The Archon's Apprentice (15 page)

“I thought I saw some move ... Wait. Yeah. We’re being followed.”
 

Bayle handed the spyglass back to Mikol, pointing at the horizon. Mikol spotted a few riders in the far distance. Even with the spyglass, Mikol could not pick out many details. He could not tell what they were wearing, but he did not think it was armor. So they were probably not soldiers. Thinking back to the Wench, he realized their attackers had not been armored either. He watched for some time to gauge how fast the riders were approaching. They did not seem to be riding fast. He put away the spyglass and took another reading from the pendant. It pointed through the heart of the unknown army.
 

“We need to find out whose army that is. It could be our own. Perim took the army out this way,” said Mikol.

“It could also be the Sibilovan army. I don’t know why either army would be encamped here though.”

“Looks like there is a forest just southeast of the army. Let’s ride down the hill and circle around in to it. Maybe we can get a view of the army without being seen and find out who they are.”

Mikol looked back once more at the pursuers before they rode down into the valley and to the forest. It took them the better part of the day to circle around and enter the forest. They were both looking over their shoulders, expecting to see someone riding to intercept them. When they entered the forest they found they could ride with relative ease, as long as they did not push their horses. The sun was almost setting before they breached the treeline towards the unknown. The encamped army lay far enough away that Mikol had to look through his spyglass again. He scanned the rows of tents for several minutes, still not seeing any movement or other signs of life.
 

“This is very strange. Where are all of the soldiers?”

“Let me take a look too.”

Mikol handed the spyglass to Bayle and let out a sigh. It seemed appropriate to find a ghost army after finding ghost towns. Mikol sat up straight as Bayle pointed to the army.

“I see several Ternian flags laying against the tents, and I saw some soldiers moving closer to the center of the camp. I think they were wearing our uniforms, but I can’t really tell at this distance.”

“Why are they not flying the flags?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s too dangerous this close to Sibilova. There could be any number of people around here who would want to report their position to this warlord we’ve heard about,” said Bayle.

“Well, if you saw Ternian flags then we should go see if Perim is fine.”

“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll just send us back to Valefort.”

“I’ll be fine with that just to know he is alive,” said Mikol.

“I’d like to know he lives too, but I don’t want to go back now. Plus, this is better than waiting for some word from your brothers or my father.”

Mikol flinched at his words.

“Bayle ...”

“No. Don’t apologize. We’ve been dealing with this in our own ways. I would continue to wait for anything from any of them. It is just frustrating waiting. There might even be a message at Valefort now, but I am glad we are actually doing something. Even if we don’t know what that is yet.”

Mikol kept silent. He did not know what to say.

“Besides, I don’t trust Omoni.”

“What?”

“You think I just happened to find out what you were doing? I made Omoni tell me why you were avoiding him. Because that much was obvious.”

“Did you threaten him?”

“No. Not exactly. He actually seemed too excited to tell me what you had. Like I said, I don’t trust him.”

They sat in silence for several minutes. Mikol wondered how naive he could actually be about people and the world. He opened his mouth to say something when they both noticed a couple of horses coming around the edge of the forest. The riders were not riding fast and it did not look like they had seen Mikol and Bayle. Mikol and Bayle maneuvered their horses back in to the forest some and observed the three horseman as they rode.

Mikol noticed their uniforms as they came closer. From this distance he could not tell if he knew these soldiers but felt relief as they were wearing Ternian blues. Mikol started forward to intercept the horsemen. Bayle motioned for him to stop.

“We have to find out what they know. Those are Ternian soldiers.”

Bayle sighed but did not move forward. Mikol watched Bayle ready a bolt in his crossbow. He lowered the crossbow behind his horse. Looking at Bayle, Mikol only saw a man on a horse and could not see the weapon. Mikol shrugged and moved forward. Mikol broke the edge of the forest and turned to the horsemen. He waved at the men but they were riding away from Mikol. When Mikol yelled at them they perked up and turned to him. They did not call back and instead spurned their horses to a gallop. Mikol watched them and stopped his horse, preferring they ride up to him. Mikol heard Bayle behind him and looked back to see he had moved to the edge of the forest but stayed and watched from afar.
 

