The boy looked as miserable as I felt. “Okay, there gone, let’s go!”
We waded through the reeds over to the beach, where I slid a sturdy looking small craft with a single small sail out into the waters of the lake. Pushing it further out into the current I reached for the boy and lifted him into the skiff and then climbed in myself. I rowed away from the shore for awhile to get some distance between us and the beach and then I unfurled the sale and set the rudder on a course to take us to the northern side of the lake.
I turned to the boy, after I had tied the rudder off, “Now that we’re on our way let’s get these stinking bloodsucking leeches off!”
Chapter Three
Hunted
We sailed through the night and most of the next day before we reached the far end of the lake, which bordered the Silepsium Moors. I had never seen a more foreboding stretch of land, as was laid out before me now. Not even the Hagathic Wastelands could compare with the somber mood of these moors.
I kept my reservations about the gloomy moors to myself though. No need to infect the boy with my uneasiness. I pulled the boat up onto the shore and after a brief meal of fish we started out into the moors.
The boy was like a shadow in how close he stuck to me. He was still as silent as he had been since we’d left Kharta. That night we had another fire and ate some more fish along with a few wild vegetables that I had managed to scavenge on the way.
Things were going well for us, until the next day. As we were traveling along through the scrub brush of the moors a sense of foreboding came over me. We were being watched! I glanced at the boy behind me and I could see that he sensed that something was different as well. Perceptive boy, I thought approvingly to myself. I put my hand on his shoulder reassuringly, and felt him draw slightly closer to me. I had been followed before, it was in fact almost a daily occurrence in my life, but this feeling of being followed was different in some way. It took me a couple of hours of puzzling over it to realize what was different and then it was almost too late.
I didn’t tell the boy, as it would only have stressed him out more and he would find out soon enough what was following us. I quickened our pace through the dense brush searching the gathering darkness ahead of us for a spot to make a good account of ourselves and perhaps live out the night.
We weren’t being followed by humans. Moor wolves were shadowing us! I had heard the stories and the stories had been enough to convince me that I didn’t want any part of them. Unfortunately I did have them, quite a lot of them. Moor wolves traveled in packs. The wolves of my home country that I had never seen were of a bigger build than these moor wolves and remained solitary for most of their lives.
I could see wolves ghosting along behind us now, through the gathering shadows.
Snap!
Looking off to my right I saw another wolf lurking not twenty yards off to the side of us. That was a bad sign. The wolves of my home country didn’t hunt men as a rule, but I had heard that if moor wolves were hungry they would attack just about anything. The boy had noticed the wolves and his pace after me quickened even more. These wolves were definitely interested in us as prey, because they were moving in on us now, which was a clear indicator that they had gone past the point of being merely curious as to our presence here.
We didn’t have much time left to us and I breathed a sigh of relief, when I saw what I had been looking for up ahead of us in the gathering darkness. It was a shallow impression in the land, which was surrounded by boulders on three sides.
“Over there boy!” I said directing the boy ahead of me because the wolves were more likely to go for him first.
“Stay back between these boulders, while I hold them off from the front.”
“No!”
Surprised, I glanced down at the boy, who had suddenly given proof that he could still speak and quite vehemently at that. “No?” I asked.
“I want to help you!”
I nearly insisted that he do as I had told him to do, but I glimpsed the desperate need in his eyes and thought better of it. I liked the boy’s spunk.
“Okay then.” I drew my short sword from the holster it rode in on my back and handed it to the boy. The blade was just light enough for him to handle it, without it being too cumbersome for him to manage. “Stay behind me and protect my back.”
He nodded his head vigorously in response as he gripped the sword hard enough to squeeze impressions on the steel handle. He was still pretty much where I had wanted him from the beginning, but he was there under his own terms and I respected that as a sign of strength that hinted at the kind of stalwart man he would be someday.
The sudden yipping and snarling taking place around us told me that the time for survival was once again upon us, as we faced off against man’s ancient foe the wolf. I withdrew my sword and turned to face the snarling yellow eyed assailants arrayed out before me in a half circle.
There were five of them. A big mangy eared male made the first move as he lunged toward me. I half knelt forward on one knee and ripped my blade through the length of his stomach, while he was in mid flight and then quickly stepped aside to avoid his falling carcass. As his trailing death yip sounded out I flung myself to the right away from the boy, and decapitated a second wolf in one fluid swing of the blade in my hand. I quickly launched myself towards a third wolf diving in for the boy off to my left. I heard an anguished yip sound out behind me as I attacked the third wolf. The wolf tried to retreat, but my blade found its heart first.
I wheeled around sword at the ready, as fear gnawed at me to see what had become of the boy and the other wolves during my time away. What I found was a dead wolf lying at my feet that had been brutally hacked several times. My gaze went from the dead wolf to the blood dripping off the boy’s sword. I glanced up the blade to the boy’s white knuckled hands and finally my eye’s drifted to the boy’s frightened but proud face.
“Nice job!”I said meaning every bit of it.
