First around the bend was the injured boy. Vadik walked like one asleep. Face white, eyes fixed, bleeding stump held to his chest.
Once again, rage boiled in Byren's belly. But it was with cold precision that he notched the arrow and waited for…
The ululating cry of an ulfr on the hunt sounded from the ridge opposite, echoing off the bluff behind Byren. All six horses startled. Two reared, their riders only just retaining control. Another howl came, differently pitched. One man was thrown, another fought his mount as it tried to bolt.
Byren aimed and dropped him from the saddle.
Even as Byren ran towards the invaders, he notched, aimed and loosed another arrow, taking down a second man.
In the confusion, the Merofynians had only just realised the attack came from men, not beasts. Their leader stood in the stirrups to yell an order. Byren rushed up, swung an arm around his waist and pulled him off, stabbing him through his surcoat and the side-lacing of his chest armour. As the man fell, spraying blood on the snow, Byren tore the chain's end from his hands and threw the chain to the boy.
Vadik caught the chain clumsily with his left hand and stared at it, then at Byren.
Seela appeared at his side, snatched his good arm and dragged him off towards the trees.
A warrior tried to cut them off. Byren leaped for him, pulling him off his horse and slitting his throat before the man could draw his sword.
A blow whistled towards Byren's head. He ducked and turned in time to see his attacker clutch his chest, where an arrow bloomed. The Merofynian looked surprised as he toppled from his horse.
And that was it. No more mounted men.
Byren counted horses. Five. He swore.
Orrade came running through the trees, knife drawn. A man tried to rise, an arrow in his thigh. Orrade cut him down and kept coming. Without breaking his stride, he leapt into the saddle of a skittish horse and took off down the track, after the one that got away.
Being half a head shorter and lighter of build than Byren, Orrade was better suited to catch the fleeing warrior. But until he returned safe, Byren could not relax. He went around the churned-up clearing, checking the men for signs of life, dispatching the living without compunction.
Byren collected weapons — his people needed them as well as food and clothing — and tied the bundles to the horses' saddles. The dead men he left for the scavengers to clean up. This close to spring cusp the winter creatures were desperate for food and the ones that had hibernated were waking up, ravenous.
The frightened horses were inclined to scatter, so he led them away from the bloody snow and rapidly cooling bodies, into the trees where Seela had taken the boy.
He found the pair of them perched on rocks. While the old nurse rewrapped Vadik's stump, the boy shivered uncontrollably.
Byren draped the lincis cloak around his shoulders. 'This is yours now.'
'He needs a healer,' Seela said, voice thin with anger. 'They chopped off his hand to show they were serious, then told him to lead them to you.'
Vadik looked up at Byren. He still shivered, but there was some colour in his cheeks. Byren hoped it was not the sign of a fever developing. The boy's eyes looked glassy.
'I failed you. I shouldn't have led them up here,' Vadik said, young voice rising. 'I wanted to be brave, but they threatened to kill Mam and Tikhon. I didn't know what to do. I wasn't brave enough to — '
'You protected your family,' Byren said, throat tight. 'That's the best you could do.' The boy did not look convinced. Byren knelt in front of him. 'It's what I woulda done.'
Vadik blinked, surprised.
'I should have insisted they come with me,' Seela muttered, furious with herself.
'You couldn't have foreseen this,' Byren told her, coming to his feet. 'It's barbaric.'
'Did you kill them all?' Vadik asked.
'All but one. Orrie's gone after him.'
'He must catch him.' The boy came to his feet, an edge of panic to his voice. 'They said they'd go back for Mam and m'brother if I ran away.' Desperate, he searched Byren's face. 'You won't let them get Mam and Tikhon?'
Byren reached out, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders. 'No one is going to hurt your family, I swear. I'll go and bring them back myself.'
Tears brimmed and the boy threw his arms around Byren, who rubbed his back wishing he'd been a day earlier and been lying in wait for those Merofynians. See how brave they were when faced with a grown man. But wishes wouldn't return Vadik's right hand. Everything Byren did was too little, too late. Since Cobalt returned… no, since the old seer told him he would kill his twin and take Lence's place, everything had gone awry despite Byren's best efforts to prove the crazy old woman wrong.
So he rubbed the boy's back and brooded, vowing to do better.
That was how Orrade found them, when he returned riding one horse and leading the other. Swinging his leg over, Orrade slid to the ground and tied the reins to a branch.
'Any trouble?' Byren asked.
Orrade shook his head once and glanced to the boy, who had subsided in relief.
'Vadik was worried about his family,' Byren said. 'But I'm going to fetch them now. I want you to take him up to camp. He needs a healer. And quickly.' When Seela nodded, Byren knew he was right. The boy's skin was too hot.
Orrade, however, was clearly unhappy about leaving him.
Byren laughed. 'I've managed without you guarding my back before.'
'Aye, and look what happened? I found you wounded in an Affinity seep!'
Which reminded Byren, now that Halcyon Abbey had fallen there were no monks available to capture the untamed Affinity leaking from new seeps across Rolencia. Instead of storing it safely in sorbt stones, it would leach out into the valley, affecting plants, people and animals in ways no one could predict. Although he was glad his wound had been healed while he slept in a seep amidst an ulfr pack, he was not sure if that was as far as it went. Like Orrade's visions, something else might arise, something he couldn't hide.
'What's wrong, Byren?' Orrade asked, perceptive as always and just a shade too intimate for a friend, even a best friend.
Byren shook his head, aware of Seela. He'd had enough trouble evading capture and overcoming his cousin, Cobalt, who had thrown in his lot with the Merofynians, without worrying about the effects of renegade power and Orrade's inconvenient love for him.
'Seela can lead me down to the farm. Orrie, you take Vadik up to the camp. Select a horse, let him ride in front of you. I'll be back by tomorrow evening, the next day at the latest.'
'Will you take the other horses?' Orrade asked.
Byren considered. Mounted, the brother and mother could travel faster, but horses were noisy and might give them away if there were more Merofynians about.
Vadik swayed, deciding Byren. Orrade would have enough to do, getting the boy to the camp, without trying to lead five horses as well, and Byren refused to leave them for Affinity beasts to devour. 'I'll take them with me. C'mon, Seela. Time for you to ride.'
'You know I can't ride,' she protested.
'Thirty years in Rolencia and you still can't ride? Time to learn, I'd say.'
The boy grinned, which was what Byren had intended. Seela played along, grumbling warily as Byren helped her into the saddle of the horse he judged to be the quietest. At least he thought she was playing along.
With her settled, he lifted Vadik to sit across Orrade's lap.
'Now, don't you be worrying, lad. I'll fetch your mam and brother and be back before you know it. You concentrate on getting better. That's an order.'
Vadik nodded, then his mouth twisted. 'But what good am I without my hand? I can't farm like Da, can't fight for you, can't do anything.'