Child of Fate (23 page)

“Come on, our supplies are waiting for us at
the gate,” Tristam said. He ate the last of the mutton and turned
to walk out of the tavern without waiting. Alto stared at the
others and then jerked into action and hurried after him. Namitus
and Karthor rose last, though Namitus beat him to the door.

“So you’re off again after all?” Aleena
called out clearly from behind the priest.

Karthor turned and nodded. “Aye, duty
calls.”

She glanced meaningfully at the table.
Karthor grimaced and then dug into his pouch and counted out
several coins. He handed them to her and saw her smile. “Be safe,”
she said to him. “And hurry back; it gets lonely around here.”

When Karthor caught up to the others, his
face was still red. Alto stared at him until the priest shook his
head. “I had to settle our bill.”

Namitus grinned and slipped ahead of the
others to walk near the front of the small convoy.

“I didn’t think of that, I’m sorry,” Alto
said to him. “I’ll buy the next one.”

Karthor shrugged. “No matter. I think your
friend was disappointed you’d left so quickly.”

Alto risked a glance at Karthor and saw the
priest was grinning at him. “She seems quite interested in the
teachings of Leander,” Alto teased back.

“Rightly so,” Karthor said with a twinkle in
his eye. “Leander’s one of the greater saints. And what about a
certain Kelgryn lady?”

Alto groaned at the memory of Patrina. He
didn’t know what to make of the girl, nor was he even sure what had
really happened the last night they’d been together. The next day
had been miserable for him and he vowed he’d never drink the
Kelgryn ale again. She hadn’t even been there to see them off,
confusing him even more. Had she kissed him or had it been a dream
brought on by the ale?

He shook his head. It didn’t matter. Namitus
had a thing for her and that meant he could go no further. That
left Aleena, and now the serving girl seemed taken with Karthor.
Would he ever have a chance for a woman of his own?

“I doubt my path and Patrina’s will cross
again,” Alto said. “And that’s fine if it doesn’t. I’ve my own
responsibilities to follow.”

“What responsibilities?” Karthor asked.
“You’re young and have no family—the world is yours for the
taking!”

“I do have a family,” Alto insisted. “And I’m
here to help earn enough to restore my father’s health. The years
have been hard on him but he was once as fit and hearty as any of
us, maybe more so.”

Karthor nodded. “I believe you. No lesser man
could have lived through what he did.”

Alto grinned. “Besides, I don’t want the
world. Maybe just a small part of it someday to call my own. A
barony or something.”

Karthor chuckled. “When that day comes, I’ll
be sure to build a temple to Leander there to keep it properly
blessed.”

Grinning at their outlandish dreams, they
fell silent. A few moments later, they arrived at the stables where
six new horses were already saddled. None of their horses had
returned from the last trip to the mountains. Alto hoped that Sebas
had escaped and was running free. If Thork was correct and there
really was a dragon named Sarya in the region, he doubted they’d
ever see any of their mounts again.

“Alto, try this on,” Tristam held out a
shining bundle to him.

Alto took it and let it fall open. It looked
like a shimmering shirt of metal at first, but he quickly realized
it was nothing more than a thickly padded leather shirt with metal
scales sewn into it. He slipped it over his head, pulled it on and
then tightened the laces under his arms to draw it in. With the
laces drawn and tightened, the scales under his arms hid the
seams.

“It fits,” Alto said with a grin. He twisted
and moved his arms about, hearing the jingle of the scales against
one another but finding no pinching or catching it. “I like it,
thanks!”

“It comes out of your share,” Tristam said.
“Wasn’t time enough to have a proper suit of chain mail made for
you.”

“The way he fights he doesn’t need chain; he
needs plate!” Kar jabbed.

Tristam laughed. “We’ll need to be raiding
dragon hoards to earn enough to have one of those made!”

Alto felt himself blushing but the image of
him in gleaming mail popped into his head and wouldn’t go away.
“One day I’ll wear such at thing,” he vowed softly.

“Future barons should wear such finery,”
Karthor said to him, drawing an embarrassed chuckle.

Tristam hadn’t replaced his broken bow but
Alto saw his broadsword and a shield were already secured on his
new horse. He lifted it and his belt off and tightened them around
the armor, taking some of the weight of the scale mail off his
shoulders and chest. He took care in mounting his horse to account
for the added weight of the new armor.

