Out of the Faold (Whilst Old Legends Fade Synchronicles) (5 page)

No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than a sloughing of the hillside to their right spilled mud and saplings into the road, spooking the horse. He danced sideways and backward, making the cart turn at a strange angle. He lurched forward then to the side again as a
bigger tree slid into the road.

Pearl had already jumped off the seat next to Karl and shouted at the girls to get out of the back. They fell out screaming into the road watching Karl try to gain control, but the wheels were now in mud and were slipping towar
d the steep slope to the creek.

“Jump!” Krisa yelled at her.

Karl did just that. She slid down into the road then rushed to the horse’s head to calm it but the cart was sliding off and dragging
the panicked horse
with it. She loosened the straps as fast as she could to untie
him
from the cart.
Horse
dashed
away when
he
got free, only to stop twenty five steps down the road and stand there watching them. The cart continued to slide sideways down the hill until it fell braced against trees strong enough to hold it. It was tilted dangerously, their bags and food lying against its side, threatening to tip out i
nto the rushing water downhill.

Brother Karl squatted at the edge of the road staring down at it as Krisa
fetched
Horse
. Glory stood in the middle of the road covered in mud and crying, wiping muck from her face with the bottom edge of her cloak. Pearl stood nex
t to Karl who looked up at her.

“So what do you think
?” Brother Karl asked the girl.

“You see those trees?” she pointed out. “They are close enough together that we can hang on all the way to the cart. At least we can grab our things.”

“I don’t know,” Brother Karl told her shaking her head. “It’s awfully steep.”

“Can I try? I’ll start at this one and jump from tree to tree.”

After careful consideration Karl nodded waving for Krisa to bring her some of the thin saplings from the road. She broke a branch off one and handed it to Pearl as a support as she made her way across the slope. She made herself one also, giving directions to Krisa to tie the horse up further down the road where the hillside wasn’t as steep and to Gl
ory to stay away from the edge.

Pearl
was more nimble. She
fairly easily moved from tree to tree toward the cart. The footing for Karl was unsure and she’d slipped a few times, catching her foot against the tree trunk
s
just in time.
She wondered how they would make it back up, convinced that it was much easier going down than up. When Pearl had reached the cart and grabbed one of the packs she tossed it up toward Krisa, who jabbed at it with a long splayed branch and dragged it up to the road. Each bag was tossed up in turn. They couldn’t detach the blanket she had used as a cover for fear of falling into the water below, so they left it. Going back up did prove to be much more of a challenge. Pearl caught
up to Karl but didn’t pass her. She
just
gave encouragement a
nd di
rections where to put her feet.

Glory remained in the middle of the road but stood on tiptoes to see over the edge at their progress.
Karl noticed Glory
turn to
watch
the direction they’d come then spun to say something to Krisa.
They both stared down the road.

“Girls?” Brother Karl called out
in
a rising sense of panic that t
hey saw something she couldn’t.

“Someone is coming, Brother,”
Glory called. “Maybe they can help.”

Karl’s eyes met Krisa’s and without a word between them Krisa grabbed Glory’s arm and pulled her out of the road down into the mud of the steep slope toward the cart. She made Glory brace her body against the tree trunks Brother Karl was so desperately trying to
reach to climb up to the road.

The sound of horses drew nearer. Their hooves on the road softened as they were engulfed in mud but she could still hear the metal rattles of the horses’ tack
and men’s voices. The mudslide had practically washed out the entire road, forcing the ho
rses to walk close to the edge.

Krisa gasped audibly in recognition and Glory cheered, “Oh, Brother, look, it
’
s your handsome Marshall
!
”

Brother Karl squinted in embarrassment at the girl’s declaration but sighed in relief it wasn’t a band of ruffians. The men looked down into the gulley in shock at seeing the children stranded against the trees. Several jumped off their mounts and swung into action pulling Glory and Krisa up
over the slope and then formed
a chain to rescue Pearl first then Brother Karl. When all four were safely on the road again
,
they assur
ed the men they were not harmed and thanked them thoroughly
. O
nly then did Captain Amias Doran app
roach them, still on horseback.

“The cart is a loss,” he told her staring down at it. “And your horse is not going to carry the four of you.”

“True,”
she replied.

He removed the brimmed hat he wore, shaking it out while he contemplated what he was going to do with the
lady
Brother and three children.
Karl noted the same shaggy hair hadn’t yet been cut
. It
stuck to his head in
rivulets running off onto his scrubby chin. His eyes were dark, she noted. His jaw was set as he studied the four of them. Glory stared
up at him in great admiration.

Brother Karl picked up a sack and helped Krisa put her arms through the straps to sling it on her back. Pearl did the same and Karl carried both her own and Glory’s for the time being. The four of them started off down the road toward the horse.
She and Krisa would lead the horse while Pearl and Glory rode. They’d made some good time by starting out so early before dawn. They might make the next vill
age by nightfall she concluded.

Horse had calmed. They didn’t have a saddle for him so the girls would have to be very careful and hang onto his harness that was still attached. She looked down the road and found the men arranging themselves into formation once again, ready to ride.
Captain Doran approached
, leading his men.

