01 - The Price of Talent (44 page)

              Meredith, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed by any of it. She was smiling in the afternoon sun and lounging beside me on the bench seat in the front of the cart. She would periodically look around at particular merchants hawking their goods, or interesting sights that we passed. But generally she seemed content to just be on the road, putting Caer Sud behind her.

It took us about an hour to wend our way through the city. Not that the city was so large, but the streets were crowded and the main causeway, heading to the Eastern North-South trade road was quite a popular one. But, by early evening, we had passed out of the city proper and were trotting through the countryside. The cityscape had given way to more rural surroundings with local farmers’ fields and city officials’ estates.

By the time night had fallen, we were well on the main road north, and Caer Sud was well and truly behind us.

Chapter 25.

That night was spent in a clearing in the southern edge of the eastern forest. It had clearly been used frequently as a campsite, as there was an old fire pit already prepared in the middle. Meredith prepared dinner, such as it was, while I unhitched and hobbled the horse so it could graze without leaving the clearing. I then wandered into the woods a ways till I found a stream we could get some water for the horse.

Everything went quite smoothly that evening, each of us puttering about. It was only when the little chores were over that things grew quiet. The silence stretched out some time before anyone spoke. The sheer enormity of the events of the past day clearly
looming
loomed
large in both our minds.

“I can’t believe we’re really on the road,” said Meredith. “It’s one thing to entertain ourselves for months talking about it, quite another to actually be on the road doing it.”

“I can’t believe we actually got away,” I replied. “I was sure someone was going to see through our disguises before we got out. I honestly thought that they were going to drop the portcullis on us at the last second, trapping us there.”

“Hah, it was a near thing I think,” said Meredith.

“Oh?” I said, a little concerned.

“Yeah, while you were staring daggers at the guards on our way out,” said Meredith. “A couple other squads of initiates rounded the hospital wing and were heading towards the stables as we were going through the gate”

“Damn, really?” I said. “I must have been paying too much attention to the guards not to have noticed.”

“Well, since you were driving, watching the road and the guards was probably better than looking around behind you,” said Meredith.

“Makes me wonder if we camped too close to town,” I said. “If they send out search parties we aren’t that far from the road.”

“True, but they don’t know we left,” she said. “At least, not necessarily.”

“Maybe, but those initiates jumped us behind the stables with the carts,” I replied.

“But for all they knew you were just hiding out there,” she said. “They certainly didn’t expect me to be there, or that I would stun them from behind, otherwise they would have noticed me sneaking around behind them.”

“True,” I said. “Even so, the more distance we put between ourselves and Caer Sud tomorrow the better.”

              That night was spent sleeping rolled up in our cloaks and some blankets that had been stashed away in the cart. Fortunately, it stayed warm for this time of year, as this were not really winter weather gear. But for a mild December night, we weren’t cold.

              We both got up with the sun the next day. Neither of us were all that comfortable staying put for fear of being caught. So we quickly packed up our things, ate a quick breakfast, and hit the road.

              There were some clouds on the horizon as we set out, but they burned off over the course of the day. The farms surrounding Sudchester gave way to rolling hills and larger ranches designed for raising live stock. We ate lunch in the cart at noon without stopping. It gave Meredith a chance to practice using the reigns and directing the horse. Fortunately, this horse was quite docile, so didn’t require much direction from her. It was an easy chance for her to learn the ropes.

              We kept traveling well into the night. Neither of us wanting to make the mistake we had the previous night of stopping too close to town. Even though nothing bad had come of it, we still thought we should not repeat it. However, after a while, we were both exhausted and it was getting too dark to see. We eventually found a spot off the road where we could rest, have dinner and care for the horse.

              That night things progressed much as they had the night before. We set about doing all the little chores making camp and having dinner entails. We didn’t talk much, but it was no longer an uncomfortable silence. Having had a long day to get used to our situation, things felt more natural.

              Unfortunately, that night things got cold. As a result, instead of being huddled up in our own blankets we were forced to combine the two so we could double up and stay warm. This didn’t seem to bother Meredith any, but it took me a long time to fall asleep. I was not used to sleeping with someone near me, especially not a female someone.

Can’t sleep pansy?

Pansy? What brought that on?

Hah, as if you didn’t know. There she is, all snuggled up next to you, and there you are just trying not to pop wood and disturb her sleep. It’s quite pathetic.

Oh come on. We’re sleeping like this because it’s cold out and we don’t have enough blankets otherwise. Besides, it’s not like anything would happen with the two of us all bundled up in our traveling gear and cloaks under the blankets. It’s so cold out, I don’t think anyone would want to expose even a toe.

Yeah, toe! Hah! Pansy…

Anyway, we are finally on our way to find out about our friends and Meredith’s father. Think of this as a chance to see more of the world than just the corner of my room and the practice field.

Hey, I’m not complaining about the view. I appreciate the rolling landscape, counting cows, and generally staying in my sheath all day. What with your little sword staying sheathed despite sleeping with a girl, I guess I don’t have much to complain about either.

What I do with…Wait, little sword? Just what are you implying?

That I’m over a yard long and it… ISNT!

