Redemption (11 page)

"That makes sense," nodded Prince Derri. "That also means that he will be able to kill Zinan when the time comes. The Talent wants Zinan's reign ended."

"So," smiled Prince Antion, "will you forgive me for this morning?"

Jared smiled and wrapped his arms around the Arin prince. The prince embraced Jared and said nothing further. The noise of the others returning to the camp caused everyone to turn and look. Monte strode into the camp with a large mountain goat over his shoulders.

"We will have a hot meal tonight," grinned the archer, "and there are more where this one came from."

"Excellent," Prince Antion said as he rose. "I think we may just spend a few days here. The weather is not good for traveling, and Captain Xero will be watching for us to leave the mountains. Let him search for a few days while we rest here and let this snow melt."

* * *

It was several days later when the group finally found a way to exit the mountains and return to the forests of Hyrem. Captain Xero and the Borundans were nowhere in sight, and the group continued their trek, turning northwestward as the landscape allowed. The skies had turned sunny, and the snow was only a memory. The discussion at the mountain campsite had cheered everyone up. Jared no longer felt like a coward, and no one expected him to do anything in terms of defense. The horses were well rested, as were the warriors.

"We could use some more arrows when we get to a city," commented Sandar.

"You will find no cities in Hyrem," replied Talot. "In fact, there are no towns either. If we are real lucky, we might come across a village or two, but most of the Hyremites are nomads."

The group was traveling through a mature forest with decent trails, although the paths were narrow at times. Prince Derri was leading and he suddenly halted the group and dismounted at the intersection of another trail.

"What is it?" asked Prince Antion.

"A large group of riders came through here recently," answered Prince Derri.

"Some of those nomads?" asked Sandar.

"No," the Salacian prince shook his head as he examined the tracks. "The nomads are mostly herders. These riders had no animals with them other than their horses, besides, the herders don't use the forest trails much. Hunters do, but they don't travel in large groups."

"You think it is the Borundans?" asked Prince Antion.

"I do," nodded Prince Derri. "They came from the northeast and left to the northwest. That puts them in front of us."

"Sounds like they are trying to hug the mountains," commented Prince Umal. "They are still searching for some sign that we have returned to the forests."

"Unfortunately," frowned Prince Antion, "we need to hug the mountains ourselves. We certainly are not going to find some lost and forgotten mountain pass by riding across the plains. How far ahead of us are they, Derri?"

"An hour or two," answered the tracker. "I was kind of hoping that they would return to Borunda and say that they lost us."

"I don't think they can do that," replied the Arin prince. "I suspect that King Zinan would not welcome Captain Xero and his report of failure. No, the Borundans will continue to track us until one group or the other is annihilated. I would prefer it to be his group that dies."

"What do you want to do?" asked Prince Derri.

Prince Antion glanced up at the sun and thought for a moment. "Follow them," ordered the Arin the prince. "Keep a close eye on the tracks. I don't want to suddenly come up behind them, but I would not mind getting closer to them when they camp for the night."

"What do you have in mind?" Price Umal asked suspiciously.

"Captain Xero is a fine hunter," smiled Prince Antion. "I wonder how he would react to being the prey?"

"You can't be serious?" gasped Monte. "By my count, there are still eighteen of those elite warriors."

"I like the idea," replied the Odessian prince. "A quick attack on them tonight will make them more cautious and will slow them down."

"Everyone keep your bows handy," commanded Prince Antion. "There is always a chance that we will catch up to them without warning. If that happens, fire one arrow and ride like the wind."

Prince Derri mounted and started the group forward at a fast pace. He kept a close eye on the tracks and stopped occasionally to check the freshness of the imprints. As the sun sank low in the sky, the Salacian prince dismounted and quietly announced that they were only half an hour behind the Borundans.

"We ride slowly and quietly now," advised Prince Antion. "They could be a half hour ahead of us, or they could be only five minutes away if they have already left the trail and set up camp."

An hour later, Prince Derri held up his hand to halt the group. He quietly dismounted and carefully inspected the tracks. He returned to his saddle and started slowly riding forward while giving the signal for the rest of the group to stay where they were. He disappeared into the darkness, and the rest of the group sat anxiously waiting for his return.

"They are a mile up the road," Prince Derri reported when he returned. "They have a fire burning and there are no sentries. They are making enough noise that we could probably ride by them if we were quiet."

"No," Prince Antion shook his head. "Monte, find a place around here to camp for the night. No fire. Derri, find us a path around them that we can take in the morning."

