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"He may die if we don't get a wisper to look at him," replied the Arin prince.

"I understand that," nodded the king, "but he will surely die if we take him to Dulga. By tomorrow the Borundans will know their patrol was destroyed. They will not know where or when, but the first thing they will do is tighten security at their city gates. Anyone seeking the help of a wisper will be investigated closely. In fact, Jared and I do not dare enter the city, either."

"You could wait outside the city while we enter," suggested Gunnar.

"The road goes through the city," interjected Kerzi. "There is no easy way around it. On one side of the city is the sea, and on the other side is a long ridge."

"That is precisely why Dulga was built where it is," explained King Caedmon. "It was a fortress to halt an invasion from either Odessia or Vineland."

"You can't stay here," Gunnar said emphatically.

"Absolutely not," agreed the king. "The Borundans will be efficient in tracking down their lost patrol. They will question every traveler on the road until they narrow down the area where the patrol was last seen. From that point they will spread out in all directions looking for tracks."

"If you can't go to Dulga," questioned Monte, "and you can't stay here, where do you intend to go?"

"Overland to Odessia," answered the king.

"Northern Borunda is not a land to travel through easily," commented Horst. "Once you get away from the coast, the land is no longer flat. There are dry canyons too steep to enter in the midst of dense forests, and detouring around the canyons will take up many days. As you get closer to Odessia, it becomes a wasteland without trees or water, yet the canyons become more plentiful. Odessians call it the badlands, and that is from a people who travel through seas of parched sand and call it home."

"I have talked to men who have traveled the badlands," nodded the king, "and I have heard their stories of men who never made it out, but I see no other choice available to us. Even if Sandar miraculously recovered tonight, my face and Jared's face would be enough to get everyone killed. We simply cannot go through Dulga now."

"The wagon could never cross such lands as Horst described," frowned Talot.

"Nor should it try to," agreed King Caedmon. "Jared and I will take Sandar with us across the badlands while the rest of you leave Borunda through Dulga. We can meet up in Odessia."

"I am not leaving you," Gunnar said adamantly. "My face is also sought by the Borundans, but the real reason is that I refuse to let you out of my sight while you are still in Borunda. I did not come down here to abandon you."

"You will need me along as well," declared Horst. "Once you reach the border of Odessia, you will still be in a wasteland, but it will be one of pure sand without markings to guide you. Anyone not familiar with the desert could easily get lost and die."

"No offense to you, Kerzi," Kenra said, "but I must go with my friends. They are the reason that I have left Kyland, and I intend to see to their safety."

"No offense is taken, Kenra," smiled the merchant. "You should all go and see the king to safety. I can make my way to Dulga on my own."

"No," King Caedmon shook his head. "A wagon without warriors would be very suspect. Besides, too many people and our tracks will be like a beacon for the Borundans. Talot and Monte will accompany the wagon."

"I had planned to burn the Borundan uniforms tonight," announced Talot. "Instead, I will deposit them in the woods tomorrow at various intervals. I will create a trail of them leading towards Dulga. That should keep their trackers busy for a while to give you time to get away from the road."

"A good idea," nodded the king.

"Where will we meet up again?" asked Monte.

"King Caedmon and Sandar will not be returning," answered Horst, "but the rest of us will try to find you on the Dulga-Laborg Road. I have a fair idea of your rate of travel, so finding you should not be difficult. If we run into trouble and are late, wait in Laborg for us."

With their plans set, the group settled in for the night. In the morning the meal was brief and solemn. The warriors extracted their belongings from the wagon and attached them to their saddles. Jared conveniently forgot to take his sword from under the seat of the wagon. He still wanted no part of carrying a weapon. As the wagon and its warriors returned along the trail to the Tarent-Dulga Road, the rest of the warriors headed in the opposite direction.

Kenra took the lead with King Caedmon right behind him. Sandar and Jared came next, and Horst and Gunnar were last. The Salacian prince started the ride by avoiding the trails. For the first hour, he chose the ground carefully, always searching with a tracker's eye. He avoided tall grasses that would leave a visible path, and sought out rocky gullies that would leave little evidence of their passing.

After the first hour, speed took priority over stealth, and the Salacian sought out the widest paths and picked up the tempo of the ride. By high sun the group was into a range of low hills, and the forest began to thicken. The trails narrowed until the only paths left were game trails.

The forest grew dark well before the setting of the sun, and Kenra was forced to slow the group down. The trees started getting larger and the undergrowth thicker. Monstrous fallen trees caused Kenra to change his direction frequently until he was unsure what direction he was heading.

