvish. ‘Quits?’
‘Um. Agreeing to call it all off. It’s been quite a slog and you’re a long way from home. You’ve been killing us, and we’ve been killing you. And we are on foot. It’s damn tiring.’
The dwarf smiled but there was no warmth to it. She turned and looked back at her companions.
‘We don’t have to walk,’ she said, returning her gaze to Cade.
‘True. But, and I’m spitballing here, you have no more help coming. Now, that offers an opportunity,’ Cade lowered her hands. ‘Instead of you killing more of us and us killing more of you, we can just … part ways. We’ll just carry on heading west. A long, long way west. You won’t hear from us again. That’s a promise. And you lot, you can turn around and go home. Anyone asks, you just say, job done. You found as many as you could, killed us all, and now you’d like your back pay. Everybody wins.’ Cade crossed her arms, awaiting the response.
The dwarf tilted her head and her eyes narrowed. It looked to Cade she might just be considering it. The dwarf glanced back at the gathered riders. Was she the one in charge? Cade didn’t think so. In confirmation, the dwarf faced her and raised her helmet above her head. ‘Wait,’ she ordered, as she lowered and buckled it back into place.
‘Absolutely. Happy to,’ Cade stepped away with a deep bow. The dwarf turned her pony round and cantered back towards the others.
Cade turned and walked slowly back to her group, half expecting a bolt in the back.
Issar looked at her from behind the nearest wagon. ‘You’re not dead.’
‘Nothing gets past you.’
Issar pointed beyond her. ‘They are talking.’
‘Talking’s good,’ she said, reaching the wagon.
‘And now one of them is gesturing at us.’
‘OK. Is it a friendly gesture?’
Issar took a moment.
‘Nah.’
‘Typical,’ muttered Cade. ‘You try and play nice.’
She reached up and Ralph passed her a loaded crossbow.
Cade turned to watch the front rank of cavalry close up.
‘Think they are scared we might attack?’ asked Miriam, from the cover of the wagon bed.
‘Shitting themselves.’ Cade settled down on one knee and readied her weapon. The cavalry line looked set. She heard a barked command and spears were lowered.
‘Don’t shoot until you can hit something,’ Cade ordered.
‘That’s me buggered then,’ said Issar quietly.
Ponies in the line became restless. But the cavalry did not charge.
Cade listened to more orders, each sounding more frantic than the last. There was a lot of activity now, but it still wasn’t focussed on them. She grinned and turned to look at Issar.
‘There you go, bang on t–’
A shout made her turn. They were coming. The front line of cavalry launched into a canter which quickly became gallop. The line started to lose coherence as the riders angled towards the front wagon. Cade hunkered down as the noise of horses started to overwhelm her hearing. She heard shouting from above her. The ponies and their riders swarmed around the wagon. Cade raised her crossbow and took aim at a dwarf who had reined his pony hard to the left and was levelling his spear right at her. Her bolt took the pony in the neck and it reared in pain, throwing the rider back. She’d take that. Cade shifted around the wagon wheel and scuttled underneath the wagon. Issar was already there.
He pushed over a preplaced loaded crossbow and she threw her spent one aside. There was no way she’d get the string in place for a reload under here. It’s not like they’d have the time anyway.
She looked back towards the second wagon, seeing its occupants were now engaged, trying to ward off the probing spears of the surrounding cavalry. Trent was swinging a hammer and yelling, while the woman next to him went down with a spear in her belly.
She heard scuffling above and someone fell to the ground with a ‘whump’ in front of her. It looked like Trent. She drew a bead on a rider just beyond the wagon, hitting them in the arm. The dwarf dropped his weapon and steered his pony away.
‘This is going to be over real soon,’ said Issar.
‘Any more bows?’ she asked.
‘All gone.’
Cade pulled her knife out.
‘Not staying here to get spiked,’ she said, poking Issar in the ribs. ‘You coming?’
‘I have a choice?’ he muttered, picking up a hatchet.
Cade pushed her way out and up from the protection of the wagon. In the whirling melee she set her sights on a rider a few yards away with their back to her. She ran hard and vaulted head first, crashing into the dwarf. She hit the rider’s breastplate and she felt her nose crunch against it. The rider went forward with the impact and Cade used the moment to get her legs on to the pony’s flanks. Then as the dwarf started to react she reached up, grabbed the helmet and yanked back, exposing the unprotected knee. She stabbed hard, quickly, repeatedly. And then she let go and pushed herself backwards off the horse, twisting and rolling to fall flat on to her front, arms braced to push herself up.
A horn sounded from somewhere, three short sharp blasts. She scanned the battle looking for another target. But that horn had made an impact. Some of the cavalry were disengaging. She spun around wary of an attack, but none came. The horn sounded again – three more times. And now all the cavalry were moving, heading east, back along the valley. Cade took a moment, found a discarded spear and ran back to her wagon. She found Issar crouched low, clutching his head.
‘Issar?’
He looked up and waved her away. ‘Got clubbed by spear as soon as I stood up. Fell right back down like a sack of shit.’
