Legends of the Riftwar (3 page)

The few who followed Richard, most of them silent, tossed the ritual handful of earth into the grave then turned away, eyes empty of emotion.

The company formed up for the march, Alwin detailing men off to bear the litters of the wounded.

The grave-diggers were nearly finished. In spite of the cold their
faces were streaked with sweat and their hot breath made clouds of steam in the air, as they hurriedly worked to complete their task.

At the edge of the clearing Dennis continued to stare with unfocused eyes at the forest. Something, a sensing, refocused his attention. A lone bird darted through the branches overhead. The angry chatter of a squirrel echoed.

His left hand drifted down to the hilt of his sword. He looked back over his shoulder. Gregory had been kneeling beside a Tsurani, studying the face of the enemy soldier as if he might learn something about the alien invaders from this man's still features. He had sensed what Dennis had sensed, that someone was approaching. His gaze flickered to the men lining the trail. Several of the old hands were already reacting. Others, noticing this, started to react as well.

Dennis watched Alwin and was disappointed, for the new sergeant-at-arms was several seconds behind Gregory and himself, but finally he raised his left hand, palm outward, at the same time drawing his right hand across his throat, the signal for everyone to fall silent and freeze. Dennis turned to look back at the forest, not yet giving a command.

Gregory listened for a moment, then relaxed. He looked at Dennis and nodded once, then smiled.

A flicker of a shadow moved in the darkness of the forest on the trail ahead and Dennis relaxed, too.

The shadow stepped out from behind a tree, raised a hand and Dennis motioned for him to come in. The scout sprinted forward. He was clad in a white tunic streaked with cross-hatching lines of grey and black, the uniform designed by Dennis for the Marauders to wear during winter campaigning in the deep forest. He ran lightly, in the way only an elf could run, so softly that even in snow it was said they at times they would leave no prints.

As he approached Dennis, he nodded, and with a hand signal motioned for him to follow.

It was a bit of protocol that at times bothered Dennis. The scout was Gregory's companion, not officially part of Dennis's command, and as such he would report first to his friend. This, as much as anything else, was the reason Dennis preferred having Gregory lead any scouting mission; when the Natalese Ranger returned from a
mission, he reported to Dennis. Dennis, for not the first time, considered it a petty irritation, yet he couldn't rid himself of it.

‘Tinuva,' several of the men sighed, as the elf came into the clearing. They were obviously relieved. Weapons were resheathed.

The elf nodded a greeting. He looked over at the burial detail, busy filling in the grave and paused for a moment, head lowered, offering his thoughts for the fallen. At last, he looked back at Gregory. ‘You were right, two of them did escape.' he announced.

‘And?' Gregory asked.

‘Good fighters, tough, a long chase,' Tinuva said, matter-of-factly.

‘So you got all them?' Dennis asked.

The elf shook his head. He was obviously winded after the long chase.

Dennis pulled a flask out from under his tunic and handed it over. After nodding his thanks, the elf drank then handed the flask back.

‘Not sure,' Tinuva replied. ‘Their commander might have sent a runner back before the fight even started. There were too many tracks on the trail to tell. If I had more time to follow the way they came, I would know for certain, but you stressed getting back here quickly.'

Dennis cursed silently.

‘Then we must assume someone did get out,' Gregory announced.

‘I always assume that,' Dennis said coolly.

Gregory did not reply.

‘I sense something else here as well,' the elf said.

‘The Dark Brothers?' Gregory asked and the elf nodded.

‘Did you see signs?' Dennis interjected.

The elf reached into a pouch dangling from his belt and drew out the broken shaft of an arrow. ‘It's their make–Clan Raven. Not more than a league from here. I came across tracks as I was returning here after finding the two Tsurani. There was blood on the snow. Someone killed a stag, quartered it and then headed back north. Four of them, early this morning, an hour after the snow started to fall today.'

‘Only four?' Dennis asked.

The elf shook his head. ‘No, there are more. What I found was just a hunting party foraging for food. The forest whispers of them.
They're out here: something is stirring.' The elf nodded towards the mountains to the north, barely visible in a gathering darkness, to the north.

