Return to Alastair (46 page)

A woman stepped from the crowd to offer Tahn a riding cloak made of the finest linen. He almost didn’t accept the gift, but the woman urged him. “We owe you restitution,” she said. “Please accept this token.”

One of the merchants followed her with a small purse of coins. “Please, sir. Accept this gift in the stead of your father’s belongings.”

Tahn hardly knew how to respond to the words. He didn’t ask questions. It would do him no good now to understand better what belongings the man meant, or why he felt he had to pay for them. Tahn only accepted the purse with a nod and continued on.

Children peeked at them from the windows of houses. Men and women stood in doorways. “It looks like you will not be forgotten,” Benn told Tahn.

“Perhaps they’re looking at you,” Tahn answered him. “Or claiming another look at your daughter and my sister while they can.”

Benn only smiled at the suggestion.

They stopped at the city’s edge long enough to greet Marc and Lem Toddin once more and thank them for their help.

“Have you seen your horse?” Tahn asked Marc.

“No. I expect the bandits found her wandering and took her for easy gain. But it’s all right. I have another.”

“Let us give you the price of her with my apology for your trouble,” Tahn suggested.

“It wasn’t your fault, friend. It couldn’t be helped.”

“Then call it a reward for your valor,” Benn told him. “Please. With my thanks.”

Reluctantly, Marc agreed. “Stay at Onath,” he told Tahn then. “Don’t come back to this place.”

“Things change,” Tahn answered.

“Not enough. Not so long as the baron Trent and that bandit leader still live.”

“Come and tell us if there is trouble, Marc,” Tahn told him. “And remember you are welcome in Onath.”

They, too, parted with an embrace. And then it was good to move into the open woodland toward home. Tahn was glad to leave the city behind. The street children seemed glad too.

“This is the first time I ever rode in a wagon,” the little boy Jori announced. “I wish I could ride a horse too.”

“Wait till we are past the creek south of Merinth,” Tahn told him, “and you can ride this one.”

“Really?” Jori asked in excitement.

“Why then?” Ansley asked with more reservation in his voice.

“It is flat, open ground,” Tahn answered simply, without telling them that the rocky, woody area they traveled now was favorite territory of the bandits. He would not have the boy on his horse until he got past here, and past the confrontation that he expected.

But for a long while the ride was quiet. Tahn let his mind dwell for a moment on what it would be like to marry Netta. Of course, there would be a grand ceremony at the church in Onath, with nobles in attendance for the sake of Benn Trilett and his daughter. He himself would invite Lucas and the Toddins. He didn’t have anyone else who wouldn’t be with the Triletts already.

He couldn’t quite picture what the ceremony would be like. He’d never been to a wedding. But he knew he would be glad to go home afterward, to begin his life with Netta, as strange as it all still seemed.

He might have to join her in the big house, until a home of their own was built. She’d never been in his room at the guardhouse. She probably never would be. He turned and looked at her sitting in the wagon with the street children. She looked radiant in the green and brown dress he loved, even though she didn’t consider it grand enough to be kept for special occasions. She was learning a finger game invented by one of the boys and keeping them happy with her attention. She loved children, that was very clear. How long might it be before they had a child of their own?

Benn Trilett would be happy with grandchildren, the sooner the better. And he should have them, plenty of them, to carry on his good deeds and conscience. But it was still a new thought to Tahn because he’d never expected to live long enough to leave his own seed on the earth.

His thoughts continued on such happy paths, even considering the fondness he thought he’d seen between his sister and Lorne. God had done richly, abundantly, at giving him family and friends, when he’d once thought that he was unworthy of either and despised by heaven.

I thank you, God,
he cried in his heart.
Your goodness has amazed me! Let your blessing be with us on our homeward journey.

No sooner had he prayed it than he heard a muffled sound to the right ahead of them. He signaled to Lorne and Josef immediately, and the entire group closed tight together around the wagons behind him. He glanced back at Netta just as she looked at him. When their eyes met, he knew she was still more worried for him than anything else. Even though he’d assured her the bandits would fear to fight them, she was still afraid that they would try to hurt him somehow.

“There’s the Dorn running back home with the Triletts!” a voice taunted from the trees. “Guess Alastair was too much for him. Couldn’t make it on his own.”

