Son of the Hero (25 page)

“I ran a trotline all night,” Annick said when she woke me near dawn. It had been well past midnight before we camped. “We have loads of fish.” Nearly three dozen. Lesh already had them over a fire. We had been on thin rations the last few days, and even three dozen plump little fish wouldn’t completely fill the empty spots.

The others stared at me while we ate. I couldn’t read minds, but I could guess what they had to be thinking. They had to wonder whether I would be up to any kind of fight when we reached Coriander. I was wondering the same thing myself.

“I don’t know,” I said, and none of them asked what I meant. Lesh raised his eyebrows. Maybe he thought I
was
reading minds.

“We’d better get moving,” I said without enthusiasm when the last of the fish were gone. The lethargy was more than a remnant of my duel and my wound. It was also an expression of my danger sense. It seemed that there was no place in this crazy world as safe as right where I was sitting, that any movement in any direction was toward peril.

“Are you all right?” Annick asked.

“Still tired, still aching,” I said. I forced myself to my feet. “I’m not looking forward to more fighting either.”

“Sometimes it’s the only way,” Annick said.

“Sometimes, but I’m still not thrilled with the prospect.” End of conversation. Annick took it as a put-down and spun away from me.

The feeling of danger quickly got strong enough to scratch. The way ahead of us was blocked, a line clear across the isthmus from the way I felt. It was so strong that the pain in my back and side seemed to fade in comparison. We stopped for a few minutes fairly early that morning while I tried to judge how far ahead the danger was, but I didn’t have the experience for that kind of fine-tuning. Drop a threat on my head and I could react, but this was too subtle.

“There’s a whole damn army out there,” I muttered, thinking out loud.

“Can we get around them?” Lesh asked.

I hesitated, then shook my head. “We can’t afford the time to try. Besides, we’d probably have to steal a boat and sail around them, and I don’t know anything about boats.”

“Neither do I,” Lesh said. Harkane shook his head.

“I do,” Annick said, “but we’d have to cross to the other side of the isthmus and go back who knows how far to find one. So, unless you can fly us over this army, we have to go the way we are.”

“Be ready to hightail it at the drop of a hat,” I said when we started riding again. Maybe it was the wrong signal at the wrong time, but I chose that moment to pull the Cubs hat from my pocket and clap it on my head.

We saw two hunting parties, not much later. At least one of the groups spotted us, but they didn’t give chase.

“An army takes a lot of feeding in the field,” Lesh said after we angled out of sight of that group. “If their orders are to get food, that’s all they’re going to worry about.” When they didn’t break off to chase us, I had to agree that Lesh seemed to have it right.

By noon we were close to the Eastern Sea, almost
in
it at times, but just because the road angled that way, not because we sought the ocean.

“That’s Dorthin, off across the water,” Harkane said. “We’re almost to the border.” We were nearly to the base of the isthmus. The land stretching east wasn’t just a headland, it was the mainland, the northern coast of Dorthin. Xayber extended no farther south than a line from this corner of the isthmus across to Arrowroot. Dorthin came right to this same corner—not more than a couple of miles from where we were sitting.

“Where’s this Fairy army then?” Lesh asked.

“Already inside Varay, probably ringed right around Coriander and Arrowroot by now,” I said. “Maybe with patrols deeper into the kingdom.”

“We can’t be five miles from Coriander right here,” Harkane said. “I’ve been on that beach right there in the curve at the base of Xayber.”

“Things could start getting hairy any second now, folks,” I said. It was time to lay out my grand plan for getting past the elflord’s army and into Coriander. Snag was, I didn’t have anything like a real plan.

“A lot depends on how tight the siege of Coriander is, if there is a siege,” I said, thinking out loud as much as “informing” my companions. “We need to get through Xayber’s army and up to the gate, and hope to convince the gatekeepers to let us in before the elflord’s people reach us.” I thought about the static we had gotten trying to get past the gatekeepers on the town wall at Arrowroot, and we were trying to get
out
then.

