The Temporal Knights (45 page)

The Ealdorman, Lady Merwinna, Æhelf
læ
d and Æthelgifu topped the bank wet and tired just as the hummers tore off after the horsemen.

“Wot has happened?” the Lady Merwinna asked, clearly concerned by the crying children and the dead men...one, the American Stuart Greybon.
‘So they can die,’
she thought grimly.

Garraty turned, holding Eve tightly in his arms. The girl was still crying softly but was no longer hysterical. “We’re not sure, but we think they were after Eve,” he answered and gestured to the girl in his arms.

“Thanks be to God she be safe,” the Ealdorman said.

“Tis true they have other children?” the Countess asked as she watched the plane overhead shrink to a tiny dot, and the noisy wagons on the ground drop below the horizon.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Garraty answered as Eve finally grew quiet.

“They must
na have known which one was yor child,” Giffu said, her assumption right on the mark. “Those poor children.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Garraty stammered, slightly uncomfortable because of the young woman’s beauty. “But if they can hold out just for an hour or so, we’ll have them back.”

Æthelgifu stared up at the man cradling the now quiet child and was moved by the simple goodness she saw in his eyes. All the Americans seemed uncommonly protective of the child. “Come let’s get the little one back to the hall,” she said then turned to go back the way they’d just come, but the Lady Merwinna stopped her and led them up stream.

“Tis an easier, drier way,” she explained, and it wasn’t until they reached the hall that a runner informed them of Selby’s death, her body finally discovered, hidden in the underbrush. Tears welled up in the Lady Merwinna’s eyes for she was very fond of the girl’s mother, and had known Selby her entire life.

“We’ll get them,” Garraty assured the women and followed Merwinna upstairs to one of the bedrooms where he laid Eve on a large feather bed and covered her up. The young girl was already asleep, but Garraty made no move to leave, instead he pulled up a chair to guard and wait.

To the south, Lochlin was still running the mare hard when he heard one of the flying boats overhead. It roared like a dragon, low and menacing as it flew past, causing his mount to run all the faster. The Captain watched the maacheene fly by and then gracefully circle around him once more. He tensed as it came closer, waiting for it to pounce or breath fire down upon him, but it never did, instead if flew over once more and circled about again. Lochlin, his horse and the girl, raced on. After a few more passes, the Captain realized that the boat was no danger to him, and was only tracking his progress. The sun was setting and Lochlin smiled. The darkness would be his friend; he would escape into it. Once into the deep woods these strangers would never find him for they had little knowledge of these lands. He turned back to encourage Sir Oswig, his lone surviving man and immediately spotted three pairs of bright white eyes following them in the distance. The lights were still at least a league behind, but the sight sent a chill through Lochlin and he shivered. The eyes bounced about and at times were hidden behind a hill or copse but it didn’t take Lochlin long to realize they were gaining on them quickly. Fear gripped him and he was tempted to spur his horse to greater speed, but with the growing dark he knew such a thing was highly dangerous. Still as it went from twilight to dark he kept the horse at a gallop, wanting to be away from the chasing lights. He saw his death in those bright, white eyes.

“We must make the Windemere forest or we’re lost,” he cried out. Sir Oswig risked a glance back and went white, then nodded and without hesitation spurred his mount faster, coming even with and then passing his Captain. Lochlin cursed but then followed suit. There was no moon, but they let their horses run across the moors in any case; forced to risk injury by the rapidly approaching eyes in their rear. Overhead they continued to hear the flying boat, though how it stayed with them in the growing dark they couldn’t say. Both riders sighed with relief when they finally entered the deep woods and left the bright lights behind. The chasing eyes were close, no more than half a league away, but both men were confident that they could lose them in the big trees.

“Let’s move south,” Lochlin panted. “They’ll
na find us in here.”

“Na M’lord,” Oswig contradicted and moved to the left. “I grew up on the Fenns and hunted these woods as a boy. There’s a group of caves
na far east, we canna hide thar from ‘nyone.”

