The Chronicles: Three Sisters 15

The Izumyrian guards were completely confused. Where were these arrows coming from? The first sentry who figured it out died a moment later, as Nameless put an arrow in his throat.

That was all we'd come to do.

I barked, like an animal - it was the signal we'd agreed upon beforehand. We began to pull back into the woods.

They could have heard us - we had to abandon stealth, at this point. But given that the Izumyrians were shouting, and running to and fro, it was unlikely that many of them could have distinguished the sounds we made, backtracking through the trees and the underbrush.

I held a hand in front in my face, because I couldn't afford to lose my eye, at this point. My bow caught on the branch of a bush. I retraced my last two steps, and tried to work it free, rather than pulling or yanking at it, which might have snapped the branch.

We weren't moving very fast. But the Izumyrians weren't pursuing. A few of them had plunged into the trees next to the little knoll. There they wisely stopped; they had little to no hope of finding us in the darkness.

***

Vingoldas and the others were waiting on the path. All four of them let out a collective sigh of relief when they caught sight of us.

I let Guenna tell them what had happened. I was far too busy trying to catch my breath.

- "The Duchess?" asked Guenna.

- "It's a boy." said Vingoldas.

- "An heir to the Duchy!" said Prosquetel. I thought he was about to burst into song.

Nameless saw me labouring, and took my arm.

- "I'm not hurt." I protested. "Just winded.

She was wise enough not to reply. Instead, she found me a large stone to sit on. Then she left me alone. Clever girl.

***

It was hard to wait.

Fishing isn't waiting; if you're beginning to grow impatient, then you're doing it wrong. Hunting often requires tremendous patience. But if the weather grows inclement, or your quarry proves too elusive, you can always go home, and try again another day.

On this occasion, I knew that Yevna and her group had been successful. Whatever they'd done, it was enough to give us the opportunity we needed. Seaglitz and several of his top officers were dead, or seriously wounded.

Yevna had further to travel, so we could do little but wait, and hope.

Had they been heavily engaged? Had they taken losses? And then, as the waiting dragged on ... would they come back at all?

Vingoldas cleared his throat.

- "Should we ... talk about tomorrow?" he said.

I glared at him. "Without Yevna - without Giedra - we're done. You know that."

- "I think," said Guenna, "that what Vin meant was that we would discuss what's to be done on the morrow given that Yevna's group will come in sometime tonight."

Vingoldas had the decency to blush, a little. That wasn't what he'd meant at all. He wanted us to face the worst possibilities. But I wasn't ready for that.

- "Whether they come back, or not, Guen, we're in no shape to do anything tomorrow." I said. "We can't move the Duchess. And the fighters who are here have all had a rough day, followed by a sleepless night. You can't expect us to sprint six leagues with the elderly and the children on our backs. Not tomorrow, at any rate."

"Yevna's group will be more exhausted than any of us. They'll have to rest, too."

I turned to Nameless.

"Make sure that you and Libot get some sleep; you may have to go out tomorrow night, again."

- "Alright." she said. Then she paused. "Why not Seva, too?"

- "She won't sleep any more than Guenna or I will, until Yevna comes back - she'll wait for her brother Weyl."

- "What was that about?" said Vingoldas.

- "We're in the same situation we were earlier today." I said. "If the Izumyrians come straight at us tomorrow, in force ... well, we can't hold. And we still can't run."

"But if Seaglitz is dead -"

- "He is." said Guenna.

- "And if enough of the leaders, the officers, are also dead, or severely wounded ... and if Yevna's crew have driven off some of their horses ... well ..."

- "They may not move." said Guenna. "That's exactly what we were hoping for."

- "I understand that." said Vingoldas. "But then we're still stuck in the same situation, only it's a day later."

- "Except that they may be leaderless." said Guenna. "And if they are, we may be able to keep them off balance long enough for us to retreat."

***

Yevna came in shortly before dawn.

Every surviving member of her party was exhausted, soaking wet and mud-spattered. Yevna herself could barely lift her arms.

She couldn't even speak. She caught my eye, and nodded once.

- "Let her lie down." said Giedra.

The big blonde warrior looked awful. Guenna took charge of her sister, while I quickly guided Giedra to the stone I'd been sitting on, and helped her to sit down.

"Anything to drink?" she got out. "I've built up quite a thirst."

It was pure bravado. Giedra could barely keep her head up, but she was still putting on a performance. I knelt beside her.

