Ossendar: Book Two of the Resoration Series (41 page)

He breathed into his cupped hands, trying to warm them a little. “Okay. We should reach the border with Delamar in a couple of hours. Remember, if we're questioned, I will do the talking. All right?”

Trestus and Enstorion both nodded, Trestus suppressing a yawn as he did so, but Kara was still sitting on the log, staring into the pit where the fire had been. “Kara!” Derek called over to her. “Are you coming?”

Startled, Kara looked up and around, “What?”

Cursing inwardly, Derek repeated himself. “Are you coming with us, or did you want to stay here?”

She stood up, and moved slowly to her horse. She had been like this ever since that night where she had confessed her betrayal of the
church
of
Adel
, but she seemed to be getting worse. Once, if Derek had snapped at Kara like that, she would skinned him alive, but now she didn't even seem to notice.

They had left the entertainers camp and traveled south for about a mile, passing the road that they planned to take eastward. Then they had hid in the forest until the entertainers rode past, and then they had waited for several hours, before they had emerged from their hiding spot and traveled back north to the eastward road. Road, it had been more like a trail than anything else, but it had taken them all the way to
Victory
Lake
. From there, they had paid a fisherman to ferry them to the southern shore. Then two weeks of riding south through Ontaria, found them here on the southern border of Ontaria with Delamar. Derek had been afraid that the mysterious warriors would appear somewhere in Ontaria, but they hadn't so far. That really didn't make him feel any better, because that meant that Kara had been right about the warriors tracking the bracelet.

The trip through Ontaria had been uneventful, almost relaxing. The western and southern parts were ideally suited for farming, and it was indeed a bread basket. Food was the chief export of Ontaria, and that helped keep the peace in this region. Makes it kind of difficult to attack Ontaria, when they are providing the food for your citizens, unless you were fairly sure that you can subdue the farms quickly. Nothing like starving people to start a riot or even perhaps a revolution.

Derek had quickly found himself liking the small farming communities that they passed through. Small, quaint inns and villages, with happy people living in them, made it easy to enjoy the trip. Trestus had found it enjoyable too, as he had continued to enjoy the company of the ladies.

Two or three weeks to go until they reached Helum, and that was if everything went smoothly. Glancing over at Kara again, he wondered how they would ever make it.

Several hours passed, and Derek was becoming concerned, surely they should have crossed the border by now. Had he miss-calculated the distance? The road just seemed to stretch on an on, with farms and trees on either side.

Around noon, they crested a low hill and looked down upon a small town. It was the first town that they had seen in days. There had been plenty of small villages, with wooden ramshackle buildings, but this town had several building made out of stone.

Derek's initial pleasure at the sight of the town, quickly turned to apprehension. To the west of the town, camped in the empty field, were a large number of soldiers. The white tents were in neat rows, and it had the bustle and organization that he immediately recognized as that of an army camp.

Trestus pointed to the banner flying atop a pole, in the middle of the camp. “Well, they are flying Delamar's flag, so at least we know we're in Delamar.”

Derek nodded, “All right. Just remember what I said. If we're questioned by any border guards, I will do the talking.” The others nodded their assent, and they began the descent towards town.

The hill, from where they had first spotted the town, was just a short distance away, so they reached the town after a short ride. The town was called Kin Bellum and appeared to be an ordinary border town with a thriving trading community. On the plain just north of Kin Bellum, was a huge open air market. Derek spotted merchants offering just about anything one would want to buy. That included, he noticed with disgust, slaves. The slave market was off to the east a little bit, but there was a horrible smell hanging over the area, and it seemed to be coming from the slave pens.

They rode their horses through the throngs of merchants and shoppers with some difficulty. The noise was overwhelming, as the traders shouted offers to buy or sell with the guardians.

“Hey! Let go!” Kara called out.

Derek and Trestus turned just in time to see a big man trying to pull Kara from her horse. The man had a hold of her by her left arm, and was close to unseating her. The narrow street was packed with people, who seemed content to watch.

“I claim her! I claim her!” The big man was shouting.

Without hesitation, Derek wheeled his horse around and charged straight at the man, drawing his sword in the process. The crowd scattered out from in front of the charging horse. The horse was well trained, and reared right in front of the man, kicking out with its front hooves. One of the hooves caught the man across his left shoulder, and he fell to the ground screaming. An eerie quiet quickly settled over the crowd, except for the screams of the man writhing on the ground, and Derek scanned them looking for any more challengers. “Anyone else?”

Perhaps it was the man on the ground that dissuaded any others from trying their luck, or perhaps it was the sword that Derek held ready, whatever it was, no one else seemed interested in bothering them.

“You okay?” Derek asked Kara, without taking his eyes off of the crowd of onlookers.

“Yeah, I think so.” Kara replied shakily. “He nearly pulled me off.”

“Well, why don't you ride next to Trestus? At least until we get into the city proper.” Without a word, Kara moved up closer to Trestus. Trestus sat his horse; ramrod straight, his sword half drawn from its sheath. Enstorion was in front of Derek, and seemed to be the only one not bothered by whole situation.

They didn't waste any time in the marketplace, but instead traveled the shortest, quickest path towards the town. The traders no longer shouted offers at them, but instead watched them with a disturbing fascination. However, they seemed unwilling to test them again.

They exited the southern edge of the market, moving directly towards the town. The market was separated from the town by about a hundred yards of open space. The open area was hard packed dirt from the countless horses and people that had trekked across it, but it made for easy riding. They made straight for several white stone buildings that were the closest part of the town to them.

Derek was just starting to relax, when a small contingent of soldiers rode from the west and stopped in their path. Counting the leader, there was ten of them. The muscles in his stomach were tightening up again. Great! Now what?