Netta watched her father and Tobas ride up beside Tahn as they neared whomever it was who called out so unkindly. Tahn didn’t answer. He rode straight in his saddle, his eyes already on one spot in the trees, though she could see nothing.

“Poor boy got whipped again!” the voice shouted out and then laughed. “At least it wasn’t a scalding pot this time. Eh, Tahn? That why you’re leaving? Too many pots going on the fire back there?”

How dare they?
Netta bristled with anger.
They must know that we want no fight, especially with women and children along.
But to throw such things in Tahn’s face when he’d been nothing but honorable—it was wickedness! She seethed inside.

“Show yourself!” she demanded, shouting so loudly that she surprised even herself. “If you would be so cruel, at least have the courage to show your face!”

“Netta . . .” her father cautioned. But it was too late. Movement ahead of them revealed three mounted men emerging from the trees, followed closely by two others. The large man in the middle had one arm bandaged to his side, but his mouth was quick and cutting.

“Got you a fiery one there, don’t you, Tahn? She had to come all this way to save you again? What would you be without your Trilett nursemaids? Eh, Tahn? Think you’ll ever dare go anywhere without them?”

No one answered. Netta thought that man was the ugliest she’d ever seen. Trained by Samis, no doubt, who also had a way with words designed to tear at Tahn’s spirit.

“Poor little boy!” the man continued. “Hurry and take him home where he won’t get hurt again!”

The men around him laughed. Netta wondered that her father didn’t say anything, but perhaps he understood it would do no good. They could only ride past these men and watch to make sure they did no misdeed. It would not help to speak again in Tahn’s defense. Perhaps it would even fuel them.

“If it weren’t for your nursemaids, I’d cut you down to size, Dorn boy,” the man continued in his bold voice. “Pathetic little whelp. Do they cage you at night? What a pet you’d make.”

“Shut up!” Tiarra screamed at them.

“No, Tiarra,” Tahn told her immediately.

And she was still, but Netta could see that neither she nor the men, particularly Lorne, could well abide the senseless harassment. But Tahn stayed calm, only watching the men as he kept riding forward with no response.

Two more horsemen joined the bandits’ ranks from the right. Netta thought they were going to get past them with no more trouble, but suddenly Tahn stopped. Her heart pounded. Of course it would be difficult for anyone to take such words. But what would Tahn do?

“Toma,” Tahn said suddenly in a low voice. “You’ve got my horse.”

“Tahn,” Benn said quickly, but Tahn held up his hand and quieted him.

“He doesn’t like you,” Tahn continued. “Look at his ears.”

“I don’t like him either,” the young man answered. “Had to beat him to get him here. But who says he’s yours? I found him in town.”

“You know my horse,” Tahn told him.

“I know you should have trained the beast! He’s not worth a copper he’s so stubborn.”

“I’ll pay you far more,” Tahn said. He held out the purse the merchant had given him. “Get yourself a mount that suits you.”

“Maybe it suits me to keep yours,” Toma said and then laughed. “What are you going to do? We heard you’re hurt. And your master there doesn’t like a fight. How do you think you’d ever get this horse away from me?”

Several of the men chuckled. But Tahn said nothing more to them. “We might as well go on,” he told Benn. “I’ll not waste your time.” He turned his mount to the road again, and they all started moving.

“Ah!” the first man shouted a mocking lament after them. “He had to give up his horse! His only friend! Poor Smoke. Stubborn beast. Maybe we’ll try horsemeat at the fire tonight.”

Tahn whistled. Quick and low. Smoke broke from the group of bandits with Toma on his back and trotted forward to follow Tahn. Lorne and the other men laughed at the young bandit’s efforts to stop his mount. Smoke would not be stopped. He fell in line directly behind Tahn’s mount despite his protesting rider, and Netta smiled. Smoke would follow Tahn anywhere. She’d never seen a relationship between man and horse quite like theirs.

“Will you take the money?” Tahn was asking Toma.

“No!”

“You’ll be coming with us to Onath, then.” He rode on without looking back, and Smoke continued to follow.

“Tahn!”

