Hidden Ability (Book 1) (21 page)

“They won’t be cheering when his old friends arrive,” says Reest as he prods the mercenary’s body with his foot. “What do you want to do now?”

“Master Enmar and Major Erida would never forgive me if I didn’t know that answer after all their lectures on tactics. When faced with a superior force, we retreat,” says Jalan.

“Did they happen to say where to?”

Jalan looks down and shakes his head, “I’m hoping our new friend can help with that. Have a couple of your men take charge of him. Give him water when he wakes. Then get him on a horse.” Jalan catches Reest’s eye. “And, no more rough handling unless he starts something. He might be a scoundrel and a mercenary, but he’s our scoundrel now.”

“Aye, captain,” says Reest with a quick nod of his head.

“Also, have the company prepare to move out. I’m worried we may have stayed here too long already.”

“Aye, captain,” repeats Reest as he acknowledges Jalan’s additional order and perhaps agrees with his worry. The Fist Leader calls out the names of two of his Fist and waves them over. Captain Jalan goes to collect his armor and weapons. His left arm is scratched and bruised. He is limping because of a kick to his right leg from the heel of the mercenary’s boot. While he walks along his body informs him of other more minor injuries. Donning his armor, he tries to brush off dirt and debris from his uniform and discovers at least two tears in the fabric that he will have to mend provided he lives long enough to have the opportunity.

In this one routine moment of strapping on his armor, the idea that he could die becomes real. Some men already have, both his and the enemies’. He is personally responsible for several deaths. Every one of them would have killed him if they could have. Jalan’s fingers tremble as he buckles a vambrace onto his left forearm. The trees loom above him like a dark shadow of doom and he senses the formless spectral presence of death drifting in the air around him. He closes his eyes and thinks of home. The images of family appear to him, mother, Darla, Tomac, Vee and, surprisingly, Jacey too. Then a memory of his father, Hallis Yen, returns to him. The Lord stands before him and looms over Jalan’s little boy self like the trees that loom above him now. Lord Yen says, “Death rides with a man all his days. It is not something to be feared, but a companion worthy of respect and careful consideration. Death rides with us always, until the last, when we ride with it.” The love and comforting presence of his father enfolds Jalan.

He opens his eyes and says to the shadows, “Ride beside me as you must, but I will not carry your fear in my heart, for that is where my family dwells.”

“I don’t know what else to do,” says Lady Darla as she sits late at night in Lady Shara’s private salon. Darla feels a little odd about being in the room. In some ways it is a copy of the parlor before it became the waiting area for her office. And, along with the garden, it is her mother’s personal sanctuary where she took refuge while grieving over the death of Darla’s father.

The two women sit comfortably before the hearth. An orange red glow casts its light and diminished warmth upon them. They wear blankets over their legs to ward off the encroaching night’s chill. The conversation had been so pleasant and a very welcome respite from running the estate. Darla feels worse for bringing up a topic that she fears will only distress Lady Shara.

“And this is the advice of this trader, this spy sent by King Tamaron?” says Lady Shara.

“Grom advises doing the unexpected. I’ve already reached out to the other houses and all that got me was a few more lancers and a marriage proposal designed to weaken us. The king sent us Grom who brings supplies at a discount and fresh information about our enemies. There are no more friends to which we may turn.” Darla stares at the hearth hoping to see some new solution rise up from the ashes.

After some time Lady Shara speaks. “The king is subtle. His enemies might say shrewd. He helps us quietly and in a way no one can easily follow back to him. This devious mind is something he inherited from his father it seems. He has made a loan of it to us in the form of your trader. We are in a desperate way. What choice do we have that is not a desperate action?”

Darla barely speaks the word aloud, “None.”

“Daughter, look at me,” says Lady Shara. Darla stops staring into the coals of the fire and turns her gaze to her mother’s face. “You and I have held each other up after your father’s death. You have been very brave and strong as well. I laid such a heavy burden on you. But, you took it and grew stronger. Watching you, helping as I could, gave me strength too. It was the only thing that kept me connected to life. Without it, I fear what I might have done.”

Darla reaches out to her mother and the two join hands in the distance between their chairs. “That was a fear I had as well,” admits Darla.

“Well, fear no longer,” says Shara. “Being with you and the other children has brought me back to life. When Hallis died I thought I was alone. It took me a long time, much too long, to realize your father’s work lives on and that he lives on in all of you. I might have lost a husband, but everything he gave me is still alive. You don’t have to worry about me any longer.”

Darla rises from her chair with moist eyes, her blanket falling to the floor. She moves to kneel in front of her mother where she wraps her arms about Shara’s blanket covered legs and lays her head in her mother’s lap to cry in earnest. So much worry buried so deep is welling up and pouring out with her tears. She has never admitted to herself how much she fears losing her mother. When she tries to say it now, all she can do is cry.

Darla feels her hair gently being stroked. The sound of her mother’s voice reaches her through the sobbing. “Oh my dear, I love you so much.”

The tears continue until Darla has nothing left. Having cried out years of fear for both her mother and herself, she continues to hug Lady Shara’s legs and rest in the presence of her mother’s love and acceptance.

Out of the warmth and comfort, her mother’s voice comes again. “You go, darling. I can stand in your stead while you are away. I am ready.”

Thank you for reading
Hidden Ability
. I truly hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please take a moment and leave me a review on
Amazon
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Thanks!

Aldus Baker

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Aldus Baker lives with his family and assorted small pets in Kansas, a state which keeps Colorado from falling over on Missouri. He is a software developer by day and a writer at all other times. Aldus published his first novel in July of 2014 with more to follow.

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