The Unexpected Heir: A Tale of Alus (42 page)

Being the center of their attention, only Xerese noticed the brief rustle of brush directly behind the men blocking her from her clothing. Toman moved silently through the bushes and trees seeming to shrink to half his size. He crept low behind them trying to the keep the wall of men between him and those on the far side of the lake. No one else caught sight of him and Xerese tried to make sure that the men were only paying attention to her.

"Stop it! Go away!" she yelled at the men splashing water towards them. Her voice sounded frightened. It wasn't just an act. Xerese was frightened, both for herself and for Toman who appeared willing to risk his life against at least eight men. While she had only seen the eight, there was nothing that said there couldn't be more hidden like her guard had been.

"Come on, beautiful, just come on out. We'll treat you nice as long as you treat us nice," the vocal man said trying to coax her out amid chuckling from his companions. They were all so intent on the naked girl swimming that Toman had his dagger to the throat of the man furthest back before anyone else knew it.

"Leave her alone," Toman commanded and Xerese heard no fear in his voice unlike her own.

His voice pulled their attention from the girl like a slap to the face. Toman pulled his victim back holding his dagger to the man's throat.

"Who are you?" the leader questioned pointing with his sword towards the big guardsmen while the others drew their swords from their hips.

"I am the one telling you to leave before someone gets hurts or has to die. The girl is under my protection. If you try to harm her, I will be forced to kill you all," Toman said in a dark tone. It told them that he meant business, she thought.

"There is only one of you. Unless there are more men hidden in the forest, you are pretty outnumbered there, my friend," the Tseulty soldier pointed out calmly. Unlike Xerese, he seemed less impressed by the large guardsman with his dagger to their friend's throat.

Pressing the sharp blade tighter against their companion's throat made him hiss with pain. Only a moment later, blood began to dribble onto the blade and down his neck. It was a slowly seeping wound, but it proved that Toman meant his threat.

"If you don't stand down, there will be one less of you pretty quickly. Drop your weapons and walk away before this gets messy for you."

Even from behind them, Xerese could see the men tensing. She didn't know if they hoped to rush him at the expense of one of their own or if they would concede the victory. While she believed that Toman could protect her, against so many she just wasn't sure if they were willing to sacrifice their companion.

Grinding his teeth angrily, their leader finally dropped his sword to the ground in irritation. He wasn't willing to let his man die after all, Xerese thought letting out a sigh. While the girl was tiring as she continued to tread water, she refused to move closer for fear of being caught, which would lose Toman his advantage. If she had been caught by the men already, Xerese wondered what he would have done. Would he have done something to save her or finally give up his mission of protecting the lady?

"Belts and scabbards too," Toman added for some reason that was unclear to the girl. She would feel safer if they were disarmed, but Xerese had much less fear for belts or scabbards.

Shaking their heads at the humiliation, the men directly in front of him did as he said. "Your friends on the other side also."

Turning to gesture to the three men standing by uncertain of what they should do, the leader called out to his fellows to drop their gear as well. Though they were hesitant, they dropped the weapons and started to walk north past the beaver dam.

"Fine, there you go. Now what?" the irritated man asked with a frown. His men remained in front of Toman. Xerese wasn't sure if they still thought to just attack him barehanded in the hope of driving him to the ground with their weight and numbers even without their swords.

"Start walking. Don't come back today or during the night. If any of you try to come back, you won't live to walk away again," Toman stated having never moved the blade from the man's neck.

The four men did as they were told, but continued to send glances over their shoulders to see if he would release his captive.

Toman's hand dropped from holding his captive's shoulder and pulled the sword free before pushing the man ahead of him a few steps. He made him drop his belted scabbard before sending him after the other men.

Swimming back to where she could walk again, Xerese hurried out of the water. She looked at Toman who watched the men disappear behind the rise of the hill. "Now what do we do?"

Toman glanced at the woman before remembering that she was still naked and wet. "First, you put your clothes on. You'll have to wash them some other time. We'll cross over the dam and use the woods to move as far from here as we can."

Pulling on the cleanest skirt and blouse, Xerese watched him pull the swords together.

"What are you doing with those?" the girl asked before sitting to dry her legs enough to pull the short boots onto her feet. Left wet, they would likely bind and blister her flesh, even if Edric had made them well. Water and leather didn't work together well; even if it had time to be fully cured.

"We'll take them with us."

"Why?"

Rolling his eyes in an obvious way, Toman replied, "If we take them, they can't come back to get them and use them against us. Also once we make it to the next town or city; we can try to sell them. If we get enough money, maybe we can even pay for passage on a ship to take us home or at least closer without the danger we're finding here."

Quickly belting one of the swords around his waist, Toman disappeared for a few minutes before returning with his bag. A sandwich was passed to the girl before they filled the two water flasks. She had stowed her clothing and picked up two of the swords to carry. The extra weight wasn't significant, but Xerese feared that they would feel like a lot more during a long march. The lady could only hope that her body had strengthened enough with all their walking to deal with it until they could sell the weapons.

While the dam wasn't the best of footing, the two quickly crossed without having to try swimming with the extra weight of the swords. Disappearing into the woods, they ate the sandwiches quickly without stopping. 

Xerese noted Toman's regular glances back the way they had come. He adjusted their way south for a time and then back to the north.

"If they have trackers, won't we be wasting time?" the girl finally asked. They had remained silent as they walked listening as best they could for pursuers.