"Find a spot to camp for the night," King Caedmon said. "Without the sun we may end up heading back towards Dulga."

"We will need a cold camp," commented Horst. "We cannot take the chance of having a fire."

"Agreed," nodded the king, "however, a stream or a pond would be nice, but we should not waste time looking for one. I want to leave as soon as it is light enough to tell the direction of the sun."

"That will do," Kenra announced, as he pointed to a squared off area that was created by three fallen giants. "We could defend it well with bows if the enemy catches up to us."

"I don't expect them tonight," replied the king as they rode into the open square, "but they will cover ground quicker than we do once they get our track. They will not have to feel their way through the forest. They can just follow us."

"That may work to our advantage if we know they are close," Horst smiled thinly.

"Perhaps," replied King Caedmon. "That will depend upon many things, especially how many men they have chasing us. I suspect there will be multiple search parties sent out. If we get into a prolonged battle with one group, other groups will move in when they hear the sounds. When it comes time to fight, we must strike quickly and move on."

"When?" frowned Gunnar. "You do not think if might be more appropriate?"

"When," repeated King Caedmon. "King Garrick gambled when he took me prisoner. I am sure he planned to lure you to Tarent and kill us both, but things did not work out as he planned. If we manage to escape, he will have lost a great deal by showing his intentions. At a minimum, Salacia and Odessia will join forces with Arin to oppose Borunda."

"Will that even be enough?" asked Prince Antion. "There were Borundan soldiers swarming all over the Koar-Tarent Road when we came to get you. Their recruiting is raising a very large army, and King Hector said they were buying loads of armor from Caroom and Vineland. Even our alliance may not be enough to halt the Borundans."

"Maybe not," agreed King Caedmon, "but they can no longer fool me about their intentions. They have showed their hand, and their advances will be met with steel."

The sun was high over the dense forest as Kenra weaved through the tangled growth and around the fallen trees. The pace was far too slow to please the Salacian prince, but there was little he could do about it. When he finally came to an open meadow, his first impulse was to gallop across it in an expression of freedom from the confining forest, but his training refused to yield to such emotional outbursts. A large open field spread far to the right of his path, but Kenra hugged the leftmost edge of the clearing. The sudden breeze flowing across the meadow was refreshing, but it also carried a sound that was not native to the forest. Kenra held up his hand in caution as he continued to ride slowly across the meadow.

The Salacian prince listened intently and thought he heard the noise again. He signaled for a halt. The six men immediately obeyed, and the party sat motionless along the leftmost edge of the meadow. The distant sound of riders moving too quickly through the forest was unmistakable to all. King Caedmon snapped his fingers to get the attention of his partners. When everyone was looking towards him, his fingers flew with a question for the three princes. Each of them responded by pointing across the open field to the rightmost edge of the meadow. King Caedmon nodded in agreement, and his fingers flashed precise instructions for the three princes.

Kenra quietly began moving across the meadow on the track he had been taking, hugging the leftmost edge of the clearing. Horst and Gunnar turned around and backtracked out of the meadow. Sandar and Jared sat quietly and watched with puzzled expressions. Sandar had never learned the horse language, and Jared's lessons had not gone far enough for him to understand what was going on. The king waved for them to follow him and then turned left from their original path and entered the forest along the leftmost edge of the clearing. The underbrush was thick with thorny brambles, and the king moved at a painstakingly slow pace to avoid the thorns that would shred the skin of both man and beast. He led Jared and Sandar completely through the deep patch of brambles until they reached a small clearing and then he dismounted. King Caedmon signaled for the others to dismount and they did so.

"Are you well enough to fight?" the king asked Sandar.

"I am not ill enough to die," replied the Arin soldier. "What do you need from me?"

"Unless I am mistaken," the king whispered, "some riders will be entering the meadow from the far end soon. If they are Borundan soldiers, and I expect that they are, we will fight them here. You and I are to take up positions behind the brambles and defend ourselves. Can you handle a bow?"

"Much better than a sword," answered Sandar.

"Must we fight them?" asked Jared.

"If they are soldiers," King Caedmon nodded, "they are trying to find us. It is better to meet them at a place of our choosing than on a narrow trail in the forest. You will not have to fight, Jared. Just stay close to me, and keep your head down."

King Caedmon held his finger to his lips and waved for the other two to follow him. He backtracked to the edge of the brambles and found a spot that afforded a clear view of the length of the meadow. He pointed to a spot for Sandar to position himself, and then moved well to the left of him so that they were not too close together. When he was in position, he signaled for Jared to get down on the ground.

