Chapter 12

The ferry dock had guards that had not been there before, and their fee was double as well as the fees for the horses. They were also the only ones on the near side of the river. On the other side, where Borner had spent an afternoon selling his herbs, there were few people about and most did not want to talk with him.

They rode quickly away from the little village. Out of sight, they consulted their map and decided to strike out across the countryside; first to make time, and second to check their back trail for any unwanted tails. When they reached the forest, they dismounted and walked their mounts up the increasingly steep hills.

After a day of frustrating detours and moments where they were concerned they had lost their direction, they emerged back on the King’s Road. Although Dal was uncomfortable with their exposure, she admitted the thick forests were too much of a delay. One scout was sent forward and one was sent back, to warn the travelers of any traffic headed their way. As Dal became more convinced of their isolation, she hurried the pace.

No warning sign indicated that they had entered the royal domain, but none doubted that they were deep in forbidden territory. Rather than fear confrontation, the Guild members were becoming more excited at the prospect. As they came around a large bend, Borner recognized with confidence the site of his encounter with the princess. They dismounted and disappeared into the forest. When Borner indicated that they were close, they left the horses with the hapless Bogo and continued through the forest until their scout sighted the closed town.

Borner led them using the first field wall as his guide to the other end of the town. The same small number of indolent soldiers lounged at the entrance, seemingly without much of a care. Dal took one of her lieutenants to reconnoiter the immediate area, leaving the rest of them to relax behind an abandoned wall.

Dal returned to report. There were only two entrances as Borner had described. She counted eleven buildings and only one of them was particularly large. The one street was not straight but had a slight bend where the largest house stood. The walls were difficult to scale but not impossible. Even so, she recommended that they simply take the entrance at the far end of the town and slit the guards’ throats. Her argument was that if they were lax at the roadway, how much more unwary were the guards on the other side. Borner was given strict instructions, which he had to repeat aloud, that he would leave all contact with the guards to everyone else. He was there only to convince the princess to flee with them.

As the sun set, the guards changed without any fanfare, no call for changing of the guard or public declaration of intent. Two came and two left. An hour after dark, the two remaining were dead, bleeding out in the dirt.

The host of thieves slipped into the town as if they had been there many times, knowing where to go and where to look. Minutes passed and Borner, standing just inside the wall did not hear a sound. The moon was rising, casting strange shadows everywhere he looked. His resolve to stand still was evaporating, slowly urging him to take a few more steps into the compound. He just wanted to see a little bit more; he just wanted to step into the action a little more; he was just tired of waiting; he just...

A shadow detached itself from the first building opposite and then ran across the road to him. Dal appeared in front of his face with a feral grin. She gave him a cock of her head and he followed her, staying to the edge of the street, as close to buildings as possible. The buildings were rustic, built with entire tree trunks laid on their sides and caulked. Even in the pale moonlight, the caulk was eerily white.

They reached the largest of the buildings. Borner took a long look at a hunting lodge fit for a king. A rack of antlers adorned the top of the doorway. Dal slipped through the open door for a moment and returned. She took his hand and led him past three bodies with dark stains spreading around their bodies. Borner stepped carefully, making sure that he did not land in the puddles. The spread of blood indicated that they had been cut earlier. The oil lamp on the desk still burned.

Behind the front room was a hallway. They went left and came to a set of stairs, thick massive planks from the hearts of what must have been huge trees. She dropped his hand but put her finger to her lips. He nodded and followed her up the stairs to the first landing and then up to the second landing, which was the second floor. He noticed another body lay to his left, its legs akimbo.

In the middle of the hallway was a wooden door with carvings of wood nymphs and fantastical creatures dancing around a pool of water. Opposite the door was another body, pinned to the wall with two swords. The head was pitched forward.

“Your turn,” Dal whispered, pointing to the door.

Taking a deep breath, Borner knocked on the door twice and grasped the knob to turn it. The knob turned but the door was locked. “Key!” he barked in a whisper.

Dal rummaged through the dead man’s clothes until she came up with a large key on a chain around his neck. Dal pushed the key in the lock and turned it. As the door opened, a crazed woman wielding a broom tried to clobber Borner with the handle. Only his staff saved him from a crack on the head.

“Ah, remember me?” Borner said, trying to recoup his dignity while staring at her top-heavy figure in a lacy shift. “You asked me to get help.”

The woman stopped in mid-stroke. “The sun-tinged herbalist thief?”

“I knew you were one of us,” Dal mumbled, as she lowered the broom in Salomet’s hands with her finger, slowly.

“Well, if you want to continue with the insults, you can stay here,” Borner said, reasserting himself. “If you would like to make your escape with me, then shut up so that we can leave quietly.”

“What army did you bring?” Princess Salomet asked.

“The most dangerous one I could find,” Borner said. “The most expensive one that you shall ever purchase as well. Boots, britches, and a journey cloak - we leave under the cover of this night.”

Whatever this princess was, modesty was not one of her traits. Borner made no pretense of hiding his stare either. Moments later they glided down the stairs and through the front room. The princess stopped to take a sword and scabbard off one of her fallen kidnappers. Then they moved back into the street. Dal put two fingers to her lips and a bat squeaked in the night with three short twitters. Another responded with two more, a pause, and then two more.

“The front gate is clear,” Dal said.

“Take the time and kill them all,” the princess said. “There must be no survivors, or this escape is for naught. If my brother knows that I am gone, he will only hunt me down. A few minutes now will buy us days, if not weeks.”