The Hekamon Page 21

  There was only one option, Alyssa broke to her right and headed uphill, managing to make several big strides and getting a good distance off the trail, all the while looking back in the direction she had come. Watching for the first glimpse of movement.

  Almost immediately she saw it and desperately threw herself to the hillside, and into a merciful deep pile of leaves near the exposed roots of a tree.

  She had seen them, if they had seen her, she would know very quickly. In her exhausted state, she couldn't hold her breath for long, a few seconds at most, she did so.

  Laying still and motionless, not breathing, not daring. She heard footsteps, they were loud and they were close. Then a voice. A man's voice, shouting, hollering and calling out to another. Urgent, insistent and filling the forest with noise. The sound startled and alarmed every living creature nearby. Alyssa knew that all too well, she felt it, too.

  56

  He ran for a hundred yards along the earth embankment, to the point the stream turned and disappeared into a culvert. From this position, Tregarron could just make out a path following the contour between two hills. He stopped and examined the area. Scuff marks and disturbance on the ground suggested the path had been used recently. He could see no obvious signs of the boot prints like the one near the hut, but the blanket of leaves here meant there was no bare soil to for any prints to show.

  Within moments, Teague had caught up with him and when the guard stopped running and his footsteps fell silent, Tregarron listened. It was hard to be sure, but he thought he could hear something, through the trees and along the trail. He set off again, with his fellow guard close behind, pressing on with greater confidence.

  As they ran, the dead leaves and fallen branches on the forest floor crunched under their boots. The heavy thuds of their footsteps reverberating off the trees nearby and piercing the silence of the forest.

  While ahead of them came the sound of birds issuing their warning calls and taking flight. Did it mean they were on the right track? Tregarron thought they might be. But their own incursion into the forest might be disturbing the wildlife as much as anything else. There was no subtlety here, no caution, no guile. His blood was up, he was not stalking his quarry, he was chasing it down.

  His pursuit was being driven by more than just the desire to catch a fugitive, or the wish to see a violent absconder brought to justice. It was much more than that. The sight of the two Coralainians in the hut had triggered something inside him. Their bleeding heads and faces, the blood splattered tunics. He had felt it immediately, a fire welling in the pit of his stomach, his teeth grinding and skin crawling.

  Now he was running. Hurtling along the hillside, with fists clenched, heart and feet pounding. The chase was bringing the vivid memories back to him. The crisp autumn air, the sound and smell of the forest, even the trees looked the same. Today, the unearthly pale light was caused by the mountain shadow, then it had been a deathly eventide. He drew his sword and the recollection manifested more strongly, the feel of the hilt and heft of the weapon. He quickened his pace into something like a charge.

  He was back on the hillside forests of Klintereath. An enemy patrol had been spotted, scouting the position of their camp. His orders were to catch them.

  Chasing down the spies, he was the youngest of his band of soldiers, the fittest, the fastest, the leader of the hunt. Breaking through branches, hacking away with his sword. Leaping down the hillside, seemingly a dozen paces in a single bound.

  He glimpsed sight of the first, striking him down with a single blow, the men following behind would do the rest. Without slowing, he was after the next one. The man's attempts to hide were too little, too late and he succumbed as well. The two enemy agents had been caught and justice swiftly delivered.

  Yet he'd suspected one of the men had escaped their grasp, and his squad leader had shared his opinion. But, preferring to return with talk of triumph, and with two dead spies to support their claims, they'd kept it to themselves. With their mission an apparent success, his leader had been commended for his action and promoted.

  With their commander unaware their position had been compromised, the company did not immediately move camp and were attacked the next day. After suffering heavy losses, they had to retreat.

  He had been sworn to secrecy about the failure of their mission, he had no choice, he had been culpable, too. It was a youthful mistake and one he would not repeat. None would escape again, and if they did, the fact would be revealed and acted on.

  His determination and sense of purpose spurred him on, his pace became unrelenting. His stride lengthened and sword raised. A roar of intent at his lips ready to be unleashed. His left hand clenched where the handle of his shield should be, but it wasn't there, not on this day, not on these hills.

  It brought his mind back to the chase in hand and as it did, he heard shouting behind him. The shouts of his men urging him on?

  No, the opposite in fact. It was Teague, unable to keep up, and calling to him, pleading for him to slow down.

  He had rushed on and knew it would happen. He knew that he would be unable to control his urge to give chase. The feeling that he would not be able to hold back had been palpable and that is what he'd done. He cursed his lack of discipline, his hotheadedness. Now he did ease back.

  Teague was right, they needed to take stock. Tregarron slowed to a jog and then almost to a stop, and when his companion caught up, he turned to him.

  "Let's rest for a minute," he said, and his fellow guardsman didn't argue.

  The two of them walked on in silence.

  They had traveled few hundred yards, almost due east of the trade huts. It hadn't taken them long, they'd been running at full tilt. Now at walking pace, the two men reached a glade. This one on a rocky escarpment with moss growing on the bare rock underfoot. His eyes searched the tree line, but seeing no movement, took the chance to think.

