by Pedro Urvi
With the sail hoisted and Lasgol and Viggo at the oars on either side of the boat, the jetty was soon out of sight and they began to feel more relaxed. Ingrid went over to Viggo.
“What happened back there? What did you do to the mastiffs?”
“Assassin’s business,” Viggo replied with an air of mystery.
“You didn’t kill them? Poor dogs!”
“In this case there was no need.”
“What did you do to them? Did you use one of your Assassin’s poisons?”
“It’s not a poison, it’s a strong narcotic. I put it in the salt meat we carry in our supplies. Dogs love meat, big ones like those mastiffs even more so. I put them to sleep. They’ll be fine in the morning.”
“Good plan,” Lasgol said with a smile.
“And in the house?” Ingrid asked.
Viggo smiled nonchalantly. “I barred the two doors from the outside, so we’d have enough time to escape when they wake up.”
“Nice bit of work!” said Lasgol.
“As I told you, a piece of cake. When there’s talent, there’s talent,” he said with an air of self-sufficiency.
Ingrid opened her mouth to reply, but gave up in despair. “Well, we’ve got hold of a boat, which is what matters.”
“Thanks to me,” said Viggo.
By dawn they were already a long way from the quay, where the soldiers must have raised the alarm when they found out the theft. The night breeze was good, and helped them escape faster than they had expected.
The first light of day found them moving swiftly down the waters of the Utla, heading southwest.
In the direction of the kingdom of Rogdon.
Chapter 15
The stiff breeze filled the sail, driving the assault boat at high speed down the waters of the Utla River.
“Hey, sailor, keep an eye on the sail!” Ingrid shouted. She was keen to make all possible speed down the river.
Viggo turned with a frown. “I’m a Natural Assassin, in fact the best Natural Assassin in Norghana. I’d appreciate it if you stopped calling me ‘sailor’.”
“Now you’re my sailor,” Ingrid snapped back. “Keep an eye on that sail! If it tears, or we lose it, goodbye to our voyage.”
Viggo turned to glare at Lasgol “Why don’t you ask your other sailor?”
“Because he’s busy looking after the horses, and you’re not doing anything useful.”
“I’m always doing something useful, even when I’m asleep.”
“Yeah, sure! Shut up and for once, do as I say without protesting.”
Viggo frowned and muttered under his breath, but went to check the sail again. At least they did not have to row. What with the strong breeze and the current, the boat was flying over the water. Lasgol saw him struggling with the sail and went to help.
“Thanks. See if you can tell Miss Bossy-Boots to stop throwing her weight around.”
“That’s going to be difficult,” Lasgol said with a smile. “You know she likes bossing people around, you in particular.”
Ingrid good boss, came Camu’s message. He had come over to see what they were doing with the sail.
So she is.
Viggo not like orders.
That’s right. He doesn’t like being told what to do.
Viggo fun.
I know that anything that involves not following orders is great fun for you.
Yes, Camu transmitted, along with a feeling of happiness. He began his happy dance, flexing his legs and wagging his long tail.
“What’s got into the bug?” Viggo asked.
“He’s happy and he’s dancing.
“And why’s he happy, for goodness’ sake?”
Boat, good, fast. Fun.
“He likes the boat because it’s going so fast over the water.”
“Well, what d’you know! I like that too.”
Ona not like much.
Lasgol looked at Ona, who was lying motionless in the stern. “It seems this speed scares her. I’m going to make a fuss of her, to cheer her up.”
“You make too much fuss of them. What those two need is an iron hand.”
Camu stared at Viggo with his everlasting smile.
“And what are you looking at?”
Viggo wants fight.
Let him be, Lasgol said, stroking poor Ona in an attempt to soothe her. Camu activated his camouflage and became invisible in front of Viggo.
“What are you doing, bug?”
He call me bug.
Don’t mess with Viggo.
Play a little.
Uh-oh … Lasgol moaned, guessing that the mischievous creature was about to play one of his tricks.