"There is more plant material to break, so we need to do our best to walk through the forest without disturbing the area. Even a weak tracker might be able to follow us, but if none of them are real trackers we might lose them in here.

"We're also more hidden in the trees than out in the fields to the north. If they don't know which way we planned to go, they might split up their forces. Smaller numbers will be easier for me as well."

"What if they go find more men?" Xerese questioned just wanting to remind him that she wasn't stupid. She understood enough of his logic, but also knew the risk. Going in a straight line might be faster, but even a novice tracker might get lucky. The biggest problem was that they didn't know how many more of the soldiers there were near them.

"We can only hope that isn't true. Since we can't control those kinds of things, we do what we can and use the forest against them should they decide to follow."

If the Tseulty soldiers decided to come for their weapons or revenge, Xerese feared what would become of the two of them. Like the big man had said, however, they could only control what they did and hope that it was enough.

Chapter 23- Friendly Business

Xerese was pretty certain that Toman had become lost as night overtook them. Moving through the forest with daylight remaining helped keep them on point, even when the guard made her change direction to put off any possible pursuers. Carrying the extra weight of the new swords didn't help her as they moved either.

Bushes tore at exposed skin and protective clothing equally. Two swords lashed to her opposing hips made the weight less noticeable than trying to carry them in her arms, but they dragged through the brush slowing her movement. Toman appeared to notice the weight of three times as many swords less than the girl trying to keep up with him. They both carried packs, but hers was mostly clothing and weighed less than his.

As the night prolonged, Xerese was tiring. They had already walked most of the day before finding the lake, then she had been forced to swim long enough for the man to rescue her once again. Now they pushed on beyond their normal day and darkness made it nearly impossible to continue.

Tripping on a root or bush in the shadows, the true culprit remaining unknown in the darkness; Xerese brought their flight to a stop once more. She couldn't see a foot in front of her thanks to the thick canopy above blotting out the stars and moon. Toman heard her go down and stopped. The girl wondered if he could even see her at all until she picked herself up again to stand.

"Are you alright, my lady?"

"Xerie," she reminded him breathlessly. "I didn't break anything, but I can't see anything to know if I have any cuts or scratches."

The girl wanted to pout and whine, but she had seen the evil in the eyes of those men. Putting distance between them was worth some discomfort and exhaustion so long as they could never find her again. She would go on as long as Toman believed it necessary.

A deep breath was released in the darkness letting her know that the man was considering pushing her further.

"We'll look for a little break in the canopy and rest," he decided aloud to include her in his thoughts. It wasn't much of a plan. Toman was also worried that they would start going in circles in the forest without light to steer. Putting distance between the possible pursuers would come to bite them if they in fact turned back on their path in the dark.

Reaching ahead of her, Xerese's right hand found his shirt almost blindly. The man took her hand and turned drawing her after him. Holding his hand like a child needing her father to guide her through a frightening crowd, Xerese let him pull her after him. He was gentle and despite the calluses from using a sword, she thought his hand warm and surprisingly soft.

They found a small clearing and Xerese dropped her bag before extricating herself from the sword belts.

Red light filtered through the branches overhead. The canopy had gaps here, but they were only enough to help find a spot to sit down. Toman moved around the small space checking for danger and appeared to want to try to stay awake as her guard all night.

Only loosening the laces of her boots for fear that they would need to move again before dawn, Xerese watched him a few minutes before saying, "You need to sleep too."

The light revealed the shake of his head. "We need to keep watch. If they can track by night, then they might catch us in our sleep."

"They won't be able to do anything in here in the dark. We couldn't even walk without having to stop."

"The enemy could use lanterns to alleviate that. We don't have lanterns and they would likely alert a pursuer even if we did," Toman warned as he continued to pace.

Refusing to deal with his complaints, Xerese laid her head on the bag filled with clothing. Her water flask was placed beside it after a last drink. Keeping everything close, the girl told the guard one last warning to reconsider, "If you don't get any sleep, you will be useless as a guard. You can't afford to exhaust yourself. We are too far from Malaiy, let alone home."

"We could start heading southwest and avoid the coast all together, I suppose," the guardsman mused on a rather bold idea for a journey.

Appalled at the idea, Xerese sat up again wagging a finger at him in the shadows. "There is no way that I am going to walk all the way to Teyas! We need to find a ship or this will take forever, if I could even survive that long of a journey anyway."

She heard a small laugh and knew that Toman was joking with her. Not known for a sense of humor, the girl had been caught by surprise.

"Well, then we will have to risk the northern towns," the man decided as she watched him sit with his back to a tree near her feet. "Get some rest, my... Xerie. Don't worry about me. I know my limits and can keep you safe."

Replacing her head on the bag, the girl thought that it felt as soft as a pillow from her bed at home when she was this tired. Her eyes closed and Xerese was lost to sleep quickly despite her worries.

Morning did little to help Xerese feel any less worried, and her legs ached in new places thanks to the unexpected swim. The girl opened her eyes to see gray light in their clearing. She could see blue sky through the holes in the green canopy and the highest leaves seemed to glow with the early morning sun.

Guessing that it was still close to dawn, she stood feeling pressure on her bladder. Her eyes rested on her protector a moment. Toman slept where he had sat. The bark of the tree was his pillow and backrest all in one, she thought thinking that it appeared uncomfortable.

The grass and bag were a sad replacement for a bed she so desperately missed, but looked better than sitting against a tree. Even that discomfort hadn't been enough to keep the guardsman awake, she thought with a small smile.