Servants and Followers (The Legends of Arria, Volume 2) (45 page)

“
We’re heading
towards that mountain range, aren’t we?” Basha asked, pointing in
the distance.

Fato glanced towards the direction he
pointed. “Yes, I believe so, why?”

Basha inhaled. “I believe you should
scout ahead,” He said, nodding to himself, “And see if there is a
pass in that direction that we can walk upon. Over or through to
the other side.”

“
I will do that!”
Fato said, flying off immediately on the errand.

“
Basha,” Oaka said,
coming back towards him as Monika and Gnat stopped to listen.
“Shouldn’t we go around the mountains somehow?” Oaka
asked.

“
That is the easiest
route,” Basha said, “But it is also the most obvious one. If Goga
comes after us, if he suspects we might be going to Coe Wina, he
will also search for a way around the mountains to find us. We must
go up and over,” Basha said. “It may not be easy, but perhaps it is
faster than trying to find a way around the mountains.”

“
It looks cold up
there, Basha,” Oaka said, staring up at the mountain heights. “I
don’t think we can stand the cold right now.”

“
Just the peaks,”
Basha said, “The lower slopes
,
some of them, at
least
,
appear not to be covered in snow,” He said. “If we can find a
pass that cuts across the lower slopes, goes around them from one
side to the next, then perhaps we might find the best route to
avoid Goga.”

“
There are a lot of
‘ifs’ in your statements, Basha, no certainty,” Oaka pointed out,
“And if you are not certain, then we might die up there.” Oaka
said.

“
Where would you
rather face your death, Oaka?” Basha asked, aware of the worried
looks passed between Monika and Gnat. “What might be our best
chances for survival
,
facing Goga, or facing the cold?” Basha
asked.

Oaka hesitated for a moment, glancing
back towards Monika and Gnat and beyond, to where Goga would be
coming from, and then looking forward towards the mountains. “The
cold, I suppose, though it is a lousy way to die.” Oaka muttered.
Monika and Gnat nodded.

“
It’ll be okay, Oaka,
we’ll keep ourselves warm,” Basha said, patting Oaka on the
shoulder. “And we won’t go so high up, we’ll go just part of the
way
. Y
ou won’t even get to see the summit.” He said.

Oaka grumbled, passing by Basha, who
turned back towards Gnat and Monika. “Is that all right with you
two?” He asked nervously. “That we climb?” He did not want to
neglect the girls in this decision.

“
I suppose so,”
Monika said, nodding. “I don’t know much about the terrain in this
area, but I imagine that you are right about Goga’s direction, he
would go around the mountain.” Monika gestured. “Some of the
mountain passes are narrow, I imagine, barely wide enough for a
person to traverse, often with a sleep slope heading downward, and
occasionally there are avalanches from above
,
rock and snow.”
Monika swung her hand down as Basha winced. “He wouldn’t take the
risk of climbing the mountain, especially if some or most of his
men are mounted.” Monika said, hoisting her pack further onto her
shoulders.

“
Right,” Basha said,
a little nervous now. “Have you ever climbed a mountain,
Monika?”

“
Once or twice,” She
said, walking past him.

“
Once or twice?” He
mouthed at Gnat before following after Monika. When did she do
that? He asked himself.

“
What is her story?”
Gnat whispered to Basha.

“
I don’t really
know.” Basha said, frowning to himself.
Curiosity
,
the desire to find out more, the need to find out
more, had been something he had professed to having in the past,
especially when it came to himself and to the truth. But when it
came to others, and to the true nature of the unknown that had
frightened him most of all, sometimes he had blocked out the
memories of those encounters, blocked out the questions that he had
that would surely bring him horrendous answers. He did not want to
know, could not bear to know, that which would change his
perspective of others forever. That would be frightening most of
all.

“
Gnat doesn’t have
any warm clothes.” Monika remarked back towards them.

“
I’ll be fine,
Basha.” Gnat said, as Basha realized he had neglected
her.