She switched her attention to the aftermath. There was no movement from the far wagon, just a few bodies scattered around it. A dwarf was crawling along the ground. Next to Issar lay Trent. Cade knelt by him and felt for a pulse. Nothing.
‘Issar. Grab your hatchet and take care of that one,’ she said indicating the injured dwarf.
‘Right.’
Cade climbed up on to the wagon and spied the cavalry’s retreat. She could only see a few in the treeline but the sound of combat was unmistakable.
A groan turned her attention towards the wagon bed. Miriam lay on her back, clutching her stomach, a wet red stain covering her shirt. Cade knelt and gently prised Miriam’s protesting hands away. Cade sighed. The hole was big and deep, Miriam would bleed out soon enough but it would be a shitload of pain every second.
‘Cade?’ asked Miriam through gritted teeth.
‘Sorry, Miriam. No coming back from this.’
‘Finish it, then,’ said Miriam.
Cade nodded. Brave woman. She’d always backed Cade. She deserved better.
Cade reached up and stuck her blade into Miriam’s neck. She leaned back as the blood spurted out. Not that hard, not that much.
Miriam’s eyes went wide for a moment but quickly lost their focus. Cade stood up wiping her blade on her arm. The battle was continuing. She wasn’t sure if that was a good sign.
‘What are we going to do now?’ Issar called over wiping his hatchet on the grass. Behind him Anyon emerged limping.
‘Let’s get some bows and go help. If the dwarves win, they’ll come after us anyway. You good to fight?’
Anyon waved. ‘Yeah, I still g
ot two good arms.’
‘OK, go find something to shoot with.’ Cade jumped off the wagon. She was the only one to walk away unscathed. Her luck was holding. Then she felt her nose throbbing. She reached up to inspect the damage. It felt swollen. Maybe not. She ducked under the wagon and pulled out one of the used crossbows. She found a bolt bag, fished one out and set to pulling the string.
A long horn blast sounded followed a moment later by another.
Issar walked over to join her. ‘I can’t see them.’
She looked up as the string caught the trigger. ‘D’you want to take a bet on what that means?’ she asked.
‘I might,’ said Issar.
Anyon joined them, carrying a crossbow in one hand and using a spear as a crutch in the other.
‘Let’s go take a look,’ Cade suggested.
The three of them set off along the road, going slowly so that Anyon could keep up. That was fine by Cade; she was in no hurry to get into another scrap.
They could still hear some kind of ruckus ahead.
Cade shared a look with Issar.
Riders appeared from further down the valley, sticking to the road.
Cade and the others stopped. Unbidden, all of them raised their weapons. Just as quickly Cade lowered hers.
‘Horses,’ she said in response to Issar’s sideways look.
‘Ah. Good news, then.’
They waited on the road as a group of horses slowed their pace as they closed the distance.
Devlin, on the lead animal, pulled his mount to a stop. He had blood on his face and breastplate.
‘You alright?’ he asked.
‘Depends. Does a nosebleed count?’
Devlin glanced at the other two. ‘You all that made it?’
Cade nodded. ‘Your timing was a little tight,’ she said.
‘It was the best we could do. Go check on the rest,’ he said to his companions. As they rode towards the wagon Anyon plonked himself on the ground and lay down. Devlin dismounted and joined Cade and Issar. He looked pissed. ‘You knew I had to keep everyone back to avoid discovery. It was always going to be tight. And it was a damn stupid idea, you being part of this ambush.’
‘Like you keep saying. It kinda worked, though, didn’t it?’
Devlin removed his gloves. ‘Yes. It worked. Their attack on you helped us get close enough to stop them reacting in time, which meant they couldn’t bring their numbers to bear.’ He rubbed his tired eyes. ‘We shocked them into a retreat. I lost half my people doing it but I reckon there’s not more than fifty of them left.’
‘Nice work,’ said Cade, slapping him on the shoulder. ‘Look at us.’
‘Still standing,’ Issar said quietly. ‘Shame Meghan’s not here.’
Cade sighed and ran a hand through her hair. It felt greasy and gritty.
‘She won’t be the only one. We got a long way to go yet.’
‘That’s a question worth asking,’ said Devlin. ‘I reckon we’ve bought ourselves some breathing space after today. But we need to figure out where to go now. I know you said about the Highlands but I’m not sure we want to be caught up in there when the winter hits. We aren’t prepared and many folk have no idea how to survive.’
‘Stay in the lowlands?’ said Issar.
Cade nodded.
‘Maybe we head to Brevis then? It’s in the Riverlands,’ she ventured. She hadn’t paid much notice to it going through but it was the least inhospitable of the environments they could spend their time in.
‘You make a good point. You got fishing, you got hunting. There was agriculture there. We should be able to scare up the resources to keep us going for a while,’ said Devlin.
‘At least we want to get over the river. There must more bridges across it. We’ll have to skirt the Brevis Sea,’ said Issar.
‘I heard there are islands. Shame we couldn’t get to one of them,’ said Cade. ‘Got to be defensible, right?’
Devlin nodded appreciatively.
