by Beth Reason
Chapter 4
Tenet sat on the back of Hans' best horse, in the middle of a line of Ogden warriors and hoped to hell they were right when they picked a path to follow out of town. Once the decision to join Tenet in his pursuit of his family had been made, the warriors moved with an incredible speed that made Tenet's head spin. Within the hour that Wren had given Tenet to prepare, Wren and his companions questioned townspeople, assembled the necessary supplies for an extended journey, and ascertained the direction they believed the group traveled. While it came as no surprise to Tenet that his father was moving south, he was leery as to the exact path Wren insisted they took.
"Trust us, brother," Wren had said firmly before they mounted their horses and took off. Tenet did. He trusted his friend completely. He was just terrified, and in his terror everything he did brought doubts.
"Hold!" Wren called from the front of the line, holding his closed fist in the air for the rest to see.
Takar McKay, Wren's brother and second in command of the warrior sect of the septad, told Tenet to wait on the path, then kicked his horse forward to join his brother. Wren had dismounted and was looking at something on the ground, and Tenet rose in his stirrups, trying to see what it was. His horse began to turn, and Tenet swore and tried to get the beast facing the right way.
"Easy, now," came the young voice of Lendyl Bryn, one of the youngest warriors from Ogden, as he gently took the reins from Tenet's hands and guided the horse back the right way. "You keep it more firm, like this," he said, pulling both reins taught and securing them behind the mane.
Tenet took the reins. "Thanks. I'll never get the hang of these things."
The young man flashed him a grin, something rare in a warrior, especially when they were on a mission. But the boy hadn't yet lost the shine of youth, and in his mind, he was on a grand adventure. He'd never been south of the great mountains, and by what Wren had told his mother, he would travel much further than that. His skill with a bow earned him a modicum of respect among the seasoned warriors, but he still had yet to earn a full place side by side with the others. Lendyl had plans on being a hero, and receiving a hero's welcome upon his return. In his young way of thinking, there simply wasn't any other way their mission would play out.
"You let the animal control you, this is why you have difficulty," the boy explained. He liked Tenet. He was a fair healer, and he traded well. But the best thing about Tenet was that he knew less than Lendyl. Lendyl was superior to someone on the journey, and that made Tenet his new best friend.
Tenet pulled his canteen from his belt once he was certain the horse wouldn't buck him off and took a long sip, watching Takar and Wren deep in discussion. "What do you think they see?" he asked as he screwed the cap back on.
"I could guess and be wrong and prove myself a fool, or we can wait and they will tell us."
Tenet gave a little laugh at the boy. Lendyl was trying so hard to sound old and wise. Tenet remembered his own days in the Academy when his friends realized he had access to his mother's healing herbs. He felt like he was smarter, bigger, better than all of them and, looking back, he bet he came off as a royally pompous ass, much like young Lendyl. He held his tongue. He knew it was important for the young warrior to prove himself to the others, and if that meant a little conceit, so be it.
Takar turned from Wren and mounted his horse, then came back to speak with Tenet. Not one for much chatter, he said simply, "Transport tracks."
Tenet felt a flutter of hope. No one drove any mechanical transports in that particular section of woods. No one who knew the area, anyway. There were only rutted game trails to follow, and anyone local would never attempt such a jarring and slow journey. "Why didn't they use the Nortaberg road?" The government had been expanding the road that lead from Nortaberg to the Northern sections of Borderlands. Over the past few years, the decision had been made to also create a safe passage south. It would have been much faster and definitely easier travel, and with all the traffic, they probably wouldn't have been noticed.
Takar gave a curt shrug. "Because they went through here." He clicked his tongue and his horse moved back in position in the rear of the small party.
Lendyl turned his own horse and they settled back into their travel pattern. When Tenet passed the point on the road where Wren had stopped, he looked down and saw unmistakable tire tracks through the soft ground. They were wide and deep, and he knew it was a fairly large transport. He looked at the forest around them. They were off the mountain, so it wasn't steep any longer, but there were still plenty of trees and bushes. He followed the tracks ahead of them with his eyes and could see the swath the transport cut through the undergrowth. He craned his head back and looked past a scowling Takar, to see if he simply missed a similar swath before, but could clearly see where it started.
