Betrayal in the Highlands (40 page)

Too late now
.

He beheld Molly’s grave again.

“I’m sorry,” he told her.

Seems I’m always standing over graves. First Thorax, then Fatty, and now
…

Edmund sighed.

I can’t bring any of you back
…
but perhaps I can prevent any more needless deaths.

He thought of the new Rood that would rise up out of the ashes.

We’ll need a taller wall.

And more men. We can’t operate the town and the surrounding farms and ranches with just one hundred sixty-nine men.

More will come. You’ll have to turn people away once word gets out about Rood’s right to self-govern. Thousands will come, just to get away from their nobility.

We need to be ready for them. Have housing and sanitation.

And food.

It’ll take a lot of money to get things going.

Money
…

He turned to Becky lying in the dirt next to him. She had helped him dig.

“Fortunately,” he said, “I know where we can get as much money as we can carry.”

Becky leapt to her feet as Edmund mounted the knight’s horse.

“Come on, girl. We have a long ride ahead of us.”

After several days of searching along the River Celerin, Edmund and Becky finally found the abandoned lair of the troll he’d slain the previous year. The chests overflowing with gold and jewels were still there, as were the weapons and armor along the walls. Even after filling his sizable backpack and saddlebags, a tremendous amount of riches still remained—perhaps even enough to build a second town.

Cold rain was drizzling by the time they approached Rood. Autumn was well underway, and winter wasn’t far behind. He’d been gone almost exactly three weeks, just like he’d told everybody, and much had been done in his absence. Hundreds of trees had been felled, and though it left a wide landscape of ugly stumps, the walls were now more defensible. Indeed, the watchers on the wall shouted his arrival long before he’d reached the east gate. Nearly everyone waited for him when the gates opened.

“Did you bring back any women?” a man in the crowd called out as Edmund rode into town.

Everybody laughed.

“No.” Edmund dismounted and rubbed his aching back. “But they’ll come, especially now that we have this.” He opened his backpack. The converging crowd stopped, mouths open, and stared at the tens of thousands of gold coins, gems, and jewelry pieces.

“By the gods!” somebody exclaimed.

“I can’t believe it.”

As everybody closed in, Pond and Abby emerged from The Buxom Barmaid, though they came no nearer than the edge of the buzzing crowd. Edmund noted they stood close together, hands in their pockets, shoulders touching as though in mutual support. They seemed pleased to see him, yet there was a hint of sadness in each of their smiles. Or perhaps it was concern. Either way, they didn’t maintain eye contact with him for very long.

Uh-oh
.
What’s this all about? Why are they acting like that?

Somebody shouted something through the clamor.

“Are the saddlebags filled with gold as well?”

Several men were pointing to the bulging bags slung over the flanks of the destrier.

“What?” Edmund said, still watching Pond and Abby through the surging mass of people. “What? Oh, yes. Yes, we’ll have enough to support ourselves for some time.”

Losing sight of his friends, Edmund craned his neck in an attempt to see over everybody’s heads, but a wall of people surrounded him. Hendrick, Bain, and a couple of seasoned warriors made their way through the crowd and laughed when they saw the treasure glistening in the rain.

“We should have built a bank before we built the barracks!” Hendrick said, rubbing his hands together.

“So what do we do now?” Bain asked. “There aren’t any stores or women to spend any of this on. What do we do with it?”

But Edmund was still trying to catch a glimpse of Pond and Abby. “What? Oh … well, that’s what we need to decide,” he said. “We, we have to invest in our town wisely. I suggest we buy some horses, mares for breeding. And, and we could pay some stone masons to come up here to heighten the wall.”

“I’m a mason!” someone cried, waving his hands.

“But you can’t do it all yourself, now can you?” somebody else answered. “Go on, Ed. What else do we need?”

There was still no sign of his friends. A soaking wet Becky snapped at several men who reached for the gold coins, but even her growls weren’t enough to dampen the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“What now?” someone called out.

Edmund gave up searching for Pond and Abby through the swarm of people. He was soaked and wanted dry clothes, hot food, and a mug of beer. “I need a couple of big chests,” he told them. “Ones with locks, solid locks.”

