Kalina waited silently for over ten minutes after everyone had left and then she noisily started along the path that would enter the clearing. Almost as soon as she started walking, Arik started and turned towards her. Kalina could hear the two boys talking quietly, but could not make out what they were saying. She waved to them as she got closer and called to them just as she entered the clearing. “Hello there! I seemed to have gotten lost on my morning walk.”
Neither boy called back to her, but she could see one eyeing his bow and the other looking around for the best escape route. When she got all the way into the clearing, she realized that the two boys had intentionally divided themselves so that her attention would be split between the two. She wondered whether it was the result of talking or they had done it subconsciously. She walked right up to within ten paces of Arik and stopped. “Good morning,” she began. “I am staying in Lorgo and I was taking a morning hike. I feel silly admitting this to two boys, but I have become lost. Can you point the way back to town?”
Both boys spoke at the same time and pointed to the path that their fathers had taken. “Thank you, kind Sir,” she said to Arik and turned towards Tedi. “And you, as well, Sir. That is a most beautiful necklace that you have,” she said as she walked closer. “Would you consider selling it?”
“No,” Tedi almost shouted. More reservedly, he continued, “I mean no, I would not consider parting with it.”
“Well, I don’t blame you,” Kalina cooed. “It is very beautiful. Your mother must have been a Princess. Well, thank you both again for the directions.”
Kalina headed along the path that the boys had pointed out and returned to her room at the Fisherman’s Inn. She paid no attention to Garth sitting on the front stoop or the fisherman across the street watching him.
“Well, what did you make of that?” Tedi asked.
“What do you mean?” questioned Arik. “She seemed to be what she said to me.”
“Perhaps,” Tedi pondered, “but it is not every day that a beautiful woman comes walking through the woods into this particular clearing. And why does everybody eye up my necklace?”
“It is a beautiful necklace,” commented Arik. “I never knew it was your mother’s. I always wondered why you didn’t sell it with money being tight like it is. Now I understand.”
“Does this necklace mean anything special to you?” Tedi asked.
“Special?” quizzed Arik. “I guess it is very special if it was your mom’s. I wouldn’t part with it either if it was my mom’s.”
“Yeah, well, we better get back to making plans,” Tedi said suddenly. “I was pretty surprised when our fathers didn’t object to our leaving. It is to protect them, but I still thought they would argue.”
“We are to think we are doing it to protect them,” chuckled Arik. “If you had seen your father’s face at the time you suggested it, you would probably recognize the truth.”
“What do you mean?” asked Tedi.
“They were both glad when you started to suggest us leaving,” explained Arik, “but my father had to restrain your father when you gave your reasoning. I suspect they sat and talked for a long time on the beach last night and came up with the same solution. I also suspect they have a different motivation for us leaving. For some reason they feel that they would endanger us if they came along. Neither man would subject us to harm to save himself.”
Tedi nodded slowly as Arik’s logic sunk in. What he didn’t understand was his father’s logic, but he could ponder on that later. Right now they needed to plan their journey. Arik started gathering up the belongings that were scattered around the campsite and came to a halt by his blanket. He bent down and picked up a gold ring that hadn’t been there before. Tedi looked over and asked, “What is that? Where did you find it?”
“It was on top of my blanket,” Arik stated. “It must be that woman’s. Did she say what inn she was staying at?”
“Don’t be a fool, Arik!” Tedi scolded. “You can’t possibly be thinking of returning it? What better way to lure us into her trap then to make us feel obligated to come to her?”
Arik at first thought that Tedi was just arguing to keep the ring, but by the time Tedi stopped speaking, he realized the truth of his friend’s statements. “You’re right,” Arik agreed. “We can leave it with our fathers and if she is still in town after we leave, they can return it to her. I have to learn to start thinking skeptically like you.”
“You’re darn right about that,” laughed Tedi. “If what your father said was true, everybody is out to kill us and your father doesn’t lie.”
“All right,” Arik said while slipping the ring on his finger, “let’s figure out where we are going before our fathers come back and we can’t talk about it.”
* * * *
Garth entered the Fisherman’s Inn and walked up to his room. Kalina was sitting at the small table staring at her hands. “I think I gave him enough of a viewing that he is convinced that I’m not up to anything today,” Garth stated.
“That’s good,” Kalina replied, “because they are heading south at first light. They plan to travel along the beach as far as they can because it will be low tide and their tracks will be washed away in the course of an hour. Neither of these boys are stupid, Garth. They both show a remarkable intelligence and a strong determination. Our own plans must be fool-proof.”
“They may be smart,” agreed Garth, “but they are still boys. I suspect that the Black Riders might be here as early as tomorrow morning.”
“We will leave here this afternoon and camp a few miles south tonight,” Kalina ordered.
“As you command,” chuckled Garth, “always as you command. You shall make a fine General someday.”
“One doesn’t need to be a great General when you know what your opponent is going to do next,” chuckled Kalina. “That damn Arik was actually going to try to find me so he could return the ring. They plan to leave it with their fathers, but if you read Konic properly, he’ll insist the boys keep it as a reserve in case they run out of money.”
“That he will do,” smiled Garth.
