Mahrree’s world became a jostling blur of black shadows as her mount cantered in a direction she hoped was somewhat north. She did her best to not cry out as the horse leaped over something and darted around another thing in its maddened run. Mahrree clung to the animal with her legs, knees, and hands, and would have used her teeth had she known where to bite.
Perrin! she cried in her mind. It was both a plea for his help and a curse at his stick. I could have started it myself! Maybe!
Soon quiet calls behind her told her she was not alone, and she hoped it was her boys. Another bob and weave left Mahrree breathless. She glanced around trying to see anyone else, but the wind swept past her eyes, and the tears it pulled from them left her unable to focus on anything. Thoughts filled her mind of some random king’s daughter, riding terrified in the forest, being chased by Guarders.
She listened as carefully as she could above the sound of snapping twigs and shifting ground, hoping to hear another horse, another voice, any sign she was doing the right thing. All she could do was pray in her fast-beating heart. “Dear Creator, I’m not in the best position for praying, but please, bless this family to reach safety!”
---
Perrin, still gripping his stick as if it were a sword, nodded to Shem with a squint, a twitch, and a head tip before leaving his side. He crept along the rock line to the east where another approaching sound had caught his attention.
Shem picked up a small rock and started a crouching walk to the west, toward a group of soldiers crashing loudly through the trees.
“Thorne!” Lieutenant Offra called.
Shem’s heart sank. Oh Jon, why are you here? And with . . . eight soldiers?
“Shhh!” Thorne shushed angrily.
“But we shouldn’t be here!” Offra said more quietly, but still panicked. “We just lost two men and horses to thin ground near a mud volcano! I couldn’t save them!”
Shem moved noiselessly along the rock line above them, only thirty feet beyond the jittery men. He could smell their sweat.
“They’re here!” Thorne whispered loudly. “Zenos’s men saw him head in this direction. He’s going to betray the Shins to the Guarders, and it’s up to us to rescue them!” he announced heroically.
Yes, of course Thorne would cast it in that light, Shem winced. He shook off his carelessness at allowing someone to see him leave, and counted the heads below him. Then he counted the stones available around him.
Offra’s voice was trembling when he said, “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Thorne! And we need to get out of here before we lose more men!”
Shem tried to make out the expressions of the soldiers. Offra’s men weren’t used to seeing death, and their horror was evident, even in the gloom. Two of their companions had already been swallowed by the ground. Further in could only mean further losses.
Shem would make sure Jon got out again. He picked up another rock.
“We keep going!” Thorne insisted.
Shem’s arm arced and silently released his first large stone.
“We move slowly and methodically—”
Something crashing in a bush below the soldiers made them jump simultaneously in their saddles. Shem grinned at their coordinated hops, and weighed the next rock in his hand.
Because the soldiers were distracted by whatever was rolling noisily away from them to the south, they didn’t notice the next rock come flying at them from the north. But Offra’s horse noticed because it hit the already-spooked animal squarely on the rump. The gelding reared with a startled whinny, and eight men and horses turned in sheer terror, riding hard to the fort. Lieutenant Offra didn’t fight his horse’s desire to follow the others out of the forest.
“Go, Jon!” Shem whispered.
“OFFRA!” Thorne yelled at his retreating officer and soldiers. He spun in his saddle to face his trembling ten. “Don’t move! Stay where you are!” His voice cracked in terror.
Shem rolled away and bit his hand to stifle his sniggers. He loved playing Guarder. That he got to spend his last night in the world with Lemuel as his victim? That was a gift from above.
---
Perrin heard Thorne’s yelling and looked behind. While he saw nothing, he heard horses crashing through the brush. He smiled at Shem’s success and continued in his silent creep to spy on ten soldiers coming from the east, with an edgy Lieutenant Radan in the lead.
The soldiers looked ahead, to the left, to the right, behind, and all around them.
But I always told you to look up as well, Perrin thought. And where is the grand return of the Guarders? There’s supposed to be a slew of Salemite ‘Guarders’ coming to help.
The soldiers neared the rock ridge where he crouched, his dull black jacket and trousers blending into the stones around him. They turned to ride directly below him, barely fifteen paces away. Had any of them chanced to look up, they would have caught his glare.