The distant sounds of the riders grew quickly louder and soon the king could see the column enter the far end of the meadow. They were indeed Borundan soldiers, and there were more of them than the king had expected to see. His eye twitched as he counted the riders entering the meadow.

"Twenty five," he said softly to Sandar. "The most important ones will be the riders that try to force their way through the brambles. None of them must get to us."

Sandar nodded silently, and Jared stuck his head up to peek over the brambles and look at the distant riders. King Caedmon nocked an arrow and waited.

The riders moved quickly across the meadow without concern for what was on either side of them, and the king figured that they knew the local trails. If he was correct, the Borundans would come completely across the meadow before turning onto the track that Kenra had been following. That would bring them within two-dozen feet of the king's hiding place, and he didn't want to let them get that close before drawing their attention. King Caedmon stood tall and let the first arrow fly while the riders were still a fair distance away. He heard Sandar's bowstring snap a second after his.

The Arin king got off a second shot before the Borundans started shouting and pointing towards him. Their run across the meadow had been disrupted, and the soldiers scattered to avoid getting caught in a clump. It was at this point that the Borundan officer should have been barking his orders to the soldiers, but the officer was dead, felled by King Caedmon's first shot.

One of the soldiers took it upon himself to rally the rest of the men. He pointed at King Caedmon and shouted for the men to attack. Most of the soldiers obeyed without thinking and charged directly for the king and Sandar, but several of them veered off to each side to flank the king. As those side groups turned to exit the meadow, the arrows of Kenra and Gunnar assaulted them. The exits from the meadow were narrow and only afforded enough room for a single rider at a time, and the two princes denied the soldiers a chance to exit.

The Borundans trying to get at the king and Sandar found the bramble barricade impossible to cross. As the Arin warriors continued to fell soldier after soldier, some of the Borundans began to realize the futility of their charge. Four of them turned and raced away from the brambles and sheathed their swords. Jumping from their horses, the Borundans pulled their bows and prepared to duel with the Arinites while their comrades continued the attack.

King Caedmon and Sandar were forced to duck as the incoming arrows soared over the brambles, but Gunnar and Kenra were free to continue their attack and began targeting the riders near the brambles.

Horst had been assigned to make sure that none of the Borundans escaped with word of the location of the battle. Seeing the four soldiers in the middle of the meadow without their horses proved to be too much of a temptation for the Odessian prince. He silently rode into the meadow behind the archers and drew his twin scimitars.

The air was thick with Borundan shouts and the cries of the wounded. Riderless horses whinnied and pranced about. Bowstrings snapped and arrows thudded into trees or flesh. The four Borundan archers did not hear the Odessian warrior racing up behind them until it was too late. Horst rode through the line of archers with his scimitars extended to each side. Two Borundan heads dropped to the floor of the meadow before the soldiers' bodies fell. The other two archers hurriedly nocked arrows, but Horst spun around and charged directly for them.

One of the Borundans dove out of the path of the Odessian horse, while the other tried to draw his bowstring and target Horst. The Odessian's scimitar sliced through the man's arm and sliced open his chest. As the horseman pivoted to attack the final archer, he saw the Borundan fall with an arrow in his back. Horst quickly scanned the meadow for an enemy to attack, but there were none. Bodies and riderless horses littered the meadow, and silence reigned. The Odessian prince slowly rode across the meadow and halted among the debris bordering the brambles.

"Is everyone all right?" he called to the king.

"We're fine," King Caedmon replied. "Check on the others."

Jared rose and stared at the king. King Caedmon had blood seeping from his neck where an arrow had sliced open the flesh. He gently placed his hand over the wound and closed his eyes. King Caedmon felt the hand and wanted to turn and look at Jared, but he also felt the pain of the wound for the first time and understood what Jared was doing. He remained motionless.

"I will get the horses," offered Sandar as he saw what was going on.

Gunnar and Kenra entered the meadow and began gathering arrows, while Horst went around and checked the dead.

* * *

Kerzi halted the wagon at the northern gates of Dulga. Soldiers were in abundance and an officer approached Kerzi while soldiers inspected the cargo of cork that the merchant had just purchased.

"Where are you going?" asked the officer.

"We are taking cork up to Laborg," answered Kerzi. "I hope to pick up a shipment of weapons there and bring it back."

The officer nodded and gazed at Talot and Monte.

"Just the two warriors?" he asked.

