01 - The Price of Talent (23 page)

“See, this is why we don’t use this spot as much,” he said. “It’s off in the middle of nowhere and this portion of the road is only used by the church authorities and large trade caravans.”

“It does cut down on the number of uninteresting travelers,” said Sapphire. “A much higher percentage of the people on this road will be worth stopping because tinkers and small farmers don’t use it.”

“True, and it has the added bonus of being two days travel away from our previous site,” said Devlin. “We are far less likely to attract unwanted attention here.”

              As we settled into camp and started getting ready for dinner, it started raining. This was annoying for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was it made starting a fire difficult. Fortunately, with my secret revealed, Devlin decided not to waste and flint and just had me start the fire again. With that out of the way, he and Sapphire made a stew with some of the salt pork, some old deer jerky and some local vegetables Sapphire was able to find in the woods.

              We all ate in virtual silence in the lean-to listening to the rain drum on the roof and hiss in the now guttering fire. When the meal was over, we drew straws to see who would have to make the long hike to the stream to clean the cook wear and bowls we had used to eat with. I was relieved when Bevan drew the short straw, sure I was going to spend a cold wet evening washing plates. I fell asleep to the sound of the rain before he came back.

              The rain had stopped by the time we got up the next morning. The sky was still covered with thick grey clouds, but no longer looked angry enough to rain on us. So we had a warm meal of oatmeal, heated over a fire again started be me. And when we were done, and the cookware clean, we headed off to the overlooks.

              The day passed slowly. The air was still and you could hear last night’s rain dripping off the leaves of the trees all around us. It was enough to almost lull me to sleep when it wasn’t my turn overlooking the road. Bevan was in a bit of a surly mood; he was convinced that Devlin rigged the straw drawing the night before.

“You will note that Devlin never draws the short straw when the weather is bad,” he said. “Oh no, he always manages to have his turn cleaning the dishes on the warm sunny days.”

              While he was complaining, I was checking over my gear. My new bow was doing well; both the wood and the string were in good repair. My sword was, as ever, sitting in its sheath next to the bow. In the past few months, my sword seemed less insulted by the bow’s presence. He no longer complained quite so much when it was nearby.

You haven’t had much to say recently. You enjoying being out of the longhouse?

The view of the road may be boring, but it is nothing in comparison to the view of the wall in your room. Boredom comes in many varieties, but none are as grating as staring at a wall.

You rate your level of boredom?

Considering how infrequently you pay attention to me, I must content myself with something.

You don’t enjoy the fresh air and sunshine?

As a sword, I don’t care much one way or another about the weather. As long as you don’t let me get rusty or allow my sheath to get rotten, I’m fine.

I’m surprised you didn’t complain more at not being used in the last ambush.

I got to watch you light a bunch of guards on fire. It was the most entertainment I’ve had in months. Honestly, short of seeing actual use, watching you light things on fire may well be one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen.

              It was late afternoon when we heard footsteps running fast up the pathway to our overlook. When both Bevan and I turned to look, Sapphire was just coming to a stop in front of us.

“Ok, you two, there is a large caravan with a couple of guards coming up from the south,” she said. “Devlin wants all three of us in the woods with bows. He’s about to push out the barricade.”

              Not needing to hear anymore, both Bevan and I grabbed our weapons and hurried down to the ambush site. When we got there Devlin was just getting the log barricade into place. So we each took spots behind trees in the woods, strung our bows and set some arrows out in front of us for easy reach. Once in place, Sapphire waved at Devlin to let him know, and then we waited.

              About 15 minutes later, two men on horseback crested the road and paused when they saw the barricade. They continued down into the depression between the hills once the carriage caught up with them. Together they rode down and stopped in front of the barricade and Devlin appeared from behind it.

“Good afternoon to you all,” he said. “Would you mind unloading your goods from your carriage for inspection?”

“Inspection?” Asked one of the guards. “What authority do you have to demand inspection of the contents of our carriage?”

              I thought things were going to go badly again, but then from in the carriage, there came a man’s voice saying something I could not hear. Fortunately, upon hearing what he had to say, the guards backed off and the driver stepped down to open the doors to the carriage. Inside was a couple of chests and an older gentleman in priestly vestments. The driver took his hand and helped him out of the carriage. When the older man stood, he was quite a bit taller than I had expected. He looked to be around the age of 60, was dressed in all white robes and he carried a staff that looked ornamental. He also had a golden medallion around his neck.

“As you can see, we have very little in the way of goods,” he said to Devlin. “The chests contain coins, which are the pensions and widow benefits to be paid to the families of guards who were recently waylaid by highwaymen such as yourself. You wouldn’t steal money destined to feed widows and orphans would you?”

“Come now father, we both know the church has plenty more where that came from,” responded Devlin. “If we took this money, it would, at the very worst, delay payment to these people, nothing more. We would hardly be starving anyone.”

“Now, now, young man,” responded the priest. “It could take days to report the loss of this shipment. Days more before we could ship out more. Worse, if tax receipts have been low they might have to wait a month or more for us to accumulate enough money to pay them. Are you really willing to risk the futures of these poor unfortunate souls for mere currency?”

