The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (27 page)

When he stepped away Erin opened her mouth to
speak and was cut off when Kennet spoke right over her. “Lad I told
you I owed you a winter coat and I am a man of my word. You have
done more than enough to earn it. I have a feeling, in my bones,
that our good weather is about to end and then it will get ugly. I
would have preferred that it had stayed fair for another two weeks
but don’t think it will. I want you to be warm and healthy.” Harn
came out with a dark brown fleece jacket and a stone grey one. Erin
tried them on. The brown one was a great fit with just a little
roominess that would accommodate layered clothes, if necessary. The
stone grey was really nice looking but just a trifle small. “Well,
the brown one is yours, Terran! Wear it in good health!” and Kennet
slapped her heartily on the back. “Thanks Harn. I have some hides
to trade you for it. I’ll bring them by before we leave. I
appreciate you working with me.”

As they were leaving the city they found a
large crowd filling the field. “Oh, we better get a move down to
the wagons. Haven’t seen a crowd like this in quite awhile.
Something is up.” said Kennet hurrying them off of the steps. Just
behind them came the city herald. He put his horn to his lips and
blew a loud fanfare. Erin had made it to Lor and without speaking
showed him the coat then put it into the back of the wagon. She
picked up Tempo and just held the skunk in her arms giving the
steps her full attention.

Mayor Cheroan came out and the crowd quieted.
“Today I have a serious matter for you to bear witness to.” His
voice carried well and every eye was focused on him. He gestured
and several timber men came out. Between them was Wras. The mayor
looked at him then back at the crowd. “Wras has freely confessed
that he and his cousins, Targ and Bure conspired to, and did indeed
kill, several people by a lethal contact poison that Bure devised.
These three men caused the death of: Ru, Robse, Shamra, Hormis and
Thera of Sherroton, Auntie Jes and Zinar of Morraton and attempted
murder of Holm of Sherroton.” There was a rumble of voices in the
crowd. Erin could see Tassy from where she was standing. The woman
put her hand to her mouth and tears started running down her face
but no sound came from her. There were several similar reactions in
the crowd. “Do you confirm this Wras?”

The man was visibly shaking but standing
firm. He gave a defiant nod. “Yes!”

“Targ is not standing beside him today
because he died, from the same poison, when the container broke in
his hand, yesterday in the quake. Bure has not been yet apprehended
and should be considered extremely dangerous. If you should see him
you need to notify me or my council. Do you, citizens of Sherroton,
have anything to say that relates to this case? It is your time to
speak freely, to bear witness for, or against, this man and his
cousins.”

There was another rumble in the crowd and
Tassy called out, “Wras why did you kill those people?” another
voice said, “Yeah, why?” All looked at Wras.

“ ‘Cause they were witches! We need to kill
all of the witches. They have infested the realm!”

Then the people started to yell out their
comments without order. “My mother wasn’t a witch!”

“Robse was a good, gentle man! He and Shamra
weren’t witches! Auntie Jes was a kind old lady. You killed her?
You're crazy man!”

The mayor put up his hands to quiet the
crowd. “Will anyone speak to the character and in defense of the
cousins?” The silence was complete. “Then since Wras has confessed
of his own free will and affirmed today that he did the acts with
his cousins in premeditation, the counsel and I sentence Wras to be
transported to the Great One. Wras will be banished to Obsidian
Island for the rest of his days.”

The city elder stepped forward and “I agree
to the banishment of Wras.” The legist stepped forward and repeated
the statement.

Wras started screaming and twisting in the
hands of his guards. There was a loud murmuring from the crowd.
“What did you expect man? You murdered a lot of good people!
Banishment is the punishment!”

Wras shouted back, “It isn’t murder! We were
saving the realm from evil witches! They have infested our
communities. You are just too stupid to realize that. We should be
honored for seeing the danger and fixing it!”

“Wras, you are crazy!”

“Bure won’t put up with you banishing me!”
wailed Wras.