“
You can
have
…
” Basha paused a moment, remembering propriety and gender
differences, and then asked, “Uh, Monika, could you give Gnat a
shirt or something she can wear?”

Monika laughed, and said, “Fine,
Basha,” as they continued. He would be fine, they would all be
fine, it was just a little while further.

“
There is a pass!”
Fato cried, coming back towards them as they looked up. “It looks
passable for a walk in certain places, although there are some
steep places.”

“
That’s fine, Fato,”
Basha said, ignoring some of the troubled looks tossed in his
direction with his fear confirmed. “That’s fine, we’ll manage!” He
said.

“
Where is Lord
Fobata’s flag?” Hava asked, staring up at a field of sable
presenting a white bear in salient pose, hanging slightly down from
the pole held aloft by the flag bearer striding along below. Hava
and Goga rode alongside each other through the dwindling forest,
with about half of Goga’s men riding as well. The rest were on
foot, scouting ahead or along the edges of the forest path. The
mountains and hills rose before them, unwelcoming and unrelenting
with frozen peaks that merged with the sky, seemingly
unpassable.

The white bear in salient pose seemed
oddly appropriate here, Hava thought to himself and did not care to
admit, as surrounded by the blackness of the unknown. Fobata’s
black bear in salient pose would have dwindled amidst the white
space.

Captain Goga laughed and said, “This is
my personal flag, Hava, my coat-of-arms, as second son of a Duke of
Coe Aela. Lord Fobata would never allow me to wave this flag inside
Coe Aela, but now that we are away from its walls, I can wave it as
proudly and as boldly as I like.” He smiled.

Hava grimaced to himself at this show
of vanity. “We should still have Lord Fobata’s flag with us,
captain, much as you despise him, especially as we cross onto Lord
Lagotaq’s land. We have the authority of Coe Aela’s lord behind us,
we should show it.” He said.

Captain Goga shook his head. “That
wouldn’t help us, not on Lord Lagotaq’s land. We’re trespassing,
Hava, but I cannot wait for Lord Lagotaq’s permission to cross onto
his territory. We must find the group, and then get out of here
before we are caught.” He said.

Hava grimaced again. “You are taking a
big risk, my captain. I fear what will happen.”

“
Just write it down,
Hava,” Captain Goga said, turning to Hava. “Write it down, and keep
your mouth shut. I do not stand for cowardice. I can take impudence
from you, I can take your probing questions, I can even take your
timidness, but I will not stand for cowardice from you. If you
follow me, you will show me no fear. You march into battle with me,
or I will leave you behind, out here in the wilderness. Does that
sound fair to you?” He asked.

It was unfair. Hava had not been asked
to take on this assignment with Captain Goga, he had been ordered
to do so back in Coe Aela, but he could not turn back now. For one
thing, he was miles away from Coe Aela already with no clue as to
how to get back, and he was afraid of getting killed out here by
himself, due to savage men and animals, or due to his own
carelessness, lost for days out in the cold without food and water.
He could not lose Captain Goga, who was his lifeline back to Coe
Aela, who knew the terrain and knew what direction to take, not to
mention the force at his disposal--Hava needed to stay with Captain
Goga and his men to feel safe.

And for another
thing, he was surprised to find that some small part of himself was
excited to be on this mission with Captain Goga
,
perhaps even enjoying
it, to a certain degree. He did not want to turn back now. He
wanted to continue on with the mission, no matter how tough it
might be on him
with the captain’s anger,
the rowdiness of the guards, and the excrutiating pain he felt
traveling all day and into the night with little rest, and hardly
any food except for some crummy mush. He wanted to experience the
adventure, and the thrill of the chase
. T
he capture and arrest of
the group who had escaped Coe Aela might be enough to satisfy him,
although he wondered how Captain Goga might treat them.

“
Okay, Captain Goga,
I will be brave. I will keep my mouth shut, write it down, and
continue on with you. Sounds fair?” Hava asked, holding out his
hand as a peace offering.

