Gareth placed his hands on his knees and drew in several more deep breaths before answering. When he looked up the old man was already too far ahead to talk. Head down, he followed, fighting back tears of frustration. He kept his head down for most of the climb up the hill, watching the path, and paying no attention to anything around them. One foot ahead of the other. One more step. One more.
“This looks like a good spot to me,” Tom said, surprising Gareth because he was standing only a few paces away.
Tom barely looked winded. Gareth set his mind to match whatever came next.
Gareth looked back over his shoulder. He found they had climbed the long, scrub-covered hillside, and the river was easy to spot in the distance. They were near the crest, and the sun was low in the sky. He joined Tom in sitting on the bare, rocky ground, and together they examined the wide valley below from behind the cover of low shrubs.
Tom pointed. “See those trees way over there? The path we followed is down there, trailing along the edge.”
Gareth saw the trees, but couldn’t make out the path, and then as his eyes traveled nearer the river, he spotted it and followed it back. “Got it.”
“I’m workin’ my eyes along the path, now that I know where to look. Don’t see any sign of them. I’m thinking we outpaced them today, but if they’re using the dogs on leashes, we may have moved faster anyhow.”
“Are we stopping here for another reason?”
“Besides, you needin’ a rest?” Tom chuckled. “From the time we’ll first see them down there, I think we can decide how fast they’re comin’. Being sailing folk, I didn’t expect much from them on land, but you can never tell.”
“Aren’t we wasting time?”
“No. Look at it like we’re similar to soldiers gathering information. We know how long it took us to walk to that river down there, and all the way up that hill to this spot. Add some time for their confusion over our backtracking, and we know about how far behind they are. I can already tell you we’re moving faster.”
“How?”
“If they were as fast as us they’d already be in that valley down there beside the river.”
“So we wait?”
Tom nodded. “We wait. You know, it’s possible someone with them knows the area and they took a different route to cut us off up ahead. We need to make sure they’re still back there behind us, just because I’m a distrusting sort of man. Take a nap if you want. We have a distance to go before this day’s over.”
Gareth closed his eyes but felt guilty. If anyone needed a rest, it should be Tom, but when he glanced at him, he was staring intently into the distance where the path came from the forest and started down the other side of the valley. “Want me to take the first watch?”
“Shouldn’t be long enough for setting a watch, but I appreciate the offer.”
Gareth closed his eyes and relaxed. His mind slipped into a state as soft as warm mittens. The long shadows of late afternoon protected them from the sun and the residual warmth of the rocks soaked into him.
“I see them,” Tom said, his voice calm and unexcited.
Gareth came awake with a start. The sun was a little lower in the sky, almost touching the far peaks, and the shadows somewhat longer, almost dusk. Tom’s eyes were pinned on a distant location, and Gareth saw a flick of motion against the tan background of the brown grasses in the valley. A thin line of darker color moved along the path they had walked earlier.
Gareth couldn’t pick out individuals, or the two dogs, but imagined them leading the others with their noses to the ground. Tom watched in silence, a slight curl to his lip.
A few short minutes passed before Tom stroked his beard and said, “Take them a while to get to the river. Be almost full dark by then. If they spend any time trying to find our scent, it will be dark. My guess is they’ll reach the river and decide to stay the night. Pick up our scent about daylight.”
“If the dogs are confused in the morning, they might not find where we went until mid-morning.”
The fisherman stood and moved back from the vantage point until he was out of sight to any people below. “Maybe. We can hope, but chances are it won’t delay them long. Always possible they’ll travel through the night, too. Don’t forget, those are professional bounty hunters.”
Gareth said, “We’re rested some and can travel faster. Be nice to know if they come after us tonight, but I guess we plan like they’re going to.”
Without answering, Tom led the way again. As the sun disappeared, the stars shed enough light to allow them to pick their way through the scrub and dry grass. Later the moon would help. Their course veered west, as well as south, and eventually, they left grasslands and entered under the canopy of deciduous trees, mostly maple and oak, where they followed whatever narrow animal trails they found instead of wider and more traveled paths. They switched trails often, as one crossed another.
The egg hung heavy in the bag carried on the front of Gareth, and the leather bag now seemed almost a part of him, he was so used to it. It swayed and bounced in step to his pace. His concentration remained on the path ahead and his next step. He nearly missed feeling the first soft movement from within the egg.
Instantly awake and attentive, Gareth continued walking. When nothing else happened, he decided it had just been the egg slipping in the tight bag. He became drowsy again, eyes drooping, but he continued walking at the same steady pace Tom used.
The egg moved again. One leathery side of the egg bulged, and a sharp, solid tap came from inside.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Still unsure of what was happening, Gareth slipped a hand inside the bag and rested a palm on the egg. After a while, he convinced himself that he hadn’t felt anything, after all. He hurried to keep pace with Tom, brushing aside low hanging branches and avoiding roots that seemed intent on tripping him in the darkness. Their pace was fast, the path clear, and the footing mostly solid. A pale moon rose. Travel became easier with the increased light.
Easier for the bounty hunters, too.
Tom set a steady pace all night that Gareth fought to match. Suddenly they broke from the shelter of the heavy forest. Ahead, crossing at a right angle was the remains of a rutted road. Tom paused, then turned to his left, following the road with his eyes as it skirted the side of a hill, and said, “Look for a good place to grab a little sleep.”
Right here in the middle of the road’s good enough for me. “Tom, I can barely keep my eyes open. What about the men behind us?”
“Probably still at the river, sound asleep. Or back there at the river trying to find where we confused them.”
“Or right behind us,” Gareth said.
Tom chuckled and started down the road. Weeds and grass clogged the ruts, and in places, vines or brambles grew across it. “My guess is that if everything went right for them, the best they could manage in the dark is to be near the top of that hillside on the ridge where we waited and watched. We have half a night’s travel them, at least. This road is barely used. Let’s follow it a ways, and make it easy on ourselves.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, they’re professional bounty hunters, at least, a few of them. They know they’ll catch us faster if they rest well and keep up a steady chase instead of sprinting. No hurry for them because out here, with those dogs sniffing the way, they’re goin’ to catch up. It’s just a matter of how long.”
“Then why should we bother to even try?”
“Maybe I should have said they think they’ll catch up. We need to change the game in our favor, and that’s what we’re looking to do now.”