Instinctively Perrin patted his hip where he used to keep his blades, but stopped. Instead, he firmed his grip on the stick that he wished was a sword, and picked his target: a pack horse with three sets of jangling confinement chains. He waited until it passed before he took his aim and threw.
The sharp stick sailed true to send its second horse of the evening into a panic. It reared and yanked its reins away from the private who was holding them.
The anxious soldiers twisted in their saddles to see what spooked the pack horse, and watched it take off in a desperate run, the clanging chains announcing its arrival to everyone within a mile radius.
As if the forest sensed a way to further heighten the drama, a vent spewed a shot of steam into the middle of the stunned soldiers.
That was all they needed.
“The forest’s evil!” someone cried, and kicked his horse to follow the pack horse barreling through the trees.
Perrin grinned as his formerly well-trained soldiers moved as one to follow the pack horse out of the forest, Radan kicking his horse more urgently than anyone else.
Perrin saluted them a sloppy farewell. Maybe he didn’t need any men in black to help him. Maybe he had Salemite-Guarder blood in him after all.
He scampered back to the rock where he and Shem had first spotted Thorne. The captain was now standing in his stirrups looking to the east where the latest group of soldiers was heard retreating, and he swore after them.
Perrin found Shem behind the large rock. They exchanged grins, and started up the hill for the horses.
“The noise will have alerted Dormin and the others,” Shem whispered as they mounted the horses. “I suspect most of our men ran into the village as diversions. We had a contingency for maybe a soldier or two coming into the trees, but we never imagined thirty-three! Thorne must be beyond desperate.”
“Agreed,” Perrin whispered. “What I think we should do until help arrives is—”
The distant thwap of bowstring cut through the night. Perrin and Shem stared at each other, and Shem’s horse stumbled.
“Captain, I’m sure I just hit something over there!” cried an excited voice behind a thick stand of trees, parallel to Perrin and Shem about forty paces away.
Shem’s horse slumped to the ground with a soft grunt. Perrin gasped when he saw the arrow protruding from the mare’s chest.
“Private, we’re not here to go bear hunting!” Thorne hollered. “Get back down here immediately!”
“But Captain, you said to take out threats,” the voice complained as it made its way to the main body of soldiers.
“Perrin, go!” Shem whispered as he freed himself from the dying horse. “Find Mahrree! Head straight up the hill from here.”
Perrin opened his mouth to protest but Shem stood up. “I’ll take care of Thorne. I just spotted Dormin in the trees. Now go!” Shem jabbed Clark, and he took off in a fast gallop. Perrin wanted to return to Shem, but he heard the command in his head.
Don’t follow the wrong path, my boy.
“Dear Creator,” he whispere
d as he tried to ignore the awful reality that he just abandoned Shem and Dormin to deal with Thorne alone, “please help me find Mahrree!”
---
Mahrree’s horse raced through the trees, causing the branches to whip her face with vexing frequency. Not able to figure out how to shield her face and keep a hold of the horse at the same time, she elected to duck. But as they rode into a grassy section, she noticed something keeping pace with her on the right. A hand extended, belonging to a large man on a massive horse. With no small amount of relief she gave him the reins.
He jerked on them to bring both of their horses to a stop.
“Perrin, I—” she tried to speak as he tossed her back the reins, but her horse lurched suddenly and continued on again.
“Pull the reins!” Perrin called quietly after her.
Mahrree was pulling the reins, but to no avail. The horse was determined to reach another small clearing, and stopped on its own to sniff the ground. Behind her, Deck and Peto were shaking their heads as Perrin and Clark joined her.
“Where’s Shem?” she asked him.
Peto and Deck looked anxiously around.
“His horse was hit by an arrow,” Perrin said. “He’ll catch up to us. Dormin was coming to help him. Mahrree, we saw Thorne.”
“How did he dare enter the trees?” Deck asked, astounded.
“I don’t know. He must be so desperate that he’ll do anything. And he wasn’t alone. We scared off Offra and Radan, and their tens, but Thorne wasn’t giving up so quickly.”
