Haven: A Trial of Blood and Steel Book Four

by Shepherd, Joel

  No sooner had she sat on the top box than she felt, rather than saw, something moving on the ground to her left. Her heart nearly stopped, and she barely restrained a panicked reach for her blade, lest that noise give her away. She saw the back of a head, long-haired, almost level with her boots. He moved carefully, crouched like a warrior, his one-handed posture suggesting a knife. If he looked up, he would see her almost on top of him.

  Not a tall man. She stared, and resolved more of his clothes—roughspun and leathers, no armour, nothing fancy. Something about the way he moved said horseman. A saddlesore swagger, legs apart. Lenay? Surely not with a knife in the dark. Not only dishonourable but, against serrin, likely fatal. Lenays knew serrin too well. But there were only two serrin here…

  And now as she sat here, he was past her, advancing into the darkness of the kitchen she'd just left. She should have jumped down and killed him, but that was awkward, and Rhillian was outside waiting for her. Aisha would deal with him. Probably Aisha was the cause of that last sound of dying. Where the hells was Yasmyn?

  She slipped out the window, had difficulty sighting the ground, but jumped anyway and landed on turf. There was a little more light outside, perhaps from a sliver of moon. A large oak made a great sillhouette, and a tangle of hedges blocked the view of the river. She could hear it though, a deep murmur of water. Where was Rhillian?

  Sasha drew her blade once more and edged along the wall. A wooden fence adjoined the wall, frustratingly—it was rickety, overgrown with bushes, and would be hard to climb silently in the dark. As she looked for a way over, a shadow against the fence abruptly moved, and only the emerald flash of eyes stopped Sasha from swinging.

  Rhillian pulled Sasha into a crouch against the fence and pointed over her shoulder. At first, Sasha saw only varying shades of dark. Then a shape moved. Rhillian's finger moved also, to another spot. Against a tree, an odd formation of trunk…with legs. Another move, then another.

  “I see fifteen,” Rhillian whispered in Sasha's ear. “There will be more.” Their scouts were in the building. If they did not return soon, they would attack.

  “Who are they?” Sasha murmured.

  “Kazeri.”

  Horsemen of Kazerak. The rumours had said they were on their way. Sasha had envisioned an army of wild men on horses…this must be an advance party. And she realised that if they took a direct line from Kazerak through Rakani and Tournea, it would take them directly through these lands.

  “I will go through them,” said Rhillian. “You take advantage of the confusion.”

  “One against fifteen?”

  Rhillian kissed her cheek. “Remember Leyvaan,” she said. “This way, there is a hole.”

  She led Sasha to an unseen hole in the fence, and Sasha did think of King Leyvaan, the last king of the united Bacosh throne, who had advanced too fast into the forests of the Telesil foothills in Saalshen, and lost an entire army. The fighting then had been mostly by night. For humans, against serrin, it was unwise.

  Sasha crouched behind bushes as Rhillian crept forward, and lost herself in the tangle of fruit trees, long grass, and weeds. Sasha wished she could see beyond Rhillian, downstream to the town's main bridge. The bridge. Why did the thought of it make her uneasy?

  She peered through the bushes. Rhillian would be killing Kazeri by now. Sasha wondered how many she would get before the Kazeri realised what was happening. But the Kazeri Army was coming in the tens of thousands, surely. Small scouting groups were one thing, but this country was notoriously unfriendly to invaders. And what were the odds that the Kazeri just happened to stumble upon them like this? What if it was no coincidence? In that case, if they knew exactly who they were after, and why, surely they'd have sent far more men than this to deal with them?

  The hair rose on her arms, and the fear of knives in the night was replaced by something more. She wished Rhillian would hurry. A bell rang. Then rang again. It came from the temple to Sasha's rear, and very loudly. Distant voices shouted. Ahead of her shadows began to move. Steel flashed, and one fell.

  Yells and shouts from ahead of her now, as men spun to confront the threat. Another fell, then another, with a scream, and no clash of defensive steel. Sasha ran.

  Men scattered in the night, searching for the ghost that killed them. Sasha came upon one with his back turned, killed him, then nearly collided with a running second, ducking away as he swung at her in panic. She stumbled on low bushes, unseen in the dark, and saw another man coming at her from the side…but that man staggered as a flying knife skewered his ribs.

