Chapter 4

From Toreas

Eric was watching with horror as the blade of the leader connected with his left arm. Time seemed to stand still.

Confusion spread on the leaders face slowly. Why did his blade not go through the unarmored arm of the young man to his feet? But just as he comprehended that his opponent was not defeated, it was already too late.

Dagger in his right hand, Eric jabbed it into the leaders armpit up to the hilt. He twisted the blade and jabbed again, while the large man was already crumpling, carried forward by his momentum and collapsing on top of Eric.

The blade still stuck in his enemy, he felt for the mans neck. Yes, dead for certain.

A groan made him look to the barn. The man he had pinned there with an arrow was still there and alive, unable to free himself and having problems breathing it seemed.

His arm felt like it had been hit by a hammer. The blow had made his entire arm numb. That was better than being split in two, he conceded.

Pulling back his sleeve, he looked at the construction that had just saved his life. It was made of a few small metal pipes that ran along his arm and were connected by leather straps. There were dents in two of the pipes. They held up admirably. Next he shifted the construction a bit around his arm to reveal some nasty bruises forming where the two pipes had been before.

Pulling his dagger out of the leaders corpse, he pushed it away with his legs. Slowly getting up, he surveyed the area. It wouldn't take too much to cover it all up.

Before he could interrogate the last survivor, Eric went to each soldier and slit their throats just to make sure they wouldn't get up anymore. It would be rather stupid to be killed by someone that he should have killed before.

His arrow had pierced the last mans chest. It had missed the heart but was stuck in the lung. The man would be in a lot of pain and have almost no air, so he would be unable to fight him. He would need all his strength to keep breathing.

"Who hired you?" Eric asked.

He was just out of reach of the mans arms, but even if he could muster all his strength, the man would be unable to harm a mouse at the moment.

"Don't know", the man wheezed. "Only captain knew", he added nodding towards the armored leader.

"You've been under his command for long?"

He shook his head, tried to speak but only another wheeze came out.

"Hired just for this?"

The man nodded.

"So what were you meant to do?"

"Sack", the man wheezed, swallowed and tried again. "Bring here."

"You talking about the sacks you brought with you? You had to bring them here?"

Again a nod.

"What's in it?"

"Look, can't miss."

The wheezing gotten worse.

"You are waiting for someone here. More soldiers?"

Again a nod.

"When are they supposed to be arriving?"

"Two days."

"And you would join them and leave?"

"No. Done then."

Eric thought about it. He could have waited a bit longer then, and might have even gotten a better chance later, since they would not have been as vigilant. But that did not matter anymore. He needed to finish here and get away.

"Please", the man wheezed, "pain..."

Eric nodded and swiftly stabbed the mans heart, ending his suffering in an instant.

By the fire he grabbed a small shield and using it dug a small pit away from the barn. Holding some pieces from the fire with logs like a tong, he transported them to the pit. Throwing in some more wood and more of the pieces already on fire, he got it blazing fast.

He took a couple of the throwing knives off the first man he killed. He also checked each one for coins and papers. Only on the leader he found documents in a water tight pouch. Eric just took the whole pouch and stowed it under his shirt.

Each body landed on the new fire. A few times he had to remove some armor or clothing so the body would burn better. With all of them stacked on the flames, he threw some more wood into the blaze and went into barn.

Their sleeping spots were closely around the tree growing inside the barn. He stepped over them and to the back where sacks were standing upright next to each other. In the first one he found some helmets, some cloth, nothing out of the ordinary. The next one contained some food, potatoes and bread. As he was about to open the third, he heard a sound.

Whirling around, dagger already in hand, he peered into the darkness. Working on the fire had destroyed his night vision, so he could see only very little. Nothing moved. Then the sound came again, it was very close. And there it was again. The noise came from the second to last sack. It moved slightly too. The noises didn't sound like an animal, more like a human.

Carefully he cut the rope holding the opening closed and stepped back, ready for anything to jump out at him. Nothing jumped. Instead the opening fell down around the body of a young woman. She was blindfolded and gagged. Her wrists were tied in front of her. Long brown hair spilled down over her shoulders and down her body. A simple brown dress was all she was wearing, no shoes. Her ankles were tied as well. In the faint light he noticed how pale her skin was.

At first Eric was just staring. This all did not make any sense. Who was this woman and what did those thugs want with her? Obviously not the usual, as he had seen them engage in such activities before. No, this was different. A kidnapping? But why hide her like this? Something very odd was going on.

She struggled, feeling how she had been freed partially from the sack.

He pulled the gag from her mouth.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Water... please", was all she could say in a hoarse voice.

A water skin was laying just a step away, so he got it, checked if it really was water and gave her a few short gulps to drink.

"Now answer, who are you?"

"I.. am a maid in the house of Lionor. Our carriage was attacked. And who are you?"

It took him a moment to answer. She was helpless, a little sleepy and just met a complete stranger but had that demanding tone in her voice already.

"Nobody."

Without a moments hesitation she continued talking to him.

"My thanks to you for rescuing me kind sir. Please see to my safe return to the castle now and tell your men not to ogle at a lady, that's not becoming."

Eric laughed. He looked at her again, seeing an indignation form in her expression and then laughed again.

"What is the meaning of this? Are you not a search party sent to rescue me?"

"No, actually my party was sent to rescue a noble, not some maid. In fact I remember my orders clearly to kill anyone else I might find for their failures."

After a sharp intake of air she said hurriedly: "Wait!"

