Accidental Duelist

by Jamie Davis

  "See, I told you," Colin cackled. "Now load it up or you're gonna be late meeting your guide."

  Cari didn't know how it worked other than to say it was magic. She tucked in a tent, a sleeping bag, a small metal box with flint and tinder, and two large bricks of what looked like some sort of fruit bar, sectioned so pieces could be broken off for meals. And that wasn't all.

  She stuffed everything inside and she still had room on top.

  "Colin, I can't reach the bottom. How do I get anything out?"

  "Think of what you want and reach inside."

  Cari thought of the fruit bar bricks and reached her hand in the top of the pack. Her hand closed on one of the bricks and she pulled it out. It was right on top.

  "That is handy."

  "Exactly. Now get your pack on and I'll let you take the tunnel out to the gate. You'll get there faster if you go that way."

  Colin pulled at a panel in the wall. A rack of spears and pikes swung back revealing a long tunnel lit by torches.

  Cari started to step inside and then stopped.

  "Wait, how much do I owe you?"

  "Call it a favor for your dad. It's the least that I can do. And, now that I know you're here, I'll keep an ear out for you and lend a hand when I can."

  "Thank you. I appreciate that. I've been feeling kind of alone since I've been here."

  "Well, not any more. Now git, girl. You're already late."

  Cari picked up the new pack again, marveling at how light it felt given all she knew was inside. She laughed as she thought about what her mother would do with a purse like this. It always seemed like she carried everything in the world around with her. Cari wondered if this was how she did it. Would such a magic bag work back home?

  She started down the passage while pondering the question. She picked up speed to try to make up some time. Colin told her it led to the gate but other than that, she had no idea what to expect at the far end.

  The passage ended in a plain stone wall five minutes later. She found an iron bar bent into an “L” shape and she twisted it. The lever worked just like a door handle and the wall swung back. The sound of the city washed over the silence in the hidden passage as noise of the crowds at the gate came through from the other side. She stepped through the opening and found herself standing along the city wall next to a large set of gates.

  A click sounded behind her and Cari turned around. There was nothing but solid stone there. She ran her hands over the space through which she just stepped. There were no detectable seams.

  Cari wished she had time to examine the wall longer but a familiar voice sounded behind her in the street.

  "Where did you come from? I was scanning the crowd for you and then turned around and you were right behind me," Lieutenant Claridge said.

  Cari smiled at him. "A girl never gives away all her secrets. All I can say is you should pay better attention. Shall we go?"

  The Lieutenant clearly didn’t care for her answer but he didn’t seem to have anything to say about it either. He shook his head and pointed to two horses tied up at a post nearby.

  "Here's your horse. You can tie your pack on the back of the saddle. There are straps there attached to the saddle for that purpose. Is that all you brought? Don't you have a bedroll or a tarp or something?"

  "I've got all I need. Don’t worry."

  She finished tying the pack in place and then reached up and grabbed the pommel of the saddle. Now was the moment of truth. She’d seen this done in holovids and adventure flicks. How hard could it be to ride a horse?

  It took her two tries to pull herself up and get her feet situated. As soon as she did, she realized something wasn’t right. The straps holding the stirrups were all sized wrong. Cari's toes barely touched the metal stirrups once she was seated. They were sized for someone much taller than she was.

  Lieutenant Claridge rolled his eyes as she tried in vain to stretch her legs to fit the saddle’s adjustment. She had to give him credit. He didn't say a word. With nothing more than a stern stare, he climbed down from his mount, a slight smile gracing his face as he adjusted the straps on her stirrups until they were sized properly.

  He met her eyes only long enough to let her know he knew she'd lied about riding a horse before then remounted. Cari refused to look away, her stubbornness getting the better of her.

  "We'll take it slow at first since you're still used to a ship under foot rather than a horse," the Lieutenant said, offering her a face-saving excuse. "It shouldn't take you long to get used to riding again, I’m sure."

  "Thank you," Cari said, swallowing her pride. He deserved that much.

  Together, the two of them rode out Tandon's Caravan Gate, heading north. Cari worried about what was happening two days ahead of her. She had no idea if her friends and Timron were safe or not.

  Cari hoped she made it in time.

  Chapter 30

  After riding for three hours in the deepening shadows of late afternoon, Lieutenant Claridge pointed to a copse of trees beside the road up ahead.

  "It's getting dark. We should stop for the night. The trees will offer us some cover if it starts raining."

  "I want to keep going. It's imperative we push through to the Duke's home as fast as we can."

  "You said before it's important. What is so urgent that you have to get there right away? It would help if I knew."

  "I think the Prince is in danger."

  Cari's mind raced as she came up with a story to explain how she knew this.

  "I ran into some raider trouble on the way to Tandon. We fought them off but in the process captured information about an assassin sent to Tandon to kill a noble there. It didn't say who but I believe it's the Prince."

  "It's still better to stop for the night. I know of a way we can cut across the hill country rather than follow the road through lowland farms. It will take maybe twelve hours off our trip but it goes through some rough country for a new rider."

  "Don't worry about me, I'll keep up."