Tenet turned back around to face forward and think. Though his military career had been halted pretty much before it began, he did have excellent training at the Academy and had a knack for strategy. His father had clearly traveled on foot to abduct his family. At the thought, his hands tensed on his reins and his horse threw his head up and whinnied. Lendyl looked back to see if he needed help, but Tenet got his animal back under control. Scarab always insisted the beasts could sense moods, and Tenet tried to get himself to calm. Panicking would not help. Letting the anger consume him would not help. Thinking would help. Planning would help. He drew a deep breath and thought through what he knew.
Tenet knew that his father had either walked in or taken horses or small personal transports to Ogden. The large transport had to have been parked at the base of the mountain where they picked up the tracks. Jace was smart enough not to attempt the mountain in a large vehicle, or to risk being seen in one in Nortaberg. Tenet believed that meant they might be searching for a Southland transport, something that would be noticed. Yes, it was the only thing that made sense. Did it matter? Perhaps. At least it was something to think about, something to keep his mind off the rest.
They traveled for hours until just before dusk. Tenet didn't want to stop but knew the folly of traveling the dark forests of the central Midlands at night. It was springtime, and there would be untold numbers of starving wildcats and bears coming out to make up for the lean winter. They would need to camp with a large fire and hope Jace and his father were still far enough away not to notice the flames. Tenet reined in his horse and followed Lendyl's instructions on setting up a warrior camp. He did as he was told and within a half hour they had a roaring fire and were passing dried meat around for their meal.
"They bogged down," Wren said, staring into the flames and chewing the dried deer. He had a winter of mostly root vegetables, and only got one meal of the sheep Tenet's daughter had slaughtered before they rode out. He was grateful to Tenet for the power the deer meat would supply his lean body. They would need it on the trip.
"Bogged down?" Tenet asked, handing the sack of meat to Lendyl.
Wren nodded. "Yes. They must have gotten stuck. Did you not notice the mud splatters and giant ruts?"
Tenet was used to the way Wren explained things, the tone of voice and the look of derision. Wren spent his days training young warriors, people who would be fueled by condescension and disrespect to be braver and harder and faster. Tenet did not take it personally. "No. I didn't."
Takar grunted. "Open your eyes tomorrow."
Tenet didn't think Takar liked him. Then again, Takar didn't seem to like anyone, not even his older brother. He lived alone, having no wife, which was odd for one of his age. If Tenet had to guess, Takar was easily pushing thirty-five, well past the age of marrying and starting a family in the Borderlands. Tenet often wondered about it, but never asked. It would have been a rudeness beyond measure to ask a personal question of a warrior. Wren had a tendency to gossip, though, and let it slip once that Takar's path had been decided early on, but hadn't elaborated.
Tenet turned back to Wren. "What should I look for?"
"Do they not teach
tracking in Southland?" Lendyl asked.
Tenet nodded. "They do, but not in terrain such as this. And not how to track vehicles." With all Southland and New Canada vehicles running on the national electrical grid, every transport was always accounted for. No tracking was ever necessary.
Lendyl frowned. "How useless!"
Takar grunted again, but Wren got angry. "Hold your tongue, pup."
Tenet didn't want to cause any more trouble than he already had. "It's okay, Wren. He's right. Now that I think about it, it was fairly useless." He sighed. "Life down there was useless."
Lendyl didn't know what to say. He hadn't meant to offend Tenet, or make him dwell on a time he wanted to forget. "You look at the pattern of the track," he said, trying to make up for his faux pas.
"Look for footprints," Wren added with a nod. "If they bog, they have to get out."
Tenet nodded. "Right. Makes sense. And if they bogged, that means we're closer than we should be already."