Shut up…

              At this point I decided sleep was preferable to being mocked so shut my eyes. I didn’t need grief from my sword about my sleeping arrangements. Fortunately for me, I managed to fall asleep this time.

              Meredith woke up with the sun the next day, and thus so did I. It’s hard to stay asleep with someone else actively tossing off blankets. She didn’t say much about the sleeping arrangement, just got up and went about getting things ready for breakfast and our departure. With her up and rummaging about, I decided I should probably get up, help her and then hitch up the horse.

              It took us another few days before we reached Forsburg. Each day was very much like the last, including our sharing blankets at night. After a while I got used to it and it stopped being an impediment to sleep. My sword didn’t stop teasing me about it though. It didn’t help that this sleeping arrangement increased the frequency with which I woke up with a morning tent-pole in my pants. Fortunately, Meredith said nothing about it, if she even noticed it at all, what with all the layers of clothes we were each wearing. And if you’re thinking her not noticing played a large role in my sword’s taunts, you would be right.

              We got to Forsburg late one afternoon. We weren’t sure what we should do, because we had a much greater chance of being recognized here. We played with the idea of pretending to be merchants and staying at the Inn. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any coin and we didn’t want to risk being discovered. So instead we just rode on by, never leaving the road. It was only when we neared Meredith’s old house that we slowed.

“I wonder who’s in there right now,” Meredith said as we passed by the long path up to her house.

“Likely some pompous local church official with the right connections,” I said.

“It doesn’t look guarded…” she mused, looking pensively at the house.

“Was it ever that strongly guarded when you were living there?” I asked.

“Not really,” she said. “Father kept a few servants around, and there was always a procession of local officials who came through, but there really wasn’t much need. It’s not like Forsburg is some big city full of thieves or anything.”

“I didn’t remember seeing all that many people there when I was staying with you,” I said.

“I wonder…” She said to herself.

“Uh oh, that sounds ominous,” I said.

“Tyr, in a half mile, there’s going to be a track leading off the road,” she said with a devious look in her eyes. “I want you to pull off on it and head back into the copse of trees behind the house and hide out there. I’m going to go in and investigate.”

“Meredith, that sounds like a bad idea,” I said. “Whoever is in there likely knows what we look like and is sure to send Claudius a message if he or she sees us.”

“Tyr, that’s my house and there appears to be no one outside it,” she said. “If I wait until nightfall, I should be able to sneak in by the back door, scrounge up some food and coin or us, and be out before anyone notices.”

“This seems like too big a risk,” I said. “We have enough food to make it to Nordshire without having to pilfer anything and risk capture at your old house.”

“While you’re right about the food, I think our lack of coin is a bigger problem,” said Meredith. “If we are going to pose as merchants, we need to have goods. The only way we get those is with coin, since we have nothing to trade. I know where the safe is, and I know the combination. I also know all the hidey holes there to avoid detection. Trust me, this will be easy.”

“Well, if you insist, I guess there’s no stopping you,” I said. “Do you want me to come with you?”

“Uh… No, that’s ok, Tyr,” she said. “No offense, but you aren’t the most stealthy of people. You would wake up everyone within five minutes of getting inside. Better I do this alone. If you don’t see me by morning, come rescue me. But not until then.”

“I’m really not comfortable with this…” I said again.

“Which is why I’m not really giving you a choice!” she said with a big smile on her face.

              Good to know she was treating this with the gravity it deserved… Still, she was right about the money. We weren’t going to be able to buy many products without money. Being merchants with no merchandise is a fairly easy ruse to see through.

              True to her word, there was a track a half mile down the road. And despite my misgivings, we turned off the road and headed around the back of her old estate. Fortunately, there was a fairly large stand of trees and scrub behind the house. This gave me a good place to hide our wagon. As night fell, and we finished making camp. We ate a cold dinner so we wouldn’t have to start a fire. We were both concerned that a fire would alert anyone looking out the window because of the light it would produce or smoke above the treetops.

              When it had been truly dark out for an hour or two, Meredith stood up and laced her boots up tight.

“All right Tyr,” she said. “I’ll be gone for a couple hours raiding the house. If I’m not back by sunrise, feel free to come rescue me.”

              And with that she trotted off. I meant to wait up for her to make sure she was ok, but I was quite tired. I’m not sure when I dozed off, but I did. I was awoken many hours later, well past midnight, by the sound of Meredith coming back into the campsite.

“Blast it Tyr,” she said, as she dropped the bags she was carrying on the ground. “I’m gone for a few hours and come back to find you sleeping. Good to know my absence didn’t worry you.”

“You said not to go after you until sunrise,” I replied, blinking the sleep from my eyes. “I was just doing what you asked.”

“Well, fortunately for you then that I wasn’t in any danger!” She said with some vehemence.

“Well that’s good to know,” I said. “But that doesn’t make sense, what you did was quite risky…”

“It would have been if there was anyone at home!” she said. “Worse, there wasn’t any paperwork in the study or the files saying anything about the capture of my father. Just a bunch of correspondence between the local Church official and the church hierarchy.”

“Did you manage to find anything useful?” I asked.

“Well, I managed to grab some more food, and there was plenty of coin lying about,” she replied. “But nothing about my father.”