by Bob Blink
Jolan shifted his weight on the hard saddle, trying to favor the other cheek for a while. He’d expected the insides of his legs to be sore from the constant motion of the horse under him, but the saddle had been designed with enough leather so his thighs were mostly protected. Realizing he was falling behind, he urged his horse forward and started after Asari and Yashy who hadn’t stopped to enjoy the view.
The path here was wide enough so after catching up, the three travelers rode side-by-side with Jolan and the pack horse behind him taking the middle position. Asari had tried earlier to engage the girl in conversation, but she answered reluctantly, and then usually one or two word responses. Most of the eagerness she’s shown earlier had dissipated as the day wore on and she had little to do but think about what had happened to her.
“Papa!” Yashy suddenly shouted, catching her companions off guard. “Papa!,” she yelled again and urged the little pony into a trot pulling away from Jolan and Asari.
Coming around the bend ahead was a small caravan of three large covered wagons looking heavily loaded, and a single smaller open-topped cart. A very large man drove the front wagon with a woman sitting close beside him, while on each of the others only a single driver could be seen. Several riders on horseback followed casually along side the wagons keeping pace.
Upon hearing the girl’s voice, the large man’s head snapped abruptly in their direction. He raised his hand to shade his eyes and suddenly pulled the team to a halt and stood up. Jolan could see him say something to the woman beside him as he suddenly jumped down from the wagon and started running in their direction.
By the time Asari and Jolan approached the wagon, Yashy and her father were already wrapped in an embrace. Hearing their approach, the man broke free of his daughter and pushed her towards the woman and drew his sword, while simultaneously shouting “Iart, Kinar!”
The two men on horseback drew their own weapons and closed the distance between themselves and Jolan who was closest. Asari was a couple of horse lengths back and looked as if he was considering drawing his bow.
“Papa, no!” Yashy shouted realizing what was happening. “They helped me.”
The girl’s words caused the man to come to a sudden halt, his aggressive approach abandoned, but he continued to hold onto the sword and watch Jolan and Asari carefully. The two men on horseback also stood down, but continued to watch developments closely, swords still drawn.
Backing up, the man moved closer to his wife and daughter, until he was close enough to converse without shouting. Man and daughter exchanged a few words, Yashy nodding several times in the process. Jolan could see the tension leave the man’s body, his sword arm relaxing and allowing the heavy weapon to hang loosely by his side. He nodded to the two men on horseback who visibly relaxed as well, then walked over to where Jolan and Asari waited.
The man’s face was drawn from the past several days of worry and stress, while his eyes remained hard and suspicious.
“Yashy says I owe you my thanks. She says you not only got her away from the men who took her, but that you agreed to bring her this way to find us. That so?”
“Constable Dinal at the Trailways is a good friend of Asari here,” Jolan answered while indicating his friend. “He knew we were heading on to Angon today, and asked if she could ride along. Thought it might be best for her if she could get back with family as soon as possible.”
“She says you got her away from them that took her. That so?”
“We helped,” Jolan answered, not wanting to take credit onto himself for something that was really a shared rescue as well as being more than a little uncomfortable discussing his uncontrolled use of the power. “Dinal was called and he was able to arrest the two men responsible. He has them locked up. If you continue without stops, you can still make the village before dark and talk with him. Tomorrow the men are to be punished. You might want to be there for that.”
Yashy’s father looked at Asari and than back to Jolan. The hardness in his eyes had tempered, but his face still reflected his stress and deep anger.
“I owe you a great debt then,” he finally said. “I, . . . we had feared her dead somewhere in the wilderness. We feared never to see her again.” His voice cracked a bit with his words. “We must be going if we are to make the village as you say. Will you be coming along?”
Jolan shook his head. “We must go on to Angon, and going back would only extend an already long journey. You can return the pony to Dinal.”
The man nodded slowly. He turned to go, then stopped and held out his hand. “Morin,” he said. “Once again, I owe you. If ever I can repay you. . . .” He walked over to Asari and reached up and took his hand as well. Then he turned and walked back to his family.
Jolan and Asari rode past the two men who watched quietly as they rode past. Yashy flashed a small timid smile as they rode by, and then turned and hugged her mother.
“I thought that was going to turn ugly,” Asari said once they were far enough away his words couldn’t be heard.
“I guess it’s understandable. Can you imagine the fear and worry they must have felt since Yashy disappeared? At least she is safely with them. Even so, I’ll bet she still has a rough time ahead of her.”
They had made the turn in the road and were now out of sight of the group of wagons. Asari turned and rode slowly into a cluster of trees that bounded a small shaded area with a pool of stream fed water at the back. “We might as well wait here for a bit until they move on. Then we can start back. I don’t think I’d want to explain why we were following them.” So saying he slipped out of the saddle, and lead his horse over to the pool of water.
* * * *
“We can camp here,” Asari said, pointing to the flat patch of grass adjacent to a deep pool of clear water.
