Betrayal In The Highlands (Book 2)

by Robert Evert

  Relief swept over the men’s faces, followed by confusion and wonder.

  “You? You have money, enough for the entire town?” somebody said doubtfully. “How’s that even possible?”

  Edmund ignored the question. “We have enough, but our money is in Long Ravine.” He watched their reactions carefully. Thus far, nobody seemed disheartened; they all seemed to be mulling over how much money he and Pond had and how they could have amassed such a fortune. “So I’ll be leaving in a couple of hours to get what we need.”

  “Bring back some women!” somebody cried.

  The crowd burst into laughter.

  Pond bristled. He wanted to tell the men the truth, but Edmund didn’t want them to feel obligated to chase after the goblins with him. It was his decision to attempt the rescue, and there weren’t going to be any more deaths because of him—not if he could help it.

  “In my stead, Mr. Pond here will be assisting you.”

  Some of the men seemed caught off guard by this.

  “I should only be gone for a few weeks or so,” Edmund explained, avoiding Abby’s scowl of disgust.

  “A few weeks?” somebody shouted. “It’ll take you at least twice that to get to Long Ravine and back, if not more!”

  Other people seemed skeptical as well.

  Damn it! I shouldn’t have mentioned where I was going.

  Think quick!

  “Perhaps,” Edmund replied. His voice boomed over the mostly quiet crowd. “But I’ll be taking the knight’s horse, that black destrier. If I’m any judge of horses, he’ll run twice as fast as any other. It shouldn’t take me long.”

  Conversations broke out as men exchanged opinions on the knight’s horse. Many had clearly hoped to claim it as their own. Others indicated that Edmund would do better with a smaller breed. Edmund refocused their attention.

  “So this is what I want you to do,” he called out. “Eat. I’m sure our master chef has prepared something wonderful for all of us.”

  Cheers returned.

  “And then get some rest,” he added. “You’ve all earned it!”

  Shouts of concurrence rose up.

  “Then this afternoon, do what needs to be done—cut back the trees, work on the barracks, build a rampart around the walls, and practice fighting.”

  From atop the table, Edmund watched all of them shouting and cheering and carrying on. He knew very few of them by name; nevertheless, a fondness welled up inside him. He didn’t want to leave, and for a moment he actually considered staying. But he knew he could catch up with Kravel well before Kravel reached the mountains. And if he didn’t try to save Molly now, he’d regret it until his dying day.

  “Look around, gentlemen.” Edmund gestured about them. “Look around.”

  Puzzled, the men glanced around at the bleak ruins of Rood with its dusty streets, its dying trees, and its crumbled foundations that still lay open and filled with rubbish.

  “This place is yours,” Edmund said. “Rebuild it into something you’ll be proud to call home. And I promise you, nobody is ever going to take it from us!”

  Thunderous applause shook the table upon which Edmund stood.

  You’d better hope King Lionel doesn’t try too hard to seize the town.

  Let him try. Something tells me these men would never let him take it!

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Edmund pushed his horse on after Becky as she raced deeper and deeper into the dense forests that blanketed the rocky hills northeast of Rood. They’d been following the goblins’ trail for three days, headed straight toward the distant Haegthorn Mountains. Initially he believed they could overtake Kravel fairly quickly. But the huge black destrier was having difficulty maneuvering between the massive trees and over the uneven ground, which made travel excruciatingly slow. How far ahead Kravel and Molly were, Edmund hadn’t a clue; however, his heart feared that they were pulling farther and farther away.

  For the third time that morning, Becky stopped, sniffed the ground, and barked back at him. Edmund dismounted and fought through the brush to examine the spot she was pawing.

  More blood …

  Becky dashed around, nose plowing through the leaves from the previous autumn. Then she ran farther ahead, stopped, and barked over her shoulder at Edmund again.

  There’s too much blood here for just a minor wound.

  Maybe it’s from Kravel. Maybe you hurt him worse than you thought.