I saw a tremulous smile emerge on the boy’s face. Without this kid watching my back I would most likely have had a moor wolves’ teeth wrapped around the back of my neck or calf muscle.
I heard the rustling in the brush as the last wolf escaped the scene, as fast as it could go. The boy trying to act calm and collected after his first test of emerging maturity wiped the blood off the short sword with a rag and made as if to hand it back to me, but I declined it.
Holding up my hands in refusal I said, “No, keep it! You’ve earned it. It’s yours now.”
I saw a look of heartfelt gratitude flood into the boy’s eyes as if I’d just given him the moon. It was a nice feeling to give. I wanted to do more of it, because I liked feeling as I did right now.
I asked, “What’s your name boy? I can’t keep calling you boy.”
“Call me Larc.” The boy said.
“Larc, it is then. Let’s get out of here and bed down somewhere else for the night.”
After several days of walking and living off the land we saw the end of the moors come into view. The Litian River lay beyond the moors, as it snaked through the plains at the base of the majestic mountains that rose up in the distance. I had never been this close to the Vallian Mountains before.
I wanted to see what lay up among those lofty peaks and the green valley’s it was said that existed on the other side of the mountains.
The land of my father’s was so close! An intense desire to discover my ancestral homeland overwhelmed me and I found myself walking faster, but I pulled myself back to a sane pace for the boy’s sake.
It took awhile to get to the edge of the moors, but when we did I saw something that disturbed me. A mounted warrior was stationed just on our side of the turbulent river. He was alone, but even more curious than that was that the warrior had three saddled horses with him. He was waiting for someone. Was the warrior waiting for us? It was unlikely, but what other explanation could there be for his presence here with extra saddled h
orses. Why three horses? They must have known about the boy, but hadn’t sought fit to inform me about the additional passenger. That annoyed me.
Larc whispered, “Roric is he a Valley Lander?”
“Yes, I think so.” I whispered back.
I didn’t like it, but I saw little other choice in the matter. We needed those horses. “Follow close behind me.” I said, as I stood up from hiding and started walking down from the elevated knoll of the moor towards the warrior by the river.
Larc stood and made to follow me but hesitated for a moment, “I don’t like it Roric. Something doesn’t feel right about this!”
Glancing back at him I replied, “I don’t like it either Larc, but we need those horses.”
The mounted warrior noticed our approach almost immediately, but he stayed where he was with one hand holding the reins of the other three horses. The other hand I noticed was not far from the sword on his hip. As we drew closer to him some clue as to our appearance must have given him confidence that we were the party he had been waiting for, because he smiled openly and said, “It’s good to see you for it is tired I am of sitting out here in the open like a hobbled goat in front of a marsh cat den.”
I liked the man. I replied simply, “Sorry for the delay, but we got here as fast as we could. I wasn’t expecting to find you here waiting for us, but it’s a good thing as we need to get out of here quickly. Pursuit might not be too far behind us.”
The man nodded and then said, “I was told to expect three; an old man, a warrior, and a boy.”
“The boy’s father didn’t make it.” I replied.
Shaking his head solemnly the warrior glanced over to Larc and said, “Sorry lad! Your father was a good man. He will be missed. Here mount up now and let’s get you to your mother.”
The sound of the whiffs of ruffled air announced the presence of the arrows even before I saw four of them smack into the warrior’s chest causing him to real back in his saddle from the shock of their impact. Choking on his own blood the warrior cried out to me even as he tossed the reins of the saddled horses at me, “Get away from here and save the boy!” He said as he coughed up blood.
I leaped into one of the empty saddles and pulled Larc up behind me. I swung the horse around to face the moors from where the arrows had come from. Zoarinian longbowmen started standing up from their concealment all along the line of the moor dunes. There had to be at least two dozen or more of them, which was how many arrows would be sticking out of me and Larc if we tried to make a break for it most likely.
Two groups of horsemen pulled out of concealment in the moors to either side of us and started forward toward us riding along the river. I debated for a brief moment about grabbing Larc and throwing him and myself into the river, but even if we survived the raging current of the river we wouldn’t make it far without horses. I hated the feeling of helplessness that washed over me. If I had been alone I would have made a try at getting away, but I had the boy to consider now. I had to do what was best for him. Our best option it would seem was to bide our time and be patient and wait for an opportunity to escape, if the opportunity came. I’d had to wait nine years the first time to get an opportunity to escape. I don’t think I could do that again.
They evidently wanted us alive, as they had not fired upon us. That was at least something positive. I sat where I was and watched as the Zoarinian soldiers closed in on us. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done to just sit there and do nothing. I felt Larc’s arms get tighter around me as they closed in on us, “It’s okay Larc we’ll get out of this. You wait and see.”
