Take the body and give me the rest (17 page)

She wasn’t
surprised. ‘Black Rock? Of course they are going to Black Rock,
both he and that bitch Elizebetha are still alive, where else would
they be going. We’ll join the train and take them.’

Seth and his
men rode with their mounts along the caravan train from where they
were stationed quite near the rear to the very tip. It was a very
mixed affair, mostly consisting of various small traders bringing
things from the ports of Pelloss to the other cities along the road
to Black Rock. They passed many families migrating and more than
one slave train: groups of twenty men and women chained at the hand
and forced to trudge along at the slow caravan pace. Most of the
people startled at the troop as it passed, probably half worrying
that it was some brigand troop come to kill them all.

The troop had ridden the length of the caravan and only seen
two guards at the very tail and now saw two more sitting in an open
wagon that was setting the pace for the train. On the wagon, taking
up more than most of the space, was a vast, fat man dressed in
sumptuous silks and turbans. It was a style that reminded Seth of
the Captain of
The
Opulent
. The man regarded Seth and his
troop as they drew up alongside his wagon and kept easy pace with
it. The man looked slightly nervous, and the guards sitting beside
him moved hands to the crossbows resting in their laps.

‘Good morning,
friend. I’m Seth we are travelling with the caravan and thought
we’d exercise these restive mounts of ours,’ he said in what he
hoped was a friendly voice.

The man visibly
relaxed. ‘Oh, very good to hear you’re travelling with us. My name
is Rosen. I’m the master of this caravan.’

Seth reached
across the distance and shook the man’s hand as he rode along.

‘I was actually
hoping to discuss some business with you, if I could, Master
Rosen,’ said Seth.

Rosen perked up
a bit at this. ‘Oh, yes, and what would you like to discuss?’

‘My men and I
aren’t used to this trudging along; we’d much rather be scouting
the passes, out-riding and ensuring no one joins the train
unnoticed. We also noticed you’re a bit light on guards and maybe
you’d be interested in taking on a few more for the journey?’ Seth
asked.

Rosen smiled at
him. ‘You men do have the right look to you, the look of men who
know one end of a sword from the other. I have a business partner
in these caravans, and he’s a terrible skinflint; every trip I
travel with fewer and fewer guards. This time I fear we’re
dangerously low. I’d be happy to take you men on if the terms are
suitable.’

Seth had never
really traded like this before, so he had no idea what was a fair
price or what the men would be happy with.

‘Let’s not talk
day rates. Twenty gold coins for all of us from now ’til your last
stop,’ Seth said.

The man looked
shocked. ‘Twenty gold coins! I could buy five men for that.’

‘Not this
five.’

Rosen looked to
his guards, as if gauging their opinions, but they remained blank,
no doubt thinking on their own low wages.

‘I’ve heard
reports of brigands in these passes, and that’s the reason I’m more
than normally worried. I’ll give you ten gold now and eight when I
arrive at my final stop alive,’ he said.

Seth and the
men laughed at that. ‘Sounds like a deal.’ They shook hands again.
Rosen counted out ten small gold coins from a large bag that Grimm
eyed with greed and rolled them into a small leather pouch, which
he passed to Seth.

‘Thank you,
Master Rosen; we’ll get started right now, if that suits you’ With
a quick nod from the double chin of Master Rosen, Seth spurred his
horse out away from the caravan and started on their first
patrol.

They rode out
hard and let their mounts loose a little bit, gaining some space
between themselves and the head of the caravan. It wouldn’t be hard
to maintain a much quicker pace than that slow march.

The countryside
of Pelloss was so extremely lush and fertile, it was no wonder
Pelloss was such a rich country. Every field they past was fit to
bursting with well-maintained crops. Once or twice they passed
orchards where many fruit trees all stood in neat rows, being
tended by people on wooden ladders.

They formed a
line of five across the road and fell into an easy trotting
pace.

Goldie spoke up
from the group. ‘That was some nice negotiating work, Boss. He paid
more for us than you did!’

