Coming Together: Special Hurricane Relief Edition (23 page)

"Lady
Allina is in the blue robes," said Tullius. Blonde. "Lady
Melna in the green." A redhead. "I see no sign of the other
guards."

"Perhaps
they are already slain. The captain may be worth ransom."

Tullius's
hand closed tight on my arm. "No," he breathed. "Look
yonder. They are allied with the raiders. A thousand curses on them,
they shall pay with their lives for this treachery."

Two
others came towards the captives. A tarnsman in leather and an older
man in the robes of a merchant. In our concealment we were near
enough to hear what was said.

"Uncle
Pel!" said the Lady Allina, surprised. "You come to ransom
us?"

"Alas
no," the merchant said, his tone unctuous, oily. "You are
to be enslaved, and with that, my dear, I am afraid that you will
forfeit the right to inherit your father's wealth. So tragic, being
carried off just before your inheritance becomes due."

There
was a stunned silence and a gasp from the other girl.

"Sleen!"
cried the Lady Allina.

"Quite
probably, my dear, quite probably. But I will be rich enough not to
care in four days time."

"My
father left you his business, sufficient gold and jewels to keep you
in comfort, and you betray his memory like this! Why?"

"I
owe some money for unwise bets on the tharlarion races. Your
inheritance will pay them off nicely, with gold to spare. So generous
of you, my dear Allina."

"I
hope you rot in hell!"

"I
think not, my dear. And the noble captain, Claudius Flavius. If I
thought you could be bought I'd have let you carry my niece off, but
you're too noble aren't you? Speak up, man, I cannot hear you. Oh,
dear. Is your gag too tight? I would ask Barus here to loosen it, but
you'd probably say something silly." The merchant sighed
theatrically. "Come, Barus. We'll leave them to ponder on their
fate. Morning will be soon enough to brand them and complete their
enslavement. Let them spend the night anticipating. Back to Rorus for
us, I think." He took the tarnsman's arm as they moved away.
"Can your tarnsmen carry the Lady Allina's guards as well as
myself?"

"To
Rorus? Aye."

"Good,"
said Pel, "for someone has to bring me the sad news of my dear
niece's abduction." Pel and the tarnsman laughed as they moved
away.

I
had been studying the captives and realised that their cuffs were not
of the kind that needed a key, but were capture cuffs, designed to be
freed by pressing on a part of the bracelet that released the cuff.
To stop a captive releasing their own cuff, the two cuffs were joined
not with a chain, but with a rigid bar that kept the hands too far
apart for a captive to free himself. I touched Tullius's arm and
signed to him that we should move back.

Back
under cover in the copse I crouched, drawing him down beside me. "Did
you see the cuffs?"

"Yes.
Capture cuffs. We could free them."

"Not
yet. Wait until full dark, then we will free them. You and the
captain, with the Ladies, go north. About five pasangs further on the
road is a guard outpost of Ko-Ro-Ba. Tell them I sent you, and you
will be safe."

"You
are known in Ko-Ro-Ba?"

"Aye.
Well known. My father is assistant to the Administrator."

"If
Claudius Flavius and I take the Ladies north, what will you be
doing?"

"Confusing
the raiders, I trust. I intend to take a tharlarion and stampede the
rest. South."

Tullius
grinned, a flash of teeth in the gloom. "Simple, and probably
most effective. Now, we wait?"

"Aye,
but not long." A short time later we saw two of the tarns leave,
one with the carrying basket beneath it. The other tarn stayed.

It
was about two and a quarter ahn later that we crept forward again. We
moved silently up behind the women, who were talking quietly,
miserably. Tullius and I each put a hand over a mouth, effectively
gagging them. As we had agreed, Tullius spoke.

"Lady
Allina, Lady Melna. Please say nothing," he hissed. "I am
Tullius, of the Lady Allina's guard. The raiders left me for dead,
but a warrior and I have come to rescue you. Please nod if you
understand, but please say nothing."

The
Lady Melna, who I was holding, nodded, and I took my hand from her
mouth. "Your pardon, Lady, but it was necessary," I
murmured in her ear.

"I
understand," she whispered. I reached up and freed one of her
wrists and she quickly took off the other cuff herself. I moved to
Claudius Flavius who was watching and freed his wrists. He quickly
loosened the gag.

"My
thanks, warrior," he said, his voice barely audible. "Your
plan?"

"To
get you in hiding and then raise a diversion. I saw no sleen. Do you
know if they have any?"

"I
saw none."

"Good.
Come this way, and be quiet."

The
five of us crept away into the darkness. In the cover of the copse
again we stopped. I took Claudius Flavius's arm and we moved away.

"You
and Tullius, take the women and go north. On the road, about five
pasangs, there is a Ko-Ro-Ban guard post. Tell them I sent you and
you will be safe."

Claudius
Flavius showed no surprise, but merely said, "I know it. What of
you?"

"I
thought I might borrow a tharlarion and head south with the other
tharlarions. In the dark, of course."

"Of
course," said Claudius Flavius, his tone dry. "Have you a
weapon I might borrow?" he said.

I
passed him the spare sword I had carried and he grinned. He took my
hand in his. "I wish you well, warrior. When I have the ladies
safe there will be a reckoning."

I
nodded. "When. Now, it is time for you to be going. I have a
diversion to create." I turned, and almost collided with the
Lady Melna, who had been listening.

"Why
do you do this?" she asked, her hand on my arm.

I
smiled. "It pleases me," I said. I noticed that she was
very lovely in the light of the first moon, just lifting above the
mountains.

"Do
you have a name, warrior?"

"Han
Lero, Lady."

"May
the priest-kings guide you, Han Lero," she said.

