Child Of A Guardian And Of The Free (Book 3) (20 page)

‘
Where are you taking us?’ Elena asked timidly. Penn didn’t answer as he watched the Guards carry the bodies of Louisa, Milgorry, Borgulnay and Gilgarry aboard a large ship.

‘
Where are you taking us?’ Immosey asked with more boldness than her sister. Penn drew back his hand and backhanded her across her face, slamming the slight girl to the ground. Elena shrieked in fright and fell to her knees beside her sister. Penn grabbed the back of her dress and dragged her away, seeming to enjoy her pain as the rough boards of the old pier scraped the skin from her heels and filled her hands with splinters.

‘
Perhaps that will teach you to remain silent,’ he said maliciously. ‘Now get on board.’ Elena and Immosey scuttled across the walkway onto the ship. ‘Take them below,’ Penn ordered one of the sailors. ‘Put them in with the others. And don’t touch them unless you want a bunch of guardians chasing you around for the rest of your extremely short life,’ he added tersely. ‘Besides, I still have a use for them.’ He chuckled unpleasantly as he walked away and Elena felt the hair on her arms prickle.

Chapter
22

Apathy

Dale cursed under his breath as he stared across the empty
bay. It was after midnight, but the rising moon lit the bay sufficiently to leave no doubt. The ship was gone. ‘Isn’t that just consistent with our luck so far,’ he muttered to no-one. ‘Rudi’s nowhere to be found and neither is our ship.’

Eibhear sat on a nearby rock and stared across the water. Dale rarely saw the warrior
reveal strong emotions, but now frustration and disappointment flowed from him. Eibhear lay back and closed his eyes. ‘I can’t hear them,’ he said hopelessly. ‘Not even Rudi. I can’t find their tracks and now I don’t even know where to look. Whichever way we go we run into problems. The people near this harbor might still have some traits of the free, but that doesn’t help us since you’re human and they’ll kill you if they can. And the humans are not exactly helpful.’ He opened his eyes slightly. ‘You’re half-starved and badly in need of sleep.’

‘
We’re a lot better off than we might be,’ Dale argued. ‘When we arrived here, we had nothing but the clothes we stood in, and you had your knife. Rudi, Ben, Rez and Raline were captives and who knows what might have happened to them. At least we can hope they’re still out there somewhere. And we’re starting to know where we can’t go which means we will probably have to go east, since north and south seem to be out of the question. So that decision is made for us.  Also we now have a knife each and all the food I stole from that horrible witch’s fortress. And we have this handy pillow cover,’ he added with a small smile. ‘If I should need to have a sleep...’ Eibhear rolled his eyes. Dale reached into the pillow cover and started pulling out food. ‘Some of this will go stale very quickly,’ Dale commented. ‘There’s enough for both of us.’

‘
Not hungry,’ mumbled Eibhear dismally.

‘
I don’t care if you’re hungry or not. You need to eat,’ said Dale in a threatening voice.

Eibhear propped himself up on one elbow.
‘Try to make me!’ he said sarcastically.

Dale took a bit
e of a small, dark red fruit he did not recognize. It tasted delicious and was very juicy. He picked up another one. ‘There are really good!’ he said adamantly, holding it out to Eibhear who ignored him. ‘Let’s hope that horrible witch didn’t dip them in poison before she put them in the bowl.’ There was a flash of movement and Dale found Eibhear crouched beside him and the fruit gone from his hands.

‘
Excuse me?’ he said indignantly as he watched Eibhear gingerly smell the fruit. The warrior studied it and then took a small bite and chewed it slowly.

‘
I don’t think it’s poisoned,’ said Eibhear, handing the fruit back to Dale.

‘
Nor do I,’ said Dale drily. ‘But I managed to make you eat after all, didn’t I?’

‘
Very funny!’ said Eibhear, taking a piece of fruit from the little bag and biting it. ‘Mmm. That’s really nice. Maybe I was a bit hungrier than I thought,’ he admitted.

‘
You’re right about how tired I am,’ said Dale, feeling a bit better as he gnawed on a strangely shaped roll of bread. He decided the bread was probably only misshapen and covered with grit because it had been stood on by somebody, but he was so hungry he ate it anyway, and then he lay on the warm sand next to the rocks where Eibhear sat. Eibhear sighed in acknowledgement as Dale started thinking about how thirsty he now felt.

‘
We’ll head back to the stream we found when we first arrived here,’ said Eibhear. ‘The water was clean, and I know where there’s more fruit around that area. Then we can go...I don’t know. Where do you want to go?’

‘
Maybe we could sleep there tonight and tomorrow we’ll try to work out where the others have gone,’ Dale suggested, closing his eyes. He started snoring almost immediately and Eibhear smiled, always amused by the Baron’s ability to sleep anywhere, regardless of surroundings or circumstances.

‘
Do you want to wake up, or am I going to have to carry you on my back?’ said Eibhear.

‘
No. I’ll wake up. Just give me a minute or two...’

Five minutes later Dale rolled to his feet.

‘Ready?’ Eibhear asked in surprise.