After we had been disarmed they mounted us on separate horses and tied us to the saddles. A cloaked figure rode up and flipped back his hood chuckling as he did so. I recognized the Valley Lander warrior, who had recruited me for this assignment. At my look of surprise on recognizing him he said, “I know. I know. You’re surprised aren’t you. Roric, it’s really very simple to understand my perceived betrayal. The Valley Landers and their pathetic allies the Tranquil Islanders don’t stand a chance of winning against the power that the Zoarinians can bring to bear against them. It may seem that I am betraying my people in the here and now I grant you, but once this nasty conflict is over I’ll be able to help my people rebuild our nation better than it was before. We’ll advance on as a people, as we will no longer be hindered by the out of date practices our culture is fairly choked to a standstill by. I’ve been promised an administrator position over Artanis itself!” He finished confidently, looking as if he genuinely expected me to agree with his position of treason as a point of fact statement of nationalism, when all his actions amounted to was cowardice wrapped in a cloak of power hungry envy.
“Is a position of power and influence so important and honor so cheap a sentiment that to squander it all as you are, a thing worth doing? You’re by this one act of treason wiping out the efforts of all your ancestors before you to be free. The noble ideals that they’ve fought and died for, for countless generations before you, all gone now because of you! Just so you can have a bigger piece of a pie that doesn’t even exist in any context of reality!” I said, as I looked him over contemptuously wishing for a weapon so that I might slit his traitorous throat.
One guard leaned over in the saddle and backhanded me across the face. It hurt, but I smiled back at him in return. He made as if to do it again, but the traitor motioned him to stop. “Roric, if you live much longer, which I doubt, you will find out that honor has very little to do with helping one get through life comfortably and besides what would you an escaped arena rat know of honor in the first place?”
The soldiers around us laughed, as if it was a good joke, but I gave no response, which seemed to anger Lent a little because he pulled his mount around abruptly and rode to the head of the column.
They took us to Cassis. It was odd and yet highly ironic how the beginning of all the calamity that had befallen me in my life should be where I ended up in at the end once more.
I hated this city. I had come here as a boy marveling, but as a man I cursed it with my eyes. Gradually the opulence of the city encroached around us as we entered deeper into it. Buildings reached for the sky boldly trying to make up for the flatness of the plain they were built on, even as garishly colored silks flapped in the breeze coming off the sea.
They took us to the citadel located in the middle of the city. The citadel was built more for the appearance of force rather than any strategic initiative, being located in the middle of the city as it was. It was in no position to defend the city should the city be attacked, but then the Zoarinians were confident that was an option beyond the realm of possibilities, as who could face their superior numbers on the field of battle and win?
The streets were thronged with the denizens of the city, who were as colorful in attire and appearance as their city was. Rich colors and a plethora of wares for sale were to be seen on display all around us. One got the feeling that anything, and everything could be bought in this city if the price was right. I knew full well the dark hidden secrets that lay around each street corner and in the people themselves. Seeing all this again brought back the buried memories of my years spent in the arena dungeons. The memories forced their way into my consciousness and made me long for un-consciousness or diversion of some kind so that I could push away the dark thoughts swirling in my mind.
We were led chained into the governor’s judgment hall. Rich gilded tapestries hung from the high walls around us. The ceiling of the hall was vaulted along the entire length of it in a display of powerful craftsmanship. Ornate chandeliers hung down from the center beam of the roof and illuminated the hall brightly, for there were no windows to shed their natural light on the scene. There was an elevated dais at the far end of the hall located under the ceremonial banner of the city of Cassis. Court guards were lined along the walls and it was through these we passed by on our way to the upraised dais and the figure that sat there.
&nbs
p; Reaching the dais we were forced to kneel at the base of the steps leading up to it. Iraca, the governor of Cassis spoke in a smug tone of voice, “Well done Lent! You shall be richly rewarded for your invaluable services. You may go now to collect them.” He said waiving Lent off with one hand.
“Thank you sire!” Lent said as he fairly bounded to his feet and made to turn to exit the room, only to be met with a sword that sliced through his middle upon him turning to leave. Half turning back to the governor, which tore the imbedded sword from the executioner’s hand, he stared disbelievingly up at Iraca. As the fear of death clouded into his face he croaked out, “You promised me a reward! You promised!” He sank to the floor, as his disbelieving eyes remained focused on the governor.
The governor sneered down at Lent, “I’ve given you the only reward that every Valley Lander can expect at the hands of the Zoarinian Empire, which is death! Get him out of here! He’s staining my rugs!”
The governor returned his attention to us as Lent’s body was dragged away. “And now let us get down to business. It took some doing Roric, but I have to congratulate you on delivering the boy into our hands safely.” Chuckled the governor. Puzzled, I looked over at Larc, who looked back at me blankly and shrugged. “You didn’t think we knew about the boy’s father spying on us and the supposedly valid intelligence that he had gathered on our battle plans for our conquest of the north did you?” The governor asked while laughingly he continued. “We fed him that information. It’s all quite useless you see, with just enough truth added in to keep it believable. Everything you’ve done and risked for this boy has been for nothing!” The governor said clearly delighted with himself.
A Warrior's Redemption (The Warrior Kind) Page 5