“I have a footlocker that might fit some of this, sir,” said one of Hendrick’s guards.

“Good. Go get it,” Edmund said over the noise. “Dump all of this in the footlocker then put it in one of the rooms of The Buxom Barmaid, one on the top floor. Place a sentry there.”

“Yes, sir!” The guard saluted and hurried off.

“I could build something more substantial than a footlocker,” Cavin said from the middle of the crowd. “Maybe Toby could help reinforce it with iron.”

Toby
…

“Yes, yes,” Edmund replied, now looking for the young blacksmith. “How are the barracks coming?”

Several people answered at once.

“One is finished,” Hendrick told him.

Already?

They’re motivated. Nobody wants to sleep outside in this rain, and they all can’t stay in the tavern.

“It’s as solid as a rock and as comfortable as a feather bed!” somebody else added.

Many of the men patted one another’s shoulders for a job well done.

“The second barracks will be finished in a couple of days or so.” Cavin leapt up so he could be seen through the group of brawnier men. “We’ve been creating planks—thick planks for the ramparts around the inside of the walls. We’ll get to that next.”

“Very good!” Edmund said. “Good work, all of you.” He spied Toby though the crowd and beckoned him to come closer.

Acknowledging Edmund, Toby wove his way through the knot of men.

“Everybody!” Edmund shouted. “Everybody, quiet down for a moment. Please!”

“Shut up!” Hendrick bellowed.

The crowd quieted.

I wish I had a table to stand on.

“This is what I need you to do,” Edmund said. “Continue with your work. We cannot slacken in our effort to rebuild this town or it’ll be taken from us.”

“Not without a fight!”

Cheers erupted as far off thunder rumbled. Everybody was getting as soaked as Edmund and Becky were.

“Come nightfall, everybody meet at The Buxom Barmaid,” he went on. “We need to discuss many things, including what to do with our money.” He had stressed the word “our,” and many people looked at him in wonder. “We also need to start mapping out the town and parceling out plots of land.”

Another cheer went up.

Several men grabbed Edmund and were about to hoist him into the air, but he shooed them away.

“We also need to start electing our leadership,” he said.

“You’re our leader!” many people said at once, to a chorus of shouts and whistles.

“Maybe I am,” Edmund yelled as loudly as he could. “But I’ll need help, and we all get a say in who’ll be doing what!”

Everybody started talking.

“Shut up!” Hendrick shouted. “Be quiet!”

But nobody was paying any attention. They were all chanting, “Ed! Ed! Ed! Ed!”

Toby finally reached Edmund.

“Toby, take the horse to …” Then Edmund realized the stable had burnt down.

“We built a new stable and a corral on the other side of town,” Toby said, guessing Edmund’s thoughts.

At least he isn’t scared of me. That’s something.

You’d better hope he doesn’t tell anybody you’re a magic user. If anybody else finds out—

“Good,” Edmund told the young blacksmith. “Could you take the horse there and get him situated? Then come see me. We have to talk, okay?”

Toby winked. “We can talk whenever you have time, Mister Edmund. But don’t worry. Some things don’t need to be said.”

Good kid! He won’t tell.

Maybe …

Toby took the destrier’s reins and began leading it away. “I’ll find you after dinner. It looks like you could use a good meal and some dry clothes.”

“Anything else, sir?” Hendrick asked.

It took a moment for Edmund to realize he was being addressed.

“What? No. No. That’s it. Get back to work and then meet at nightfall.”

Hendrick clapped. “All right! That’s it. You heard him. We have work to do while the light holds. Back to what you were doing. We’ll talk tonight. Get back to what you were doing!”

As the crowd began to dissipate, Pond and Abby came into view. They still stood next to each other, hands in their pockets, bittersweet smiles on their lips and worry in their eyes. Edmund and Becky hurried over to them.

“Good to see you back in one piece.” Pond shook Edmund’s hand. “Was the trip a success?” But something in Pond’s tone suggested he knew it hadn’t been.

Standing on tiptoe, Abby kissed Edmund on the cheek. “Welcome home.”