Wren agreed, but he didn't want to get Tenet's hopes up. Even a large transport that bogged and had to avoid trees could move faster than the horses, especially once they reached open grasslands. "We are within a day. Let us hope they rest for the night."
Takar sucked a piece of meat from his teeth loudly, then cracked his knuckles and lay back in the dirt.
"Takar's right," Wren said. "We must sleep."
Tenet hadn't heard Takar say any such thing, but the other men stretched out on the ground around him and he laid back and tried to do the same. But sleep? There was no way that was going to happen. He knew as soon as he laid his head in his entwined fingers that he would be awake all night, hoping, wishing, wondering, and fearing. He wanted his wife. He wanted to be back in his home tucking his baby in her bed so he could join his wife in their own. He wanted to hold her. He wanted to know she was okay. He forbid himself to think about the blood. Scarab was somewhere planning the escape that would lead her and their daughter back home safely. She just had to be.
Takar was annoyingly refreshed in the morning. His movements were full of peppy energy and it was clear he slept well. Lendyl smiled at Tenet as he drank his morning tea, and Tenet had an unreasonable urge to slap the grin from the boy's face. Even Wren looked like he got good rest. How did they do it? How could they shut it off and sleep when everything he loved was stolen and...
"Eat," Wren said, giving Tenet a knowing look.
Tenet snatched the meat from him and accepted a cup of hot tea, wishing it was coffee. Ogden didn't share the love of the southern beans that Tenet and Scarab did, and getting coffee was one of the great perks in the Spring when Fratz was sent to Ogden to interrogate Tenet on behalf of the army. He wondered idly what Fratz would do when he arrived to find Tenet gone as he sipped the bitter tea the Celtists preferred.
"You did not sleep," Wren said, squatting by the fire across from Tenet and assessing his friend. He had not believed he would, but he hoped Tenet would soon figure out how to calm the heat inside and let his body rest. "You must." Tenet gave Wren a glare he'd never seen before in the man, and it made Wren feel better. Tenet was no warrior, and he never would be. But there was a fierce side to his friend he'd never seen. Good. He would need to be fierce to save his wife and baby.
Tenet said nothing but drained his mug and clipped it back to the side of his pack. "Can we move out?" Takar jumped up, as if he had been waiting to get moving for hours, and in seconds was on his horse and ready to go. Everyone mounted, then picked up the trail where they left off the night before.
It was barely past dawn and the fog hung thick even in the dense wood. Travel in such conditions was slow going, and Tenet felt his frustrations mounting, thoughts of his family getting further and further away torturing every step. He tried to force himself to think of military strategies, to think of all the tracking experience he had, no matter how useless, to think of anything other than crinkle paper snowflakes or the way his wife's eyes flashed when she came to him in bed. However, the torturous night without sleep was taking its toll and he was finding it harder and harder to keep himself focused. How in the hell did Scarab do it? How was it that she could so easily put up the walls and feel nothing?
Tenet felt Takar's horse beside his own and turned to look. He was so lost inside himself that he hadn't even heard the man approach. "Get your mind together," Takar said firmly.
Tenet was shocked that he was getting advice from the cold warrior. "How?" he whispered miserably.
"What is it you would do to this Jace right now?"
Tenet's eyes instantly changed and he clenched his jaw. "I'd kill him."
"And what if he touches your woman?"
Cold fury ripped through Tenet at the very thought. He remembered their encounter with Jace when they were almost to the border all those years ago. There had been something between Scarab and Jace, an affair between the two hunters perhaps, something more than just a working relationship. He never pushed Scarab for more than the few details she offered. But sitting there thinking of that bastard touching his wife, he had a terrifying thought that Jace might consider the reunion a chance to rekindle old flames. He turned his hate filled eyes to Takar. "Why would you say that?" he hissed.
Takar would not relent. Tenet needed to be a man, and in Takar's opinion, pushing him right to the boiling point was the way to make that happen. "Maybe he puts his hands on her now."
