Rescuing the Captive: The Ingenairii Series (5 page)

“
Boo!” Rahm shouted as he suddenly leapt down beside Alec, frightening him visibly and making him jump in the tense atmosphere. The two looked at one another momentarily, until Alec’s face began to grin, matching Rahm’s expression.

“
I am Alec,” he said simply.

“
My name is Rahm. It’s good to meet you.” He paused. “What in the world were you doing riding through the Haunted Forest at night?” he asked bluntly. “You should be dead; I can’t imagine how you got to the town at this time of night.

“
And I really want to know how you killed all the anideads.”

“
Whatever killed them, it wasn’t us,” Alec replied. “Will my sister be safe?” he asked.

“
That was quite a toss,” Rahm replied at first. “Rolf!” he shouted at the overhead ramparts again.

“
What now?” came the reply.

“
Take the girl you just caught, and take her to my ma’s house. Tell ma to give her a bed for the night,” Rahm instructed.

“
The sun will be up soon,” he commented to Alec, pointing to the hint of pink along the eastern horizon.

Alec began walking among the corpses, using his spear to prod and check several of them. Satisfied that they were no threat, he returned to the wagon, where Rahm stood watching him. Together they stood silently and watched the sky brighten, and the features of the wide field grew distinct, up until the point when the edge of the sun broached the forested ridge on the horizon.

As the sun’s rays struck the corpses on the ground, they each disintegrated in a puff of smoke, leaving the field empty of evidence of the horrific events that had happened just a short time earlier. There was a loud wooden snapping sound as the gate was opened, and a squadron of armed guards came out of the stockade and surrounded the wagon, from which Rahm and Alec jumped back to the ground.

“
You were lucky to survive!” a number of guards told Alec as they mobbed around him. “No one has ever spent a night outside the stockade before and survived.

“
Why were you in the forest at night, fool?” an officer asked Alec. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bethany emerge from the gateway and hurry over towards the wagon and its crowd.

“
We didn’t know any better. We left Krimshelm yesterday and had no idea the forest was infested,” Alec said as Bethany wove through the crowd and snuggled up under his arm.

“
You were amazing yesterday.” She told him enthusiastically. “I couldn’t believe it when you threw me up to the top of the wall.

“
You should have seen him running with the horses and fighting the, what did you call them, the anideads,” she told the guardsmen. “We wouldn’t have made it here at all if he hadn’t made it happen.”

“
Where can we ride to today?” Alec asked. “We want to find a new home.” He wanted to change the topic from the inexplicable fighting ability he had found himself exercising.

“
In a hurry to leave Krimshelm? Well, we don’t answer to them; we’re a Conglomerate trading settlement, so it’s no skin off our nose,” the officer answered. “If you’re that good a fighter, maybe you ought to become a guard for us.”

“
Thanks, but we haven’t made plans yet,” Alec answered. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the coins he had received as payment for his work on the
Ingrid
. He handed the money to Bethany. “Go into town and buy some oats for the horses and some travel food for us today,” he told her as the soldiers started to disperse.

“
I’ll go with her,” Rahm volunteered. “I’ll show her the best place to get supplies.”

Alec eyed the young warrior. In the early sunlight his face appeared open and honest, and Alec turned to look at Bethany, seeing her clearly for the first time as well. She was a pretty girl, he realized, with short dark hair and large green eyes that sat somberly at present above a scattering of freckles that bridged across her nose.

Alec reached over and placed his hand over Rahm’s shoulder. “You’ll take good care of her and treat her properly, right?” there was a tingle in his hand.

Rahm’s eyes widened momentarily. “I’ll treat your sister as though you were there with us,” he said, and Alec felt certain that the boy spoke the truth.

Bethany looked shyly at Rahm, and Alec released his hand from the young man’s shoulder. “You can go with him. I’ll wait here until you’re back,” Alec told his putative sibling, and he watched the young pair walk through the gate.

