Sheepfarmers Daughter (20 page)

They were deep in the brambles one afternoon, grousing at thorns as they stuffed themselves with ripe berries, when they heard a signal from the Halverics' bugler. They stopped to listen.

"Not for us, whatever it is," said Canna. The signal for their return was four long notes, three rising and the fourth the same as the first.

"Could be a messenger from the Duke," suggested Saben, standing to peer through the tops of the brambles. They were south of the fort, even with the southeast corner of the wall; they could see only a short stretch of the road leading west from the gate.

"I think it's too soon," said Canna.

"What can you see?" asked Paks. She was pouring berries from her pail into a sack they'd brought along.

"Not much. But — wait — do you hear that?"

They did not so much hear it as feel it, a growing rumbling along the road to the south. They could see nothing, because of the angle of the woods, but as Paks stood, she could see sentries moving on the fort walls. Other work details, nearer the fort, were turning to look back down the road. The sound began to separate into rhythmic components that sounded like horses and marching feet. A deep—toned horn called from somewhere on the road. The Halverics' bugle rang out again. A horseman came in sight around the angle of wall, riding out from the fort; Paks could see something glittering on his shoulders, and his green cloak. She thought it was the captain's horse, and told Canna.

"Maybe we should go back," said Canna. She bounced up and down on tiptoe, trying to see over the brambles. Paks and Saben could just see through the upper thorny branches.

"Let's wait," said Paks. "Whatever it is — it's odd. And they haven't called us. Look, Saben; isn't that— "

"Troops. Yes. Lots." Out of the trees came a column of men—at—arms behind twenty or so horsemen. "Not the Duke," added Saben. "Whose colors are those, I wonder?"

"What colors?" demanded Canna.

"Just a second; the wind's wrong. Yellow field — something on it in black, but I can't tell what it is. The horsemen — some in chain — one in plate — yellow surcoats. Tir's bones, those men are carrying pikes!"

"Pikes? No one around here uses pikes," said Canna. "Yellow and black, and uses pikes — I can't think of anyone within range — "

"He's right, though," said Paks. "It is pikes; I can see the heads glinting in the sun."

"What are they doing?" Canna had given up the attempt to see for herself.

"Marching — no, they're halting. Whoever it was that came from the fort is riding up to the head of the column — I'm sure it's the captain. Let's see — " For a few moments, Paks fell silent as she watched. Nothing moved. "I guess he's talking to someone — passing something across or taking — Now he's backing up. I wonder what — No!" She turned to Saben. "He's down. He fell off his horse. Saben, look!"

"I see," said Saben grimly. "I don't like this."

"Tell me," said Canna, "before I — "

"I think they shot him; they're carrying crossbows. They're moving off the road — going after the work details — "

"But they're unarmed!"

"But they are — and look at the rest — they're marching on the fort. It must be an enemy — "

"But whose?" Canna's face wrinkled in a puzzled frown.

"I don't know. Halveric's, I suppose, but — Oh, no! They're — the devils! The murdering devils — " Paks started to thrash forward through the brambles.

"Paks, get down!" Saben wrestled Paks to the ground. "Be quiet, you fool! It won't help for us to go out there."

"What happened? What is it?" Canna tried again to see.

"Some of our men tried to run. They're down — arrows, I'd guess."

"By St. Gird! We have to — "

"Not you too! Think, Canna! Paks, listen. Be still. What can we do with three daggers? We don't have any armor — they'd shoot us down before we could kill one of them."

"You're right," said Paks reluctantly. "Let me up, Saben; I won't do anything. But we can't just —just run away and let them be killed."

"What about the fort?" asked Canna quietly. "Surely the Halverics will come out — "

"Not if they're smart," said Paks. "That's a big force; I don't think we've seen all of it yet. They'll be lucky if they can hold against assault, let alone mount a sally." Even as she spoke, they heard the bugler again, and the crash of the portcullis rang across the river meadows.

"We can't get back in now," said Saben. "Even supposing we wanted to."

Paks started to look toward the fort, to see how it was manned, but drew back sharply. "They're closer," she said softly. "On this side of the river." They all flattened under the brambles as best they could. They could hear the squeak and rattle of harness as armed men came nearer, but they could see nothing. Paks hoped this was true for the men outside as well.