Suddenly Viggo saw his right arm vanishing before his very eyes.
“What the hell …?”
The arm was followed by half his body. His face took on a look of horror.
“What are you doing to me, bug?”
Bug again, Camu transmitted to Lasgol in annoyance.
Suddenly Viggo’s entire body vanished completely, leaving only his head visible.
“You look great!” Ingrid laughed. “That really suits you!”
“Give me back my body!”
“He hasn’t taken it,” Lasgol explained, “he’s only made it invisible. He’s playing with you.”
“Well, tell him to stop, he’s given me the fright of my life!” Viggo said. He was feeling his torso and legs to make sure they were still there.
Ingrid chuckled. “Camu, can you make just his head disappear?”
I can.
Suddenly Viggo’s body reappeared, and in exchange his head vanished.
Ingrid burst out laughing. Lasgol, unable to restrain himself, laughed too. Even Ona, who was not enjoying herself, cheered up at Camu’s joke.
“What are you laughing at?” Viggo asked. He was unable to see that his head was missing.
“Because you look exactly what you are,” Ingrid said between bursts of laughter.
He very funny.
Camu, don’t be wicked, Lasgol transmitted.
Ingrid ask.
Yeah, and you didn’t like the idea one little bit, eh?
Like. Funny, Camu transmitted, along with the sense that he was enjoying himself enormously.
“I don’t see why you’re both laughing, but feel free to stop whenever you like,” Viggo said to them.
“That was great, Camu. Thank you,” Ingrid said. She was wiping the tears off her face.
Come on, let him be, Lasgol begged.
Camu gave in. He himself became visible, and with him Viggo’s head.
“Oh!” Ingrid said, sounding disappointed.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but stop playing these weird tricks on me!” Viggo snarled at Camu, and left in a huff.
Very funny, Camu commented. He began his happy dance again.
Lasgol could only shake his head and laugh under his breath. Ona was calmer now, so they were both able to enjoy a spell of peace and quiet.
The voyage downriver was going better than expected. But there was one concern in their minds: Norghanian ships. The ships of the Norghanian army kept a check on the river, and it was normal for them to make incursions into Masig territory to attack the tribes of the steppes. They had not seen any so far, but the danger was there. If they were to meet one, they were going to have a job explaining what they were doing with that boat in the great river.
“Can’t we leave the boat here and go into the steppes?” Vigo asked. He was staring out at the great plains on the right-hand shore.
“Well, we could, but it would mean quite a delay,” Ingrid said.
“I don’t see that. Why?”
“Lasgol, can you show him on the map?”
Lasgol took out the map and unrolled it. “This is the Utla River. As you can see, it crosses the Masig prairies at a diagonal. We need to reach the Half Moon Pass in order to enter the territory of the kingdom of Rogdon. The fastest way to reach the pass is by following the rive
r and then landing when we get to the pass.”
“I see,” Viggo said. “If we land now, we still have a long journey left overland … we make better speed by river than on horseback.”
Lasgol nodded. “Yes, and also the journey would be through Masig territory. It’s dangerous.”
“Yeah, I understand they hate our guts.”
“Well, we attack them every other day, so they have a point there.”
“Very true,” Viggo agreed. “I’d be pretty furious myself.”
The days went by quietly. They were making an exceptionally fast voyage, but all good things come to an end.
Ship! came Camu’s warning from the bow.
Lasgol ran to join his friend. Putting his hand to his eyes to shield them from the sun, he scanned the river ahead. A red-and-white sail was approaching from the opposite direction.
“Ship!” he called.
Viggo ran to his side. “Our luck’s run out. This is one of ours!”
“Norghanian?” Ingrid asked from the rudder.
“Yes,” said Lasgol. “It’s an assault ship.”
Viggo was getting a clearer look now. “I can see two dozen soldiers in the ship, and they’re rowing upriver.”
