To Stand Beside Her (45 page)

Lady and Lord Pillas were grateful to see Leila but confused at the same time.
Once Leila and the men helped Lady and Lord Pillas out of the cellar along with their staff, Leila waited for the guards to return from their search of the house.
All three men shook their head
s
no
as they entered the kitchen.
Leila began to worry about Phillip
. T
here was nothing beyond the front room in disarray
that indicated why or who attacked the manor
.

“Did Phillip make it here this morning?”
Leila
asked Lord Pillas.

“I don’t know.
We’ve all been down there since last night.
Did you check the guard house as you entered?”
Lord Pillas asked.
The men with her all shook their heads
no
.

“There was no one in them,” Anatolio replied.
The first sign to him that something was wrong was the missing guards.

“We were taken from our beds along with the staff by armed men in the middle of the night.
Once they put us in the cellar
,
we didn’t he
a
r anything of what went on afterwards.
We don’t have much of value in the house,” Lady Pillas explained.
“Did Phillip come alone?” She
was
worried.

“No, Macarius and Javed were with him.
How many people entered your home?” Leila asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lord Pillas replied.
“I would guess over ten or fifteen.
I didn’t have time to count
,
and it was dark.”

“They were speaking a language I had never heard before,” Lady Pillas said
, starting to fret
.

“They were from Enea,” a young girl said that was standing behind Lady Pillas.
Leila was not happy to hear the response.
Anatolio had left but was finally returning.
She cautiously moved away from the group of scared residents and talked quietly to him.

“How does it look?” she asked him as Nikias and Theo moved near to also hear.

“There are horse prints that head away from town.
Lots of them.
From what I can tell Phillip, Javed, and Macarius came near but didn’t enter.
For some reason they headed further south
,
but I c
ould not see beyond a hill near
by,” Anatolio explained part of what he saw.

“What is the current political situation with King Aiolos?” Leila asked Nikias
.
Anatolio had more to say but did not want to say it to his older brother.

“We
are
on fine standings with him for the time being.
The last war with them was over ten years ago.
King Nalick has never had a problem with him
,
but we are not allies either.
We have by far the better military
,
so I don’t understand why he would come into our country and do something like this,” Nikias explained.

“Nalick’s guards stay near the front of the house,” Leila ordered
,
and the three men stood.
“If you see anything at all, come back here immediately.”
A
ll three moved to the front room and posted themselves by the windows.

“Nikias and Theo help get Lady and Lord Pillas some food and blankets and then escort them back to the cellar.”
Lady and Lord Pillas looked shocked.

“It is the safest place for you.
If they return and find you wandering the house you could end up dead.
We will send word to Nalick and have proper military come to help you out, but until then, stay there.”
Leila explained.
Once Nikias and Theo were busy, Anatolio took her away from them out of hearing distance.

“There are at least ten people outside in the woods watching the manor.
If we leave and head back out the front gate, we will be easily ambushed.
There is a back route to Lexia from here and if we send a guard he can bring help, but I don’t think they will wait that long,” Anatolio explained and pulled Leila closer.

“There was blood near the top of the hill I couldn’t see over.
Something happened there.”
Leila stared at him as her heart began to pump
wildly
.
Phillip
was gone and there was blood
.
Anatolio reached out an arm to brace her
,
thinking she would tip over. Leila caught her breath and her resolve.

“We need to see whose blood it is,” she said beg
inning
to pace the room.
The attack was staged to seem as a random break in, but
now
Leila doubted it was random.
Leila walked back to Lord Pillas.

“Lord Pillas, is there any other way to exit your manor?”
s
he asked.

“The wall is
built
around the whole compound.
We have an entrance at the front, and then one at the back but
,
the back entrance is always locked.
We have not used it in years,” he explained.

“Can we have the key to the back entrance?”
s
he asked
,
and he quickly ran to the near
by room and rustled through a desk.

“Take any of the horses you can use,” he offered.

Leila returned to the men in the kitchen. Lord Pillas was the last put back into the cellar, and he shut the door behind them. Leila looked out the back window over the pasture and grazing horses. She needed to get to the other side of the hill quickly if anyone was hurt.
Rationally, Leila thought,
Phillip would not be harmed to get to
me
, but
I am not so
sure the same would not go for Macarius and Javed
. Leila walked around the house trying to come up with her plan and Anatolio followed. Theo and Nikias waited for her return.

“We should head straight back to Lexia,” Nikias said.

“No,” Leila said while returning to the room. “There are several people waiting in the woods ready to attack us on our way back. Since we don’t know how many are there, we will not directly approach them. We are going to use the back gate to send two of the guards back to Lexia as quick as possible
,
with each taking a different route. We can then follow the wall around the compound to find out if Phillip is f
u
rther down the road.” Nikias tried to object
,
but Anatolio stopped him.

