Teleporter (a Hyllis family story #2) (12 page)

A few minutes later, Arco rode back up the column and stopped beside Daussie. She felt his eyes on her and glanced over at him. “Don’t get too worried,” he said. “Anytime anything odd happens, we practice being prepared. It’s better that we make ready ten times a day, than we get caught unrehearsed and unready once.”

Daussie nodded at him, trying to admire his rough handsomeness without being obvious about it. She felt reassured that they apparently weren’t as worried as she had been thinking they were. Nonetheless, they were entering the woods that the girl guard Lizeth had first ridden back from, so Daussie kept her eyes open wide. She glanced from side to side, seeing nothing but trees and wondering whether she would recognize danger before it actually struck.

The shady area between the trees felt dangerous and threatening. Daussie realized that that was probably because any ambushes would be set in the woods rather than on a farm.

After a brief period in the trees, the caravan came out into the sunshine again on the other side. Daussie’s spirits lifted and she glanced over at Arco expecting to see him looking more cheerful as well. Instead, his eyes were narrowed as he focused on the farm off to their right. Daussie looked that way and saw Lizeth trotting back towards the road from the farm.

Since Daussie had thought that Lizeth was far up ahead, Daussie glanced further down the main road. She saw the other guard who’d been sent up ahead. The guard that Daussie thought was connecting them to Lizeth on the far point. He was trotting ahead now, presumably leaving Lizeth on the near point. A moment later Lizeth reached the main road and turned to trot back towards the caravan.

As Lizeth approached, Daussie stole a glance at her brother up on top of the guard wagon. As she had expected, Tarc’s eyes were following the young girl-guard. Daussie considered calling up to Tarc to remind him to keep an eye on the countryside. After all, he was supposed to be a lookout of sorts. Instead she chided herself. She didn’t like it when Tarc teased her, so she shouldn’t tease him either.

Daussie had expected that Arco would ride ahead to meet Lizeth, but he didn’t. Instead, he urged his horse a little further forward so that he was next to the guard leading the mules when Lizeth arrived. Curious, Daussie moved up a little so that she would be in earshot.

When Lizeth arrived, her face was set unhappily. “Someone’s killed the men at that farm. They’ve ransacked any food, taken the animals, and left the bodies lying about.”

Daussie frowned, “They didn’t hurt the women?”

Arco and Lizeth turned to stare at Daussie as if wondering what to say. After a second, Lizeth said, “There was a dead grandmother. If there were any other women there, they’re gone now.”

For a moment longer, Daussie still didn’t get it, then realization dawned. “Oh,” she said, mostly to herself. She felt a twist in her guts.

Lizeth said, “I told Sam to ride ahead and check the next farm. I’ll ride on and take the far point again.”

Arco merely nodded. Lizeth nudged her horse and loped on ahead.

Daussie looked over at Arco. His face pinched, he was surveying the surrounding countryside with narrowed eyes. The expression on his face, far from being reassuring, made Daussie’s stomach ache even more. Realizing that she couldn’t see as well as Tarc or Daum could from their vantage point atop the wagon she glanced back to see whether they looked concerned.

Tarc and Daum looked puzzled rather than concerned. Daussie realized that they probably hadn’t been able to hear Lizeth’s report. She stopped her horse to wait for their wagon to catch up to her. When they did, she tried to pitch her voice just loud enough for them to hear. “Lizeth says that someone killed the people at that farm on the right.”

Daum’s face tightened with worry. Daussie saw that the first thing Tarc did was glance ahead at Lizeth. She found it irritating that Tarc had only known the girl for a few days, but that his first thought was of her rather than his family. “What can you guys see from up there?” Daussie asked, trying to get Tarc back to focus on the big problem. “Anything look… bad to you?”

They both raised their eyes and surveyed the countryside. Daum quietly said to Tarc, “I don’t see very well at long distances. Do you?”

Tarc turned to look at his father for a moment, “Yeah, I see fine.” He frowned, “If that’s so, why haven’t you gotten a lens from one of the traveling merchants to help you see better?”

