Chapter 10

From Toreas

With the sun disappearing behind the hills that marked the border of the eastern sea plain, the otherwise baked hot surface started to cool down. The wind from the sea picked up a little and made it almost a pleasant beginning of the night.

It had been a few hours since the soldiers were riding off to search their prey in other areas. The spot still bore a few hoof marks in the ground where they had rested for a short while.

A bit to the north was the river, flowing fast towards Lionor. Besides a couple of riders, the plain looked empty.

Overhead, some clouds still made it darker than it usually was on the plain. Night came and blanketed the whole area in darkness.

Then a spot on the plain wobbled. It was not very far from where the hoof prints of the horses were still stamped into the ground. Then it wobbled again. The plain seemed to curse once in that spot.

The ground broke up and spit out first Eric then shortly after that Zara. Both were weak and stretched their limbs, while greedily sucking in fresh air.

"First I thought we gonna get caught when I heard those voices, then thought we gonna suffocate in there", Zara said pointing at the shallow pit they had dug the night before.

"Now I think I'm going to have your head chopped off for having me soil myself in there."

"Stop whining. You are alive and free. The dirt you can wash off. Death or capture don't come off with water."

She pouted at him, but only for a moment, as she realized this required muscles to hold a pout which she needed to shovel in more fresh air. It irked her how he was so calm about it. They both stank like a pig sty and the feeling of it was horrid as well. She could not even look at the stains in her dress. She tried to think of something more pleasant and slowly got up. Standing just made it feel worse.

"Once my father hears about this, he will personally wring your neck for this insult."

"Insult? I just rescued you, again. But I would love to see you explain this situation delicately to your father in front of your court. That I'd pay to see."

She huffed and realized again how this did not work well with the need for more deep breathing. Being upset at him was impossible at this stage, so she decided to put it in the back of her head for now. She could berate him later, once she was able to stand solid and breath deeply at the same time.

To Eric it was almost comical. He could see how she was embarrassed at the things they had to do to survive. He felt not so good himself, but he had warned her and made some extra provisions for their hideout. She was sweating all over, at least where he could see. Her face was plastered with her hair and it did not seem to bother her at all, everything else was apparently the target of her scorn at the moment.

She finally gotten her grace back a little, at least enough to stand and breath normally.

"Fine, so shall we?"

Eric got to his feet as well and looked into the distance where he could make out the faint lights of Lionor.

"Yeah, I want to get there as soon as possible."

Zara left her cloak where it was. She did not want more on her that was that dirty. Eric had given her his cloak as a pillow for the long waiting, and she wore it now against the cool winds.

Fall was in full swing and it would not take long for the white of the ground to be covered in another white. It must look like the plains are covered in snow all year around from the castle, he thought. Then again now it was getting cold at night and during summer it would still be hot. There was no such thing as hot snow, he thought to himself.

"Do you have any family in Lionor?"

He looked over at her.

"No. I have no family anywhere."

A quick flash of surprise came over her face. He knew she just tried to get her thoughts away from the feeling her cloths were giving her, but still, this was the most interested she had been in him since the started their journey.

"I'm sorry. What happened?"

"They died, in a forest fire. It was a couple houses in the forest, four families, nobody survived."

"Except you."

Eric nodded.

"How old were you?"

"A toddler."

"So you don't know your birthday?"

"No. Is that important? I was about one and a half years old. So my Birthday is probably around solstice or so."

"And how did you survive?"

"My parents shielded me with their body and for some reason the flames did not get me. A hunter found me screaming the next morning. He had seen the smoke from far away and came to check if there was something he could do. He raised me like his son, but he told me as soon as I was able to talk everything about my past."

"Oh", was all she could say to that.

"He taught me how to hunt, but also how to fight, defend myself out here in the world."

"So when my father makes you a lord, he will come and live with you?"

"First I will not become a lord. Secondly, he is dead too. He died a few years ago from an infected leg."

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged.

"For what? You didn't cause the fire, nor the infection."

"What was he like?"

"Who?"

"The hunter. What's his name?"

"Norman, he was a kind man, but understood the harshness of the world. He always tried to tell me how everything around us is harsh and sharp, and with kindness we can take some of these edges off. I tried, but I always find myself brushing against the very sharp edges. Like you for example."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"I was in the middle of nowhere and brought a few mercenaries to justice, giving closure to the families of their victims, avenging the hurt. And there you are, posing an entire new world of problems. I could not chose differently than to help you. And now I'm hunted by fifty horsemen. Does that sound like something simple to you?"

"Not really, no."

They walked a bit in silence.