Several minutes later a voice spoke from behind Alec. “She must look like her mother, and her mother must be a beautiful woman,” the forgotten officer said to Alec, causing him to turn. “She doesn’t look like you at all.” Alec silently nodded his head in agreement.

“
You left Krimshelm without knowing where you were going; you didn’t know about the Dead Forest, but you survived it, impossibly enough; you speak with a strange accent; your sister doesn’t look like you; and you must have a very heavy load you’re hauling if you’ve got this team of six brutes,” he patted one of the massive horses. “There’s something about your story that doesn’t add up.

“
Do you mind if I take a look at your load?” the man asked as he began to walk around to the back of the wagon.

“
Yes, I mind,” Alec replied in a harsh tone. He knew they would never leave the stockade if their load of gold was discovered. “What’s ours is ours,” he added as he walked around to intercept the officer, and slapped his hand down on the cover.

The officer motioned, and the three remaining guards came over to join them. Alec saw Bethany and Rahm appear through the gate, Rahm with a large load, Bethany with a lighter one. “Throw the goods up on top of the wagon and let’s get going,” he called to them.

The guards had arrived, and raised their swords as the officer began to reach for the cover again. Alec still held the long-shafted spear that had stabbed a corpse in the night, and with lightening fast movements he brought the shaft down on the officer’s wrist, hard enough to snap it, then twirled the blade end and knocked two swords out of hands of the owners, ending with the point of his spear pressed against the throat of the third.

“
We’re going to leave now,” Alec said, astonished again by the invincible ability that seemed to seize him in times of battle. “You get up on the wagon seat with my sister, as a vouchsafe for our release,” he told the officer. “We’ll put you down, free, when I’m sure we’re safe.” He carefully picked up the two dropped blades. “We’ll keep these for our own use,” he told the guards as he backed away to the front of the wagon.

“
Why’s he up here?” Bethany asked about the wounded officer as Alec arrived. She saw him toss the two swords up onto the floor boards of the wagon, still holding the spear in a threatening posture.

“
He’s going to make sure we can leave safely,” Alec told her.

“
I’d like to come with you,” Rahm said suddenly, and Alec realized the boy was already climbing onto the now crowded drivers’ bench. Alec looked at the boy, and impulsively decided he could trust him.

“
It could be a long trip,” Alec warned him. I don’t know when you’ll be able to come back home.”

“
I’m ready to leave,” Rahm assured him. “I want to see more of,” there was just the hint of a pause, “the world.”

Alec chucked the reins, and the wagon gave a slight jerk as the horses began to pull. The four passengers sat tensely, Alec with his head turned to watch the guards who had gathered at the gate to silently watch the departure. They had arrived from the right side of the open field, and Alec directed the horses to the leftward road. Within minutes they entered the forest, and Alec looked around in all directions, searching for any sign of the walking dead, or anideads as the soldiers had called them.

“
You’re free to go home now, and we’ll be on our way,” Alec told the officer as he rose out of the way to let the man leave the bench. The officer didn’t look at Alec, but stepped down to the side board and jumped off. A few seconds later, Alec resumed his seat, taking the middle spot between the other two, and spoke to Rahm. “You can leave now too, if you want to go home.”

Rahm looked down at his feet as he spoke. “I’d like to go with you. I’ve never been away from Toulouse all my life, and you seem like good folks to travel with.”

“
As long as you treat Bethany right, you can ride with us. I appreciate your willingness to jump down to help me last night. It may mean you’re stupid, but at least you’re brave stupid,” Alec told him, and grinned as Rahm looked up at him in surprise, then grinned back.

“
So tell us where we’re going,” Alec prompted Rahm. “Where can we plan to spend the night?”

There was a pause as Rahm interpreted Alec’s thick accent. “Why do you speak so differently from your sister?” he asked.

“
Never you mind that. Just tell us where we’re going,” Alec spoke sharply to cut off any questioning that would pierce the flimsy story he had with Bethany.

