Guard, page 5
“We didn’t. We rode north. When we realised we were followed, we crossed the border into Morecrag above the waterfalls, hoping they would lose our tracks. When the first horse died, we rode double. Then when the second died, we all climbed on the third. He died two days ago, so we ran since then.”
“And we are out of food and water. And our whole family is dead.” Carl looked at Joy. “Joy said we would be welcomed in Convane. Are you going to stop us crossing your border?”
“No. Why would I?” Dallas turned and walked back towards the grazing horses.
“Where are you going?” Carl sounded scared, but put on a brave face.
“To get you horses so you can ride to the border.”
Dallas grabbed the reins of the first horse, and lead him back to Carl. “You do know how to ride?”
Joy finally had her breathing under control. She tapped Carl on the forearm and held out her hand.
Carl sighed and gave her the knife.
She walked over to Dallas and held out the knife.
Dallas did not take the knife. “Better for you to keep it until you cross the border.”
Joy kept holding the knife out, waiting for Dallas to take it.
Valda shook her head. “No, we dreamed you would accept the knife and lead us to safety, so you have to take the knife.”
“Dreamed?” He glanced at Carl. “Mount and gather horses for the girls to ride.” He turned back to Valda. “What has your dream got to do with me?”
“Joy speaks to us in dreams since she can not talk.” Valda smiled at Joy. “All of her dreams happen, so when she sent us a dream that showed you protecting us at the border, we knew you would help.” Valda stepped closer. “Take the knife and lead us to safety.”
“Me?”
Joy shoved the knife into his hand before she moved back to wait behind Valda.
He studied the knife, wondering why Joy wanted him to have it. It was beautifully crafted with pearls embedded inside the metal handle, but the short blade would not be very useful in fights. He could not see any ichur residue, but realised each pearl could hold a spell. When he had time, he would test the knife for spells and remove them before he offered it to Misty.
“Well, not your face. She showed a male in a brown cloak with a Convane border guard badge on his shirt.”
Valda stared at the badge Dallas pinned to his shirt that morning. He glanced at his bed roll. The brown cloak he had placed under the straps had slipped sideways, so most of it hung over Swift’s rump. He pulled the flapping material up and tucked it under the straps, more to keep it off Swift than to make it secure.
He stared back at Valda, wondering if she was a mage. Or if Joy was a mage.
If Joy was a mage, how did she know a border guard would meet them inside Morecrag. And, if Joy could see ichur, it left him unable to use any ichur stored in his staff, because they would realise he was a mage, if untrained.
No, neither girl was a mage. Swift would have reacted differently if she smelled either of the girls using ichur.
It made his decision easier. “I am sorry, but you will have to make your own way north, because I am heading south.” Dallas mounted Swift intent on continuing south.
He looked at Valda and Joy. Both slumped their shoulders, whether from exhaustion or disappointment, he was not sure.
“Follow the road north. The bridge is only six miles away and even riding slowly, you will reach it in less than two hours.” He had already wasted enough time rescuing the three of them. “Swift, follow the trail.”
Swift did not move.
Chapter 6
Dallas could not believe Swift refused to continue south.
“Why not, Swift?”
Swift sent an image of the mute slave sleeping on the ground covered in a silvery glow.
“She is a mage?” He did not believe Joy was a mage, or she would have easily escaped Idion and the slavers by hiding her tracks when she fled the property.
Another image from Swift showed the silvery glow disappeared when Joy woke and stood up.
“What about Valda?”
Swift did not send any images.
Dallas realised she could not see or use ichur.
The midday sun shone brightly, heating the ground, and evaporating what little moisture remained in the air.
He glanced towards the western tree covered hill through a heat haze close to the ground. He wondered if the Ern river that divided the land between Morecrag and Mireland was closer than Convane’s border guards to the north. Better to lead the three to safety at the Semp crossing, than chance leading them west to Mireland. It would take him an hour, if the horses had the energy to trot, and another hour to return before he continued south.
The two girls waited patiently for Dallas to help, but Carl was not so patient. “When you finish talking to yourself, I demand you lead us north.”
“After you retrieve horses for Valda and Joy.” Dallas knew he was wasting time, but Carl needed to know who was in charge. And it was not Carl.
“How dare you speak to me like that!” Carl pulled the reins hard and his horse shied to his left. Carl was not ready for that and fell off the animal.
Dallas reached across and took hold of the reins before the animal galloped back to the other horses. “Mount!”
Carl glared at Dallas, but mounted the horse again. When he lowered his eyes, Dallas handed him the reins.
“Ride over there,” Dallas pointed towards the other horses grazing a few yards south of the bodies, “and return with two horses. We will wait here for you.”
Carl dug heels into his mount. The animal was too exhausted to fight. He walked down the road to the other horses.
Dallas turned back to the two girls. “The sooner you reach the border, the sooner you will have a meal.”
Both nodded agreement.
“Good! I will take you to the border. Valda, if your brother does not do as told, I will leave him behind.”
Valda nodded again.
Carl returned with two mounts.
The girls climbed into the saddles, and they all rode north in silence.
Carl rode next to Dallas, and the girls followed.
