Fallen Ward (Deepwoods Saga Book 3) (32 page)

The army was so focused on getting through the eastern gate that they didn’t notice three people hopping off the wall on the north side. Once there, Rune noticed that the shoreline dipped just enough to provide some cover, if one was hunched low enough. It would drop their speed in half, but it increased their chances of getting to the back unseen. It was a unanimous vote to use that way instead, at least as far as they could. They’d eventually have to come out of the beachy area and back onto solid ground, but they could cover most of the distance towards the rear of the army, and that was what mattered.

Three thousand men all packed onto one road took up quite a stretch of distance. It took a solid half-hour of jogging in that hunched way before they saw the end in sight. No wonder there had been no reaction from the leaders in the rear when Alexander had stood on top of the wall—they couldn’t have possibly seen or heard him from there.

Alexander ran part of the way on his own legs, as he wanted, but he soon tired. He didn’t have the stamina to run for an hour straight. Rune ended up carrying him after a while, and running stooped over with a child on his back was
not
comfortable. He might be hobbling around like an old man tomorrow. Unless he could convince Denney to give him a good back rub.

Odds were good on that.

The thought made him smile. Rune was distracted enough by the stray thought that he almost missed it when Fei raised a hand, signaling him to stop, and had to skid in order to avoid plowing right into him.

“What?” Rune breathed, not even daring a whisper, despite the fact that there was a good span in between them and the army.

Fei jerked his chin toward the top of the slope. “Look.”

Glad for a break, he straightened his spine enough to get his eyes over the slope’s edge. Oh? Well that changed their approach.

It was Alexander that stated the obvious. “They’re breaking camp?”

“They should have done that in the beginning,” Rune responded absently. His mind was already moving forward.

“Why?”

“Night attacks are dangerous,” Fei explained. He was shoulder to shoulder with Rune, observing just as intently. “There’s not enough light to see by, so you’re as much in danger from your own men as you are from enemy attacks. Only a fool fights at night.”

“Or the very desperate,” Rune added. “I was surprised, earlier, when they hit the city gate with that battering ram. I thought they meant to try a night attack.”

“Someone apparently thought better of it and ordered them to stand down for the night.”

Which only made sense, really—it was the sign of a greenhorn to try anything else. It would add more distance for them to cover, because even the amateur Coravinian commanders realized that pitching camp right on the enemy’s doorstep was stupid. They’d backed up half a span in order to give themselves more room, and then spread out to either side of the road.

Without looking at Fei, Rune suggested softly, “Wait?”

“And then sneak in,” Fei agreed. “Only sensible way to do it.”

Alexander caught on quickly enough. “You want to wait until they’re settled in for the night and then sneak in? Won’t that be more dangerous?”

“Less,” Rune disagreed. “The sentries will be tired after that long march, they’ll be half asleep on their feet. Easy to get around them.”

“That’s if they set sentries,” Fei corrected.

Rune could not believe what he was hearing. “Who
wouldn’t
set sentries this close to the enemy?”

“The same sort of idiot that tries battering a city gate late in the evening before he thinks better of it.”

That…was a good point. But still, there were limits to stupidity, surely. “I bet you they will.”

“Usual bet?”

“Usual bet.”

Fei stuck out a hand, which Rune took and shook, sealing the deal.

Time oozed by. Rune did put Alexander down, as there was no sense in holding the kid if they weren’t moving. Alexander found a toehold so that he could climb up enough and see his army. It took longer than Rune wanted, but they were actually fairly efficient setting up the tents and getting the cook fires started. In the space of two hours, maybe three, the fires started going out again as people doused them and headed for their bedrolls.

From this distance, they couldn’t make out finer details, but there were still enough campfires to see silhouettes by. There were no man-shaped shadows making their way back and forth on patrol.

Fei was quite smug about it. “I win.”

Rune just growled. “How stupid can you be? They set up tons of guards around their own guild compound, but not here?”

“The false security of safety in numbers.” Fei chuffed out a laugh, sounding breathy in the still night air. “Remember rule number five.”

Alexander, of course, piped up. “What’s rule number five?”

“Never complain when your enemy is making a mistake,” Rune recited promptly. “Alright, Fei, you win. I’ll pay up later. For now, let’s make our way to the back tents.”

“That big red one?”

“That has to be it, don’t you think?”

“Odds are good,” Fei admitted. “Alexander-xian, do you have a red tent?”

“I’m not sure,” Alexander admitted woefully. “I never got to go anywhere.”

It was a cardinal rule that the guildmaster, if he traveled, always stayed in a red tent so that people could easily find him. If he was in an inn, a red banner was pinned to his door for the same reason. Fallen Ward’s commanders didn’t have Alexander now, but they’d brought the tent with the confidence that they would be bringing him back home, and they’d need it for the return trip. Using it now just made things easier on their enemy, though. Even if it was for convenience’s sake, they shouldn’t have put it up.

Alexander heaved out a sigh that was more appropriate for an adult carrying the world on his shoulders than a child. “They’re making so many mistakes. It’s embarrassing me.”

Not even trying to console him, Rune patted him on the back. “You should be embarrassed.”

“Thanks for that, Rune.”

“No problem. Get back on, it’s time to move.”

Alexander heaved a resigned sigh.

This would be the most dangerous part of their trip. They had flat land to cover now and nothing but darkness to hide them. And it wasn’t that dark. Their best bet was to go well behind the army, by at least a thousand feet, and approach them from behind. With the city right in front of them, the whole army would be hyper aware of it, but shouldn’t have any concerns for anything behind them. Why would they? Their enemy was within plain view.

At least, that was what Rune and Fei were banking on.