“I’m ready!” Alto couldn’t stop grinning.

“Here.” Tristam tossed him a helm. Alto
caught it and looked at it. It was a simple, open-faced metal helm
padded with cloth on the inside. Rings of steel were joined in a
four-in-one pattern to protect his neck from all sides beneath his
face. He put it on and fumbled with the chain to attach it across
the front of his throat.

“Now wipe that smug grin off your face or
I’ll test your new armor with a bolt from my crossbow,” William
added.

Alto tried, and failed, to stop smiling. The
others laughed before mounting their own horses and then following
Tristam out the gate. Another long ride lay ahead of them but the
rigors and hardships of their last adventure had already been
forgotten.

* * * *

A few days later, they learned how things had
progressed in their absence. Highpeak had more than just fallen; it
had been occupied. The duke’s army had set up camp along the road
and on low grassy hills on either side of it. They’d listened to
the soldiers gossiping and had learned that Highpeak hadn’t been
repaired with any skill, but ogres, trolls, and goblins had been
seen on the grounds and walls. Alto had also taken pride in
noticing that his armor was better than the majority of the foot
soldiers’.

They moved through the army easily, the only
distinction between them and the soldiers being the tabards of the
Kingdom. Even without them, they were seldom questioned until
Tristam led them to the tents that hosted the officers of the
army.

“Hold there, friend.” A guard stopped them
outside the largest tent. “By what right do you seek entry?”

Tristam swung down from his horse and handed
his reins to Alto. “Kar, show him our papers.”

Kar turned to one of his own saddlebags and
pulled out a folded paper with a partially broken wax seal on it.
He grimaced at the damage to the seal and then shrugged and handed
it down to a scowling Tristam. The warrior turned and handed it to
the guard.

The guard looked at the seal, scrutinizing it
at length. Satisfied, at last he nodded. “Two of you may
enter.”

“Kar.” Tristam beckoned the man. The wizard
dismounted, handing the reins of his horse to William. William
tossed them to Namitus as soon as Kar turned his back. The two men
entered the tent while the others sat on their horses
awkwardly.

“Nice weather we’re having,” William
offered.

The guard shook his head and pointed to a
small field where the ground had been churned up by the hooves of
many animals. “Go and wait over there; messengers come and go and
your steeds will get in the way.”

They moved over to the small pasture and
waited. The sun climbed in the eastern sky and began to fall in the
west before Tristam and Kar emerged. From his posture and clenched
fists, it was obvious the meeting had not gone well.

“He’s a fool and a coward,” Tristam sputtered
when he reached them.

Alto looked to Kar while Tristam angrily
mounted his horse. “General Fisk,” the wizard supplied, “is
reluctant to commit his forces to an assault.”

“They’ve admitted their defenses are weak, at
best!” Tristam grated. “They’ve got more than enough men to take
Highpeak! If the gate was solid stone, they’ve still got strength
enough to do it!”

“These men are trained to fight an army of
men, not creatures such as ogres and trolls,” Kar reminded him.

Tristam cursed and said, “There can’t be that
many of them. Even the trolls can be slain. By Leander’s grace,
Alto killed one and he’s barely more than a boy!”

Alto frowned but a glance from Karthor made
him bite his tongue.

“Alto was the only one of us to kill one.
Even Namitus, using that enchanted blade, could only secure his own
escape,” the wizard said.

“For the record, I wasn’t trying to kill
them,” Namitus interjected. He was ignored.

“He’s afraid of losing?” Alto risked the
question.

“What? No, he believes he’d win,” Tristam
said. Several of them shared Alto’s look of confusion, prompting
Tristam to explain. “He doesn’t want the body count he fears he’ll
have.”

Alto nodded. “A commander who values the
lives of his men is a good thing.”

“Yes, but they’re soldiers. Fighting is what
this is about. If they need to sacrifice their lives for king and
country, then that’s what they do!”

Alto frowned. He could understand dying for a
cause, but blind obedience sounded dangerous. “Would you do
it?”

Tristam jerked and looked at Alto through
narrowed eyes. His nostrils flared as he took a deep breath and let
it out, and then he chuckled harshly. “No, but that’s why I’m not a
soldier.”