Daum shrugged, “They’re expensive. And I didn’t need to see well in the distance for my old job. But if you see well, you should check my side of the road too, rather than just watching your side.”

Tarc raised his eyes and looked all around the wagon train. “I don’t see any riders, nor any dead bodies.” He glanced around again, “Nothing looks like it’s been burned.”

Daussie suddenly realized that Arco had stopped his horse and was now alongside her. He looked at her, then up at Daum and Tarc. “You told them?”

She worried that perhaps he hadn’t wanted them to know, though that seemed like a poor strategy to her. Nonetheless she said, “Yes, they haven’t seen anything else wrong though.”

Arco nodded, seeming pleased. “I’m going to go back and let the rest of the caravan know what’s going on. It’s better that everyone be prepared should anything happen.” He focused his intense eyes on Daussie, “If anything unusual seems to be happening, ride back and get me immediately. Okay?”

Daussie nodded nervously.

Arco said, “Drop back and tell your mother what’s going on first. Then move back up alongside the lead mules.” He turned his horse and trotted back along the wagon train.

Daussie merely halted her own horse and waited for Eva to catch up.

Looking worried, Eva said “What’s going on?”

The worried expression on her mother’s face made Daussie’s stomach flip-flop again. She told her mother about the dead men and grandmother at the farm they were passing. Then about the absence of the women. Though in her heart she thought she knew what had happened to the women, she asked to be sure. “Where do you think the women are, Mom?”

Eva took a long heaving sigh, her eyes scanning the horizon. “Hopefully, they knew about the attack ahead of time and escaped, leaving the men to defend the farm.” She shook her head, narrowing her eyes at Daussie as if trying to decide what Daussie was ready to hear. “More likely, the raiders are like Krait’s men.” Eva grimaced, “Or actually they
are
Krait’s men. The ones that survived and fled Walterston. Men like that would have captured the women as slaves and for… sex.” Eva said that last bit in a low sick voice. Then, with some despair in her voice, she said, “I hope we haven’t fled ugly gossip to arrive in the land of murderers and rapists.”

Daussie’s stomach turned again. She’d thought that living in Walterston was unbearable. But, if she had to live with this kind of fear day in and day out… she suddenly leaned off the side of her horse and threw up.

Eva reached out and patted Daussie on the leg, “Sorry Dauss.” She pulled out the rag she always kept with her to clean things, “Here, wipe your mouth. Then take a swig of your water and spit it out before having a drink.”

Daussie did as her mother suggested, worrying that at any moment she might throw up again. She hadn’t thrown up very much, but then again her stomach was probably pretty empty. With a sense of internal surprise, she realized she could find out whether her stomach was empty or not. She sent her ghost inside herself and found very little in her stomach. “I’m supposed to go back up to the front. If anything happens, I’m supposed to ride back and get Arco.”

Eva gently asked, “Do you want me to do that while you lead the team here?”

Daussie gave a short, sharp shake of her head. She felt safer up on the horse. “I’ll see you in a bit.” She glanced back to see if Arco had reached the back of the train yet. He appeared to be near the end of it, but not all the way back. Daussie trotted on up to the front and eyed the man leading the guard wagon’s mules.

He looked up at her, “Hi, I’m Henry Roper from the wagon behind yours. We sell all kinds of the ancients’ technology.” He appraised her for a moment, then said, “You’re looking pretty worried.”

Daussie nodded at him. He was a pleasant, slightly pudgy looking man who looked to be in his thirties. He wore glass lenses mounted over his eyes, probably an example of the ancient technology that he sold.

Henry said, “Try to relax. The guards we have are the best I’ve ever seen since I’ve been on the road. Of course, it’s always a little dangerous, but, if anyone can get us through, it’ll be Arco and his team.”

Daussie took a deep breath and tried to relax. She looked ahead and saw the guard, Sam, trotting back their way from his scout position. She tried to judge whether he had encountered anything awful or not, but she couldn’t tell at this distance. Daussie looked back over her shoulder and saw Arco trotting back up to the front of the train as well.