‘
As ready as I’ll ever be. It’s a pity we can’t just sleep here. The sand is so warm…so comfortable. But I suppose we’ll be safer in the forest.’

Eibhear led the way into the trees. Dale was pleased that he
recognized some of the path Eibhear chose as they walked back to the stream. The ground was very rough in places and he regretted not stealing some boots from the place he’d been held captive. Once they reached the stream he had a long drink of the cool water and placed the remaining food in a crevice between two large roots. He crawled under the huge trunk of the fallen tree, and then he crawled back out. Eibhear raised a questioning eyebrow.

‘
Maybe I should take first watch,’ Dale suggested. ‘You could have some sleep first; I know you’re tired too. I’ll sleep when you’re rested. But not under this fallen tree - somewhere else.’

‘
You crawled back out to tell me that?’

‘
No I crawled back out because there’s a massive brown snake under the log and I didn’t want to share his sleeping space.’

‘
Really?’ Eibhear seemed more interested than alarmed. He pushed Dale aside and crouched to look under the tree. His hand shot out like lightning, and Dale gave a start. Eibhear emerged holding the huge snake. He had one hand gripping it behind its head and with the other he clutched its thick body. It was a dark brown color, at least five foot in length and it was thicker in body than Dale’s wrist.

‘
What do you plan to do with it?’ Dale asked cautiously.

‘
You can eat them, you know.’

‘
No I can’t.’

‘
They’re not so bad if you’re about to die of starvation.’

‘
I’ll survive.’

‘
I’ll get rid of it.’

‘
You can’t kill it! We invaded its home. It wasn’t the snake’s fault,’ Dale declared.

Eibhear
shook his head in disbelief. ‘Fine I’ll just take it far enough away that it will have difficulty coming back here tonight.’ He disappeared into the forest and returned half an hour later. Dale could tell he’d been running but wasn’t prepared for the intensely annoyed look on the warrior’s face.

‘
How far did you go?’ Dale asked curiously.

‘
Far enough,’ Eibhear grumbled. ‘But I might as well have killed it here.’

‘
What happened?’

‘
I let it go in some rocks, the perfect home for a nice big brown snake.’

‘
And?’

‘
And it
was
the home of a nice big brown snake. Our snake landed right on top of it. So they started fighting and they got all twisted together like they do when they fight. It was amazing to watch. Anyway, they unexpectedly flipped together in my direction - I was a bit too close - and I reacted without thinking. So unfortunately they’re both dead.’

Dale laughed.
‘Get some sleep, Eibhear. I’ll wake you when I can’t stay awake any longer.’

Eibhear agreed somewhat reluctantly, but crawled under the fallen tree and was asleep in minutes. Dale wandered around for a few m
oments before choosing a rock to sit against. He made himself comfortable and let his mind wander over the events of the past days. Time seemed to drag. He watched through tiny gaps in the canopy of the forest as the sky lightened and stars began to disappear. Clouds blew across the sky and it started to rain, softly at first then the drops became larger and heavier until small rivulets of water ran down the banks of the stream and water pooled on the rocks before spilling over into the running water. The sound of the water altered and Dale stood up, feeling perturbed by the change. He walked slowly around the area, crossing a shallow rocky part of the water and moving upstream. Water was streaming down the trees forming frothy bubbles at the base of the trunks. A small waterfall had increased and the water was now splashing noisily down the rock face, rather than simply trickling into the pool below. Dale looked south-east where the forest was thinner. The entire ground seemed to be moving as a sheet of water flowed down the slope. Dale drew breath sharply as he considered what the little stream was going to look like when all this extra water made it to the bottom of the hill. He sprang back down the stream. Where he had crossed was already three times as deep and now flowing very fast. As he waded across, he slipped on the slime-covered rocks and he gave a cry of dismay as he was carried more than ten paces downstream by the rapidly increasing torrent. He tried to stand and slipped again, grazing his knee badly and slamming his elbow into a sharp rocky protrusion. A hand reached out and grabbed him, dragging him onto the rocky bank.

‘
We need to get higher,’ said Dale, massaging his elbow without looking up at Eibhear. ‘If the rain stays as heavy as it is, this stream is going to rise tremendously before it’s done.’ Dale looked up when Eibhear didn’t reply. His mouth fell open and he flinched with fright. It wasn’t Eibhear. The person standing in front of him was human.

‘
Saldriquel addi neevwanch
?’

‘
Dale,’ gasped Dale.

‘
Dale?’ The man’s tone indicated that he name strange. He shrugged.

‘
Saldriquel addi neevwanch
?’ Dale did his best to imitate the words correctly.

‘
Corleo,’ the man replied.

Dale pointed to the empty space where Eibhear had been sleeping under the fallen tree and raised his hands questioningly.

