by Steve McHugh
Chapter 5
Once we left the city, Thomas vanished into the woodlands that stretched for miles on either side of the road. Occasionally I had glimpses of Thomas darting through the trees, or a deer would sprint out in front of me, startled by the presence of a predator. I wished I could have joined him, using my air magic to make me faster and more agile, but keeping the horse was more important than exorcising the emotions I was feeling after discovering that Mordred was involved in the princes’ disappearance. So, instead I spurred the horse on to a canter. I would have liked to go full gallop, but the ground was uneven, and I didn't want to risk the animal's health for the sake of arriving at the tavern sooner.
As it turned out, even with resting the horse twice, it still only took three hours to reach our destination.
A few hundred meters from the tavern, I got down from my horse and led him by the reins toward a nearby stable, hitching him to a post outside. After checking I was alone, I removed the satchel containing the crowns and walked into the stables, which was devoid of man or beast. I walked to the far end of the building and hid it under a large bale of hay. It wasn’t the safest place on earth to hide something, but it would keep until I was ready to retrieve it.
I exited the stable with a hand full of hay and fed it to my horse, as a shirtless Thomas emerged from the woods. He was pulling his shirt out of a satchel and putting it on when I noticed he wasn't wearing shoes either. Werewolves don't like shoes at the best of times, and running in them was unheard of.
"You managed not to stop off for a meal," I said.
Thomas finished buttoning his shirt and removed his shoes from the bag, dropping them onto the damp ground. "I didn't think we had time," he said with a grin. "Although if you're saying we do, I could really go for some deer. I noticed plenty running away from me as I ran."
Drops of water fell onto my forehead. "I think getting out the coming rain is more important than your stomach."
The sound of raucous behavior reached me well before we'd covered the distance to the large tavern. It sat on two-floors, with the huge stable next to it.
If I'd thought the noise was loud outside, it was nothing compared to the cacophony of sound that exited through the open front door. At least a dozen soldiers, all wearing chainmail or leather armor, were busy drinking and laughing. The smell of cooked meat made my stomach growl, reminding me that I hadn't eaten for a while, and Thomas licked his lips and took a deep breath.
"You need food," I told him, which gained only a nod as we walked through the throng of armed men to the counter at the end of the room. A short, thin man with a large jaw and crooked nose stood behind the counter in conversation with a tall, elegant-looking woman. They stopped talking the second Thomas and I reached them, and both turned with a smile to greet us.
"Gentlemen, how can my wife and I be of assistance?" the man asked.
"Food," Thomas said with an almost growl.
"What are the soldiers eating?" I asked.
"Pork in a broth with vegetables. Everything we cook is fresh. Would you gentlemen like the same?"
I nodded. "Can you bring it to our table along with some beer? Also, my horse is outside, can you ensure he's placed in the stables and properly cared for?"
The man nodded and scurried off through a door behind him, presumably to the kitchen. The wife smiled at me as a young, voluptuous woman arrived and motioned for me and Thomas to follow her. She led us away from the soldiers, a few of whom I noticed were now watching us.
"Are the innkeepers your parents?" I asked and removed my black cloak before taking a seat at the table.
She nodded. "Yes, they own the tavern."
"It's unusual to be taken to a seat," I said. "Normally one fends for one’s self."
"The soldiers are very loud," she said softly. "I doubt you'd like your meal interrupted. Will you be staying the night?"
I shrugged. "That depends on the weather outside." I glanced out the nearest window as the rain began to increase.
She smiled and nodded, quickly walking away to deal with several of the soldiers who were beckoning her over.
"That is one very attractive, young woman," Thomas said. "Maybe this inn won't be so bad."
One of the soldiers had pulled the young woman onto his lap and was busy trying to get a kiss, an act that got him a slap from the woman and riotous laughter from his friends as she walked away.
I stopped watching at that moment when another servant, clearly the sister of the one who'd shown us to our seats, brought over two huge bowls of succulent pork, placing them in front of Thomas and me.
"Enjoy," she said as her mother placed two mugs of beer on the table.
"I will, thank you," I said. Thomas would have said something, but he'd already started tearing into the thick strips of pork and drinking the broth that they sat in. "Can you bring over two more bowls?" I asked.
The wife nodded and walked away with her daughter in tow. Something was very odd about that family. I wondered what it may have been and settled on the fact that maybe they were foreign. It was certainly possible. Apart from the father, their accents weren't quite English, but they appeared to speak the language without difficulty. It was entirely possible that they assumed people would be less comfortable being served by a foreign family.
I'd just finished my first bowl of hot pork and broth, when the wife brought over the second. "That was excellent," I said.
"Thank you," she said with a slight bow of her head. "It's something I learned to cook a long time ago."
"Did you learn it in Asia?"
The wife looked taken aback for a few seconds, and even Thomas stopped drinking the broth from his rapidly diminishing second bowl to look over at me.
"You've been to Asia?" she asked, slight anxiety in her voice.
"I spent a lot of time in China; I've been to Japan too. Lovely countries, although the Japanese tend to distrust strangers."
"I wasn’t aware any foreigners had officially been to Japan," she said, cautiously.