Mikol hailed the men again but did not receive a response. With each hoofbeat, Mikol became more uneasy. He questioned whether it was because he did not want to risk being sent home. Then Mikol noticed tears in the uniforms of the men riding at him. Perim would never allow any one under his command to walk around with a uniform in such disrepair. These were not his people.

Mikol’s horse responded quickly and broke into a run. Only a few steps later, Mikol heard a swoosh as he was thrown from the saddle and landed on the ground. The air was forced from his lungs for several excruciating seconds. He tried to move but found his arms were tightly bound against him. He looked down to see a bola had been thrown around him. He tried to roll around and escape but two of the riders jumped off their horsed with swords pointed at him. The third rider rushed towards Bayle.

Mikol turned his head to watch. Bayle rode out halfway with his sword drawn. He screamed out a challenge to the approaching rider and raised his sword high in the air. This had the desired effect, as the rider spurned his horse faster. Bayle kept his sword raised and waited. When the rider was within a couple of horse lengths he raised his sword to strike. Bayle made his move. He shifted in his saddle to quickly bring up and fire the crossbow at the man. Mikol could see the bolt had taken the man dead center as he tumbled off the horse.
 

The two men near Mikol raised their blades towards Bayle, who pointed his own sword at them. Mikol could see the hatred and determination in Bayle’s eyes. His horse took a step towards them before Bayle lowered his sword. Bayle’s horse suddenly became uneasy, and he looked at Mikol before heading back in to the forest. Mikol turned to see more soldiers coming from the camp.
 

“We’ll get that one soon enough,” said one of the riders. “Not like he can hide very long.” Mikol could not place the accent but knew for certain this man was not Ternian.

“Looks like I found me a shiny new sword. You won’t be needing it any longer,” said the other rider.

“Touch it and you die.”

“Tough words for a man on the ground.”

Before Mikol said anything else he felt a heavy blow to the side of his head and his world went dark.

Chapter 10

Captured

Mikol slowly woke up in a confused haze. He blinked a few times but the world was still a muted haze. He thought something was wrong with his eyes until he understood the flickering light was coming from outside of the tent he was in. He turned his attention to his throbbing head. He lifted his right hand. It felt heavy. He also felt a tugging on his left hand. Both of his hands were tied together. He lifted his head slowly to look at his feet and could see they were bound as well. Looking around the rest of the tent, he hoped to find something that would give him an idea of where he was or some manner of escape. The tent was barren.
 

He struggled for a moment and eventually got himself in to an upright position. He stopped moving when he heard voices. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on listening, but the voices were too muted to make out any words. The voices did not seem to be getting closer at the moment. He looked over himself. The restraints did not seem like they would be hard to escape from, as his hands were in front of him. But as he reached down to find the knot around his feet, he just found the rope whole and unbroken. He tried to slide it off but the rope was too tight and felt like it was getting tighter.

He did not have much time to plan as the tent flap opened and two men walked in. They were wearing Ternian uniforms, but Mikol could not identify them in the low light. The first man grabbed him by the shoulders, while the second man muttered to the rope. To Mikol’s surprise the rope uncoiled around his feet and fell off. The two men hauled him upright and pushed him out of the tent. They led him by pushing him forward, pushing left or right when they wanted him to turn. Eventually, they ended up in front of what Mikol recognized as the Ternian Commander’s tent. He had tried to understand the situation and gather intelligence about the camp. The meager lighting and his headache made it very difficult to concentrate on anything besides his footing.
 

