This Battle Lord's Quest (13 page)

Chapter
Sixteen

Pond

After a quick breakfast, they continued moving at
first light. The overnight rest had done wonders for Renken. Although he continued
to move slowly, the binding around his chest, along with the pain killing
powder, allowed him to function almost at a normal level. To give him more of a
chance to recuperate, Mastin took the reins of his horse, which freed the
ex-mercenary to nap in his saddle.

They traveled in single file, with Fortune leading.
Now that they’d found Atty’s trail markings, they knew which way to go.

Yulen worried for his wife. He hadn’t felt anything
further last night, but his gut continued to tell him she was still alive. In
massive pain, but alive. Unconsciously, he rubbed his left arm as the ghost of
a twinge ran from his elbow to his wrist.

At the same time, he feared for Paxton’s life. The
loss of any of his soldiers deeply affected him, as he personally made it part
of his duty as Battle Lord to get to know each man and his immediate family. It
was his belief that if a soldier was willing to put his life on the line for
the safety and well being of the compound, then the least Yulen could do was to
get to know a bit about him.

What made this situation worse, however, was the
fact that Warren Paxton had earned his right and Atty’s complete trust, to
become her appointed Second. She would be devastated to hear of his injuries,
if she wasn’t already aware.

He turned to glance back at Cole Mastin, his own
Second. The young man had become more than an aide and confidante. He’d become
a close friend to both him and his family. Mattox looked up to the soldier, and
thought of him as an uncle. If anything happened to Mastin...

Yulen shuddered and sucked in a deep breath to
erase the roiling in his stomach.
I have to stay positive. I must place my
faith in Liam’s skills, and hope Warren makes it.

Fortune halted a short distance ahead. The Battle
Lord brought his horse behind the hunter’s and stopped. Mastin did the same.

“What?” Yulen whispered.

Fortune held up a hand. “Hear that?”

Yulen strained to listen, but his hearing was not
as acute as the Mutah’s. He silently shook his head in reply.

“It sounds like a feeding frenzy. Stay here.”

The man slid off his mount and slipped through the
brush without a sound. Barely a minute passed, when he returned, gesturing for
Yulen to follow. As they drew closer to the source, Yulen could detect the low
growling. Fortune motioned for them to hunker down and approach the rest of the
way on hands and knees.

Between the branches of a low-lying bush, they
spotted the troop of foxes tearing into the remains of something furred.
Smaller rodents and a few birds raced about, gathering up bits and pieces of
flesh that were scattered about the clearing.

A touch on his shoulder was his cue to leave the
scene and return to their horses. Once there, Yulen signaled Mastin to join
them.

“There’s an opening just ahead. Some foxes have
dragged their kill there. We’ll need to go around it.”

“Yulen, no,” Fortune emphatically argued. “We have
to go in and investigate that clearing.”

“Why?”

The hunter’s eyes widened. “Didn’t you see?”

“See what?”

“The carcass. It was a coon. That could be the coon
that attacked Paxton and Renken.”

The three men automatically looked over to where
the ex-mercenary sat slumped over his saddle as he doze.

“Mastin, wake him up. We have to go in and rid the
clearing of the scavengers. “

“Can’t we leave him here while we do that?” the Second
asked.

“Too risky for his sake,” Fortune replied. “If any
of those animals run this way, it could spook his horse and throw him.”

“Wake him up,” Yulen repeated. “If he’s awake,
he’ll be able to control the horse on his own.”

“Don’t bother,” Renken softly muttered. “I’m awake.
Just tell me why.”

“We think this is the site where you fought the
raccoon.”

The soldier’s eyes flew open and he straightened up
in the saddle. “What are we waiting for?”

“I want you to watch from the edge of the
clearing,” Yulen ordered, although he was aware of the fact that Renken wasn’t
obligated to follow them. “The three of us will go in and chase away the
animals already feasting on the remains. If you spot anything
 
approaching that could endanger us, call
out.”

Renken nodded, drawing his sword, and the rest
re-mounted.

They burst into the clearing, yelling and
brandishing their weapons. The animals scattered without putting up any
resistance. Once Yulen was certain nothing else would attempt to try and take
away the carcass, he gestured for Renken to join them. It took just one glance
around the area for the ex-mercenary to verify.

“This is the place.”

He joined them on foot over by the carcass. At
close range, it was clear it was just the tail, and not the whole animal.
Mastin gave a low whistle.

“If the tail is a third of the coon’s length, this
thing had to be nearly thirty feet long!”

Yulen glanced over where the ex-mercenary was
staring at the stump. “Garet, can you walk us through the events that took
place here?”

“There’s not much to tell. It came from over
there.” He pointed to an opening between two large bushes. “We were all up in
the trees, prepared to spend the night.”

Yulen glanced over at the undisturbed remains of
the fire. “You slept in the trees?”

“Yeah. Atty had a feeling it would be safer up
there. Anyway, I was about to fall asleep when I heard something coming through
the brush. Atty whispered to me, to see if I was awake, then she called out to
Paxton. About that time, the coon came into the clearing. It saw Atty and
snarled, and launched itself at her. She must have put an arrow into it.”

“Where?”

Renken shook his head. “I don’t know. I had climbed
down and was approaching it from the rear. The thing went after Atty. I managed
to dig my blade into its side, when Paxton came up and whacked its tail off. It
turned around, and that’s when it dug its claws into him. I jumped upon its
back, hoping to severe its head from its spine. Atty put more arrows into it.
One arrow missed me by a hair and got it right in the soft spot on its nose. It
was screaming and fighting us the whole time. It refused to retreat. I rammed
my blade into the back of the thing’s neck. That’s when it reared up on its
hind feet, lost its balance, and toppled backwards, on top of me.”