“There is also a Locating Spell on Tedi’s necklace,” frowned Kalina. “I can sense it, but I cannot break it. As long as he wears the necklace, the caster will be able to find him and there is not much we can do about it.”
“Do you think it is Wolinda’s spell?” asked Garth.
“There is really no way of knowing,” admitted Kalina. “We will just have to be prepared for whatever comes.”
* * * *
“You fools!” shouted the witch. “I don’t care how tired your men were, you are to follow my orders. Perhaps you would prefer taking orders from an ogre.”
The Dark Rider shuddered at the thought of taking orders from an ogre. There were too many stories about what happened to a person who disobeyed an ogre order and most of them centered on being eaten by the ogre. “A thousand pardons, Mistress Wolinda,” bowed the Dark Rider. “I wanted the men in top form to assure your success. We will ride like the wind to make up for lost time.”
“That you will,” scolded Wolinda. “We return to Lorgo immediately. I want those two boys and I will have them if I have to tear the town apart. And I will accept no more disobedience from you.”
“I hear and obey, Mistress,” the Dark Rider submitted as he bowed his way out of the tent.
* * * *
“The bandit rode out of town about an hour ago,” Alan Markel reported. “He didn’t seem to be in a hurry.”
“Well, that’s one less problem to worry about,” remarked Tedi. “I think we are all set for our journey tomorrow morning.”
“Alan and I will go fishing early,” stated Konic. “No one should suspect that tomorrow is any different from any other day. I did check all of the inns looking for your mysterious woman, Arik, but she was not to be found. Master Tern said there was a woman staying there last night who fit your description, but she left around noon. Keep the ring as a reserve of money
. If you run out, don’t hesitate to sell it and use the proceeds. If the woman comes back here for her ring, Alan and I will promise to make amends to her. I shouldn’t worry about it, though. The ring probably has little significance to her.”
“I suggest we all get a full measure of sleep tonight,” Arik declared. “It’s not likely anyone will bother us. Everyone who has been interested in us has left and we will all have a full day ahead us tomorrow.”
Everyone agreed and slept without a guard. Alan and Konic were up before the first lightening of the sky and had breakfast ready by the time the boys awoke. Farewells were short but sentimental and the two fishermen left the clearing before the boys had finished breakfast.
Arik and Tedi each sported a long duffel bag as well as their bows, quiver, and knife. Each wore gray woolen breeches and a hooded tunic with a brown leather vest over the top. Short soft-soled boots, newly resoled, completed their outfits. The boys waited until Konic’s boat disappeared in the distance before heading south along the beach. They walked where the sand was still dry, but close enough to the surf that they knew the prints would be washed away within the hour.
The coastline wove out to points and in to create bays, greatly shortening the distance along the coast that one could see at any particular time. The boys did not see any other people, yet they walked on in silence, each lost in his own thoughts. There had been no opportunity to say goodbye to their friends in the town because they could not chance the possibility that someone might come looking for them. Each of the boys dealt with the departure in his own way.
Around midday the coastline started to turn rocky and the boys chose to turn inland and seek a path through the forest. The further filtering of sunlight made the dense forest dark and foreboding. Neither of the boys had ever been this far from Lorgo and emotions of excitement mingled with the fear of the unknown. The birds chirped and sang merrily seemingly unaware of the troubles that plagued the world. Twice the boys sidetracked to the sound of small animals and ended up with a quail and a rabbit for dinner later that day. The trail started slowly climbing and when the boys finally entered a small clearing, it was already well past the last light of day. The darkness of the forest had obscured the setting of the light. Wearily and without comment the boys set about starting a fire and cooking dinner. Arik could hear the pounding of the waves, but the sound was distant and below them. Quietly the boys ate and went to sleep.
* * * *
Wolinda rode into town wearing a red silk riding dress and surrounded by twenty Dark Riders. This time she didn’t plan on being subtle with the townspeople. She would not pose as a traveler and she would not ask her questions slyly. She wanted the two boys and no townsperson was going to deny her. The few people in the streets immediately fled as she rode into town. Business doors closed and shutters were flung shut. Mothers dragged their youngsters into their houses. Within moments, Lorgo very much appeared a ghost town; the only sound was hooves echoing off the buildings.
The first stop was the Fisherman’s Inn. Esta Tern saw them coming and ordered all of the workers out the back door. There were no customers in the common room as the midday meal was an hour past and when Wolinda and her group stormed into the inn, only Esta was there to greet them.
Wolinda stood in the common room glaring at Esta. “Where are the two runts?” she demanded.
Esta swallowed deeply, sweat already forming on his brow. “I don’t know, Mistress,” he croaked.
At a signal from Wolinda, two Dark Riders moved towards the innkeeper. One grabbed his left arm and twisted it behind Esta’s back. The other produced a large hunting knife and held it to Master Tern’s neck, the point drawing a small pinprick of blood. “I don’t know is not good enough, innkeeper,” Wolinda scowled. “I want the two boys and you will tell me where they are.”
“I can not tell you what I do not know, Mistress,” pleaded Master Tern. “If I knew, surely I would tell you. The boys mean nothing to me.”