"So.. do you have any family in Lionor?"

She laughed and it immediately brought his spirits up as well.

"What a dumb question, Eric. I thought you were cleverer than that, I guess I have to change my mind about you again. Father should make you the stable boy or maybe the pit cleaner, that would fit you much better."

"You thought me clever? What gave you that impression? The attacking a superiority of armed and trained men, the running away from fifty well armed soldiers or the fact that we just spent a night in a pit I would rather forget?"

"We are alive, we are close to Lionor. Alone I would not have made it a day's worth of travel. But thanks to you, I can almost feel the streets of Lionor under my feet again."

He regarded her from the side. She had not shown appreciation so far, this was strange.

"We are not there yet. As much as I hate to ruin your good mood Zara, but from our progress I'm not sure we can make it to the gates, let alone the bridge before it is bright enough to see us from a distance."

The lights of the city were getting slowly closer, but too slow. Zara figured he was probably right. She had no experience with walking distances like these and especially not this particular distance.

"But then we will be caught out in the open when the sun comes up. Can we dig a second pit?"

Eric shook his head.

"My cloak is too dark. We could try, but we would have had to start digging earlier to be able to make it thick enough so the cloak wont be visible anymore. And then that is also more dangerous, we can't breath as easy with that much of this dirt on us."

He looked over to the river.

"The only thing I can think of is the river bed. It's a bit lower than the plain, even if it's just a foot or so. We could crouch and walk along the river before we get spotted. Maybe even walk in the water for a while to get even lower."

She looked over as well and thought about it for a moment.

"The water is freezing this time of the year. I'm cold already, I don't want to go into the water at all."

"We'll see what we have to do, for now we should walk along the shore to get used to it."

The river was flowing by fast. It carried the occasional twig or other bits of driftwood. Although it was slow at the edge, it quickly picked up speed and depth the further you went from the shore. After about four paces it was impossible to stand and one more pace in the water just rushed by so fast that floating wood pieces were shot like arrows on the rocks that stuck out at odd angles and in weird places all over the river. Once a piece collided, it exploded into multiple pieces that kept going down the river towards the ocean.

It was impossible to use a boat on the river. Once in a while someone would try, but most of these experiments ended in the deaths of their participants. Sometimes they would try using barge to drag things up or down the river, but that was too hard as well with the constantly shifting sand banks at the shores, the barges were more stranded than transporting. Carts and carriages were a much more effective way to transport things into the land, while the bulk was supplied to the city by the use of large ships docking at the harbor.

"I liked watching the harbor when I was a girl."

Eric made a non committal sound. He wondered where that had come from.

"I could sit on the city wall and watch the harbor from near the large harbor gates. All those people moving about, going strange places, talking about so many different things. I wanted to go out and experience these things myself at that time. But I knew I could not just go, even then. I had my responsibility to the kingdom to consider."

"Sounds like you are adventurous at heart. But I think you had enough of that now, don't you Zara?"

She looked at him in a strange way. He could not place it. It looked like she was thinking and considering, but at the same time saying that he was out of his mind.

"This kind, yes. But still, it has been interesting. I would like to see more of the world."

"The world is big and dangerous. Nobody has ever seen all of Toreas it would probably take two life times to see everything even if you had the fastest horses in the world at your disposal."

"You are probably right. I still would like to see more. Have you been in many places already?"

Eric shook his head.

"Mostly in the south of Lionor, a few times to the capital and some of the small kingdoms. But I have no desire to go anywhere else. I was born here and I have not seen anything else that entices me to go anywhere else."

"I have read books about far away places. There are islands where the people wear little or nothing. In the far south are tribes that nobody ever sees if they don't want to be seen. I even read about some people who live in the forbidden lands. I would like to see those places. But my responsibilities would never allow me."

"So you value your responsibility above other things?"

"Yes, very much so. You think it's all pillows and dresses?"

"A lot of it, yes, I actually think it's a lot easier than what the kings subjects have to go through."

She nodded.

"In some ways yes. There also is a lot of court intrigue and talking about other kingdoms makes it just so much worse. But our subjects are only responsible for themselves or maybe their children. My father and one day myself, are responsible for everyone, including you, Eric."

"Right", he said shaking his head. "I'm not anyone's responsibility, I look out for myself, thank you very much. Besides the kings guards are useless in the south. There are so many small villages and woods, they can never do anything useful unless they would be thousands of them there."

"And what do you do when there is no guard around?"

"I solve my own problems. Someone tries to kill me, I kill them. Someone takes something from me, I get it back. Simple."

"Sounds harsh."

"It's my life and I like it that way."

