“Ma’am, are you sure those two aren’t causing you any trouble?”

“Oh, no,” she scoffed.

The sergeant lifted his reins, the twenty men behind him doing the same in response, ready to take out after him. “Well, I think we’ll have a little talk with them, anyway. A little talk about thieving.”

“If you do, be sure to ask them to tell you about how the D’Haran soldiers stole their families’ stores of food, and how they’re starving because of it.”

The square-jawed soldier lowered the reins. “I don’t know anything about what was done before, but the new Lord Rahl has given explicit orders that there will be no stealing of anything by the army.”

“The new Lord Rahl?”

He nodded. “Richard Rahl, the Master of D’Hara.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw a smile twitch across Nathan’s lips. It was a smile for a properly taken fork in a prophecy. Though it had to be, were they to succeed, it brought her no smile, but an inner pang of agony for the path ahead now confirmed. Only the alternative was worse. “Yes, I do believe I’ve heard the name, now that you mention it.”

The sergeant stood in the stirrups and turned back to his men. “Ogden, Spaulding!” Their horses kicked up snow when they leaped ahead. “Go after those boys and take them to their families. Find out if what they say is true about their stores being stolen by troops. If it is, find out the number in their families and if there are any others in the neighborhood under the same circumstances. Take a report back to Aydindril at once and see to it that they get what they need to eat, to see them through the winter.”

The two men saluted with a fist to the dark leather and mail over their hearts and then galloped their horses down the tracks leading into the woods. The sergeant turned back to her. “Lord Rahl’s orders,” he explained. “Are you headed to Aydindril?”

“Yes, we’re hoping to find safety there, like the others traveling north.”

“You’ll find it, then, but it comes at a cost. I’ll tell you the same as all the others. Whatever your former homeland, you will now be subjects of D’Hara. Your allegiance is required, along with a small portion of what you earn in your labor, if you wish to come to territory held by D’Hara.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “It would seem the army is still thieving from the people?”

“It might seem so to you, but not to Lord Rahl, and his word is law. All pay the same in order to support the troops who have been charged with protecting our freedom. If you don’t wish to pay, you are free not to seek that protection and freedom.”

“Seems like Lord Rahl has things well in hand.”

The sergeant nodded. “He is a powerful wizard.”

Nathan’s shoulders shook with a silent laugh.

The sergeant’s eyes narrowed. “What’s he laughing about, if he’s supposed to be deaf and dumb?”

“Oh he is, but he’s also a half-wit.” Ann strolled toward the horses. As she crossed in front of the broad-shouldered wizard, she landed a sharp elbow in his gut. “Laughs like that at the oddest times.” She scowled up as Nathan coughed. “He’s liable to start drooling in a moment, if he keeps at it.”

Ann stroked a gentle hand along Bella’s sleek, powerful, golden flanks. Bella danced with delight at her touch. The big mare hopefully stuck her tongue out; she liked nothing better than having someone tug on it. Ann obliged her and then scratched behind an ear. Bella whinnied with a horse giggle and stuck the tongue out again, hoping for the game to continue.

“You were saying, Sergeant, about how Lord Rahl is a powerful wizard?”

“That’s right. He slew the creatures you’ll see on pikes before the palace.”

“Creatures?”

“He calls them mriswith. Ugly, scaled, lizardlike things. They’ve killed a number of people, but Lord Rahl himself cut them to pieces.”

Mriswith. That was certainly not good news.

“Is there a town near, where we could find food and lodging for the night?”

“Ten Oaks is just over the next rise, maybe two miles. There’s a small inn there.”

“And how far to Aydindril?”

He appraised their four horses as she stroked Bella’s ear. “With animals as fine as those, I doubt it will take you more than seven or eight days.”

“Thank you, Sergeant. It’s good to know there are soldiers about in case there are outlaws in the neighborhood.”