The mayor spoke up loud enough for everyone
to hear. “Bure killed your own mother, the woman who raised him.
She wasn’t a witch. I was personal friends with several of the
people you killed. They were good, decent people who leave behind
loved ones who mourn them. Banishment is a just punishment. You
will not be killed but instead be taken to Obsidian Island to live
out your days as you will. It is more mercy than you showed your
victims.” and the mayor made a dismissive gesture to the timber men
to return Wras to the root cellar. Then he moved down the steps to
mingle with the people of the city who were still in shock from the
magnitude of the crime and the list of the victims.

Lor and Erin turned to go to the wagon as Raz
walked up to them. Raz looked at Erin and spoke. “Now I understand
the importance of what you asked of me. Thank you for trusting me.
I’m glad to have contributed to stopping those three, well.., two.
It is a matter of time and we will catch Bure.” and he patted Erin
on the shoulder then turned to Lor. “The caravan will leave within
the hour. The mayor said the bridge is passable. They will continue
to work on it after we leave but we can cross it now.”

Lor opened his mouth to say something but
Jord and Cob stepped up to them and interrupted. “Those three are
mean ones. When I think of how they have scared my sweet Sadie over
the years with lies. There’s much I need to talk to her about and
it will take a long time for me to help her work through the damage
they have done to her. We‘ll be leaving right away. I hold no
malice to you. To the contrary I ask your forgiveness for any
trouble I have caused. Travel safe.”

Lor turned to Erin, “ I need to arrange for
the extra wagon wheels and see Holm. Tempo sniffed over his scriber
and it is clean so I need to return it. Speaking of clean I will
also pick up our laundry and say goodbye to Bas. Can you get the
wagon ready to travel? I’ll be right back.”

Erin nodded. “Sure I’ll have things ready.
Say goodbye, for me. He is a character!’ and she waved him off.

She collected the horses and were leading
them from the paddock when she saw Tassy approach. The woman’s eyes
were red from crying. “Robse and Shamra were good people. I will
miss them very much. I went to the guild warehouse and found the
cloth that he left me. It just makes me weep to think he is gone.
Oh, I will miss his quiet smile!” She gave Erin a hug and quickly
turned to collect her own team. Erin looked after her thoughtfully,
wondering just how many people had seen through her disguise. She
just hoped that they kept their awareness of her to themselves. She
mentally shrugged as she turned back to the wagon. She couldn’t do
anything about it.

Within a half an hour the caravan was pulling
out of Sherroton. Half of the day was gone but they hoped to make
it to the southern end of Axhead Lake before Cear rose in the sky.
They were going to push hard to make up time. The train picked up
speed. It was hard to converse with the rattling and all. Erin and
Lor were lost in their thoughts mostly anyway. During the day there
were two mild after shocks that were barely felt, partly because
they were in a moving wagon. Erin knew only because her companions
told her.

Cear was indeed rising from the horizon
when they pulled off the road by the end of the lake. Luna had been
up for hours. Such was the nature of their differing orbits. The
horses were tired. Erin walked them to cool them down then brushed
them and made sure they had food and water. She was walking them
back to be tethered where they could graze when she heard the sound
she had been expecting. There was a thrumming of horse hooves
approaching from behind them. The prisoner detail had arrived. The
guild members, setting up the night camp, started murmuring. Only
Raz, Lor and herself had known this was coming. Raz held up his
hand for silence. “Mayor Cheroan wanted people to think that the
detail was traveling separate from us so as to not link us with
Wras should Bure have any confederates. But in reality we will be
safer together for the extra guards. They will be with us only
until the crossroads to Morraton. Now I suggest we go about our
dinners and bed down. We will be leaving early and pushing hard.
Our goal is to be mid Pastarham prairie by nightfall tomorrow.”

The clouds that had been slowly gathering
over the last few days became a dark boiling mass by dawn. Erin
thought about Kennet’s weather prediction as the winds picked up
with a strong smell of moisture in the air. She was wearing her old
light weight jacket as she harnessed the horses in the early dawn
light. The way the temperature was dropping she might be in her new
coat soon. Tempo had done his early rounds checking for vesi hiding
in boots, but he carefully avoided Wras and his guard. They would
have to handle the small pesky rodents on their own.