‘How many?'

Tinuva closed his eyes for a moment, as if to aid his thinking. ‘Hard to tell,' he whispered. ‘We eledhel have history with the moredhel.'

Gregory gave a quick shake of his head to Dennis, warning him not to ask anything more.

‘They are as difficult to track as we are, unless they are close by or out in large numbers.' He looked northward again. ‘Up there, distant, but in large numbers, I would judge.'

‘Why?' asked Father Corwin, who was standing at the edge of the group.

Several of the men turned to look at the priest. Suddenly embarrassed, Father Corwin lowered his eyes.

No one answered. Finally the elf stirred.

‘Holy one,' Tinuva said, softly. ‘Something is beginning to stir amongst those you call the Brotherhood of the Dark Path. This war with the Tsurani diverts us away from the threat of the dark ones to the north. Perhaps they see an advantage to be gained from humans slaughtering each other. Perhaps they seek to return south to the Green Heart and the Grey Towers–it isn't hard to imagine they've worn out their welcome with the clans of the Northlands after nine winters.'

Gregory said, ‘Are they moving south?'

Tinuva shrugged. ‘The hunters whose signs I saw may have been foraging ahead of a larger company, or on the flank. It's difficult to know if they're heading south or in this direction.'

‘All the more reason for us to get the hell out of here now,' Dennis interjected sharply. ‘We've been behind the lines too damn long as it is; the men deserve to spend the rest of the winter in Tyr-Sog getting drunk and spending their pay on whores.'

He looked back at the burial party. They were nearly finished; a couple of men were dragging out deadfall and branches to throw over the grave. Several of the men were already returning to the ranks, hooking the short-handled shovels onto their backpacks. A trained eye could easily pick out the burial site today but if it continued to
snow, by tomorrow the grave and the nearby Tsurani dead would have disappeared. By springtime, when the snows melted and grass fed by the richness beneath sprang up, it would have disappeared back into the forest.

‘Alwin, move the men out.'

‘Sir, you said you wanted to speak to the boy first,' Alwin replied softly.

Dennis nodded, scanning the line of troops. His gaze fell on Richard Kevinsson. ‘Boy, over here now,' he snapped.

Nervously Richard looked up.

‘The rest of you start moving,' Dennis rapped out ‘we want to make Brendan's Stockade and our own lines by morning.'

Two men acting as trailbreakers sprinted forward, darting off to either side of the trail, lightly jumping over deadfalls and around tree trunks. Within seconds they had disappeared into the forest. Half a dozen men, the advanced squad, set out next, moving down the trail at a slow trot.

Richard Kevinsson approached, obviously ill-at-ease. ‘Captain?' he asked, his voice shaking.

Dennis looked at Gregory, Tinuva, and the priest, his eyes commanding a dismissal. Tinuva stepped away, bowed in respect to the grave, then joined the column, but Gregory and the priest lingered.

‘Father, go join the wounded,' Dennis said sharply.

‘I thank you for rescuing me, Captain,' Father Corwin replied, ‘but I feel responsible for the trouble this lad is in and I wish to stay with him.'

Dennis was about to bark an angry command, but a look in Gregory's eyes stilled him. He turned his attention back to Richard. ‘When we return to Baron Moyet's camp I will have you dropped from the rolls of the company.'

‘Sir?' Richard's voice started to break.

‘I enrolled you in the company because I felt sorry for your loss, boy. It reminded me of my own, I guess. But doing so was a mistake. In the last fortnight you have barely managed to keep up with our march. I heard a rumour that you fell asleep while on watch two nights ago.'

He hesitated for an instant. It was Jurgen who had reported that,
and then defended the boy, reminding Dennis that
he
had done so as well when out on his first campaign long years ago.

‘It was you that the priest saw from the trail wasn't it?'

The boy hesitated.

‘It's not his fault,' Father Corwin said, impassioned. ‘I stopped because I was exhausted from running. I was staring straight at him, I couldn't help but see him.'

‘That doesn't matter,' Dennis snapped, and the look in his eyes made it clear that he would not tolerate another word from the black-robed priest. ‘Well?'