"Ah, well officially, Japan hasn’t been visited by the west. But we've been, just not en masse. They're skeptical of outsiders and sometimes that turns into distrust or anger. But you're not Asian in appearance, so you must have travelled there yourself."
"I spent time in China as a child. My parents were merchants, so travel was necessary. I leaned a good many recipes from all over."
"Judging by the crowd of soldiers, your cooking must be in great demand."
The wife smiled. "We are not normally this busy."
"Any idea why they're here?" Thomas asked nonchalantly. "There's no danger, is there?"
"I don't think so. They mentioned they were waiting for an important man to show. I think they're just biding their time and letting off some steam."
"Well, in addition to the good food, this is excellent beer." Thomas held up his empty mug to prove his point.
"That’s true, it's excellent," I agreed, finishing my own mug.
"Two more?" the wife asked.
We both nodded.
"What's wrong?" Thomas asked when we were alone.
"Something weird is happening here."
"Ah, Nathaniel, relax. We're being served excellent food and drink by beautiful women. I think that's a pretty good way to spend an evening. Tomorrow we’ll hunt down Mordred and Buckingham, rescue the boys, and then find Ivy."
“You’re very sure of yourself.”
“If I doubt it, I’ll just start to worry and over-think things. I need to be able to control myself when I see Mordred. Tearing him in half before he tells us what we need won’t help anyone except me.”
I sighed and nodded slightly. "You're right. I'm probably just tired and anxious about the fact that we need to find those princes before Buckingham and Mordred can finish their plan."
"Well we can’t go anywhere until we figure out where those crowns were meant to be taken."
It was a good point.
"You do know that the
second we go speak to those soldiers, it's not going to end politely." A sly grin spread across Thomas lips.
"You'd best finish enjoying your food and drink first. I'm hoping that if they keep drinking, any problems they can muster are going to be finished before they get serious."
Chapter 6
We spent several hours in the tavern, while the soldiers got louder and louder, and the rain outside turned into a downpour. Although I was in a hurry, I wanted to make sure that the soldiers were not only full of food and drunk on beer, but that there wouldn't be anyone else arriving.
What concerned me were the four men at the table farthest from the festivities. They were clearly soldiers and had watched Thomas and me from the second we'd entered the tavern. None of them had been drinking, and all four were avoided by the rest of the soldiers. I deduced that they were in charge and probably not people to underestimate.
"Are you ready?" I asked Thomas, who nodded.
We stood in unison, and I put my cloak back on before we made our way past the now-singing men to the table in the corner. As soon as we reached it the joviality behind us ceased. We were now the center of everyone's attention, no matter their inebriated status.
"Can we help you gentlemen?" a dark-haired man on the far side of the table asked, his voice low and gravelly.
"Tate sent us," I said, gaining no response from the men.
The man closest to Thomas shrugged, his long blond hair falling over wide shoulders. "Don't know whom you mean."
"Look, I don't have time for this," I snapped. "Tate got nabbed by the king's guard, but managed to get a message to me to bring the items here. He didn't exactly have time to let me know the names of everyone I was to meet, just the destination."
"Is he dead?" the blond asked.
"I don't fucking know or care about his current status, I just want these damn things out of my sight. They're far too dangerous to be carting all over the land."
"Where are they?" the dark-haired man asked.
"Attached to the horse outside, I didn't want to risk bringing them in here. I didn't know whom I would be meeting. Glad to find you're all such upstanding soldiers."
All four men laughed, followed quickly by the rest of the soldiers. "Not been called upstanding in some time," the dark-haired man said. "Name's James, we're mercenaries."
"Well, at least you're not bandits," Thomas said.
"Hugh, go with our friend here to get the merchandise," James said to the blond mercenary, ignoring Thomas's comment.
"Come on," Hugh said, standing up and wrapping a cloak around his leather armor clad shoulders. "I don't want to be out in that rain all night."
"Your friend can take a seat and enjoy himself," James said, while the other two mercenaries at the table made a show of playing with the daggers they held. "It's not a request."
Thomas sat in Hugh's chair as requested, with a big grin on his face. A bunch of human mercenaries weren't going to be much trouble for either of us, but I preferred that it not come to that until the time was right.
I pulled the hood of my own cloak up and stepped out into the rainy night with Hugh beside me. We hurried to the stables, and I was grateful for the shelter they provided. Hugh waited for me by the building’s entrance, while I walked to the still empty stall at the end of the stables, next to where my horse had been placed, and retrieved the satchel from under the bale of hay.
He held out his hand, and I passed the satchel over, whereupon he eagerly opened it to check the contents. "Is that it?" he asked.
I nodded. "What did you expect?"
"Something a bit more extravagant. It's for a king and a prince."
"Well apparently, extravagant is to be replaced with plain and functional. The king of the people."
Hugh closed the satchel and slung the strap over his shoulder. "Sounds stupid to me. Kings are meant to be divine; they're supposed to be our betters."
"You should tell that to James and his friends. I think they believe God made a mistake this time."
Hugh laughed. "James doesn't give two shits about the fucking king or his friends. He cares about getting paid. About all of us getting paid."
