The Crimson League (The Herezoth Trilogy) (4 page)

“It….” Kora rooted through her burlap bag, lines of panic on her face. “It’s gone. I don’t know what happened. I swear I had it with me! Someone must have taken it, in the market, the market in the village.”

The guard raised an eyebrow. “You can’t think up something better?”

Sedder said, “She has nothing to think about. That’s how it was. Mayb
e you’re not from these parts
:
p
eople lift anything they can nowadays, especially papers. The price they receive for documents on the black market, it’s incredible. Why would she lie? Does she look like a criminal?”

In a flash, the guard’s whip fell across Sedder’s wrist. He dropped Kora’s purchases. The eggs splattered across the road, their innards forming a muddy goo, though the bag of flour held together. Kora, who had jumped back, could only watch as Sedder grabbed his smarting hand. She jumped as the soldier addressed her once again. “You’ll report that theft. Before nightfall.”

“I…. Of course, I….”

“Damn you, you’ll respect the new order, and you’ll show respect to me. As far as you’re concerned my identity’s my rank, and you’ll name me by it.”

The blood rushed to Kora’s face. She spoke through gritted teeth, marking the two bars upon his uniform. “Yes, lieutenant.”

“As long as we’re clear.”

“Yes, lieutenant,” she said again. He rode on. Sedder had to throw himself out of the horse’s path. He nearly knocked Kora over, and she knelt beside him, hovering over him as the rest of the convoy moved past. It trampled the basket and the bag of flour in mini-explosions of white powder.

The wagon was ten feet away when what looked to be a dark speck rose up through a crack or a hole in one of the crate covers. Even when it glinted in the light, shining blood red, Kora thought the heat, or perhaps her anger, was playing tricks on her eyes. Then she glanced at Sedder, and knew he saw it too. Had they both gone mad?

The groan of wheels and stomp of hooves began to fade. Kora rotated Sedder’s arm so that she exposed the whip’s mark, a line of raw and broken skin. She hardly caught a glimpse before he yanked the limb away.

“Shit!” he muttered. “Let the League get them, the damn Crimson League…. No, not the men, just the coal they’re moving. Then Zalski’s new order can break all their worthless necks!”

“It’s only eggs,” said Kora. “A bit of flour.”

“It’s food you damn well can’t replace and I can’t either.”

“You don’t have to replace a thing. You didn’t do a thing to it. Sedder, we’ll manage at home. You and I, we’re both all right. That’s more important, isn’t it?”

She had never seen Sedder this incensed. She maintained a forced calm, precisely because he could not. “The hell with them,” he said, “the hell with all of them!”

Public order was decaying by the day. Four or five months ago, no one ranked as low as lieutenant would ever have made such an exhibition. Even a captain would have let civilians be. Whether the resistance and its small victories were destroying the army’s patience, or whether Zalski’s officers were growing confident in their power, just to eat was growing harder week by week. Maybe the new restrictions on time-of-service-based promotion were causing tension among the soldiers. How long ago had Kora read that article, three weeks? Six?

“What will you tell your mother?”

“The truth. There’s no way around it. I hope Auntie Mader wasn’t too attached to that basket.”

“Did you see something strange when the wagon passed by?”

“Yes,” said Kora. She had forgotten all about the crimson speck. “Yes, what was that?”

They returned to the road, retracing their steps. Kora walked a little ahead. Lying in the dust, the size of her pinky nail, was….

“A ruby,” she said when Sedder caught up to her. She had covered her mouth with her hand.

“What are cut gems doing in Zalski’s coal?”

“A real ruby,” said Kora. “I don’t believe it. If we could sell this….” She bent down and took it up. As soon as her fingers touched it, as though commanded by a sorcerer, it split in half horizontally. The top piece rose slowly in the air. It spun three times, unsupported by anything, and then flew at Kora’s head.

A wave of heat ran down Kora’s spine. She felt dizzy, almost like she was going to be sick, and dropped to her knees still clutching the bottom half of the stone.