Corleo snorted contemptuously and patted Dale on the shoulder. He gestured dramatically and rolled off a string of words, none of which Dale understood, but it was clear from the man’s face and his gestures that his people had captured Eibhear and rescued Dale from the warrior. He motioned for Dale to follow him and trotted quickly up the hill. Dale followed at a slightly slower pace, his mind racing as he searched for any sign of where Eibhear had been taken. He paused as he saw the damage done to the bushes in front of him. His heart gave a lurch as he reached the top of the rise. Eibhear was face down on the ground with blood splattering the back of his head, neck and shoulders. He was completely still. Five men holding thick staves of wood stood around his body. Dale stared at his friend, struggling to control his horror and grief. Corleo slapped him on the shoulder once again, mistaking Dale’s expression to be simply fear of Eibhear, then he laughed loudly, seemingly proud of his capture of the warrior. Dale stared down at Eibhear as grief threatened to overcome him.

‘
Dale?’
Dale’s heart gave another lurch of shock as he heard Eibhear’s thoughts ever so faintly. Relief poured through him like the warmth of a fire.

‘
Corleo thinks you were my captive and he thinks you’re silent because of shock,’
Eibhear’s thoughts gained a little strength.
‘If you want to survive, you need to keep him thinking that.’

Turning away from Eibhear with an attitude of carelessness, he nodded to Corleo as if grateful and gave what sounded like a sigh of relief. Corleo laughed once again and kicked Eibhear
’s body hard. Dale flinched and gritted his teeth. It took every bit of his strength not to turn around and smash his fist into Corleo’s face.

‘
Don’t panic Dale. Head wounds always bleed a lot. I’ll be fine.’
Dale steadied his breathing, knowing Eibhear was in a far worse state than he was letting on. He knew if the warrior was in any way fine, he would have leapt up, grabbed a stick from one of his attackers and fought his way free.

‘
Actually that’s what I tried. There were too many of them hitting me at once. I can’t believe I didn’t hear them coming, I was feeling a bit apathetic, and when they dragged me from under that old tree I didn’t even have time to pull out my knife.’

Dale
’s knees shook. What had happened to Eibhear was Dale’s own fault. If he’d been keeping watch as he should have been and not wandering around upstream this might never have happened.

‘
It would have happened anyway Dale, don’t beat yourself up over it. Only if you’d been sitting quietly near me whilst I slept they would have killed you immediately as a traitor. You’re only alive because they thought you’d managed to escape from me somehow.’

‘
Why are they letting you live?’

‘
They think I’m dead. They’re going to take my body back to their camp and dispose of it so none of my people will know what happened to me.’

Two men came through the trees dragging a small two wheeled cart. They picked up Eibhear
’s lifeless looking body and put it in the cart then without another word everyone set off through the trees with Dale trailing along behind, doing his best to maintain an attitude of shock, which wasn’t difficult to accomplish. They reached a small river, which was deep and flowed strongly. It had a path alongside, fairly disused, but still cleared enough to make it a little easier to manage the cart carrying Eibhear’s body. The group picked up their pace and Dale began to fall behind. Corleo called back to him once or twice, and Dale simply raised his hand in a reassuring wave, but he knew he couldn’t keep up with the group for much longer. Half an hour later Dale had fallen so far behind that the group was out of sight. He was just wondering if he should gather his remaining strength and run to try to catch up, when the sight of something at the edge of the river caught his eye. The river was now more than twenty paces across and flowing very strongly. Dale pushed his way through tangled vines and slid down the earthen river bank. Tied to a tree root was a small boat. There were no oars. Dale stood staring at it for a moment then made up his mind. He knew it was a gamble, and probably dangerous without oars, but the guilt of having caused Eibhear to be captured in the first place, and that his friend been beaten so badly as a result, was more than enough to make Dale desperate to keep up with the warrior, regardless of his own safety. He grabbed a thick stick and climbed into the boat, untied the cord and pushed away from the bank. The little boat leapt forward, like a dog delighted to be released from a leash. Dale gripped the side of the boat with one hand and in his left hand he held the stick ready in case he needed to push himself away from the river banks should he be swept in that direction. As he gained speed, it occurred to him that he had no idea if the path continued to follow the river, but he pushed the thought aside and concentrated on the river ahead. His boat spun lazily around and he fought to face it forward using the branch as an oar. He moved quickly as the river narrowed between two high rock walls, then the rocks disappeared and his pace slowed somewhat. He was still moving faster than he had been on foot and this gave him hope that he would soon catch up to Eibhear. Rapids appeared ahead of Dale and he frowned wondering whether he should leave the boat and make for the shore. He decided to risk the rapids. He entered the rough water, and through the trees he caught a glimpse of Corleo and the men dragging the cart with Eibhear’s body. The roaring of the rapids drowned out other sounds and it was all Dale could do to hold on to the edges of the boat and stay upright. He lost hold of his stick, so he simply concentrated on keeping his body in the boat. The rushing sound grew suddenly louder and Dale experienced a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach as he realized there were falls ahead. He was just wondering how close they were when his little boat shot forward, propelled by a huge surge of water, and smashed against a rough boulder. The boat didn’t stand a chance. Dale gave a shout of dismay as it disintegrated around him and he was flung into the river. He struggled to keep his head above the torrent as he was carried towards the waterfall. He struck out with all his strength in a futile attempt to reach calmer water but no matter how hard he tried he was dragged relentlessly by the rough current. Seconds later he was swept over the falls.