  Another ran past blindly, then one following him was suddenly separated from his head as though the dark itself had come alive and killed him. Sasha stared about wildly, dropping to one knee to make a smaller profile, hearing now yells and fighting from within the buildings. Aisha had awoken people, or someone had. They would make for the stables, and get the horses.

  She heard more shouts, from over by the river. And now she could hear hooves. Many hooves, a large group of horses, moving fast. The sound came from the bridge. Now she realised why the thought of the bridge had made her anxious. Any force of horses coming down that road would be on them in no time. And if these men were just an advance party to check and see if the target were in fact present…

  “Rhillian!” she yelled, and took off running for the road, ducking between trees and bushes, and hoping she wouldn't trip on something.

  She ran between the property wall and the temple building, tangled trees giving way to vegetable patches and a paved path, then emerged onto the dirt road. She accelerated to a full sprint, heading across the building's front for the stables, as new light flooded from windows. Racing footsteps behind told her she was being followed, and she looked, but it was Rhillian, gaining on longer legs. Further behind them, hooves were now thundering.

  Sasha rounded the corner into the stable yards, and found two men already ahorse, wheeling circles to keep six Kazeri at bay. She raced into them without pausing, faked a swing at one to buy a rider time, then dropped to slide long in the dirt and take another's leg in passing. Another Kazeri was wrestling with a horse's reins, the horse's head between himself and the rider, as one more circled to take the rider's flank…. Sasha rushed that man, fake-stepped and cut him through the middle. The first Kazeri abandoned the horse's reins and retreated, only to be slashed from behind by the second rider. Another Kazeri fell to Rhillian's fast-arriving blade, and the remaining two fled.

  “Big force of horses coming down on us!” Sasha told the riders—Kiel and Arendelle, she now registered.

  “We'll distract them,” said Kiel, and kicked his horse's sides to gallop onto the road. Arendelle nocked an arrow to his bowstring as Sasha and Rhillian raced into the stables. Some cavalrymen were there, saddling fast, but Sasha knew there was no time for it.

  “Get as many as you can and ride along the river!” she shouted, untethering her own horse and leaping astride bareback. “There's too many coming, you have to run!”

  “If we're separated head for Ilduur!” Rhillian added, leaping astride her own horse.

  “Rhillian, you stay and escort,” Sasha retorted, grasping a handful of mane. “You're no rider bareback!”

  She galloped off, tearing into the street, having no confidence that Rhillian would listen. Townsfolk were on the road now, with lanterns, torches, and weapons. Sasha galloped, sword in hand, and realised that she herself was not the equal of good cavalrymen in combat, however superior her horsemanship. Bareback, she was useless.

  Ahead, dimly lit by torchlight, she could see Kiel's and Arendelle's horses on the road. Both men were firing arrow after arrow into oncoming cavalry, felling several as those behind swerved. The serrin turned their horses and retreated, twisting in their saddles to fire backward as only serrin knew how, felling more pursuers. Kazeri cavalry dodged, and several collided, finding such accuracy in the dark disconcerting.

  Sasha saw a chance and tore past the serrin, cutting across the roa
d and onto a grassy verge, Kazeri startling in astonishment as she galloped by. She did not bother to swing at them, but headed for the first side road, turned with a yank of her animal's mane, and galloped on. Looking over her shoulder, she found at least five chasing her. But here away from the main road there were few sources of light, only a dull outline of winding road between squat houses.

  She took the next turn, determined to get back to the temple. She nearly hit a tree, her horse startling in fear and trying to slow, head tossing and disliking running at this speed in the dark even more than she did. Sasha kicked desperately as the hooves behind came closer still.

  Suddenly there were village folk with lanterns ahead at the intersection of two roads. In that spill of light, a horse stood silhouetted, and astride it, a serrin aimed his bow directly at her. It was Kiel. For a brief moment, she recalled the deck of the ship in Petrodor Harbour, Kiel's bow drawn, his arrow aimed for her heart, only missing because Errollyn took the arrow himself. Now he fired, and once more the arrow streaked straight for her, with terrifying precision. Sasha ducked, but the arrow was aimed two hands from her ear, and buzzed like an angry wasp.