“Are you really claiming that the Church is short of funds?” scoffed Devlin. “Now that is rich. Why, your carriage alone is likely worth enough to feed and house these people for a year, assuming that’s what you actually are going to use this money for.”

              While this banter was going on, I heard rustling behind us in the woods. I turned to look, and thought I saw something or some things moving through the trees behind us. I could not be sure. I was about to alert Bevan when I saw one of the guards put his hands on his sword hilt.

“Now, now,” said Devlin, ever on the alert. “There is no need for that. My compatriots in the woods have arrows trained right at you. Touching steel is a good way to ensure your family is on the list needing pension and widow benefits.”

“Ah, yes, friends in the woods” said the priest. “Unfortunately for you young man, this is not an entirely novel concept to me.

              And just as he said that, four guards with cross bows drawn and loaded came out of the trees behind where we were standing. I think I managed an “Oh SHIT!” before I hopped around to the other side of the tree for cover. Bevan and Sapphire had the same thought. Suddenly we were in a very tense situation indeed. We three were pinned down by four crossbowmen with our backs to Devlin. He was facing two mounted guards, the driver and the priest. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as everything froze for just a moment.

              Then all hell broke loose. Bevan and Sapphire loosed their arrows at the crossbow men, hitting their targets in the chest. It was such short range it was hard to miss. The two crossbow men who had not been hit by arrows returned fire. One bolt hitting the tree Sapphire was hiding behind, the other hitting Bevan in the shoulder he had exposed to shoot his arrow. I then returned fire with my arrow and took a third crossbowman in the forearm of the arm he was using to hold up his crossbow.

              I quickly readied another an arrow and shot again at one of the crossbow men, narrowly missing his head, while Bevan and Sapphire took down two of the three wounded crossbowmen. The uninjured crossbow man, seeing this, dropped his crossbow and drew his sword. The man I had shot also dropped his crossbow, not being able to hold it properly with an arrow through his forearm, drew his sword and came at the three of us.

              I reached for an arrow and found the ones I had set up were out of reach. I had apparently been unconsciously backing away slowly. Worse, I had left my quiver on the other side of the tree. With no other options, I discarded my bow and drew my sword.

Finally some real action. You sure took your sweet time getting me into the game.

              As he said this Bevan and Sapphire had also drawn swords and were engaging the two crossbowmen left standing, Bevan with mighty swings of his thick broadsword, and Sapphire with fast darting movements like a fencer. Still they seemed not to need my help.

Just as I was thinking this Sapphire yelled at me.

“GO HELP DEVLIN! HE’S OUTNUMBERRED THREE TO ONE!”

Yes, let’s go help Devlin, with us there the odds are even!

I’m not sure about your math there.

You, me, Devlin versus two guards and the driver. You don’t think the old priest is going to join in the melee do you?

Probably not, his staff didn’t look like it would make much of a weapon.

              So I ran down to the barricade as fast as I could in armor and carrying a drawn sword. This is surprisingly difficult, armor is never heavier than when you are sprinting, and a blade is never more awkward to carry as when the image of you tripping, falling and impaling yourself on it is running through your mind. Still I managed to get there in short order.

              As I was running, I saw that Devlin had jumped behind the barricade and was using it to help negate the advantage the men on horseback had. Still, the driver had drawn his sword and was circling around to engage him. Meanwhile the men on horseback had circled back and looked like they were going to run and jump the barricade, so as to trap Devlin on the other side between the barricade and their horses. If they jumped that barricade it was going to go badly for Devlin, no matter how skilled with a sword he was.

              As they turned their horses and started to gallop at the barricade, Devlin engaged with the driver. I was still some ways away from the barricade as I ran to intercept. As the horses approached the barricade, I saw Devlin parrying some blows inexpertly thrown at him by the driver with his sword. Knowing things were about to go badly, and that I was too far away still to help, I did the only thing I could think of, I lit the barricade on fire.

              There was a loud “FWOOSH!” as the barricade ignited and 10 foot flames jumped up from it. The horses, seeing this, immediately stopped short, skidding to a halt in front of the barricade. This sudden stop caused both of the riders to be violently thrown from the backs of their horses. One of them was thrown onto the burning barricade, the other slid to within inches of the open flames. Meanwhile, things were going badly for the driver of the carriage. Devlin had stopped parrying and moved into an attack sequence and was giving the driver all he could handle. It would not be long now before Devlin finished him off.

              As I arrived at the barricade, Devlin disarmed the driver and had the point of his sword at the man’s throat. Of the two guards on horseback, the one that had hit the ground had pulled the one that had hit the flaming barricade off it and was trying to put out the fire on his clothes and in his hair. Bevan and Sapphire were still on the edge of the woods having a sword fight with the guards there, but he and Sapphire looked like they were winning, as the guards were bleeding from quite a few wounds.

              During all this commotion, the priest had just stood there. As I came to a halt in front of him, he smiled.

“And now our honored guest arrives,” he said with a rictus grin. “I think that’s quite enough of all this nonsense.”