“But we’re so far into the forest!” Mahrree whimpered.
“I’m afraid not,” Perrin sighed. “These horses were tethered north of the fort, only three hundred paces in.”
Peto slapped his forehead. “We walked probably four miles, and we’re only half a mile from home?” he wailed. “Who planned this stupid route?”
Perrin gave him a glare that told him to be quiet, yet also agreed with his frustration. “It’s not like we could march past the fort now, is it?”
“And we had to get Jaytsy to the midwife and horses,” Deck pointed out. “Doing a large circle around the fort, then backtracking into the woods would lose anyone trying to follow. We’re miles away from Jaytsy now, and she’s safe.”
“That’s true, Deck,” Perrin said. “You could have been a planning officer. Not like Thorne, that is,” he added.
“I’m just good at playing Track the Stray Bull. Or rather, cow.”
“Better than the soldiers, then,” Perrin said. “We scared them off easily. They’re all terrified.”
Mahrree decided now wasn’t the best time to tell him she was terrified, too.
“How did you catch up to us so fast?” Peto asked his father.
“You didn’t exactly go in a straight line,” Perrin said. “Mahrree’s horse took a circular route, and the two of you followed. I don’t think those were my orders, but it worked well enough.”
“You’re not the colonel anymore,” Peto reminded him.
“But I’m still your father,” said Perrin sternly.
“So you’re issuing orders again?”
“Yes!”
Oddly, Peto smiled at that. “That’s more like it. What now, sir?”
Perrin exhaled. “Just . . . make the best of the present situation, all right?”
Peto fired off a snappy salute.
“Perrin,” Mahrree said, “how will Shem ever find us?”
Her horse had been rooting around the ground, and jerked as it found something. The other horses joined hers and nuzzled the dirt.
Perrin slid off of Clark, who wasn’t about to be left out, and squatted to investigate.
“Shem will know exactly where to find us, because these horses knew where to go. Now, I’m no farmer, but I’m sure oats don’t grow in leather bags half buried in the ground in the forest. So we just sit quietly and wait.”
Perrin mounted Clark again and shifted him to stand next to Mahrree’s horse while the animals snacked. Just in case, Perrin leaned over and took Mahrree’s horse’s reins again.
And there they sat in the darkened trees, waiting.
---
“Get back to the Shins,” Dormin whispered to Shem as they huddled under a brush watching Thorne and his men move slower than snails. “I’ve got this.”
“Dormin, I don’t want to leave you—”
“I appreciate the thought, Shem, but I can take care of a few men. I’ve done it before, you know. Backup’s on the way. Seems some messages got crossed and everyone headed into the village, but twenty should be here momentarily.”
“By the way, Perrin figured out who you are. Gave him quite the jolt.”
“I knew he’d piece it together,” Dormin said, stretching to get a better view. “That’s why I told him all was forgiven, so he could breathe easier. Now go find him so he’ll survive this night!”
Shem patted Dormin on the back and took off in a low jog.
“And now, Captain Thorne,” Dormin whispered as he watched the soldiers shift direction, “how has your family enjoyed living in my mansion? My brother Sonoforen wanted that eyesore back, but he never again saw the inside. Neither did I. What about you?”
He stood up cautiously and trotted along a ridge to be above where Thorne would soon arrive.
“We used to play hide and seek in that mansion, Lemuel,” Dormin murmured. “Sonoforen always cheated. He’d arm himself with a bow and arrow. Was a terrible shot, fortunately. How about you?”
He threw a large rock behind Thorne, and it spooked the horses behind him.
“Just too easy.”
---
Mahrree hated waiting.
Sitting in the stillness, not knowing what turn her life might take in the next few minutes, was far worse than jostling from a horse. A knot twisted in her gut, and she looked to her husband for comfort.
But he only stared out into the forest, scanning the dark shadows.
Mahrree turned to Peto and Deck, who were also watching Perrin and waiting for some kind of reassurance. Peto met Mahrree’s eyes and she forced herself to smile. Peto returned an equally strained one.
The gloom was unbearable, smothering Mahrree’s mind like a hot blanket and forcing her to think of only how to shake it off. She squirmed uncomfortably on her saddle.