With one last push, Mikol was forced inside the tent. The brightly burning lanterns made his eyes hurt and he had to look away until they adjusted. He became aware of two men standing to either side of him. He immediately noticed the scars covering every inch of their arms. The scars seemed to have a pattern to them. When he recognized distinct shapes in the scars it dawned on him he was standing next to two blood mages. His heart beat faster. He looked around quickly for an escape and saw there was a third man standing with his back to Mikol at the far side of the tent. He inhaled quickly. The uniform and sword belonged to Perim. When the man turned around and Mikol could see the scars disfiguring every uncovered inch of skin, his hopes dried to ash in his mouth.
 

“Who are you?” asked the man.

Mikol stood up straight. He tried to broadcast a stoic visage and did not say anything.

“Who sent you?”

Mikol stayed silent.

“What is your mission?”

Mikol stayed silent.

The man laughed.

“Well, you don’t need to tell me now. You will eventually.” The man walked around to the far side of command table.

“Who are you?” said Mikol.

The immediate response was a fist to the midsection. Mikol collapsed to the floor and had trouble breathing. He was lifted to his feet before he had regained his breath.

“I’m sorry. Where are my manners?” With a flourish, he bowed to Mikol. “I am General Trokan of the Anglantaean army.”

“Anglantaean army?”

Trokan waved away the guard. This was the only indication Mikol had that he would have been punched again.
 

“I suppose if I am asking questions I should allow you to talk, at least a little.” Trokan smiled at Mikol. “Yes, the Anglantaean Army, lead by the Warmaster Kagarin. We are uniting all of Anglantaea under one banner again.”

Trokan picked up a sword from the table and Mikol inhaled quickly. All of his belongings were laid out on table. His eyes darted around the table until he saw the pendant was there as well. It had been tossed on top of his things as a piece of jewelry.

“Now, perhaps you will be more open to telling me who you are?”

Mikol was silent again.

“This is a very nice sword.” Trokan gave the sword a swing though the air. He darted forward and performed a few complex maneuvers. Mikol could tell Trokan knew how to fight. “Who did you steal this from?”

“I did not steal it.”

It took Mikol several attempts to breathe before he was able to get air. He guessed he had not given the right answer. Trokan gave him a smug look and motioned for his men to stand him up.

“Well, I guess the person you stole it from,” Trokan raised an eyebrow at Mikol, “doesn’t matter now. I should thank you for the weapon though. It really is beautiful. Perhaps I will use it on you later to see how sharp it is. But only once we have what we need. Besides, I don’t like to start with blood, well, my blood. Take him to the pen. Maybe he will be more willing to talk after a couple of days without food.”

The guards dragged him out of the tent through the camp again. It did not feel like they went the same way as they had come. They stopped not quite at the edge of camp, in front of a large, crude metal cage. The metal appeared to be an assortment of anything that could have been salvaged and thrown together. He was thrust through the only opening that could be considered a door.

“I hope your last meal was real good, ‘cause unless you like dirt, you aren’t getting any food.”

Both men laughed and walked away. Mikol thought only briefly of the paltry breakfast he had shared with Bayle. He pushed his hunger and fear down; he could not afford those distractions now. At least there were enough torches close that he could see around the cage. He saw bodies scattered about the cage floor. He recognized some of the bodies as officers in the Ternian army. After making sure he was not being watched closely, he stood up and waited for reprisal or cruelty. Nothing happened. It seemed after he had been thrown in he was forgotten. At least for now.

Now he had the time to fully assess his situation. He had not seen Bayle, which meant Bayle still had a chance. Or he had been caught and killed already. Mikol quickly banished the thought. He did not have any trouble walking and, other than a few sore spots, he was uninjured. His hand restraints took time to remove. It was only once he began to slide the rope off his wrists that he noticed he was still wearing his gloves. Once he moved the rope on the to the glove instead of his skin it stopped constricting. He slid the gloves off of his hands. The rope fell away easily, and he put the gloves back on. When his hands were free he looked over himself and saw all of his runes were still covered. Unless they had undressed him and redressed him, they had not discovered his secret. Now he knew why Trokan had not been more interested in him. Thinking of his situation, this was the only positive.