"Now why would I wait? Are you trying to weasel your way out of your fate?"

"No kind sir. I'm who you are looking for. Forgive my deceit, but I was traveling under the assumed identity of a maid and thought that I was being searched for the same."

"A noble from Lionor then. Who are you?"

Eric pulled her blindfold away. She blinked but adjusted quickly form pitch black to the dark of the barn.

"I knew you were lying to me and I don't like being lied to. So spill it, who are you and how did you get into this situation?"

Still confused she looked around.

"Where are your men?"

She looked closer at him.

"Where is your armor?"

Then she scrutinized him even closer, getting used to seeing things clear again.

"You are no knight, I doubt you are even a noble. Who are you?"

"I told you already, I am nobody, no knight or noble, so answer my question and then I decide what your fate will be."

After she swallowed hard, she had enough composure back to answer.

"I am princess Zara of Lionor, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The last part was a bit forced, clearly displaying her displeasure at him. It did not bother him one bit. In fact he liked looking into her eyes and found it surprisingly easy to read her mood. Even though it wasn't in good spirits at the moment.

Now that he could see her face less obstructed he saw that it was very beautiful. He wondered if all princesses were beautiful at that point, as this was the first one he had met so far.

"And how come you ended up in this sack?"

"I was on the way to the capital when my carriage was attacked. Everyone was killed, they only left me alive. Then they tied me and put me in there. I've traveled for weeks this way now."

"So this is some kind of ransom thing?"

"How would I know? They did not tell me anything, instead they gagged me."

She gestured with her chin at the gag hanging from her chin. Looking at him closer she tried a casual and non threatening tone.

"So you are some bandit group that came across these soldiers?"

Eric shook his head.

"I'm not a bandit. I saw them about two weeks back in a village. They plundered and killed people, but nobody could fight back. So I decided to take this in my own hands and now they are all dead."

"So you and your people killed them?"

"No people, just me."

She looked at him critically, as if she was trying to figure out how to make her next move. Then she did.

"Very well, then escort me back to Lionor and you will be richly rewarded."

Now Eric was the one looking critical.

"I'm not someone you can order around Zara."

"You will call me Princess or your highness, you peasant. Now free me this instant."

She had raised her voice at him, like she must have told off countless servants or subjects before. She may be a princess but he was a human being and a free one at that. Nobody talked to him like this.

There was a huge urge in him to close the sack up and just leave it here for whoever was coming for her in the first place. The way she was tied she would not go anywhere right now. He decided to let her cool off.

Without a word, he got up and grabbed one of the other sacks, pulling it outside.

"What are you doing? Free me!"

"No."

He said it calm and cold. It shut her up, at least for the moment.

After dumping the sack on the fire, he grabbed another one. She was quiet but she wanted to say something. Another sack later he came back to her, but remained standing so she had to look up at him.

"I have to do nothing, Zara. I wont call you anything else than your name, you have no power over me, but I have every power over you. Once you realize your situation, maybe you can talk in a proper way with someone who has the power to rescue you or kill you. Otherwise I just finish up here and leave you to be found by whomever these men were waiting for. You think they will be happy to see their comrades gone? Who do you think will be the target of their anger? I know it wont be me, because I will be far away from here."

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed some of the sleeping rolls and carried them to the fire.

As he came back she seemed to have run out of false bravado and pride for the moment. He sat down, took her wrists and cut the rope. She started rubbing them instantly. With a flick of his wrist that made her flinch, he cut the rope on her ankles and then sheathed the dagger again.

"There, right outside starts a path. Follow it and after a day or so you get to a crossroad with signs. Take the first right and you are on your way to the next village and Lionor beyond that. Good luck."

He got up again and grabbed the next sack and threw it on the fire. At his next run into the barn, he saw her just sitting there, still rubbing her wrists, eyes to the ground. He concentrated on his work and made sure all the sacks and items the soldiers had brought with them were either burnt or buried. He even pulled the sack and ropes that held Zara captive from her and dumped it on the fire. He added more wood and looked to the east. There was a faint glow in the sky, it would be light soon.

Covering up the fire wouldn't take long. After that no trace of a fight would be left over. Anyone who would come here would think that the people they were supposed to meet had not arrived yet or were gone already. Either way it would suit him just fine.

Zara was still sitting there and rubbing her wrists.

"If I were you, I would leave now. The sun will be up soon."

She looked at him and he saw there were tears in her eyes. That gave his insides a small twinge, but he did not let it show.

"You can't leave me here. I can't make it alone. Never in my entire life have I been alone outside the castle walls. I always had others to guide and protect me. There is no way I would survive out there or even reach that village. Please, help me. Please."

Eric looked down at her. He probably should slit her throat now. That would be the easiest way for him and her. Something that touched him when he looked into her eyes made him drop that notion instantly. Even if he really had wanted to, he could not just kill someone innocent like her, or he would not be better than those men burnt and buried outside.

"I'll take you to that village. From there you can send for help and get home safely."

She nodded, wiping her tears away.

"Thank you, thank you so much!"

Eric looked her up and down. She was weak, filthy, did not look anything like a princess and did not even have any shoes. Maybe she was lying, but he doubted it. It always made the hairs in the back of his neck stand up when someone lies to his face. She was telling the truth, as odd as that might be for him, she really was a princess.

He tried to relax. This was a weird problem, but one he would be rid of in two days. A voice in the back of his head wanted to get rid of her right now, but there was another voice that did not want to let her go, ever. Shaking his head at his own thoughts, he helped her up.

"Let's go."