If Crows Know Best (Mage of Merced Book 1)

by Aimee Gross

  Annora drew a chair to sit by my side. “What can you tell us? We are in desperate need of news.”

  “As am I,” he sighed.

  “Yes clearly, if you’ve come here to speak to a man who is months-gone to the western borderlands.” Annora laid a hand on my arm, and she was right. I had to get myself reined in; my flash of anger aided us in no way at all.

  His lips twisted in a grimace. “Our military is some time out of the business of war, and more suited to rendering help in times of natural disaster. We are more constabulary than warriors, these days. Rounding up brigands, sand bagging against rising floodwaters—such are our tasks nowadays. Our ranks are depleted, thus the conscription drive the little one described. Communication is not what it should be.”

  I grunted agreement with that.

  He continued, “If Fenn Lebannen marched with them to see the marshal at the border fort, word was not sent to us farther up the coast. Now, was this because he did not arrive, or because our couriers have not spread the necessary messages to all troops? We have heard nothing from the western border since word that Keltanese troops were gathering in preparation for attack.”

  “I’m feeling worse all the time,” I said.

  He laid his right hand palm down on the table. “This is Merced, and this, where you live near the northwest border.” He indicated the top knuckle on his first finger. He laid the other hand alongside the first, thumbs butted together. “Here is the neighboring country of Keltane, landlocked for most of its breadth with only steep cliffs where it comes to the sea, well to the north of Merced. Long have their sovereigns coveted our deep water harbour, so that their trade need not be transported through the mountain passes and delayed so by treaties and letters of passage permit.”

  “Has it not been so for many years?” Annora said, looking down at his hands.

  “Indeed, Donah. Yet the word we have received tells that Keltane moves against us, their king claims it is their right and destiny to take our country as part of their own. We will fight to avoid conquest and occupation.”

  He sat silent for a moment, looking at his own hands. Then, “Trade goes through the western pass, in large part. If that way of attack is met by our massed troops, such as we can muster, then lesser passes will be used by our enemy. And you,” here he lifted his first finger on his right hand, where he had said we lived, “are in the path of that line of attack, with the northwest pass in the mountains above you.”

  Would Da have left us here if that was the likeliest way of the coming battle? I wondered. He had told me how to prepare, though, and counted on me to keep Annora and Morie safe.

  “What did you want with Da?” I asked.

  “In fact, I was sent to ask him for his insight, and to request he accompany my troops to the west to learn what transpires there. As paladin, he has experience we sorely need. I must know what he told you, boy, and whether his plan was to send your brother back with news for you.” Behring set his palms together at his chin and rested his elbows on the table, waiting.

  Annora gave a soft moan. Thinking what it meant that we had seen nothing of Wils’s return with any message? In any case, that was what came to my mind.

  I made my decision. “Da told me he went to find out from the marshal what was happening to the west. He did not say why he brought Wils along, but I thought it was to fight if war was what they found. He told me to prepare places to go to ground near here, if it came to that. If fighting came near to home. But I don’t think he believed it so likely, since the northwest pass is the highest. It is the first to snow in, and the last to clear in the spring.”

  “Yet we have such unseasonable weather,” the officer mused. “It suggests the uncanny. When are the first snows usually come?”

  “Most years, a month past. Or more.”

  “And you mentioned, Donah, so many occurrences out of season. Aside from River Fever.” This remark caused me to grimace. “A boy, and a woman and child are not safe here. You must pack only the barest necessities and head for the coast. Else how will Fenn Lebannen greet me when I find him, if I must tell him I left his family in harm’s way?”

  “How can we leave? We have stock and work to do—”

  “Who will care for your stock when you are gone to ground?” he countered. “Boy, you cannot hide from an army in some shepherd’s hut. If the attack should come from over the mountains; the safest place for you is away down to the sea.”

  He’ll be leaving in the morning, anyway, I thought. If enemy soldiers were going to come pouring over the pass, at least it would not happen in the dark tonight. He still had his task of finding Da; he and his men were not the ones who would set up an encampment here. “Will our army send troops here, to block an attack over the pass?” I asked.