  Behind her, a Kazeri toppled from the saddle. Kiel drew again and dropped a second. Sasha pulled her horse to a halt, as behind her the remaining Kazeri also halted, confronted with the terror of serrin archery for perhaps the first time in their lives. Kiel drew a third time, and they fled. Kiel placed that arrow between the last man's shoulder blades with a satisfying thud.

  “Follow me,” said Kiel, and wheeled his horse. Sasha followed. He galloped between small houses and little groups of frightened, running townsfolk, many with weapons. Toward the main road, Sasha saw large fires beginning to burn, and heard the sounds of fighting. It was big. Staying in town was not an option, and leaving would likely serve the villagers best also, assuming the Kazeri were after their guests and not the village itself.

  Kiel led them clattering down a side lane, then through an open paddock gate, past a farmhouse and barking dogs. Soon they reached the tree line and the foot of the hills. There they paused, briefly, and stared back toward the town. Still the bell clanged, and fires burned high into the night. Sasha could hear no more intense fighting, only the occasional yell, and the endless barking of dogs. Whether that was because all the townsfolk were dead, or the Kazeri had abandoned town in pursuit of their main quarry, she did not know. Neither possibility appealed.

  “Probably fortunate they attack at night,” said Kiel. “Horse tracks are easy to follow by day, but not for humans at night. Now we can make ground and not be followed.”

  Sasha wondered if their friends would be so fortunate. It depended on whether Rhillian, Aisha, and Arendelle were still with them, to guide them in the dark.

  “Arendelle was well when you separated from him?” Sasha asked.

  “Yes. He went to help the others. I came to help you.”

  “Why?”

  Sasha's eyes were good enough now that she could see Kiel's dry smile.

  “We are practical,” he said, with irony. “You fight well.”

  “You too.”

  “Friendship,” said Kiel, even more drily. “How nice.”

  “Rhillian will have crossed the river at the next bridge,” said Sasha, ignoring his tone. “That way the Kazeri cannot trap her against the river. But it now puts the river between us and her.”

  “We know where she's going,” said Kiel. “Let's get there before her. We cannot ambush that Kazeri force, it's too big, but we can make certain Rhillian will not be ambushed by another one. If that is just the vanguard for the Kazeri Army…”

  “If the Kazeri Army comes down on top of us, there's not a lot we can do.”

  “No,” Kiel agreed. “But we can make fast for Ilduur, and hope they are late.”

  They rode uphill in the dark, and then along the ridge at a walk. Sasha wanted to contribute a route, having had far more experience riding in hills than Kiel, but whatever moon there was hid behind thick cloud, and she could barely see the trees as they passed. She thought it was past midnight, but could not tell. The horses plodded on despite exhaustion, and Sasha wondered how she was going to be able to reach Ilduur with no saddle or bridle, no saddlebags and no supplies. She doubted any of their company would be better off, should they reunite.

  By dawn, she, Kiel, and the horses were exhausted. Then it began to rain. They both decided the rain offered the best excuse to stop and rest. Kiel had managed to saddle his horse, and Sasha wondered if he'd awoken early as Rhillian and Aisha had. He produced a blanket from his saddlebags, and covered them both with it as they made a nest between the roots of a big tree. The leaves offered cover at first, yet soon the rain grew heavier, and the blanket began to soak. Comfortably taller, Kiel wrapped his arms around her to warm them both.

  “I wish I knew how to sleep on the ground,” he said with discomfort. “Errollyn can. But like Rhillian, I'm a city serrin, and I like my bed.”

  Sasha said nothing, fast asleep.

  The morning cleared to drifting mist and dripping branches, golden sunlight fighting through the cloud. More rested than Kiel, Sasha led the horses to a stream for watering, then picked a good trail up a hillside ridge from where she reckoned a decent lookout could be gained.

  Above the southern horizon, the outline of jagged mountains rose. That way was Ilduur, their destination. In the maze of surrounding rumpled forest and valleys, Sasha made out the course of the river they'd left, and where she figured the road would take Rhillian, assuming Rhillian had followed it. The Kazeri, she was quite sure, would have stopped for the night having lost their quarry.

