Fistandantilus Reborn - Douglas Niles [66]
He regarded Foryth questioningly. “For the sake of argument, what manner of reward are we discussing?”
The historian shrugged. “I cannot say with any accuracy. This is a situation unique in my experience. However, you can always send a message of inquiry. While we’re waiting for the reply, perhaps I can effectuate an interview with the Master of Loreloch.”
Danyal watched the exchange with a mixture of disbelief, amazement, and fear. He was astounded that these men could discuss matters of life and death with such aplomb. At the same time, he felt as though he was a very unimportant piece in the game that was being enacted before him.
“Hey! They’ve got a horse over here!” A voice called from the darkness, and other shadowy forms moved through the woods, drawn toward the source of the sound. Abruptly the night was split by a loud whinny, followed by a bone-crunching smack and a very human wail of pain and fear. Brush cracked and a body tumbled into view, a bandit who clutched the limp, twisted shape of his left arm as he collapsed on the ground and moaned.
More whinnies rang from the darkness, followed by curses, smashes, and finally the sound of rapidly receding hoofbeats clattering up the streamside trail. Three more bandits came into view, dragging a fourth, the latter bleeding heavily from a gash on the forehead. In another moment, another man crawled out of the woods, pulled himself onto a stump, and proceeded to wrap a filthy cloth around his knee as he cursed beneath his breath. “Eh, Gnar,” chortled Zack. “Break yer leg, did ya?” “Bah! It’ll set just fine!” growled the other, though the grimace tightening his face served to belie his bold words. He looked at Zack, then Kelryn, and Dan was surprised to catch a glimpse of the naked fear on the man’s face.
“That was no normal horse. It was a beast possessed by a demon!” snapped the bandit with the broken arm, painfully rising to a sitting position. “I swear I saw fire come out of its mouth!”
“And it crushed my knee with a hammer,” moaned Gnar, drawing his bandage tight. Meanwhile, the man whose head had been gashed by the hoof moaned and pressed his hands to the swelling lump of his face.
“A spirited animal, that’s all,” spat another, a stocky, mustachioed man with a short bow and quiver of arrows. He looked at his fellows in scorn.
“You’re just not fit to hold the halter of a horse like that!”
“Why didn’t you take the rope, then, Garald?” asked Kelryn smoothly.
“I tried, lord-I tried. But these fools had made such a mess of things that by the time I got there the animal had broken free. There’ll be no catching it, at least on foot.”
“Your horse?” Kelryn inquired, regarding Foryth with a raised eyebrow. “Undoubtedly the creature responsible for the attack against us at your first camp?”
“Er-” Foryth, who had winced and cringed at the sound of Nightmare’s escape, looked around awkwardly.
“Our horse,” Danyal blurted quickly. “I’m the squire, so I take care of her. Her name is Nightmare,” he added, suppressing the urge to grin at the damage the mean-spirited animal had inflicted on these ruffians.
“Apt,” replied Kelryn, his tone droll.
“Enough o’ this!” snarled the one-eyed bandit, Zack. “Are we goin’ to stick ‘em and be on our way?” His filthy thumb, still caressing the edge of the big knife, left no doubt as to what Zack’s desire was.
“No, I think not.” Kelryn was firm, his expression pragmatic.
“Not even the boy?” Danyal gagged on Zack’s fetid breath as the bandit leaned close, cackling in cruel mirth.
“I must say, the reward from my temple will be limited-perhaps refused entirely-if such a promising young apprentice is stolen from the church by untimely violence.” Foryth’s tone suggested that he thought his superiors were a trifle unreasonable on a matter like this, but that he, personally, was powerless to effect a more practical solution.
“No, Zack, not even the lad. At least not yet,” Kelryn ordered with a tolerant shake of his head. “We’ll find some other way for you to have some entertainment,” he promised the sulking