  “I cannot say with any certainty, but I would suppose that some fortification will be thought wise, if there are enough men to spare. It falls to others in our army to make such decisions. And to implement them.”

  “Please,” Annora burst out. “Do you at least know if fighting has started west? Could my husband have been hurt? Or … or killed?”

  “Donah, I can only say we have not been told of their troops crossing the border. Not yet. Keep him in your prayers.”

  “Always,” she whispered. But I’m sure she heard, as I did, that Behring didn’t say he knew the fighting had not started, he said he had not been told that it had.

  “Give us the night to think on our plan,” I said. “If we must move, we will.”

  He seemed to accept this as evidence he had persuaded us, and stood to leave for the stable. “I would that I could offer to guard your journey. My orders point another way. I have always thought high of your father, boy, and wish I could do him that favor.” He sketched the hand-to-heart salute, and turned to go through the front door into a gust of cold damp.

  “Stop calling me boy,” I said to the closed door. And to Annora, “Go on up to bed. I’ll make sure Wieser is put on watch, and we’ll talk about this more at dawn. Send them off with cheese and apples, not a hot meal, eh?”

  “I know I fed them over well,” Annora said. “Only I hoped someone, somewhere might be doing the same for Wils, is all.”

  CHAPTER 7

  I endured a restless night, though Wieser sounded no alarm. As I rolled over yet again, I mulled my options. Da would not have left us here if he thought the pass was a threat to our safe havens out of war’s way at the caves. True, Da had not been here to see the past months’ curious happenings. Neither had Behring, he just noted the snows were overdue. Further, the officer had chased up here to talk to a man long gone to the west border. His information was cold hash indeed, to my mind. I would not rely on it.

  At first suggestion of light, I met Annora at the kitchen garden gate, each of us setting about our morning tasks as customary. In no longer than it took to cross the yard together, I told her about the caves and supplies, that I wanted to bring Virda up with us, and that I wanted the soldiers to think we were getting ready this morning to head to the coast as directed. “I trust what Da told me to do for you and Morie, more than I trust any other,” I said.

  “I agree,” she said at once. “What shall we do to send them off with the impression we make ready to travel?”

  “You get their food ready, then pack food for us where they will see you setting it out. Gather some clothes for yourself and Morie, as well. I’ll let the goats into the hayfield, and decide what to do with the chickens, all that.” I put out my hand to touch her arm as she turned away, and said when she turned back to me, “I cannot offer to bring your aunt and uncle and cousins with us. I’m sorry. I don’t think we can even get word to them of what’s happening today.”

  “The last thought they gave to me was when I went out their front gate, Judian. This is my family now.”

  She gave me a nod and set off to collect eggs. I pulled the cover off the wagon and let down the latched back as though I prepared to load. Soldiers began to yawn and st
retch their way out the barn door, on the way to wash up at the pump. As they seemed unsurprised to see me up and about, I supposed the officer had told them not to fear River Fever would spread to them from me. Several nodded to me, and I returned the wordless greeting. You’ll soon be on your way, I thought, and happy I am to see the back of you.

  We passed an uncomfortable hour while they made ready to set out. The polite soldier thanked Annora again for feeding him and his fellows, as if she had been playing hostess. But perhaps she thought again of Wils having to rely on strangers’ kindness somewhere, so she sent a distracted smile in his direction while gathering our cloaks and woolens. He stared after her too long as she walked away. Better for me if she was not so pretty, she attracts too much regard, I thought sourly.

  I found the lidded basket used for the fox kits on their journey to us, and gave it to Morie as transport for Murr.

  “Where are we going?” she asked, yawning hugely. “Murr won’t like being in a basket for long.”

  “He’ll take a lot of naps,” I told her. “This way he won’t get lost.”

  “Are we going to find Da and Wils with the soldier man?”