She had wished she could think about something else besides impending doom, but the meaning of ‘saddle sore’ wasn’t it.
“My . . . eye . . . can . . . spy . . . something . . . black.”
Mahrree nearly laughed out loud. Instead she snorted at Peto, whose expression was ridiculously earnest.
Perrin twisted to glare at his son.
“I’m just following your orders, Father. Make the best of the situation?”
Deck muffled a quiet laugh. “Hmm. Tough one, Peto. Something black . . . something black . . . Is it that speck of dirt under the bush?”
“Amazing!” Peto whispered in nearly genuine awe. “You’re really good at this. Now it’s your turn.”
Perrin’s eyebrows furrowed in disapproval of whispering in the ranks, but Mahrree shook her head at him.
“This is serious!” he snarled at her. “Not a time for games!”
“Peto, this is hard,” Deck whispered in childlike sincerity. “So many things to choose from. My eye can spy something . . . black.”
“You really don’t think they know this is serious?” Mahrree said to Perrin. “One just left his entire life behind him, and the other just watched his future be carried away. They’re not soldiers, Perrin. They’re your sons!”
“Something black,” Peto murmured. “Tough one. Is it the dark smudge on the cloud we passed a few minutes ago?”
“Amazing! You’re really good at this game, too, Peto!”
“All right, Deck. My eye can spy something . . . black.”
Perrin’s face lost some of his tension. He looked briefly at his wife, then went back to scanning. “All of this would
be easier if they were soldiers, trained to deal with monotonous suspense.”
“Something black, something black . . . Is it the angry look your father’s been giving us?” Deck guessed.
Mahrree fought another snort.
“Amazing! You are really good at this, Deck. Your turn.”
Mahrree leaned over to Perrin. “And how much training have these boys received? Last I checked you were still working on Stop Smirking When Your Father Calls You Soldiers.”
Perrin sat stock still, only his eyes surveying the darkness.
Mahrree realized that the colonel was back. Even with his jacket inside out, instinct had taken over. His hand patted where his sword used to be, and he groaned softly in frustration that it wasn’t there.
“Perrin, you don’t have to be the colonel anymore,” Mahrree assured him. “Just be my husband and their father. That’s all we want.”
“ . . . Something black . . . is it the tree?”
“Close, try again.”
“That tree?”
“Almost.”
“That tree.”
“That tree?”
“Yes, that tree.”
“Amazing! You’re really good!”
Mahrree smiled, but her husband still showed nothing other than growing irritation.
“You know,” she whispered to him, “when I heard three weeks ago that a general would be living in my house, I had a flash of my future. It was full of protocol and inspections. You can’t imagine the relief I felt when he vanished as quickly as he arrived.”
Perrin shifted slightly. “I didn’t think you were going to let him live there.”
“I wasn’t. I was planning to throw his things out into the alley. But not his pillows.”
Perrin’s shoulders twitched. It used to mean that he was about to laugh.
He glanced at his wife. “What kind of inspections?”
“That’s not a question the captain would have asked,” said Mahrree coyly. “From what I remember, Captain Shin’s idea of ‘personal inspections’ was far more personal than the Army of Idumea ever had in mind.” She gave him a sidelong glance.
A corner of his mouth twitched upwards.
“Something black . . . the rock?”
“The big rock or the little rock?”
“The rock in between the two rocks.”
“The one in the shadow?”
“Yes, that one.”
“Amazing! You are so good at this.”
“Thank you. I know. I’ve been practicing all night.”
Perrin’s shoulders started to shake.
Worried, Mahrree whispered, “Perrin?”
Struggling to hide the laugh that was fighting to escape, he whispered, “It’s just so stupid . . . ‘something black!’”
Mahrree grinned.
After he composed himself, he said, “I’ve been thinking about ‘the colonel’ for the past few weeks. And the general, the lieutenant colonel, the major, and the captain.” He paused to scan the perimeter while Mahrree waited for him to continue.