  "Good, then we stop and get rested tonight for the long slog tomorrow. You’ll thank me for it later."

  Cari decided he knew best. She imagined riding through the dark, trying to avoid tree branches and the like while they cut across country. He was right. It was better to stop for the night and start fresh early tomorrow.

  The cluster of trees had a small open area in the middle where they set up their camp. The Lieutenant pointed to a place where two trees grew right next to each other.

  "I'll use my tent canvas to rig a lean to for you over here so you have some shelter."

  "I told you I'm fine. I have everything I need in here," Cari said lifting her pack from the saddle.

  She untied the flap and reached inside while thinking of her tent. When she pulled her collapsed tent from the bag, the Lieutenant's mouth opened, astonished at what he saw.

  "How did—?”

  "I guess it's magic for lack of a better explanation. This bag is bigger on the inside than it looks."

  "Wait, you’re telling me you have more in there?"

  Cari smiled and pulled out one of the pressed fruit ration bricks, breaking off a sectioned bar and handing it to the Lieutenant.

  "I have enough in here to get us to where we're going. Now finish your dinner and then help me get this tent set up."

  While the two of them set up the campsite Cari decided she needed to know her travel companion better.

  "I don't know your name," Cari said breaking the awkward silence.

  “Yes you do. It’s Claridge. I’m a Lieutenant in the Duke’s guard.”

  “Not your family name, silly. What’s your given name? I can’t keep calling you Lieutenant all the way to the Duke’s estate.”

  "It's Stefan. Technically my whole name is Stefan Claridge, the Viscount of Wimple Cote."

  He laughed a little as he continued.

  "Lieutenant Claridge is so much better, don't you think?"

  "Stefan is nice, too," Cari said with a
smile at the ridiculous sounding title Stefan held.

  "What about you? I can't keep calling you Captain Dix all the way to our destination."

  "It's Cari."

  "Seriously? Like the lost princess?"

  "Don't make fun of me." His tone irked her. She blurted out a retort without thinking. "Maybe I am the lost princess. You don’t know."

  "Then you'd be like a hundred or something."

  "Well, I could be magical, like my father before me, so much so I'm younger than anyone thinks. Remember, no one knows where Prince Hal and his family went to when they left."

  Stefan started to respond but then closed his mouth and shot Cari a sideways glance, then looked at her magic backpack for a long time. He opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind again and closed it, answering her with only a shrug.

  He turned and went back to work, hammering in a tent peg then tied off a corner of his tent's tarp to it.

  Cari wondered if she'd been too clever. She'd done a good job keeping the people who knew who she really was to just Chance, Colin, Harley Denne, and maybe one or two others who suspected something but weren't sure.

  She feared Stefan was now in the latter group. She tried to hide her identity because she didn't want to be the equivalent of a local celebrity everywhere she traveled. If she was a princess, no one would let her go anywhere by herself or do anything approaching the type of adventure she'd been on so far.

  It was better if she was just Cari, a young adventurer named after a princess and nothing more.

  Stefan defused the momentary tension by changing the subject.

  "Are you feeling more comfortable on horseback now you've ridden for a few hours? I made sure to pick you a docile mount. You know, even for adults, the first time riding can be a little, um, challenging."

  "It takes a little getting used to," Cari admitted. "How did you know I couldn't ride a horse?"

  "I guessed."

  "I didn't mean to mislead you. Once we started arguing, I didn't want to give you any reason to think less of me."

  "You're a ship's captain, the youngest ship's captain I’ve ever seen. That’s quite an accomplishment for anyone our age. I figured to get there you spent most of your life at sea rather than on land that's all. You didn't have to hide if from me. I wouldn't have a problem telling you I had no idea how to sail a ship. It's the same for you."

  "Since that's out in the open, can you answer a question for me?"

  "Sure, what?"

  "Is it normal to be this sore after just a few hours in the saddle." Cari rubbed her backside without a hint of shame. Her aching muscles needed the attention.

  Stefan laughed.

  "Wait and see what you feel like after we cut across country tomorrow. I think it will redefine the meaning of sore for you."

  Cari suspected he'd never been stabbed in a fight or shot by a pistol before to say something like that, but she let it drop. It would open up too many questions she didn't want to answer. How many girls her age had been hit by a pistol bullet or stabbed in a fight, not once, but several times?

  It had been a long day and Cari pulled back the flap of her small tent and started to climb inside. She turned back to Stefan.

  "See you in the morning?"

  "I'll be up before dawn," Stefan said as he banked the wood in their fire to keep it burning safely into the night.

  "I'll be up, too. I want to get back on the road as soon as possible. Lives depend on us making the best speed we can. Good night. See you in the morning."

  “Good night, princess,” Stefan quipped as he slipped under his own tent’s tarp.

  Cari let it drop, realizing he was trying to make a good-natured joke. She pulled the flap closed and wondered if their plan to cut across country would help them make up enough time to catch up to the assassin. They couldn't be more than a day or so ahead of her, maybe less depending on when they left Tandon to follow after the Prince.