  No. He would have bandaged his wound by this point. Besides, the trail of blood only began a mile back. If it had been Kravel, it would have started in the woods right outside of Rood.

  Leading his horse through the forest, feet crunching on brittle twigs and debris, Edmund came to where Becky stood.

  There’s even more here.

  His gaze followed the trail. Bracken glistened a dark crimson. Cautiously, Edmund drew his short sword. He’d considered bringing a bow and a quiver of arrows, but he couldn’t shoot to save his life. If he was going to finally kill Kravel, his black blade would have to do it.

  Nose to the ground and grey tail high in the air, Becky scurried between trees and through undergrowth. Then she bolted up the narrow dirt path they’d been following. Beneath the greenish rays of sunlight streaming through the forest canopy, Edmund saw her destination.

  “Oh no!”

  He started to run.

  “No!”

  Facedown in a clump of crushed ferns lay a crumpled body. The stench of death hovered around it.

  He slid to a stop next to the body and turned it over.

  He couldn’t breathe.

  It was Molly.

  One grey hand was outstretched as though reaching out for something dear. Her other hand, crawling with ants, maggots, and flies, held the jumbled mass of her intestines.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  How long Edmund sat and wailed in the bloody leaves, clutching Molly’s disemboweled body, he couldn’t say. But when he’d finally collapsed, empty of tears and throat scratched raw, the sun had passed the noontime mark and shadows were beginning to deepen.

  Choking on his grief, he lifted himself from the ground.

  Poor Molly …

  Down the path, the knight’s destrier chewed on leaves torn from the surrounding trees.

  Poor, poor Molly …

  He sniffed and wiped the side of his hand across his nose.

  “I’m going to kill them,” Edmund said to Molly’s body.

  Becky, exploring the undergrowth along the trail, barked in agreement.

  “I promise you, Mol. I’m going to gut them all like fish. Kravel …” He sobbed. “The Undead King … all of them. I promise.”

  It still doesn’t make any sense. Why would they kill her? They need her to get to you.

  Unable to look at Molly’s bluish-grey face any longer, Edmund peered back the way they’d come.

  She was headed northeast, not westward to Rood. Why?

  His gaze drifted to the gruesome gash sliced across her stomach, white entrails covered with centipedes and ants.

  Kravel must have meant to make her suffer. He didn’t kill her outright.

  And even in her condition, she kept heading away from Rood. Why?

  Maybe she was lost.

  But she must have known she was headed toward the mountains. She could have climbed any of these hills and seen that.

  Then she must have been following Kravel.

  Following …

  Becky continued to root through the surrounding ferns and undergrowth, sniffing everything she could reach. Edmund felt Molly’s blood on the ground. It was dry.

  Maybe two days old?

  Swatting at the flies buzzing by his face, he got up, his legs tingling from lack of circulation.

  “Two days. Maybe three.”

  The destrier thrashed its tail, shifted its bulk, and nickered.

  Edmund wiped away his tears and examined the trail heading northeast.

  Kravel went that way. Him and maybe a couple
of others, judging by the tracks.

  They haven’t camped much.

  And they won’t slow until they reach the mountains.

  Catching up to them is going to be difficult, even with the horse. Especially in this terrain.

  He frowned at Molly’s body.

  What’re they doing? Why kill Molly? They were supposed to bring her back. That’s what their orders were; they were supposed to capture her and bring her back.

  But they didn’t.

  He rubbed his legs and sighed.

  “So what now?” he said to himself.

  Edmund leaned over and brushed the scurrying bugs from Molly’s unseeing eyes. “I’m sorry, Mol. I should have gotten you out of Rood as soon as we got there.” His chest heaved, but no more tears came. He had none left.

  You tried to get her out. She wouldn’t come.

  Then he remembered her begging. Ed! Please. For God’s sake … please. Take us with you! He could still hear the panic in her voice. If Kravel finds us … if he learns where we are … he’ll …

  He’ll what? Kill her? Why didn’t they take her prisoner?

  They did. Otherwise she’d be lying dead next to Norb.

  Maybe they took her prisoner and she escaped.