Tenet gripped his reins so tightly they cut right into his hands. He found he liked the pain. "Warrior or not, if you don't shut your mouth this instant..."
"Good," Takar said firmly. "Now, you stay there. You keep that thought. You'll be a warrior yet." He nodded and pulled back, letting his horse drop back into position bringing up the rear while Tenet fumed.
Tenet was shaking he was so furious. He tried desperately to see through the angry haze, to calm down, to remember who he was, who Takar was. His anger was so hot and intense that for the first time in his life, he longed to plant his fist into someone and make them pay. He took a deep breath and then another, thinking about exactly what he wanted to do to Jace. No, he didn't want to plant his fist in the man's face. That would be quick and not painful enough. He wanted to systematically tear him to pieces. He gripped the reins tighter and felt the burning sting of ragged leather bite deeper into his flesh.
Midway through the morning, Wren abruptly stopped his horse and held his hand up silently. Everyone stopped and dismounted, then crept forward to peer over the ledge like Wren. Tenet stared down a small hill to an old, abandoned homestead in the middle of a clearing. It was clear that no one lived at the abode with any regularity. The house was covered in dried vines, and even the heavy snow of the past winter wasn't enough to tamp down the crinkly pile of high, dead grass in the clearing. However, right through the center were deep gouges made by the transport. It was clear Jace and the others had spent the night in the house, and the urge to run down and see if could find any more clues made Tenet rise. If it wasn't for Wren's firm grasp on his forearm, Tenet would have marched right down there, danger be damned.
Wren gave Takar a nod, and the warrior crouched low and passed the group. Wren yanked on Tenet's arm, and he had no choice but to drop down and wait. He watched as Takar soundlessly made his way down the hill into the clearing, sticking to the tracks through the tall dead grasses that the vehicle made. He stopped when he was at the spot where the transport had clearly been parked, and patted the ground around him.
"What's he doing?" Tenet hissed.
"Checking for temperature, moisture," Lendyl explained. "Signs to say how long ago they left." Wren glared. "What? They're clearly gone."
Wren shook his head. "We've no sign from Takar," he said, his voice very low pitched but not exactly a whisper. "Until we do, we wait and we do it quietly."
Tenet saw Lendyl roll his eyes as soon as Wren turned away. He knew the boy would follow the order, though, and he planned to as well. The very last thing he wanted to do was mess the mission up. Too much was a
t stake . He turned his attention back to Takar. Or at least he tried to. Takar was nowhere to be seen. "Where did he go?" he whispered.
Wren closed his eyes and prayed to the Mother for patience. He had to remind himself once again that Tenet was not one of his warriors. "Do not whisper. Pitch your voice like mine. A whisper carries. Voices like this sound like Nature. And Takar is in the house. Now, be quiet."
Tenet turned back to the scene and saw Takar standing on the small porch, waving his arm over his head. He waved three times, then made another motion. Wren put his own arm up, waved twice, then made a chopping sign and then held up a closed fist. Tenet watched as Takar answered with another set of hand motions, then crept off in the direction the transport must have taken when they left that morning.
Wren turned to Tenet. "The house is clear, we will investigate. I do not believe you will rest until we do. Then we will follow again. It has been less than four hours since they left. We are closing the gap."
Tenet clenched his hand and stood, ignoring the sting from the cut the strap made when it bit into his palm. Wren noticed the blood on Tenet's hand and frowned, worried for his friend. He said nothing for the time being, but determined to watch Tenet carefully. It was a hard mission they were on, especially for someone like Tenet who had no training, and Wren couldn't imagine what Tenet was thinking and feeling.
They went down the hill as quickly as the muddy slope would allow. Lendyl stayed outside and held the reins while Wren and Tenet went in the rickety old building to look. Look for what, Tenet wasn't sure. But Wren was correct. His wife and daughter spent the night in this house and he had to see. He just had to.