  She pondered what would happen if the Dragoons were caught unawares by an assassin. Were they good enough bodyguards to catch the plot before it was sprung? The thoughts swirled in her mind and it took her longer than she thought it would take to fall asleep because of it, even given how weary she was.

  Sleep did eventually come, though, and Cari's worries were lost in the world of her dreams of being at home in her own bed with her parents down the hall.

  Chapter 31

  Cari rolled over and groaned. She hurt in muscles she'd never known she had before.

  "You alright in there?" Stefan chuckled. He was already up and packing up the camp.

  "I'm fine."

  Cari opened the flap on her tent and climbed out into the early morning chill.

  Stefan had saddled the horses and was in the process of tying his tent and blanket roll behind his saddle. He finished and turned back to her.

  "Here, let me help you break down your tent."

  Cari smiled at the gesture. With his help, together they finished packing up the camp. Within a few minutes everything was stowed away in her magic pack and they were back in the saddle, heading up the side trail off the main road.

  "I figured we can eat on horseback," Cari said, handing Stefan another section from the ration brick. “I’ve got these yummy trail rations after all."

  "You know, these aren't as bad as I thought they would be. When you first gave me one, I had the impression it would be like chewing shoe leather from the look of it."

  “They are surprisingly tasty at that," Cari agreed. "I’ll have to compliment Colin at the Caravansary Outfitters on the recipe when I get back to Tandon."

  "I've never met him in person, only heard stories. What's he like?"

  "A very odd, little man. He has the most eclectic collection of weapons, armor, and gear I've ever seen. He knows his shop though. He had me loaded up with everything I needed in only fifteen minutes or so."

  Cari described following Colin through his shop while he selected things for her. Soon the two of them were talking about various types of gear and weapons. Stefan related some of his martial education when he joined the Duke’s guard as a young officer.

  “I trained with the traditional knight’s long sword as is required of all nobles of my station but I much prefer a lighter blade like yours, Cari. Since gunpowder made armor pretty much useless, speed and quickness with a weapon is as important as pure battering power behind a blade.”

  “It’s the only advantage I have over male opponents. I’ve focused on increasing my speed and blade skills all my life.” She drew her rapier and held it out hilt-first to Stefan while he rode next to her. “I recently discovered how to enhance the edge grind of my blade to increase its quickness. I’m pretty proud of it.”

  Stefan took the sword from her and looped it through a few practice swings on either side of the horse as their mounts walked along the forest trail.

  “That’s impressive,” he said as he examined the length of the blade. “I can sort of see what you did but have no idea how I could pull it off for myself. Do you think you can do something similar with my blade if we made it to a smithy?”

  “Probably, if you trust me not to screw it up.”

  “If you can do for my sword what you did with your own or even come close, I’ll be very pleased with the result. I’ll be the envy of the other junior officers at court.”

  “Very well, remind me when we get to the Duke’s estate. I’m sure they have a blacksmith there. If he as the proper tools and a decent grinding wheel, I’ll be able to give it the old college try.”

  “You say some of the strangest things. Why would a building full of old, gray-bearded scholars have anything to do with blade smithing?”

  “Never mind, it’s just a saying where I come from.”

  “Oh, back in the land of Prince Hal, Princess Mona, and the lost Princess Cari?”

  Cari laughed. If he only knew. “Yeah, something like that.”

  The conversation continued through the early morning hours
. It was a much more relaxed leg of the journey than their initial tense hours setting out the previous night as the two of them got to know one another.

  It was nearly noon when Stefan stopped them for a break in their trip through the wilderness. They'd reached the base of a line of rocky hills rising from the line of trees ahead of them. The main trail turned east here, angling back towards the main road.

  "This is where we leave all the trails behind and cut across country. If we're going to try to beat this assassin to the Duke's estate, it's our best bet."

  "Don't worry about me, if that's what you're thinking. I'll be fine. This is too important to worry about a few saddle bruises and sore muscles."

  "Suit yourself. Let's get going."

  They rode off the main trail heading for the line of trees. As they got closer, the hair on the back of Cari's neck rose up and she had a sudden feeling of dread. In an instant, she realized it was her prescience ability. There was imminent danger somewhere up ahead.

  She wheeled her horse, spurring if forward at Stefan who rode just ahead of her. She veered her horse towards his mount.

  At the last instant before the horses collided, Cari dove from her saddle at Stefan, carrying them both to the tall grass that lined the road. The crackle of a musket volley sounded from the tree line at the same time she knocked Stefan from the saddle.

  Rolling to her feet, Cari spotted four men running at them from the trees, all had swords out and ready for a fight, dropping their discharged muskets behind them.

  She had no idea who they were. Maybe they were random thieves on the road who ambushed unsuspecting travelers, maybe they were prospectors protecting a mining claim. It didn't matter to her either way. They'd tried to kill both her and Stefan and that was enough for her.

  Stefan rose to his feet next to her. He had a bit of a limp from the fall, but his sword was out and he was ready for the incoming brigands.

  Their attackers split off with three heading for Stefan and one at Cari. They obviously didn't think she was much of a threat. The thought they automatically discounted her ability because she was a woman boiled her blood. It was just another man who doubted she could stand on her own in a fight.