He glanced down at the blade in his hand. “I’m
thinking the hilt of my sword caught me in the chest. This is Paxton’s sword.
Guess mine is still in the coon’s neck.”

“And when you came to, Atty was gone?”

“Yeah.” He gave Yulen a despairing look. “I had to
make the choice between trying to take Paxton back to Alta Novis, or go in
search of Atty. I’m sorry, D’Jacques, but I couldn’t leave him here when there
was the chance he might survive.”

Yulen reached out and grasped the man’s shoulder,
giving it a little squeeze. “I’m not faulting you. I would have done the same.
Atty’s a strong woman. She probably chased the coon when it took off.”

Renken sheathed his sword, paused, then pointed to
a tree. “That’s the tree Atty was in. Is that blood?”

They went over to investigate the splotches on the
trunk. Mastin touched one of the brownish drops. “It’s already dried.”

“Is it yours or Paxton’s?” Yulen asked Renken.

The man shook his head and pointed to another
section of the clearing. “Paxton was over there. The blood spray is facing the
wrong direction.”

Yulen looked at the man from top to bottom. “And
it’s not yours?”

“No.”

“Could it be the coon’s?” Mastin wondered.

Fortune strode over and bent to sniff the blood. He
turned to Yulen with a worried expression. “It’s not the coon’s.”

It’s not the coon’s.
That left only one other ugly possibility.

He couldn’t help himself. Reaching out, Yulen
swiped his fingers over the bark.

His body shuddered unexpectedly, violently. Piercing
pain knifed through his temple, forcing him to gasp and reach for something to
keep from falling. Instead, hands grabbed him to help him sit down. When he
opened his eyes, Fortune’s face was nose to nose to his, dark eyes intently
studying him.

“What did you feel?”

“My head felt like it was cracked open.” Yulen
touched his left shoulder as he remembered the sudden black pain. “Here, too.”

The Mutah hunter slowly nodded. “I found a blood
trail. We need to keep moving.”

“Hold up,” Renken interrupted.

They watched as he poked at something hidden in the
brush. Knowing he’d have difficulty bending over, Mastin dropped to his knees
to search. The Second appeared startled at what he found.

“Oh, shit.”

“What?” Yulen asked.

The soldier pulled out the remains of a longbow.
The grip was splintered to the point of almost being divided into two parts.
Yulen stared at it in horror.

“What about her quiver?”

A brief search discovered the empty leather
container nearby. Yulen held it in shaking hands.

“She’s unarmed,” Mastin whispered.

“Unless she still has her Ballock with her. Search
for it, in case she lost it, too.”

They spent several minutes looking for the long
dagger, without success.

“Maybe it’s still on her,” Renken suggested.

“Let’s hope,” Fortune remarked. “She has a greater
chance of survival if she does. Come on. We need to go.” He glanced past them,
at the woods. “This tail is an open invitation to a feast, and there’s no
reason for us to remain here.”

They hurried to their horses, and Yulen tied the
quiver to his saddle. Since the bow was useless, it was left lying where they’d
found it. As he drew up the reins, he glanced back and noticed Mastin silently
helping Renken into his saddle before taking to his own.

They followed Fortune, who again remained on foot
to track where the coon went. They moved at a snail’s pace, as every so often,
the man would stop to examine a print. At one point, he straightened and
sniffed the air. Although he wanted to question Fortune about every little
thing he did, Yulen held back and forced himself to be patient, when patience
was one quality he normally had little use or time for. He knew the hunter
would let him know if he discovered something important.

They headed south by east, with a light, cool
breeze blowing in their faces. Nearly an hour passed, but in that time they had
not covered a lot of ground. Unable to hold back any longer, Yulen leaned over
his horse’s neck and alerted the man.

“Psst! Are we getting close?”

Straightening up, the hunter walked over to the
Battle Lord and looked up at him. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Yulen. You
have your job and I have mine. I don’t tell you how to do yours, so give me the
space to do mine. I realize you’re not a trained and experienced tracker, so
let me give you a few details. I don’t just follow prints and blood trails. I’m
also looking out for anything that could be dangerous. Some animals might want
to confront us because we’re invading its territory. Or it may believe we’re
going to try to take away the tasty meal that suddenly appeared. I’m also
scanning the sky for scavengers like crows or buzzards, for reasons I don’t
have to explain. On top of all that, I’m checking the air for the scent of
death and decay and rot. Again, I don’t need to explain why. Finally, I don’t
know this territory. I’m seeing plant life and animal prints that are totally
new to me, and therefore potentially life-threatening. Now, what were you
wanting to know? Are we getting close? I have no fucking idea. But the moment I
have an inkling, I’ll certainly let you know.” He patted Yulen’s hand that
rested on the man’s thigh, then returned to the front of the line.

Yulen glanced back where Renken rode directly
behind him, but the man seemed to be studying the surrounding landscape. The
Battle Lord sighed. After working his head around his shoulders to get out the
kinks, he kept his attention directed on watching for any sign of danger, and
allowed the Mutah to work undisturbed.

Another hour passed. The sun had reached its zenith
and was on its downward slope. Yulen called for a halt, mostly to give the
ex-mercenary some time off the horse. He had suffered his fair share of battle
injuries in the past to know that, although riding was preferable to walking,
after a while, the saddle could become a torture in itself.

“A short break,” he promised the Mutah, who nodded
and disappeared into the brush.

“Yulen?” Mastin came forward, shaking his skin of
water. “We’re going to need to find a spring or something soon.”

“I agree. I’m running low, too.”