From Across the Clouded Range (68 page)

They watched the forest for several
minutes with racing hearts, but there was no reaction from the
clearing. When they were certain that no alarm had been raised,
Teth stood, strung her bow, and notched an arrow. Dasen knelt
beside her with his crude spear held out in front of him. Its point
wavered disturbingly in his trembling hands.

Teth did not look at him as she leaned
in close. "I think we should take a look at the clearing. We may
learn something important about the invaders. Do you think you can
move quietly through this underbrush?"

Dasen looked at her as if she had
suggested they jump off a hundred foot cliff, but she just stared
at him, expecting a response. She had obviously made up her mind.
He could refuse and allow her to do her spying alone, but he was
supposed to be the man. How would it look to send his wife to scout
the invaders while he cowered behind a tree? "I’ll try, but let's
be careful,” he agreed with a sigh.

Teth nodded and took the first steps
toward the clearing. Dasen studied the ground in search of the best
places to step so that he would make as little noise as possible.
Teth had tried to teach him all this, but actually doing it
required a lot more than a few terse lessons. He stepped slowly,
leading with his toes and rolling back to the balls of his feet as
he hunted for the next footfall. He reached out with his ears as he
walked, searching for any sound that might suggest that they had
been discovered, and scanned the trees for clues from the clearing.
A few paces into the trip, he caught a flash of movement. It looked
like a man striding across the clearing. He could not be sure
through the green before him, but there was certainly activity
ahead, and he thought that he had seen the glint of steel as the
man went by. Heart pounding, he glanced toward Teth and found her
twenty paces in front of him, kneeling in some heavy brush at the
side of the clearing. She looked back and motioned him forward. He
grumbled about that being easy for her but tried to
follow.

He took his next step and, with a
small yelp, stopped in his tracks. The point of a spear had
appeared at his throat. He followed the shaft into the lowest
branch of the oak tree he had been using to conceal his advance and
found a slender man in a green tunic and brown pants. The man was
staring at him with cold eyes that held a silent warning against
movement or sound.

Dasen looked toward where Teth was
studying the clearing. She must not have heard the yelp. He
wondered how he might warn her without getting himself skewered.
Nothing came to mind.

“
Drop that spear,” the man
in the tree ordered. His voice was hushed so as not to warn Teth.
His eyes bounced back and forth between them. Dasen complied. He
threw the one-tined pitchfork to the side and held up his hands,
blood pounding in his ears so that he could barely hear. The spear
point shifted from his throat, and the man leapt smoothly to the
ground behind him. "Okay, laddy, I don' wan’ no trouble, so jist
move ‘long toward yir friend. If he’s smart, I won' ‘ave ta run ya
through."

Dasen turned before he thought. The
man did not seem happy about the abruptness of the move, and the
spear dug into his back, but the glance was well worth it. He had
just realized that the man was speaking the Imperial tongue with
the now familiar dialect of the Western Kingdoms. That and the
glance back had confirmed that this was no invader. On his left
breast was a large patch showing a brown field with green dots, the
crest of Uhia District. They had found the forest
masters.

Dasen eyes were aglow when he turned
back toward the clearing. He had been dreaming about finding the
forest masters since Randor’s Pass, and the sight of that patch
made him so happy that he wanted to turn around and embrace his
captor. The only thing that kept him from doing just that was the
fear that he would end up embracing the spear instead. He looked
for Teth, ready to deliver the good news if she had not already
discovered it, but she was no longer there.

Only seconds before she had been
crouched behind that bush; now, she was nowhere to be seen. Dasen
scanned the surrounding area, searched the bushes and tall grass
around the clearing, but there was nothing. He was flabbergasted.
He knew that she could move fast, but he could not believe how
abruptly she had disappeared.

The ranger behind him was just as
stunned. He prodded Dasen with his spear. "Where’d he go then? Tell
‘im ta come out. I’ll no ‘urt ya’ lessin’ ya’ meant us ‘arm, an’ I
don' think that’s yir plan."