“We do what she
says
,”
Anatolio
said. “She is the queen.” Theo nodded. Leila was far better to assess the situation and make a plan than any of the three
men
were.

“One guard will be left here to throw off the people watching the manor to make them assume we are still here,” she finished. One man volunteered to stay.

Leila led the remaining men out the back door and to the nearest barn. Finding several horses unsaddled
,
she quickly put their reins on them. She handed each guard a horse and cautiously led them between buildings until she reached the back of the manor. Leila could barely see the door covered by vines
, so
Anatolio ripped the
m
off the door. The lock had not been unlocked in years. Once it was open, Leila directed the two guards to take different route
s
back to Nalick with specific instructions. Nikias and Theo followed Leila beg
inning
to circle back around the compound outside the wall to the front of the manor. Anatolio fell behind and kept watch over the group. As they neared the road that passed in close proximity, Leila slowed down. She handed her reins to Theo and checked for anyone following them.

The group that was waiting in the woods had not moved and they were free to continue down the road. They were on the other side of the hil
l that
Anatolio could not see over
.
Leila tried not to stare at
the blood. Gazing down the
road she noticed several men l
ying face down. Quickly,
Leila
hurried over to them and the men followed. One by one she checked each man. They were all dead and all foreigners. As she neared the last two bodies, she knew who they were. Leila kneeled beside Javed and rolled him over. She checked for a pulse and could not find one.
Javed
was slowly dying
,
but
she could see that he was still breathing shallowly. He had been cut many times, and his shirt was soaked through with blood. Tears welled in her eyes. Nikias also checked over his comrade and tried to see how he could help him. Leila looked up to see Theo running over to the last man.

Leila ran to the last man also. Macarius was injured but still alive and able to talk
, just not move
. Theo sat his best friend up, and he opened his eyes to see Leila.

“Leila,”
Macarius
choked.
“I’m sorry…
I could not stop them.”

“Theo, take them back to Lexia right away. Stop at the Shilling tavern on your way in town and tell the bartender that Meg needs some assistance. Hopefully, Roger is close and can make it back,” she said. “Nikias, please go with him.”

“No, I am staying beside you,” Nikias said. His job was to watch over Leila no matter the circumstances
,
and
Nikias
was not going to fail his king. Leila gave a motion with one hand
,
and Anatolio moved near his older brother.

“Sorry,”
Anatolio
said
,
as he hit a spot in the back of his neck.

Nikias crumpled to the ground and
Anatolio ran back to the wall and got a small cart to wheel over to the men.
Anatolio put
the two injured men in the cart as Theo attached it to the horses.
Leila tried to help but the two men took care of everything while she plotted her plan. When they were finished they turned to her and she explained.

“The reality is that Javed was the better fighter between him and Nikias.
When he wakes tell him I was sorry to do that.
I will go alone to Phillip. They will not hurt me, but that does not mean they won’t hurt Phillip. I don’t have time to waste waiting for Nalick and please explain that to him. Anatolio is going to follow me and if I need any help, he will be there. Anatolio will also look for Nalick.” Theo nodded as Leila opened the back gate. “Take care of Macarius
,
please.” Theo reluctantly headed back to the town with the men in the cart.

Leila went back inside the house. Anatolio followed her, silently. She cautiously looked into the front room
confirming what she
suspected
;
the guard was gone. He had been showing signs of nervousness since they had left the city and his jittery attitude made Leila suspect his involvement. She was relieved to find the one bad seed of the group was the one that knew the least.

“I am heading out that way now,” she said. Anatolio nodded.

“Stay behind and follow at a good distance. I am sure there must be a courier with them, so don’t get caught. As soon as I get inside their camp and find Phillip I will send word to you. Stay to the east side of their camp.” Leila walked to the door. Anatolio grabbed her arm.

“Be careful, please,”
Anatolio
said to her, and she smiled.

“I always am,” she replied, and he hid as she opened the door. Calmly
,
she walked out the front door and towards the front of the manor. She took the reins of her horse that was still sitting by the front gate, and she walked back towards Lexia. Anatolio was surprised to see her so calm. It did not faze her that she was going to meet unknown enemies. From behind he could not see the determination in her eyes.
Leila
had trained hard
for
the last four years for this moment. This time she was not going to fail to protect someone she loved.

As she neared the front gate of the manor she could see the people hidden in the woods. She tied her horse to the gate and left it for Anatolio. From behind a tree stepped a fairly large man. His bushy light colored beard told her immediately he was from Enea. Leila estimated that he was as large as Nalick but should be as easy to take down if she chose.

“Where’s my son?”
Leila
asked as more men appeared from the woods onto the pathway.

“Back at camp
,
safe for the moment,” the first man said. As he walked closer she recognized the man. He was the head of Aiolos’s personal guard: Mitchell.
Leila
never forgot a face.