They all
laughed at that. ‘That’s true enough. And, so you boys know, we’ll
share the loot out equally.’

‘Okay, Boss,
but you get a bigger share ’cause you’re the Captain; that’s how it
works,’ said Grimm.

‘We’re sounding
more and more like a mercenary troop,’ said Seth.

‘It’s better
than being a group of five former slaves,’ said Flint.

‘Well, that’s
the truth of it. It does seem a lucrative trade,’ said Seth.

‘We’re getting
more for this trip than we would have for a year’s working in the
North,’ said Goldie.

‘Well, let’s
earn it then. I just know that around one of these corners somebody
will be waiting for us.’

Seth didn’t
want to tell the men that the major reason they were out here
wasn’t to protect themselves from attack or get paid; it was to do
what the creature had told him and find some new enemies. Truly,
the world would not miss some brigands, killers and thieves. But
still, Seth didn’t like the feeling of being a man who hunted and
killed other men.

Three days on
the road passed and neither did anyone else join the caravan nor
did Seth and his troop encounter anyone threatening on the roads.
They often would share the road with much smaller caravans passing
in the other direction, but that was all. On the third day, they
were marching in a line and came upon a sharp bend that went into a
section of road that was deeply cut into a rising hill. On either
side of the road, the sheer walls of dirt and stone stood. It was a
perfect place for an ambush; at the top of the cliffs was even some
coverage with stones and hedges.

As they passed,
the group kept talking as they had been and didn’t draw any
attention. Every one of them could feel the presence of people at
the top of the ridge, and Seth could imagine a shower of arrows
falling down onto the troop and killing them. Clearly, the brigands
weren’t interested in wasting a good ambush on a group of
travelling Northern fighters when the caravan, their real prize,
was on the same road just an hour or so behind.

The horses
trotted onward, and Goldie regaled the others with some story about
a woman he’d met in some water front tavern, who turned out to be
married to the minstrel playing that night, making them all laugh
and seem un-noticing. They were soon carried past the danger point
and out of the cutting. Once they had gone a few more minutes along
the road and well out of sight, Seth slowed his horse and spoke to
the men.

‘Well, that was
it for sure. I couldn’t say numbers of them, but they were
definitely at the top of that cutting,’ he said.

‘Lucky for us
they all seemed to be on one side; that’s foolish,’ said Grimm.

‘Well, let’s
dismount from these horses, double back through the trees and hope
we get there before the caravan does.’ Seth said.

Seth looked at
the brigand troop from the cover of trees that was a decent way
back from the edge of the cutting. All told, there were seven of
them. A rough cast of mismatched men in mismatched armour and
weapons. All of them stood or crouched at the edge of the cutting,
straining to see as the dust from the caravan’s paths slowly crept
closer and closer.

They all had
bows set and arrows set, intending to rain some death down onto the
caravan and then swoop in and pick up the juiciest pieces. With the
very few guards in the train, Seth knew any order would fall apart
as soon as the first arrow struck. He’d traded his rapier for one
of the stolen broadswords when they had started to go out on
patrol, and he drew it quietly from its sheath. The others had
weapons drawn and were crouched, waiting for his signal. There was
no time for a plan now, not with five against seven, them all with
bows and still a short run from the cover to reach them.

When the
caravan just turned the corner and the lead brigand stood up a
little to adjust his aim, Seth let out a bellow of ‘Bloodcrest!’
and, leaping from the cover, started rushing towards the men with
his sword held ready. His cry was echoed in his men. He saw the
faces of the men who were now his enemies. He saw them turning
shocked, and he saw arrows being aimed at them in a clumsy fashion.
Seth slashed down in a heavy cut at the face of the man he was now
in front of, the arrow the man fired moments before whistled past
his ear, just a hair’s breadth from hitting him. The man, who was a
quite short compared to Seth and a battle scared veteran, died
screaming as he fell backwards down the cutting and onto the
roadway.

Seth turned and
engaged another man. This one hadn’t time to draw his sword and
pointed his bow at Seth’s chest. They were so close, Seth grabbed
the arrow and bow in one hand, thrusting it away; with the other
hand he plunged his sword through the man’s weak mail and into his
stomach. The man collapsed to the ground, dropping the bow.