Tobas was close enough to reach across for Smoke’s reins. “I’ll hold him long enough for you to climb down if he’ll be held,” he told the bandit. “Can’t say you’ve earned his price, though. Get out of here before Benn Trilett decides to teach you a lesson for bothering us.”

Toma sat for a moment more, and then with a disdainful look across at Lorne, he slid from Smoke’s back. “This horse isn’t worth the trouble.”

Tahn kept right on going. Happy to be riderless, Smoke ran up beside him, and Tahn reached out one hand to pat his nose. Toma only stood watching as they rode away. And none of the bandits, not even the big one who’d been so cruel, said another word after them.

34

O
nath was a joy to behold. The peaceful city nestled in green hills stirred feelings in Tahn he hadn’t expected. Netta was right. It was home. The first man to see them was a farmer raking in a field outside of town. His immediate shout of greeting was a happy one, echoed quickly by another man just down the road.

Netta had been singing with the children, and she kept it up even now as they rode into the town. Everyone knew it was Benn Trilett coming home. People waved on Market Street and from the doorways of their houses.

Tahn was riding Smoke now, at a walk, with Tiarra on the other horse beside him. She looked around her with eyes touched by tears. “They love you,” she told him softly. “And they’re staring at me.”

“They love the Triletts,” he told her barely above a whisper. “They’re just curious about you.”

“It isn’t only Triletts,” she answered. “This place is like morning after Alastair’s night.”

He smiled. To think of Onath as the pleasant morning after a lifetime of bad dreams seemed appropriate, and he appreciated the thought from her. “We’re almost home,” he said.

“And you seem different,” she told him. “Like you left a weight behind.”

“I gained a blessing.”

Benn Trilett was stopping at the church, but he didn’t have to go inside before being greeted by Father Anolle coming out to them with a smile. “Welcome. Welcome,” the priest declared. “Master Jarel petitioned our prayers, and they have been with you gladly.”

“They are answered, Father,” Benn replied. “We are not only home safe, but with blessings. Come and meet those God has added to my household.”

Tiarra stopped and stared when she heard his words. Tahn knew that she hadn’t quite understood the entirety of Benn Trilett’s acceptance, any more than he had at first. He took her hand as Father Anolle greeted the children in the wagon.

“This is Ansley, whose bravery spared much trouble,” Benn told the priest. “And these others are Rae and Jori and Micah and Jeramathe, who were all careful eyes on my son’s behalf I am told.” Father Anolle touched each head in turn, and then Benn turned his eyes toward Tahn. “Do you wish to tell your own blessed news, son?”

Tiarra was watching Tahn with her eyes wide. Son. Benn Trilett had called him that so many times before. But there seemed to be a new joy in it, a new sureness.

Tahn knew Benn spoke of the engagement just as much as of Tiarra, and he debated which happy news Benn would have him tell first. But he glanced at his sister and squeezed her hand. “Father, may I introduce to you my own sister? Miss Tiarra Dorn.”

The priest approached them with quiet seriousness. “Child,” he said as he extended his hand, “may the Lord bless you. God be praised.”

Tahn knew Tiarra didn’t quite know what to do. She nodded her head and thanked the priest, but he didn’t turn his eyes away. “You are an answer to prayer,” he told her. “I have known your brother, that there was a bareness in his spirit not to be cured except by something or someone of his past. Do you understand?”

She nodded timidly. And Tahn thought he understood too, even though he’d never heard the priest mention such a thing before.

“God be praised,” Father Anolle said again. “This is happy news indeed.”

Tahn glanced over at Netta and cleared his throat.
There is more
, he wanted to say, but he couldn’t quite get the words out. He had thought Netta might help him. This was, after all, the priest she’d known since she was a child. He was almost a grandfather to her, and Tahn would’ve thought her to be bursting to tell of her engagement. But she said nothing, only sat quietly with her glowing smile.

“Father . . .” he stammered. “Father . . . Netta and I . . . we would like to request your services. I have asked . . . we’ve agreed . . . to wed, sir.”

The priest’s smile only broadened. “Splendid! This is news to be spread about!”

“Not yet,” Benn told him. “Not until Jarel knows. And of course Vari and the children at home.”

“Of course,” the priest agreed. “Godspeed on your way, then. They’re anxious for you. Don’t make them wait.”