At the speed they were going themselves, compared with how slowly the other ship was making its way upriver without sail, it looked as though the army ship was still and they themselves were flying.
“Get rowing!” Ingrid called. “We’ve got to get a lead on them!”
“But we’re flying already!” Viggo pointed out.
“Shut up and row! Cover your heads with your hoods so they can’t see who we are!”
Lasgol and Viggo took up their oars at the level of the mast. The two vessels passed one another, with quite a gap between them. The captain of the other vessel noticed that there was something odd about them.
“Who are you?” he yelled.
“Don’t say a word and keep rowing!” Ingrid ordered.
“Identify yourselves!” the captain shouted.
Ingrid kept her head low, and they passed the boat at great speed, leaving it behind amid the shouts of the captain who was demanding answers. She looked back, hoping they would be left in peace now.
It was not to be.
“Oh, hell, they’re turning!”
Viggo glanced over his shoulder. “What do you mean, turning?”
“And they’re hoisting sail!”
“They’re going to hunt us down,” Lasgol said.
“Row! They’re coming after us!” Ingrid shouted. She was looking back as she steered.
“How I love missions like this!” Viggo said cynically.
The pursuit suddenly became more intense. The assault ship took a while to complete its turn, but once it did, with all the soldiers rowing in unison and with the wind behind it, they began to reduce the lead Ingrid had gained on them.
“Don’t stop rowing! They’re nearly on us!” she called.
Boat coming, Camu warned from his position at the stern with Ingrid. Ona had not moved from the bow.
Lasgol and Viggo were rowing as hard as they could. The pursuit went on for a while, but with each stroke of the oars the gap narrowed, until their pursuers were nearly on top of them.
“We’re not going to make it!” Ingrid pointed out.
“How far are we?” Lasgol asked.
Ingrid craned her neck, trying to judge. “Less than a league from the landing point, I calculate.”
“We’re close enough,” Lasgol said.
She understood what he was intending to do. “Right.”
“Right?” Viggo repeated. He was still rowing as hard as he could, and had not picked up what was happening.
There was no answer.
“I’m going to turn!” Ingrid warned them.
“Turn?” Viggo asked in alarm. “What’s going on here? What are we doing?”
Ingrid steered the boat toward the land at an angle of forty-five degrees. Viggo saw the maneuver and went white.
“We’ve got to slow down!”
“No!” Ingrid yelled. “We’ve got to give it all we have, or else they’ll catch us!”
“All we have? We’re going to crash!”
Lasgol swallowed. He was thinking the same thing. At the speed they were going, the crash was going to be a tremendous one.
“Look out! I’m turning again!” Ingrid shouted. The boat was now at an angle of thirty degrees from the land.
“We’re going to be smashed to matchwood!” Viggo protested.
Smashed? Camu asked fearfully.
Get ready, we’re going to make a hard landing.
Ona moaned and Trotter neighed, both gripped by fear.
Don’t worry, everything’s going to be fine, Lasgol promised. He glanced back and saw the Norghanian ship full of soldiers, far too close for comfort. Then he saw land to his right and the speed they were approaching it, and his optimism evaporated.
“Get ready!” shouted Ingrid.
“Ready for what?” Viggo said blankly.
“Hoist oars!”
Lasgol and Viggo lifted their oars out of the water.
“Collision in five!” came Ingrid’s voice.
Viggo was staring at the shore in terror. “What five?”
“Four!”
Immediately he understood.
“Three! Drop the oars and hold fast!”
“This is going to be bad!”
“Two! Hold on, everybody!”
Hold fast and keep calm, Lasgol transmitted.
“One! We’re running aground!”
There came a loud noise of shattering wood, and a terrible blow at the bow and to starboard shook them all over. Amid a cracking of broken timber and several tremendous shakes, the boat grounded in the shallows of the river, a few paces from the shore.
“Come on, everybody, get ashore!” Ingrid shouted.
