by B N Miles
Cam nodded a little and let his eyes scan the forest around him. The pines were mostly gone now, replaced by large oaks and maple trees. The forest floor was much denser and packed with vegetation, small briar patches, blooming bushes, and wildflowers.
“I got that sense too,” Cam said. “Or something like it. To me, he always seems willing to think about things, but never interested in acting. Like he needs to analyze every single step before going for a walk.”
He laughed and batted at a stray branch. “I was surprised when he let us go,” he said. “I figured he’d want to debate us to death first.
“I was too.” Cam let out a breath. “Part me of worries that it was part of some plan.”
“It probably was,” Theus said. “Probably his plan to get rid of you.”
Cam looked surprised, and for a second he thought his friend might be joking.
But Theus wasn’t smiling.
“Get rid of me?”
“Oh, yeah,” Theus said. “I mean, you’ve heard how our men talk about you, right?”
“No,” Cam said, taken off guard.
He had no clue what Theus was talking about, although he shouldn’t have been surprised. He didn’t spend much time with the Medlar people in the Mansion. Though he checked on them every day, he was busy training with Miuri and going to meetings with the Elders to discuss strategy.
“Come on,” Theus said. “They think you’re their savior. I mean, what you did with your magic to the wolves, you saved all their lives. The way you held the column together over the marches, they think of you as their general or something.”
“Oh,” Cam said.
His eyes moved over to the warriors again. They were a straggly lot, a bunch of mismatched tunics and too-large trousers, their boots were beat up and stained, their beards were beginning to grow in patches. But they were men used to long, hard days of work. Their shields were scratched and marked from fighting the wolves, but their spears were straight and gleaming in the light that slipped down through the leaves.
He never thought about how his actions would affect the way they’d see him; he only did what he knew was right at the time. It was never his intention to win their favor or to gain prestige.
“You really don’t know,” Theus said and laughed. “Gods, you’re clueless, but I bet that would only make them love you more.”
“So you think Lord Remorn is intimidated by that?” Cam asked, trying to steer the conversation back on topic. He felt too embarrassed to keep talking about how the men felt about him.
“Absolutely. There are other reasons, too. I mean, all your girlfriends are kind of weird, and people are talking about it.”
“I knew about that,” Cam said.
“But it’s not a bad thing. People are… interested in you, Cam. The way you keep to yourself, train all the time, people think you’re working hard for them. People think you really care. Lord Remorn doesn’t have that kind of support with the common people.”
Cam let out a little snort. “And what do the common people think about their Lord?”
“They think he can be kind and fair, but he’s weak,” Theus said.
“That’s a fair assessment.” Cam ran the back of his hand over his forehead and squinted through the trees. “But it doesn’t matter, does it? Even if we’re playing into his hand right now and this is just his way of getting rid of me, we still need to do this either way.”
Theus let out a little chuckle and shook his head. “You’re right. And that’s exactly why the men love you.”
Cam grinned and pushed his fist against Theus’s arm. “You’re getting all weird on me,” he said. “You’re not falling in love with me too now, are you?”
“Oh, Camrus,” Theus said, batting his eyes. “The temptation is too great.”
Cam laughed and put an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re here,” Cam said.
“Of course you are, you’d be lost without my intellect and charm.”
Cam dropped his arm and they walked along together for the rest of the afternoon. Their conversation died out as the day began waned and they neared their destination. Dagan moved the group to the west, skirting along a ridge that ran around the main valley’s central depression.
They sent more scouts out, including Miuri, and it was an hour before sundown when the Elf Princess returned, breathless and sweating from a hard run.
“I found them,” Miuri said, stopping in front of Cam. She gripped the hilt of her sword, her green eyes were wide with excitement.
The whole group came to a grinding halt and looked at her. Frew and Dagan pushed their way through as men began to talk in excited whispers.
“I found them,” Miuri said again as Dagan and Frew joined Cam in the middle of the group.
“Where?” Cam asked.
“Not far from here,” she said. “Ten minutes east. There’s a steep cliff with a good view of the valley where we’ll be able to see their pens.”
“Pens?” Dagan asked.
Miuri’s smile slipped from her lips and was replaced by a deep frown. She glanced at Felin but quickly looked away. Cam followed her gaze and saw Felin standing apart from the group with Key, her arms crossed over her chest, her jaw tense and eyes tight.
“The wolves constructed these large wooden pens,” she said. “Humans are packed in there like animals. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
There were more murmurs from the assembled warriors and Cam caught several looks of outrage.
“How many guards?” Frew asked. “How big are the walls?”
“They’re earthworks,” Miuri said. “And not high, either. Four feet tall at most with scattered wooden stakes. They’d stop a horse at a gallop, but we can walk right through.”
“And the guards?” Cam asked.
“I saw eight men walking around, but I didn’t watch long. Cam, I think it’s barely guarded.”
Cam gave Dagan a look then nodded. “All right,” he said. “We camp here. Frew, set up a watch schedule. Dagan, you come with me and Miuri, we’re going to take a look at these pens.”
