A Battle Lord’s Heart (28 page)

Black
Linen

           
When they reached Fort Park, Atty
once again moved forward to answer the challenge. This time, though, they had
been anticipated. Before the words were out of her mouth, the main gates were
cranking open to admit them.

           
They stayed the night, the soldiers
encamped inside the compound around the small courtyard. Yulen and Atty were
invited to stay in the inn as guests of the compound. Yulen managed to wheedle
an extra room into the bargain so that MaGrath could have a soft bed for his
weary bones.

           
They were back on the road before
dawn. Before their departure, Yulen obtained another map of Mutah compounds to
add to his collection. For a good hour he poured over their placement in
relation to the Normal compounds lining the roadway.

           
“Look at this,” he pointed out to
the others in the small group riding together at the head of the caravan.
“There’s a compound named Good Choice just a day’s ride from Foster City.” He
paused as a thought struck him, and he turned to give his wife a narrow look.
“Atty?” His voice was soft and edgy.

           
“Mmm?”

           
Yulen slowly reared up in his
saddle. “Time for the truth, my dear.”

           
She tried to suppress the smile on
her face by pressing her lips together.

           
“You were going west to the great
gulf?” he asked her, referring to a time long ago in a rain-soaked forest, when
she had threatened to run away from him.

           
“I was,” she tried to tell him, the
smile growing.

           
“Bullshit. You were going to head
for Good Choice.” He glanced back at the map and did a quick calculation. “Then
maybe over to Barkertonville, up to Fullmont, and then to Wallis.” He glared at
her again. “You conniving little...”

           
By this time MaGrath and Mastin were
looking at each other, totally lost as to what the Battle Lord and Lady were
talking about, and alarmed at their tone of voice. It was clear Yulen was
peeved about something, yet Atty didn’t appear at all bothered by his
irritation.

           
“You pulled one over on me!” Yulen
accused her.

           
“Well, it worked, didn’t it?” she
snickered.

           
“And when were you planning on
coming clean about this? If you
ever
planned to? All that time I had
visions of you cold and wet, barely surviving out in the wood, struggling to
make your way back to Wallis—”

           
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Yulen!” Atty
began to laugh, a bright and sunny sound.

           
“You owe me big time, woman,” her
husband threatened, unable to stop himself from also smiling, caught up in her
infectious laugh. “
Big
time.”

           
“Yes,
sir
.” She threw him a
mock salute, which only caused him to shake his head in disbelief.

           
MaGrath loudly cleared his throat to
get their attention. “If you two are quite through with your discussion, may I
ask about how far we are from home?”

           
“Two days, give or take a handful of
hours.” Again, Yulen consulted the map. “Believe it or not, we should reach the
end of this trail by this afternoon. It’ll be straight forest to the roadway,
say another five or six hours. If we’re lucky, and if I’m reading this map
correctly, we’ll be lucky to reach the main road before dark. That’ll put us a
just day’s hard ride south of Alta Novis.”

           
“Good. Oh, and Yulen? Consider
this
to be my last caravan out.”

           
“And what if I have to go New
Bearinger to help oversee the rebuilding? Who will accompany me as my medicine
man, with MacIntyer gone? I need to get started on the plans as soon as
possible, now that the weather’s turning around.”

           
“Whoa! Whoa! Wait!” Atty interrupted,
holding up a hand. Turning partly in her saddle, she got her husband’s full
attention. “What is this ‘I’ crap? Listen to me, Yulen D’Jacques. You will
never leave Alta Novis ever again without me by your side. Shut up and
listen
to me, I said!” she snapped heatedly, seeing Yulen opening his mouth to object.
When he obligingly sealed his lips, she continued.

           
“This last time was the last straw.
I cannot, will not, ever again face another day or another night without you.
We belong together. We’re going to face our destinies together, and we’ll face
our deaths the same way. Together. I felt you that night, Yulen. I heard you
screaming in my head when the Bloods took you down and began slicing you into
pieces, before that Blood snake leader stopped them. I know what you were
thinking, and I’ll never be able to forget it, either.” She stopped, suddenly
aware of everyone but Yulen hanging onto her every word. Behind them, Fortune
and Renken pulled up to join them.

           
Atty watched his eyes, and husband and
wife saw the truth written on their hearts. “You weren’t afraid of dying,” she
whispered. “You weren’t afraid of what they were doing to you. You screamed my
name. You were terrified because you were being taken away from me. Because you
knew we would never see each other again.” Her voice hiccuped softly as she
fought the hot sting of tears in her eyes. “Because you truly believed it was
the end of
us
.”

           
Shaking her head vehemently, Atty’s
voice grew cold with determination and finality. “Our souls, our hearts are
permanently fused together. Where yours goes, goes mine, and you know I’m
right. Don’t you? You know you’ll never be able to ride outside the gates of
Alta Novis again and leave me behind...
don’t you?
”

           
“Yes. I know that,” he relented.

           
“Promise me?” she insisted. Oh, he
was such a hard, determined, and stubborn man who couldn’t ever admit to being
wrong, although the truth could come crashing down on him like a landslide. “
Promise
me, Yul!”

           
Leaning over, Yulen picked up her
hand where it rested on the saddle horn, turned it over, and kissed the palm.
“You have my word of honor,” he solemnly vowed.

           
The sun broke through the clouds,
full of warm, golden hope. Beneath the budding trees, two lovers sealed that
vow with a soft kiss, then urged their horses into a fast trot to hurry up to
the front of the line.