"In the morning?" questioned the Salacian prince. "You aren't going to attack them tonight?"

"Much later in the night," smiled the Arin prince. "We are going to have a restful night and a very early start in the morning. Once we are past them, Umal, you, and I will pay them a visit."

"Why not get past them tonight?" asked Sandar.

"They just might get an earlier start than we do," explained the Arin prince, "and I don't want to be surprised by their stumbling across us."

"I will be a while," nodded Prince Derri, "so don't count on me for sentry duty tonight."

"Monte, Talot, and Jared will have sentry duty tonight," replied Prince Antion. "Don't stay out long, Derri. I want you well rested. Tomorrow may be a long day for us."

The tracker nodded and rode off. Monte signaled the group that he had found a suitable campsite, and the rest of the group began to set up camp for the night. Once they were settled in, Talot began snapping arrowheads off of arrows. The others watched him curiously and finally Prince Antion could stand the suspense no longer.

"What are you doing, Talot?" he asked. "We do not have a great supply of arrows as it is."

"Try to pick up some more when you visit their camp," replied the giant.

Prince Umal laughed, and Prince Antion shook his head in disbelief. Finally, Talot looked up and grinned.

"It is something that is taught in Lom," he explained. "Tomorrow the Borundans will want to chase us. I figure that they will race after us with abandon. While you three princes are out doing your sneak attack, I will be setting traps along the trail. You wanted the Borundans to be more cautious, well Captain Xero will learn not to race after us ever again."

Heavy clouds blocked the waning moon and the stars as Prince Derri led the group through the woods. The predawn air was brisk, and the forest was silent. There was not actually a trail to follow, but rather a path that the Salacian prince had plotted that passed between the trees and avoided the underbrush. The pace was extremely slow, and it took over an hour to get past the Borundan encampment, which had been only a mile away. When the group regained the main trail, Monte was put in charge of keeping Jared safe and sent along the trail to the northwest. Sandar offered to help Talot set his traps, and the three princes turned back towards the Borundan campsite.

Prince Derri led the princes into the darkness of the forest and dismounted. Prince Umal and Prince Antion followed Derri's lead, and the three men moved on foot to get closer to the camp. After a few minutes, Prince Derri halted again. He pointed silently, and the other two princes nodded as they saw the sleeping forms of Captain Xero's elite warriors. There were no sentries, a serious flaw in the professionalism of the elite group. Prince Derri knew that this would probably be the last night the Borundans slept without sentries.

The Salacian prince had drawn diagrams of the Borundan campsite the pervious evening, and everyone had discussed the attack plan. There was no need to speak once they had arrived, so Prince Umal slipped off to the left and disappeared into the night. Prince Antion moved off to the right, leaving the Salacian prince alone. Prince Derri silently dropped to the ground and pulled a knife from his boot. Slowly the Salacian prince crept towards the enemy camp with the blade of the knife between his teeth.

Prince Derri's target was a pair of soldiers at the edge of the encampment. He altered his path slightly to approach the head of one of the sleeping bodies, and halted right over the face of the man. Holding his breath for fear of waking the Borundan, Prince Derri shifted his weight to his legs and grabbed the knife from his mouth. With a detached calmness, the prince placed one hand over the soldier's mouth and plunged the knife through the man's eye. The soldier's limbs twitched spasmodically, and the prince froze as his eyes scanned the nearest soldiers to see if anyone had detected the assault.

The Salacian prince saw no movement and heard only the restlessness of the Borundan horses. He removed the knife from the dead body and set his sights on the next Borundan soldier. He quickly killed the second Borundan soldier and retreated from the edge of the camp.

The attack was not meant to kill all of the enemy, but rather to let them know that they were vulnerable and inflict as much damage as possible without getting killed. That meant only attacking the Borundans on the very edge of the campsite where any noise might be attributed to some animal outside the camp.

Prince Antion also crawled back to the meeting spot, but Prince Umal had not returned. As the moon peeked out between the clouds, they saw why. One of the Borundans had awakened with the need to heed the call of nature. That soldier chose to leave the camp near the string of Borundan horses, where the Odessian prince had been assigned to inflict his damage. Prince Antion's fingers flashed rapidly in front of Prince Derri's face, and both men quietly retreated to their horses. They quickly grabbed their bows and nocked arrows as they moved silently back towards the encampment.