Grimm had the
shaft of an arrow in his shoulder but was smiling with a bloody
face. The troop had survived and, indeed, made short work of the
brigands. Seth turned to look, seeing now only five men and five
bodies, two having fallen to the road below. Seth looked down over
the edge and saw the anxious fat face of Rosen looking back at him,
his two guards standing with crossbows pointed up at them.

‘Hold there,
Master Rosen, it’s all over now!’ shouted Seth. ‘And money well
spent I should say as well!’

Rosen looked
relieved and the guards lowered their weapons. ‘I’ve always had an
eye for a good investment. You men come find me at the fire tonight
and I’ll toast your health.’

With that,
Rosen spurred on his horse and got the caravan moving again,
passing the two bodies on the side of the road with little concern
now he was out of danger. As the caravan passed below, word passed
from traveller to traveller that the Northmen with them had just
saved them from a brigand attack. Eager faces peered up at them
from the back of every horse and out of every wagon.

Drawing back
from the edge, Seth turned to see Flint drawing the arrow from
Grimm’s shoulder. The shaft was broken but long enough to grasp,
but the arrow had wicked sharp barb that tore the wound bigger as
it came out. Rich dark blood started to pour out around his hand as
he tried to cover and staunch the wound.

‘You alright,
Grimm’ Seth asked with concern, kneeling next to him, the wound was
bleeding much too much for his liking.

‘Ha ha, better
than them boss, but I’m in trouble I think’ Seth could see the
colour starting to drain from his face and knew he would soon start
slipping away from the blood that kept running from the ragged
wound.

Seth stood and
shouted in frustration. The boys crowded around Grimm and then
Flint talked to Seth simply like the child he was ‘Can’t you save
him with your powers boss’

Seth almost
laughed at Flint’s simple acceptance of his strange gifts. He knew
the only way to save him was to make him a part of the summoning.
He looked at Grimm. ‘I can save you but it’s very dark work and
dangerous, but I will if you want me to.’

Grimm looked at
him as he clutched his wound getting closer and closer to passing
out and into the long sleep ‘please Seth, I think I know you’re
involved in some dark business but if you trust it, I will
too.’

Seth sighed and
pulling out the satchel with the summoning stones placed them in a
circle around the un-questioning men. He hadn’t needed to use them
to protect himself but he had no idea what the creature would make
of his new companions.

‘Ok, all kneel
down with you heads bowed and you’re eyes shut, Grimm try not to
die and don’t, don’t leave the circle no matter what you hear.’
They knelt as directed and he could see the fear but trust in their
faces.

Once they were
safely in the circle Seth started the chant and the creature
appeared within mere moments. The rift was invisible and one moment
it wasn’t there and the next it was. He heard Goldie gasp in shock
at the sight of the beast, clearly looking against Seth’s
instructions.

Seth had his
new enemies for the creature and, even though they were dead, he
knew that by all the fresh warm hearts would be suitable. He
thought about what to do now. Surely Goldie, Grimm, Flint and Stone
knew he wasn’t a normal person by now—the business with the Guild,
being so young but so good at so many things. He wondered if this
was letting them too far into his life, still he couldn’t just let
Grimm die. Northmen were fairly accepting of magic and the gods,
but this was something very different than the legends of old.

The creature
looked at the men in the circle and sniffed at them, but it didn’t
try to attack, then it looked at the bodies of the brigands and
Seth heard its word in his mind

‘
Dead already but fresh enough all the same; you start to know
the lore’
it said, words ringing loudly in
his head.

‘I am learning
and this time I want you to take them and give us the rest.’ When
he said us, he thought clearly of himself, Flint, Stone, Goldie and
Grimm. He pictured them as they stood knelling in the circle, no
doubt terrified hearing if not seeing the beast.

‘
More and more you learn. I can share
with the many as well as the few but why should I. These one are
nothing to me and that one’s almost dead himself
’ It boomed