One of the soldiers guarding the prisoners steps forward and asks, “Yes, sir?”
“Release the drivers,” he tells him. “Get them out of here and moving on the road north.”
“Yes, sir!” the sergeant replies with a salute and with the help of two other Raiders soon has the drivers free of their bonds and heading down the road. When they don’t move along fast enough, some of the Raiders decide to hurry them a bit with the broad side of their swords.
Illan turns to the remaining soldiers and asks, “Who here understands me?”
The prisoners return blank expressions, all that is except one. A soldier in the center of the group hesitantly says in heavily accented northern, “I can.”
“You know who I am?” he asks.
“You are the Death Hawk,” he replies, venom dripping from his words.
“Death Hawk?” James asks as he turns to Illan.
“That’s the name they gave me,” he says then turns back to their prisoner. A look of stony defiance is set in his face as he stares back to him. “What can you tell me of the defenses at Al-Zynn?” At this time one of the two bands of riders that had set out after the fleeing riders returns.
The soldier simply stares back in silence.
The leader of the band comes to a stop before Illan, snaps him a salute then says, “Got ‘em all.”
“Excellent,” Illan tells him. “Have your men stand down until we leave.”
“Yes, sir,” the rider replies. He gives Illan another salute before he and his riders move to the pack horses to retrieve some food and drink.
Turning back to the prisoner, he asks, “Now, what do you know of Al-Zynn?”
“I’m not telling you anything!” the soldier states defiantly. “Though it’s sure to mean my death, I will never help one who so ravaged the Empire.”
“Al-Zynn?” Jiron asks Ceadric.
“Al-Zynn is a major city that holds the Empire’s stockpile of weapons and supplies for its northern armies,” he explains. “During our last campaign here, we planned on razing it to the ground. But before we could get close enough, the Empire brought in too many forces to defend it and we had to go elsewhere. At the time we didn’t realize it but that marked the beginning of our retreat from the Empire.”
Nodding over to Illan, he adds, “The fact that he wasn’t able to take it has gnawed at him since then. He means to head there and take it before they’re able to bring in sufficient forces to stop us.”
Jiron glances over to James who nods in agreement.
At this time the second band of Raiders shows up from their pursuit of the fleeing Empire riders. The lead rider comes forward at a gallop and says, “Black Hawk! A force of over four score riders may be on the way.”
“What happened?” he asks.
“We gave chase and took down all but half a score when another force appeared. Those we were chasing joined up with them so we returned as fast as we could to give you the news. There were too many for us to effectively deal with.”
“Very well,” he says. To Ceadric Illan says, “Get ready to ride.” After a brief glance to James, he adds, “And kill the prisoners.”
“Yes, sir,” Ceadric says then signals several soldiers to aid him as he draws a knife and begins slitting their prisoner’s throats. The first one he comes to is the man who they were questioning. Taking the prisoner’s hair in one hand, he pulls back the head and cuts his throat before moving on to the next one.
“We’re leaving!” Illan hollers, loud enough to be heard by everyone. “Mount up!”
It takes but a moment for everyone to get in the saddle and when all are ready, Illan leads them with all speed southward.
He was sure he was a dead man when his hair had been pulled back and saw the glint of the knife out of the corner of his eye. Somehow the knife failed to penetrate his throat and missed the jugular. Still bleeding from the cut encircling his throat, the soldier feigns death as Black Hawk and his men ride away.
When the sound of their horses begins to fade away in the distance, he rises to a sitting position and glances around at his comrades. None but he remains alive. Tearing a strip of cloth from the shirt of a dead friend lying nearby, he binds it around his neck to stem the flow of blood from the thankfully shallow cut.
The caravan he was escorting had been on the way to resupply those fighting the Kirkens. They will now be sorely pressed to remain effective without the much needed supplies. Getting to his feet, he stumbles among the bodies in a futile search for another survivor but only manages to reaffirm what he already knew to be true, he alone survived.
Just after he finishes checking the bodies of his comrades, the sound of approaching horses alert him that others are approaching. At first afraid that more of Black Hawk’s men were nearing, he lies down and pretends to be another of the dead. But when the riders draw closer he sees they are from the Empire. Returning to his feet he waves them down.
“What happened here?” the commander in charge of the riders asks. Among those riding behind him, the soldier notices several riders who had been among those guarding the caravan.
“They slew everyone,” he explains. “Somehow, the man who cut me did a poor job.” He lowers the cloth to show the commander his wound.
“How many were there?” the commander asks after taking in the scene.
“Hundreds,” replies the soldier. “But commander!”
The tone in the soldier’s voice causes the commander to turn his attention once more upon him. “Yes?”
“They are planning to take Al-Zynn!”
“Tell me everything,” he commands.
Chapter Thirteen
Leaving the scene of carnage behind them, they head fairly due south as fast as the horses can carry them. Illan glances over to James where he’s checking his mirror and asks, “What are they doing?”
Glancing up from the mirror, he says, “They just reached the dead soldiers. The one we left alive is talking to the commander.”
“Think they’ll take the bait?” Jiron asks.
“We were pretty convincing,” Ceadric says.
“Thought you had actually cut his throat for a moment,” James tells him.
“So did I,” he admits. “Then I saw him move his hand up to his throat and apply pressure to stop the blood flow while attempting to appear like he was dead.”
James returns his gaze to the mirror then says, “Looks like they did.” He glances to Illan and adds, “Riders are moving at breakneck speed in all directions. The majority are heading south, just to the east of us.”
“Makes sense,” Illan says with a nod. “That’s the general direction of Al-Zynn.”
“We’ll have everyone after us in no time,” comments Ceadric.
“That’s what we wanted,” states James. He hated to kill those soldiers in that fashion but as Illan explained to him, there was no one to spare to escort them back. No sense letting go soldiers who will only try to kill them later on.
“With any luck all their forces will converge on Al-Zynn,” Illan says.
“Would make things easier, that’s for sure,” Jiron says.
While they ride, James periodically checks his mirror for any hostiles ahead which they may have to deal with. The area to the south is clear for the moment. Moving the image back to the force behind them, he finds several enemy scouts keeping an eye on them. Scrolling even further to the north, he sees the force that had been heading toward Al-Zynn now turned to follow them. The scouts must have reported their position and the army moved to follow.
“They’ve turned to follow us,” he says, “and are keeping their distance.”
“I would too if I were in their position,” Illan states. “They don’t have the numbers to take us on. We don’t have much to worry about unless they are joined by another force.”
“Should we attack them?” asks Jiron.
Shaking his head, Illan says, “No. They’re cavalry and would just run away.”