“Where are you going, Brother Karl?” he asked looking up the road in the dir
ection they were all traveling.

“The next village,” she told him. “The girls need to get out of this rain.”

“Agreed. But where are you ultimately going?”

“Much further north. I have a few stops to make,” she said. “I need to get us a new wagon and more supplies.”

He looked at each girl in turn, filthy, tired and soaked to the bone. Karl’s hair had come loose and hung in a
tangled mess; her cloak was covered in mud and
leaves, her grey robes torn. They
clung to her body immodestly so she had to hold the cloak around her and try to manage two bags and the horse’s reigns with the other hand.
The corner of his mouth turned up at the humor of her situation. She was still rather appealing as she stood in front of him, the posture and pride of a queen in a pig wallow.
With a deep sigh Amias Doran reached over to the two girls on Horse and gently lifted Glory off and into the lap of his sergeant
, Kel
. Pearl and Krisa got their own riders as well. He raised an eyebrow at her in a
mischievous smirk.

“Do you need a rider as well?”

She turned her back on him
and contemplated how she was going to get onto Horse without a saddle or stirrups. One of the horses was brought forward from the end of the formation. It had been used to carry gear for them. It wore a saddle with bags hung from either side. One rider detached the bags and slung them over Horse, tying them securely, allowing her to use their horse to ride. She thanked him and climbed up, ready for them to get off this road an
d onward to the village.

Glory waved at her and she smiled back.
As they rode against the rain Brother Karl thanked the gods for their safety. She repeated words of thanks for the men who stopped to help and for Captain Doran for his consideration in bri
nging them to shelter.

She opened her eyes and found his back, broad shouldered, straight and strong. He
rode with confidence and ease. H
e clicked and his horse picked up the pace to a trot when they left the worst of the muddy road behind. The others followed suit, the entire group quickly making their way to a hot meal.

The next two villages, though they offered shelter, had little else to give, not even a horse for Karl to purchase. She began to feel uneas
y about being dependent on the C
aptain and his men. They had been kind, didn’t appear to mind their company but she knew they must be able
to travel faster without them.

A farmer allowed them to stay in a barn he used to store grain that first night. It was off season so it was empty. Karl tried not to impose on the men. She offered to do chores, and thanked them often. She knew they must feel obligated to take care of the
m until she had transportation.

Kel was friendly. He made sure she and the girls were comfortable
, piling up old sacks of grains and hay to sleep on. He strung a rope
for them to hang their robes
. The girls slept in their shifts tightly wrapped in blankets. Brother Karl caught the Captain watching her a few times as she cared for the girls but he’d look away to give orders or go back out into the rain for something.

When everyone was in for the night the men drew together to toss dice or play a few hands of cards. Kel and the Captain talked about their next stops and work
while Karl sat silent politely.

Captain Doran turned to her and asked, “How is it, Brother Karl, that we meet you in the middle of the night riding alone then a few days later you have a row of ducklings following you?”

Kel chuckled.
Karl smiled at the imagery. And that’s exactly what they must look like, three little girls follo
wing her in their yellow robes.

“I came to Brynntown to get them. They are to be Sisters.”

“Such a shame,” he said, gazing at them as they slept.

“Pardon?” she asked, insulted.

“No disrespect,” he said apologizing, “but none one of them seems to be the type to live in a hole in the ground.”

Karl looked to Kel, who avoided her eyes. The Captain didn’t. He watched her face, in a challenge for her to deny the truth of his statement. And she couldn’t. She would have
lived cloistered
if she had been ordered to, but the last place on earth she would want to live was in
the underground
Sister
quarters.
She was here to get them because that was her job.
Angry
,
she retired to her pallet, partially because she hated to lose an argument, even a silent one, and partially out of guilt for what she was doing.

Captain Amias glanced at Kel in victory and both men continued their talk about the next leg of their journey.
She turned her back to them in annoyance.
Karl couldn’t help but be lulled to s
leep by his voice that he kept low
so as not to disturb the others.
Their discussion finished, he lay down next to her on his bedroll. She turned her head toward him at his movement, barely opened her eyes an
d smiled. She was asleep again.

He watched her a few moments then forced hims
elf to turn over the other way.

Kel looked between his Capt
ain and the sleeping B
rother. He whispered, “
I don’t recall if the Brother snores.”

“Quacks,” Amias grunted.

On the road,
Glory sometimes
took to humming songs. One of the Marshalls would join in but
Karl got the impression from
Captain
Doran’s scowl that it was not regular practice to sing while o
n duty. He lightened up though
with encouragement from Glory’s friendly demeanor
and it was a relaxing ride.

He’d explained to them on their second night, as
they camped alongside the road
that his
unit
was going far north
in
to the King’s lands. He couldn’t tell the details of their journey but they’d been on the road
more than half a
year and it would be good to get home to see thei
r families.

“Where are you taking the girls?” he asked Brother Karl while poking a stick into the fire to move a log.

“Mount Sestra,” she to
ld him staring into the flames.