  “No. Don’t ask so many questions, or you’ll use up all your allotted talking for the day before the sun even rises all the way.” I certainly wasn’t going to tell her anything she could pass on to her soldier man friend.

  Loath to admit she did not know what a talking allotment might be, or that she had one, she dubiously put the basket over her arm and went to look for Murr.

  This must be said for Officer Behring: he organized his men and mounted his horse in quick order. They headed down the steep stony path to the road before the morning mist began to clear. The last thing he said to us was, “Do not linger. Make your start as soon as ever you can!” He raised a hand to us and pulled his horse’s head around to the road, not waiting for an answer.

  My next tasks—turn the mule, horses and goats out, and shoo the chickens into the garden where they could forage in our absence. Annora gathered the remaining cheese and bread to bring with us. I decided to take us to the nearest cave, which was the farthest from the pass route but closest to a cliff that overlooked it. Once I settled Annora and Morie there, I would return for Virda and we would all be tucked up by nightfall.

  “I don’t want to walk, I want to ride in the wagon,” Morie said. Her lower lip pushed out.

  “I can’t be saving your life all the time without you helping along a little,” I groused, picking her up to carry. Annora handed her Iggle, newly dressed in a small cloak to match Morie’s own. This so delighted Morie that she let me put her atop my shoulders and set off up the trail, with Annora toting Murr in his basket and Wieser walking alongside. I looked over for a last glimpse of home before we lost sight entering the trees, and said a prayer we would find it as we left it, on our return.

  ###

  Morie found the cave an adventure, and set her bedroll and candle on a rock shelf, with a scrap of wool spread next to her for Iggle. Murr stalked shadows and pounced on dust motes at our feet while I showed Annora where I stowed our supplies. She astonished me by hugging me of a sudden and saying, “Oh, Judian, you are a wonder!” I left as quick as I could to go fetch Virda.

  I left Wieser on guard at the cave, so I had no one to hear me practice what I would say to Virda, not wanting to walk down the path talking to myself. Talking to a dog was perhaps no better, if I had met anyone, but I was alone the whole way. Our soldiers were long gone, and none of the enemy troops marched on the trail, yet.

  I found Virda washing clothes, which I hoped were not the clothes she would want to bring. To her credit, she listened to my hurried tale of soldiers and the threat of the northwest pass, nodded once and made ready to travel. Her geese and goats I turned out as I had our stock. “As long as nothing happens, I’ll come down to check things at your place and ours, from time to time. Mayhaps we’ll move your animals up by ours to make it easier to keep track of them,” I told her as she bustled about. She set her wet clothes over the line in a trice, and put out the hearth fire.

  “I’ll just bring a tin with some herbs to brew,” she said, “as it does my bones good of an evening.”

  “We can bring your kettle, too,” I offered, because I had forgotten to think of one.

  We set off up the hill, and though she puffed a little as we climbed, she never complained. And not once did she call me poor lamb. I could not help but feel I was making the right choice, in taking us all to the cave.

  CHAPTER 8

  We passed the time until the moon waxed full, cooking stealthily once I determined the fire’s smoke could not be seen. The cave’s draft drew it deeper into the mountain. The earth spirit-folk left us be, and Virda became the one in charge of refilling their water cup and seed bag. Murr might have found some of them a time or two, but his yowl and hiss as he erupted out of the dark corners told me the kavsprit could fend for themselves where he was concerned.

  I feared Morie would be frightened living in the cave, but she took to it as if we shared a home of charming comfort. She never complained of the night chill or of having to go out into the woods to tend to herself. Always, Annora or Virda went with her, to keep watch over her and make sure she did not do her necessaries too close to the watershed for the stream we used for water.

  I began to feel safe in our haven. Evening was coming on one day, and Annora had taken Morie out to the woods just before I set off to walk the perimeter with Wieser. I heard Virda humming as I left, while she prepared simple food for us in the cave, expecting us back before sunset.