“What’s wrong?” Edmund asked them.

Rain drizzled around them. Someone walked by and slapped Edmund on the shoulder.

“You’re amazing! You know that? I can’t believe we have our own town!”

Edmund nodded to him, and then returned his attention to his friends.

Pond and Abby waited for the man to stride out of earshot.

“What’s wrong?” Edmund repeated.

“Did you manage to kill Kravel?” Pond asked.

Edmund shook his head. “No. I couldn’t catch up to him. What’s going on? Do you have something to tell me?”

Abby kicked at the mud. “What about Molly? Did you find her?”

Thunder rumbled to the southwest. It was much closer now.

“She’s dead,” Edmund replied, shocked by how callous he sounded. “What’s going on with you two? Is something wrong?”

Pond and Abby exchanged glances. Then they began to walk.

“Come on. I think you need to see something.”

Edmund and Becky followed.

“What’s wrong? Pond, just tell me.”

They came to Molly and Norb’s house.

“The town had a meeting a couple of days ago.” Pond led them up the reconstructed front stairs. “And we all agreed you should have this place. Or at least the land. You can certainly tear down this eyesore and build something better.”

They went inside, brushing off the rain.

The front room had been cleaned, the bloodstained rug upon which Norb was murdered had been removed, and everything looked spotless. Even the mildew smell was gone.

“What’s wrong?” Edmund asked. “Just tell me.”

Again Pond and Abby looked at one other as though in disagreement regarding a matter of importance. Abby sat and stared at the floor.

“Abby?” Edmund said.

She didn’t look up.

“Abby? Pond? Tell me what’s going on.” His gaze flitted between the two, anxiety replaced by anger.

Pond shrugged.

“When we decided you should have this place, Abby and I came in to clean it; you know, to get it ready for you when you returned.” He took an uneasy breath.

Edmund wanted to scream. “And … ?”

Pond finally looked up at him, eyes filled with a mixture of sadness, fear, and several other emotions Edmund couldn’t quite place.

“We found something you need to see.”

Pond inclined his head toward the back rooms and started walking, hands still in his pockets. Edmund considered Abby, but she sat on the sofa, apparently unwilling to leave the front room.

Edmund followed Pond. “What’s this all about?”

Pond stopped and motioned toward a closed door at the end of the hallway. “Take a look.”

Edmund studied the door and then Pond’s expression.

Pond nodded for him to go on.

“What the hell is this?” Edmund asked. “What’s going on?”

He approached the door and opened it cautiously.

Behind the door was a small room filled with expensive furniture, toys, and an ivory crib fit for a princess. A hint of perfume lingered in the air.

A nursery?

“People say that Molly had a little girl,” Pond said.

“A daughter … ?”

“But very few people ever saw her. For some reason, Molly rarely let her outside. Maybe she was hiding her. I don’t know.”

She had a daughter?

Get us out of here
… Molly had said.
If they find us
…

Us
…

She didn’t mean her and Norb
…

“Ed?”

That’s why she was following Kravel. That’s why she was running after him, even though he had
—

“I don’t suppose you found …” And Pond’s voice trailed off when Edmund shook his head.

“No.” He stared at the empty crib. “Kravel’s got her …”

THE END

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Kimberly Grenfell of Imagination Ether Press for her wonderful editorial services, my Facebook, G+, and Goodreads friends for their tireless efforts promoting my books, and my wonderful wife, Kristen, for loving me even though I’m a pain in the ass.

About the Author

By day, Robert Evert is an ordinary university professor bent on stamping out ignorance and apathy wherever they may rear their ugly heads. By night, and during various faculty meetings, he is an aspiring fantasy writer. Living in northeast Ohio with his wife, two sons, dog, three cats, and a host of imaginary friends, Robert enjoys teaching, yoga, hiking, and writing. You may learn more about Robert Evert at
robertevert.blogspot.com
where he discusses being a neurotic writer. Or you can e-mail him directly at
[email protected]
. He’d enjoy hearing your thoughts about this book.
Betrayal in the Highlands
is his second novel.