Wren stood in the doorway and quickly took in the scene. Those they chased had a fire in the fireplace that still smoldered. There was a pile of wrappings on the table that indicated the captives were fed. The dust around the central room floor was gone. Perhaps that's where they slept? He glanced at the stairs. They were covered in cobwebs, and it was clear no one had used the rooms above. There was a door in the back of the room that stood open, and he could see a small washroom. The only other doorway lead to what appeared to be the kitchen. He moved quickly to investigate and saw the area on the counter near the water pump was disturbed, but nothing else had been moved.
Wren stood in the doorway leading back into the central room and watched Tenet, who stood at the table and held one of the food wrappers. The man's hand was bleeding and he looked very angry. It made Wren uncomfortable to see his normally smiling friend looking so much like a warrior.
"They were fed and warmed," Wren said, deciding Tenet needed to know that and hoping it would give his friend some comfort.
Tenet held the waxed paper in his hand. He knew the wrapper even though he hadn't seen one in years. It was from the type of snack cake he favored as a boy. The paper had little crumbs stuck to it with the syrupy honey glaze, and he remembered what it would taste like if he licked it off as he used to. Instead of being a happy memory, though, it was a sour one. His mother only allowed him to have those cakes when she was bribing him. They weren't treats, they were payments. And his father was now doing the same with his Violet. He crinkled the wrapper in his hand and let it burn into his cut, let it put another brick in the wall.
"Let's go," he said to Wren, his voice eerily calm.
"Tenet," Wren began. When Tenet whirled around and glared, Wren held his tongue. They silently mounted and followed the trail, picking up Takar along the way. Takar gave Tenet a nod of approval when he saw the man's face and took up his position in the rear, feeling proud that he could be the one to help the warrior inside the soft man emerge.
Much to everyone's chagrin, it began to rain in early afternoon. Lendyl tried to point out to Tenet that rain would be much more of a hindrance to a large, heavy, wheeled transport than it would to light and agile horses, but Tenet simply stared ahead and marched his horse through the wet drops. Lendyl watched him with concern, then clicked his tongue and trotted up to Wren.
"I worry," he said simply to his leader.
Lendyl didn't have to explain for Wren to understand. He, too, kept glancing back at his friend. Everyone had a breaking point. He wondered if Tenet had reached his. It would be a shame to lose such a person. "Ride by his side and keep on alert. His mind is of a single focus and danger could come from anywhere."
Lendyl felt his chest swell. He was just given an important task, and never before had Wren bestowed any job of true worth on his shoulders before. "Yes," he said simply, then fell back to walk his horse beside Tenet's, his eyes scanning the landscape for dangers, his ears straining in the rain to hear potential trouble.
Wren smiled to himself at the head of the small troop. He just took care of two birds with one stone. Not only would Tenet be protected, but eager young Lendyl would keep his mouth closed through the rest of the afternoon. Not for the first time, he thought of how similar training a new warrior was to raising a child. Besides, there was no real danger, not yet. Not so close to his homeland. If they couldn't get the woman and child back before they neared the border, it would be a different story. For the time being, though, he was positive they chased only one transport, that the old man and bounty hunter worked together without assistance. There were no dangers beyond those the Mother would put in their path.
The rains picked up just as they were clearing the deep forest and entering the central plains lands. While it made for miserable travel, Wren knew the rains were actually help from the Mother. The transport would bog in the thawing, muddy ground. Though he couldn't see it on the horizon, the tamped down swath the vehicle cut through the tall dead grasses was no longer straight. He was certain the operator of the vehicle was already having trouble keeping on course. As they pressed on, they found several places where the transport had to be dug out of deep mud, and Wren assured Tenet over and over that it was a very good sign.
"The Mother is helping," he said firmly as he stood over a deep, muddy mess.
"The Mother could have kept my family safe in the first place," Tenet said coldly, as he rose and mounted his horse again.
Lendyl's eyes went wide and he turned to Wren. Wren just gave a little shake of his head and motioned for them to mount as well. He would not hold Tenet's bitterness against him and would meditate later on Tenet's behalf.