“I have your pennant,” Harkane said. I didn’t know that I
had
a pennant. “It was your father’s.” He dug the strip of cloth from a saddlebag and held it up for me to see the familiar crest from home, the pennant I had seen flying over Castle Basil after Dad’s funeral. “I’ll wear it on my lance, as I did for your father.”

“Okay, that’s one problem solved.” I hoped. “But keep it furled as long as you can. I don’t want to tell Xayber’s people who we are too soon. Until we’re challenged, we’ll just ride toward the castle as if we’ve got every right to be there. Coming out of Fairy, maybe nobody will question us if we look like we belong. Maybe we can get close enough to make our mad dash for the gate once we are challenged. The last thing we want is to get bogged down in fighting now. Once we stop moving, we’re dead.” That warning wasn’t just for Annick. It was for all of us. Annick nodded like the others. I couldn’t tell how she took it.

Castle Coriander sat atop a low man-made mound in the center of a mile-wide clearing—also man-made. The village was at the southwest edge of the clearing and even smaller and more primitive-looking than Nushur. This was just a couple of dozen rough cottages. The castle had one refinement I hadn’t seen before. The outer wall was lined with long barbed spikes, a nasty complication for anyone trying to scale it. The castle had no moat, not even a dry ditch, so it needed
something
.

The besieging army was there all right, at the edge of the clearing and in the village. The circle was complete. The Fairy army could move to intercept anyone coming out of the castle … or trying to get in.

We rode in a tight group, keeping Annick in the middle. Her hair was braided and under the hood of a forest-green cape. We didn’t want to advertise that we had a girl with us. That might look fishy in a combat zone. And I had removed my Cubs cap and replaced it with the steel pot that Harkane had brought along for me. I also had the mail shirt on again, despite the way it hurt me. We followed the road leading toward the castle gate, past hundreds of soldiers—men and those troll-like creatures—but only a few people who looked as though they had elvish blood. No one showed much interest in us at first. If the soldiers noticed anything, it was the elf sword hanging over my shoulder. I was acutely conscious of the sword myself. I had to fight the urge to draw it. I started whistling the sword’s melody under my breath, and that was no conscious choice. I couldn’t help it. As we neared the front lines, at the edge of the clearing, the number of Fairy soldiers increased. Finally, a mail-clad soldier blocked our path and held up his hand for us to stop.

“Go,” I whispered. It would have been too much to hope for to think that we could get all the way through without a challenge. We put our heels to our horses. I drew Dragon’s Death, and the soldier jumped out of its path. More soldiers came at us from the sides of the road, but not quickly enough to get in front of us. And then, after we were out in the clearing, archers started aiming for us.

“Unfurl that pennant,” I shouted as an arrow skidded along my arm, ripping the fatigue shirt and sparking on the mail beneath it. The arrows kept coming. Somehow, we avoided any serious wounds, though we all received minor cuts in that first flurry. I had a nick taken out of my right leg. Two horses were also hit, but not badly enough to stop them.

Harkane waved my pennant. Lesh bellowed my identity as loud as he could, over and over, starting long before anyone inside the castle could possibly understand what he was shouting. Halfway there, I looked over my shoulder. Several dozen soldiers were chasing us, about half of them on horseback. They couldn’t head us off, but we wouldn’t have time to dicker for the gate to be opened. If it wasn’t open when we reached it, we would have to fight—if our pursuers risked coming that close to the castle wall.

Fifty yards. I saw people above the gate, but no movement that suggested that they were ready to open up. Harkane kept waving the pennant. Lesh kept yelling. Then there was finally some movement on the parapets. I heard a creaking start. Then I looked over my shoulder again …

… and something happened.

I don’t know exactly what the cause was, but my horse stumbled and I went headlong over him, rolling and tumbling when I hit the dirt. I went down hard, ending up on my back, and that sent such a shock of pain through me that I nearly passed out. My horse jumped over me and kept going toward the castle. I rolled over and found that I still had the elf sword in my hand. Getting up proved to be nearly impossible. I only managed to get as far as my knees by the time Lesh and Harkane got back to me. Annick had her bow out and she was doing her best to slow down the pursuit. I pulled myself up to my feet, using Lesh’s leg and stirrup to help support my weight. Together, Lesh and Harkane managed to get me up on the horse behind Harkane. I was too shaken to do anything but hold on. Somewhere during this time, Annick stopped shooting arrows and chased down my horse. It carried one of the sacks of sea-silver.