"You never wanted anything else for yourself?"

"Like what?"

"You know, a house, a wife, children?"

"No, not really. If I want to be with a woman, that's not really that difficult, but marrying and all that is an entirely different thing. What about you?"

"I got the house already, the question is only which noble I will marry."

"Sounds heartwarming when you say it like that."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"You say it like you select a pair of boots at the cobbler."

"Well.. It's probably a lot the same way to be honest. Nobles marry for power, influence, peace and such things, not for the heart."

"Sounds lonely to me."

"And your way of living looks like it's pretty lonely to me as well."

He shrugged.

"There always is a nice skirt that likes my company somewhere. I'm not really lonely."

They had gotten closer now, close enough to actually make out the bridge in the distance. It was a small arch, that spanned over the river with only one stone support in the middle of it. That stone support was shaped like a wedge so any flotsam that was still large would not knock the bridge down. Eric remembered watching things collide with that stone the first time he had been to the capital.

Zara noticed how he was staring in the distance.

"What is it?"

"It's getting brighter already. We won't make it to the bridge while it's still dark. We wouldn't even see it if it was dark enough. If our pursuers have a couple riders out on the plains, they will spot us for certain."

"What about the bridge, wouldn't there be someone too?"

"Probably, but if they are that desperate I might be able to delay them while you could make a run for it from there. And chances are that we won't be the only ones at the bridge. Let's just walk faster and maybe we get lucky."

Before the sun rose, the sky was already getting a brilliant blue, where it wasn't obscured by the clouds that still hung around. The bridge was a lot easier to see now as was the city of Lionor with its large walls and countless turrets. They were so close yet so far away.

"What's that smoke over there?"

Eric looked over to their right where Zara pointed. Something that looked like thick smoke rose a bit into the air and then disbanded quickly again.

"Not smoke. That's dirt being thrown up by riders. They must be a few of them together, one alone does not create that kind of dirt cloud."

He cursed silently.

The bridge was far away. Even running he would not be able to get halfway there before those horses would catch up. Zara would not be able to keep up even a third of the way. Even so they hastened their walking speed. Eric needed to think.

"Did they see us?"

"If they haven't they will soon."

On a horse they could escape easy, but all they had was their feet. The only thing moving faster than them or their hunters was the river.

"You get your bath sooner than you thought you would."

"What?"

She tried to launch into a protest when Eric slung an arm around her waist from behind and pulled her with him into the river. It was as freezing cold as he had imagined. The water started to bite into his skin and he knew they would not be able to stand this for very long.

Zara started flailing around.

"Let me go, we freeze or drown in there. Stop pulling me in, we wont survive this stupid idea of yours!"

"We take our chances with the water or with them. Chances with them will most likely mean you get captured or killed and I will die for sure."

"Stop it, I'm freezing!"

She already started to calm down as they went into the deeper part of the river and Eric no longer could stand. He was cold and shivering slightly, but she was shaking strongly in his arm.

To shield her, he turned his back towards the ocean. Just as he had done that, a sharp rock appeared out of nowhere and caught the strap of his pack. They were whirled around in the river and he almost lost grip on Zara, when the strap broke and they drifted downstream again.

The riders had noticed them and were now adjusting their course. They made in a direct line for the bridge. But instead of gaining, they were getting smaller again.

Eric felt a wave of triumph in himself. Or maybe it was another attack of the cold shaking him to the bone.

Zara was breathing hard in his arm, he could feel it, even though he could not hear anything in the rushing water they were in.

More stones and rocks had bruised him already. His belt had been cut in a similar fashion as the strap of his pack. There were a couple of cuts on his arms and legs and a sizable collection of spots that would turn blue soon. He struggled towards the left side of the river but it was hard work. The river currents pushed him sometimes closer then pulled him away again.

The bridge was getting closer very fast. He could see the middle stone of the bridge. Now he struggled to push to the right side to avoid being smashed into the stone wedge. Realizing he would not make it out of the way like this, he pulled Zara to his side, away from the stone.

It felt as if someone had smacked him with a gigantic hammer. It was only a glancing blow, but it was very painful already. The stone had hit his left side and back as he was spun around, then they were past the bridge.

The river did not run too long anymore before it would rush into the ocean. If they were still in it by then, the currents would push them far from the shore and it was unlikely they would make it back on dry land alive.

Kicking hard and trying to swim with one arm he made for the shore again.

A large rock sticking out came fast at them and Eric pushed away from the shore again to avoid it. He scraped with his back against it and got pushed far into the middle again. Just as he caught his breath form that encounter again, a wave in the river appeared and swallowed them both.