The silence finally got too much for Carl. “Will you ride to my property and remove the mage?”
“No!”
“Why not? You killed one mage who attacked. Once the girls are safe, I will return with you and help you kill the other mage.” Carl looked at Dallas, waiting for an explanation.
Dallas kept watching both sides of the track, but nothing moved. Not even goats or sheep. The area was empty of animals. Even insect calls silenced as they rode north.
After the rutted track veered west around a washout and again turned north up the next slope, Dallas asked a question. “Do you know the name of the mage who killed your family?”
An image of the blond haired bulky male who attacked Idion when Dallas visited filled his mind.
Dallas agreed with Swift, but knew that man was not a mage. It was a shame he did not kill the blond when he had the chance.
“No. Everyone bowed when near him, but dared not say his name.” Carl fell silent.
Dallas guessed Carl was remembering the slaughter of his family and left him alone with his thoughts.
When they reached to top of the rise, Dallas trotted down the slope.
He glanced back to check the youngsters. Joy bounced as her mount trotted, but the other two rode well.
He kept up the pace until Valda’s mount stumbled, and slowed to a walk.
Swift slowed to a walk.
Carl forced his mount closer to Swift. “I overheard one male talking to the mage. He said something about another mage not liking the fact so many slaves escaped after they arrived. I am guessing the blond mage is working for a more powerful mage.”
“Did you catch the name of the other mage?”
“Vint or Vincent. Something like that.”
“No,” Valda corrected Carl, “I thought the overseer called him Mage Crompton, when he said he was ordered to meet the second mage at the docks within days, if there were favourable winds. I was hiding in the room above when I overheard him talking,” she explained to Dallas. “He were worried about allowing a second mage onto the property.”
Mage Crompton was a name Dallas was familiar with. And what Valda heard made sense, because Mage Crompton worked with or for Mage Vince.
The last Dallas heard of Mage Crompton, he was fleeing east to Edgewood, after Swift carried Heath and Misty through the magic wall near Dead City and he rode Heath’s stallion through the wall.
Misty said Crompton was working for Mage Vince. If he was already in Mireland, Dallas needed to warn the border guards, and Mage Stantworth, because no doubt Mage Vince was using Mage Crompton to seek revenge for Misty fleeing with Dallas and Heath.
“What else did you overhear?”
“Nothing important. Things like ordering his men to ride north to capture more slaves to replace the slaves who fled. And sending men out to round up the escaped slaves before they disappeared into the bogs.” With a wave of his right hand, Carl dismissed the discussion of managing the property as minor. “Nothing really important. We were busy planning our escape, not listening to everything he said.”
“I heard the mage talking about using birds to deliver messages after capturing more slaves.” Valda rode closer. “Why would he want to know when his men captured more slaves? He would find out when they returned.”
Carl answered Valda. “Just showing his men that he knew what he was doing. Father never needed to do that. He just ordered slaves to do things and left them alone to do it.”
“One thing was unusual.” Valda looked back to check Joy was following, before she urged her horse forward. When she was level with Carl, she continued. “They were discussing only returning fast enough to keep ahead of someone following the slavers south.”
Dallas thought of Misty, following slavers south to rescue the shepherd’s family.
All the overheard conversations of slavers riding north to capture slaves fell into place. North meant in Convane.
And, preparing to meet Mage Vince when his ship arrived at Mireland’s main port meant the other mage had to be Mage Crompton.
If Jeb’s family were deliberately stolen, the slavers had to be working for Mage Crompton, who was waiting at Idion’s property for Misty to arrive.
What Carl and Valda overhead was a plan to recapture Misty!
No! Impossible!
Mage Vince purchased horses from his parent’s property because they sold the best horses to the neighbouring countries. If Mage Crompton did not already know where the property was, he only had to get one of his men to ask at the border. Every guard knew the directions to the property where they purchased their horses.
Dallas wanted to race south to warn Misty, not deliver the youngsters to the border guards.
He urged Swift to trot in the afternoon heat, hoping the other three horses had enough energy to keep up.
Chapter 7
Both Carl and Joy’s horses were exhausted by the time they descended the last gentle slope towards the bridge over the Semp river. Valda’s mount had more stamina then the other two, but it also hung its head, too tired to do anything but follow the horses in front.
Swift pricked her ears forward when she saw the hump of the sun bleached, wooden slats on the bridge crossing the Semp river at the end of the long straight road.
“Not far now.” Dallas patted her neck.
His mind filled with an image of Swift galloping south away from the bridge and the three youngsters talking to border guards.
The image Swift sent made him smile.
She was as keen to reach Misty and Sweetie as he was. “I think we can take the time to feed you some grain, and me a meal, before we look to Misty and Sweetie.”
Swift turned her head to get a good look at an abandoned compound half a mile to the west, south of the river tree line. Even with the thatched roof missing, it would still be a good base to run a slaver team into Convane.
The trees on the southern side of the river certainly gave cover to anyone approaching the bridge from the compound. Surprise would be on the slavers’ side if they attacked the border guards in large numbers.
