"This has to be some kind of trick," frowned Sidney.
"Ask me a question," challenged Kalina.
Sidney sat silent for several moments before a smile spread across his lips. "There was another female in my life," stated the merchant. "No one alive knows about her. Tell me what you saw about her."
"Is it one that you loved?" asked Kalina.
"Very much," nodded Sidney.
"Your daughter, Lezzy," Kalina said sadly. "She was born before Edmond, but she died a child. You blame yourself for her death."
Tears started rolling down the merchant's cheeks, and he sobbed openly. "I never should have left her alone," he blubbered. "It is the one mistake in my life that I cannot ever be free of."
"You have suffered enough," Kalina said comfortingly as she placed her hands on his shoulders. "Sometimes a person needs to share their grief to recover from it. You have never shared you grief over her death, not even with Abigail."
"How could I?" asked Sidney. "I know that Abigail blamed me for Lezzy's death. How could I speak to her about it?"
"I cannot begin to know what your wife thought," counseled Kalina, "but your healing can begin now. You have carried the torment long enough."
A loud knock sounded on the door and Sidney tried to compose himself. Kalina returned to her chair.
"We can talk about it later if you want," she said softly.
Sidney nodded and then called for the visitor to enter. Edmond entered with the Knights of Alcea, and suddenly Sidney was his old self.
"Tell me what is going on?" he said to Garth. "Why have we stopped?"
"To rest your warriors," explained Garth. "Tonight we are going hunting."
"Did you get the assassin?" asked Kalina.
"It was Gerry," nodded Garth as he tossed a pouch onto the table. "I found that on him."
Kalina picked up the pouch and examined it. "Karary," she frowned. "That seems to be the poison of choice for the Federation."
"Do you know where the bandit camp is?" asked Sidney.
"I do," nodded Garth. "They have over a hundred men in camp."
"A hundred men?" gasped Edmond. "And you want to attack them?"
"It is far better than them attacking us," replied Garth. "Besides, they will not be expecting us. We will have the element of surprise on our side."
"Yes, but at what risk?" asked Edmond. "We will have to leave the wagons defenseless, and if we lose enough men in battle tonight, we will not have any security until we reach Waxhaw."
"There is not just one army of bandits, Garth," interjected Sidney. "Edmond has a valid concern. While it is a fine thing to wipe out one camp of bandits, we have to be prepared for the next army of them. It is still a long ways to Waxhaw."
"I've only got a hundred men," added Edmond. "We would have to take them all to ensure that we win. I cannot see doing this."
"You wanted help in carrying the fight to the Federation," frowned Garth. "Now that you have the chance, you are going weak-kneed about it."
"That is harsh," retorted Edmond. "While we wish to take the fight to the Federation, we want to live another day as well."
"No," sighed Sidney, "Garth is correct. We have talked about our desire to strike a blow against the Federation. This is our chance. If we lose the cargo, we lose it. I have been thinking of retiring anyway," he added as he winked at Kalina.
The room fell silent as Garth stared at the merchant and his son. After a moment, he walked to the map on the wall and appeared to be studying it, but he was really trying to determine how he would attack the bandit's camp that the fairy had shown him.
"I captured four of the bandit's horses," Natia said, breaking the long silence. "Am I right in assuming that I can keep them?"
Sidney looked at the gypsy princess and laughed. "They are yours," he grinned, "but only after we reach Waxhaw. I am not ready to see the last of you four just yet."
Garth abruptly spun away from the wall map and walked back to the table.
"Give me command over twenty of your best men," requested Garth. "They will need good night vision, and they must be excellent archers."
"Twenty?" balked Edmond. "You will all be slaughtered. If we have to carry the fight to the enemy, we will all go. Sidney is right. We wanted to take a stand and we will, but not with a suicide mission."
"I only want twenty," Garth repeated, "but they must be good, and they must obey me without question. Will you give them to me?"
Edmond stared at Garth and shook his head in disbelief, but Sidney smiled broadly.
"Done," declared the merchant. "Whether it is twenty or a hundred, whatever you want you shall have."
"When do you want them?" Edmond asked with a sigh.
"We will be leaving at dusk," Garth stated, "so let's start picking the men now."
"I wish you good hunting," Sidney said. "We will be anxiously awaiting your return."
"Not we, Father," said Edmond. "I will be going with Garth. He wants the best we have, and I am not being boastful by listing myself as one of them."
"No, you aren't being boastful," agreed Sidney, "but I was referring to Kalina and myself when I spoke."
"Kalina will be coming with us as well," said Garth. "I may need her expertise."
Sidney looked at Kalina and his eyebrows rose, but he nodded with a true understanding of what Garth meant.
Chapter 20
Cobb's Stand
Garth rode into the clearing and dismounted. He tied his horse to a tree and directed the other raiders to do the same. While the men gathered around Garth, Tedi lit a torch and held it over the area where Garth was kneeling. Garth drew a diagram in the dirt while the others waited in silence.
"Alright," Garth finally said, "this is a diagram of the bandits' encampment. Their corral blocks one complete side of the camp, so we will have three attack groups. Edmond, you will lead the northern group. Harker will have the eastern group, and Cobb gets the southern group."