"So," I said with a slight sigh as we reached the stable doors. "Are you meant to kill me on the way back in or out here with the horses?"
"Figured that out, did ya? Smart man." He pulled a dagger from his belt. "This ain't nothin' personal, you understand."
"Yeah, it is," I told him and blasted him in the chest with gale of air that took him off his feet and threw him across the stables. He slammed against a thick wooden beam with a loud crack and fell to the ground limp and lifeless.
I walked over to him and checked, but as I'd guessed, he was already dead. His neck, and probably his back, was broken. I retrieved his dagger and the satchel before running back through the rain to the tavern.
"Where's Hugh?" James asked as I stepped through the front door. He was clearly surprised to see me.
I tossed the dagger onto the nearest table. "You're a nasty piece of shit getting Hugh to kill me once I'd handed over the crowns."
"You did what?" Thomas demanded of James in mock surprise. "Untrustworthy mercenaries, whatever next?"
"We have your friend," James reminded me.
"Yeah, that you do, you poor unlucky bastards. Make it quick, Thomas."
Thomas struck with a speed that no human could have matched, slamming his hand into the throat of the nearest mercenary and catching another in the jaw with an elbow that sent the man to the ground as the first man began to choke.
He caught James in the chest with a vicious kick, sending him sprawling to the floor. And then he slowly stood up and cracked his knuckles. Thomas was going to enjoy himself.
He head butted the first man who came too close, but held onto his shirt and threw him over a table onto the laps of several more of the mercenaries whose alcohol-addled minds had made them slow and uncoordinated to respond to the threat.
One of the men decided that I was an easier target and drew a knife, which soon clattered to the ground as I broke his arm and drove him face-first through the nearest table. I dropped the unconscious and bloody mercenary and stood back watching as even the drunkest of soldiers had decided that they needed to get involved, advancing on Thomas with swords drawn.
Within moments there were bodies and blades being thrown around the room. Thomas remained in human form, which kept the ensuing carnage from reaching the point where severed body parts started flying, but even so, I made sure to stay well out of the way.
The fight didn't last long; Thomas was far too strong and fast for anyone to land even a glancing blow. Besides, once you've been hit by a werewolf, you tend to stay where you fall. So, a few minutes later and Thomas was sitting on a table, holding one of the few remaining conscious mercenaries by his throat, before throwing him over a nearby pile of unconscious bodies.
"That was fun,” Thomas said with a smile, climbing down and walking over to the table where we’d shared our dinner, to drink whatever remained of his beer.
I turned toward him, my back facing the door of the tavern. "Did you leave anyone in a condition to talk?" I asked.
"At least one," he said and pointed behind me.
I turned and found James standing by the door, holding one of the tavern owner's daughters by her arm in an iron grip.
He saw me and placed his sword against her throat. "We're leaving here," he announced.
"Or what?" I asked. "If you kill her, you’ll die pretty soon afterwards."
"Yeah, but do you really want innocent blood on your hands?"
I thought for a second. I doubted I could get to him before he killed the woman. "I'm going to count to a hundred and then I'm coming after you. If I were you, I'd be as far from here as possible by then."
James opened the tavern door allowing the wind to whip inside, before dragging the terrified daughter out into the elements with him.
"What are you doing?" the mother screamed at
me as the tavern's door slammed shut.
I turned to look at her. She was holding her second daughter in a tight embrace, anguish on her face.
"Please find my daughter," the father said, his voice shaking.
"Thomas stay here and make sure none of these men bother this nice family," I said. "If any of them are capable of speech, maybe find out where they were meant to go next."
"You sure you don't want me to track him?" he asked.
I shook my head. "He won't be hard to find, besides I have a few questions for him."
I wrapped my cloak around me and opened the tavern door.
"Please find my daughter," the mum wailed, mirroring her husband’s words.
I didn't answer, instead stepping out into the night.
"Good hunting, Nathaniel," Thomas called behind me as the tavern door closed.
Chapter 7
Too much time had passed without finding James or his hostage, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d missed something important. There were no horses in the stable, apart from my own, and he didn’t have time to try and saddle it to ride off. Instead he’d taken to the woods.
Fortunately the rain had stopped, so for about fifty yards, his track had been easy to follow. He’d stuck to the well-walked path and I’d noticed the dragging marks from the woman he'd taken, but after that, his tracks had vanished. At first I had assumed he'd taken her further into the dense forest, but I was beginning to doubt that theory. There were no obvious breaks in the forest, and no disturbed plants or wildlife that I could find.
It should have been an easy search, should have been over and done with before James knew what had hit him. Instead, I was standing in the middle of a dark forest, my magic the only thing allowing me to see where I was going.
I decided the best course of action was to re-trace my steps and try to track James over again from there. It didn't take long to make my way back to where the tracks stopped, but once there I had the same problem. It was as if both James and the woman had vanished. Concern bubbled away inside me. Something was very wrong with this situation, but I couldn't quite figure out what. Maybe a predator had come this way. There were plenty of vampires or were-creatures in the south of England, and even the occasional giant or troll. I was suddenly very aware of how exposed I was and looked all around, only satisfied when I'd eliminated the possibility of an imminent attack.
