Shades of the Past_ Book Six of the Morcyth Saga - Brian S. Pratt [74]
From the head of the line, Illan glances back at the rest of the recruits and comments quietly to James, “Wonder if any of us are going to survive this?”
“I don’t know,” he replies. He misses Orry as does the others, though he never really had a chance to get to know him well. Few of the recruits have had much personal dealings with him other than Devin. Glancing back at Corbin’s son, he feels saddened for his loss and can see his emotions are barely kept in check.
He spies Scar and Potbelly riding not too far behind him. “Scar!” he hollers. When he has his attention, he asks, “Didn’t you and Potbelly once face a band of thieves all by yourselves?”
“As a matter of fact,” Scar says, “we did. It was several years ago during…” As Scar continues on with his narration, Illan glances to James and asks, “Have you heard this one before?”
Giving him a grin, he shakes his head and says, “No. But knowing those two, I figured they would have a tale of some sort to go along with it. Besides, this will give everyone something to think about other than Orry.”
Nodding, Illan says, “Good thinking.”
“No, no you got it wrong,” Potbelly interjects. “We weren’t hired by the Baron of Falsberg, it was the Duchess of Twyst.”
“That’s right, now that you remind me,” Scar says. “We were on our way through…” For the next hour or so, they regal everyone with their tale of daring do and for a brief time, the death of their friend is forgotten.
Not to be outdone, Uther and Jorry begin a tale once they’re through of how they single handedly slew some giant that had taken an entire village captive. After listening to the narrative for several minutes, James turns to Illan and asks, “Are there giants here?”
“Not that I’ve heard,” he says. Despite the improbability of their story, it is rather entertaining.
They continue following the road for the rest of the day. The scouts would return periodically to give a report then would switch to a fresh mount and ride off again. During one such time when a scout returns, the scout tells of a caravan approaching from the south. “Looks to be supplies for the army that was at Lythylla,” the scout says. “It is but an hour away.”
“How many soldiers accompany it?” Illan asks.
“Three score,” the scout replies.
“Keep an eye on it,” Illan says. The scout salutes before changing to a fresh horse and gallops back down the road.
“Ceadric!” he hollers.
“Yes, sir,” Ceadric replies as he brings his horse closer.
“We have an approaching caravan,” he tells him. “Three score guards. Take your riders and capture it.”
“Yes, sir!” he says.
Before he rides away, James says, “Don’t kill the drivers.”
“What about the soldiers?” he asks.
“Do what you have to,” he states.
Turning to his Raiders, he says, “We got a caravan to liberate!”
A cheer erupts as he and his men break into a gallop and race down the road.
“So it begins,” James says under his breath as he watches Ceadric and his Raiders disappear down the road.
“Indeed,” comments Illan from beside him.
It isn’t long before they arrive at the captured caravan. Off to one side, a pile of dead Empire soldiers riddled with arrows stands testament to the battle which raged here. Many of Hedry’s archers still have arrows to string as they keep the drivers from attempting to escape. Several wagons are without drivers and the bloodstains on the benches show they didn’t give up easily.
The wagons are filled with food, weapons and supplies needed by an army on the move. A string of horses were also captured, spare mounts for their cavalry.
Ceadric meets them as they arrive and says, “All secured. No losses.”
“Good,” states Illan. “Have some of the men escort the caravan back to Lythylla.”
“Yes, sir,” he says and then begins assigning those new to their force to escort the caravan. Some grumbling arises from those who believe they’ll miss out on the glory of accompanying Black Hawk, but do as they are told.
As the wagons begin rolling