Frew opened his mouth to argue but Cam gave him a sharp look. The Elder shut his mouth again, grumbled something, then began to bark orders at his men. They didn’t obey instantly, but at least they began to move. Cam was a little surprised he didn’t have to fight with the Elder, and he caught Theus grinning at him.
Cam let out a breath and gestured for Miuri to lead the way.
Dagan walked with Cam as Miuri took the lead. They wound along an invisible path through the forest, Miuri moving silently as Cam and Dagan stomped along behind her. Cam was always amazed at how quiet she could move, especially in the forest. She slipped between trees, more dancing than walking. They crept along a small stream until it turned south again, but they kept going west. Miuri held up a hand as they reached a group of small pines. She gestured for them to walk slowly as they moved through the clustered trees.
Ahead was a patch of scrubby grass and dry plants that ended in a sharp drop. The cliff was made of jagged rock, and Cam could see the valley down below them. Miuri dropped down to her stomach and began to slither forward, moving slowly. Cam nodded to Dagan, who let out a little sigh. They both got down, and Cam moved along behind Miuri with Dagan just behind. Miuri reached the cliff edge first, followed by Cam then Dagan.
At first, Cam only saw green. There were densely packed trees and bushes and some grass along the bank of a river. The trees moved in the wind, blowing in tight circles and patterns. From his vantage, everything looked small, like miniatures carved from wood and stacked on a table. He marveled at the sight and felt a thrill in his chest. It took him a moment to scan his eyes further to the west.
There, he saw the smoke from several small campfires first, rising up in curling patterns. Then he saw the earthworks, large mounds of dirt and rock dug up and piled in haphazard patterns. Like Miuri said, there were some stakes jutting out from the piles, but not in any so
rt of pattern and nowhere near close enough to each other to form a real barrier. The earthworks followed a rough square formation, with four small guard towers at each corner. They were built from fresh logs and cut wood, just a platform with four support beams, maybe ten feet in the air at most. Cam could see a man sitting in one of the towers, his back against the wooden frame, staring out ahead of him, just a little speck in the distance.
Inside the earthworks was another large wooden structure. It took Cam a moment to realize what he was staring at.
“Pens” was the right description. There were ten of them, built from large fences and left open to the elements. Humans were packed inside of them, some people were lying down, some were standing. They were shoved in there like animals, forced to sleep outside on top of each other. The mass of them moved sometimes, and Cam could hardly believe his eyes.
So many Humans, all forced on top of each other. He couldn’t imagine what that mass of bodies could smell like, forced to be on top of each other in their own filth like that.
“My god,” Dagan whispered. “Are those really people?”
“Yes,” Miuri said. “They look as though they haven’t been fed well, and I suspect disease is an issue. There’s no covering, so they’re exposed to the weather all day and night.”
“That’s horrible,” Cam said. “That’s… that’s disgusting.”
He felt a surge of anger. Those were people down there, real people with lives and loves and feeling and hopes. Those were people packed into wooden pens and left to rot in the hot sun, to freeze in the cold air, to soak through in the rain.
“They’re not far,” Miuri said. “We could reach them tomorrow.” She began to move back without another word.
Dagan followed her, but Cam stayed behind.
He stared at those pens for another minute, at the people left to sit out in the weather, packed on top of each other in the mud. They were filthy, wretched, suffering. He wanted to throw up, scream, and cry, but most of all, he wanted to burn that whole thing to the ground.
His eyes moved along the earthworks to each tower. He spotted another guard in another tower, and he guessed they all had at least one wolf in them, though he couldn’t see the other ones very well. He saw some movements outside of the pens, and he spotted a few tents set up, probably for the guards. He couldn’t see how many wolves there were, and he had to marvel at Miuri’s eyesight if she could actually see well enough to count a few.
He pushed back from the edge and moved away from the ridge. Miuri and Dagan were standing in the tree line. Cam slowly got up to one knee then climbed to his feet. He stood there, shivering with anger, and met Dagan’s eye.
“We go in tomorrow,” he said.
Dagan opened his mouth to say something but shut it again and nodded.
“Miuri,” Cam said. “I need you to scout their position tonight. Find out exactly how many guards they have and where their weakest point is.”
Miuri nodded. “It’ll be done,” she said.
“Thank you.”
Cam turned to look back at the cliff. He could still see those pens in his mind, and the anger that rolled along his spine was almost too much to bear.
He pulled himself away. “Come on,” he said, and the group moved silently through the woods, not speaking to each other, heading back to the main camp.
13
Cam got a restless night’s sleep and took the last shift again. He had confirmed Miuri’s accounts of the pens, and the whole group seemed on edge. They knew what was going to happen the next day, knew there’d be fighting and some of them might die. The feeling was electric, causing the men to laugh a little too loudly, speak a little too softly. Cam knew how they were feeling, he was on edge himself, but his anger pushed away any worry about his own safety.
For him, the image of those people in the pens kept him centered.
As dawn rose Cam sat at his guard post not far from the camp, and he heard a little noise in the underbrush nearby. He was on his feet in a moment, hand on the hilt of his sword. But Miuri slipped into view, seeming to materialize in front of a tree twenty feet away, like she’d been there the whole time.
