friends let their mounts drop back a short distance. Whether they thought it was far enough that he couldn’t hear them, or they simply didn’t care, he couldn’t be sure, but they were soon talking quietly to each other. “What do you think?” Janice asked.
Tiny was unabashed and direct with his opinion. “It didn’t make sense. He was trying to imply we’d run away if he didn’t tell us, but we wouldn’t if he did. That’s ass backwards. I wouldn’t abandon him either way.”
She nodded. “Exactly. He’s an idiot.”
Will couldn’t take it anymore. Raising his voice, he turned and addressed them, “I can hear everything you’re saying.”
Janice stood in her stirrups and responded even louder, “Who do you think I was talking to? Dimwit!”
Chapter 41
They continued through the night, though it never got quite dark enough for his friends to need a rope to keep from losing him. An hour after dawn, they saw the river, and soon after, the bridge that led across to the crossroad. Soon enough they would be able to meet up with First Division, since they should be close by.
There was no sign of either the First or the Third when they reached the crossroad. They stopped for a break, and while Tiny stood beside Thunderturnip, feeding the horse his favorite snack, he asked, “Where did the Patriarch come up with so many soldiers?”
Will had been lost in his own thoughts, so he was caught off-guard. “Huh?”
“You said that all the intelligence indicated they were short on men, yet they had enough to send First Division running with their tail tucked between their legs, and even with Third Division they couldn’t turn the tide,” said Tiny.
“That’s what we thought,” agreed Will. “The numbers aren’t beyond belief, but after losing their garrison at Klendon, and with what they still had at Maldon, it’s more than we expected.”
“Do you think it’s mercenaries?” suggested the squire.
That had actually been a topic of some discussion while preparing for the invasion, but there’d been no sign that the Patriarch had made an agreement with one of the neighboring powers. “We’re fairly sure that Trendham has stayed out of it, and Faresh is out of the question. I’m no expert on the other nations, but the only real possibilities that were considered viable were Barsta and Shimera.”
Barsta was barely a nation, according to what Will had learned. It was a loose collection of thanes ruling over small villages. Most of the Terabinian peers considered them little more than barbarians. The only time they became something akin to a nation was during times of war, when a high king would be selected to unify them. They did have a lot of free manpower, though, and a reputation for solid service, despite their wild nature. That made them popular as mercenaries.
But Shimera was where Will would put his money, if he had to bet. Shimera was a tightly controlled monarchy, ruled by one of the few men who might be even crazier than Lognion, Gavin Ferallon. What made it a sure bet, though, was the fact that the Shimerans were demon worshippers. The monarchy was firmly in the grip of the Church of the Iron Fist. It was hard to guess who held the most power in Shimera, the mad king or the demonic priesthood, but few who asked the question lived long enough to talk about it.
Will had encountered demons before. They’d been servants of the Shimeran priests who helped Darrow invade Terabinia years before. They’d also been sent as assassins to kill Selene even more recently, and it was their influence that had convinced the former Duchess Arenata to attempt the summoning of the demon-lord Leycachak. Will glanced down at the breastplate he now wore, a memento of that encounter.
“The cat said there were demons,” reminded Tiny.
Will nodded. “It’s almost certainly the Shimerans, and if they sent two divisions into a full retreat, there are probably a lot of them.”
“Shouldn’t there be someone here?” asked Janice. “All our messengers have to pass through this place.”
“Sub-Marshal Spry should have left at least a company here when he left with the Third Division,” agreed Will. The crossroad was a key location, since supplies from Klendon would all pass through, either on their way to Maldon to the north, or the front lines advancing on Myrsta. But there was no sign of anyone in the vicinity.
“Where are they?” asked Tiny. “More importantly, which way do we go from here? Have First and Third already