"My
Lady?" said Claudius Flavius, "we must leave before our
escape is discovered."

She
nodded and turned away to follow him, but kept looking back until the
four were lost in the darkness. Now for a diversion.

The
tharlarion were penned in a corral of rope and thornbush, still
saddled. I smiled. That would make my task easier. The guard was
sleepy and died not knowing the nature of his assailant. His death
had been a little noisier than I had wanted and I listened carefully
for noise of alarm, but none came. I decided to breathe again, moving
carefully, loosening the rope which formed the gate of the pen.

The
raiders had left the high tharlarion saddled, and it was the work of
moments to mount one, after I had gathered the lead ropes of the
others. I left the draught tharlarion. Too slow. Very shortly after,
I was urging the tharlarion I rode forward, the others following,
docile enough. I held my breath, but no alarm sounded until I was
about a hundred and fifty paces along the trail when a shout of alarm
echoed round the camp. I guessed they had found the empty bracelets.
I urged the tharlarion to a faster pace, yells behind me suggesting
that the raiders had discovered the loss of their mounts. I grinned
in the darkness, laughing as I rode. The tarnsman would never find me
in the dark and by dawn I would be many pasangs away.

I
headed south, towards Rorus, hoping that Tullius and Claudius Flavius
had the two women safely away. I thought it likely. I kept moving
south until almost dawn, early in the late summer, then penned the
tharlarion in a gully, using thornbush. I made a dummy from grass and
twigs and covered it with my cloak, it resembling a man sleeping.
Then I moved away into the cover of an overhang shielded by brush, my
sword across my knees, and waited. Thunder rumbled in the distance
and I thought there would be rain before nightfall.

I
did not wait long. The tarnsman landed quickly, springing from his
saddle with sword drawn and striking at the dummy. I had waited, not
knowing for sure whether this would be the same tarnsman, he with the
raiders. His actions revealed him enemy, same or not.

"No,"
I said. "I'm over here."

The
tarnsman whirled, his sword ready. He paused for a moment, then
rushed me. He was not unskilled, but I knew myself the better and
killed him quickly. The tarn regarded me with its black eyes, calm,
dangerous. I moved to it, mounting quickly. Once in the air, I turned
north. The raiders camp was deserted, except for draught tharlarion
and the wagon. I surmised they had gone searching for their former
captives. I moved on north. It was still some two pasangs before they
could reach the guard post when I came upon them. Tullius was
carrying the Lady Allina, Lady Melna at their side. Claudius Flavius
strode rearguard, watching their back trail. I brought the tarn down
beside them and took off my helmet that they might recognise me. A
grin twisted Claudius Flavius's face as he came to me.

"The
tarnsman came after you? I thought he might."

"Aye.
Attacked me in my camp, without warning. Except that he, unknowing,
attacked grass and twigs, and my cloak." I held it out, showing
the slashes inflicted by the tarnsman's sword.

"I
would be proud to gift you another, Warrior." The Lady Melna had
approached as we talked.

"Lady
Melna is most kind," I said, bowing to her.

"You
saved us from captivity and slavery, Han Lero. It is little with
which to reward you."

I
had a vision of her naked in my arms and grinned. She coloured,
lowering her eyes, almost as if she read my mind. "I fear we
must leave this discussion for the moment, Lady Melna," I said.
I turned to Claudius Flavius. "There are a hand or so of raiders
not more than a pasang behind you." I nodded across to where
Lady Allina sat in the grass, Tullius beside her. "What
happened?"

"Lady
Allina twisted her ankle in the dark. She cannot walk. Can you take
them?"

"Easily,
but I need stirrups for them."

"Sword
belts?"

I
grinned at Claudius Flavius. "Excellent!"

In
moments we had fastened two sword belts together, fashioning a loop
at each extremity. I slung it over the tarn's saddle so that a loop
hung at each side. I mounted to the saddle and a look of dismay
crossed Lady Melna's face.

"You
leave us, Warrior?" she said, her voice cracking. She knew well
her likely fate if the raiders took her again.

"No,
Lady. I carry you and the Lady Allina to safety. Stand in the loop,
and lift your hands to me." She did, and I took binding fibre
from my belt. "Your pardon, Lady Melna, but I do not want you to
fall." Quickly I bound her wrists and hooked them over the
saddle horn. She nodded, smiling. Lady Allina had been watching,
supported by Tullius and she made no demur as I bound her wrists,
too, and hooked them over the pommel. Standing in the sword belt
loops as they were, there was little strain on their wrists, but I
was confident that even if the loops gave, the Lady Melna and the
Lady Allina would not fall to their deaths.

Claudius
Flavius and Tullius stood, swords in their hands. Claudius Flavius
raised his in salute.

"I
will see you at the guard post, within the ahn," he said.

"Aye,"
I said. "For now, farewell." I pulled the one-strap and the
tarn sprang into the air. There was a startled scream from Lady
Allina, but Lady Melna, although nervous, was silent, smiling a
little as the tarn's strong wing beats lifted us. Below, Claudius
Flavius and Tullius had dropped into the mile-eating trot of the
warrior. I looked south. Their pursuers were less than a pasang back,
pausing uncertainly as they saw the tarn rise. I circled them, so
that they could see the women, then turned the tarn north. The
crossbow bolts came nowhere near us.

It
did not take long to reach the guard post. Tarn wire was strung and I
landed us about fifty paces from the gate, quickly freeing the two
women. Lady Allina collapsed in a heap, Lady Melna quickly kneeling
beside her. Four men hurried towards us from the post, swords drawn
ready. I took off my helmet and saw a broad grin on the face of their
leader.