Lasgol got to his feet and looked at his friends, who looked well enough: impressed, but not injured.
Everybody off the boat, quick!
Viggo and Ingrid untied the horses and dragged them out of the boat, which by now was taking in water and beginning to sink. Luckily the mast had not broken when they had run aground. They found it hard to lead the horses out, because they were too frightened to leave the boat, but Ingrid and Viggo persuaded them to co-operate. Trotter went of his own accord, following the mental messages Lasgol was transmitting to him.
The pursuing ship came alongside them, but did not dare approach the shore for fear of running aground. “Capture them!” the captain shouted, and a dozen of his men jumped into the water holding axes and shields.
Ingrid saw them coming toward them, neck-deep in the water. “Let’s get out of here!” she shouted.
Viggo leapt on to his horse, with Lasgol following him, and Ingrid set off at a gallop.
We’re getting away! Lasgol said mentally to Camu, Ona and Trotter.
When at last the soldiers struggled on to land, the three riders were too far away to catch, making their way deeper into the Masig prairies on their way to the Half Moon Pass.
Chapter 16
It did not take long for Nilsa, Valeria, Gerd and Egil to reach the Norghanian side of the border with the Kingdom of Zangria. They had kept up a fast pace, resting only when absolutely necessary, since they were aware that Dolbarar’s life was slipping through their fingers
Nilsa and Valeria had not felt the strain. They were good Rangers: tough, prepared, resilient and nimble. Gerd, on the other hand, had felt it a little more because his massive body gave him more trouble when he was on horseback. But there was no doubt that it was Egil who was having the worst time. He had been living at the Camp for so long that sleeping in forests under the sky and riding all day was not exactly what he was best able to bear. His poorly-trained, skinny body was paying dearly.
“Halt!” Gerd called from where he was riding in the lead. He pointed ahead, through the trees, and they saw a river. It did not look very d
eep, but it was wide and fast-flowing.
“The border.”
Valeria rose on her stirrups. “You mean the Kingdom of Zangria begins on the other side of that river?” She gave them a challenging smile. “This is beginning to get interesting.”
“Well, more than interesting, dangerous,” said Nilsa.
Egil nodded. “Although the kingdoms of Zangria and Norghana are at peace in theory and war hasn’t been formally declared, the reality is very different. We’re in the middle of the beginning of hostilities, or rather of an undeclared war, so we need to be as careful as we can.”
“Yeah,” Gerd said, “if they catch us on the other side, they’ll hang us as spies.”
“But we’re not spies,” Nilsa protested, with her hands on her hips.
“We’re Rangers, and that means we’re part of the King’s army,” Valeria pointed out. “They’ll consider us soldiers, and therefore spies.”
“Exactly,” said Egil. “And I’m afraid it’ll be impossible to make them change their opinion.”
“Why’s that?” Nilsa wanted to know.
“Because Norghanian Rangers are sent on missions of exploration to spy, and even to kill. So the Zangrian officers, if they caught us, would kill us at once, or else torture us to get information. Probably both.”
Valeria smiled, as if danger stimulated her. “This is beginning to sound like fun.”
“Well, it’s making me nervous,” Nilsa admitted. She took off one glove and began to bite her nails.
“Take it easy, all of you,” Gerd said reassuringly. “I know this area very well. I’ve been posted here. I’ve crossed the border many times at different points. It’s just a matter of keeping your eyes and ears peeled. We won’t have any problems.”
“And once we go deeper into Zangrian territory?” Nilsa asked uneasily.
“Well … then we’ll have to be twice as careful.”
“Egil,” Nilsa asked, “can’t we get to Erenal without going through Zangrian territory?”
“I’m afraid it would mean a long detour. The fastest way is through the Thousand Lakes, the area between the two kingdoms that’s under dispute.”
Valeria gave him a mocking look. “Are we going to cross Zangria so that we can enter the area that’s in dispute with Erenal? That sounds like fun.”