Suddenly a man's curse drifted on the air and was quickly followed by a thud as the soldier tripped and fell. As the soldier's body hit the ground, the Borundan horses pranced away from the man, and the soldier realized that the horses were no longer secured to anything.

"What the…" the soldier began to say loudly as he rose from the ground.

Other Borundans woke and looked around to see what the disturbance was. A flash of reflected moonlight shot through the campsite as a scimitar lashed out and decapitated the soldier. The Borundans leaped to their feet and grabbed their weapons, shouting loudly about intruders. The untied horses bolted from the racket, and Prince Umal used the commotion to run towards his horse.

"That way!" shouted one of the Borundans. "I just saw someone running."

The Borundan soldiers turned towards Prince Derri and Prince Antion. The two princes let their arrows fly and then turned and ran. Prince Umal caught up to them and the three princes leaped on their horses and raced through the trees for the trail. Once they hit the trail, they galloped to the northwest as fast as they could travel. A few minutes later, they passed Sandar who was standing on the side of the trail. The Arin soldier ran across the trail dragging a string with him. He quickly secured the end of the string to the stub of a broken tree limb that he had already prepared. The Arin soldier ran and leaped onto his horse and galloped after the princes. Another few minutes along the trail and the group passed Talot. The giant also dragged a string across the trail and attached it before mounting his horse and galloping after the others.

Back at the Borundan encampment, Captain Xero was cursing up a storm. He had six dead soldiers at his feet and another who was dying before his eyes.

"Leave him," the captain shouted at the two men trying to help the soldier with an arrow in his chest. "There is no hope for him. Spend your time gathering our horses. The enemy is getting away."

The two soldiers rose and joined the others who were out trying to capture the horses that had fled.

"Who do you think attacked us?" asked a soldier who had returned from chasing the attackers on foot.

"Who do you think?" snarled the captain. "Prince Antion's head is a little too large for his shoulders. If he thinks that we can be toyed with, he is sorely mistaken. He may have cost me seven more men, but now I know where he is. As soon as we get enough horses to ride, we will run him down night and day until we crush him. Which way did they go?"

"To the northwest," reported the soldier. "There were only three of them, though."

"Three of the others would be left guarding Zinan's imposter," replied the captain. "I suspect he is central to whatever devious plot they have in store for Borunda."

"They probably plan to put him on the throne," suggested the soldier. "One thing that bothers me, Captain. How was the imposter able to use the Talent like Zinan can? He blasted the face off that mountain. Don't you find that strange?"

"Very strange," Captain Xero nodded as his brow knitted in suspicion. "If I didn't know better, I would suspect that there was some relation between Zinan and Jared. Not only does he look exactly like the king, he has immense power as well."

"Yet he does not use it against us," mused the soldier. "Why?"

"I do not know," replied Captain Xero, "but I think the answer to that question may reveal the way to capture him and destroy the others."

"You do not plan to kill Jared along with the rest?" frowned the soldier. "Our orders are to kill them all."

"Your place is not to worry about what my orders are," snapped the captain. "You obey me. That is all that matters to you."

"We have captured a dozen horses," reported another soldier as he entered the clearing.

"That is one more than we need," replied Captain Xero. "Call the rest of the men in. We are mounting up and giving chase to Prince Antion."

Within a few minutes the Borundans were mounted and ready to go. As the sun broke the western horizon, Captain Xero led his men onto the trail and galloped to the northwest. They had not been on the trail for long when a tree branch came swinging out of the forest. Captain Xero ducked under the branch, feeling some of his hair being ripped away as it flew by overhead. The captain heard the scream of one of his soldiers and slowed down to see if the man had been swept from his horse and needed to remount. He halted as he saw the rest of his men come to a stop and dismount.

The captain turned around and rode back to where one of his men was spread out on the trail. He ducked under the branch, which hung abnormally low over the trail. Blood flowed from between the man's hands, which were covering his face. With a frown of confusion, the captain turned to stare at the branch that had almost hit him. A large rock was tied to the loose end of the branch, weighting it down to make it lower over the trail, but that was not what disturbed the captain. Embedded in the branch were three sharp arrowheads designed to gouge the face of the rider that it hit. It was a barbaric trap and the captain cringed as he stared at the blood tipped arrowheads.

"How is he?" Captain Xero asked impatiently.

"He is blind, Captain," answered one of the men. "The arrowheads slashed across his entire face. He is bleeding like a butchered pig, and one of his ears has been sliced off. I don't think he will survive unless we find a wisper to heal him."

