‘It’s got some coins in it.’
‘Well, we had better get Caleb into the wagon, because I don’t know how long he’s going to make it without help.’
Both boys picked up the injured man and deposited him in the back of the wagon. Tad said, ‘You stay back there with him. I’ll drive.’
Neither boy was an experienced teamster, but both had spelled Caleb on their journey, and Zane admitted Tad was a better driver. The horses were reluctant to leave their forage and head down the road. ‘How far did he say that village was?’ asked Tad.
‘I don’t remember,’ said Zane. ‘But hurry. I don’t think we have much time.’ Tad pulled to the right and got the horses pointed down the road and with a flick of the reins and a shout got them moving. With another flick and a louder shout, he got them up to a brisk trot, the fastest he could manage in the darkness without running themselves off the dark road.
Caleb lay motionless, his head resting on a bundle of empty sacks while Zane tried his best to halt the bleeding. Softly, Zane whispered, ‘Don’t die!’
Tad silently echoed his foster brother’s request as he urged the horses down the dark and forbidding road.
The ride through the forest seemed to take forever. The boys alternated between an almost panic-stricken terror and a determined optimism that everything would turn out for the best.
They had no sense of time, as the minutes passed by and the road passed under the hooves of the horses. The animals had not been rested for hours before the ambush, and they were panting and the one on the left seemed to be favouring his left hind leg, but Tad ignored it; he’d kill both horses in their traces if it would save Caleb.
Both boys liked the tall, quiet hunter, as they thought of him. They knew he was related to the owners of Stardock, though the exact nature of the relationship was vague to them. They also knew that their mother was in love with Caleb and that he cared deeply for her. Resentful of his attentions at first, they had both come to appreciate how happy his visits made her. Tad’s deepest fear was having to return to Stardock and seeing the look on his mother’s face should he have to tell her of Caleb’s death.
Suddenly they were in the village. Tad realized that he had been so focused on what he would have to tell his mother and that Zane had been tending Caleb so closely, neither had noticed they had left the forest and had been passing by farms for some time now. The large moon was up and in the shimmering light of its reflected glow they could see the village of Yar-Rin. A few huts lined the roadway into the village square, and three large buildings dominated. One was the mill, on the far side of the square, and the other two appeared to be a shop of some sort, and an inn. The inn showed a sign with a sleeping rooster ignoring a sunrise. Remembering Caleb’s instructions, Tad pulled up before the inn and went to bang hard on the bolted door.
After a minute a voice from above sounded as a window was thrown open. ‘What is it?’ shouted an angry landlord as he thrust his head out the window.
‘Are you McGrudder? We need help!’ shouted Tad.
‘Wait a minute,’ said the man as he withdrew his head.
A moment later the door opened and a large man in a nightshirt appeared in the doorway holding a lantern. ‘Now, who’s we and what sort of help—’ His questions died on his lips as he saw Zane kneeling next to the prone figure in the wagon bed. He held the lantern close and said, ‘Gods of mercy!’
Looking at the two boys, both obviously exhausted and filthy, he said, ‘Help me get him inside.’
Tad jumped up next to Zane and they both got one of Caleb’s arms over their shoulder, then got him upright. The innkeeper came to the end of the wagon and said, ‘Give him to me.’
They allowed Caleb to fall slowly over the large man’s shoulder, and ignoring the blood that was soaking into his nightshirt, the landlord took the wounded man inside. ‘Elizabeth!’ he shouted as he entered the inn. ‘Get up, woman!’
A few moments later a plump but still attractive older woman appeared on the stairs, as the landlord put Caleb on a table. ‘It’s Caleb,’ said the man.
‘Are you McGrudder?’ asked Tad.
‘That I am, and this is my inn, the Sleeping Rooster. And who might you two be, and how did my friend come to this sorry state?’
The woman quickly began examining the wounds and said, ‘He’s lost a lot of blood, Henry.’
‘I can see that, woman. Do what you can.’
‘Tad and I are from Stardock,’ said Zane, and he quickly outlined the tale of their ambush.
‘Damn road agents,’ said McGrudder. ‘Had a Keshian patrol from Yadom out looking for them a couple of weeks back.’
‘Well, they’re all dead now,’ said Tad.
‘All of them?’
‘Five men,’ said Zane. ‘Tad and I killed two of them, Caleb the other three.’
‘You killed two?’ asked McGrudder, then he fell silent as the boys nodded.
When he said nothing for a few moments, Tad offered, ‘We were lucky.’
‘Indeed,’ said McGrudder.
The woman called Elizabeth said, ‘Henry, I don’t think I can do anything to save him. He’s too far gone.’
‘Damn,’ said the innkeeper. ‘Margaret!’ he roared.
Within a minute a young girl, about the same age as the boys, appeared from a door in the rear of the common room. ‘Get dressed and hurry down to the witch’s hut.’
The girl’s eyes grew wide. ‘The witch!’
‘Do it!’ the landlord shouted. ‘We’ve got a dying man here.’
The girl’s face went pale, and she vanished back through the door. A few minutes later she reappeared wearing a simple grey homespun dress and a pair of leather shoes. Turning to Zane, McGrudder said, ‘Take the lantern and go with her. The old witch won’t talk to strangers, but she knows Margaret.’ To Margaret, he said, ‘She’ll not want to come, but when she tells you to be away, say this and no more, “McGrudder says it’s time to repay a debt.” She’ll come then.’
Zane followed the obviously agitated girl out the door and across the small village square. This side of the village was upslope from a small stream and devoid of farms. The few huts bordering on the square were quickly left behind and they plunged into a thick copse of trees.
Zane hurried to keep up with the girl who seemed determined to get this over as quickly as possible. After a couple of minutes of silence, he said, ‘My name is Zane.’
‘Shut up!’ said the girl.
Zane felt his cheeks burn but said nothing. He had no idea why she was being rude to him, but decided that was something best explored when things weren’t so confused.
They came to a small game path and followed it, until they came near the edge of the stream. A flat clearing jutted into the stream, forming