He glanced over at Nathan, taking in his towering form, his long white hair that brushed his shoulders, his strong, clean-shaven jaw, and his hooded, penetrating, dark azure eyes. Nathan was a ruggedly handsome man filled with vigor, despite the fact that he was close to a thousand years old.

The sergeant looked back to her, clearly preferring to exchange glances with a squat old woman rather than with Nathan. Even with his power choked off, Nathan presented an intimidating presence. “We’re looking for someone: the Blood of the Fold.”

“Blood of the Fold? You mean those pompous fools from Nicobarese in the red capes?”

The sergeant snugged the reins as his horse tried to step sideways. Others of the twenty horses pawed the snow, looking for grass, or nibbled hopefully at dry branches to the side of the road, tails lazily swishing the cool evening air. “That’s them. Two men, one the lord general of the Blood, another officer, and a woman. They escaped from Aydindril, and Lord Rahl has ordered them brought back. We have men out everywhere scouring the countryside.”

“Sorry, but I haven’t seen a sign of them. Is Lord Rahl staying at the Wizard’s Keep?”

“No, at the Confessors’ Palace.”

Ann signed. “That’s good, at least.”

His brow drew together. “Why is that good?”

She hadn’t realized she had spoke her relief aloud. “Oh, well, it’s just that I’m hoping to see this great man, and if he stays at the Keep, then I wouldn’t be able to. It’s protected by magic, I hear. If he comes out on a balcony at the palace to greet the people, I might get to see him.

“Well, thank you for your help, Sergeant. I think we best get to Ten Oaks before it gets pitch black. Don’t want one of my horses to step in a hole and break a leg.”

The sergeant bid her a good night and led his column of men up the road, away from Aydindril. Only after they were more than out of earshot did she withdraw the block from Nathan’s voice. It was difficult to maintain such control for long periods of time. Ann mentally braced for the inevitable tirade as she started gathering up their packs from the snow.

“We best be on our way,” she told him.

Nathan drew himself up with an imperious scowl. “You would give gold to robbers? You should have—”

“They were only boys, Nathan. They were hungry.”

“They tried to rob us

!”

Ann smiled as she tossed a pack over Bella. “You know as well as I that that would not have happened, but I gave them a little more than gold. I don’t think they will be trying that again.”

He grunted. “I hope the spell you put on it burns their fingers to the bone.”

“Help me with our things. I want to get to the inn. There was a message in the journey book.”

Nathan was struck speechless for only an instant. “Took her long enough. We left her enough hints for a child of ten to figure it out long before now. We did everything but leave a note pinned to her dress that said, ‘By the way, the Prelate and the Prophet aren’t really dead, you dolt.’”

Ann cinched Bella’s girth strap tight. “I’m sure it wasn’t as easy for her as you make it out to be. It seems obvious to us only because we knew. She had no reason to suspect. Verna figured it out; that’s all that is important.”

Nathan replied with a lofty snort before he finally started helping by gathering up the rest of the packs. “Well, what did she say?”

“I don’t know yet. When we get settled for the night we’ll find out.”

Nathan lifted a finger in her direction. “You pull the deaf-and-dumb trick on me again and you will live to regret it.”

She turned an angry scowl on him. “And if we again come across people and you start yelling that you’ve been abducted by a mad witch and held prisoner in a magic collar, I’ll make you deaf and dumb for real!”

Nathan huffed sourly as he went back to work. As he turned to his horse, she saw him smile to himself in satisfaction.

By the time they found the inn, and after they had left their horses with a boy at the stable out back, the stars were out and the small winter moon was visible over a distant mountain slope. The woodsmoke hugging the ground also carried the aroma of stew. She gave the stableboy a penny to carry in their things.

Ten Oaks was a small community, and the inn had only a dozen locals at the few tables, most drinking and smoking pipes over stories of soldiers they had seen, and rumored alliances forged by the new Lord Rahl, who not all were sure was really in command of Aydindril, as was claimed. Others asked them to then explain why the D’Haran troops had suddenly become so disciplined, if it wasn’t because someone had finally brought them to task.

Tags: Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net