"At this time," nodded the old man. "I will probably hire more for the return trip. Cork is not something most bandits treasure, but weapons are valuable."

"Where did you come from?" questioned the officer as the soldiers finished their inspection.

"Tarent," replied Kerzi. "We had dropped off a load of weapons there and then brought some nuts here."

"Did you see any large groups traveling the Tarent-Dulga Road?" asked the officer.

"None that caught my attention," Kerzi shook his head. "I tend to daydream a bit on the road. It gets boring after so many years of traveling. Is there some serious problem with bandits around Dulga? I ask because I have never seen so many soldiers here before."

"Bandits do not thrive around Dulga," the officer replied sharply. "You may go, but if you see any large groups of foreigners, you are to send one of your warriors to alert the army. Move along."

Kerzi and his warriors rode through the gates and headed north on the Dulga-Laborg Road. Borundan soldiers were everywhere and each group looked at the wagon as it passed.

"King Caedmon was correct," Monte said softly to Talot. "He would never have survived this sort of inspection."

"It is worse than you think," the Lomite nodded towards the left side of the road. "Look at the patrols heading into the woods. I think the Borundans have already discovered the tracks where we split up. Those soldiers are being sent into the wilderness after someone. They are not just arbitrarily ordering the men to search the woods alongside the road."

"How can you tell?" asked the Caroomite archer.

"The officer we just passed was pointing to spots on the map," answered Talot. "They have narrowed their search to a specific area of northern Borunda. Those troops are being sent in to encircle the area and then narrow it until they find our friends."

"We must not let that happen," Monte replied anxiously. "What can we do to help them?"

"Nothing," replied Talot.

* * *

General Wikner and General Ortega sat stoically as King Garrick lashed out at them. Prince Zinan and Naveena stood several feet behind the king watching.

"You are telling me that a bunch of Arinites waltzed into the royal palace and freed King Caedmon from under your noses?" shouted the king. "Can you explain how that happened?"

"We do not know if they were Arinites," General Ortega answered calmly. "We don't even know how many men it was. As to how, I fear, King Garrick, that there must be someone within the palace staff working with your enemies."

"A traitor?" snapped the king. "Explain."

"They obviously knew exactly where the Arin king was being held," replied General Ortega, "and Caedmon must have been waiting for them. Their ploy was to stage an accident in front of the palace in the small hours of the morning. That trick did pull the patrols off their posts, but only for an extremely short period of time. There is no way that they would have had time to search for the Arin king, and at that time of the morning, one would expect Caedmon to be sleeping. If he had been, the perpetrators would have been caught."

"I have already been through this with the generals," Naveena said as she approached the table. "I do not think we have a traitor in our midst. I think King Caedmon got a message out during the coronation describing his location and the time off day to strike."

"He tried to hand off a note," interjected Prince Zinan, "but we intercepted it. You know that, Naveena. Why are you covering for the traitor in our midst?"

"I know that you intercepted one of King Caedmon's messages," smiled Naveena, "but you underestimated your foe. He found a way to get a second message to his allies before they left."

"What makes you so sure that it was not a traitor?" the king asked.

"Even if there was a traitor among us," explained Naveena, "that person would have to know the identities of the group sent from Arin. He would have to know when to meet them and where. He would then have to wake King Caedmon and get him ready to flee. All of this means that there would have to be a decent method of communicating with Arin, I don't believe there is one. It would actually be much more complex and dangerous than King Caedmon handing off a second note, and his attempt to pass off the first note was so obvious that it was unbelievable."

"It was obvious?" questioned the king.

"He carried a large book to the coronation," smiled Naveena. "He made no attempt to conceal the fact that he was placing a paper into the book during the ceremony, and he left the book on his chair as he left. He meant to make fools of us, King Garrick, and he succeeded."

"Are you calling me a fool?" glowered Prince Zinan. "Is that the whole point you are trying make here?"

Naveena's point had been meant to show Prince Zinan and King Garrick that they were not infallible and still needed her very much, but she worried that she might have overplayed it.

"Not at all," smiled Naveena. "That would accomplish nothing. I am just trying to stop us from wasting time searching for traitors that do not exist. We need to focus our energies on recapturing the Arin king."

"And how do we do that?" asked King Garrick, his fury beginning to lessen.

"General Wikner has thousands of men around Dulga closing in on him," Naveena replied, "and General Ortega has an elite force heading east out of Koar. They can explain the situation better than I."

"Naveena has stated it rather well," offered General Wikner. "We believe the group headed east towards Dulga, not towards Koar as we would have expected."