- "Rest easy." I told her. "Your legacy is safe. If anything, you've enhanced it."

- "I like you, Veran. Have done from the first. But Yevna? I love that woman."

I had to grin. "Save your breath. Here - drink this. We want to hear what happened."

Giedra took a long swallow, choked, and promptly spat up half of it on my leg.

- "Yecch! What is that?"

- "Your wineskin." I told her.

- "Oh. In that case, give it back."

She had just enough energy left to play with me. Then we were interrupted by a piercing scream.

- 'NOOO!"

I looked over my shoulder, to see Seva rushing toward me. Her face was contorted with rage, the veins and cords in her neck quivering.

"YOU! You did this!" she shrieked. "You split us up! You made me go with you, and sent Weyl with that bitch - and she got him killed!"

Seva was out of control. She was fumbling for an arrow (thankfully, she'd forgotten that she wasn't carrying her bow).

Fortunately for me, Nameless appeared behind her, and clobbered Seva in the side of the head. Hedyn and a few others came to help, and they subdued the red-haired archer. They actually picked her up, and carried her away.

- "Weyl?" I asked.

- "He didn't make it." said Giedra. "But there's more to it than that."

- "Tell us." said Guenna.

- "Yevna led us right to the stream. It was like she could see in the dark. How she kept us all together, without losing anyone ... it was uncanny."

"She found their horse lines. Better yet, she located the sentry at the corner of their camp, and put him down with a single arrow. Tremendous shot."

Giedra paused, to take another swig from her wineskin. She grimaced, but swallowed it anyway. She had a great sense for drama.

- "Yevna had us all stay there, and went off on her own, like a ghost. I didn't hear a thing. Couldn't see, either, it was so damned dark. Then she appeared out of nowhere. I think she'd eliminated another sentry."

"She had us gather around her, and gave instructions. Clear, and short. Not a wasted word. We went in like ... like forest spirits. We cut their horse lines, and pushed their horses until they stampeded."

Another swig from the wineskin.

- "We ran into a couple of guards. I downed one - he was facing Rion at the time, so it was no great feat. Then Yevna began making animal noises, and we gathered around her. I suspect that we could have gone further, or done more ... but Weyl had lost his hand, almost up to the elbow."

"Odma had taken a knock on the head, too. He was staggering a bit."

"Yevna tied Weyl's arm with his own belt. Then she got us out of there. I'm still not sure how she did it. She was like ... a shepherd, with a flock of sheep."

"You know how dark it was? We stumbled around. Iduallon must've tripped over fifteen types of root and shrub. Yevna was half-carrying Weyl; I was steering Odma along. Then we lost Iduallon altogether. Yevna had to go find him."

"That was when we discovered that Weyl had been wounded in the thigh as well as the arm. He'd been bleeding all the way. Once he fell, we couldn't get him back up."

Giedra made it sound like an inconvenience. I could well imagine the panic, lost in the forest in the middle of the night, when they discovered that one of their number was bleeding his life away in the dark.

- "Believe me when I say this: I truly don't know how Yevna brought the rest of us back. Eliv managed to stumble into a swamp, and Dengelle nearly drowned. But Yevna got us all back here."

She shook her wineskin. I think I need something else to drink."

Giedra fell asleep before we could get her anything else.

***

I woke to find that Sulcen had lain down next to me. Her arm was across my chest.

My back was sore. When I gently disengaged from Sulcen, I discovered that everything was sore. My legs, my knees, my shoulders ...I had to roll onto my stomach, and gradually get my knees beneath me. Then I needed to lean on my sword just to get to my feet.

Fortunately, no one saw me - or, if they had, they pretended they hadn't.

I couldn't have gone 6 leagues, up and down along those rocky mountain trails. The others were younger, for the most part, but if they were feeling anything like I was ...

Yevna was still asleep, with Guenna and Dengelle to either side of her. Vingoldas lay on his back, a few feet away, snoring to wake the dead.

- "Stiff?" said Sulcen. Her eyes were open.

- "I'm too old for this."

- "Not yet. But if we keep this up, you will be." she said. "We need to find a quieter place to live."

- "You mean a safer place."

- "If there is such a thing."

- "There is. We'll find it. I want to grow old with you, Sulcen. Well, older, at least."

She smiled at me. I wanted to kneel down beside her, and kiss her - but I wasn't sure that I could get up again without embarrassing myself.

- "Let Vingoldas sleep a little." she said. "He was on guard until just a little while ago."

