In the Ruins (Crown of Stars 6)

“I hope so,” muttered Blessing.

“My lord! There is a stone under these brambles!” shouted John, withdrawing his spear from the mass of vines and thorns.

“We are not lost,” said Hugh. “We are exactly where I hoped to be. I only wish to know what day. According to my earlier calculations we should have lost three days in the passage. Yet I can’t be sure. So be it. From here we ride east.”

They nodded.

“Where are we going?” Blessing demanded.

Hugh looked at her, nothing more. Anna shivered, not liking the weight of his gaze. He was capable of anything. Blessing hadn’t seen Elene murdered. Better, for now, not to mention it to the girl. It was hard to know how Blessing would react.

“Let me be precise,” Hugh continued, catching each man’s gaze to make sure he had their attention. “We will be pursued.”

“My lord,” said John, “if we’ve come so far as you say, how can any catch up to us?”

“I do not fear human pursuit.” Hugh smiled patiently, as though he had heard this question a hundred times and would happily answer it a hundred more times without losing his temper. His amiable demeanor was what scared Anna most about him. “When the alarm is raised, you must retreat immediately within the circle. I cannot protect those who remain outside.” He nodded to one of the other men, a sturdy fellow with broad shoulders and spatulate hands. “It is then that we rely on you, Theodore. We have but one arrow for each man in the party.”

Theodore nodded. “Eleven in all, like the stones, my lord.”

“But there are twelve of us!” said Anna.

Hugh’s gaze was like ice, yet his smile remained. “You are expendable, Anna. If you are marked, then you will be killed. You must hope that Antonia does not think of you at all when she sends her pursuers.” His gaze moved away from her. She was not, she saw, important enough to linger on. The red dazzle of dawn faded as the sun moved up into the sky, not visible as a disk but seen as a bluish glow behind a blanketing haze.

“Theodore? Do you understand your part?”

“I do, my lord,” said the man stoutly. “I will not fail you.”

“No,” he said, with a nod that made the archer sit up straighten “I believe you shall not.”

Beyond the standing stones lay a village, a substantial settlement with a score of roofs surrounded by a livestock palisade and a ditch. No guard manned the watchtower now. They rode across the earthen bridge that spanned the ditch and pulled up before closed gates.

Theodore shouted a few times, but there was no answer. The silence made Anna nervous. The horses flattened ears and shifted anxiously. She did not hear anything except the wind, not even a dog’s bark. Finally, scarred John volunteered to get inside. He dismounted and offered his reins to Liudbold, then tested the gate. It was, indeed, barred from inside. He tested the palisade, moved off around until he found a listing post that offered a place to fix rope. Soon he clambered up the side with bare feet braced against wood and hands advancing up the joined rope. They watched him keenly. His soft grunts were audible because it was so deathly quiet. Once, a few oddly shaped fields had been tended by farmers. There was a vineyard and a stand of twoscore olive trees scattered along a nearby slope. The road east cut up into a defile, quickly lost to view. From here they could not see the coastal plain.

John reached the top and balanced himself there on his belly as he scanned the village. His mouth opened. He jerked, as at a blow, and slipped backward. Anna shrieked, thinking he would fall, but he caught himself awkwardly and hand over hand rappelled down, hitched the rope off with a flip and a yank, and ran back. He didn’t reach them before he bent to one knee and retched, although he hadn’t much in his stomach to cough up.

“Move the men back, Captain,” said Hugh to Frigo. He took the reins from Liudbold and waited while the rest turned their horses and moved off.

“Plague,” said John when he came over with Lord Hugh. “Got the dogs, too, them that had eaten the dead folk left lying in the street. Good thing that gate is closed.”

“We must be cautious,” said Hugh. “Let’s leave this blighted place. Frigo, set your scouts. We can’t be sure we won’t stumble across bandits. We’ve few enough in our party that a smaller group taking us unaware could do great damage.”

ed John dismounted to investigate. The presbyter lifted the golden disk. He fussed with it, moving one circle on top of another, turned a crooked bar on the back, sighted toward the eastern horizon, read—lips moving—from the back, then shook his head. After this, he fished in the pack he wore, withdrew a square of waxed canvas, wrapped the disk up inside, and returned it to the pouch.

“Are we lost, my lord?” asked Frigo.

“I hope so,” muttered Blessing.

“My lord! There is a stone under these brambles!” shouted John, withdrawing his spear from the mass of vines and thorns.

“We are not lost,” said Hugh. “We are exactly where I hoped to be. I only wish to know what day. According to my earlier calculations we should have lost three days in the passage. Yet I can’t be sure. So be it. From here we ride east.”

They nodded.

“Where are we going?” Blessing demanded.

Hugh looked at her, nothing more. Anna shivered, not liking the weight of his gaze. He was capable of anything. Blessing hadn’t seen Elene murdered. Better, for now, not to mention it to the girl. It was hard to know how Blessing would react.

“Let me be precise,” Hugh continued, catching each man’s gaze to make sure he had their attention. “We will be pursued.”