“There were days when I had to really fight them, to not let them into the house with me. Not always successfully, I know. But the further we travel, the more the officers fade.” He sighed. “Except for right now. Mahrree, it’s like cutting off my arm! I was a soldier before I was a husband and a father. I grew up in the army. I don’t know any other kind of life. I don’t think I can ever get rid of it.”
“You were born Perrin, not a soldier,” Mahrree told him. “You’re not the uniform. Perrin is much more than any general could be. Perrin is all we need. All I need. The army is your arm? Then cut it off. I’d be happy with a one-armed husband.”
Perrin sighed. “I’m doing my best to lose all the officers in the forest.”
Mahrree reached over and squeezed his hand.
“All right, Peto, get ready for a hard one: my eye can spy—”
A quiet noise in the brush startled them all, and Shem appeared in the clearing. “Something black? We played that all the time,” he stole a look at Perrin, “but never in front of the colonel, so you’re brave young men. I see the horses got you here safely.” He patted Peto’s mount on the rump, then patted Peto’s rump. “You’re going to be sore, boy.”
Peto’s glare was fixed and immediate.
“Shem, once again am I glad to see you!” Mahrree breathed. “I was getting worried.”
“You’re playing in my garden now, Mahrree. Thorne and his men are currently running into a blind corner, and Dormin will keep them there until help arrives. Now that the horses are finished with their snack, I recommend we continue on. Perrin, I think Mahrree should double up with you. I don’t feel like walking all the way, and that horse doesn’t consider her his master.”
Mahrree knew why her husband burst into a grin as he eagerly got off of Clark, helped Mahrree off her mount, and hefted her on to the big black horse.
“So it seems you finally have to ride with me, Mrs. Shin,” he chuckled softly as he mounted up behind her.
She hadn’t realized how terrified she was until she felt his solid chest behind her and his strong arms around her.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I know I once said those stories of army captains rescuing the king’s daughters from the Guarders were ridiculous, but right now . . . yes, I think I want to be rescued.”
He kissed her cheek. “And I know I told you once that if I were an army captain assigned to rescue you, I would have just let you babble at the Guarders until they gave up. But I would have rescued you no matter how irritating you became.”
She laughed, quietly and nervously.
Until something in the air . . . changed.
It was as if something cold suddenly surrounded them, not to be easily shaken off. It came with angry heaviness and stilled even the random cricket to silent apprehension.
Shem looked around briefly and nodded to Perrin. He felt it, too.
Perrin firmed his grip around Mahrree, for which she was grateful, even if it left her breathless. She hadn’t felt such foreboding since Perrin had his sleepless nights.
Shem took the lead, with Deck behind him. Perrin gently clucked Clark to follow Peto.
“Perrin, how do you stand this? Not knowing what’s behind the next shadow?” she asked. “How will we know when we’re safe?”
“You’re safe now, Mahrree,” he said in her ear. “I’m never letting you go off alone again.”
She almost believed him.
He released his grip on her only momentarily to adjust something on his right hip, and Mahrree realized that was where he usually hid his long knife.
Except that he was supposed to leave all his weapons back in Edge.
---
The problem with blind corners is that everyone is blind in them.
Even Dormin.
“Captain? Captain! I got something here!”
I’m so stupid, Dormin thought to himself. Look behind, look behind. How many times had that been drilled into his head?
And now he felt the steel against his back, and stared into the faces of four eager and terrified soldiers, with blades drawn.
Thorne’s horse arrived seconds later. “You Radan’s men? Excellent! I’ll have you each put in for a medal! How did you find him?”
“Well, we lost our horses, so we were hiding—”
One of his companions poked him.
“—waiting, sir, waiting for what to do next, when we saw this man here sneaking back and well, here we are!”
Dormin hung his head. How did he get so careless? In all his years . . . But he knew this night would come. There was a reason for this. There were reasons for everything.
He was ready for it.
“Follow me!” Thorne said. “I know what to do with him!”
---
Shem was leading them up a slope when a noise caused them to pause. The second time, it was clearly a shout, the cloud cover carrying it unnaturall
y far. They froze when they recognized the voice.
“SHIN!”
Shem turned to look at Perrin.
Perrin nodded.
Shem led Deck and Peto back down the trail to huddle the horses.