The caravan was pulling out before the sun
was up, with the prisoner in the middle of the string of wagons.
There were guards and runners at the front, in the middle and at
the end of the string. They did not travel at full gallop as it
would be hard for the horses to maintain the pace but it was a
brisk pace. By late morning the first wagons were crossing the
bridge and it had begun to pour torrentially. The ground became
slippery which slowed the wagons even more. The first wagons over
the bridge were fine. But each consecutive wagon had an
accumulation of mud on its wheels which it partially deposited on
the bridge deck as it compressed previous mud clumps. By the time
the caravan had crossed half of it’s wagons, the bridge was
slippery with mud and water. A few of the men, who had been working
on repairing the bridge, had to stop and scrape the mud off the
deck and into the river before another wagon could cross. This
slowed the train down considerably. For those on horseback it was
particularly unpleasant, even though each had a treated rain
slicker and hats. The guild members were partially shielded with
the small roofs that briefly sheltered the driver seats.

Finally every wagon was across and only the
outriders were left. The last horseman across was a message runner
and he peeled off from the train and rode for Terresville. Slowly
the caravan resumed their pace. By sundown they had just passed the
second fork in the road. Considering the lousy weather conditions,
Raz and the other guild member felt that they had done well for the
day. Everyone was cold and wet when they stopped for the night.
Special blankets were thrown over the horses and they were tethered
to the wagons. The prisoner detail set up tents and everyone ate
inside their individual structures. There were no trees or any
other natural formations to shelter under or against. The camp was
in middle of the rolling prairie. There was enough room inside
Lor’s wagon for Lor to sleep along the wagon side and Erin, curled
with Tempo, to stretch out across the end.

In the middle of the night there was another
quake. Erin had been anticipating that one might occur and had
bedded down near the tailgate. She slept with her new coat and her
boots on for warmth. When Tempo jumped up she slapped on the hat
and gloves and was on the ground as the quake hit. Erin staggered
over to the horses reassuring and calming. As soon as Lor’s team
settled she moved on. There were others out comforting their teams.
It was a cold and miserable time to be up but the animals calmed
down and everybody returned to their shelter.

By dawn the rain had slackened. Everybody was
a little short of sleep and bundled to keep warm. Left over rolls
and camp cereal were eaten as soon as the horses were harnessed and
they were on the road. Due to the saturated ground and the tendency
for the mud to cake the wheels they didn’t anticipate making as
much speed as they wanted.

With the prisoner with them it wasn’t prudent
to stop at Osily but the plan was to make camp just beyond the Y in
the road. Raz and Kennet would go to the town and see if they could
purchase some fresh food. They pushed ahead and they could see
through the rain the mountains that sheltered Osily. A little after
midday the rain finally stopped and the autumn sun came out. By mid
afternoon the ground was steaming from the heat of the sun and the
humidity was high. The caravan decided to pause and stretch their
legs before pulling through the rest of the day. People were
shedding layers of clothing and wiping down the horses. Tempo was
finding all kinds of delicacies to pounce on and eat because the
bugs and vesi were forced out of the soaked ground to breath. The
little insects and rodents were everywhere. Looking at the ground
literally crawling with small biting types of life, Erin had no
problem with sleeping in the wagon bed another night.

The break wasn’t long. Once they were moving
again they wouldn’t be able to hear Wras complaining and whining
which he had been doing non stop since dawn. Usually prisoners were
marched, tethered behind their escort. But because Bure was still
at large and the quakes provided opportunities for escape the guard
detail pressed for speed. Wras was tied to his saddle and his hands
secured. The rider ahead of him held the reins of his horse. It was
the best solution that could be arranged on short notice. So
between the miserable weather and the querulous grumbling, everyone
wanted that part of the journey to be over.

Despite the weather and the slippery
conditions they reached their camp location, near the Osily
turnoff, by nightfall. The two guild members left on horseback,
accompanied by the message runner, for their supply run to Osily,
as everyone else set up camp. Erin unhitched and cared for both
Lor’s and Kennet’s teams. Tempo had eaten so well during the day
that he was in the wagon sleeping off the gorge. Lor came up beside
her and gave her a hand as she started on Raz’s team. Soon her
chores were done but she still circulated through all of the teams
to reassure them that they were safe whenever the quakes came.