Lochlin nodded and followed carefully behind him in the darkness. It wasn’t long before they had to dismount, pulling the children down with them. Neither girl was crying, but they were both very afraid and cooperated readily enough. They had no idea what the two men wanted but instinctively knew that if they gave them a bad time death was not far away.

“Ye make a noise, an’ I’ll slit yor throats,” Lochlin whispered to them, confirming their suspicions. The girls, Ulla who belonged to Sir Tomkin, and Ædella to Sir Ældwin, believed the man. In their short lifetimes they’d seen death in many guises and had no illusions about whether or not it could happen to them. They cooperated fully with the dim hope that somehow their fathers would find them and kill these men. For the girls, the deepening darkness was both a curse and a blessing. Naked as they were, the night air was growing cold, but it also hid the fact that both were a good bit older than Eve. Ædella had turned eight the month prior, and Ulla was ten, though very small for her age.

The men strained their eyes in the darkness of the deep woods as they pulled the young girls along behind. Oswig led them farther and farther into the forested landscape. It was completely dark now and one after another they tripped and stumbled through the woods, all trying to keep from banging into a trunk of a great oak, which was a real danger despite their large size. Behind them the roar of the magic wagons carried clearly through the still night air, warning of the arrival of the Americans. The engines were so loud that Lochlin glanced back a bit fearfully, believing that the monsters were actually moving into the woods. Even through the thick forest he could see the lights in the distance, though they were much muted by the foliage. Lochlin sighed with relief, for it was readily apparent that the wagons had stopped at the edge of the forest.

“Hurry!” He urged but Oswig needed no encouragement as the flying boat flew directly overhead.

“It canna see us! We’ll lose it soon,” Oswig said confidently as the sounds of the boat diminished, but Lochlin was no longer sure.  Moments later the flying boat returned, again directly overhead. The girls began to hope, but said nothing. Sir Oswig paused and had a moment of indecision during which Lochlin hissed at him quietly, but soon he was moving again, and as if by a miracle he found a hidden opening to a very large deep cave.

“Wold part the legs of the lasses here as a lad. Tis a deep cave ‘nd twill hide us’n well.”

They moved deeper in, leading their skittish horses behind. It was very dark, impossible to see anything, and Ulla whimpered quietly until a knife bit deep into the back of her neck. A thin line of blood trickled from the wound, running down her back and she grew quiet again. Sir Oswig, who apparently knew the cave intimately, followed the south wall and led them deeper and then deeper still. After what seemed like hours they came upon another passage along the cave wall, but did not move into it. The cave was much deeper yet, but here it narrowed considerably and the horses either would not, or could not continue. They’d only gone about two hundred yards into the darkness, but it seemed like much farther to all of them. Quietly, they huddled down in the darkness, backs against the rock wall.

Lochlin knelt, holding one girl very close to him. She was shivering but he paid her no mind, all his senses were now focused on the cave around them.

“Make a noise and ye die in me arms...but I’ll cut yor nose off and make ye eat it a’fore I kill ye,” he whispered softly into her ear. The girl’s shivering grew more pronounced. The cave
was colder than the night air, and the damp chill of the stone sank into the girl’s bones. A few feet away in the whispering darkness, Sir Oswig made a similar promise to young Ædella and they all stayed very quiet. After several minutes their eyes began to adjust and they could see that the cave actually had two main openings, a large one and a much smaller one just to its left. And though the night was dark, it was still lighter than the black of the cave.

They waited and waited, the men finally relaxed, knowing that they were safe for now, while the girls silently prayed. Ulla saw them first and stiffened, involuntarily warning Lochlin, who glanced up and spotted the figures silhouetted against the night sky. He slipped a hand over the girl’s mouth, and in the darkness that surrounded them touched his knife to her throat as a warning.

