From the corner of his mouth, Rathe said, “I have to distract these fellows so Erryn can flee deeper in to the forest.”
“Were I you, I’d worry less about Erryn,” Loro muttered, “and more about myself. End up back in that cage, and you are lost.”
“Do what I tell you, and there will be no cage to ride in,” Rathe said. “If I live, I expect you to free me between here and Hilan.”
“How am I supposed to manage that?” Loro sputtered.
“You will,” Rathe said, “or mine will be a crow-picked head on a spike above Hilan’s walls.”
“But-”
“Before you go, fire the wagons, and scatter as many horses as you can. Treon will not want to recapture the prisoners without a means to get them back to Hilan.”
“You witless fool,” Loro said, as Rathe dashed forward.
Taken off guard by his unexpected charge, the Hilan men stared as he swept around them, bearing down on a gawking Treon. Rathe struggled to free his sword from its scabbard, and his movements told him he had miscalculated his ability to fight. He had lost much blood, and with it his strength. The sword weighed down his arm, his feet clumped rather than danced. Gritting his teeth, opening himself to blind rage fueled by the need to see Erryn safely away, he pressed on, swinging the sword in a sidearm strike at Treon’s throat.
The captain scampered back, just deflecting the blow. Steel rang out as Rathe stumbled past. He whirled, nearly lost his footing, and parried Treon’s deft thrust. Then another, and another, until he was in full retreat.
Rathe stumbled away from Treon’s attacks, worried more than ever. Coward though he was, Captain Treon knew swordplay. At his best, Rathe judged that he might have held his own against Treon, but it would have been a close thing. Now, his back torn, shoulder and neck ravaged by the Hilyoth, weakened from his beating in Valdar a few days before, the odds were stacked against him.
“You expected an easy kill?” Treon taunted, circling to Rathe’s left. His sword darted, flashing under Rathe’s nose almost playfully.
Behind Treon and the gawking Hilan men, Loro caught up a flaming brand from the campfire and dashed to the first wagon. He swept the flames over tallow used to grease the axle, setting it alight-there was not much to burn, but enough. He cast fleeting glance at Rathe and the others, then went to the next wagon. In moments, both wagons were burning. Rathe did not have to ensure the wagons burned to ash, only that the fires rendered them useless.
“No more than you,” Rathe lied, making a half-hearted stab at Treon’s belly. His real intention was to keep Treon focused on him, instead of the wagons.
The captain swatted the attack aside with a contemptuous sneer. “I have no intention of killing you, Scorpion. I will give you into Lord Sanouk’s hands … at least, most of you. I dare say, he will have an exceptional form of torture in mind for you.”
“Will it be the rack,” Rathe said, struggling not to gasp, “or perhaps hot pincers?”
Treon lunged, the tip of his sword slicing Rathe’s cheek. The attack could have easily sunk into his throat. Rathe stumbled away, certain Treon was toying with him.
“What you will suffer,” Treon chuckled, “is unlike anything you can imagine-and your pain will never end.”
Disregarding such meaningless drivel, Rathe launched a wild assault. Treon blocked the blows without surrendering an inch of ground, even as he delivered a half dozen slices and pricks to Rathe’s flesh.
Feigning exhaustion that was as real as the blood trickling over his skin, Rathe lured Treon close, then feinted with a slash at the captain’s neck. Treon’s sword deflected the attack, and Rathe sunk his fist into the man’s belly. Treon’s breath whistled as he lurched back. Rathe swung his blade as if chopping cordwood. Treon fell to one knee, reflexively bringing up his sword. Rathe’s weapon missed splitting the captain’s head by an inch. His sword slammed into Treon’s, and then both blades crashed against the captain’s brow. Rathe swung again, but Treon pivoted on his knee, his opposite foot sweeping Rathe off his feet.
Rathe landed hard, rolled, and came up sucking precious air. Treon jumped to a defensive crouch at the same instant. Blood oozed from a cut on his forehead, but otherwise he seemed unhurt. They took measure of one another, waiting, tensing-
“Fire!” a soldier yelled.
Treon shot a quick glance that way, and Rathe attacked, his only goal to keep everyone focused on the fight. Blades flickered and crashed together in a blurring silver whirlwind, rebounded and fell again. Every breath burned like a poison vapor in Rathe’s chest as he fought. Treon moved much like his namesake, darting and striking, a deadly viper playing with its prey, wearing it down. The murderous heat in his gaze did not soften, and the longer the struggle went on, the more it seemed he might forget his desire to see Rathe into Sanouk’s hands.
Through it all, no one moved to put out the blazing wagons, and the sound of horse’s neighing in alarm grew louder. Loro stood between the wagons, trapped between helping Rathe and obeying him. Rathe kicked a glop of mud into Treon’s face, distracting him long enough to motion for Loro to leave. The fat man hesitated a moment longer, then vanished into the forest behind a trio of horses.
Rathe barely caught a sword blow aimed for his neck. Steel shrieked as the edge of Treon’s sword slid down Rathe’s, jarring to a stop at the cross-guard. Pressed chest to chest, Rathe slammed his knee into the captain’s groin, then he flung him away with the last of his dwindling strength.
Staggering, sweat pouring into his eyes, Rathe tottered back. The tip of his sword dragged through the mud, his stumbling feet struggled to hold him upright. He could not last much longer. Without a chance of defeating Treon, he must surrender to keep the man from killing him, and hope that Loro would find a way to set him free before reaching Hilan.
Treon charged, white hair flying, screaming like a scalded woman. Rathe brought his dagger to bear, using it to parry strikes he missed with his sword. A debilitating ache grew in his shoulders, his guard became a series of flinches. Treon pressed the attack, but could not sneak or batter through Rathe’s defenses. At last, he stumbled back, panting every bit as much as Rathe.
“Enough! Take this fool, and cage him!”
For a moment, everyone froze in place.
“There are no cages,” Carul said.
“And no horses,” a soldier added.
Treon put another two paces between himself and Rathe, and glanced at the burning wagons. “You dirty, cheating cur!” he screeched, points of red blooming on his cheeks. “You planned this. You and that corpulent heap of shite!”
Rathe had no breath for words, so he put on a mocking grin.
“Three of you, bind this fool,” Treon snarled. “The rest, fetch the horses. Do it, or I will cut the beating hearts from every one of you mother-buggering idiots!”
Had the men challenged his threat, Treon would have died. Instead, they obeyed the order and came for Rathe.
Having accomplished what he set out to do, Rathe offered no resistance as the Hilan men bound him. Erryn had escaped with the others from Valdar, but Rathe must give them all the extra time he could, and that meant becoming a prisoner again. Doubtless, Loro watched from the forest. Come for me, brother, Rathe thought, scanning the motionless woods. Come for me, or I am a dead man.
Chapter 25
Having ordered all the torches and braziers extinguished, Lord Sanouk ghosted along the crenelated battlements in utter darkness. He halted behind a lichen-crusted merlon and peeked around the edge. Lit by roaring bonfires, the terraced village shone like a tawdry jewel in the night. Where he had commanded the fortress made dark, he ordered the village to burn brightly. Something stalked within the brooding forest. He knew not the face it wore, man or beast, but he wanted its gaze drawn to the village, not the now vulnerable keep.