“Miuri,” Cam said, his heart racing.
“I didn’t mean to startle you,” she said, coming over to him. “I forgot I was still cloaking.”
“Is that what you call your magic?” he asked. “You don’t talk about it much.”
She smiled a little and stepped in front of him. Cam reached out and touched her hair, and she nuzzled in against him.
“Old habit,” she said. “We’re not supposed to talk much about what we can do.”
“Really?” he asked. “The other Godlings seem to be open with their abilities.”
“Some can’t hide it, like the wolves. Others don’t want to hide it. But we’ve found it works better if people aren’t expecting it.” Miuri looked up into his eyes and grinned. “Sure surprised you, and you’ve seen me do it.”
“Good point,” he said and kissed her cheek. She grinned and kissed his lips. “What did you find out there?” he asked.
She let out a breath. “Back to business,” she said.
He gave her a little smile. “Trust me, I’d rather be in that big bed with you and the others right now.”
She nodded once and stood up straight, drawing away from him. She gave her report in quick, clipped tones, her eyes narrowed in concentration. When she finished, Cam touched her hand and smiled.
“Thank you,” he said.
“It wasn’t hard,” she said. “Going in cloaked, they weren’t really looking out for anything. Half the guards were asleep last night, truth be told. I considered killing a few and breaking open the pens, but I thought it would be better if we did it the right way today.”
“You made the right choice. If anything went wrong, the wolves could’ve tripled their defenses today, and we would’ve lost our chance.”
Miuri grinned and cocked her head. “Although nothing ever goes wrong when I put my mind to it.”
Cam laughed and looked up at the trees. “Of course not,” he said. “Come on. Let’s go tell the others.”
He led Miuri back to the camp. Most of the men were waking already. There were no fires burning, since they wanted to hide their approach. The men were eating rough, and Cam took Miuri over to Dagan and Frew, who were sitting together on a fallen tree stump with Theus, Kenden, and a couple of Frew’s men. He sat down and took out his own small meal as the Elders looked over at him.
Miuri sat down next to Cam and accepted some food. She ate while Cam leaned toward the Elders.
“There are minimal guards down there,” Cam said. “Miuri counted fifteen men and women in total.”
“Fifteen guards?” Frew asked. “That’s all?”
“That’s all,” Cam said. “And they aren’t armed or armored, so we’ll be fighting wolves.”
“I figured that,” Dagan said. “But how many people are down in those pens?”
“At least a hundred,” Miuri said. “I couldn’t count them all.”
Dagan sucked in a breath. “Gods, so many,” he said, shaking his head. “Those fucking sick animals.”
Cam nodded. He knew what Dagan was feeling and felt much the same way. But he had to push his anger aside.
“The guard towers overlook the forest around the pens,” Cam said. “They have pretty good vision all around, and the wolves cut back some of the forest to give them more visibility, except for the far-right tower. They didn’t clear much in front of that, so the forest is still pretty dense. Miuri thinks we can march around the pens this afternoon and attack a couple hours before dusk. The earthworks are only a few feet high, so we can go right over them.”
“There are some stakes in the earthworks, but they won’t be a problem,” Miuri said.
“So, the plan is to just storm the place?” Frew asked with a frown. “Doesn’t seem like much of a plan.”
“They have fifteen men,” Cam said. “We have thi
rty and a shaman. I’ll go in first with a select few, burn the guard tower, and head to the pens, killing as many as I can as we go. The rest of you will fight the wolves as we free our people. Once they’re all out, we’ll take over the earthworks, dig in for the night, and get moving in the morning. If we’re lucky, the wolves won’t even know what hit them for a few days.”
“They’ll see it if you burn that tower,” Frew said. “That’ll be one big smoke signal.”
Cam let out a breath and nodded. “Good point. All right, no fire on the towers then.”
“It’s a good plan,” Dagan said. “Once we have that position, we’ll be able to defend it better in case the wolves do send reinforcements.”
“But I doubt they will,” Cam said. “I doubt they care much about those people at all. The way they’re packed in those open-air cages…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
“All right,” Frew said and pounded a fist against his chest. The two men beside him mirrored the gesture. “We’ll do this today, then. Kill the bastards, free our people. When we march back to the Mansion, we’ll torch those pens and those towers to the ground, send a little message to the wolves.”
“Fine,” Dagan said with a smile. “Works for me.”
Cam nodded. “Spread the word to your men, Frew,” he said. “Tell them what to expect. Theus, you make sure the Medlar men are prepared.”
Theus nodded and stood without a word. He stepped away from their circle and walked over to join a few of the Medlar warriors lounging against tree trunks.
“Have no worries about the Nevins, shaman,” Frew said. “We’re fighters, through and through.”
“I know you are.” Cam stood and nodded. “We’ll march out in an hour.”
He stepped away from the group. Miuri left with him, lingering just a few feet away. He drifted over toward where Felin and Key were eating, but Miuri caught his arm.
“Cam,” she said, and took him aside.
He looked at her, head tilted. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
She bit her lip. “I’m worried.”
“About what?”