The voice, filled with rage, came again. “SHIN! You are trapped! This is useless! Give yourself up!”
Mahrree whimpered.
It was Captain Thorne.
Peto began to plot and fret in his mind. Grandfather, who’s the enemy right now? If I get to Thorne, I could get to Karna—
“We know you are there, my former Colonel,” sang the sneering voice. “I and my one hundred men have come all this way to bring you home!”
Panicked, Mahrree stared at Shem.
“He has only ten here,” Shem assured them. “I thought I had sent them successfully toward Dormin, but Thorne probably got confused and lucky at the same time and ended up following us instead.”
Grandfather, tell me now—who do I follow? Who do I follow?
“But Thorne doesn’t know where we are,” Shem told them. “Keep silent. I’ve seen him playing Dices. He’s never been good at bluffing.”
Mahrree felt as if the world were lifting off her shoulders—
“But that’s still eleven armed men, and twice as many as us,” Perrin reminded him.
—and the world fell back down on her again.
But Shem was never one to be easily discouraged. “I know these forests. He barely knows the back of his horse Streak—”
“PERRIN SHIN!” the shout drifted up to them. “I have an old friend of yours. We found his horse at the spring and we just captured him. Zenos is here waiting for you, my dear colonel!”
Deck critically eyed Shem up and down.
Shem grinned at Mahrree. “What’d I tell you about his bluffing?”
Grandfather, now I’m faced with choosing between two liars—
Mahrree smiled as Perrin leaned over to Shem. “I hope they’re treating you well, my old friend.”
“They’re not. Food’s terrible. Has been for seventeen years.”
“You have one minute, SHIN!” Thorne’s insistent call rose up. “If you do not surrender, Zenos will suffer for it!”
“That’s all right,” Shem whispered stoically. “I’m ready for it.”
Despite himself, Peto couldn’t help but join with his family’s nervous sniggers.
“PERRIN!”
Perrin’s eyebrows lifted at Thorne’s casual use of his first name.
“Why let your wife and son suffer needlessly in this forest? What will Jaytsy and her husband think when they learn you’re missing?”
Deck looked at his in-laws in feigned alarm. “I didn’t realize you were missing. Did you know you’re missing?”
Relf, what do I do? Is this it?
They stifled nervous snorts like misbehaving children in the back of a classroom, hoping the teacher wouldn’t hear them.
In the distant west, thunder rumbled.
Mahrree twisted in the saddle to look at Perrin. “Rain?”
“It would be the best thing right now,” Perrin whispered. “Remember, we are leaving tracks. As soon as dawn comes, even Lemuel could follow us.”
Or is that a sign? Relf, help me!
“PERRIN!” Thorne shouted again. “Your time is nearly up! Zenos does not want to die.”
“Ah,” Shem said, “he’s finally got something right tonight.”
“But he will if you won’t reveal yourself!” Thorne’s threat bounced around the black trees. “I will count to ten. One! Two—”
“If he skips a number, does Shem live?” Mahrree whispered.
More muffled snorts.
As if to add weight to Thorne’s counting, thunder rumbled over his shouted, “Three!”
So do I decide for myself? Based upon what?
When Thorne cried, “Four,” he sounded closer, so much so that Shem and Perrin exchanged glances that Mahrree couldn’t interpret. Maybe it was just that the air was growing heavier around them, trapping his voice in the swelling humidity—
“Five! . . . Six! . . . Seven! . . .”
The four horses began to shift, as if they could count as well.
“Eight! . . . Nine! . . .”
Thorne wasn’t any closer, yet still it felt as if he hovered right over them.
“Ten!”
Grandfather, I’ve noticed that I haven’t shouted out to give away our position. I can’t explain why—
“Nothing, Shin?! . . . Well, then.”
The distinct sound of metal slicing reverberated around the forest, followed by astonished silence.
Mahrree stiffened in worry, until Deck whispered, “My guess is a sapling, and it didn’t look anything like Shem.”
“SHIN!” Thorne’s voice came to them again, and Mahrree thought she heard a tremble in his tone as he proclaimed, “Satisfied? Zenos is dead!”
Mahrree leaned over to him. “I hope it wasn’t too painful.”
