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“And don’t any of you dare dream any of this,” Ulicia warned. “The one thing we cannot afford is to let Jagang kill us, or all hope is lost. As long as we live, we have a chance to earn our way back into our Master’s favor. We’ve been promised a reward for our souls, and I intend to have it. Have strength, my Sisters.”
“But Richard Rahl is mine,” Merissa hissed, “Any who takes him in my stead will answer to me—and the Keeper.” Even Jagang, had he been able to hear her, would have blanched at the venom in her warning. Through the link, Ulicia felt Merissa push her thick hair back out of the way. She could taste what Merissa tasted.
“I’m done with you.…” Jagang paused a moment as he drew a breath. He waved the knife. “Be gone.”
Captain Blake snatched Ulicia by the hair. “Time for payback, lass.”
28
She blinked as she looked down the length of the rusty sword held at her face. The point was no more than an inch away.
“Really, is this necessary? I told you that you could steal what you wanted and we wouldn’t do anything to stop you, but I have to tell you that you’re the third band of dangerous outlaws who have robbed us in the last couple of weeks, and we’ve nothing of value left.”
By the way the lad’s hand was shaking, he didn’t look to be very practiced at his craft. By the way his skin clung to his bones, he didn’t look to be very successful at it, either.
“Be quiet!” He snuck a look in the direction of his companion. “Have you found anything?”
The second young outlaw, squatting among the packs in the snow, and as thin as the first, darted glances around at the darkening woods to each side of the little-traveled road. He checked behind, to the bend in the road not far away where it vanished behind a screen of snow-crusted fir trees. In the center of the bend, just before the road vanished, was a bridge over a stream still rushing despite the fact it was winter. “No. Just old clothes and junk. No bacon, not even any bread.”
The first danced back and forth on the balls of his feet, ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble. He brought his other hand up to the hilt to help hold the weight of the poorly made sword. “You look well fed. What do you two eat, old woman! Snow?”
She folded her hands against her belt as she sighed. She was tiring of this. “We work for our food as we go. You should try it. Work, I mean.”
“Yeah? It’s winter, old woman, in case you hadn’t noticed. There’s no work. Last autumn the army took our stores. My parents don’t have anything to get them through the winter.”
“I’m sorry, son. Perhaps…”
“Hey! What’s this, old man?” He had his finger through the dull silver collar. He gave it a yank. “How do you get this off? Answer me!”
“I told you,” she said, avoiding the silent fury of the wizard’s blue eyes, “my brother is deaf and dumb. He doesn’t understand your words, and he can’t answer them.”
“Deaf and dumb? Then you tell me, how do you get this thing off?”
“It’s just an iron memento that was welded on long ago. It’s worthless.”
A hand came off the sword as her assailant leaned warily toward her and with a finger lifted her cape aside. “What’s this? A purse! I found her purse!” He yanked the heavy bag of gold coins from her belt. “It must be full a gold!”
She chuckled. “I’m afraid its just a bag of hard biscuits. You’re free to have one, if you’d like, but don’t try to bite down on them or you’ll break your teeth. Suck on it awhile.”
He fished out a gold coin and put it between his teeth. He winced with a sour expression. “How can you eat these things? I’ve eaten bad biscuits, but these aren’t even good enough to be called bad.”
So easy with a young mind, she thought. Too bad it wasn’t that easy on an adult.
He spat to the side and tossed the bag of gold to the snow before patting her cape, searching for anything else she might have concealed.
She sighed impatiently. “Would you boys get on with this robbery. We’d like to make the next town before dark.”
“Nothin’,” the second said. “They don’t have nothin’ worth the trouble of carrying off.”
“They got horses,” the first said as he squeezed fistfuls of her heavy cape, feeling for anything it might be holding. “At least we can take the horses. They’ll bring something.”
“Please do,” she said. “I’m tired of being slowed by leading those old nags around. You would be doing me a favor. All four are lame and I don’t have the heart to put them out of their misery.”