“Stop!” The leader of the soldiers said. His expression was one of boredom, as if they were barely worthy of his notice. “Did you not draw a sword in the marketplace?” He was shorter than Derek, with the black hair and darker complexion that was the norm in Delamar.

“Yes.” Derek answered quietly, his bad feeling getting worse. “My lady was attacked, and I was forced to defend myself and her.”

“I see. Did you know that is against the law?”

“What?” Kara exclaimed. “I was attacked. How can that be..” Her words were cut off, by a back handed slap from the leader of the soldiers.

“Be silent woman, until I speak to you.” The leader no longer looked bored, now he was wide awake.

Derek, who was still in the back of the line, was the farthest from the soldiers, but he saw several things happen at once. Trestus immediately dropped his hand to his sword hilt, and the soldiers spurred their horses closer in around their leader. Trestus opened his mouth to speak, and judging by the look on his face, the soldiers would not like what he was about to say.

“Wait!” Derek shouted, as he dug his heels into the sides of his horse. The horse sprang forward, and he forced his mount in between Trestus and the soldiers. Luckily for them, Kara had been shocked into silence. Perhaps he could stop this before it got any worse.

“Wait!” Derek called out again. “Remove your hand from your sword.” He said, staring at Trestus the whole time. After a moment, Trestus relented and moved his hand back to the saddle pommel, but he didn't look pleased about it.

Turning back to the soldiers, Derek smiled, in what he hoped was a placating smile. “I must apologize for her, Colonel. She is a stranger in Delamar and does not know your customs.”

The leader of the soldiers stared hard, first at Kara, and then at Trestus, finally bringing his gaze to rest on Derek. “I'm Captain Ragon, I am not a Colonel.”

“An oversight that I am sure will be corrected soon enough,” replied Derek.

Captain Ragon did not seem impressed with Derek's attempt at flattery. “You are foreigners. I can tell that much from your accent, but that does not excuse your breaking our laws. You will come with us and the judge will decide what to do with you.”

Derek absolutely did not like that idea. Even if the judge let them go, there was no way to know how long that would take. “Uh sir. May I speak with you for a moment?”

Captain Ragon still did not look impressed, “What is it?”

The Captain look bored again, and Derek knew he needed to hurry. He looked around at all the soldiers gathered in around them, “Perhaps we could talk a little more privately.”

The Captain smiled, and turning motioned the men to move back, which they quickly did. Then nudging his horse forward, he said quietly to Derek, “All right. How much are you offering me?”

Derek didn't have any idea how much of a bribe to offer an officer of the Delamar army, but that wasn't the idea that he wanted to try anyway. “Actually, I have been paid by a certain high ranking official to bring the Telurian lady here for an arranged marriage. However, he asked me to keep it quiet for the time being. I am sure that he would be willing to compensate you for your discretion.” It wasn't a bad idea. Delamar was a backward little country, but they frequently tried to arrange marriages with noble ladies from other countries. In Delamar, a woman was little more than property, so few noble houses from outside would let one of their own be sent here. However, there was always a noble house somewhere, which was in bad enough need of money, and pretty women with blond hair were always in high demand.

Captain Ragon's eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And just who is your benefactor?”

Derek leaned a little closer, “Sir, I am sure that you understand that he asked for the utmost discretion in this matter?” The Captain nodded, so Derek quickly continued. “Baron Ludon has arranged to have this woman brought from Telur, and she is to be married to a nephew of his, or cousin, or something.” Derek quietly said a prayer of thanks that he had actually listened in all those boring lectures on other countries, which was how he knew about Delamar's views on women. He said a second prayer of thanks that he had reviewed the politics and royalty of the southern countries, even though he hadn't expected to travel through Delamar. He had always liked to prepare for the worst possible outcome.

“Baron Ludon?” Ragon asked, his voice rising a little. The Baron had a rather unpleasant reputation.

“Shhh!” Derek said quickly, motioning for Ragon to quiet down. “Not so loud.”

Captain Ragon looked behind himself briefly, his soldiers were still watching but they were not overly interested. Turning back to Derek, he studied the guardian shrewdly for a moment. “And how do I know that you are telling me the truth?”

Derek shrugged, “Do you want to risk it? I understand that the Baron has certain interests.”

Captain Ragon paled at these words; it was a well known fact that the Baron was not squeamish when it came to punishments and torture. “Perhaps, I will trust that you are telling me the truth, but you won't mind if I send some men along, now will you?”

“Men? How many?” Derek asked, his mind racing.

“Ten will be enough, I think.”

“Ten is way too many,” Derek responded quickly. “The baron wants all of this kept quiet, remember.” He leaned back in his saddle, “It would be hard to keep anything quiet with ten soldiers along for the ride.”

Captain Ragon considered for a moment, “Fine. I will send two men with you, and they will not be wearing the uniform. Which way are you headed?”

“Southwest.” Derek answered feeling a little better. Two men wasn't so bad. Worse case they could kill the two men and be on their way. However, it did bother him that the Captain had agreed so easily.

“Ah. The Baron's estates in Camber Ter.” The Captain nudged his horse closer to Derek's, his voice lowering even further. “Make no mistake. If you are lying to me, I will find you and I will make you sorry that you ever tried it.”

Derek smiled but inside his stomach was churning. 'Get me out of this backwards country,' he thought.

When Derek did not answer, Captain Ragon nodded and said, “Follow me.”

Liking this less and less, the four guardians followed the Captain into the middle of town. The Captain rode his horse ram rod straight, all nice and prime and proper. He looked as if he was leading a parade. The rest of the soldiers surrounded them and rode silently along.