  He knew that there were many of these glades scattered around the foothills. So many, that they gave this area its name. It was mostly the preserve of the tradesmen supplementing their meager income from the occasional travelers along the Regis Highway. There were deer, boar and rabbits to be found roaming the forest here, wolves, too. Yet it was accessible to both Coralainians, who could reach this place through the mountain tunnels, and the Fennreans, whose marshes the streams here drained into.

  He reached the center of the glade.

  In his rush to catch the assailant he had not given consideration to what he would do if he were to catch them. He didn't doubt that he would catch them. He was on the right track, he could feel it. Not only that, he could sense his prey was close and could almost smell them. Yet it seemed the eyes of the forest were on him, too. He sensed them and they sensed him, there was something out there, watching.

  Tregarron rarely felt fear, he actually thought it to be one of his weaknesses. Fear could sharpen the mind and heighten the senses. Yet a hint of fear crept to him now. He felt it in his spine and the feeling was not wholly unwelcome. It meant his intuition was in play, his instinct was telling him something and he was prepared to listen.

  The further they chased into the glades, the greater the risks. Was there only one assailant? And if so, who were they? What were they?

  Whoever it was, he would need to be mindful. One of the men overpowered at the trading post was strong and had been armed with a dagger. He should be careful not to underestimate his quarry, they might be running now, but if cornered, they might turn and fight.

  Deciding his next course of action, Tregarron sat down on a large boulder, and, taking the fur pouch out of his pocket, he began to study it. Its existence was not a coincidence, it was significant, of this there was no doubt. As he examined it, his fellow guard spoke.

  "What do you think?" Teague asked, breathless from the exertion of running in the heavy uniform.

  Tregarron looked around the clearing and into the woods beyond. "I'm wondering how many people we're dealing with here, and wheth
er they came out of the mountains, or out of the swamp."

  The discovery of the fur bag, with its clay vials was concerning him more. The Fennreans had a reputation as wild animals, moving in packs and hunting unsuspecting prey. Tregarron knew it was part invention. It was more of a way to warn children to stay away from the dangerous swamps around the Rhavenbrook, 'Take care, or be taken by the Fennreans'.

  Yet it is was not an entirely false characterization. Theirs was a tough existence. They stuck together and could kill if they had to. How far did they venture into this forest? He and Teague and gone someway into the glades already. If not careful they could easily end up in the same predicament as Tansley and the two Coralainians bound up with him. Especially if they found themselves outnumbered.

  Teague prowled around the clearing, "We could deal with one or two, no problem, but half a dozen of the buggers, that would be a different matter."

  Tregarron murmured his agreement. The problem was not so much that they might be unable to find them, but how many there would be when they did. He hated having to break off the chase, but he saw no option. Besides, although confident he was following the right trail, he could not be certain. Chasing blindly would not help matters. He needed to find a new lead, and he knew exactly where to begin.

  The three tied up men, who were in the process of being taken to the fort, they would shed some light on matters. He would interrogate them and pick things up from there. He would not be ending his pursuit, far from it, he would be mobilizing a more extensive search.

  If only he had the manpower to do it thoroughly. He cursed the paucity of resources at his command. He'd warned Jephson the fort was becoming short-handed, yet nothing had been done about it. They would need to call in some reinforcements from nearby villages, especially if they were dealing with both Fennrean and Coralainian incursions.

  Seeing Teague move back from the far edge of the glade, he placed the fur bag inside his coat and stood.

  "Let's head back to the trading post."

  Teague nodded in agreement and the two men started to head back the way they came, towards the highway.

  As they left the escarpment, Tregarron put his hands in his pocket and stopped. He felt the necklace and recalled the emptied out bag of tools. Someone had been looking for something. He looked around and felt a growing understanding, his mind raced at the realization, then he heard a voice.

  "Is something wrong?" Teague asked.

  57

  "Captain, slow down," the voice boomed. Shouted by an unseen man, urgent and out of breath. More importantly for Alyssa, it was not said by the man who was closest to her, that man she could hear as well. He was not speaking but breathing loudly. His footsteps were heavy, close by and from what she could tell, he seemed to be stopping. The sound of the other footsteps grew louder, accompanied the sound of a man gasping and wheezing.

  With her face buried in the leaves, Alyssa was going by sound alone, and there was a limit to what she could determine.

  From the sounds one of the men was making, she could tell that he was not accustomed to running and she could also place his position. He was twenty feet down the hillside and on the trail. Beyond those sketchy details, she couldn't be sure of anything else. Gradually the sounds of the gasping man started to quieten, it wasn't only because he was catching his breath, he was moving away, too.

  Alyssa slowly raised her head and looked to her left. What she saw brought a smile to her lips, they hadn't seen her. Instead, the two guards were continuing along the path that ran along the hillside and toward the clearing ahead. The one with the Halberd and helmet following one without. The lead man sheathing his sword, already thirty yards away and disappearing from view. While the second guard would soon be joining him.

