by Alex Avrio
Jaeger had fallen in with the Eressian troops defending the right flank of the camp. He knew that any guards left alive would be in trouble when this was over. He could understand how the outlaws had surprised the sentries in this weather and terrain. The Blades had suffered the same fate last year after crossing the Ugarri pass. He parried blows that became increasingly careless: the attackers were starting to panic. Jaeger reckoned that the raid hadn’t exactly gone as they’d planned, but what had they expected? Scared merchants roused in the middle of the night were the usual prey, but Hussars were trained to expect and deal with attacks around the clock. They were behaving much more like a skilled fighting unit this time.
Jaeger sidestepped a man running at him with a bayonet and cut him down with a single well-aimed slash. The outlaws broke in retreat. Jaeger blocked a slash aimed at his midriff and returned the favor. The man fell down moaning, mortally wounded. Jaeger looked around, and had an idea. He sought out an outlaw and engaged him in a swordfight. He let him come close, almost retreating, pretending he’d lost confidence. His opponent became cocky, inching forward. When within arm’s reach he tried a wild sword-swing. Jaeger ducked it, and rose to land a punch on the man's jaw, using the hand-guard of his sword as a knuckleduster. The man collapsed. Jaeger dragged him to the side of a tent. Using the tent rope, Jaeger bound him securely. Then he threw the tent canvas over to hide him.
Charlie felt a nudge, and opened her eyes to see Emilia sitting up looking around. She gently shook Rosamynd who was sleeping beside Emilia in the small tent, pressed close for warmth.
“Get up,” Emilia whispered, “Most of them have gone. We’re leaving.”
“Going where?” Rosamynd asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.
“It’s safer here,” Charlie said steadily.
“I am not staying here, and neither is Rosamynd,” Emilia said, and wrapped the blanket around her. She found her shoes. Both princesses had thrown away their tight corsets by now. Charlie had suggested it on their first stop on the first day but both of them had strenuously refused this affront to propriety. By the end of the day they had both begged Charlie to get them out of those infernal things.
“There are wolves and bears out there, and the Mother knows what else,” Charlie whispered urgently. “We’re not prepared for this, we have no food or water and only these blankets for warmth,” she pressed on.
“The Mother will provide,” Emilia said. Charlie found her faith touching if misguided. The Mother helped those who helped themselves, was what she knew.
“We have no maps or knowledge of the woods. We’ll get lost in the forest and we’ll be lucky if the highwaymen find us.”
Emilia gave her a stony look. “I am a princess of Eressia. I will not have my fate dictated by outlaws. I shall take my fate in my own hands and if I perish, so be it. At least I shall die proud and free.”
But it’s not only you, Charlie thought. Emilia wriggled out of the tent and so did a reluctant Rosamynd. Charlie sighed and followed. She was their only chance of staying alive.
24 WHISPERS IN THE NIGHT
REGINA looked around for her team. The outlaws had left a damaged camp and injured soldiers in their wake. Nowhere near as many as they’d liked, from what she could see. The Hussars reorganized quickly under Morgenstern’s orders. Morgenstern seemed unhurt apart from moving his arm awkwardly. Regina guessed that the wound from the first attack had reopened.
“All Blades accounted for,” Briggs said.
“Injuries?”
“Apart from bruises and minor scrapes, everyone’s OK.”
“Where’s Jaeger?” Regina asked. He wasn’t hurt or she’d have felt it.
Briggs shrugged. “He must be with the Eressians. No one was killed but there’s a few badly wounded.”
Regina nodded. There was a small queue of soldiers on one side of the camp. The surgeon had thrust a long knife into the fire. It was already blazing red. Lieutenant Adler unbuttoned his breeches revealing a nasty gash on his left thigh. The doctor cleaned the wound and two men held Adler as the doctor cauterized it. The smell of burning meat reached Regina and she walked away. She'd witnessed too many of these scenes in her lifetime. She saw Morgenstern taking a moment alone in the furthest corner of the camp. He was holding a bottle and Regina thought he would drink from it. She approached and saw him whisper to himself as he held the bottle. Blood was trickling from his wound down his fingers and trailing down the bottle. Morgenstern seemed oblivious. He placed the bottle gently at the root of a tree and walked away. Regina realized he was leaving an offering for the spirit folk.
“Major,” she called out. He turned towards her and crossed the distance between them with a few large strides.
“We will wait until sunrise and then run them down,” he told her. It was a rational decision. No sane commander would go after the outlaws in the dark.
“And we’ll know exactly where to find them,” Jaeger said, emerging from a group of soldiers.
“And how will that happen?” Morgenstern asked. “Do you have powers of divination I’m not aware of?”
“No, I have a present,” Jaeger pulled a man forward from behind him, hands tied firmly, “who might just know where they went.”
