When they reached the entry foyer, Antello branched off towards the greeting room and Lyra spied Syman near the front doors. Nodding to Syman as he searched through the pouch of an elderly man, Lyra continued past him, anxious to be rid of the smell of death that permeated the air of the castle. Syman joined her outside and helped her secure the packs.
“I managed to pick up a fair amount of coin,” remarked Syman. “I guess they won’t have any more use for it.”
“Don’t feel bad about it, Syman,” nodded Lyra. “The coins will be used to avenge their deaths. I think they would be satisfied to know how it will be used. Were you able to secure any decent weapons?”
“Oh, yeah,” brightened Syman. “I even packed spares in case some become unusable. We will have no shortage of Stars or arrows. I also packed some tools for keeping the weapons in good condition.”
“Are the horses going to be able to move?” Lyra asked as she lifted the last pack of provisions to her horse and began tying it down.
“It’s not as heavy as you think,” noted Syman, “and we weigh much less than a lot of riders I’ve seen. Besides, the weight will go down as we eat and discard items no longer serviceable.”
Antello arrived and the three young avengers mounted and rode across the drawbridge. Syman took the lead and turned towards the forest instead of heading for the road. “We are better off keeping clear of the roads until we get away from here,” he explained. “I hid the body of the raider we killed. They will find it, but it may delay them for an hour. Maybe they will think he fled.”
The sun was well into the sky as the three youngsters headed across the open field towards the forest. Lyra began to feel the moistness of perspiration as she gazed at the cool inviting woods ahead of her and began to let her mind drift back to the morning attack. She had been so busy searching for survivors and packing to leave that she hadn’t given much thought to why the attack had occurred. There must have been close to a hundred raiders in the Academy attack and they hadn’t bothered to take anything except her father. The nagging question of why so many men would come to kidnap her father and not bother to take the spoils made her head spin. The raider Klaarg had indicated that Rhodella was not supposed to have been killed and was quite angry about her apparent death. Rhodella had also mentioned the raiders’ need for a hostage to make Master Malafar do something evil. Clearly, they wanted him for his magical knowledge, but the who and why of it escaped Lyra.
They entered the forest and Lyra immediately felt the air cool as the trees shielded the summer sun. The sunlight filtering through the trees created a mosaic of light and dark patches and Lyra let her eyes adjust as her mind started to wander away from the brutality of the attack. The scent of sevemor cones was a pleasant reminder of her younger years and Lyra’s tense body started to relax. The forest was quiet except for the sounds of the horses plodding along the trail and the rhythm of their hooves was pacifying.
Lyra let her mind drift to thinking of anyone who might want Master Malafar for some evil use. There were plenty of mages in Omunga and probably quite a few who would do whatever they were asked to do as long as they were properly paid. Whoever kidnapped her father must need an extremely skilled mage because Master Malafar was known as one of the best in Omunga. If they didn’t need his level of skill, it would be cheaper to hire another mage than to send a hundred raiders to attack the Academy. Lyra wondered what kind of research her father had been involved with which might be considered revolutionary. She mentally kicked herself for not paying more attention to what he was studying, but Lyra found her magic lessons too easy and quite boring. She tended to push magic out of her life at every opportunity and had no idea what research was going on at the Academy.
Lyra looked up and saw that the others were a distance ahead of her and she urged her horse to go faster. She smiled as she heard the distinctive shrill of blue tails and she started drifting back to her childhood and memories of playing in the woods. She caught herself before she drifted too far and brought her focus back to the attack on the Academy. All of the raiders had worn dark colors, but it certainly wasn’t a type of uniform, at least not any uniform that she had ever seen.
Lyra was so engrossed in solving the riddle of the attack that she didn’t notice that the boys had stopped in the middle of the trail as Syman reached out to stop her. Lyra looked up to see Syman holding a finger to his lips to silence her. Antello eased his sword out of its sheath while Syman cocked his head as if listening for something. Lyra wrinkled her brow in puzzlement as she strained to hear whatever had alarmed the boys. The seconds dragged on in silence until suddenly the she heard a twig snap under the weight of someone or something on the trail ahead. The feeling of fear she experienced at the Academy quickly returned even as she tried to convince herself that it was probably just an animal and she was overreacting. Still, the forest animal noises had ceased and Lyra began to wonder if the raiders had thought enough to block the trail in case she tried to escape.
Syman kept a restraining arm on Antello as he swept the forest with his eyes trying to detect any movement around them. Lyra understood what Syman was thinking and she started scanning the woods along their flanks as well. Using hand motions, Syman instructed the group to dismount and handed the reins to Lyra. Easing his own sword out of its sheath, Syman motioned to Antello to take the left side of the trail while Syman slid into the woods on the right. Lyra felt exposed holding the horses in the middle of the trail as the boys disappeared into the trees. Looking around nervously, Lyra gaped as she saw someone move from tree to tree far up the trail. The noise they had heard had been human made, and Lyra shook with fear as she thought of Syman and Antello trying to sneak up on raiders. While they were decent with their swords, thanks to Master Caulder’s instruction, she knew that they were not prepared to go off hunting raiders on their own.
Could she call them back without alerting the raiders? Should she tie the horses to a tree and go help them? Should she ride noisily down the trail to distract the raiders while the boys sneaked up on them? Wracked with indecision, Lyra promised to make contingency plans for such events in the future, should they survive this episode.
Suddenly, she heard screams and thrashing up ahead and ignoring caution, she charged up the trail while unsheathing her sword. As she approached the area where she had seen the furtive figure, she caught sight of Syman and Antello standing over a prone body. Running to where the boys stood, Lyra’s eyes grew wide as she recognized the body at their feet. The wealthy magic student from the Academy, Walak, lay sprawled on the forest floor and Lyra’s mouth gaped open as she slid to a halt.
“Say you didn’t kill him,” cried Lyra.
“Never touched him,” Syman replied. “He fell as we charged him. Must have hit his head or something. I didn’t realize who it was until he fell.”
“Lucky thing he fell,” quipped Antello. “We were ready to slice him in half.”
“Yes,” frowned Syman, “I guess the two of us could kill an unarmed student without too much difficulty. I think your assessment of our skills is a little too flattering Antello. These raiders are not something we want to mess with if we can avoid it.”
“I agree,” offered Lyra. “In fact, I was thinking that we need to have a plan ready for when this happens the next time. We can’t just recklessly react whenever something comes up. We need to have a strategy set up to handle everything.”
“I wonder what Walak is doing out here and how he avoided the attack?” pondered Antello as he pointedly ignored Syman’s statement of caution.
“We will find out when we revive him,” Lyra murmured. “Antello, go retrieve the horses while I see if he is hurt. I’m afraid I just let the reins drop when I heard the screaming.”