He could suggest to Mage Raffet to remove trees on the south end of the bridge to prevent slavers moving close under cover of the trees. That would remove the element of surprise but unless the guard post obtained more guards, he doubted it would stop slavers crossing into Convane to carry out raids like the one at the property.
He watched a goat jump onto a part of the compound wall to reach up for leaves from a pale green tree. The wall crumbled and the goat sprang back down to the ground. Dallas thought he saw movement on the other side of the wall, but whether it was another goat or a human, he was not sure.
They were still half a mile away from the bridge when a guard strolled across the bridge. He leant against the first bridge post and waited.
A second border guard raced across the bridge, fumbling to get arrow to bow in case it was needed, before they were twenty yards away from the bridge.
“Move behind me,” Dallas ordered Carl when his mount smelled water and picked up his pace. Dallas glanced back at the two girls. They looked as exhausted as their mounts. “Valda, don’t mention Joy’s ability to send dreams to the guards.”
Valda frowned at Dallas. “Why?”
“Safer that way. If they know about Joy, they will send her to the city. I want the three of you to go to my parent’s property first, before we settle you somewhere safe.”
Valda nodded.
Dallas turned back to watch the guards in case the excited one accidentally released his arrow.
The first guard recognised Dallas and waved a greeting. He turned to the second guard. “Stand down.”
The second guard jogged back over the bridge hump and disappeared from sight. Dallas guessed he hurried to the guard post to warn the others of Dallas’s arrival.
Dallas nodded a greeting to the waiting guard before Swift crossed the bridge. The three very tired youngsters followed.
Swift stopped outside the lean-to stable and Dallas dismounted. He wrapped the reins around the saddle horn, and loosened the girth one notch, but did not remove the saddle. He removed his staff and patted Swift’s shoulder. “Drink and eat, and rest until I return.”
Swift walked across to the water trough and drank.
Dallas helped the two girls off their horses before he spoke to the waiting guard. “These horses need feed and water.” He gathered the reins with his right hand and passed them to the guard. “Is Mage Raffet inside?”
“Yes, sir.” The guard lead the two horses towards the water trough.
“Carl, water and feed your mount, and wait with the girls while I organise food and beds for the three of you.” Dallas did not wait to see if Carl would look after his mount.
Mage Raffet waited at the front door of the guard post, sipping from a metal mug.
Dallas looked inside the post, but all the bunks were empty. “Two of the youngsters are the children of Slave Master Idion. The other is one of their slaves.”
Mage Raffet raised his eyebrows. “Idion?”
“Dead. As are the rest of his family, except for Carl and Valda. Carl said a lot of the slaves escaped when the attackers were killing the family.” Dallas walked into the guard post and poured himself a mug full of water from a jug on the table, and drank the lot. He refilled the mug and drank slowly. “I need a meal before I return south. The youngsters need food and a good night’s sleep. When they wake, I would like you to send a guard with them to my parent’s property, or at least to the southern shepherd hamlet.”
Mage Raffet placed his empty mug on the table, next to three other empty mugs. “I will have one of the guards cook a meal when he returns. In the meantime, there is bread and cold meat and onions on the bench. Help yourself. I will call the children in so they can eat.”
“Wait until I finish telling you what I guess happened.” Dallas broke off two hunks of bread from the loaf, and piled pieces of cold, cooked lamb shank and sliced raw onions on the first hunk of bread. He placed the second hunk of bread over most of the meat and onions and took a mouthful.
Mage Raffet sat on the same seat he used the night before and waited for Dallas to finish his meal before hearing the rest of the story.
When Dallas had eaten half of his sandwich, he remembered the cover on the south side of the river. “When you finish clearing the area around the guard post, I suggest you remove some of the undergrowth and a few trees either side of the bridge. If the slavers could cross twice already, others can do the same.”
“Not enough guards to spare for that.”
“You will have even less guards if this lot are killed defending the bridge.” Dallas ate the rest of his sandwich and washed it down with more water. “From what Carl said, Mage Vince will soon arrive at Idion’s property, if he has not already arrived. He intends to recapture Misty. Whether he remains in Mireland or returns to Edgewood, I don’t know. But, I intend to return south to warn Misty about Crompton and Vince, and rescue the women and children.” Dallas drank another mug full of water before he walked out of the guard post.
Mage Raffet followed Dallas out of the building. “I think it would be best for you to continue down to Idion’s property and kill Crompton before Mage Vince arrives. If you do run into Misty tell her to return to the border.”
“Me? You mean ask Swift to kill Crompton?” Dallas shook his head. “No, that is a task for one of you mages. What about the captives?” No way was Dallas prepared to locate and kill Mage Crompton by himself, with or without Swift’s help.
“We can send you to rescue them after you take control of Idion’s property.”
“That is definitely a job for Mage Stantworth and Brennet. And a lot of your guards.”
Mage Raffet shook his head. “Stantworth is busy at the moment on other matters.”
Dallas tried to keep his frustration at the delays under control. “I request two guards to go with me, because Swift can defend us against mages, but I will need support to stop the slavers and rescue the captives.” Dallas decided it would be better to send Misty north with the rescued captives before he headed to Idion’s property. “And I need at least three spare horses to make better speed south.”