  Dragging his sleeve under his nose, Edmund again studied the direction they’d come.

  Then why would she have been following them? Why?

  It doesn’t matter.

  He picked up his short sword lying in the weeds next to Molly’s body. “I’m going to make them pay for this. Somehow, I’m going to—”

  “Well, well …” The voice had come from the trees to Edmund’s right.

  Edmund spun.

  Up a steep incline and leaning against a massive oak tree, Lester the Jester wiggled his pudgy fingers at him.

  “Get away from me!” Edmund shouted. “Leave me the hell alone!”

  Lester rolled his eyes. “You’re always so moody. Honestly, you need to work on that.” The dwarf started down the slope, boots sliding on the loose dirt. He covered his nose. “What stinks? By the gods, that’s horrible! What is it?”

  Edith and Horic stepped out from behind the tree.

  Glancing at Molly’s body, Edith shook her head in what might have been mock pity. “Another death. Shame.”

  Edmund’s grip tightened around his sword hilt.

  “You know, Edmund”—Horic used his cane to hobble gingerly to level ground—“you can stop all of this, all of these needless killings. You can make Kar-Nazar pay for what he’s done. You could eradicate the goblins once and for all.”

  Brushing tears from his eye, Edmund pointed his sword at Horic. “Just leave me alone! Go! Go or I’ll, I’ll kill you. I’ll kill all of you!”

  They smiled somewhat sympathetically at him.

  “You?” Lester chuckled. “All by yourself? Against us?”

  “You won’t kill us,” Edith said, trying to sound pleasant. “It’s not in your destiny. Trust me.”

  Edmund stepped closer. He pointed his short sword at Horic, then at Edith, and then at Lester. “I’m not alone.”

  Behind them, a deep growl rumbled out of the shadows. Yellow eyes glinted in the failing light. Becky crept from the undergrowth, appearing larger and more ferocious than before.

  Smiles dropping, Horic, Edith, and Lester turned with a start. Even Edmund was unnerved; for a moment he thought he beheld some monster from the old northern mythologies.

  Becky advanced. Edith and Lester backed away.

  “Call off your werehound,” Horic said. “Call her off! We just want to talk.”

  Werehound?

  “Last time you wanted to talk, you tried to kill me,” Edmund said.

  “A regrettable misunderstanding. Now call her off! If you don’t hear something to your advantage, we’ll go.”

  “I want you to go now!”

  Face twitching, Horic lifted a finger from his cane.

  Edmund quickly stepped toward them. “Try to cast a spell and you’ll die! You might get me or Becky, but you can’t kill both of us at once!”

  Horic paused. Edmund was now within thrusting range, and Becky could easily snap somebody’s neck in her powerful jaws.

  He rested his old fingers back on the top of the cane.

  “Give me five minutes,” Horic said. “Five minutes. That’s all I ask. Our lives depend upon it. Your life depends upon it!”

  Becky drove through the bushes like an angry mother bear protecting her cub. Down the path, the destrier snorted and dug its hooves into the ferns.

  “Becky,” Edmund said, “if they make a move, kill them. Start with the dwarf.”

  “Me!” Lester cried. “Why me? I’m just standing here!”

  “Because I don’t like you. I don’t like any of you, but you least of all. If you move, you die, do you understand? Rip their throats out, Becky, if they move.”

  Becky drew closer and bared her teeth in a snarling half-smile.

  “Horic.” Edith tilted her chin toward Edmund’s sword. “Look.”

  Horic’s eyes went wide. “Where did you—?” And then he understood. “You made that, didn’t you?”

  The black blade gleamed.

  “It’s notched,” Edith said to Horic, puzzled. “I didn’t think that was possible—”

  “I’ll give you one minute before I kill you.” Edmund placed the tip of his short sword against Horic’s chest. “If your fingers so much as twitch or begin to glow, I’ll cut your heart out. And believe me, this can slice through you like you were nothing.”