  Should she stay hidden amongst the leaves and let the guards go? Or should she keep them in sight? If she wanted to keep an eye on them, she had two options. She could either descend the short distance down to the trail where she would have a clearer view, or move higher up the hillside and follow them as they went, concealed by the trees but with the need to stay closer.

  While deciding what to do, she was struck by a realization. The guard had called him captain.

  It could be only one man.

  Despite how close Alyssa had come to being caught, intuition told her she could not stay where she was, even for a few minutes. Waiting here would make her journey much more difficult. Allowing the guards to get out of sight would mean, either having to slow down, or detour so much, that it would take an age to get to Serfacre.

  If she didn't, there was the real risk of being ambushed by the two men now ahead of her. So, keeping the men in her sights would be preferable, but she had another reason. Now she knew the identity of the person looking for her, she wanted to get a better look at him.

  Tregarron. It was a name she'd heard many times, yet she had never seen him before, none of the younger ferguths had. Some of the older ferguths had seen him, and wished they hadn't.

  He had a fearsome reputation. He was a soldier, an interrogator and he was searching for her. He had chased her. The thought sent a chill down her spine, and the feeling was not so unpleasant as she might have imagined.

  Staying higher on the hill and moving in the direction the guards had taken, Alyssa began to follow them. They had walked away at a brisk pace, so she adopted a similar approach. She was more accustomed to the weight of the boots now and was not clomping anywhere near as much. She was certainly making far less noise than the two men ahead, whose progress into the clearing she could easily hear.

  The sound of their heavy boots on the exposed rock escarpment was loud and distinctive. It looked like they were going to walk through, if so, it would be difficult for her to follow them. Her only option was to watch them, and observe the route they took, to see where they exited on the other side. To do that meant she would need to get as close to the glade as possible, without leaving the forest.

  Alyssa started move down the hill and back onto the trail again. Once there, she cautiously made her way into the undergrowth that grew around the edge of the clearing near where the rocky escarpment began. Moving through the long grass and into some bushes, Alyssa moved up behind the last tree and peered out and into the open area beyond.

  What she had expected to see, was the two men nearing the far side, but what she actually saw, was that the guards were not carrying on through, at least, not yet. They had reached the center and had stopped. Well, one of the men had stopped. Tregarron had sat himself down on a hailstone, seemingly preoccupied by something. The other one, the fat one with the hat and the halberd, he had started pacing around the glade. Alyssa watched them and listened.

  They guard with the Halberd spoke, seemingly worried about who they might run into now that they were deep in the Glades. Alyssa found it interesting that the men appeared nervous, the fat one especially.

  She had always thought of the guards as being authoritative and all powerful, but seeing these two men alone and worried, made them seem far less intimidating. Even more so when she realized what had made them feel that way. The incapacitated Coralainians in the trading post.

  From what little of their conversation she could hear, they were concerned about who it was they were dealing with and how many. Well it was just her, she smiled to herself, her bravado growing. She almost dared them to try taking her on.

  The guard in the helmet, old, unfit, slow. She could see in her mind how she would defeat him. He was holding his halberd all wrong. Even she could see that, and she'd never carried such a weapon. He'd used like a walking staff for so long, that's what it had become.

  She turned her attention to Tregarron. He was different, even when seated he was poised. Alyssa thought she might have guessed who it was, even if the other guard had not called him captain. Here was a man who exuded authority, but he was not without his weaknesses, just at this moment he seemed distracted. He was holding something and turning it over in his hands, but it wa
s impossible see what from this position.

  Unable to see the object of his attention, she scrutinized the man instead. His face, in profile, she could make out. A Strong brow and jawline, deep set eyes, a hint of some faded scars, his was a rugged, lived in look. In some ways he reminded her of Vondern but fifteen years younger.

  It was not so much his appearance, since he only bore a passing resemblance, it was something else.

  There was an intensity about him, it was palpable even from thirty yards away, even though he was just sitting and not moving, or maybe it was precisely because of that. If the man had that focus and poise when at rest, what would he be like in action?

  If the captain was anything like the voight, then she knew already. Vondern could turn in an instant, he had an aggressive streak. When she had told Vondern that she would not accept his decision to betroth her to Tolle, he had looked at her as if he would kill her. It was a look that had made her relent, in words anyway, if not in deeds.

  Just then, the captain lifted up what he had been inspecting so intently, and placed it inside his blue guardsman's coat. As he did, Alyssa could see that it was a gray pouch. It was the kind they used to store and transport herbs in Fennelbek and almost certainly the one her brother had given to Tansley.

  So Tregarron knew they'd been there.

  The man stood. He was tall, and now that he was standing, Alyssa could see he had been practically slouched when seated. At least, when compared to how he looked when he drew himself to his full height.

  Once standing, Tregarron looked back in the direction he had come, which meant she could see his eyes clearly now, black piercing eyes.

  Alyssa felt, that should Tregarron see her, he would know everything about her in one look. She drew back further out of sight, but was angry at her withdrawal into the shadows. She'd made light work of the Coralainians, and she would do so with him. She dared him to try taking her on, he would be surprised.