There were mumbles of surprise at the mention of Cobb's name, but Garth ignored it and continued.
"There will most certainly be sentries out tonight," Garth said, "as their men from the ridge did not return today. Hopefully, they will be taken out before the battle begins. No one is to fire an arrow before the bandits realize that they are being attacked. That means that we have to maintain strict silence as we get into position. I cannot stress this point too much. If we start the fight too early, a lot of you are going to die. I would prefer that didn't happen. So when you are getting into position, remember that stealth is far more important than speed. Take your time. The fight should not begin until we are all ready."
"What about the sentries?" asked one of the raiders.
"My people will handle them," answered Garth. "The camp is less than a league away from here. Tedi, Natia, and I will be leaving soon to take care of the sentries. Kalina will guide the rest of you to a point where the teams have to split up. From the time you are instructed to split up, there will be no talking until the fight begins. Is that understood?"
The men uttered their understanding, and Garth continued.
"Most of you have probably not been involved in anything like this before," stated Garth, "so I will give you an idea of what is going to happen. When the bandits finally discover that they are under attack, their camp will be in total chaos. They will be looking in every direction for the enemy, but arrows will be flying into them from three sides. Some of the bandits will want to flee, and some will want to attack, but none of them will have a clear-cut idea of which direction to go. This is our advantage. Your job will be to fire as fast and as accurately as you can. If each of you can kill five of the bandits before they counterattack, we will all go home in good health."
"That's it?" asked one of the men. "We just have to kill five each?"
"That is it," answered Garth, "but it isn't as easy as it sounds. You will have twenty of your comrades also trying to kill five of the enemy, and many of the bandits will be hit with
more than one arrow. The trick is to kill the bandits that the others are not killing, and you will have to do it in poor lighting. It is not an easy task, but the bandits will have it even harder. They will be surrounded and subject to injury from every quarter. Many of them will also be groggy from having been awoken in the middle of the night. We can do this and survive," he added with optimism, "but only if we all follow my instructions."
Garth waited in silence to see if anyone had any questions, but the men remained silent.
"Alright then," instructed Garth, "this is your last personal time. Eat, drink, or do whatever is required because you won't have time for anything once we leave this clearing."
The men moved away as Tedi extinguished the torch. Edmond remained at Garth's side, and the Knight of Alcea turned to him to see what was troubling him.
"Why Cobb?" asked Edmond. "He is not even a squad leader. Some of the other men will be grumbling about your choice, and that is not good on a night like this."
"I noticed the grumbling," replied Garth, "but I picked Cobb for a reason. He is the type of man to whom loyalty means everything, and at the moment his loyalty is to me. That means that he will follow my instructions to the letter, and that is what I need tonight. I cannot risk a group leader who thinks he knows a better way to do something. You and Harker understand that, but a lot of your outriders are rebels at heart. That is a fine quality in some situations, but this is not one of them. Besides, I think you greatly undervalue his abilities. He has been standing in Tynker's shadow for so long that his own talents are not noticed."
"And you have noticed them?" asked Edmond.
"I have," nodded Garth. "I have watched him ever since you sent the three of them to test me. He's a future leader, Edmond. Nurture him."
"Alright," agreed Edmond. "How will Kalina know when to tell us to advance?"
"That is my secret," grinned Garth. "Just trust her when she says it is time. The only potential flaw in this plan is if the army gets involved."
"Not a chance," replied Edmond. "The Karamin army is in disarray. They will not have any patrols up here."
"I was more concerned about the Vinafor army," retorted Garth. "The bandits have placed their camp right next to the border. I assume they did that so that they could escape over the border if the army did come after them."
"We don't want a battle with them," frowned Edmond. "That would be a disaster."
"Agreed," nodded Garth. "If they are around, I will abort the attack. Split the men into three groups and assign them to the group leaders. Kalina will get you moving in a short while."
Garth signaled Tedi and Natia, and the three Knights of Alcea disappeared into the trees. Button had shared her images with all four of the Alceans, so Garth let Tedi take the lead. The gypsy prince moved silently through the forest and halted the group when he heard the first sounds of the encampment.
"It's not far off now," whispered Tedi.
"Let's send out the fairies for a quick look," ordered Garth.
They woke the fairies and sent them on their way. A few minutes later both fairies returned.
"There are two sentries on the east and one on the south," reported Bitsy.
"And another on the north side," added Button. "Do you want them put asleep?"
"No," answered Garth. "I want both of you inside the camp. If anyone in the camp notices the sentries being taken out, put them asleep. After we have taken out the sentries, I need one of you to get word to Kalina. Do not let the raiders see you."
"I can do that," volunteered Button.
"Tedi," instructed Garth, "you get the north side, Natia the south. I will take the east. Let's try to make this silent."
Garth and Tedi moved off to the right, and Natia moved left. While the group had approached the camp from the south, Natia was planning to sneak up on the southern sentry from the northwest, using the noises of the corral to cover her approach. The wind would also carry her scent away from the corral, which was ideal. She circled wide and caught sight of the sentry shortly after finding the corral. The sentry appeared alert, but lazy. While his head moved constantly as he scanned the forest, his back leaned against a large tree. If the bandit had been a gypsy, his own people would have felt obligated to humiliate him. Natia felt disappointed with the lack of a challenge.
