Tahn (26 page)

At just that moment, the church bells began to ring. The sound of it created a tense stirring among the people.

The baron fumed.
What the devil is this? I asked that priest to stand on this platform and bless the people and our function. I asked him to eulogize the Triletts for the people’s ears. I never asked for this!

The people were beginning to turn toward the church, and it made the baron furious. The priest would pay for this. Church bells, usually for holy occasions or the funerals of the faithful, were hardly appropriate for an execution. Whatever that mad priest could be thinking, it was time to draw attention back to the purpose at hand. Dorn must die.

Baron Trent rapped his long golden staff against one of the hardwood poles. “This day we are called of God to avenge the murder of our precious countrymen!” the baron shouted to the crowd. The bells stopped. Now he could be certain he would be heard. “This is the man known to have burned the Trilett home!” he continued. “He called his men to the slaughter of the family we have loved. It is right that he die for his crimes.”

“No!”

The voice rang out loud and clear over the heads of all the people. Netta Trilett, at the balcony of the church tower. The baron stood stunned.
She dares to show her face—now?

Just as he was about to speak, there was movement behind her, and the words stuck fast in his throat. Bennamin. The noble Trilett lord, suddenly at his daughter’s side.

“He is innocent!” Netta shouted. “Tahn Dorn saved my life! Let him go!”

There was a roar in the crowd, and the baron could not discern it. The people were happy to see living Triletts? Well enough, but now he knew where they were, and they would not escape the church alive. He signaled his soldiers to bring Tahn forward. This must not change things. He had waited long enough. Tahn Dorn must die. Surely the people would see it to be so.

“You are mistaken, good lady!” he yelled to her. “He has deceived you. You know not the terror he caused while you were hidden away. He is a known killer, and he must bear the price.”

Some of the soldiers shouted their agreement, but there was a strange silence among the vast crowd as they looked from the one side to the other.

Bennamin Trilett was lifting his hand, and all eyes turned to him. “He will not bear the price for the crimes of another!” his clear voice rang out. “I fault him for nothing against my family. He is innocent before our God.”

This is too much,
the baron thought.
This will soon be out of hand. But there are only two Triletts and a priest? I have the strength of my soldiers! I will have my way by that strength alone.
“This villain must die!” he shouted to the people, and then he called to his captain. “Go to the church!” he commanded. “Bring them out!”

Soldiers were dragging Tahn onto the platform toward the waiting rope, as other soldiers ran for the church doors.

“Let him go!” Netta shouted again. The silence that had fallen over the crowd was shattered. Blood-angry for the sake of the Triletts, they now turned in defense of them. The church doors were blocked, and the soldiers were beaten back.

Other soldiers drew their swords and attempted to hold back the press of the crowd toward the platform, but they found themselves faced with stones, bottles, staffs, and anything else the angry mob could get their hands on. So many, swarming at them. It was a tide impossible to stop.

“Keep them back from me!” the baron screamed.

“Don’t kill him!” Bennamin shouted, but his voice was lost in the din of the crowd.

The baron looked around him. His own men strove with the people, but where were those accursed mercenaries who were supposed to be so skilled? He could see they had abandoned him when they saw the turn of the crowd.

Some of his men brought horses. “Keep the people back!” he cried again. Tahn lay unconscious on the platform, abandoned now by the soldiers fighting back the mob. The baron knew there would be no time for a hanging now. He yelled to his closest man with drawn sword and pointed his long finger at the Dorn. “Kill him!” he shouted, and then he ran for the nearest mount, leaving his men behind him to face the crowd alone.

As the baron’s soldier turned to Tahn with his sword upraised, the strong hand of the craftsman grasped his arm and pulled him back. Vari pushed his way through the crowd from the church wall where he’d waited till the Triletts revealed themselves. Finally, he reached the platform, leaped onto it, and rushed to Tahn’s side.
Thank God he’s still breathing.
But he looked so still.

The craftsman still struggled against the soldier’s sword, so with his fists together, Vari struck the soldier in the back of the head. The swordsman slumped to the ground, and the crowd broke forward over the platform. Some of the soldiers fought on, but most were fleeing now. Stuva and Doogan drove their borrowed wagon toward the frenzy at the platform, and Vari and the craftsman together carried Tahn to meet it.

When they had him safe in the rough wagon, the tall craftsman jumped in with them.

“Tahn?” Vari called out but got no response. He shook his head. “He’s hurt bad. Let’s get to the church.”

