Chapter 8

From Toreas

Exhausted Eric slumped against a tree. Zara had already taken the liberty to just collapse on the ground.

It was night again and they had stumbled through the forest in near darkness for a while now. He was sure they had not doubled back by accident, but he also knew they had made a rather ugly trail that was easy to follow. Come morning light, their pursuers would be close on their heels again.

They were getting close to Lionor now. Three days, maybe four and they should be at the gates.

Between them and the city gates stood fifty mercenaries with horses and the eastern sea plains.

The ocean occasionally flooded the area, leaving behind a salt crust that some harvested but made it a very infertile ground for anything to grow. Lionor had no troubles with that as it was built on a large rock area, that went sharply to a point where the highest towers of the castle were built. The city even had a walled harbor with gates they could close against the floods. Eric had seen them with his own eyes and they were massive.

Over the plains snaked a river. It looked deceptively calm and had cost many travelers their lives. Only one bridge close to the city crossed it for a long stretch. There were a couple of shallow points, but they were largely unknown and as such still dangerous to use as a crossing.

The worst part, for any traveler on foot, was that you were completely exposed. Even if you walked fast, it still took a day from the last cover or building to reach the outer walls. The only exception was the swamps to the north, but they were not very inviting either. No enemy in numbers could sneak up on the city.

For now he would be happy with sneaking up in the numbers of two.

His best guess was to borrow or buy horses. A couple of places were close by where he could do so.

"We are in trouble, Zara."

She looked up.

Even though her hair was dirty and stuck to her skin, there was dirt in patches and smears all over her and she looked exhausted and even frightened still, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"We are already being hunted, what more trouble could there be?"

"Have you ever walked to the castle over the plains?"

"Why, no, why would I? I usually drove in a carriage."

"And how long did that take from the borders of the plains?"

"Usually about half a day... oh."

The realization hit her.

"Yes, we will take a lot longer on foot and there's no place we can hide. Maybe we can borrow or buy some horses. Just one horse would already increase our chances of making it alive."

She looked into the direction where Lionor was roughly in. There was a longing in her eyes but also the scared look of being hunted. She was afraid that those mercenaries could catch her again.

"I'll find a way to get you to the city."

Her attention focused on him. There was a hope now on her expression together with a light smile that made his heartbeat jump a little faster. He had to find a way, even if it's just to see her smile at him again with that smile.

As close to each other as they could lay, without touching, they fell asleep.

They were up early and moved fast towards the sea plain. They would run out of forest and soon after that out of brush high enough to hide them. At least the sun was up high and it was a clear day. The ground was hard as rock and there would be little tracks for their pursuers to follow.

A soggy ground had almost been their downfall before. In the mud they had left a lot of clear tracks. Shortly after passing that first village the mercenaries had almost caught up with them. Only the bad weather had been worse and the tracks were almost washed away. Of course this made going on harder and left even larger tracks after.

Since then their trackers were able to find their route every time. They also knew the general direction they were going of course, so there was little Eric could do to surprise them. The small hills, sprinkled woods and various small rivers made it hard for the riders to follow two people on foot. But not hard enough.

If they lost the tracks, they just had to search in the general direction they were walking in and would find them again. He had doubled back twice already. But yesterday their luck had been nearly up.

One of the scouts had seen Zara and was riding hard into the forest after them. Eric ambushed him with two throwing knifes to the chest. The horse kept running as its rider fell. A bit later they could hear shouts behind them about the dead mercenary and they ran as fast as they could.

It was already getting dark outside the woods, but inside it was even worse. This helped them escape but also hindered their progress. They just kept running, then stopped again for a short time to listen for pursuit and then kept running. Only when they stopped hearing anyone following them, they collapsed for the night.

Now in the bright of day, Eric was certain that they could not make it across the open space by day. Even if they tried by night, it had to be cloudy. The plains light up like a white cloth in the light of the moon and stars, when there were no clouds and it was possible to see people half a day away. Besides the river there was no real obstacle on the plains and you could see the city from afar, so direction would be no problem either. Even if they walked all night long, they would be spotted at day break. They wouldn't even need many riders for this, so there would be no suspicion from sentries of the city.

Yes, if they went this way, they would be captured for certain. The only difference is, they would be tired before they were captured.

"We need a dark night to get across the plain. If there are no clouds, those mercenaries will see us out there like on a clear day. We could get lucky with some fog in the mornings, but that will not be enough. We need almost two full nights to cross the plain on foot."

"I'm scared. We are so close yet we could be on the other side of Toreas and it would not make a difference."

"We can make it, I will find a way."

"What bothers me is that we have not seen one patrol of the guard."

It had been itching him as well. Usually the area around Lionor was crawling with them. Also there were few travelers on the road. It was harvesting time soon for some crops so they might have to be somewhere else, but the guards made no sense.