“Quiet, please,” Shem whispered back. “I’m still trying to die here. I’ll let you know when it’s over.”
Deck nearly fell off his horse, convulsing, and Peto had to smile.
But Perrin wasn’t amused. He cleared his throat at Shem, and Shem’s expression suddenly sobered.
Mahrree twisted to look at her husband, and noticed his dreadful expression. That’s when she remembered that metal makes unique sounds as it hits different objects. Those attuned to it can recognize when a blade hits an object or slices through it. Thorne didn’t slash asunder a tree. He hit something with a softer exterior.
And the owner of a sword knows the ring of his own blade. Perrin had heard that sound several times during the offensive at Moorland.
It could only mean that Thorne was using High General Shin’s sword, and with it, he just ended someone’s life—
“PERRIN!” Thorne’s voice came closer now, and it wasn’t just a trick of the clouds. “Dawn is upon us. Look to the east. Soon we will see you!”
Undaunted, Shem clung to his optimism. “Dawn’s still at least an hour away.”
“But we can’t sit here any longer,” Perrin whispered. “I think Thorne’s actually closing in.”
“But if we leave,” said Mahrree, “won’t he be able to follow the sound of our horses?”
All right, Relf. Suddenly that sounds like a bad thing—
Shem sighed as a distant whinny reached them. “Yes, he’s close enough now that he can. It’s time to ask the Creator for a solution.”
“What kind of solution?” Peto asked, full of doubt.
“Isn’t it obvious? Noise to cover our escape! Rain to erase our tracks! Let’s pray for that storm to visit us. Ask for a miracle, Peto!”
“You think I haven’t been?”
“We prayed before we left tonight,” Mahrree told Shem.
“And one prayer’s enough?”
“I haven’t quit praying, actually.”
“So what part of the horse do I kick to get him to kneel?” Peto asked cynically.
“The Creator knows our plight, Peto. He’s used to the sitting-on-horse position,” and immediately Shem bowed his head.
Mahrree, Deck, Perrin, and Peto glanced at each other to see who would be the first to follow Shem’s lead. Simultaneously, and a bit guiltily, they bowed their heads.
Despite everything, Mahrree almost felt like chuckling. Shem and his confidence astonished her as she thought the words, Dear Creator, there’s already a storm. Could you nudge it our—
“PERRIN!” boomed the voice, sounding as if it were now just
beyond the clearing.
All their heads snapped.
From the west, a faint breeze began.
Shem grinned and nodded at Peto. He pointed to the sky, then to the west, and waggled his eyebrows.
Peto’s scowl relayed he was unconvinced.
More thunder rumbled, louder and nearer.
Perrin nodded
at Shem and gave him a signal. Mahrree saw Shem return a look. Perrin was working on a plan—
“SHIN! If you come out now, I can assure you no one will visit your daughter and son-in-law today.”
Mahrree was appalled. He would dare terrorize an expecting mother? Or maybe he wasn’t planning to frighten her . . .
Furious, Deck twisted the reins around his hand.
A twig snapped behind them, followed by the sounds of horses snorting and bridles jangling, maybe only fifty paces away.
We have to go now, Mahrree thought urgently. “Perrin,” she said, “Whatever you’re planning, we need to know now—”
Her hair flipping into her face stopped her words, and she realized that the breeze had become a full-blown wind.
Before she could point that out, thunder boomed, echoing between the low cloud cover and the wooded slope.
Behind her, Perrin whispered softly, “Yes, of course!” He leaned over to the others. “Soon there’ll be a lightning bolt behind us and a loud thunderclap. That’ll be our signal to go. Thorne and his men will have trouble controlling their horses when the lightning strikes. Turn your mounts to face up the hill, now!”
It didn’t occur to Mahrree to question him, and Peto, Deck, and Shem quickly lined up their horse to match Clark, who was already headed in the right direction and shifting eagerly.
Somehow, miraculously, Mahrree thought, the horses missed every twig that could have snapped to give away their position.
“SHIN? It’s enough!” Captain Thorne’s voice came from just behind them.
“Captain! Possible sighting!” That voice came from the left of them, nearest to Peto whose head snapped to the voice.