Stuva drove the wagon around to the back of the building as the bells started ringing again. Then Bennamin Trilett began to address the people, and the roaring din was soon stilled so his voice could be heard.

“Teacher won’t die, will he?” Doogan asked.

Vari looked up at him and swallowed hard. “Where’s Tam?” he asked suddenly.

“He went with you. Didn’t he?”

He shook his head. “Oh, Lord,” he said. “Please get Tam back here safe. The Dorn’ll be awful upset if he wakes up and one of us is gone.”

They drove as close to the back door as they could, and two women rushed out to meet them. Vari looked at them and then at the tall craftsman, who was already lifting Tahn from the floor of the wagon. “You’ll take good care of him, won’t you? I’ve got to go find my little brother.”

The craftsman gave him a reassuring smile. “You can trust us.”

Vari glanced down at Tahn and then at Stuva and Doogan. “Stay with him,” he ordered. “Don’t leave him for nothing. He needs us right now.” Then he ran back toward the crowd.

Baron Trent fled down the streets on horseback with some of his men.
Accursed town! You were supposed to hail me! Accursed Triletts! You were all supposed to be dead! That is the mercenary’s fault. He has ruined me with his failure to complete an order. I told him he had to kill them all! He has made me a laughingstock!

He looked around him. So few were following, compared to the numbers of that crowd. Most of the people, no doubt, would stay right there until it grew too dark to catch another glimpse of their beloved Triletts.

They are so few now,
the baron considered.
When the people have all gone home and have forgotten to be watchful, I shall have another chance at them. But it will take quite a scheme to turn the public favor after this.

Almost they had left Onath behind them when a horseman broke from behind a nearby building. The baron spurred his own horse faster, but the other rider’s arm flew out, and he could feel the sudden pain of a knife shaft sunk into his thigh. He screamed out curses and turned his face to his attacker. A boy! Just a scrawny little boy!

“Get him!” he shouted at his men. But he sped on, even though only one of his men turned in obedience. He would not linger another moment at Onath, lest some other insane peasant throw a blade.

It didn’t take Vari long to realize Tam had taken a horse. He mounted quickly and set out after the child.

Only moments later, Tam’s horse came charging down the middle of the street with a young soldier in close pursuit. Vari turned his mount directly at them. Tam sped past, looking pale and angry.

The soldier tried to turn his animal when Vari blocked his path, but Vari leaped at the soldier like a cat, and they fell together to the ground. Vari was on top quickly, and they fought in the dirt.

“Give up!” Vari shouted. “Go home!”

But the young soldier hit at him and struggled for the chance to draw his sword.

“Kill him, Vari!” Tam was shouting.

The streets were quiet. Everyone else was either racing toward the baron’s estate or in the churchyard listening to Benn Trilett.

Vari looked down at the soldier. He looked to be maybe as old as Tahn. Maybe not. “Give up!” he shouted again. “I don’t want to hurt you. But I can’t let you hurt my brother.”

The young soldier stopped his struggle for a moment and stared up at him. “You’re the Dorn’s kids, aren’t you?”

“Yeah!” Tam shouted. “And we should kill you for what you did!”

The soldier shoved at Vari, and they struggled again.

“No!” Vari yelled at the man. “Just give up and get out of here before the crowd hears us!”

But he wouldn’t, and Vari had to hit at him again. Finally he fell back, and Vari pulled the sword from the dazed soldier’s sheath and stood over him with it.

“You can kill him, Vari,” Tam said again.

“Get up,” Vari commanded the young soldier, who obeyed him with angry eyes.

“I know what it’s like,” Vari told him. “You got this job and maybe nothing else. But it’s not worth it. Just look at what happened. If you’ve got anywhere to go besides back to the baron, go there. Because his trouble with these people is not over.”

The soldier stared at Vari for a moment in surprise. Then something in his eyes softened. “I’ve got kinfolk in Tamask,” he said.

Vari breathed a sigh of relief. “Your horse is waiting.”

The young man looked down at his sword, which was still in Vari’s grasp.

But Vari shook his head. “I’m keeping this. You wouldn’t trust
me
, would you? Get out of here before the crowd spots you.”

The soldier just nodded, turned to mount, and rode away.

When he was gone, Vari threw the sword down and turned to Tam.

“What got into you? We weren’t supposed to chase after them!”

“I put my knife in the baron, Vari! In his leg!”

“You could have got us killed!”

“I had to! We can’t let them get away!” Tam was shaking, the tears suddenly bursting over him.