journey. Despite his precarious situation he liked de Vis; liked his passion, his loyalty. Especially he admired his control. A lesser man would have gone for the transient plea sure of plunging his blade into his enemy but de Vis was exercising wisdom over heart right now, and that spoke droves for any man - young or old.
As she said her final word, men melted out of the shadows, bows strung taut, arrows nocked. Loethar couldn't believe they hadn't spotted them until now; they were so close.
Elka immediately stepped in front of her two companions, reaching behind her for her bow.
"Don't. We'll kill you before you can even bring your bow to the front," one of the men cautioned. Elka paused. "You," he added, nodding at Gavriel. "Drop the dagger. And you," he said, back to Elka, "remove that bow - carefully - and throw it over here."
Elka did as she was instructed. Gavriel hesitated. "We're looking for Kilt Faris. I am - "
An arrow sped out of the trees and landed perfectly between his feet, cutting off his words.
The man smiled. "The next one's in your gut if you don't obey."
"They're not going to kill us," Loethar said conversationally, "or they would have done so. Look at their eyes. Dispassionate. They intend to question us."
"Drop the blade!" the man commanded again.
"Don't, de Vis," Loethar said "Let's see what they do then." He looked at Gavriel and winked and knew he'd struck a chord with the man, whose expression showed a glimmer of amusement.
Ah, a risk taker, Loethar realized. He liked de Vis all the more.
"Gavriel, do as they say," Elka demanded.
Gavriel shook his head, looked over at the leader. "Make me. I didn't come here to create any trouble. I just need to find - "
The sound of the arrow being loosed cut off his words. Loethar yelped as the arrow embedded itself into his chest, just below the left shoulder. Gavriel yelled and Elka began to move but once again the calm leader got their attention.
"Leave him!" he commanded. "Next one's for you," he said to Gavriel. "And then a third will kill your wounded companion," he added nodding at Loethar, who was lying on the ground.
"Animals!" Gavriel cursed. He ignored the warning and bent down to Loethar.
Loethar grinned at him. "Told you they don't intend to kill us. But, de Vis, don't enrage them any more, eh? I'm near dead now. Another word would probably do it and I think you want to give Leonel that satisfaction." He groaned and was surprised to see the consternation on de Vis's face.
The men of the forest surrounded them. "Pick him up," the man commanded Gavriel and Elka. "Follow us."
Kilt's strength had ebbed in synchrony with the dying sun, and he was now being helped along by Jewd, having turned down the help of Leo's shoulder. He was just managing to put one foot in front of the other. The sun was low but he remained optimistic that it would still be light when they hit the camp.
"You're serious, aren't you? Magic!" Leo said, half-scoffing, half-amazed as he loped along in front of them.
"There is no other way, Leo," Kilt said, breathing rapidly to help the pain. "We can't raise a credible army of fighters. A rabble of protesters, perhaps, filled with loyalist farmers or older men who still remember the glory days of Penraven. But a fit, well-trained army is beyond us."
"But the Vested are - "
"Listen to me," Kilt said, his vexation rising in tandem with the frustration of his injuries and his pain. "No one has ever thought to unite the Vested."
"Until Loethar."
"That's right. Until Loethar." He gave a resigned sigh. "We might all hate him but the man is clever. Everything he does, he does with intelligence and cunning, even down to reinventing himself as the magnanimous emperor. And it's because of his cunning and intelligence that your people now see him as a man to be looked up to...he'll be remembered as a great ruler, I'm sure. So it's up to you, Leo. If you want to put a Valisar on that throne, you're going to have to show cunning and intelligence to match. You have no army and you have no prospects of raising one that can even begin to rival what he has in place. His men are tough and well trained and you know Stracker maintains the army to a very high level."