  I always walked far enough to see our side of the pass once each day, to be sure no troops advanced on us. I had seen no activity there save for deer and crows, and found no boot prints or shod hoof prints when I ventured closer to the track. This day, I was behind my usual time and did not go close enough to check the path for spoor, but only looked from the high ground. Wieser and I turned to make our way back as the shadows lengthened, and the twilight chill began to gather.

  We swung wide around the meadow below the cave entrance, where the stream was met by a freshet in a deep creek bed. We crossed on a downed tree trunk that spanned the banks, and continued through the woods, noting nothing unusual.

  It wasn’t until Wieser and I turned north again, just coming out of the trees into the meadow, that I saw them. Two soldiers on horseback, in the wine-colored tabards of Keltane. Armed. Wieser and I stopped as one, and faded back into the trees. We were downslope and downwind. That much was good. They were not far from where Annora and Morie might yet be in the woods’ edge. That made my heart mount up my throat.

  I sank behind a wide rock and nearby tree bole, and spoke softly to Wieser. “Go back across the creek and get to the cave from behind. Keep Virda inside out of sight. I’ll find Annora and Morie.” She gave me that look of understanding I would never be able to explain to anyone who hadn’t seen it, and slipped back the way we had come. She made no sound as she moved. I hoped I could do the same.

  I edged around the meadow’s verge, keeping to the dappled dimness in the trees. The soldiers rode across the grass toward the stream, and let their horses lower their heads to drink, just where Annora often lay on her belly and convinced fish to leap on the bank to become our supper. I was behind the horsemen now, but with too much open country between me and the path to the cave. If Annora and Morie were still in the woods, their route back to the cave would cross the soldiers’ line of sight. My hands were shaking when I rubbed them on my thighs. How to keep us all safe?

  The horses lifted their heads, trailing drops from their lips in the slanting light. One made a try for a mouthful of grass but was jerked up short by its rider. No time to browse, because they were scouting?

  Why only two men? Where were others, if there was a troop? I faded further back as the two turned toward the northwest pass. When they started across the meadow I doubled back to the side where the girls might be. If only I knew if the two
girls were already back at the cave. Their whereabouts were what I should have asked Wieser to find out, I realized too late.

  I went deeper into the trees so I could move faster, since the horsemen were taking their time going across the meadow. I reached a downed tree laying in the beginnings of the grass and found Annora crouched behind it, frantic-eyed. Morie was not with her.

  “Where?” I whispered, sinking beside her. “Morie?” I said, when she did not answer. Annora pointed to the boulder at the stream’s opposite bank. I could just see Morie’s brown curls at its crest. “She was sitting in the sun when they came. I had crossed to fill the jar.” She gestured at her feet where the water jar lay on its side. “I only had time to signal to her to hide. I’ve been holding my breath, since I can’t see where they’ve gone.”

  “Headed to the pass. If we just stay hidden, all will be well.”

  “No—” Annora seized my arm. “Oh, baby, stay down …stay down.”

  Morie had lifted her head to peek over the boulder’s top. The men would see her, if they chanced to look back. And as if the gods were distracted and not attending to my fervent prayers, both soldiers swung their mounts about and began to patrol back our way.

  I erupted from behind the log with a shout, shoving Annora down with the arm she still grasped. Answering shouts from the men let me know they had seen and heard me, and I hared off into the woods, away from the meadow, stream and cave path. I was already bolting into the trees as they spurred their mounts after me. They would not be able to ride through the woods—would have to dismount to pursue. Now, if Morie did not run out to kick them in the ankles, I could lead them away.

  Annora was clever, she would understand and wait in hiding until she could safely get Morie away to the cave. I had to get the men far into the wood and lose them. I had to plan to make this happen while my lungs threatened to burst. I plunged through the brush and made for the thickest cover. Soon I heard them crashing behind me, calling in Keltanese for me to stop. Now that they were dismounted, where to lead them? I swung back toward the deep creek, up the ridge. When I was out of their line of sight, I shoved a rock over the edge to thump and roll down the bank then splash in the water below. I hoped they would think I had fallen in, and switched direction to cross into deeper woods.