Then everything was illuminated, but only for a moment as lighting raced through the clouds. Peto could make out the soldier a few dozen paces away who had turned to call downhill, but the distracted soldier didn’t notice him during the brief flash. The following thunder wasn’t very ambitious, but enough that the four horses shifted and stepped nervously.
More lightning flashed above them, slicing the sky with white. Perrin twisted in time to see Captain Thorne in the distance behind him, merely a stone’s throw away.
And Lemuel saw Perrin.
Their eyes locked.
Thorne’s mouth worked frantically, surprised to have actually found his prey. “THERE!” he cried as everything fell dark again.
Everyone heard the clang as Thorne hastily drew General Shin’s sword, the steel singing louder than the thunder above them—
Then the world became a blinding blaze of white.
None of the riders had a chance to kick their horses. The lightning striking between them and Thorne sent the four terrified horses into a frantic gallop straight up the slope. The thunder blasted Mahrree’s ears and overwhelmed her mind. She probably screamed but wasn’t sure because she couldn’t hear anything except the deafening sound of suffocating blackness. As Clark lurched, she gripped the horn of the saddle and prayed Perrin could hang on to her. She glimpsed Peto’s horse darting erratically, then continue on in a frenzied run. Deck was behind Peto, and Shem was to their right.
Mahrree realized she could hear again when, far behind them, rose up the scream of someone in agonizing pain. She couldn’t give it any thought, because another lightning bolt seared the air. Perrin’s grip around her waist was so tight that she couldn’t catch her breath.
Rain began to fall, first in drops, then in a sudden downpour causing the horses to lose traction. For a full ten minutes, although it felt like ten hours, the horses galloped madly, slipping and sliding through the woods up the incline.
Mahrree whispered prayer after prayer. They must be getting past danger! How could anyone follow? They were heading in the right direction, they had to be!
The angle of Clark shifted severely as the slope steepened. Despite Clark’s strength, he struggled under his burden as he fought up the muddy hill. Perrin’s heavy breathing in Mahrree’s ear slid away, along with the rest of him, and she was sure there’d be bruises later around her ribs where he clung to her. She gripped the saddle horn tighter and closed her eyes in a prayer that consisted only of, Please, please, please, please!
Clark pitched unexpectedly and Mahrree nearly flew forward, with Perrin right behind her again as the horse leveled out.
Perrin exhaled loudly and whispered, “Thank you!”
She knew that ‘thank you’ wasn’t for her, and she changed her prayer to Thank you, thank you, thank you! Perrin pressed his face against her back, and she was sure that he kissed her.
The galloping horse broke past the tree line in the full downpour, and Mahrree and Perrin heard Shem’s whistle. Ahead of them was a muddy field, and three horses at the end of it, waiting at the base of enormous boulders. Peto’s shoulders sank in relief and Deck broke into a grin.
Perrin urged Clark on to meet them, while Mahrree hoped that everything was somehow over.
“I thought we were going to lose you down there!” Shem called as they neared. “Bit of a weight for that poor animal.”
“But it should have been enough rain to wash away the tracks, right?” Deck asked. “And wash away Thorne?”
“Nearly washed me away,” Peto grumbled, trying to wipe off the mud on his black cloak which the rain was diluting for him.
Shem scanned the wet forest for any signs as Clark snuffed to a panting halt next to the other three horses. Perrin and Mahrree also looked behind them into the thick and dripping brush.
Slowly a smile spread across Shem’s face. “No tracks. No followers. We’re clear! I think we did it!”
With tears sliding down her face, Mahrree slumped against Perrin behind her. He kissed her on the neck, wrapping his arms around her even tighter. “Whew!” was all he could say.
Peto and Deck patted each other on the back, harder and harder to see who would wince first.
“I can’t believe it!” Mahrree murmured. “I just can’t believe it!”
“Mahrree, where’s your faith?” Shem said. “All right, I have to be honest—I was worried for a few seconds there, too. But that was the most exciting moving we’ve ever had. I’m so glad I resigned.”
Chapter 6--“Remarkable return the Guarders have made, isn’t it?”