Keeping the tree between her and the sentry, Natia crept silently towards the man. When she reached the tree, she carefully extracted a reed and a myric quill from a small quiver at her side. Feeding the quill into the reed, she brought the reed to her lips and eased around the circumference of the tree. When she finally saw the sentry's face, she blew the quill into it. The man's eyes opened wide and immediately glazed over as the poison ended his life. One of Natia's hands flew out to hold the man's body steady as she stored the reed in the quiver. With both hands free, she quietly lowered the body to ground.
* * *
Button landed stealthily on Kalina's shoulder and whispered in her ear. Kalina nodded slightly, and the fairy soared away. Edmond, Harker, and Cobb stood near Kalina, and she reached out and touched each of them. The men nodded silently and moved towards their groups. Slowly and quietly the three groups moved out to take up positions for the attack. Cobb's group had the shortest distance to travel, and they came upon Natia well before the other groups were in position.
Natia and Cobb spread the men out using hand signals and then Natia disappeared. The men stood motionless with arrows nocked as they gazed into the encampment of bandits. Several fire rings were visible in the moonlight, but only one still had a fire burning. Two bandits sat talking near the fire. Their voices were barely audible, but it was a good reminder to the raiders about how well sound traveled through the still night air. While Cobb was staring at the two men, they both unexpectedly fell to the ground. Cobb pulled back on his bow, and the others in the group followed his move. Without further warning, arrows flew into the camp from the east, bringing cries of pain from the bandits.
"Fire," Cobb said softly as he released his first arrow.
Bedlam erupted in the encampment as arrows flew in from the north and south. Bandits jumped to their feet and scrambled for their weapons even as the arrows rained down upon them. Shouted orders split the night, but those shouts did not bring order to the defense. Some of the bandits tried to fire arrows into the dark woods surrounding their clearing, but their shots were not aimed at any particular target. The bandits that did try to shoot arrows became the preferred targets for the raiders and most died before releasing their arrows. Eventually one of the bandits managed to gain control over the others, and they started charging southward in an attempt to flee the carnage. Cobb saw what was coming, but he didn't panic. He dropped his bow and drew his sword.
"Ferris and Bork," Cobb shouted, "draw steel and defend the archers. The rest of you keep firing."
About twenty bandits charged Cobb's position. Cobb took two steps forward, and the other sword bearers mimicked his move. Arrows from the eastern raiders continued to pursue the charging bandits, and Cobb's archers fired as fast as they were able, but five bandits managed to survive the arrows. Two of the charging bandits split left and right to get around the swordsmen. Ferris moved to the left to engage one of them, and Bork moved to the right to get the other. That left Cobb trying to hold off three of them in the center. The eastern archers could no longer fire without the possibility of killing their own, and Cobb's archers no longer had a clear shot. Cobb could hear the archers behind him dropping their bows and scrambling for their swords, but he knew that he would be dead before they could respond. Unexpectedly, one of his opponents dropped to the ground, and a second later another one followed. Cobb skewered the last bandit and looked around in confusion.
The battle was over and only the cries of the wounded could be heard. Cobb saw raiders from the north and east pouring into the campsite, and he sighed heavily as the exhilaration of battle drained from his body.
"Nice sword work, Cobb," one of the raiders s
aid with a slap on the back.
"And a nice call, too," said another. "They would have overrun us for sure. They'll be talking about Cobb's stand around the campfires tomorrow."
Cobb nodded in response, but he was still confused about how two of his opponents had died. He sheathed his sword and moved towards one of the bodies. Kneeling next to it, he saw a knife buried in its neck. While he stared at the knife in wonder, a feminine hand reached down and plucked it out of the body. He looked up and saw Natia.
"Both of them?" he asked in wonder.
Natia merely smiled and nodded as she turned and pulled the knife out of the other bandit.
"I owe you," Cobb said with deep gratitude.
"Maybe you can get some men to help me with the horses?" grinned Natia. "There are over a hundred of them."
* * *
"Our losses were amazingly low," Edmond reported. "Three men died and six were injured, but that was only because of lucky shots by the bandits. They couldn't even see what they were shooting at. We were hidden in the trees while they stood in a moonlit clearing."
"Truly remarkable," Sidney remarked. "We would never have fared so well if those men had attacked us."
"And we got a hundred horses in the bargain," interjected Natia.
"Which we do not need," Garth quickly added. "I would suggest giving the horses to those men who risked their lives to accompany us."
Natia frowned, but Sidney laughed heartily.
"Let me make a proposal," the merchant said. "Determine the number of horses and the number of participants in the raid and apportion the horses equally, and that shall include all participants. When the number has been determined, give Natia first pick of the herd for whatever number she is entitled to."
Natia grinned with satisfaction, and it was Garth's turn to laugh.
"We will only be keeping four of them, Natia," he said. "So leave some good ones for the other raiders."
Final Voyage of the Remora Page 25
