“Two scepters,” Harold answered, and then noticing Derek's mouth hanging open, he added, “It's either that or sleep in a field.”
Derek closed his mouth with a snap and paid the inn keeper. He then added some more to get dinner brought to the room.
Harold led them up the stairs and down the hallway to the end. Their bedroom was the last one on the right and was pitifully small. Between the four of them and their packs, there wasn't much room left over. It was built against the roof, so the ceiling was sloped at a weird angle and Derek hit his head several times. The floor was bare wood, and the small window looked out over the stable yard.
Kara quickly laid claim to the bed, and the three men sat down on the floor. Trestus stretched and then laid down using his pack as a pillow. He was about to fall asleep, when a soft knock on the door turned out to be one of the serving maids bringing food and ale. They all fell on the food, even Kara paid little heed for manners as they devoured the hard bread, cheese, and roast.
With a reproving feeling settling on him, Derek realized that his first day in command had not been a total success. He had not stopped them to eat during the day and it was obvious. It was fortunate that they had not been attacked this afternoon, as their strength may have been affected by their lack of food. He fully intended not to make this mistake again, if he could help it.
The next morning Derek was wakened by Trestus moving around in the small room. “Sorry,” Trestus said quietly, seeing that Derek was awake.
Derek glanced to the window, the sun would be up soon and he should have already been out of bed. “I must be more tired that I thought to sleep so late.” He stood up to stretch, and bumped his head on the low ceiling. Cursing, he grabbed his pack and headed out of the room, with Trestus following behind.
The common room was already full; they took some food and headed outside. There wasn't much to choose from, but the bread was fresh, and the ham was still warm. It was probably the best breakfast that they would have for a long time.
Tucking an apple into his pack, Derek stepped out onto the porch that ran the length of the front of the inn. He glanced up and down the street, pausing only a moment on the men that were standing next to a corral. His heart seemed to skip a beat, but he tried not to show it. He moved on down to the edge of the porch, and sat down with his feet in the dirt of the street. Trestus followed and sat down beside Derek, all the while chewing on the bread and ham.
“Trestus. Don't look, but there is a group of men at the corral down the street that were standing and talking at the Eastern gate of Telur.” Derek kept his eyes on Trestus the whole time that he spoke.
To Trestus' credit, he did as he had been told, and did not look at the men. The only outward sign that he had even heard Derek, was that he paused briefly in chewing. “How many?”
“Looked like about five. You think that they followed us?” Derek asked.
“Well, this quaint little village is a day's ride east of Telur, so I guess they could have just stopped like we did.” Trestus had quit chewing, but still held the food near his mouth. “And five is an unusual number to send after eleven guardians.”
Derek brow furrowed in confusion, “There are only four of us.”
“Yeah, but they don't know that. At least I hope that they don't. So, if they sent five people to follow eleven then they must just be trying to follow us.”
Derek hadn't thought about it like that, but it made sense. “All right, let's just keep this between me and you for now. If they turn up again, then we will have to do something.”
Trestus' response was lost as Kara walked up. She too was carrying a thick piece of bread and some ham. “There you are. Isn't this ham wonderful?”
They continued riding eastward, stopping only when one of them had to visit the bushes. Derek kept glancing back over his shoulder, but he never spotted anything out of the ordinary.
Determined to do better today than he had done yesterday, Derek called a halt in the early afternoon for lunch. It wasn't much of a lunch, but leftover bread and fruit from this morning still eased the rumblings of their stomachs.
They had barely finished eating, when Derek got to his feet and clapped his hands, “All right. Let's go.”
The others got up also, although Kara shot him a grumpy look. “You're in an awful hurry.”
Derek didn't answer her, instead motioned for her to climb up on her horse. Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't answer.
As they rode eastward, it felt like it was starting to get colder. Kara went so far as to get a traveling cloak out of her pack when they next took a privy break. Derek and Trestus had just shaken their heads that she already was getting out the heavier clothes, but it wasn't long before they were wishing for their own cloaks. Of course, after shaking their heads at Kara, there was no way that they could dig theirs out for a while.
In the mid-afternoon, they rode through a small village that only had one small inn. Derek pulled up in front of it and looked back at the others, “What do you think?”
Kara shook her head, “It's awful small. It would probably be worse than the place we stayed last night.”
Derek nodded, “I agree, and it seems awful early to stop. Let's see if we can make the next town by tonight.”
They all agreed to this idea, and they set a quick pace eastward.
As it turned out, they did not make the next town by nightfall, and had to sleep under the stars that night. They chose a small hollow off to the north of the road that was partially shielded from the wind by several small bushes that grew around the rim. No one was happy with the situation, but Kara least of all.
“We should have stopped at that last small village.” She had been heard to say several times. “At least we would have been warm.” She had caught Derek rolling his eyes as she talked, and had laid into him with a good tongue lashing. Trestus had sat quietly by the small fire, as the whole thing played out, and if he had hoped to avoid a similar fate he had been wrong. Kara turned on him, fussing about anything and everything. “Why are you always in such a foul mood?” She demanded of Trestus.