  Lester flattened himself against the trunk of a tree, eyes squeezed shut, as Becky sniffed his face. Although it couldn’t have been possible, Becky stood nearly as tall as the quivering dwarf. In the dimness of the forest, power seemed to radiate from her grey fur.

  Horic glowered at Edmund. “Very well.”

  “Keep your hands where I can see them, Edith!” Edmund hollered. “I might not kill you, but Becky will.”

  Sneering, Edith slowly withdrew her hand from the inside of her cloak.

  “Hurry up and get this over with,” Edmund told Horic, trying to watch him and Edith at the same time. “I want you out of my life.”

  You should just kill them. You’ll never have another chance like this.

  I’m not going to kill in cold blood.

  “We’re at war, Edmund,” Horic began. “It’s been going on a very long time, since before humans ever stepped foot on this continent, in fact.”

  Edmund grunted a laugh. “War? What war?”

  “Between the ordinary people and us magic users,” Edith said bitterly.

  “There’s no—”

  “You know the histories,” Horic said. “You know about the witch hunts and the crusades to exterminate our kind. You cannot deny that we fight for our very survival, not after what happened to your mother and father.”

  My mother and father?

  “He doesn’t know,” Edith said, reading his expression.

  “What are you talking about?” Edmund pointed his sword at Edith and then again at Horic. “You don’t know a damned thing about my parents.”

  “We know that your parents were killed because they were like you,” Horic said calmly. “Because they were like us.”

  “Stop it!” Rage began to build. “My parents were nothing like you! My father stepped on a poisoned bear trap. My mother killed herself because she couldn’t save him!”

  “Edmund—” Edith started.

  “I don’t want to hear any of your lies!” Edmund’s breaths came hard and fast.

  “You cannot deny that we’ve been hunted for centuries,” Horic said. “We’ve been burned at the stake, drowned—beheaded! You cannot deny any of these things ordinary humans have done to us!”

  They waited for Edmund to respond, but he was far too furious to utter a word.

  “We are at war,” Horic continued. “You could help us survive. That’s all we want—to survive.”

  Much of wh
at Horic said resonated in Edmund’s heart. All his life, he feared what would happen if ordinary people found out about his abilities, and after having been hunted by the goblins for so long, he could all too easily appreciate Horic’s desperation to live. But Edmund didn’t want to be like Horic. He wanted to live—but he didn’t want to kill.

  “I’m not giving you the formula,” Edmund said.

  Horic tensed. A cruelty flickered across his ancient face.

  “I understand that you are planning to rebuild your home,” he said with a forced calmness. “That you are going to attempt to make this region your own kingdom.”

  Still pinned against a tree, Lester chortled. “The king will never allow it.”

  Becky snarled.

  “Sorry!” The dwarf squeezed his eyes shut even tighter.

  “Maybe …” The edges of Horic’s lips turned upward slightly. “Maybe we could arrange it, Edmund, for Lionel to give you these lands willingly. You could be the Lord of the Highlands, King even! You could—”

  “I don’t want to be a king. I just want to be left alone.” Edmund shoved the tip of his sword against Horic’s chest again. He wanted to kill him but couldn’t unless they did something first. “Leave me alone!” he shouted. “Just leave me alone!”

  Contempt filled Horic’s eyes as he studied Edmund’s blade.

  “What do you think will happen,” he said slowly, “if everybody knew you were a magic user?”

  Edmund’s blood ran cold.

  Horic’s smile broadened.

  “Exactly. They’d kill you. All of those men building your town would turn on you in an instant. Then it wouldn’t just be the Hiisi you’d have to worry about. You’d have no place to hide. They’d hunt you down, torture you to reveal everything you know, and then burn you alive.”

  “They’re the ones who want to kill us,” Edith said. “We just want to be left alone—just like you, Edmund. But they won’t! They hunt us! They torture us until we turn in our friends and families. You can help stop—”

  “Your minute is up,” Edmund shouted. “Now leave!”

  Horic and Edmund glared at each other. The air grew very still.

  “Go!” Edmund said. “Or you’ll die here.”