Two Heirs (The Marmoros Trilogy Book 1) (22 page)

“Okay, I’m going to take you all at your word on this. Now form a line; shortest on the left, tallest on the right.”

When the line was formed, David went to the youngster on the very left. “What’s your name, son?”

“It’s Ishmael, milord, but everybody calls me Izzy.”

“And how old are you, Izzy?”

“I’m eleven, milord. Well, very nearly.”

“Your parents know you’re here?”

“Yes, milord. They do.”

“Alright. Now tell me, Izzy. Why are you here instead of looking after the herds with the other children of your age?”

“’Cos I want to be a fighter, milord. Like my grandfather was.”

David nodded and walked slowly down the line, seeing the same look of determination on every face as he passed.

“Okay, now I want everyone to the left of Baltur to move to the left and form two rows, tallest at the back. Baltur, your group in two rows as well, tallest at the back.”

David did a quick headcount. There were nine in the group of smaller boys and twelve in Baltur’s group. He spoke to the younger boys first. “Right, now you have all volunteered to be here and I’m not going to send anybody away who wants to stay but you are not old enough and, more importantly, not big enough to fight alongside the men. I can’t have experienced fighters worrying about who’s underfoot or losing concentration by trying to protect you.

“However, in any military command there are a thousand other things that need to be done. Commands and messages need to be run between different groups and delivering those messages quickly and accurately is absolutely vital in any successful battle. You will be trained in the use of weapons and you will be given a dagger to defend yourselves but I need you to be my runners until you are old enough to join the fighters. If any of you do not want to take on that role, I will quite understand and there will be no shame in going back to your families.”

There were a few disappointed looks on the faces of some of the boys but nobody moved.

David went over to the group of older boys. “Lord Jeren, Baltur step forward please. You two will report to Captain Feynor and train with him and with Jacob here in the use of the sword. The rest of you will report to Captain Jorgen when he returns. Over the next few weeks and months you will be trained in the use of all the weapons we have here but we are going to start you off with the spear. It’s a very easy weapon to learn. There’s only one thing you have to remember about a spear. You use the pointy end.”

There was general laughter from the group at that and David dismissed them to the care of his officers.

***

The rest of the day passed without any major problems. David inspected the possible ambush sites that Feynor
and
Bern had found but rejected them both. If the enemy scouts detected that the village had moved then the approaching troop could bypass the ambush and leave the company trying to play catch up with the enemy. So he gave orders for the camp to move and travel at the rear of the column. There was a risk involved in allowing the horsemen to get closer to the Lyenar column but it was outweighed by the risk of leaving the column undefended and being outflanked by the enemy.

There were the usual mishaps and injuries throughout the day with sprains, bruises and even one broken arm amongst the villagers but all the wagons were underway by midday. One wagon suffered a broken axle almost as soon as it started to move, which took several hours to repair and put that family at the very end of the column, travelling along with the company.

In the van of the column, Ash found a suitable spot by mid-afternoon and called a halt for the early starters allowing the main body of the column to catch up. They had already decided that, rather than making a proper camp every night, they would stop the wagons nose to tail along the trail so that everyone could set out together at first light the next day. It made for a defensive nightmare with a camp twenty paces wide and over four thousand paces long so David had mobile patrols on the move all night along both sides of the column.

Jorgen’s group caught up with them shortly after nightfall which brought the company up to full strength again. Gaelan and the others had been furious, uttering vicious threats and curses for the first hour of their journey until Jorgen had finally lost patience and threatened to gag them. He released them shortly before midday and turned back, leaving them a hunting bow and some arrows together with a skinning knife some ten minutes down the trail.

The council had decided, with only token opposition from Bardsley, that all of Gaelan’s possessions should be sold and the proceeds placed in the village coffers for the benefit of all. However, until they had time to sort that out, Gaelan’s two wagons had been packed with all his belongings and Falaise had hired a couple of reliable drivers to bring them along.

Falaise called the council together that evening for an update but none of the scouts had reported back yet. Within the column there were a number of minor complaints, mostly about how one family was in another’s dust and how they should really be in front of them. Falaise dismissed all such complaints with the comment that, if they had been ready to move at first light, they could have been the leading wagon in the column. The only disappointment from David’s point of view, was that, because of the shortened day, the column had only travelled about five leagues.

The second day was better. As he hoped, all of the wagons were able to set off more or less together. Although there was no defined trail they were following, the land was reasonably flat and he was hopeful of making a much greater distance that day. They travelled without breaks; people eating and drinking on the move and disappearing off to the side of the trail to relieve themselves.

The first of the forward scouts came back that afternoon. David sent Jaks to round up the other officers and meet him in the van. By the time he got there, Ash had the map spread out over the ground at the side of the trail and was poring over it with Jerome.

“More good news than bad, milord,” he reported. “There’s a large area of marshy ground directly ahead. Horses might possibly pick a way through it; wagons definitely not. We will have to make a detour to the south to get round it.”

“Well I hope that’s not the good news. Why can’t we go round to the north, towards Highport?”

“Very broken ground, milord,” Jerome answered. “Lots of up and down and very rocky hillsides. Wagons would be very slow and, even if they could make it, there’s a much higher risk of
broken wheels and axles. South is much flatter, much like the land here but it is a detour away from Highport.”

“Okay, so what’s the good news?”

“The marsh drains to the southwest. There’s a river, not much more than a large stream really, that runs for about four maybe five hundred paces then cuts through a narrow gorge and falls down the face of the escarpment. The good news is there’s a cart track that crosses the river, climbs a little to the ridge of the escarpment on the far side and then drops down to the highroad. It’s a very old cart track; not very well used and probably originally only a drovers trail but it fords the river at its widest and therefore shallowest point and it should be passable with care.