Dasen knew the man was right. Finding
the forest masters was the best thing that had happened to them
since the joining ceremony. "Teth! Come out! These are the district
forest masters. They’re on our side. You can come out."

Silence answered him. He yelled again,
but there was no response. He began to worry that something might
have happened. He continued to scan the trees with building
desperation, but Teth was gone. She had disappeared as thoroughly
as if she had never existed.

Chapter 31

"Sergeant, look what I found sneakin’
‘round camp. Tryin' ta get a better look at us he was, but forgot
ta look up, he did." The guard led Dasen into the clearing. The
young man still had his spear poised at the small of his back, but
Dasen did not give the man any reason for concern. He had no
intention of running. All he had to do was convince these men who
he was, and he and Teth would have horses and guards for their trip
to Thoren.

In the clearing at least twenty men
were working on tasks ranging from preparing tents to cleaning wild
turkeys that would serve as the evening meal, but all activity
stopped when the guard led Dasen into the camp. At the first
indication of a disturbance, the men reached to the short swords at
their hips or moved toward the stacks of spears arranged around the
camp with their points in the air like steel-tipped pyramids. When
they saw that the captive did not pose a threat, they returned to
their tasks but continued to eye him with curiosity.

The forest masters all wore the same
green tunics and loose brown breaches tucked into soft leather
boots that appeared to be equally appropriate for riding and
creeping through the forests on foot. Looking deeper, Dasen saw
that the men looked harried and tired. Their uniforms were worn,
stained, and marked with makeshift bandages that were themselves
lined with red

"Scout, did you search this boy for
weapons?" A deep voice interrupted Dasen’s inspection. The man who
had spoken was short and stocky with thick black hair in a poorly
kept mop and an equally thick mustache that hung over his lip. Both
hair and mustache were marked with wisps of white, but the man’s
face showed only subtle signs of age. He looked hard and weathered
with a strong-set jaw, square chin, and deep-set dark eyes. He was
much shorter than Dasen, but he had broad shoulders and a bulky
upper body that made up for the deficiency in height. He wore the
same uniform as the other men around the camp, but Dasen
immediately identified the two brown stripes beneath the crest that
marked him as a sergeant.

"I found this on him,” the scout
responded and held out Dasen’s spear. “But I didn’ do a search. I
didn’ want ta move that close ta him while I’s unaided."

The older man weighed Dasen with his
eyes – probably wondering why his captive had such a stupid, giddy
smile. "Very good scout. Anything else to report?"

"Yes, sir! There’s another’n, a
younger lad. He was ‘head of this’n, so I let ‘im pass ‘til they’s
both my primeter. While I’s securing this one, the other’n
disappeared." The scout's voice was tight, but it wavered toward
the end, and Dasen saw a cloud pass over the sergeant’s
face.

"What do you mean, he disappeared?”
The sergeant’s voice was suppressed rage. The guard looked
frightened, and Dasen could imagine that the sergeant had a
reputation for being strict. “How could anyone lose you in these
woods, let alone some scamp? You must’ve overlooked him. Take two
men and find him. And don't come back here till you do!"
Before the sergeant was finished, two men were striding across the
camp to where he stood. The men carried unstrung bows and quivers,
but the bows were soon strung and quivers were tied across their
backs. The sergeant did not say another word as the men turned
toward the forest.

“
It is a girl,” Dasen
mumbled.

“
What was that, son?” The
sergeant motioned for the scouts to stop.

“
I . . . ah . . . said
that . . . um . . . it's a girl, my wife, in fact, that got
away.”

“
I thought that was what
you said.” The sergeant’s face turned dark, and he glowered at the
young man who had captured Dasen. The scout groaned.

Dasen stifled one of his own. "Please,
don't hurt her,” he pleaded. “She didn’t realize who you are and
wouldn’t have run if she had."

The sergeant scoffed and motioned to
his subordinates, who ran silently into the trees.