"Ho, there!" cried a harsh voice. "We see you. Come out or be shot!" They did not move. Paks heard a rustling crackle as an arrow went into the bramble some yards away. "Come on out, cowards!" cried another voice. Another arrow and another, closer. Suddenly an arrow pinned Canna's shoulder. She made no sound. The rattle of arrows passed on, was farther away with each shot. "By the Master, I told you nothing was up here," said the second voice, complaining.

"Take it up with the lord, then: it was his orders," growled the other.

"Nay — I'll do what he says — only those prisoners are more to my liking — did you see that redheaded girl?" The voices, still bickering, moved away to their right. Still they lay unmoving, without a sound. Paks met Saben's eyes; his face was white with anger. She looked over at Canna. Canna blinked back tears; her jaw was clenched. They waited. A blue fly buzzed around the spilled berries, then settled on Canna's shoulder. They heard shouts from the fort, from the men below. A scream. More shouts. Paks glanced at Saben again, and raised an eyebrow. He nodded.

With great care they both moved to Canna's side. The arrow did not seem to be in very deep. "Hope it's no worse than it looks," murmured Saben. Paks offered Canna a wad of her cloak to bite, then steadied the shaft as Saben cut her tunic away from it. The long barbs of the head were still outside her skin; the head itself seemed to be lodged in the big muscle between neck and shoulder. When Paks pulled, the head slid out easily, followed by a rush of blood. It was both longer and wider than those used by their own Company. Saben clapped his hand over the wound, squeezing it shut. Paks emptied the berries from the sack, and looked doubtfully at the coarse fabric.

Canna spat out the wad of cloth in her mouth. "Go ahead — it'll do."

"Not too rough?"

"No. Go on."

"Wait a bit," murmured Saben. "Let the bleeding slow. We can't move now anyway." Paks folded the sack into a thick pad after cutting a strip for a tie with her dagger. They heard more confusion of noise from the fort, but nothing closer. Paks wondered how long they should wait before moving. The attackers might send scouts through the woods to pick up stragglers. She spent the time packing her belt pouch with fallen berries. Finally Saben let up the pressure he'd kept on Canna's shoulder. The wound gaped, but the bleeding had nearly stopped.

"Stopped it," he said. "Let's have that pad, Paks."

"It'll start when I move," said Canna ruefully. "By St. Gird, it was plain bad luck being hit at all, when they couldn't see." She winced as Paks pressed the folded sack onto her shoulder. "Eh — how are you — "

"Like this," said Paks softly. "Keep pressure on it, and help her sit, Saben." With Saben's help, Canna rolled to her side and sat up. Her face was pale. "Now," said Paks. "Under this arm, and up and around — and again here. There. Don't move that arm if you can help it."

"Good job. Thanks."

"Now what will we do?" asked Saben.

"We've got to get away from here before they make a proper search," said Canna. "And then we've got to get to the Duke."

Paks nodded. "I agree. But Rotengre's a long way — do you know how to find it?"

"I think so," said Canna. "As long as I'm with you—but what about you?"

Saben shook his head. "Not me. I know it's south somewhere, that's all. You, Paks?"

Paks ignored the question at first. "Canna—you aren't leaving us, are you?"

"No. But if this wound goes bad, or we have trouble on the way and I'm killed, I wanted to know if you could find the Duke yourself."

"Oh. I — I think so. At least, I'll recognize the roads when we get there, the crossroads and such."

"Good." Canna shifted, looking around the tiny space in which they lay. "Saben, can you tell what they're doing, and if it's safe to start moving? And Paks, let's get the rest of those berries packed up."

"It sounds like they may too occupied to worry about us," said Saben. He rose cautiously and peered out the upper level of the brambles. "There's a force on the walls — maroon and green both — the Halverics must have armed our men too. Wise of them. And a lot of troops below the walls, and horses. I think we can go, but we'd better stay down. Canna, can you crawl with that arrow wound?"

"As opposed to lying here to be captured by those barbarians, certainly. It's a good thing our tunics are dark. But let's eat what we can of these berries before we go." They stuffed handfuls ofjuicy berries into their mouths, gaining strength from the sweet juice. In a few minutes, Canna started them moving toward the trees. She sent Saben ahead, and Paks followed her, bringing one pail full of berries. They had buried the other under fallen leaves, in hopes that searchers would not find evidence of their presence.