Goga grabbed the hand, and shook it
briefly. “Sounds fair. And stop calling me captain. Call me sir.”
He said, shaking his head. “I could have been a knight at least if
not for Fobata’s insistence that I stay on at Coe Aela, under his
watchful eye.”

“
Is it common
knowledge that you and Lord Fobata are--”

“
We try to keep it to
ourselves,” Goga muttered. “It’s embarrassing for us both to think
that we are related to each other. There are some who know of it,
of course, you can’t keep a thing like that secret forever, but I
don’t advertise it, and neither does Lord Fobata. We keep to
ourselves and to our present company, occasionally meeting to
exchange news of a professional nature,
a
drink, and maybe play a
game or two. Nothing personal or fraternal.” He
admitted.

Goga had departed Coe
Aela with eighty-five men, if you counted Hava, about half of its
force. He had split his forces further into roughly four groups of
21 men, not counting Hava, to cover the compass in search of the
group
,
north, south, east and west. He wanted to be thorough. He
instructed his men that they should go as far as they could in each
direction, and then sweep the area to a certain degree. If the
group was not found within 12 days, a random number that Goga had
chosen, then they should head back to Coe Aela.

Goga, followed by Hava, had chosen to
go with the southward group, knowing in his heart and mind that
this was the direction they would have chosen to get away from Coe
Aela, heading for Coe Wina and beyond. They had been traveling from
the north, heading south when the Black Wolves had chased them,
likely enough they would continue with their trip. He was not quite
sure why they were traveling or where they were heading, but he
thought that it might be important enough to stop them from
reaching their destination. Certainly he would try to stop them
from reaching Coe Wina, by any means necessary.

They heard a man’s scream a short
distance away in the forest, and paused to turn their heads. “What
was that?” Hava asked, nervous.

“
Trouble.” Goga
smiled, and turned his horse in that direction. When the animal
would not move, trembling, Goga dismounted and kicked at the dirt
before continuing on towards the forest. Hava reluctantly
dismounted and followed, not certain why, perhaps because he had
little else to do besides witness Goga’s actions, but he stayed
several paces behind Goga in case whatever had attacked the guard
might attack Goga first. That way, Hava could flee then without
losing face.

Hava halted when Goga did, and
stretched his neck out as carefully as he could to see what Goga
did, when there was a guard lying on the ground, his left leg
twisted and mangled, blood splattered everywhere with bone showing.
The man groaned. Hava gagged, and then froze when they heard a
growl emanating from the bush in front of them.

“
It came out of
nowhere.” The guard whispered, delirious with blood loss and
fright. “Like a ghost.”

Goga frowned, staring down at the
quivering guard, and then turned towards the bush. “Show yourself,”
Goga said, withdrawing his sword. “Apologize, or give us a good
excuse. He is one of my men, after all. He is on your side. Why did
you attack him?” He asked.

The Black Wolf emerged from the bush,
gobbets of blood dripping down his saber teeth still as Hava felt
faint. The haggard animal circled round, eying the captain, the
injured guard, and Hava in turn.

“
We are hungry, we
are angry. We had no choice.” The Black Wolf growled, turning to
Captain Goga. “We wanted to send you all a message.”

Hava yelped. “It talked!” He cried.

“
Of course it talked,
what did you expect?” Goga said, eying Hava. “Did you not know you
could hear it?” He asked.

“
I did not
know
. W
hy would I?” Hava asked.

“
Pay attention to
me!” The Black Wolf barked as Hava and Goga froze, shivering.
“Respect me as you would respect my master,” The Black Wolf said,
“I am here to bring you all a message from Doomba!”

“
Of course we are
paying attention to you. I am sorry for any disrespect felt. I want
to apologize for my friend,” Goga said, as Hava glared at him. “He
is impudent and ignorant
.
”

“
As are you, Goga.”
The Black Wolf said. “Impudence and ignorance may lead to your
downfall. You have no idea what you are dealing with
now.”