Charlie walked cautiously in front of Emilia and Rosamynd. The waning moon didn’t shed enough light through the passing clouds for them to see where to put their feet without twisting an ankle. They'd been walking for more than two hours. Emilia’s and Rosamynd’s shoes weren’t meant for outdoor wear: the satin had been ripped to shreds, the leather torn, the soft skin of their heels blistering. The mud stuck to the soles made them slip every other step. They had left the camp as quietly as they could, taking nothing but blankets and a canteen of water. Charlie cursed as, for the thousandth time, one of the women stumbled over a wet stone. This time Charlie wasn’t quick enough to catch her. Emilia fell against a tree, steadying herself with an outstretched hand. She let out a yelp: the skin on her left palm had pulled away. She wiped blood mixed with mud on her skirt and walked on without complaint.
They made their way through the gnarled tree roots that burrowed into the wet ground, the slippery rocks hiding under moss and fallen leaves, stopping to get their breath back and then continuing. Charlie heard the trickling of a brook and carefully made her way there. The three women rested for a few minutes on a large rock on the steep bank. The air was becoming hazy and humid: Charlie wondered if it signaled rain. She wished they could have taken more provisions. Creatures – far more dangerous than wolves, bears, and highwaymen – roamed these forests; Charlie had met some in the past. Rosamynd looked up, startled at the cry of a night owl nowhere in sight. When Charlie got up, Emilia let out a moan.
“Can’t we rest for a little while longer?” she asked.
“You’re the one who wanted to escape,” Charlie said uncharitably. “We have to put as much distance as possible between us and them before dawn. When they realize we’re missing and come after us.”
“I wish I was back home,” Rosamynd sighed.
“You and me both,” Charlie said. “Now keep walking.”
Charlie decided to follow the small animal path running along the brook. It was slightly uphill but not difficult to navigate and mostly clear from obstacles. They walked for what seemed hours, but Charlie had no way of knowing for certain. The brook turned left. Charlie could see what looked like a clearing to the right, and made her way there. Charlie stopped as the clouds parted and moonlight fell on the clearing, the weak light illuminating large shapes standing in the center. Emilia and Rosamynd stayed motionless behind her. Emilia squinted to see the shapes better.
“They’re not moving,” she whispered.
“That don’t mean nothing,” Charlie whispered back.
“They’re too big to be human,” Rosamynd observed.
That’s what I’m afraid of, Charlie thought but said nothing. After what seemed like an age observing the shapes, noticing no movement, the women walke
d forward gingerly. It became clear that the shapes were large stones and Charlie walked up to one and ran her hand over the surface.
“A stone ring,” she said. “I didn’t know there were any round here.”
“There are many scattered all over Eressia and Merrovigia,” Emilia said.
“I wonder what they’re for,” Rosamynd said, taking the opportunity to rest on a fallen stone. “No one knows who built them or why.”
Charlie had seen a few stone rings in her travels. Some were large structures and others a small circle with a mere handful of stones still standing. The mist was creeping slowly into the clearing.
“We should move on,” she urged the other two women. Rosamynd rubbed her ankle and got up slowly. She jumped as a twig snapped. Charlie looked round but could see nothing.
“Probably a small animal,” she said. They crossed the stone circle and headed to the other side of the clearing. Charlie was amazed by how quickly the mist descended. It had dropped like a blanket, making everything only a few feet away invisible.
There was a rustling sound, like a large snake in long grass. Charlie froze. There wasn’t any long grass here. From across the stones she heard a clicking sound, like a lame crab finding its way in the dark. The three women exchanged glances.
“What is that?” Emilia asked, a tremor in her voice.
“Let’s not find out,” Charlie urged and moved on. The mist made it impossible to see where they were going. Charlie almost stumbled into a large tree. Emilia tripped and grabbed the tree to steady herself, leaving a bloody palm print on the moss-covered trunk.
“Will you hide us, tree?” she asked.
“That's not a bad idea,” Charlie said. “Maybe we should rest here for a while.”
“Why not rest in the hollow?” Emilia asked. Charlie looked closer. There was a large hollow in the base of the tree. She picked up a stick and poked it around in the hollow to make sure there were no animals lurking in the dark. Nothing came out. She nodded and the three women squeezed in. It was tight, but felt safer than staying out in the open, felt like protection from whatever was out there. Charlie stayed closest to the opening, her stick raised towards the entrance. She was fairly certain that whatever was out there wasn’t highwaymen.
The clicking sounds came closer, moving slowly, methodically, hesitantly feeling its way towards them. It stopped as if considering where to go. Charlie inhaled sharply as a wave of inexplicable terror washed over her.
She closed her eyes, pressing the eyelids hard, gripping the stick tightly, her other fist curled into a ball. Fear ran through her like the rising tide. The same fear as when she hid behind the curtain in General Kruger’s drawing room, hearing only the sounds of what was happening to Lady Claudia’s lady companion. The noise started again, this time a low humming, a buzz. It then developed into a coughing sound, like someone trying to find their voice. A voice, a low whisper, reverberated in the tree hollow.
“Come out, little children. Don’t be afraid.”
There was something about the voice that told Charlie that she should be very afraid. It sounded frail, the voice of someone who only spoke when they had to.
“I know you’re lost. Come with me. I will take you home.”
Emilia’s hand grasped Charlie's tightly. Rosamynd was taking deep breaths.