‘Good thinking, that. Definitely worth considering.’
Cade appreciated the compliment. She felt no need to mention the vineyards she’d heard tell of. That would just be a happy bonus.
Devlin turned back to his horse, pulling himself on to the saddle. I need to head back and gather my people. They follow orders well enough but some of them are still a little hot-headed.’ He raised a hand and beckoned to his riders by the wagon. ‘Do you want me to leave a couple with you? Help with sorting out the wagons? Provide some extra protection, just in case?’
‘Yeah. That would be good,’ agreed Cade.
Devlin nodded. ‘I’ll see you back at the column, then.’
‘It’ll probably be after dark,’ said Cade. They had a long way to go to catch up.
‘After dark it is. Issar, save me some of that gut-rot of yours.’
Issar raised his leather sack.
The other riders returned.
‘All dead or far enough along not to make a difference,’ said one of them to Cade.
She raised a hand in thanks. ‘Come on, Issar. Let’s find our horses and get them hitched. Hey Anyon, stop playing dead and get off your arse. Start collecting weapons.’
‘Right,’ said Anyon pushing himself off the ground.
Issar sighed heavily as they walked back to the wagons.
‘What’s that for?’ asked Cade.
‘Just happy to be alive.’
‘You’re welcome.’
Issar grunted and looked at her.
‘You know, it was a smart move, as well as a stupid one.’
Cade nodded. ‘I know. But you give folk a different perspective, a new life, they kinda forget how they got there. They start getting ideas about how they could run things better. You need to keep your reputation to keep them honest.’
‘Quite the politician, Cade, making your own legend.’
She supposed so. The fact of the matter was, she needed them all. If they didn’t stay together, they’d have gotten picked off one by one. Death by a thousand cuts. She’d just proved once more that she was one of them, taking risks, putting her life on the line for those she led. That would buy her credit. Hopefully more than enough to find one of those vineyards. They had villas attached to them. With comfortable beds, fountains, sofas and great big, airy, well-stocked wine cellars.
She was, after all, a simple soul.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX – FILLION
Fillion rocked in the saddle. He felt cold, feverish. Sweat beaded his forehead. He pulled his cloak tighter, trying to extract some warmth. It did no good. He swallowed, his throat was sore. His muscles ached. Whether that was due to his wounds or to the infection he undoubtedly had, it didn’t really matter much. Every step that Amice took jolted him. She was barely going walking pace but everything hurt. He closed his eyes and felt his body sway. He was miserable. He felt lonely. After the nightmare of agony that was Nadena’s repair job on his head she had fallen into her own silent funk. At least the relentless questioning had subsided. She had asked the same questions over and over again. It was like a damn interrogation. He supposed he couldn’t blame her. She was trying to make sense of what had happened. It hadn’t helped that his head was aching like the worst hangover imaginable.
He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember what it felt like to be hale. Now he just shook all over. For two nights he had borne this fever, huddling by the fire. He was next to useless and their food was all but gone. He had expected to be able to forage, to hunt. Piss all chance of that at the moment. Luckily for all of them, Nadena was more than capable, finding fruit, plants and even some meat. She did what she had to do to make him comfortable and focussed her energy on Brynne. Fillion didn’t begrudge her that; his daughter needed it more than him.
He opened his eyes again and shifted in the saddle, wincing as he did so, and checked on his family. Nadena was directly behind, nursing Brynne. She looked up at him, but she remained silent, her face blank. He turned back, glanced along t
he edge of the treeline to his right. There was plenty of forest to hide in, all he had to do was keep them moving westwards. Eventually they would break free of it. But they would have to circumvent the wood elves. Unless he invoked Kanyay’s name, that might buy them tolerated, if not safe, passage. But any wood elf they encountered could just shrug their shoulders and take them captive anyway; capricious, unpredictable bastards that they were. He wondered what Kanyay was up to now. Had the elf returned to his people? He found he genuinely missed him. His was seized by a coughing fit and he collapsed forwards. His lungs screaming, his throat scratching and his head hammering. He turned his head and spat out a thick gobble of mucus. He lay his head against Amice’s neck. It was warm and smelled comfortingly familiar. He didn’t have the energy to push himself upright, so he just lay there, trying to breathe deeply, waiting for his body to stop protesting. It seemed like several minutes before he heard Nadena call to him.
‘Sabin?’
‘Yes?’ he mumbled.
‘We should stop soon.’
He cracked open his eyes. It was certainly darker. Had he fallen asleep? It had been midday when he had last checked.
‘Yes. We should find somewhere.’
He placed his hands on the saddle horn and forced himself upright. He groaned loudly. There was a small river running nearby, they had been deliberately following it, he knew it would eventually join the Tuul. He angled Amice towards it.
Half an hour later they had set up camp and Fillion had somehow kindled a fire. The effort had pretty much finished him off. Nadena could have done it but he had insisted, leaving her to take care of the horses and Brynne. Now he lay beside the fire and fed the flames from a pile of dry wood he had collected.
‘I’m going to look for some food,’ Nadena announced.