“The old woman’s right,” the second said as he pulled one of the limping horse along, testing it. “All four. We can walk faster. We try to take these bags of bones with us and we’ll get caught sure.”
The first was still running his hand down her cape. It halted on her pocket. “What’s this?”
Her voice took on an edge. “Nothing of interest to you.”
“Yeah?” He fingered the journey book from her pocket.
As he thumbed through the blank pages, she caught sight of a message. At last.
“What’s this?”
“Just a notebook. Can you read, son?”
“No. There don’t appear to be hardly nothin’ worth reading anyway.”
“Take it anyway,” the second said. “It might be worth something if nothin’s written in it.”
She looked back to the young man holding the sword on her. “I’ve had just about enough of this. Consider the robbery over.”
“It’s over when I say it’s over.”
“Give it back,” Ann said in a level voice as she held her hand out. “And then be on your way before I drag you to town by your ear and have your parents come to collect you.”
He brandished the sword as he leapt back defensively. “Look, don’t you go getting feisty or you’ll taste steel! I know how to use this thing!”
The still evening air suddenly thundered with horses’ hooves. She had been watching as the soldiers had slipped up, around the bend and over the little bridge, unnoticed by the two young men because of the rushing water, until at the last moment when they charged in. As her assailant turned in shock, Ann snatched the sword from his hands. Nathan snatched the knife from the other.
Mounted D’Haran soldiers suddenly towered above them. “What’s going on here?” the sergeant asked in a calm, deep voice.
The two young men stood frozen in panic. “Well,” Ann said, “we ran into these two, here, and they were telling us how we should be careful of outlaws. They live in the neighborhood. They were showing us how to protect ourselves and giving us a demonstration of their blade work.”
The sergeant folded his hands over the pommel. “Is that right, boy?”
“I… we…” His pleading eyes turned to her. “That’s right. We live nearby, and we was just telling these two travelers to be careful as we heard tell that there are outlaws about.”
“And quite a show of swordsmanship it was. As I promised, young man, you get a biscuit for the show. Hand me my sack of biscuits, there.”
He bent and snatched up the heavy purse of gold, holding it out to her. Ann pulled two coins out and pressed one into the hand of each young man.
“As promised, a biscuit for each. Now you boys best be getting home before dark, or your parents will worry. Give them my biscuit as thanks for sending you out to warn us to be careful.”
He nodded dumbly. “All right. Good night, then. Take care of yourselves.”
Ann held her hand out. She fixed the young man with a dangerous squint. “If you’re done looking at my notebook, I’ll have it back.”
His eyes widened at the look in hers, and then he thrust the journey book into her hand as if it were burning his fingers, which it was.
Ann smiled. “Thank you, son.”
He wiped the hand on his tattered coat. “Good-bye, then. And be careful.”
He turned to leave. “Don’t forget this.” He turned back cautiously. She held the hilt o
ut to him. “You father would be awfully angry if you forgot to bring back his sword.”
He lifted it carefully. Nathan, not about to let this go without a bit of theatrics, walked the spinning knife across the backs of his fingers. He tossed the knife in the air, catching it behind his back, and then whirled it under his armpit and into his other hand. Ann rolled her eyes as he slapped the blade, reversing the spin. He caught the knife by its blade and handed it, handle first, to the other wide-eyed young man.
“Where’d you learn to do than, old man?” the sergeant asked.
Nathan scowled. If there was one thing Nathan didn’t like, it was being called “old man.” He was a wizard, a prophet, of unparalleled ability, and thought he should be viewed with wonder, if not open awe. She was restraining his gift by choking it off with his Rada’Han, or no doubt the sergeant’s saddle would be aflame by now. She was also preventing him from speaking. Nathan’s tongue was at least as dangerous as his power.
“I’m afraid my brother is deaf and dumb.” She gestured to the two outlaws with a shooing motion of her hand. They waved and scrambled for the woods, kicking up snow as they went. “My brother has always amused himself by practicing hand tricks.”