“Come out, come out,” the voice went on. There was something soothing now, like a grandparent talking to a worried grandchild during a storm. It reminded them of home and safety. The promise that they would soon be returned unharmed to their soft warm beds. It would be easy to succumb to the alluring temptation, but the bark of the tree dug into their backs and the hollow seemed to draw around them, the opening appearing to narrow, closing them in and the voice out. The voice kept on calling them, echoing around through the mist. Now there was something underneath the words.
“Come out, my little ones, and I shall feed my children.”
Rosamynd bit back a whimper. Charlie dropped the stick and held their hands tight.
25 THE BONE TREE
THE man's mocking smile didn't fade, despite the fat lip and black eye.
“That the best you can do?” he spat.
Morgenstern’s mouth twitched. He gestured to the large Hussar to hit the mocking smile again. The only result was a laugh, more a cough when blood sprayed through his broken lip. The Hussar lifted his fist again but Jaeger waved his hand and the soldier stopped.
“This isn’t working,” Jaeger said. The man looked up at him insolently.
“So what do you want me to do?” Morgenstern sneered.
“You, nothing,” Jaeger said simply. “But we don’t have all night. Bring me some rope.”
“I’m not afraid,” the man said defiantly.
Jaeger leaned towards him. “You should be.”
Morgenstern came close to Jaeger.
“We can’t hang him,” he whispered, “and the bastard knows it.”
“After the war, Morgenstern, you returned to the perfumed parlors of the aristocracy. I’ve been to less civilized places.”
The Hussar came back with a length of rope and handed it to Jaeger. He stood in front of the man with it, stretched between his hands.
“Do your worst,” the man spat.
Jaeger's smile reminded Regina uncomfortably of Varga.
“My dear fellow,” Jaeger said pleasantly, “my worst is very bad indeed. I don’t believe you’d like to come across it. Do both of us a favor and tell us where the camp is. Save yourself some unnecessary pain.”
As he spoke a noose was taking shape in his hands.
“I’m not afraid of the likes of you,” the man said. Jaeger gave him a charming smile.
“You should be.” He finished the noose. “Let’s put some things into context. I'm certain that you are familiar with Border Town. A fine fellow like you must be aware of Mr. Gold and Mr. Varga.”
From the highwayman’s expression it was clear that he was.
“I have spent some time in Mr. Gold’s employment and under Mr. Varga’s fine tutelage. I have learned some interesting things. For example, with the war there was no shortage in crippled beggars. Sometimes, not enough simple ones. So Varga came up with a solution – he’s good like that, comes up with solutions – he said, and I’m sure you’ll appreciate the genius of this, he said, we’ll make them.”
Jaeger let the noose hang from his fingers.
“You can hang me, but you’ll find out nothing,” the outlaw said. “No dead man ever said nothing.”
“Very true, my friend. But this isn’t a hanging noose. It’s a choking noose.” Jaeger let the words sink in.
“See these knots? They're positioned very carefully. A little pull won’t do much harm, though you won’t forget it in a hurry. First thing that happens, you can’t breathe. Then you piss your pants. Now, how much time this is around a man’s neck determines how damaged he’ll walk away. Depends what you want to do. You want a beggar only a little simple? Wrap it around their throat and pull a little. You want a moron? Or a drooling idiot? Longer. It’s all about how you pull. How.”
Jaeger gestured to the soldiers and they grabbed the outlaw’s arms, holding them firmly. Jaeger put the noose round his neck under the shocked gaze of Morgenstern. Regina bit her lip but said nothing.
“Now let me tell you something for nothing,” Jaeger told the outlaw, who was starting to struggle. “I’m a mercenary. Whether you walk away from this clever or stupid, I don’t give a shit. I’ll still get paid.”
Jaeger leaned next to the man’s ear. “I don’t give a shit if they get the ladies back either. I get paid, either way.” He stepped back. “But you? If you become a simpleton, will anyone notice?”
The outlaw glared at Jaeger through narrowed eyes. Jaeger shrugged and pulled the rope. The man’s face swiftly turned blue, and as he pissed himself the look in his eyes changed from bravado to enlightenment. He struggled violently against the men holding him.
Jaeger ga
ve the rope some slack and the man gulped in air.
“I’ll tell you, may the devils take you, I’ll tell you, just take this thing off me.”
Jaeger removed the noose from the outlaw’s neck. The man fought to control the tremor in his voice as he gave directions to the camp.
“You've become a monster,” Morgenstern told Jaeger after the man finished.
“I believe the words you’re looking for are 'Thank’ and ‘you'. If I were a gentleman, we’d still be here twiddling our thumbs,” Jaeger said, a look of ice in his eyes.
The chorus of birdsong woke Charlie. She was surprised she had fallen asleep in the hollow. It felt safe, pleasantly warm, and smelt of autumn. Its walls wrapped around them protectively. Charlie peered out and saw that the sun was up and the mist had cleared. She listened but couldn’t make out anything other than ordinary forest sounds. Charlie nudged the others awake. Emilia stepped out and stretched. She tipped her head back, eyes up towards the branches and let out a cry. Charlie jumped out of the hollow but didn’t see anything threatening. Rosamynd also stepped out.
“What are you squeaking about?” she asked. Emilia pointed upwards.