They ran through the knee-high grass as fast as they could go. Alexander bounced a little on Rune’s back, but he held on admirably and didn’t utter a word of complaint at the jostling. Rune’s arms were starting to ache at carting the kid around. He didn’t weigh much, but after six hours of running with this monkey on his back, Rune’s body was sending up complaints.

No matter what Fei said, it was
his
turn on the way back.

The closer they got to the camp, the louder it became with people talking to each other, the crackling of fires burning, and a dozen other sounds, too blended for Rune to separate out. He didn’t care to, either. All he was interested in were sounds of alarm, and he didn’t hear any of those.

His nerves jangled the closer they came, but no one seemed to notice them. Fei didn’t slow his pace until he was almost on top of that bright red tent. It was noticeable even in this night air, gleaming under the firelight in sharp hues. Rune skidded to a stop right next to him, the grass slick enough to make his footing slightly tricky.

Fei dropped to the ground, belly flat on the grass, and pulled up the tent wall just enough to get an eye under it. He studied the room for a long moment before he pulled the fabric even higher, making the rope lines twang, before rolling underneath.

Rune didn’t try to follow immediately, just sat Alexander on his feet, tracking the situation inside the tent by sound. That meaty
thunk
was Fei taking out a guard, or someone equally unimportant, and so was that
thunk
, and then something fell over before a strangled shout was abruptly cut off. He had found a person to silence but not knock out? Oh, maybe they got lucky and the right person was in the tent. Rune waited three seconds, but when there were no other sounds, he assumed it safe and pulled the fabric up, pushing Alexander under it.

Being small, Alexander had no trouble rolling underneath and into the tent. Rune had more of a squeeze, but he managed fine, coming to his feet smoothly. As he did, he took in the situation.

For a command tent, not much was in there. A simple folding table, two rolled cots on either side, with a small brazier in the middle for light and warmth. That was it. Rune had expected something more…grand. Next to the brazier stood Fei, who had a man’s arm twisted up behind his back and a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet.

A smile blossomed over Alexander’s face. “Lorcan.”

Far from seeming relieved by Alexander’s appearance, Lorcan’s brows snapped together in a murderous scowl. Rune studied that angry, frustrated expression and had a sinking feeling that he knew what was going to happen next.

Fei, behind the man, couldn’t see that face and so dropped the hand gagging the man.

“So. You didn’t die,” were Lorcan’s first words, sneered out.

Alexander went abruptly still. “No. I didn’t.”

“We thought you were assassinated.”

“An assassin did come,” Alexander responded, voice unsteady. Rune felt a twinge of sympathy for the kid. He too had had a man he (semi) trusted turn on him unexpectedly. He knew exactly how that felt. “But he said I was too young to kill so he kidnapped me instead, to show me, to teach me, so I’d be a better guildmaster in the future. But none of that matters…does it?”

Lorcan wasn’t paying him much attention; instead his eyes were bouncing between Rune and Fei, trying to figure them out. “Who are these men? Why are you here, anyway?”

“They’re friends,” Alexander explained simply.

Rune looked down at him in surprise. Friend? They were…friends? When had that happened?

“Friends. You don’t have friends.”

“It was weird to me, too. At first.” Alexander’s chin quivered as if he were suppressing the desire to cry. “They brought me here, so I could talk to whichever advisor was in charge, and convince them to stop. But you won’t stop.”

“Stop? We only got half of Goldschmidt’s wealth and you want us to stop?” Lorcan gave a disbelieving laugh. “Why should we? These ‘friends’ of yours are welcome to take part of the spoils, if they like, but we’re not stopping.”

Fei swore softly in his native tongue. “Alexander-xian, I take it this man was the one that convinced you to raid the cities in Robarge?”

Alexander’s nod of admission was unnecessary. They all knew what the answer was.

For that alone, Rune was ready to kill the man on the spot. His greed had done too much damage and he had much to answer for. Rune had made several promises that he would only kill when necessary. Would this situation count as ‘necessary,’ though, that was the question. Rune felt like he’d better ask. “Fei, I can kill him, right?”

It was the wrong thing to say in that moment. Lorcan panicked and started screaming for help. His words were garbled, but tone was enough to call people to him in a hurry. Rune had no time to debate the moral dilemma of killing him or not so instead darted forward and broke three of the man’s ribs as a compromise.

Lorcan screamed in real pain before sinking down to his knees, hands cradling his injured side.

That would have to do, as Rune frankly didn’t have time for anything else. Fei beat him to the back of the tent, where he yanked it up, gesturing impatiently for Alexander to go through. The kid was in shock, and tears were in his eyes, but he obediently rolled underneath and up to his feet again. Rune followed them readily and was relieved that Fei had already scooped Alexander up and was running for the coastline.

At least he didn’t have to argue about that.

Growling a few choice words to himself, Rune caught up and ran at Fei’s side, keeping an ear out for pursuit as he moved.

Why did the simple solutions never work?

“Love, stop wringing your hands. They’ll be fine.”

“I’m not
wringing
them.”

“What do you call that, then?”

“Gripping.”

“Is that right.” Wolf sounded distinctly amused.

Siobhan shot him a dirty look. How the man could be so calm and collected right now was beyond her. She had sent two men and a small boy into an army camp of
three thousand
. That was the antithesis of ‘favorable odds.’

“Remind me why I love you again.”

“It’s my devastating charm and good looks,” he replied with a sunny smile.

She had a moment’s impulse to kick him over the wall. Before she could do so, there was a call of, “Siobhan!” Her head snapped around and she saw to her relief that the skulking trio had returned and none of them looked injured. Turning, she held out her hands, gripping one of Rune’s and one of Fei’s. “You’re back.”