  After gaining her bearings, she prepared to remount and saw Kiel frowning toward the western horizon.

  “What is it?” she asked. Kiel said nothing, squinting into the distance. Serrin, Sasha knew, saw further by day also. Sasha waited. Finally Kiel prepared to mount, looking grim. “What?” Sasha repeated.

  “An army,” said Kiel. “You'll not see it, I can barely make it out myself. That ridge there, beyond the yellow fields.”

  Sasha looked. It was not too far. Perhaps a half-day's ride. “Heading which way?” she asked in alarm.

  “Northeast. Toward our retreating armies. They move along a road, I can see the road where it crests the ridge. Horsemen pass in a steady flow.”

  Horsemen. The Steel and the Army of Lenayin had large numbers of infantry, far slower.

  “They'll be on them in a few days, if that.”

  “We cannot help that,” Kiel said grimly. “Our mission remains unchanged; we must reach Ilduur, and hope our forces can fight their way to Jahnd.”

  They reached the road by midday. There were hoof marks on the turf, no way of telling whose, but headed south, toward Ilduur. Sasha and Kiel followed until a band of townsfolk arrived, all armed and frightened, with tales of a great army passing near, and none of the Steel in any position to intercept it. They moved fast, one grizzled ex-Steel cavalryman told them, too fast for warning, all ahorse and numbering in the tens of thousands. Small bands scouted ahead, causing mayhem where they rode.

  Asking after their companions brought gestures aimed further up the road. Sasha risked a canter, making ground rapidly until they came to another small village nestled in the valley folds. There waiting for them ahorse was Arendelle, lowering his bow as he recognised who approached. He led them wordlessly to the town square, where gathered another nine of their previously twenty-six-strong party, dishevelled and some wounded, assisted by frightened village folk.

  Sasha exchanged a relieved embrace with a grim-looking Rhillian, then Aisha, sitting with a village elder discussing the road ahead. Both appeared unhurt.

  “This is all?” Sasha asked in dismay, looking around.

  “Some more may turn up, like you,” Rhillian said. “But we're certain of eight dead. The other six, I don't know.”

  Sasha exhaled hard. More than half of their party dead or missing before they'd truly begun travell
ing. Most of the horses were saddled; Sasha guessed they'd received some from the villagers, but their reserve horses were gone.

  “Pelner is too badly wounded to continue,” said Rhillian. “We'll have to leave him here and hope he survives. The village folk have camps in the hills and forests, and they can hide there for weeks. Daish is hurt, but he insists on continuing. He knows Ilduur well, so I'm inclined to risk it.”

  “How did they know where we were?” Sasha muttered. “I can't believe they just got lucky.”

  “We'll think about it later,” said Rhillian. “Let's rest here for a little longer, then we'll push on. Whether the Kazeri were lucky or not, they'll have guessed where we're heading now. They'll chase us hard.”

  Sasha went to check on Daish. He was being tended by Yasmyn, who had herself a bloodied bandage on one hip beneath her riding pants. Daish sat shirtless, bound about the ribs with a bandage, a patch of blood on his left side.

  “Stab wound?” Sasha asked, crouching alongside.

  Yasmyn nodded, slicing spare cloth into bandage strips with her darak. “Past the bone, I think,” she said. “I don't think it found a lung, though.”

  Sasha put a hand on Daish's shoulder. He smiled, wanly. “I got him though,” he said. “I skewered him right through the middle, that slanty-eyed piece of shit.” Then he blinked at Yasmyn. “No offence.”

  Yasmyn made a face. “Common ancestor, Kazeri, Isfayen. Lisan too, most likely. Long time ago, Kazeri were great warriors, spread across Rhodia. Now they're just plain-dwellers and sheep herders without even enough sense to build a roof over their heads, dreaming of ancient greatness. When they meet the Army of Lenayin, their numbers will decrease.”

  “Where were you last night?” Sasha asked her. “I couldn't find you.”

  Yasmyn showed Sasha some fresh scars on her forearm. Self-inflicted, Sasha thought. “The arganyar, it demands blood. My enemies’ blood I have given to the gods; now I give them more each night for a week. I do the ritual outside. When I saw men sneaking. I hid.”