“
Well,” the chastised Rahm replied, having understood Alec clearly, “tonight we’ll be in Flora, another stockade like Toulouse, and from there you can go inland towards Vincennes in a few days, or go back to the coast towards Witten.”

For the first time, Alec saw fully the dilemma he faced in making a decision. He knew nothing about either city. He had no reason to prefer any destination. He had no plans to try to return the gold to Krimshelm, now that it would mean returning through the hostile Toulouse stockade and the Haunted Forest. He felt an obligation to take care of Bethany, though he knew nothing about her, nor did he know what would be her best future course.

Rahm correctly interpreted Alec’s silence for indecision. “I’d say go to Vincennes. You can go to a dozen other cities from there if you don’t like it, though it’s said to be such a great city I’m sure everyone can find something to like there.”

“
I’m so sleepy,” Bethany murmured, and she laid her head against Alec’s arm, eyes closed. Alec shared her sleepiness, feeling exhausted as well from the long sleepless night traveling through the forest. The three riders lapsed into silence for the rest of the morning.

By mid-morning they reached a ford across a small stream in a broad valley that was filled with light-skinned aspens, creating a bright, cheery forest. Alec pulled the wagon off the road and unhitched the horses. He told Bethany and Rahm to give them all feedbags while he took them down one at a time to the water’s edge for a drink.

As he returned with the last horse, Bethany and Rahm had spread out a selection of food and were sitting on the ground eating and chatting. “They say the palace grounds at Vincennes alone are larger than most cities. You can spend a whole day walking from one end of the city to the other and not reach the end,” Rahm was telling the girl. His enthusiasm shone through in his words, and Alec smiled at his youthful zeal.
How old am I?
Alec wondered as he sat down to nibble on the food and listen to the young couple discuss the wonders of a great city.

“
Have you ever been to Vincennes?” Bethany asked him.

“
I don’t know. I don’t remember a lot of things from before I sailed on the
Ingrid
,” he answered.

“
I didn’t know you were a sailor,” Rahm commented.

“
Not a good one. I don’t expect to go back to being one,” Alec told him, then stood up. “We’ve given the horses a nice break, but I don’t want to be in the woods after dark, so let’s get moving.”

They rode along, Bethany, refreshed from her nap, chatted with Rahm, speaking across Alec as she told about life in Krimshelm. Alec listened as he drove the horses, the road at this point so wide and easy there was little effort needed to drive the team, and gradually his eyes closed, his head nodded, and he fell asleep, suffering from the exhaustion of the long journey and battles of the night before. He fell into a troubled dream, full of dark forests and the fear of pursuit, a dream that became an endless battle with the walking dead he had fought last night, and then became an even more terrifying battle with a terrifying monster, one with whom he was locked in a mortal struggle, neither combatant able to gain any edge over the other. Alec felt his arms straining to push against the demon, he suddenly knew what it was, while he felt its claws inflicting agonizing pain as they pierced his back. Worse that the physical pain was the moral pain, the presence of the hatred and loathing and contempt and desire to bring harm and death to all of creation; he felt tainted, contaminated by the monstrous immorality.

He woke with a start in the middle of the unending nightmare, finding Bethany staring at him with concern, her hand on his cheek. “You screamed in your sleep. It must have been a terrible nightmare.”

“
I was fighting a demon,” Alec gasped, the reality of the dream still foremost in his conscious. “It was full of hate and pain, and I could feel it twisting and wrenching my soul, and there was no escape.” He fell silent, looking at the dappled sunlight that fell amongst the white trunks of the trees in the bright forest, and gradually the horror began to slightly recede.

Bethany continued to look at him from time to time with concern, and at last she spoke to try to change the atmosphere. “Where did you get those scars?” she asked, her finger tracing a line across the bridge of his nose.

“
It was a fencing wound from Imelda,” he said automatically.

“
Are you a good swordsman?” Rahm asked, while at the same time Bethany asked, “Who is Imelda?”