“Kora!” Sedder’s voice sounded distant. “Kora!” She felt him grab her arm to prevent her falling forward, and she shut her eyes. “Kora, say something!”

“My head’s spinning,” she protested. “But I think…. I think it’s passing. Help me up.”

Sedder pulled her to her feet. Her legs felt shaky.

“What in the world was that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Sedder. He stayed right next to her, as if he thought she might collapse again. “That ruby’s on your forehead though. Dead center.”

Kora tried to rub it off as Sedder slid the other half of the stone into a pocket. Then she tried to pry it off. “This is ridiculous,” she said. The jewel refused to budge. She pulled at it again, digging her nails beneath it, but nothing happened. “I can’t walk around with this thing on my face.”

“Let’s go back to my cabin,” said Sedder. That was no suggestion; his home was half as far as hers from where they stood. Kora felt almost herself again, but as she walked she kept trying to dislodge the gem. Halfway down the forest path she gave up, short of breath from Sedder’s brisk pace.

“Can we rest, just for a moment?” she pleaded.

Sedder sat beneath an oak, and Kora joined him off the road. Midday was cool and shady beneath the trees, whose rough and twisted trunks were familiar, like old friends. One supported the two not emotionally, but physically as they leaned back against it. “Are you all right?” Sedder asked.

“There’s something strange about this ruby. I hardly touched it, you saw me. I don’t know…. I’d feel safer if it fell off.”

“Want me to try?”

Kora nodded, but Sedder could do no more to dislodge the gem than she. They were about to get up when they heard voices behind them, approaching voices. Whoever spoke was coming from deep within the wood. Bandits? Kora made to rise, to flee, but Sedder motioned for her to keep still. The bandits were too close; they would hear any noises. Kora grasped Sedder’s hand, which was sweating.

The trees are thick. Maybe they’ll pass by us. My God, how are there outlaws here? There’s never been outlaws here, not in the wood. It’s too small to hide them.

“We could still find him,” came a soft, clear voice. “The legend….”

“Is just a legend.” This second voice was deeper. Firmer. “What if he eludes us? What if he doesn’t exist, or already existed, what then? Zalski’s been picking us off since the beginning, that’s how Ranler put it, picking us off like ticks off a dog. And the man’s got a point. It’s a matter of time before his henchmen kill us all.”

The first voice replied, “You should try to believe, Lanokas.”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t. It’s a story to amuse children. How many times must we have this discussion? Month after month it comes up, the same argument.”

A third voice, clearly feminine, said, “The Giver could
send him. Anyway, what can we do but plow on with or without him? We’re in too deep. We’ve been in too deep for months.”

The speaker fell silent when she saw Kora and Sedder, who scrambled to their feet and studied a red-haired girl more or less their age and plain of feature. She wore a single, long braid. Her companions both were men, one blond, maybe twenty-five, his ruddy cheek scratched by a branch. The other looked a few years older, with a gently carved face and pale skin; a hint of black showed beneath his common hunter’s hat. All were simply clad and stared fixedly at Kora.

“Could it be?” said the girl.

“Could what be?” Kora asked.

“The legend,” said the blond-haired man, the one called Lanokas. “Surely you’ve heard the legend of the Marked One?”

“That ridiculous knight-type with some kind of mark on his face?” Kora’s eyes moved from one of the strangers to the next. They peered back determinedly. “You can’t think…. Listen, I don’t have magic, I….” She tried once again to pull the ruby away. “I can’t get it off,” she moaned. Her arm fell to her side.

“How long has it been there?” demanded Lanokas. Kora saw, uneasily, that both the men carried crossbows, loaded ones, and the girl had an unsheathed sword.

“Half an hour, maybe. Twenty minutes. There was a, a cart….”

“You’re coming with us,” said the man with the hat. Lanokas protested the choice was Kora’s.

“Are you insane?” the older man asked.

“Lanokas, they’ll kill her on sight,” said the girl.

Kora clung to Sedder. “What? Who? Who’ll kill me?”

“Anyone in uniform,” said the man with the hat. “As soon as they see that jewel. Marked One or not, child’s story or something more, Zalski isn’t taking chances. You’re lucky we found you first. We’re all lucky.”