The two friends had back-tracked the trail until they found the turn-off to the little-known bypass that would take them through the steep hills over to the Seret road. By the time Yashy’s family had gotten far enough ahead for them to start out, and then re-travel the five miles back, it had gotten late. Since the path they would be following was treacherous, and camping opportunities limited, Asari thought it best to take advantage of the current location. Jolan was more than willing to get off the horse again.
They had camped together often enough that the division of effort was natural now, even though the presence of the horses caused a few changes in their routine. Before long the horses were tethered on long ropes so they could graze and drink from the small stream that fed the pool. Jolan had a fire going, and Asari had shot something that resembled a large rabbit, which was cooking on the fire.
“Maybe I’ll take a quick swim in the pool,” Jolan said, thinking how nice the cold water would feel after the heat and dust of the trail.
Asari perked up suddenly, realizing there were still many things that Jolan didn’t know about this place.
“It’s not safe,” he said indicating the pool on the opposite side of the fire.
“Not safe?” Why?
“Rotut,” Asari said. “Very dangerous.”
Seeing Jolan’s blank look, Asari stood up indicating Jolan should follow him. When they stood along side the deep pool he stood quietly for a moment, then extended his arm pointing. Jolan looked where he was pointing. After his eyes adjusted he could see several reasonably sized fish floating quietly four or five feet down in the clear water. It was hard to be sure of their size or the depth since there was nothing to reference against and the water was so clear.
“Fish?” he asked finally.
Asari nodded, then signaling Jolan to stay put, walked over where he had discarded the “rabbit” skin and picked it up. Returning, he tossed the skin causally into the water about ten feet from shore.
Within seconds something took a snap at the skin as it started to sink. Then the water literally boiled with the aggressive fish attacking the bloody skin, their scales flashing in the evening light as they split the surface as each tried to ge
t a better position to attack the offering. In less than a minute the action stopped, the water calming, but the skin no longer visible.
“Rotut,” Asari said again, and turned back to the fire.
“Shit!” Jolan said returning to sit by Asari. “Will those things attack anything in the water?”
Asari nodded. “They are common in this area, but mostly in the deep pools. They don’t like shallow or rapidly moving water, so you seldom see them in the streams. Until we get to the lowland, you must check carefully before entering any lakes. They are stupid and attack anything that moves. Even boats. I watched a school of them tear a hole in the bottom of a wooden boat once.”
The next day was harder going than either of them had expected, the narrow path through the rocks very difficult going for the horses, and the two short caves through which they passed so low it seemed at first it wouldn’t be possible to get the animals through at all. By sunset when they settled down to camp in a convenient clearing Asari estimated they were within a mile of the intersection with the Seret road. He predicted easy going from this point, and they would soon be on the road that was designed for wagons which would allow them to pick up their pace.
* * * *
They made an early start after a breakfast of cold “rabbit”, and purple-berry tea, and true to Asari’s prediction they were soon moving easily down the wide road toward Seret. The sky was a clear blue and the morning was a comfortable temperature making for much nicer traveling than the heat of the afternoon. This part of the forest teamed with life, and in addition to the constant birds and “squirrels” they saw numerous deer, a small heard of buffalo, and even something that could have been an elk. Asari warned him there were a number of predators, although they mostly hunted in the evening, they were more than willing to attack a human given the chance.
The road was soon joined by another of the frequent streams which paralleled the road making their ride more pleasant as the swiftly moving water tumbled over the rocks and occasionally dropped into small pools. This early they had the road to themselves, and had yet to encounter any travelers going either direction. Jolan was anxious to reach Carta, the capital of Seret where Asari had relatives. Until then, he wouldn’t know how realistic his hopes of getting an introduction to the Council of Mages in Angon were. He knew he’d keep trying regardless of what they found in Seret, but he had limited resources and less knowledge so he hoped Asari’s family would be able to help.
They’d come down a long stretch of twisty road and were passing through a colorful meadow before starting the uphill climb on the backside of the next cluster of hills when they heard someone calling off to the left and behind them.
“Wait. Wait.”
Jolan reached down to be sure the pistol pouch was within easy reach, pleased that he was finally developing an automatic reflex after his failures in the past. At the same time as he checked the position of the pistol, he turned in the saddle and looked behind to try and determine the source of the plea.
“Jolan, wait.” Yashy came running out of the trees behind them waving her arms trying to attract their attention.
Surprised, they stopped and turned the horses. Both he and Asari slipped from the saddle and stood waiting for the girl to reach them.
Realizing she had accomplished her objective, Yashy slowed her headlong run, and came hurrying more sedately toward them.
“It is you,” she said when she was close enough to be heard. “I told Papa it was you.”
Asari nudged Jolan and pointed with his head to indicate the group of people that were now making their way out of the trees and coming their way. Leading the crowd was Yashy’s father, who actually smiled as he approached, a significant change from the day before.
“Are you two lost. I thought you were going to Angon?” he asked as he approached.