We got to the gate with about a half second to spare. Archers on the battlements turned our pursuers back. More armed men waited for us inside the gate. There were plenty of hands to help me down from behind Harkane—and to support me afterward. I would have fallen without help. Harkane was too shaken by the accident to make his usual announcement of who I was, and Lesh was too busy trying to see to me, so I ended up introducing myself.

“I’m Gil Tyner, Hero of Varay.” I left off all the jazz about being prince and heir that Harkane would have added. “I need to see the castellan at once.”

“I recognize your companions, and I see your father in you,” one of the soldiers said. I had lost my steel pot when I fell. “I’m Baron Dieth, Castellan of Coriander.” Nothing about his dress distinguished him from the men around him.

“Let’s go inside,” he said. “You all look to be in need of a meal.” That drew a weak smile from me and a noisy smacking of the lips from Lesh.

“We need to talk, Baron,” I said. I could hardly recognize my own voice. “But first I’ve got to check our cargo.” As I feared, both of the sacks holding sea-silver had been pierced during the fusillade. At least Annick had managed to catch my horse after it threw me. We still had both bags of seaweed. “We need to keep this stuff wet—new pouches filled with water. And I’d like to save as much of the seawater that’s left in here as possible.”

Baron Dieth gave orders, and two of his men carried the leather bags of silver seaweed into the keep, doing what they could to slow down the leakage. We followed. Lesh and Harkane half-carried me. I was too wobbly to navigate on my own.

“I was your father’s first squire when he became Hero,” Dieth said. “I still grieve at his death.”

16
To Sleep

Coriander had been built strictly for its military function, and it was only barely adequate for that. No thought at all had been given to the comfort of its garrison or to style. Coriander was small, smoky, and horribly crowded with people, animals, and bugs.

Servants were beginning to haul in supper when we reached the great hall, but supper had to wait a few minutes for my companions and me. Dieth and one of his people worked to clean and tape the new cuts we had all received running the gauntlet to get into the castle. Then, at Annick’s insistence, my back had to be looked after.

“Not good,” Dieth said after he had looked and prodded about a bit. “I picked up some first aid from your father. I’d say the lowest rib is definitely broken, the one just above
may
be, and there seems to be infection in the wound. I can help some, but you really need more attention than I can provide here. Parthet or your mother would be better qualified.” He turned away from me and shouted across the great hall. “Aerbith, I’ll need a poultice of rimeweed and the flask of number.” He pronounced the last word
num-mer
, not
num-ber
. From “numb”—at least, that’s how the translation magic gave it to me.

The poultice was bandaged over the wound on my back and stung worse than iodine or Mercurochrome ever did. I squirmed and twisted until Dieth made me drink about a jigger of a bitter green liquid. I can’t begin to describe that, but it was the vilest taste I’ve ever experienced. Still, by the time I sat up and started to put my shirt back on after my ribs had been taped again, the pain in my back was almost gone.

“Better,” I said—cautiously, trying a few easy movements.

“That should take care of you for a few hours, time enough to get through supper at least,” Dieth said.

Dieth put the four of us at the head of the single trestle table with him. There were loads of food and plenty of beer. Coriander might be under siege, but the magic passages made siege a poor weapon against Varay. An enemy would have to ring every possible supply point for siege to work, as long as there was someone around to open the passages. The entire country would have to be under the domination of an invader, not to mention a certain house in Louisville, Kentucky. As long as there was a family member to open the doors, Varay could resist—unless a greater magic could block the passages. I didn’t know if that was possible, but after my run-in with the Elflord of Xayber, I suspected that it might be.

“We haven’t been able to send out our usual patrols for ten days now,” Dieth said once we were at the table and starting to eat. “The elflord’s had us corked up tight.”

“Ten days? It’s just been six or seven since we saw all the men heading south,” I said. I dug right into the food as if I hadn’t eaten in weeks. At least the number made it possible for me to shove food in without pain.