Derek, his anger starting to boil, chose that moment to speak up, “You're right. He is always in a foul mood. I knew that he was perfect to masquerade as your husband.” Enstorion strolled over to listen to the obviously rising voices.
Kara spun ready to start in again on Derek, but he silenced her by raising his hand. “Enough woman! I'm tired of listening to you, so be quiet!” Her face showed her shock and she opened her mouth to retort, but Derek was faster. “Enough.” He said again in a much quieter voice. “I don't know why you are in such a foul mood, but I am in charge of this little mission, and you will be civil or you will be quiet. Is that understood?”
She studied him for a moment, her eyebrows seeming to twitch up and down in anger, and then she smiled. It wasn't the kind of smile that makes you feel good, in fact it was just the opposite, it scared Derek to the core of his being. As she spoke, her voice almost purred, “Of course.” With that she turned and walked away, leaving Derek, Enstorion, and Trestus staring at each other.
Later that evening, Derek was standing up, as it was his turn for the watch. Kara had been the first to turn in that evening, going to sleep without a word to anyone. She had just rolled up in her blankets and gone to sleep. He probably should wake her to take a turn guarding the camp, but honestly he was a little afraid she might have another episode, so he just let her sleep.
It was hard for him to stay awake, so he had started moving around the camp. Walking around always seemed to help him stay alert.
As he moved through the camp, Trestus threw his blankets back and stood up. Trestus looked blurry eyed, but he sounded normal when he spoke. “I have to visit my favorite bush.”
Derek smiled at the other man's crudeness, and moved in the opposite direction from where Trestus had gone. After several minutes, Trestus reappeared, looking more awake than before.
“The bad thing about waking up
in the middle of the night is that I probably won't be able to get back to sleep for hours,” Trestus said quietly.
Derek nodded and then a thought occurred to him. “Trestus, keep watch for a little bit. I'm going to take a little walk.”
Trestus nodded and smiled, “If you go that way,” he pointed in the direction where he had just relieved himself, “You might want to watch your step.”
Derek was careful not to go that way, but instead he headed into the bushes north of their camp, even farther away from the road. Then as quietly as he could, he turned westward. His fear was that somehow those men he had seen in the village this morning were indeed following them. If they were being followed, then it probably wasn't too intelligent for him to go looking for them. There had to be at least five of them, but here he was stumbling through the forest in the dark. Probably making enough noise that Flare and Heather both could hear him. He wished that Heather was here to do this sneaking about, as she was so much better at it than he. He cringed as another stick cracked beneath his feet, but then was relieved to see the forest open up and the undergrowth clearing out a little.
He walked for a ways, stopping ever so often to stand behind a tree and listen. He wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting to find. After a while he began to get a little bored with his wandering. He was just about to dismiss the whole thing as folly, when he heard something. Trying to make it out, he paused behind an oak tree and listened. Could it be a frog, he wondered. But no, it sounded more like; he froze, not daring to move a muscle. It sounded like someone snoring, but if that was the case, then he had to be extremely close. Derek slowly leaned to his right and looked around the oak tree. In the moonlight, he could just make out four forms lying under blankets. The snorer was the dark form lying closest to the tree. It was hard to see in this light, but he thought he recognized the man from both the gates of Telur and from this morning in the village. He quickly counted again. Only four of them, where was the fifth? Ever so quietly, he pulled his knife from its sheath. He silently cursed himself for not bothering to bring his sword.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there. It couldn't be more than a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime. He tried not to move or make a sound while he kept his eyes focused on the campsite. If the fifth man was out there, Derek wanted him to move first. Even in this darkness, his eyes should be drawn to any movement.
A couple more minutes passed, and Derek continued to wait. The early morning fall chill wasn't even bothering him, and he could even feel a drop of sweat getting ready to run down his nose. He was just on the verge of straightening up, when he saw movement across the camp. The fifth man was sitting on a large rock and was wrapped in dark blankets. The dark blankets had made him look just like a large bush. The best thing was that he was facing south, off toward the road, not to the north where Derek was standing.
Silently, breathing a sigh of relief, he slowly straightened back up away from the tree. Then turning he crept away slowly and as quietly as he could.
Derek was out of breath when he reached the camp; he had started running when he thought it was safe. Trestus bounded to his feet at Derek's approach.
“Derek! Are you trying to scare me to death?” Trestus growled quietly. Then seeing the look on Derek's face, he became concerned. “What's happened?”
“The men are camping about half a mile to the west of us. All five of them.”
Trestus just stared for a moment, “So what are we doing? Running or fighting?”
Derek considered it for a moment, he hadn't even thought of attacking them. His first instinct had been to clear out right now as quietly as possible. “Running.” He answered Trestus. “Wake Enstorion. I'll wake Kara.”