- "Who's on watch now, then?"

- "Nameless and Libot have gone to scout. She said to tell you that they would be careful."

The fact that Sulcen was telling me these things meant that she herself had been up all night, too.

- "You should sleep a little more." I suggested. "Are you cold?"

- "No. I'm fine. Let Tanguiste sleep, too." Sulcen closed her eyes.

Hedyn was awake, too. We stayed on guard together, without saying much. If the Izumyrians had decided to strike back, Nameless and Libot might not be able to give us much warning - for all the good that might do.

We had a short, difficult conversation, talking about matters that should never have to be said. But my old friend was thinking the same things, and he seemed to take comfort in the knowledge that I felt the same.

There was one more thing I had to do.

I went over to where Nameless had left Seva. To my surprise, the redhead's hands had been bound behind her back. She was lying on her side.

And her eyes were open.

- "I'm sorry, Seva. I didn't know that Nameless tied you up. That must be uncomfortable."

I drew my knife. I was feeling a little more limber by now, so I knelt beside her, and cut her bonds.

It may sound like a very foolish thing to do, but we weren't about to keep Seva tied up indefinitely. The moment we released her, she might very well try to kill me - she'd certainly been angry enough to try, last night.

My only real choices were to let her go, or to kill her. If she wanted to come after me right away, at least I had my knife. But Seva hadn't really done anything to deserve killing.

When I severed the bonds, she slowly rolled onto her back. Then she brought her hands together, and began to rub her ribs. She glared at me - but it wasn't the murderous rage she'd been in earlier, when she discovered that her brother was dead.

- "I'm sorry about Weyl." I said. "I always liked him. But I needed your skill with a bow last night. That's why I had you in my group. Well, that and the fact that you don't like Yevna. I wasn't sure that you would do what she told you to."

I was also afraid that you'd be so busy looking out for Weyl, or for Iduallon, that you wouldn't be paying attention to the enemy."

Seva didn't contradict me. So I carried on.

"Yevna should have been with us. But she's the only one who could find the stream where the Izumyrian horses were. In the dark, Seva. I couldn't ask anyone else to do that."

"So you had to be with me. Whose arrow killed Count Seaglitz? I missed him. Nameless, or Libot? Or was it yours?"

"Weyl couldn't have helped us. Not with what we did last night. That's why I sent him with Yevna. I didn't mean to put him in any more danger than Yevna and Dengelle faced."

"But I'm still sorry. I'm going to miss him."

All the time I was speaking, I kept a careful watch on Seva's eyes. And her mouth. She looked angry, but not crazed. And I watched her mouth, because 9 out of 10 people will take a quick breath before they lunge at you.

- "What were you and Hedyn talking about?" said Seva.

That wasn't quite the response I'd been expecting.

- "We ... we talked about private matters."

- "Were you talking about me?"

- "No, Seva. We were talking about what we would have to do if the Izumyrians attacked in force today. Hedyn was facing the possibility that he might have to kill his own wife, to prevent her from falling into the hands of our enemies."

"Meanwhile, I was trying to steel myself to kill my wife, two of my daughters, and Dengelle."

Seva only stared me for the next few moments. I had absolutely no idea what was going through her mind.

- "I'm all alone." she said.

- "No. You're not. No more than Odma, or Nameless, or Dengelle. You have family, Seva - if you want."

Once again, Seva stared at me for the longest time, without speaking.

- "I'm going to sleep now." she said.

- "I'll wake you if anything happens."

- "Alright."

***

Nameless returned after mid-day.

- "Libot is watching the foot of the path, just in case." she said.

- "What did you find?"

- "Very little. They're still there - at the little knoll. But they haven't come forward."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good - because at this point, a dozen angry children could probably overrun us."

- "I notice that you're on your feet." she said, with a grin.

- "That's just pride. I can't feel my knees anymore." I said. "How about you? Do you need to sleep?"

- "I'll try."

I don't know if she heard the word 'pride', or if she was just a light sleeper, but Giedra woke, and sat up.

- "Talkin' 'bout me?" she grumbled.

Nameless smiled, and went off to lie down.

- "You can go back to sleep, Giedra." I said. "There are no guslars here."

- "Guslars? Here?" Giedra was wiping the sleep from her eyes, but I could tell from her grin that she was once again only playing with me.

- "You could've been a guslar yourself. That was some performance last night."

