The Ranger of Marzanna (The Goddess War #1) - Jon Skovron Page 0,109

him back said she already understood how much harder her life was going to be from now on.

Sebastian turned back to Igor, but his eyes were on his wife, as if silently pleading for forgiveness. Perhaps he had gotten greedy. The income from the mill hadn’t been enough for him, so he decided to get some money on the side by helping the bandits. Maybe he’d justified it by thinking how much it would help his wife and son. Only now did he understand that he’d only made things more difficult for them.

No one got any more sleep that night. They tied up Igor and kept him apart from his wife and son. By the time the sun rose, they were all exhausted from the lack of sleep and the tense silence.

Sebastian apologized to Catherine again, though she didn’t seem to hear him. Instead she sat on the bed and held her son, her eyes not looking at him, or her husband, but somewhere else entirely. Perhaps thinking of her new life without a husband.

They brought Igor out with them and secured him to Rykov’s horse.

“You’re lucky the captain doesn’t make you walk behind on a tether,” Rykov told Igor as he tied his legs to the stirrups and his hands to the horn.

The other soldiers eyed Igor curiously as they emerged from the homes they’d stayed in, but no one asked any questions.

“We’ve got a lead on the whereabouts of the bandits,” Sebastian told them.

“Want me to scout ahead, Captain?” asked Zagitova, easily the best rider in the unit.

“Yes, thank you for volunteering, Zagitova,” said Sebastian. “Their hideout is downriver in a cave at the confluence of the Sestra, Syn, and Doch. The entrance to the cave is apparently concealed by some bushes.”

Zagitova saluted. “I’ll check it out, Captain.”

“Be careful,” said Sebastian. “And don’t engage before we arrive.”

“Yes, sir!”

Zagitova kicked his horse’s flanks and took off, quickly speeding up to a gallop, despite the snow, and soon was out of view. Sebastian and the rest of the unit followed behind at a slower pace. Since she was bearing the weight of two large men, Rykov’s poor mare could barely manage a slow canter.

They rode along the bank until they reached the point where the Sestra split to either side of a large, snow-covered hill. To the left was the larger, stronger Syn River that continued all the way down to Magna Alto. To the left was the smaller Doch River, which looked shallow enough to ford just past the split. A bit of flat land jutted out at the split, and beyond that was a ring of bushes at the base of the hill. A section of the bushes had been pulled away to reveal a narrow cave entrance.

“Is that Zagitova’s horse?” asked one of the men.

Zagitova’s chestnut roan, riderless, was ambling slowly along the bank near the cave entrance.

A chill swept over Sebastian, though he couldn’t say why. There was just something unnerving about seeing the horse without its rider. He called for the unit to stop.

Rykov, who was sitting behind Igor, grabbed him by the ear. “What do you know about this?”

Igor said nothing.

Something had happened to Zagitova. Sebastian was sure of it. He’d never lost a man before, and the feeling of helpless anxiety was excruciating. “Plotnikov and Shipulin, go check it out. But be careful, and keep your eyes open.”

“Yes, Captain,” said Shipulin.

The two urged their horses forward and across the Doch River, while the rest waited in strained silence. Plotnikov and Shipulin dismounted, drew their swords, and moved cautiously toward the cave entrance. They stopped about ten feet short of the entrance, and stared at something for a few moments as they spoke to each other. Then they remounted and hurried back across the river to where the unit waited.

“Zagitova’s dead,” Plotnikov said grimly. “Pit trap.”

“Shit,” Rykov said.

“What’s a pit trap?” asked Sebastian.

“They dig a large hole in the ground and line the bottom with sharpened stakes,” said Rykov. “Then they cover the hole with something that camouflages it but doesn’t hold a lot of weight. Zagitova probably walked up to the entrance, maybe to check if he could hear anyone inside, and fell right through.” He yanked on Igor’s ear hard enough to make him wince. “I bet they got all kinds of nasty surprises in there. But our friend here is going to tell us about them.”

“No. We can’t trust anything he says.” Sebastian felt a cold fury well up within him