When the scouts were out of view, the
sergeant turned back to Dasen. "We’re not in the practice of
shootin’ down women, son. If what you said is true, there should be
no need to harm her ‘cause she’ll surrender as soon as my men
identify themselves. If, however, you’re lyin’ and she has a reason
to run or resist, I can’t guarantee her safety."

Dasen did not find that very assuring.
Teth had never hidden her disdain for the forest masters. She was
just as likely to fill the men with arrows as surrender, and that
was considering they found her in the first place.

"Come on now.” The sergeant’s stern,
but almost fatherly, tone interrupted Dasen’s thoughts. “Drop your
pack and whatever other weapons you’re carryin’, and we’ll figure
what to do with you."

Dasen did not hesitate to follow the
orders. He removed his pack – something he had been dying to do all
day – threw down the short knife in his belt, and held out his
hands to show that was all. Another younger man who had snuck up
behind him gathered his things and piled them with the other
weapons while a shorter fellow patted down his legs and waist.
Failing to find anything, he told Dasen to place his hands behind
his back. To Dasen’s surprise, he tied them with a leather
cord."Can't be too careful these days," the sergeant responded
simply to Dasen’s questioning glance. He held his long sword
lightly at his side and studied his captive.

“
Do you know who I am?”
Dasen asked, incredulous.

“
Not yet,” the sergeant
responded. It was clear that he didn’t care if Dasen was the
Chancellor. “We’ll figure that out in good time.”

With that, Dasen was led
to a thin, smooth-barked tree that was growing by itself on one
side of the clearing. He was ordered to sit, and the guard tied him
to the tree. The man then took a sentry position a few feet away.
For a few minutes, Dasen tried pleading with the man, explaining
their situation, imploring him to let him up, but the man ignored
him so thoroughly that he began to wonder if the words were
actually making their way from his mouth. Finally, he settled down
and accepted his fate.
Clearly they’ve
seen some action
, he told himself.
They’re just wary. Can’t blame them for
that.
But the thought only increased his
worry. If these men had fought the invaders, it meant that they had
gone north, that they may be near. He thought on that as he tested
his bonds, though he had no actual desire to escape.

Meanwhile, the sergeant returned to a
small fire at the far end of the clearing where he joined two other
men. They both looked older, so Dasen guessed they were the other
officers for this unit. The men spoke briefly while watching Dasen
then the surrounding trees before the sergeant saluted and went to
inspect the preparations of the camp. The other two men continued
to speak, but Dasen seemed to be far from their minds. Consigned to
his fate, he tried to make himself comfortable against the tree and
wondered where Teth could be.

#

Time passed slowly in the camp, but
the shadows eventually grew to encompass it. The scouts built the
main fire larger and larger until they had a substantial pit of
coals over which they placed the turkeys. As they finished their
various tasks, they gathered around the fire and sharpened their
swords in small circles of quiet conversation. The officers
continued their conversations as well. No one made any move toward
questioning or releasing Dasen.

Sitting by the tree, bored and alone,
his mind wandered to the thoughts he had been having prior to their
discovery of the camp. He thought about Teth hiding from the forest
masters, the fact that they had not found her yet, that they likely
never would. These men had been specifically trained to guard the
Great Western Forest. Most of them had lived their entire lives in
the villages it encompassed. They spent their every day patrolling
it, tracking bandits through it, yet they had no chance of finding
Teth.

Dasen thought about their time
together since the joining ceremony, thought about all the things
she had done, tried to put them into the context of the men that
now surrounded him, and was astounded. She seemed to know every
plant, every animal, every tree, mushroom, root, leaf, and branch
in the forest. She could run, shoot, track, climb better than any
man he had ever seen. She was perfectly at home among the trees,
sleeping on pine needles, cooking over fires, bathing in streams.
He wondered at the time, the dedication that must have gone into
building those skills, that familiarity, especially as he had
failed time and again to perform activities that she did
effortlessly.