- "Ha! Hardly - I don't want to sing songs about others - I want them to sing about me." she said. "And if only you were ten years younger, Veran, I'd show you another kind of performance!"

- "You're one of a kind - I'll give you that."

- "How are we doing?' she asked. Typical Giedra - she could veer from tongue in cheek boastfulness to complete seriousness without taking a breath.

I told her what I knew. She even asked about Seva, and I told her what had passed between the redhead and me.

Guenna woke up, too - she seemed slightly embarrassed that her old father had gotten up before her.

Tanguiste came out to join us. She saw Vingoldas - or heard him snoring - and wisely decided to let him be.

- "Midwife to a Duke?" said Giedra.

- "Nothing so glamourous." said Tan. "Just a baby."

- "Was it difficult?" I asked.

- "Compared to what you were doing? No, Papa."

- "Did she give the boy a name?"

- "She did." Tanguiste made a face. "She named him Borna."

- "She did?" said Giedra. "Big boots to fill."

Normally, we Uplanders could care less about the Lowlands. We call them Niskadi, and we get through our days without even thinking of them. But the name Borna still carries some weight with us.

- "Think she knows what she was doing when she called him that?" I asked.

- "Definitely." said Tanguiste.

- "Can we move them? Tomorrow?"

Tanguiste was no fool. She was also an expert at reading my expressions - and Guenna's.

- "If you think it's necessary."

Yevna woke well after midday. She was mortified to have been asleep for so long.

- "Slow down!" I told her.

After a short conference with Guenna and me, Yevna was off again. She alone could find the sites where the Izumyrians might be - and then get away unseen. She was right, too; we had to know what our enemies were up to.

Guenna took charge of making certain that everyone who been awake for too long got some proper sleep. She also warned everyone that the next day or two would be physically taxing.

Then she tried to get me to sleep. "Please, Papa. We'll need you, tomorrow."

But when Guen Nadesti came out to see me, what was I supposed to do?

- "I was right, Veran." she said.

- "Were you?"

- "You know I was. After all of the bad decisions I've made in my life, I finally made some good ones."

Sulcen was sitting beside me as her mother spoke those words. I wondered if Mother Nadesti was speaking to me - or to her daughter. Was this some kind of apology?

- "You've always been fair with me." I said.

- "Don't be foolish, Veran." she admonished me. "If I hadn't let you stay on the Hill, I dare say we'd all be dead by now. Your daughters have saved us - and you've done more than your share, too."

- "Thank you, Guen."

- "That was only one decision. I'm also glad that I forced you to marry my daughter. I think that she was exactly what you needed."

That surprised me. I would have expected her to say that I was just what Sulcen needed. But then my wife reached up and took her mother's gnarly hand in hers.

Old Guen Nadesti looked at her daughter, who'd been so wronged. Then she glanced at me. There was so much history between us, so much more that could have been said.

But Sulcen didn't seem unhappy. And if she could accept her lot in life, could I do any less?

- "What happens tomorrow?" asked Mother Nadesti.

- "We have to move, Guen." I said.

- "Then I'd better get some sleep." she said. "Early to bed, early to rise."

***

Yevna returned well before the dawn. She'd gone back to the stream.

- "More guards. Fewer horses, though. I don't think they've recovered all the ones we scattered." she said.

Guenna agreed with me: that was good to know, but it didn't change the basic fact that we had to move. If the Izumyrians decided to push forward while we were trying to do that, then we were done.

There was nothing for it but to begin.

A few days rest had been good for the older folk, and the children. But we would have to carry several of them over the rougher stretches.

Yevna would watch our backs, with the other archers: Nameless, Libot, and Seva.

- "Are you sure about Seva?" asked Vingoldas.

- "No. But she'll either get over it, or she won't. Short of tying her up and carrying her, too ... what else would you suggest?"

We were away just after dawn.

They say that slow and steady progress can win the race. We certainly had the first part of that covered.

Hedyn's wife carried their newborn, while Dengelle held the hands of their other children. But when we reached the first difficult terrain, both mother and baby had to be carried, and the toddlers as well.

Guen Nadesti and the older women needed the same kind of assistance. And then there was the Duchess and her child.

To do this carrying, we had Giedra and her two friends, Hedyn and Odma, Vingoldas and me, and my two daughters. Sulcen pitched in as well, as did Gerimir the Lowlander. That was all we had. Prosquetel was showing his age, and Iduallon said that he couldn't help with our labours.