           
Just as night fell, the caravan
emerged from the forest onto the roadway, exactly as Yulen had predicted. They
made camp right there, although every man had a difficult time finding restful
sleep. They were a day’s ride away from home. And after all they had been
through, after months of recuperating and waiting out the winter, to be so
close to their loved ones was almost unbearable. Which was why, when they
stopped the next day for midday meal and for the required hour of rest for the
horses, they listened with interest to the Battle Lord’s proposal.

           
“From the landmarks around us, we’re
a little over ten hours away from home. If we continue forward at this pace,
it’ll have us moving long after dark. I don’t have to explain the dangers if we
persist in moving after sunset.”

           
There were nods of understanding
among the men. It was after dark when the worst and the most dangerous
predators prowled the surrounding forest. The Bloods may have been defeated for
the time being, but there was still the possibility of bears, or worse, wolfen,
catching their scent and stalking them in the chance a straggler could provide
them with an easy feast.

           
“Common sense tells us to stop and
make camp at dusk, which would place us two, maybe three hours away from Alta
Novis.” Yulen placed his hands on his hips. “You have put yourselves at my
command, but this time I’m going to let you make the decision. Do we let common
sense prevail, and make for home in the morning? Or do we continue straight
through, and get there tonight?”

           
Their decision was unanimous, as he
knew it would be.
 

           
As the sun dropped below the tree
line, and dusk approached, they stopped for an hour’s rest and a quick
meal.
 
When they were done, they brought
out the torches they’d made that afternoon. Moving three abreast, the caravan
resumed the pace they’d been traveling all day.

           
With each successive mile, with
every curve in the road, the soldiers’ anticipation grew. Their eyes scanned ahead
for that first glimpse of their home. Conversation thinned, then stopped
altogether. Bets were placed as to who would be the first to spot the pennant
at the top of the main lodge. Alta Novis would be lit up, ringed by torch and
lantern light in the darkness—a beacon to the exhausted traveler, and a sign of
warning to the enemy.
        

           
There was no banner for his men to
raise as they drew closer. It didn’t matter. In the dark none of the sentries
would be able to distinguish it anyway.
   

           
Another mile passed. Familiar
landmarks shrouded in black shadows passed them. Overhead the broken moon
managed to shed just enough light for them to see the road a few feet beyond
the horses. Atty looked over to see her husband listening intently, his head
tilted to one side. “What?” she whispered, not wanting to raise her voice. He
replied by raising his index finger at her.
Wait.

           
Moments later the call came. “Ho!
Strangers! Identify!”

           
They’d reached the outer perimeter
of the compound. The first line of sentries were challenging them.

           
Yulen signaled for a full halt. With
exact precision, every man pulled up, having heard the call themselves. “I am
Yulen D’Jacques, Battle Lord of Alta Novis,” Yulen replied in his most
authoritative voice.

           
There was a second of silence. When
the second became several, Yulen turned a puzzled look in the direction where
he knew the sentry would be posted. “Did you hear me?” he questioned gruffly.

           
“Ho! Strangers! State your
business!” There was no mistaking the shaking in the sentry’s voice. For some
reason, the man was fearful.

           
“My
business?
” Yulen echoed.
“We’re returning to our homes, me and my men.
That’s
our business! Who
are you, sentry? Identify!” To his surprise, the sentry neither stated his
name, nor did he appear in the roadway. The lack of discipline irked. “Very
well,” the Battle Lord snapped. “If you will not grant us passage, I’ll take it
by force.”

           
“I’ll ring the bell! I’ll let them
know you’ve breached the outer perimeter!” a terrified voice quickly yelled.

           
“It’s my compound!” Yulen yelled
back. “
Ring
the bell, damn you! Let them know we’ve returned! Wake up
the whole compound! Make all the infernal noise you want, because we’re going
in!”

           
“Yulen, they won’t open the gates if
the bell rings,” Atty stated a fact he already knew. She had to raise her voice
for him to hear, as the bell began to toll, loud and crisp in the clear night.

           
Giving the men the go-ahead, they
advanced forward, around the last bend of the road and over the small rise
before looking down at the compound below, nestled in its small valley. As they
knew it would be, the entire compound was ablaze with lights posted every ten
feet along the upper portion of the compound walls. Lights were also present
below each sentry turret, and along the roofs of the larger buildings inside
the walls.

           
As they stood, staring at the sight
they’d been homesick for, they could see the parapets filling with soldiers.
Alta Novis had gone on alert at the sound of the bell, which was as it should.
The entire compound called its forces out to protect itself against the enemy
that had penetrated the outer ring.

           
“Let’s go find out why I’m not
welcome in my own home,” the Battle Lord growled softly, and moved forward.

           
They advanced cautiously, knowing
they were approaching without a pennant and in the dark—two dangerous
combinations. As they drew closer one very unmistakable fact became clear. It
was MaGrath, riding beside Yulen, who voiced it.

           
“Yulen, the staff. Look at the
staff. The compound’s under black linen.”

           
The three of them pulled up to stare
at the pole rising above the main lodge. Where they should have seen the
half-blue, half-red signature flag at the top, the banner had been lowered
halfway. Above it, flying in the slight breeze, was a large rectangle of solid
black. The sign of mourning. And then, right at the top of the pole...

           
“Why the hell is Zane flying his
banner in my compound?” Yulen angrily cried. “He better have a damn good
reason.”

           
Kneeing the big Palomino, he pulled
ahead of them, determined to get to the bottom of this new development.
Overhead he could see the archers tensing. Despite the torches they were
carrying, Yulen knew they couldn’t get a good view of his face, but they
wouldn’t need to as long as they had a definite figure to aim for.