he ignored the feeling. One day without food wouldn’t hurt him. They could only stop to let the horses drink, and even then it would have to be fast. There was a silence over them as they went. No one wanted to say anything. There was too much tension in the air and with every word came the chance of emotional upheaval from the previous day and night.
Legon’s face was starting to burn as the sun peaked around noon. Sweat rolled down his brow, causing the dust in the air to stick to him and cover his face in grit. As the sun started its descent it began to burn his neck. He lifted his shirt collar a bit.
The air was still and quiet except for the sound of hooves clopping on the ground. The rhythm was hypnotizing. His mind started to get fuzzy. His vision slipped in and out of focus. He started to become aware of all the sounds in the woods, sounds that he couldn’t normally hear on horseback—the sound of the breeze in the tree tops, the sound of a bug crawling on a log. All the sounds must have been from yards away. “This is the Elven side,” he thought. The soft whoosh of a bird taking flight, the creak of wood …Ah, he loved that sound, the creak only a bow could make as it was strung.
He snapped back to awareness in an instant, tightening his reins, bringing Phantom to an abrupt halt.
“Legon, what is it?” Sasha started, but was interrupted by a sound that all could hear—the sound of hooves that were very close. Sensing danger, everyone spurred their horses forward. Out of the trees about fifteen yards away came three men with bows drawn on horses wearing leather armor emblazoned with the queen’s crest—all unfamiliar faces, all with their bows pointed at Kovos and Legon. Legon was aware of two more horsemen with bows behind them. All had the satisfied smile of knowing they had surrounded their prey.
Chapter Nine
The Lesson
“What drives us to act? What is it that makes us capable of the great and the horrible? It is the events in our lives and how we choose to react to them. How we see the event, how we respond to it, these are the things that define us.”
- Excerpts from The Diary of the Adopted Sister
The men wore a look of triumph tempered with wariness on their faces. It was clear that they weren’t sure exactly who or what they were dealing with. They looked the four fugitives over, sizing them up, figuring out who would be the greatest threat. Sasha would instantly be ruled out. She would be easy to overpower. Keither was fat and young and looked terrified, so no problem there. Kovos and Legon were the problem. Both men were more confident and didn’t back down from the glances they got. Both had been in so many fights that they could be beaten to a pulp and not be bothered. In truth, if the soldiers were to hurt someone to make a point it wouldn’t be Legon or Kovos. Breaking the strongest of a group to intimidate the rest usually worked, but doing that didn’t make a lick of difference to the next strongest guy. However, hurt one of the weak ones and the strong would comply just to spare the others pain.
“Why don’t you join us in our camp?” one of the men said, pointing with his bow up the road just a bit.
They went without a word, Sasha and Keither intently staring at their hands. This was a good strategy for Sasha. If a woman appeared submissive and scared the men would be less likely to harass her. After all, that’s how people like this thought women should be. But Keither needed to at least look like he had a backbone or the men would teach him a thing or two.
They entered a small clearing off to the right of the road. There were three tents set up and a smoldering fire in a pit. They maneuvered the horses to the left side of the camp, leaving plenty of room for more tents when the other guards arrived. Legon figured it would take about a day for a messenger to reach the town, so if they played their cards right they could escape before the other five showed up. Two on four didn’t suit Legon, but it was better than two on ten.