Chapter 15: Allies And More

Arron had started to pick his way over the bodies when he noticed Minara pause. "Wait, Arron, there is one here, still alive." She kicked a body and it moved. "Stop playing dead, animal!" She stood and pulled up her skirts, revealing long shapely legs. She hitched them up to her thighs.

Arron stared at the creamy smoothness of her skin, and he sensed the beast within stir. "Minara stop! It won't take much to tip me over the edge again."

She smiled, revealing her filed teeth, and drew a stiletto from a sheath then dropped her skirts, smoothing them down. "Sorry, better now?" She knelt down by the prone soldier and spoke with a hiss that caused even Arron to shudder. "Who are you and where have you taken the Princess?"

The soldier blinked at her. "Go fuck yourself!"

"Wrong answer. See this knife, I'm going to slowly push it into your eye until you tell me what I want to know."

"Minara?"

"Shut up, Arron, let me do this."

Arron shrugged and watched as she sat on the injured soldier's chest and locked his head with her knees. "Who are you and where have you taken the Princess?"

He tried to shake his head and buck her off him but she leant forward and pressed the stiletto point against his eye. "Tell me what I want to know."

"No, you wouldn't dare, I'm injured and a prisoner of war."

She pushed harder and he screamed. Arron gritted his teeth; it went against his principles to torture an injured man even if he was an enemy.

"Stop, I will tell you. We are from Terfain. We had to prevent the treaty between you and the Halcyons, we were going to use the Princess as a lever to persuade you to join up with us and defeat the Halcyons once and for all, then return her to you unharmed."

"How did you replace the regular Matheros escort?"

"We made them sick by drugging their food then we took their place. We had been working undercover in the Matheros Army for a while."

"Where is the Princess being taken?"

"I told you, Terfain. She will be held in the castle. Now I have told you everything I know, release me."

Minara plunged the knife deeper, killing him. Arron gasped. "Minara! He told you what you wanted to know."

She stood and wiped the blade on the dead man's surcoat, turned and shrugged. "He got blood on my dress."

"Dear God, woman, remind me never to cross you."

She laughed. "You can't resist me!"

Arron turned his back on her and started to explore the camp in the moonlight. His men had been killed, most by surprise, their throats cut. A mounting fear gripped his chest; where was Jerros? He stepped outside of the ring of wagons and saw bodies of two of his men with six dead Terfainians around them. He recognized First Sergeant Merca and Jerros. Arron sank to his knees by his friend, who had fought by his side since his first days at Harcross. Arron blinked back tears and rested a hand on his friend's lifeless and bloodied chest. "Goodbye, my friend, may you rest in peace."

He stood, and in a daze of whirling emotion started to unload a couple of the wagons then push them together. Minara walked up to him wearing her traveling leathers, armed to the teeth and a pack over her back. "What are you doing?"

"These men are my friends and colleagues, I do not intend to leave them here to be picked over by scavengers."

"We have to go now and rescue the Princess."

"Minara, it will be pitch dark in an hour when the moon sets. You are not going to see any trail."

"I know where they are going, Arron, they will take her to the port of Wheeldon, we can catch them up."

Arron sighed. "If your mount breaks its leg in a pothole what will you do then? We should wait until first light. They are not expecting us to follow and they agreed to meet in two days time, so they will be waiting for the ones we killed."

"I insist we go now!" She used the same unpleasant tone of voice on him as she had on the wounded soldier.

Arron took a deep breath and bit back his rising anger. "Madam, I am a General in His Majesty the King of Halcyon's Army and I won't be spoken to like that!"

She glared at him, and for a moment he thought she would draw her sword. He tensed ready, then she suddenly changed. "Arron, I can make you come with me you know." She started to unfasten her leather top and reached out a hand to him.

He looked at her, knowing that his anger and grief was holding the beast at bay. "It won't work, Minara, we leave at first light."

She stepped forward to touch him on the hand. "I need you to come with me now, Arron."

His breath caught in his chest, but the foolishness of traveling in the darkness and the thought of leaving his friend and men, many who had, like Jerros, been with him since the beginning lying where they fell caused him to avoid her touch. "No Minara, it is foolish to travel at night." Anger flashed across her face and she swung an open hand at his cheek. Arron saw it coming and grabbed her leather-covered wrist. "First light, Minara."

She snatched her wrist from his grasp, turned on her heels and stalked away. Five minutes later he heard her leave the compound and disappear into the night. Arron shook his head. "I might not be able to resist her, and she does things to me I don't understand, but you have to admit Arron Johnston, that she is a nasty and difficult piece of work."

The surviving servants, who had hidden in the Princess's carriage, helped him complete a funeral pyre using the empty wagons. He gathered the bodies of his fallen comrades then set the pyre alight. As the flames leaped into the darkness Arron bowed his head and said a final farewell to his men.

He told the servants to leave with one of the wagons at first light and return to Matheros. He wrote a letter to the King explaining what had happened and assured him he would find his daughter. He wrote another letter to the King of Halcyon, coded it and enclosed it for forwarding. When he had finished there was only a couple of hours before first light so he snatched some sleep.

He saw the servants safely away and dressed in his light leather traveling armor. He saddled up a marvark and quickly found the bandits trail. It proved easy to follow as there were at least forty riders and they had made no attempt at concealment. After three hours riding he came across a dead marvark. It had caught its leg in a burrow, probably at a gallop. It had broken its leg and thrown its rider. The animal had been killed with a sword thrust through the heart.

Arron spurred his marvark on, and after several more miles the track started to widen out into a small narrow valley, movement and a glint of sunlight off metal caught Arron's eye, so he reigned in his mount. At the far end of the valley, where the track started to rise into some low hills, stood a ramshackle hut surrounded on three sides by some trees. An ideal spot to leave a few lookouts and mount an ambush. If they saw a large force they would have time to mount up and flee, informing the main group of what was behind them. If it were just a few survivors tracking them they could finish them off. Arron dismounted and scanned the steep rocky sides of the valley, but to backtrack and climb round would put at least an extra three hours to the journey. Arron cursed; he did not want to make the detour but he had a bad feeling and he never dismissed his intuition. It occurred to him at that moment that if he were not being distracted by the presence of Minara he might have taken more notice of his disquiet regarding the Matheros escort. He took one last look before turning when he noticed a lone figure trudging towards the hut. "Oh good God, the silly bitch is walking straight into a trap." He saw a couple of figures exit the hut and Minara stopped. He knew there would be more hiding and they were making a mistake only sending two, but once she had dealt with them they would realize their error and attack en-masse. His gut twisted and the beast stirred.

She had left him no choice. He swung back into the saddle, drew his sword and charged along the valley. Minara had just engaged the first two and dispatched one of them when the others streamed out of the building. Arron counted eight. Even Minara could not face those odds. He slid from his mount just as they were making a move to surround her. His sword was too short to stay on marvark back. Some sixth sense must have given her warning as she did not turn or hesitate as he moved to cover her back. The fight was short and brutal, and it was over in minutes. All eight dead at their feet, their backs were touching when Arron felled the last one. He had done it and kept the beast at bay, but then he turned he saw a wild look in Minara's eyes.