"A wisper?" balked Captain Xero. "This is Hyrem. They don't even have a city in the entire country. There will be no wisper for him. Move him off the trail and make him comfortable. If he is still alive when we return this way, we will take him with us."

While several of the men carried the wounded man off the trail, Captain Xero ordered a soldier to ride on ahead and check for more traps. It took a few moments to get the wounded man settled and then the Borundans were back in the chase. They galloped hard and soon caught up to the man sent on ahead. Captain Xero sighed with relief that there had only been one trap. His face became grim with determination to make Prince Antion pay dearly for the attacks on his men.

A couple of minutes later, another branch swung out over the trail. Captain Xero ducked low and wrapped his arms around the neck of his horse. He felt the branch soar over his head and heard the sickening thud as it crashed into someone behind him. The scream that followed irritated the captain so much that he jerked the reins hard to halt his horse. In response, the animal almost threw him from the saddle. He dismounted and led his horse back along the trail to where another of his men lay on the trail. The soldiers around the fallen soldier shook their heads and walked away as the captain approached.

"There will be no need to look for him on the way back," snarled one of the soldiers. "He is dead. This trap had two rows of arrowheads. His throat has been slashed open."

Captain Xero gazed at the faces of his men. He knew that they were close to rebelling, and if he forced them to continue galloping down the trail, the next trap would be the end of his expedition. He sighed with resignation that the chase would have to be slower and more deliberate than he wanted it to be.

"We will track them down at a slower pace," Captain Xero said calmly. "Get his body off the trail, and one of you take the point. Keep the pace fast, but not too fast to react to the next trap."

* * *

King Zinan and General Wikner rode at the front of the eastern army of Borunda as they entered the city of Tarent. General Bassner rode a few paces behind. Word had spread of the defeat of Vineland, and the citizens of Tarent lined the road to welcome home the victorious army. People cheered and threw flowers at the soldiers as they passed by. When the procession reached the royal palace an honor guard lined the entrance through the gates and formed a path to the palace doors. General Ortega stood just outside the palace doors awaiting the arrival of the Crown Prince.

"Prepare my advisors," King Zinan ordered General Ortega as he dismounted. "There is a formality to be taken care of."

"They have already been assembled," bowed General Ortega. "Only General Wikner and myself are absent. Shall we accompany you there?"

"No," answered Zinan. "I desire a bath first."

"As you wish," nodded the general as he signaled for one of his officers to run inside and arrange the bath.

King Zinan entered the palace, and General Wikner was about to follow when General Ortega detained him by grabbing his arm. Ortega waited until the palace doors closed before speaking.

"What is going on, Wikner?" asked General Ortega. "How could you attack Vineland without my being informed of it?"

"There was no time," shrugged General Wikner. "Besides, your army was not needed."

"That is not the point," argued General Ortega. "We are supposed to work as a team. I control the western army, and you control the eastern one. We must work in concert."

"Actually," smiled General Wikner, "Bassner is the general of the eastern army now. He reports to me as well as General Vanatay of the Vineland army."

"Bassner?" balked General Ortega. "That man is a bootlicking fool. How could anyone appoint him to be a general?"

"I would be careful with your words, General Ortega," smiled General Wikner. "Bassner is on the same level as you now. It does not help morale for the two of you to bicker."

"The same level as me?" echoed General Ortega. "What are you talking about? If I am at Bassner's level, where does that put you?"

"Above you, I suppose," grinned General Wikner. "Although the king has not yet specified it outright, I am sure that is his plan. Perhaps he will announce it at the meeting today."

"Do not make a competition out of this, Wikner," threatened General Ortega. "I will bury you if you think this is a game."

"Do not threaten me, Ortega," snapped General Wikner. "I have the ear of our new king. You could easily end up like King Garrick."

"What happened to King Garrick?" General Ortega's eyes narrow with suspicion. "How did he die?"

"The story is that the Vinelanders killed him," shrugged General Wikner, "but I have my doubts about that. Of course none of the royal family of Vineland was alive when we reached the palace in Laborg, so I guess we will never know for sure."

General Wikner pulled his arm away from the other general and entered the palace. General Ortega glared at the closed door before opening it and entering the palace. The general was greatly disturbed by Wikner's words, particularly regarding the death of King Garrick. Naveena had indicated that Garrick would die in Vineland before it happened, and the general began to think that Zinan might have had something to do with it, but he was not foolish enough to mention his fears to anyone.