"I have noticed too. Was there anything going on before you left?"

She shook her head then looked down.

"When I went to the summer castle, everything was looking fine. Nobody had even probed Lionor's borders in a while."

Eric had a nagging feeling in the back of his head.

"Why is it that you were traveling under the assumed identity if a maid then?"

A faint blush came to her face and she looked at him again.

"There were a couple threats against the royal family. One rather clumsy assassin was captured in the summer castle, so the captain of the guard that was with me, decided it would be safer if everyone thought I was still at the castle, while secretly bringing me back to safety."

That made sense, but the ruse seems to have failed.

"Who knew of this plan?"

"What do you mean?"

"These mercenaries that captured you, they knew what they were looking for. They killed everyone but you, they attacked the right carriage at the right spot. Somebody must have told them about the plan."

He could clearly see the shock on her face. Until now she probably did not even consider the possibility of deceit and betrayal in her trusted circle.

"Nobody at the summer castle would betray the royal family. They are all loyal subjects of the kingdom. All of them have been in our employ since they were children. I played with some of them when I was a girl."

"Someone did betray you Zara. Even if they could have kept a close eye on you, they would not have been able to ambush you this way. They had knowledge of the plan in advance. So who all knew about it?"

She tightened her face, thinking hard about it.

"There was the guard captain of course, who came up with the plan in the first place. Then..."

Zara tried harder to think about it.

"Only the maid that took my place at the castle. We swapped places. She pretended to be tired and staid in my bed, while I kept my traveling hood up and slipped unrecognized into the carriage. Nobody else knew about it. We even stopped in a forest over night and I slept in the carriage so I would not show myself to anyone."

"The captain or the maid. One of them, or maybe both betrayed you. Don't trust them, if we ever make it back to Lionor that is."

He looked in the general direction where the city was still hidden from view by a couple of hills and trees.

"You seem to have a lot of problems for a princess."

"Seriously, you think it's all being served food and drink and look pretty for a princess?"

"I wouldn't know. You are the first I've met."

She looked at him askew for a moment and then laughed. It was a clear and cheerful laugh, something that made his heart lift a little, but there also was something that irked him about this particular laugh.

Eric furrowed his brow.

"What's so amusing?"

"I just... Well, your attitude would make you either very popular in any court I have been, or very dead very fast. Either way, I think it would be highly amusing to see it."

"Amusing to see me get killed? You have a weird sense of humor Zara. Is this common to all royals or are you special that way?"

"I doubt you would die that easy", she replied and waved his concern off. "The courts are a very dangerous ground but I think others have more to fear from you then you do from them in the end."

He mustered a barked laugh.

"If I rub any more shoulders with your kind, I will have to cut them off."

"Then you will be cutting off a lot of pieces of yourself I guess. My father will probably make you nobility for your services."

That made him stop in his tracks. She took one more step then stopped too, looking back at him.

"Tell me you are joking."

"I'm serious Eric. You probably end up being a lord of some area or another for rescuing me. You no longer have to... well, do whatever it is you were doing till now."

"What I'm doing is none of your concern. And I'm fine with it, I don't need no land or the responsibility of a title. I guess it's too late to bring you back now."

She smiled at him, turned forward again and resumed walking.

"Now you are joking, I can tell."

"Maybe, maybe not", he muttered under his breath and caught up with her in a few fast steps.

He could not stand nobility. From all he heard so far his dislike from a distance was more than justified. Zara was an exception to the rule, of that he was certain. She had some odd ways, but in general was a good person. Being noble though was not for him.

They made good speed and arrived at a small growth of trees, mixed with some vegetation that would serve them well as a hideout.

In the morning things were looking up. A few clouds were forming in the distance, but not the kind that would bring rain. They would turn the day gray and the night pitch black. Fall was full of days like these and suddenly he was glad it was winter soon.

They rested in the afternoon close to where the plain began. He could see the whitish flat surface spanning for what seemed endless miles. He knew that at the end there was Lionor. From here it looked like a beach, that began from the usual dirt areas climbing upwards into hills, but it did not soon turn into the blue of the ocean. It wasn't even visible from there.

Both tried to sleep, but neither was really able to. The clouds came in more and more during the day and it had gotten darker too. Eric was afraid that it still might start to rain, but it didn't.

"It's time, we have to go."

Zara nodded at him and followed.

He put up a quick pace which was easy to keep on the flat terrain. They rested a few times for a short while then kept on going. They were in a race against the rising sun.

"The night is over soon. What are we going to do?"

"I have an idea. Just keep walking, we need to go as far as we can."

In silence they moved on until the clouds above became a tiny bit brighter than before and fog banks started to roll over the sea plain.