Paks could see that Canna was having a hard time crawling; several times she stopped, swaying, but she never fell. Luckily their explorations during the berry harvest had left little trails running here and there almost to the forest edge; they did not have to force a new path. Canna managed to keep moving, and at last they fought free of the thorns. It was growing dusky; they could see fires twinkling on the meadow below.

They pushed through the hazels that fringed the woods and moved on into the darker shelter of the trees, now walking upright. When they found a sheltered hollow, they settled in to make further plans. Even in that dimness, Paks could tell that Canna was paler than usual.

"At least we've got full waterflasks," she said quietly. "And we've got some berries. I have a lump of cheese. What about you?" Saben had a hunk of dried meat, but Canna had only the berries she'd put in her belt pouch. "We can cook in the berrying pail," Paks went on.

"If we have anything to cook," said Saben. It was almost too dark to see. "Canna, how are you doing?"

"Could be worse — " Her voice was shaky.

"You'd better have the cheese and meat," said Paks. "That's what they told me when I lost a lot of blood: eat to make it up." Canna protested, but Paks was firm. "No — you need it. Saben and I can eat berries. You're the one who will slow us down if you don't recover." She handed over her cheese, and Saben gave Canna the meat. They ate in silence; Paks and Saben, already full of berries, ate little.

"I wonder what they'll be up to tonight," said Saben at last.

"Not much, I hope. I suppose it depends on how far they've marched today — and how the assault goes." Paks suddenly found herself yawning, though she was not at all sleepy. She pushed thoughts of her other friends aside. "How glad I am, Canna, that you said we should bring our cloaks to lay over the thorns. It's going to be cold out here." It was already hard to believe how they had sweated under the brambles.

"Shouldn't we try to get farther away?" asked Saben.

"No — we'd just blunder around and make noise in the dark, and we might get lost. What do you think, Canna?" Paks remembered that Canna was senior to them.

"I think you're right. It's too dark. Though I wish we could find out what they
are
doing, to tell the Duke. And who they are." She sighed. "But that's even more dangerous. We don't know these woods well enough, and we can't risk capture." She paused, then went on in a different tone. "I know neither of you are Girdsmen, but — I wish you would join me in prayer. At least for the confusion of our enemies."

"That I'll go along with," said Saben. "But won't Gird be angry if non—Girdsmen pray in his name?"

"No," replied Canna. "He welcomes all honorable warriors." She reached into her tunic, the cloth rustling as she moved, and pulled out her holy symbol. Paks heard the faint chinking of the links of the chain. "Holy Gird, patron of warriors, protector of the weak, strengthen our arms and warm our hearts for the coming battles. Courage to our friends, and confusion to our enemies."

"Courage to our friends, and confusion to our enemies," repeated Paks and Saben. Paks felt strange, calling on one she did not follow, but surely such a simple request could not be misunderstood. She heard the chain jingle as Canna replaced the medallion, and reached to help Canna wrap her cloak around her injured shoulder. She added her own.

"I'll take the first watch," she told Saben. "You sleep."

He rolled up in his own cloak and lay next to Canna. Paks sat with her back against a tree, listening to the noises from the fort, and trying to imagine what they meant. She wondered which of her friends had been killed, and which were in the fort—and who had been captured. And who was the enemy — and why here, at the end of a road? Ferrault had said that the worst they could expect was brigands robbing the grain wagons — yet first the Halverics, and then this army, had marched up to take the fort as if it were important. Why?

She slipped her knife from its sheath and tested the edge. It had dulled on the cloth, as she'd feared. She felt for her whetstone, then paused. The sound would be distinctive if anyone heard it. Still, a dull knife — she decided to take the chance. She moved the blade lightly across the stone. Not too loud: good. It would take longer, but she had time.

When her blade was sharp, she put the stone back in her pouch and the dagger back in its sheath. She looked for stars overhead, but the leaves were too thick. No way to tell how time passed. She heard no noises from the fort, now, and only wind in the trees. She stretched first one arm, then the other. It was colder. She rubbed her arms, hard, then took down her hair and rebraided it by feel. The wind picked up; it smelled like rain. She thought she heard a drum in the distance, and wondered again who the attackers were. An owl called, a long wavering hooo — hooo — hoo hoo. She stretched one leg at a time, and wished she had not wrapped Canna in both cloaks. It seemed much colder. Saben began to snore. Paks reached out and touched his shoulder.