“Pssss,” he whispered very softly, warning Oswig, not knowing whether the man was still paying attention. The sound was easily detected by Colonel Lemay’s strong directional microphone mounted on his M18. He looked deeper into the cave, using night vision.

“Magnify times ten,” he whispered and the computer automatically carried out his orders. He spotted the group almost immediately, huddled together in the back of the cave. They were looking directly at him and he realized instantly that he was silhouetted against the brighter night sky. Lemay immediately ducked down and moved into the cave and away from the opening. Hernandez, Dosland, Starling, and Otsaka followed his lead without a sound. The two men were still looking in the direction of the cave opening but Lemay calmly remained where he was and surveyed his surroundings. Now that he and his men were out of the opening he knew the locals could not possibly see them. In the pitch black it would be the sound of their movements that would betray them.

The cave was large…very large near the twin openings. The ceiling was high above, maybe thirty feet at this end, and flat, completely free of any stalactites. Instead there were three massive pillars of stone which rose from floor to ceiling. It was very impressive, almost cathedral like. Toward the back, the cave narrowed and the ceiling dropped sharply, but through the darkness Lemay could see another passageway directly between the two men who huddled against the back wall. The horses were off to the left, both animals standing dead still, ears perked and listening. The two men were about ten feet apart, kneeling, and each holding a naked young girl in front of them. Lemay made a quick hand signal and the soldiers moved slowly to the left before turning and heading straight at the group. After about fifty yards they stopped next to one of the giant pillars. The Colonel could now see everything very clearly, including the fear on the faces of the young girls. He frowned and his resolve hardened. He also recognized Captain Lochlin, who held a knife out in front of him, but at the moment he was not threatening the girl. The other man, who Lemay did not recognize, also had a knife, but he held it against his captive’s throat. He would have to be dealt with very carefully. Their eyes were wide, and the Colonel knew they were trying to see in the extreme dark of the cave.

“Flashbang?”
Private Starling whispered softly through the speakers of the Colonel’s helmet. A flashbang was a common tactic and a relatively minor explosive, nevertheless it released a blinding flash of light and a titanic sound wave designed to overload the senses of its victims leaving them stunned and helpless for a few precious seconds.

“No,” Lemay answered; worried that such a tactic could harm the girl’s hearing or sight, especially since their eyes were so dilated from the darkness. “Move slowly. I don’t want to alarm the men,” he whispered back so softly that the sound did not travel beyond his helmet.

“I can take him,” Hernandez said confidently, after all he was one of the American’s best sharpshooters.

The Colonel thought for a moment and then nodded in the darkness. “Wait,” Lemay ordered and motioned for the rest of his men to sit tight, then as quietly as he could he set down his rifle, and removed his boots and socks. The cave floor was freezing against the bare skin of his feet and he wondered how the two girls could stand it, utterly naked as they were. Fear, he guessed but then put such thoughts aside. He moved very slowly, very quietly, closer and closer to the knights. Twice he shifted a loose rock and was sure the men heard him, but only the smallest girl moved her eyes in his direction. He continued through the darkness until he was no more than five feet away, standing directly in front of Lochlin.

Lochlin was sweating in the cool cave. He knew the Americans were in here, though how they’d tracked him in the darkness he could not imagine. Half a dozen times he thought he heard movement, but nothing close. It was not possible that they could find them here or to approach without being heard. The cave was utterly dark and even now he couldn’t see a thing, not even the girl’s head directly below his chin. So he waited, knowing the Americans were here, and knowing that somehow they were coming for him.

When it came, the crack of the rifle was incredibly loud in the cave, making Lochlin jump. Ædella screamed, loud and high pitched and the horses clomped away in the darkness. Lochlin panicked, his eyes tracking toward the flash of light but then without warning the girl he held was wrenched from his arms. A horse whinnied and shuffled about and suddenly he could hear the sounds of men running.

‘How can they run?’
Lochlin thought dimly and quickly drew his sword. He waved it about in the dark but didn’t hit anything as he slowly shifted in Oswig’s direction.