“I’m not
the Marked One,” Kora insisted. She attempted once more to tear the ruby off. At her side, Sedder found his voice.

“Who are you people?”

Lanokas pulled an arrow from his quiver. A single, scarlet feather dangled from its end.

“The Crimson League,” said Kora.

The girl said, “You’ve heard of us?”

“The whole kingdom’s heard of you. There’s wanted posters everywhere.”

Lanokas looked over his shoulder. “We’ve company,” he hissed, and dropped the unloaded arrow. He and his male companion aimed their bows, facing the thicket they had left. Next to them, the girl raised her sword. Sedder pushed Kora back against an oak, an arm in front of her. Everyone was silent.

Then two soldiers appeared through the trees. They too had crossbows, which they aimed at the Crimson League. “Drop your weapons,” barked the first. Lanokas held his arm steady, but the man with the hat lowered his bow. “Drop them!”

Without warning, as though by reflex, the second unif
orm moved his aim to cover Kora
and shot.

Sedder grabbed her, to throw her to the ground. Kora crossed her arms before her chest, recoiling from the rushing arrow, and a domed red shell encased not only her but Sedder as well. The arrow hit the shield as they were falling, and Sedder’s side, in the line of fire, was not pierced.

The soldier who had fired was not as lucky; the man with the hat shot him in the chest. On the ground, Kora uncrossed her arms and the red shell disappeared. The remaining soldier glanced from Lanokas to the dark-haired man to the girl, then started, his gaze shifting back. “It’s her,” he cried, before Lanokas’s arrow struck him and he slumped over. The sound of pounding feet crushing leaves, just out of view, broke the silence that descended.

“We missed one,” said Lanokas.

“Someone saw,” said the girl. “From the tree there. We’ll never catch him!”

“We can try,” said the man with the hat, and darted off. He followed the footsteps, which Kora no longer heard, either due to distance or the mental stun she had suffered. In no time at all he was back, mud and grass-stains covering his left side.

“I almost caught up to him. Or to
them
:
I didn’t expect three. They got away when I tripped on a root, dodging arrows. I nearly was hit. I wounded one of them, but….”

“This is bad,” said the red-haired girl. “This is… just bad.”

“How bad?” asked Sedder. He pushed himself to his feet. Kora, still shocked by the advent of the mysterious red shell, stayed on the ground.

“We need to go,” said Lanokas. “Now.” Kora forced herself to stand. He said to her, “That shield, do you know how you conjured it?” Once more, Kora crossed her arms like an X. The red shell reappeared, though this time it enveloped only her.

“Good,” said the man with the hat. He and Lanokas reloaded their crossbows, while the girl held her sword ready. “Let’s move.”

Sedder kept close to Kora. His presence was the only thing that kept her from hysteria. She looked over her shoulder, horrified, at the two men in black lying on the grass, and struggled not to vomit.

“Where are we going?” Sedder asked. Lanokas replied:

“Someplace safe. Well, safer than here. More people are willing to hide us than you’d think, even if they won’t help more actively. Resisting Zalski doesn’t make for a quiet life.”

“Though it can make for a short one,” Sedder qualified.

No one responded. In fact, no one said anything until they left the forest and entered the hill region east of the village. Every second Kora expected an ambush, but they met nothing, not even a robin or a sparrow. They drew closer and closer to what was clearly the edge of some farmland; a wooden fence marked the boundary. A particularly tall group of hills lay just beyond, surrounded by rocks and boulders. When they came to a cave Kora almost passed it by, scattered rocks concealed the entrance so well. Lanokas led the way inside.

“Spacious” and “homey” were not proper descriptions of the lodging, but at least the outlaws had logs stacked to start a fire. Lanokas took a flint stone and arrowhead, and soon had a small blaze going. The cave was larger than Kora originally thought, and deeper; she saw by the flickering firelight that the League had lived there for some time. The rebels had stacked blankets against the wall farther in, with water and food stores, and collections of wigs and clothing.