‘Yes, sir,' Richard replied weakly. ‘It was me.'

‘Why?'

‘I thought I was well concealed.'

‘If that old man could spot you, be certain a Tsurani trailbreaker would have seen you. You are a danger to yourself and to my command. I'm sending you back. You can tell your friends what you want. I suggest you find a position with a nice comfortable mounted unit down in Krondor. No brains needed there, just ride, point your lance, and charge. Then you can be a hero, like in the songs and ballads.'

‘I wanted to serve with you, sir,' the boy whispered.

‘Well you did, and that's now finished.' He hesitated, but then his anger spilled out. ‘Go take a final look at that grave over there before we leave,' he said with barely-contained fury, his soft voice more punishing than any screamed insult. ‘Now get out of my sight.'

The boy stiffened, face as pale as the first heavy flakes of snow that began to swirl down around them. The he nodded and turned about, shoulders sagging. As he rejoined the column the men around him looked away.

The priest took a step forward.

Dennis's hand snapped out, and a finger pointed into the old man's face. ‘I don't like you,' Dennis announced. ‘You were a bumbling fool wandering around out here where you had no business. Damn you, don't you know there's a war being fought out here? It's not a war like the ones that fat monks and troubadours gossip about around the fireplace. I hope you got a good belly full of it today.'

‘Two of my “fat friends”, as you call them, are prisoners of the
Tsurani this day,' Father Corwin replied, and there was checked anger in his voice. ‘I volunteered to serve with the army as a healer. I just pray I don't have to work on you some day. Stitching together flesh that has no soul is bitter work.'

The priest turned and stalked away. The middle part of the column, made up of the stretcher-bearers was starting off and Corwin joined them.

Gregory chuckled softly.

‘What the hell is so funny?' Dennis snapped.

‘I think he got you on that one. You did go a bit too hard on the boy.'

‘I don't think so. He almost got us all killed.'

‘He made no mistakes, I was but ten feet from him. I made sure he was well concealed.' As if thinking of something, Gregory added, ‘That priest has unusually sharp eyes.'

‘Nevertheless, the boy goes back.'

‘Is that what Jurgen would have done?'

Dennis turned, eyes filled with bitterness. ‘Don't talk to me about Jurgen.'

‘Someone has to. There's not a man in your company that doesn't share your pain. Not just over losing a man they respected, but because they bear a love for you as well, and now carry your burden of sorrow.'

‘Sorrow? How do you know what I feel?'

‘I know,' Gregory announced softly. ‘I saw what happened too. Jurgen made his choice, he left himself open in order to save the boy. I would have done it, so would you.'

‘I don't think so.'

‘You and your Marauders have become hard men over the years, Dennis, but not soulless ones. You would have tried to save him, even at the cost of your own life, as Jurgen did. The lad has promise. You might not have noticed, and I'm not even sure he remembers it, but he did kill the first Tsurani that closed on him. The one that almost got him came up from behind.'

‘Nevertheless, the boy goes.'

‘It'll kill him. We both know the type. Next battle he'll do something stupid to regain his honour and die doing it.'

‘That's his problem, not mine.'

‘And what if he gets a half-dozen others killed as well? What would Jurgen say of that?'

‘Jurgen is dead, damn you,' Dennis hissed. ‘Never speak to me of him again.'

Gregory stepped back, raised his hands, then shook his head sadly, and walked over to the grave. Looking down at the rich brown earth being covered by the falling snow, he whispered, ‘Until we stand together again in the light.'

Then he went to join the company. Tinuva fell in by his side and the two of them headed up the trail in the opposite direction, double-checking to make sure that nothing was following the unit.

Dennis was left alone as the last of his men abandoned the clearing.

The heavy flakes swirled down, striking his face, melting into icy rivulets that dripped off a golden beard which was beginning to show the first greys of middle age.

When all were gone, and he knew no one was watching he walked up to the grave, reached down and picked up a clump of frozen earth.

‘Damn you,' he sighed, ‘why did you leave me like this, Jurgen?'

Now there was no one left. Nothing but a flood of memories.