They pushed on as long as they could, until the night rolled in and they couldn't see in front of their own noses. "Halt!" Wren called, knowing they couldn't see hand signals. The rains still pounded and it would be a long, uncomfortable night. Together they tethered the horses and set up the small skin lean-tos the warriors carried with them. The skins stopped the worst of the rain from hitting the men, and they settled as best as they could.
"Tenet, a word," Wren said.
Tenet was staring into the night, not even realizing he was shivering. He heard Wren but didn't respond.
Wren opened his mouth, then closed it again, unsure of how to continue. If Tenet was one of his warriors, he would have given him a lecture on losing himself to the heat of the moment, and then ordered him to meditate and find his center. But Tenet wasn't one of his warriors, and he wasn't a Celtist, and Wren had to choose his words with care. "Your woman is the strongest and bravest." He felt Tenet tense beside him. "She will die before she lets them hurt Miss Violet."
Tenet ran a hand through his wet hair and swore. "Don't you think I know that, Wren? Don't you think that's one of the things that terrifies me the most? My father will not hurt Violet."
Wren's eyes went wide. "He wanted to hurt you. It would seem foolish to believe better of him than he's proven."
Tenet sighed. "Yes, but...it's different down there, Wren. He wouldn't hurt a girl. He stands to profit way too much from her."
"You are sure of this?"
Tenet was absolutely sure. Maybe if he had a son, not a daughter, it would be a different story. "Yes. Violet is safe. She will bring a very high bride price, and my father would never risk losing out on such an
d unexpected bonanza." The words tasted sour in his mouth, but that didn't make them untrue. "She will stay safe even if we have to go across the border and hunt him down to get her back." He turned to Wren even though he couldn't see the man in the night. "And I will," he said firmly. "I will get my daughter back and bring her home."
"We will," Wren said firmly. "You will not be alone in that mission."
Tenet was glad for the resolve he heard in his friend's voice. It spoke of their friendship, and once again Tenet was glad his life had lead him to people who would honestly put their lives on the line for their friends. He was proud to have a friend like Wren, but he had no plans on taking the man up on his offer. A Celtist warrior would not get a warm welcome in Southland. Through the afternoon, he had silently made his own plans as he rode in the rain. If it came to crossing the border, he would slip away on his own and leave the Celtists in the relative safety of the Borderlands. Tenet knew Wren would be furious, but he just couldn't put any of them in more danger than they already faced.
Tenet calmed himself with reason about Violet, and fueled his angry desperation as the truth about Scarab's predicament sank in. They would need Scarab to get to the border. He was almost sure of that. She would keep Violet calm, keep her behaving, keep her from drawing attention when they got towards the more populated areas nearer the border. But once they crossed the border, Scarab would be no more than an old problem. Tenet's father would turn his daughter over to his mother's care, and Scarab would be handled. They had to get to her before the border, if she didn't do something to get herself killed before then.
"Scarab can really rub people the wrong way," Tenet said as diplomatically as he could. "We need to get her. She is nothing but trouble to my father and..." his voice choked off and he squeezed his aching hand closed to let the pain bring him focus. When he spoke again, his voice was detached and cold. "We need to reach her as soon as possible."
Wren gave a firm nod. "We are gaining on them, Tenet. Sleep."
Tenet gave a bitter laugh. Between the shivering and the rain and the nerves that were twisted in knots inside, the very last thing he could do was sleep.
Wren used his scariest warrior voice. "You are no good to her or us if you fall off your horse! Stop your self pity and sleep before you put the mission in danger. Now!"
Tenet spent enough years with Scarab to know that tone of voice in a warrior did not leave room for argument. He pulled his hat lower on his head and hunched down with the fur wrapped around him and stared at the darkness of night. He let the sounds of the rain drown out his thoughts and finally after long, lonely, aching hours, his eyes closed and he let the image of his wife's face calm his mind. He would get her. There was no other option.