“I’m equally surprised to see you,” Jolan replied. “I would have thought you’d be staying in Trailways for a few days after everything that happened. You did get to see Dinal, didn’t you?”
Morin nodded then shook his head. “Bad place for my daughter. Thought it best to get away as soon as possible. We found Dinal right off. He was real happy to see we had connected. Got to say he’s a bit worried about you two. Seems to think the world of young Asari here, and he explained that he’s concerned about the two of you setting out alone. Said you came into a bit of coin and the word has spread around.”
Apparently talking with Dinal and confirming the story we had told him yesterday had removed all lingering suspicions Morin might have had. Once the mood struck him he was quite a talker.
“You didn’t say. How come yer here on the wrong road?”
Asari explained the situation. There didn’t seem to be any reason not to tell Morin at this point.
“Come, sit with us. We’ll be starting off in a while. Maybe you want to travel along with our group. Safety in numbers and all that. My wife Ingari is a great cook. We’ve no room in the wagons, but the buckboard makes a nice roof at night.”
Asari grinned at Jolan as Morin led them back down the road and into the trees where they had camped the previous night. The rest of their caravan had gone back to their chores and were busy packing away the last bits and pieces and starting to hitch up the horses.
It felt odd to be seated while everyone else was bustling around, but Morin clearly wanted to talk.
“We’d seen those two scoundrels that took Yashy before,” he said. “They first showed up on the road ten days or so back. We’d see them off and on, which seemed a bit strange as they could travel a lot faster than we could. Should have been more suspicious, but he seemed to know the merchant business. Well, they won’t be bothering anyone now.”
“Did you see what happened to them?” Jolan asked.
Morin nodded. “Wasn’t going to, but Yashy insisted. Yesterday Dinal hauled ‘em out of town a piece to a little lake. He had ‘em in a wagon and brought along a small boat. Rugged little thing, with lots of scratches and chips ripped out of the bottom. Once we got to the lake he had ‘em strip down to their small clothes and get into the boat. Then he had ‘em row out to this small rock island part way out. He just left ‘em there on the rocks. Told ‘em they were free to go, and he’d leave their clothes on the lake shore. All they had to do was swim over and get them. Oh, and watch out for the rotut he said as he was leaving.”
Jolan looked sharply at Asari who nodded.
“I’ve seen it before. It’s pretty awful, but it sends a message to lawbreakers. Dinal says hanging or cutting off the head is too good for rabble like that. This way they have to suffer for what they did. They either stew for days trying to decide to make the attempt until they die from lack of food, or they decide to make a try and get ripped to pieces by the rotut. No one has ever made it off the rock to shore. Never.”
Jolan swallowed. He clearly remembered the example Asari had shown him the previous evening.
“The merchant fellow apparently didn’t believe the constable or his guard who kept trying to warn him. After about ten minutes sitting there on the rocks he waded out into the water and started paddling like a puppy toward land. He didn’t get twenty feet from the island before they were on him.”
“Yashy watched this?” Jolan asked.
Morin nodded. “She gave a little smile when it was over, and said we could go. Didn’t care about the other one. He was still there when we left. It doesn’t matter if he tries or not. He’s a dead man either way. Can’t see why I should have any sympathy for him.”
Jolan couldn’t help think how different it was from home. No long trials and silly posturing. No extended time in confinement and no long years of silly appeals. Two days after they were taken into custody when Dinal had established their guilt, they were punished. Swift justice to be sure. Maybe a little too swift, but he could remember many times at home wishing the system were more effective at dealing with criminals. Maybe Dinal’s way was better.
“You coming with us?”
Morin asked as he stood and stretched. “Long road today and we need to get moving.”
Jolan looked at Asari who shrugged, “why not”, and told Morin they would, at least for a day or two.
“Might as well unload your horses. You can throw your stuff in the buckboard there, and hitch the animals to the back. They’ll follow along. You can ride with me and we can get acquainted.”
Asari elected to stay with his horse, and soon the group was on the road, with Jolan and Morin riding in the lead wagon. The pace was a bit slower than Jolan and Asari had been making earlier, but it got him off the horse for a while, and traveling in a group did offer some advantages.
“So. Yashy tells me you’re a war mage?” Morin asked as they started up the first hill.
Chapter 19
As things turned out they would travel with Morin and his extended family all the way to Ekine, where the inevitable parting of the ways would occur as the merchant turned his wagons toward Slipi and the home of his brother. The first day with Morin made it clear to Jolan that he could learn a great deal from the talkative merchant and he made a conscious decision to spend a good part of each day in the man’s company. He rode his horse the rest of each day because he knew he needed to develop both the necessary riding skills and needed to build up a physical toughness and endurance that would allow him to ride all day without ill effect.
Today Jolan had varied his usual schedule and had ridden with Asari in the morning. His friend had said he and Polas were planning on going hunting as they had seen signs of Narbuck and thought a large herd was nearby. Now, late in the afternoon, he sat next to Morin and was once again word dueling with the man as he tried to pry Jolan’s story out of him.