Soon the two of them met. Once again Daussie was close enough to hear.

Sam said, “Everyone’s okay at that next farm on the left.”

“Did you tell them what had happened to their neighbors?” Arco asked.

Sam nodded, “They say there’s been a gang going around demanding tribute for protection. The folks I talked to up on the left apparently knuckled under and paid. The old man said that the farmers back on the right were a really proud lot. He thinks they probably refused to cough up any tribute.” Sam shrugged, “He claims he didn’t know they’d been murdered though.”

Though he’d been looking around the landscape, this last statement focused Arco’s attention back on Sam. “You think he
did
know they’d been attacked?”

Sam shrugged, “He says they were worried that it
might
have happened, but weren’t sure. They’ve been staying to their own farm so as not to piss off the guys with the protection racket. I guess if I were them, I’d be wanting to keep all my potential fighters close at hand, not haring off to see what was happening elsewhere.”

Arco sighed, “Yeah, I suppose
most
people would.” He glanced all around once again. “We’ll stay at Prichard’s farm again. Let Lizeth know so she can check it out. The two of you keep switching out to check the rest of the farms we’re passing.”

Sam nodded and kneed his horse up to an easy canter, heading out after Lizeth.

The last hour of the day on the road continued uneasily in much the same fashion. Lizeth and Sam reported back intermittently on the farms along the way. Every farm they came to had been extorted, but they encountered one more that had been raided, leaving the men dead and the women gone.

Arco turned to Daussie and said, “Can you ride back along the train, letting each wagon know that although the bandits are extorting all the farmers they’ve only plundered two farms. Also, tell them we’ll be turning in at Prichard’s farm shortly.”

Daussie nodded and turned her horse, grateful to have something to do. When she didn’t have a task, she found herself worrying and her stomach coiling into knots.

***

Prichard’s farm, when they came to it, appeared to be bigger and better organized than any they’d seen so far. It had a field set aside for caravans with grazing nearby. The farmhouse was large and apparently had a few rooms for let to travelers. A small stream ran nearby and provided plenty of fresh water.

Arco turned the caravan into the field and had it run into a tight circle that placed the guard wagon on the far side from the farmhouse. He gathered all the caravaners into the middle of the circle and stepped up onto one of the wagon’s wheels to talk to them. “As you can imagine, the situation around here is worrisome. Usually we’re feeling pretty safe here at Prichard’s, but tonight I think we’d best keep more than one guard up. Usually we let the teams out into Prichard’s grazing field. We’ll do that for a few hours, but later we’ll bring them inside the wagon circle here so no one can poach them. That’ll make it pretty crowded inside the circle, so pitch your tents, if you’re going to, right up against your wagon. Better yet, sleep under your wagon.” He glanced around at the clear skies, “I don’t think it’ll rain tonight.” He paused and looked over the caravaners, “Keep your weapons close to hand.”

Daussie, limping around and trying to stretch the soreness out of her thighs, heard the caravaners muttering apprehensively. That did little to calm her own flutters. She saw Daum talking to Arco and turned her walk to pass close by. She heard Daum say, “Tarc has
amazing
hearing. If I were you, I’d assign him to the watch during the part of the night you think is most likely to see any trouble. He’ll hear people coming
long
before anyone else.”

As Daussie walked on, she wondered what Daum was talking about. To the best of her knowledge Tarc’s hearing wasn’t anything special. Then Eva called to Daussie and she forgot about it.

***

Daussie was stirring Eva’s large pot of vegetable stew and watching the sausages Eva had started grilling. Tarc had left to scrounge more wood for the fire. Eva had sent Daum to see if he could buy some food from the Prichards for the meal after this one.

Daussie’s eyes wandered the camp. People were setting up their tents inside the wagon circle and laying weapons, mostly spears, bows and crossbows, but also some swords, close to hand. Some were working on their own meals, but it looked like quite a few might be intending to try Eva’s camp cooking.