Wolinda called to her men and headedtowards the woods. The Dark Rider with the child let go and thechild went head first into the water. The mother ran screaming outonto the dock to retrieve her child. Wolinda sent two Dark Ridersahead of her down the path. Eventually, they came to the clearingwhere the boys had camped.
“They camped here for severaldays,” one of the men stated. “The only useful tracks are back theway we came and towards the sea. Whatever tracks there were by thesea have been washed away.”
“They think they are beingclever,” chuckled Wolinda. “Letting the sea cover their trackswould be a good trick if the choice of which direction they wentwas greater than two. If they went north, they would end up back intown. Get the rest of the men and the horses, we headsouth.”
“We will not make good time onthe beach,” mentioned one of the men. “Why not send a couple oftrackers down the beach and the rest of us can use the coastalhighway. If they left this morning, we will not catch them today,but the trackers can tell us where they left the beach. Tomorrow wewill have them located and captured.”
Wolinda gave the man an appraisinglook. “See to it,” she stated, “and see if anyone in this town hasa map.” Wolinda turned back down the path towards town.
* * * *
Garth finished his exercises and wipedthe sweat from his body with a towel. Exercising by himself wasnever as satisfying as sparring with a partner, but Kalina was notone for swordplay. Still, Garth needed to keep fit and every nighthe exercised at least an hour. He turned towards the wagon andcampfire and saw Kalina still sitting by the fire with a frown onher face. “What’s the matter?” he quizzed. “Surely it is not realtrouble or you would be more agitated, but something is botheringyou.”
“You will get no observationawards for that guess, Garth,” she smiled. “It’s the ring. I hadhoped to find out more of their plans, but they haven’t said twowords the entire day. Wherever they are, I can hear the surf. Fromthe sounds of setting up camp, I gather they walked on into thenight, but that does not give me a good idea where theyare.”
“Does the sound get louderwhen you get closer?” Garth inquired. “If it does, perhaps we canmove around until we draw nearer to them.”
“No, it doesn’t work thatway,” she replied. “The sound varies depending on the distance thesound is from the ring, but it does not matter how far from thering we are. If I could just hear something distinctive, we wouldhave some idea of where they are. I don’t like not being nearer tothem.”
“Perhaps I can hear somethingthat you don’t,” Garth offered. “It is worth a try.”
Kalina nodded and removed her earring,handing it to Garth. He held it up to his ear as he sat down nextto the woman. For several long moments, he said nothing.Eventually, he smiled. “The waves are breaking on rocks,” heuttered. “Waves rolling into shore collapse on themselves, butthese waves are crashing against the rocks and creating a spray. Isthe sound you hear the same sound we would hear if we were standingwhere the ring is?”
“Yes,” responded Kalina. “Justas if your ear were the ring. Does that help at all?”
“Certainly,” smiled Garth. “Ican tell you that they are not right at the rocks where the wavesare crashing. They are maybe eighty to one hundred feet away. Theyare also at least thirty feet away from the nearest trees. You canhear the wind blowing through the trees, but it is not close. I canalso hear the occasional flutter of bats, more than one. My guessis that tall outcropping we passed a couple of hours beforestopping. It’s likely to have nesting spots for bats and it is oneof the few places with rocks right up to the sea. And they are in aclearing. It is just a guess, but I would think it enough to goon.”
Kalina laughed. “I wonder how you wouldlook in earrings,” she giggled as she reached to retrieve herearring from Garth. “You may be right or wrong, but I do feelbetter having some idea of where they are even if it is wrong.Tomorrow I would like to camp a little closer to them if we canmanage that.”
“I could track them down andkeep them in sight if you like,” offered Garth.
“No,” Kalina responded, “wecan not take the chance that they might see you. The last thing wewant to do right now is spook them. They are so skeptical ofstrangers that we would lose them for sure. Especially that Tedi. Idon’t think he even trusts himself. We need to let them getthemselves in trouble so we can come to their aid. It is the onlychance of drawing them close to us and even that is a slimchance.”
“I would be more tempted tojust grab them and bend them to our will,” commented Garth. “Ithink we take too many chances letting them run free. They need tobe reeled in and put under yoke.”
“You do have a brutal way ofexpressing your gentleness,” she chuckled. “Is that how you handleme? Have you got me sufficiently harnessed?”
Garth reached over and grabbed Kalinawith his arm, drawing her nearer. A strong scent of jasminecaressed his nose as he hugged her. “You know,” he cooed, “thiscould be one of the last times we have alone for a longtime.”
Kalina leaned back and kissed his lips.“While that is true,” she smiled, “you smell more like a mule thana man. Perhaps a trip to the stream will make you more desirable ordo you prefer sleeping with the animals?”
“Am I still here?” he laughedas he headed for the stream. Kalina watched his muscular form as hewalked away. So much of life had changed since she met Garth, buthe was right. If everything went according to plan, they would nothave much time alone together for a long time. Perhaps tomorrow theplan will start falling into place.
Chapter 6
Forgum
Niki Forloe watched the short, wiry boyapproaching the shack with a self-assured saunter, his dark brownhair blowing gently in the breeze. His brown eyes darted left andright, not for fear of anyone sneaking up on him, but as if toassure himself that the rabble kept its distance. Niki laughed toherself. Fredrik Wason was the rabble as far as anyone else wasconcerned, but Fredrik always maintained the air of being superior.The buxom young girl hoped that His Highness managed to steal somefood this time. Any less to eat and Niki would start losing herfigure and that was unacceptable. If Fredrik couldn’t start takingcare of her like the Princess she should be, she would findsomebody who could. Niki waved her hand in the air and the door tothe shack slid open smoothly allowing the young boy to enter.Fredrik glided in and placed a turkey on the table.
“A twelve pound tom,” Fredrikproudly exclaimed, “and already stuffed and cooked toperfection.”
“What about vegetables?”complained Niki. “Meat by itself is not good for the digestion.Honestly, Fredrik, you promised that we would be living likeroyalty and all you can do is pinch a turkey.”
Fredrik turned and frowned at the youngredhead. Her curly hair was neatly combed, but the blue satin dresswas obviously a poor fit. “You shouldn’t be using magic for suchmundane things as opening doors,” he scolded. “One of these dayssomebody will detect you using magic and there will be the demon topay for it. If you must use magic so often, why don’t you use it tomake your dress fit better.”
“The nerve of you ordering mearound,” she protested. “I’m not a bloody seamstress. I’m aprincess and I demand to be treated as one. Look at this shack! Isthis the type of palace that a princess belongs in? If I didn’t usemy magic, I wouldn’t even have a dress to needaltering.”
“Quite true,” Fredrik laughed,“but you didn’t have to leave the poor woman in the street naked,did you?”
Niki laughed too. “Probably not,” sheadmitted, “but it certainly made a convenient diversion. Nobody waswatching us get away. Really, though, Fredrik, this place is not tomy liking. I deserve better, much better.”
“I couldn’t agree with youmore,” conceded Fredrik, “but is it my fault that Forgum has beenoverrun by rogue armies? Too many people knew us in Trekum and yougot us run out of Caldar by tossing all of those guardsmen aroundlike toy soldiers.”