“The only problem is the drop down on the far side of the escarpment. It’s very steep and we’ll need runners alongside each wagon with wedges, ropes and pulleys to slow the wagons down or even stop them if necessary.”

“This sounds good to me,” David said. “The villagers have got enough manpower to cope with that descent, even if it’s only one wagon at a time. I think we’ve got a route.”

“There is one more factor to consider, milord,” Ash put in. “One of the old shepherds came to me this morning and said we’re going to have rain. Not today and maybe not tomorrow but certainly by tomorrow night. Not a storm as such but he says the rainfall will be heavy. That means the marsh will fill up and the river will start running higher. We need to get across that river before the rain comes.”

“If we
can
get across that river before the rain comes and before the pursuit catches up with us, then we have a line of defence behind us and we’ve bought ourselves some time to deal with that tricky descent. How far is it to the river crossing?”

“About eleven, maybe twelve leagues, milord”

“Ouch, there’s no way we can do that in a day. We’ll have to keep going until we lose the last bit of light tonight. I’ll go and warn the council so that they can hold down the protests but keep them going for as long as it’s safe tonight, Ash. I take it we’ve heard nothing from the scouts behind us yet?”

“Not yet, milord. Those horsemen will be four days out of Stadenbridge now. They should be approaching the place where we rescued the children. That still puts them two days behind us. I wouldn’t expect the scouts to report in before late tomorrow.”

***

The weather was unkind and the rain came early. The first spots started falling mid-afternoon on the third day. The herds which were in the van were in sight of the ford but were still short by almost half a league. Within ten minutes the rain intensified and the animals were getting difficult. They wanted to stop and the children, who were quickly soaked to the skin themselves, were having more and more trouble in keeping the herds moving.

The youngsters who had volunteered as runners two days earlier had been divided up and each officer had been allocated two runners. Ash sent one of his runners back to request more manpower and then rode around the herds encouraging the children to keep them moving.

“Get them across the river and then off to one side,” he instructed. “Then they can rest and take shelter while we keep the wagons moving up the track.”

The rain swept in on the back of a stiff southerly breeze. Up and down the column, cloaks were hastily handed out and riders and drivers alike huddled up and cursed the weather gods. Everyone who was not otherwise occupied scrambled into the back of their wagons to take shelter.

David arrived at the ford with the reinforcements to find the animals milling about on the bank of the stream, unwilling to enter the water. The ford was about twenty paces across and the water, which had not yet begun to rise, was no more than half a hand’s breadth deep. He ordered
six riders into the stream on either side of the ford to form two walls between which they could channel the nervous animals.

It was the mixed herd of goats and sheep that was nearest to the crossing point and David spoke to the old shepherd in charge to identify the leader, the one that all the other animals instinctively follow. He dismounted with three of the men and between them they cornered the old ram. Then, with the old shepherd in the lead, they half carried the animal down to the water’s edge and into the stream. By the time they were three quarters of the way across, they gave the old ram its head and it made for the far bank. David looked round and was relieved to see the first of the herd starting to cross.

Once the crossing had started, the rest of the herd followed, pushing and shoving between the lines of horsemen and encouraged to move by the dozens of yelling children. Perhaps a little surprisingly, the cattle followed behind without any difficulty and generated their own momentum to reach the far side. As soon as they were safely across, David pulled the riders out of the water and signalled the first wagons to cross.

“How far is it to the top of the rise?” he asked Ash.

“About half a league, milord.”

“Get the first wagons to stop at the top. Nobody starts the descent tonight and certainly not in these conditions. That means we’ll have to start pulling wagons off to either side of the track to park overnight. Half a league isn’t long enough to let us park them nose to tail and I want every wagon across this stream tonight.”

Ash started to issue orders to his men as sounds of a commotion came from farther down the column. Amid shouts of direction, two exhausted riders appeared from out of the rain and headed towards them. The horses were blowing hard and the men looked as though they were having trouble staying in the saddle. Several of the men ran forward to take the horses heads and steady the riders as they dismounted. The men pulled themselves to attention and saluted as David approached.

“We spotted Duke Henry’s horsemen mid-afternoon yesterday, milord,” they reported. “Coming down the track from Stadenbridge and pushing hard.”

“How many of them were there?”

“There were thirty in the troop, milord but when they reached the spot where we rescued the boys, they stopped for about ten minutes and then sent two riders back up the track. Presumably they were going to report to the main body following on.”

“The rest of the troop are still coming, I take it.”

“Yes, milord. We set out at the same time as they did. At that time they were no more than an hour behind us. We kept ahead of them until they stopped for the night and then we kept going. We’ve ridden all through the night and all day today to get here.”

“So your best guess is that they are maybe eight or nine hours behind us at this point.”

One of the scouts made a grimace. “They may have closed up a bit today, milord. The horses are very tired and we haven’t been able to push on as fast as we would have liked.”

“Okay, very well done, both of you. Get yourselves across the stream and take a breather until the rest of the company catches up with us.

“Ash, I’m putting you in charge of the crossing here. You heard the report. That makes it doubly important that we get every wagon across this stream tonight and preferably more than a bow shot up the track. Light flares on either side of the ford and keep going as far into the night as you have to. The bed of the ford seemed quite firm but the water level will start to rise soon. Have some spare teams of horses waiting on the far bank in case any of the wagons get into trouble. We can’t afford to lose any time.

“Jaks,” he yelled and looked down in surprise as a small voice at his feet replied, “Yes, milord.”