“We take the duke’s coin and do tasks to help
the Kingdom; doesn’t that make us one and the same? You expect us
to do as you ask.”

“Mind your tongue, boy!” Tristam snapped at
him. “I don’t take jobs that are suicidal.”

“Oh,” Alto said. He paused, letting it seem
as though the matter was dropped before adding, “Never mind the
mountains full of evil creatures and the dragon we’re supposed to
find out more about.”

Tristam’s face flared red and he brought his
horse about to face Alto. Kar burst out laughing, slowing the
warrior down and drawing his attention. “What’s your problem,
wizard?” Tristam growled.

“The boy’s got spirit and he knows how to
slip a burr into your codpiece!” Kar said and then cackled a moment
longer. “The difference between us and them is that we can walk
away at any time. If a soldier does that and he’s caught, it’s off
to the gallows for him.”

Alto winced at the pantomime Kar did of being
hanged.

“So what are we to do?” Karthor asked.

“I say back to Portland,” William suggested.
“All these men up here must mean they’ve left a lot of lonely wives
back home.”

“You’re a dog,” Alto muttered.

William laughed.

“There’s not much we can do,” Tristam said.
He’d calmed down from being livid to merely frustrated. “Set up
camp and wait. There’s no way into the mountains save through
Highpeak, at least not without weeks of riding to try to find
another pass.”

“Yes, there is,” Alto said.

As one, they all turned to look at him.
William groaned and Tristam swore. Alto said it anyhow.
“Thork.”

“We could have at least stayed for dinner,”
William complained.

The Blades of Leander had ridden out of the
camp that same day. They’d managed several miles until the sun was
setting in the west and dusk was upon them, but the hard riding had
left them without a chance to eat.

“Here’s your chance,” Namitus pointed to
several shapes that were running across the swells in the plains to
the east. “It seems the herds of elk are returning.”

“They’re running from us already?” Kar sat up
in his saddle and stared at the distant shapes. “I thought not.
Look behind them—something’s chasing them.”

“Wolves,” Namitus confirmed.

Alto watched the exchange and squinted into
the distance to try to make sense of what the others had said. He
shook his head, the shapes little more than blurs to him. “Too far
for my eyes,” he admitted.

“Mine, too,” Tristam agreed. They both turned
to stare at Namitus.

Namitus shrugged. “Don’t blame me, blame my
grandmother! Elves are said to have far-seeing eyes.”

“Have you ever met an elf?” Alto asked
him.

Namitus laughed. “They don’t come up this way
much, but they get around. I’ve seen a few south of the Kingdom.
Mostly they live in the west.”

“The wild lands!” Alto blurted out.

“No wilder than anywhere else, just
unfamiliar,” Kar amended. “The lands to the west are less touched
by the human kingdoms, but villages and even great nations exist.
There are dwarven and elven kingdoms, as well as nations peopled by
less savory sorts.”

“Goblins and ogres?” Alto asked when Kar
paused to take a puff on his pipe.

The wizard nodded. “And other races.”

“William, think you can provide us with some
elk for dinner tonight?” Tristam interrupted the lecturing
wizard.

William grinned and reached for his crossbow.
“Only tricky part will be keeping the wolves at bay.”

“Big wolves, too,” Namitus said.

“No worries, we’ve got our own wolf hunter!”
Tristam said with a laugh at Alto’s expense.

Alto blushed but felt a surge of pride at the
same time. With his new armor, fighting a wolf wouldn’t be so hard.
Except they were fast and strong and would probably get inside his
sword. “Broke my longbow,” Alto reminded them.

“Come, the world’s a better place with fewer
wolves about,” Tristam said, ignoring Alto’s complaint. He spurred
his horse forward, driving it into a run toward the herd of elk and
the stalking wolves. William was the first to follow.

They made good time cutting across the plains
toward the elk until Namitus cried out a warning. It was echoed by
Alto and Karthor until Tristam and William heard it and slowed. By
the time they’d closed ranks, Tristam saw what had given the rogue
pause. Riders were spread out on the far side of the herd. The
wolves ran on, unaware of being flanked by the two groups of humans
on horses.