Wolinda smiled as she nodded to the Dark Riders. The Dark Rider pushed up on Esta’s arm and the sharp crack of bones reverberated through the room. Esta howled with pain and his movement caused a cut on his neck from the knife blade being held by the other Dark Rider.”
Master Tern’s eyes rolled with pain and his legs weakened, even as he tried to remain still to avoid further damage from the knife. He gritted his teeth as he grunted his reply. “As well I know they have left the town. I heard stories that they went north for adventure, but I do not know for sure. The tall boy brings rabbits every morning, but the last two days he has not come around. Sometimes he goes fishing with his father, but I know he did not today or yesterday. I know nothing further. My only association with the boy is buying rabbits. The other boy is a lay-about and I have no association with him. Kill me if you must, but I know nothing more.”
Wolinda scowled and stormed out the door into the street. The Dark Riders followed after tossing Esta to the floor. His scream of pain could be heard clearly in all of the rooms in the inn. When the customers were sure that the Dark Riders had left they slowly filed down to the common room to help the innkeeper.
Wolinda led the Dark Riders down to the waterfront. She sent six into Arik’s house and six into Tedi’s house with orders to find anything that might indicate relatives other than the fathers. With the rest of her henchmen, she strode along the waterfront looking for anyone that she could squeeze information from. The only person visible was a woman trying to drag her toddler into the house. Wolinda signaled two of her men and they swept the child up and seized the mother.
“I am looking for Arik Clava and Tedi Markel,” Wolinda spat. “You are going to tell me where they are or your child will try taking its next step on the bottom of the sea.” Taking Wolinda’s statement as an order, the Dark Rider with the child marched out onto a small dock and held the child over the edge.
The woman and the child starting crying together. “I know the boys,” blubbered the mother, “but I don’t know where they are. I haven’t seen them for days.”
The Dark Rider holding the child by its feet started lowering the body towards the water. When the child’s hair got wet, the mother started babbling. “I do know something that might help,” she screamed.
The man stopped lowering the child’s body and Wolinda snapped,” Well, out with it! I don’t have all day to wait.”
“I think they are planning on leaving,” she shouted. “Master Clava has been going all over town trying to raise money. He refuses to say why, but he normally has no use for money other than food and taking care of his boat. The boys haven’t been in town for days and the fathers have been sleeping in the woods. I’ve seen them coming and going down that path over there. And they were gathering things that people would want on a trip. Last night, they hauled all of the stuff into the woods and came out this morning with nothing. That’s all I know.”
Wolinda called to her men and headed towards the woods. The Dark Rider with the child let go and the child went head first into the water. The mother ran screaming out onto the dock to retrieve her child. Wolinda sent two Dark Riders ahead of her down the path. Eventually, they came to the clearing where the boys had camped.
“They camped here for several days,” one of the men stated. “The only useful tracks are back the way we came and towards the sea. Whatever tracks there were by the sea have been washed away.”
“They think they are being clever,” chuckled Wolinda. “Letting the sea cover their tracks would be a good trick if the choice of which direction they went was greater than two. If they went north, they would end up back in town. Get the rest of the men and the horses, we head south.”
“We will not make good time on the beach,” mentioned one of the men. “Why not send a couple of trackers down the beach and the rest of us can use the coastal highway. If they left this morning, we will not catch them today, but the trackers can tell us where they left the beach. Tomorrow we will have them located and captured.”
> Wolinda gave the man an appraising look. “See to it,” she stated, “and see if anyone in this town has a map.” Wolinda turned back down the path towards town.
* * * *
Garth finished his exercises and wiped the sweat from his body with a towel. Exercising by himself was never as satisfying as sparring with a partner, but Kalina was not one for swordplay. Still, Garth needed to keep fit and every night he exercised at least an hour. He turned towards the wagon and campfire and saw Kalina still sitting by the fire with a frown on her face. “What’s the matter?” he quizzed. “Surely it is not real trouble or you would be more agitated, but something is bothering you.”
“You will get no observation awards for that guess, Garth,” she smiled. “It’s the ring. I had hoped to find out more of their plans, but they haven’t said two words the entire day. Wherever they are, I can hear the surf. From the sounds of setting up camp, I gather they walked on into the night, but that does not give me a good idea where they are.”
“Does the sound get louder when you get closer?” Garth inquired. “If it does, perhaps we can move around until we draw nearer to them.”
“No, it doesn’t work that way,” she replied. “The sound varies depending on the distance the sound is from the ring, but it does not matter how far from the ring we are. If I could just hear something distinctive, we would have some idea of where they are. I don’t like not being nearer to them.”
“Perhaps I can hear something that you don’t,” Garth offered. “It is worth a try.”
Kalina nodded and removed her earring, handing it to Garth. He held it up to his ear as he sat down next to the woman. For several long moments, he said nothing. Eventually, he smiled. “The waves are breaking on rocks,” he uttered. “Waves rolling into shore collapse on themselves, but these waves are crashing against the rocks and creating a spray. Is the sound you hear the same sound we would hear if we were standing where the ring is?”
Sapphire of the Fairies, Book 1 of Sword of Heavens Page 6