In two strides, Derek reached Kara's blankets and knelt down beside her. He put his hand on her arm and shook her awake.
Kara sat bolt upright, “What is it?” Derek explained quickly about the men following them and that they had to get moving now. “What did they look like?” She asked quietly.
Derek paused. What did it matter what they looked like? He thought back to seeing them at the gates of Telur, that was where he had seen them the best. “Four of them looked to be fighters; you know muscular and wearing swords and armor. I didn't see the fifth very well. He was wearing dark robes and had a cowl that covered his face.”
“Dark robes? You mean black?”
“Not exactly. They were more like a blackish purple.” For just a second he thought Kara was going to be sick, but then she was up and packing her stuff. “Kara, is everything okay?”
She paused and looked over at him, turning a bracelet on her left wrist that Derek had never seen before. “Just great. We're on our second night of this lovely adventure, and we're already in trouble.” She turned back and began stuffing her blankets in her pack. “Just wonderful.”
Derek sighed. He had wanted to smack her more times on this trip than he had the entire time that he had known her. Women!
Roughly a quarter of an hour later, they were slowly riding eastward. There were still several hours until sunrise, but there was enough light from the half moon to see the road. Derek had instructed each of them to keep an eye on the road, both ahead and behind. If those men were smart, they would have sent another man on ahead just in case the guardians tried to do exactly what they were doing.
They rode slowly for the first couple of miles, because running horses made more noise than walking ones did. But after a while, Derek felt it safe enough to gallop.
It was cool enough this morning that they all were wearing their traveling cloaks, Kara even wore gloves.
They alternated running then walking the horses, trying to keep them fresh enough for a sprint if it was required. Shortly after sunrise they came across a small village that was on the southern side of the road. It had a several stores and a small inn, but mostly it was a farming community.
Trestus nodded at the inn, “How about some breakfast?”
Derek sympathized with him; his stomach had been gnawing on his backbone for miles. “No. If we stop, then there is a better chance of us being recognized. Let's get a little ways past this village and then we can stop.”
No one seemed happy at this, even the normally stoic Enstorion looked longingly at the small inn as they passed.
Derek was pleased to see other travelers on the road as well. Most of the other travelers this early in the morning were local, but there was always traffic on this road so four more riders didn't draw any attention.
They rode through the village at a leisurely pace so as not to raise any suspicions, and then they sped back up a mile or so out of town.
They spent two more days riding their horses down the eastern road, trying to look ahead and behind at the same time. There were lots of travelers on the road, but mostly the travelers were merchants, caravans, and some local traffic mixed in. They didn't see any of the five men that had been following them.
It was fairly late in the afternoon when they reached a small road that headed south from the eastern road. Derek sighed in relief, “Good. I didn't expect to get here until tomorrow.”
The other three looked down the small road and then back at Derek. “Where exactly are we?” Trestus asked.
Derek stretched and then motioned toward the small road, “This road runs to the Adelion river through a lot of farming communities and small towns. Merchants and other travelers do use it, but not like the numbers that use the Southern road.”
Trestus nodded, “But with fewer travelers, we are more likely to stand out in people's memories.”
“Yes,” Kara agreed, “but there will be fewer spies to see us pass.” A thoughtful almost pleased expression settled on her face.
Trestus and Derek glanced at each other. It was the first amiable thing that Kara had said in two days. She seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then she stirred and looked back at them.
Derek quickly moved his horse forward. The last thing that he wanted was to put her back i
n the mood that she had been in for so long.
They followed the meandering course of the road for several hours that day and then all the second day, until at dusk they made a surprising discovery.
They rounded a bend in the road and pulled their horses up in amazement. The entire time that they had been traveling this small road, they had seen relatively few others. The merchants were out, but most of them were leading a couple of pack horses, or pulling a wagon, but only a few of them had more than one wagon. So the large number of wagons off the road to the right was a shock.
It appeared to be an orderly camp that had been set up in the small field just off the road. The wagons were gathered at the southern end of the field, and the tents all nicely arranged in a circle in the middle of the field. A large number of horses were gathered at the northern end, and they were grazing happily. Several men stood or squatted near the horses, obviously watching to make sure that nothing happened to any of them. Most of the tents had a fire burning near by, and even from here, they could smell the wonderful cooking smells. Kids ran and played in the failing light, meaning this camp was not a merchant's camp.
“Uh-oh. What should we do?” Trestus asked. “You want to keep going and make camp in the dark?”
Derek really didn't want to ride any further tonight, and besides the cooking smells were really tempting. “No. Let's see if we can camp with them and maybe share their dinner.”
“Here comes your chance,” Kara said inclining her head toward a man walking towards them.
Derek moved his horse toward the man at a walk; he didn't want to scare him. He halted his horse at the edge of the field though and waited for the man to reach him. Derek knew better than to enter another's camp without permission.
It was hard to see in the failing light, but the approaching man seemed to be tall and thin with hair to his shoulders.
Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series Page 23
