Hidden Kingdom: Chapter 7

 

Chapter 7

When morning came around, Sara was still tired. She had stayed up most of the night talking with General Lateaf. She was surprised but agreed about his concerns over General Allison. He felt he was up to something, and they needed to find out before he acted. She always knew of the cruelty of the Delland army, but she had assumed that the cruelty had come by order of the king himself. It had never occurred to her that King Childs would surround himself with people as morally corrupt as he.

That was not what kept her up during the night. Her biggest concern was still the mission. She had known the odds for this mission being successful were not high to begin with, but now she did not know what to think. If the Woodsman was to be trusted,then she thought they still stood a chance, but he was once the first general of Queen Hellicus. In the last war, he was the enemy. She wanted to understand better why he claimed he was no longer under her command, but he refused to talk about it. She could tell there was something there by his reaction when asked about it. Before she could fully trust their guide, she would need to understand that reason. In the meantime, she would follow him and keep an eye on him.

The midnight squad spoke in subdued tones as they made ready to ride. The sun was not up yet, but the forest was beginning to light up. The frost was heavy on the trees and grass, giving an appearance of a thin layer of snow over everything. At first, Sara was concerned that they would leave a trail in the frost that anyone could follow, but then she realized that there were no clouds out, and it would quickly warm up and melt the frost.

They had to build carriers for two of the wounded that were too bad off to be able to stay on a horse. These they had built the night before and come morning had the wounded secured and ready to travel. An hour after they had gotten up, they were on the trail.

The Woodsman led them to a trail the headed southwest. It was a trail that Captain Walch was unfamiliar with, but the Woodsman assured them it was the fastest way. The Woodsman had tried to set a swift pace for the squad, but the wounded forced them to slow down. Sara tried to read the Woodsman to see if he was annoyed but she found him unreadable. He seemed to have a posture and stance that emanated being in charge.

They only stopped twice during the first day. Once for lunch and to rest the horses and later because the medic said that all the bouncing was hard on the wounded. The sun had long set by the time they stopped. It was General Lateaf that had finally ordered the squad to stop for the night. The Woodsman had been willing to keep going.

Topher ordered no fire. The hour was late, and he wanted the squad to get some sleep. After assigning watch duty for the night, the squad moved off to find a place to setup a bivouac. There was some talk, but most were silent as they all knew they were not making good time. They also knew why but no one wanted to be the person to say it out loud.

The Woodsman again setup his bivouac on the outskirts of the camp. Once everyone was settled, Sara approached him.

"So how do you know about this path into Emos?" she tried to sound friendly and casual, hoping he would let his guard down.

"I have spent the last six years traveling these woods. I got to know them pretty well."

He was still not very forthcoming, so she decided to continue with small talk. "Well like this trail, did you just stumble upon it? Not even Captain Walch knew about it."

"It is primarily used by the Wren Clan. It connects their territory here in the low lands."

Sara found the term low lands a funny way to describe the terrain they were traveling. They had been traveling through hills.

"Wren Clan, I have never heard of them."

The Woodsman just kept adjusting his bivouac while he spoke.  "No reason you should have. They are an exiled tribe of Wood-folk. They live high up in these mountains. They keep to themselves mostly, and although they are not completely anti-social, they do not care much for surprises and tend to attack first and ask questions later. And that reminds me, any chance you can let me ride ahead tomorrow so I can get permission to pass through their land?"

"What do you mean permission?"

"I know you have had one of your people shadowing me since we left camp this morning. In fact, you have someone watching now." He pointed to a soldier that had set up his bivouac near the Woodsman. He was doing a good job of acting like he was sleeping but was wide awake and keeping an eye on the Woodsman. In fact, he currently had one hand on his sword while the queen was talking to him.

Sara had known that General Lateaf had placed a guard on their guide but was surprised that this man had figured it out.

She smiled as she said, "I would rather you did not ride out alone."

"I did not think so. In that case, at some point tomorrow, we will have to stop. Either you or General Lateaf can come with me to meet with the clan. I would recommend only one person come with me, and it should be a person of power in this group. Sending a regular soldier will be an insult to them."

Sara thought for a minute. "That sounds acceptable."

"Good. And one more thing. When we pass through their territory, I suggest you tell the Wood-folk you have in your ranks to keep her mouth shut should we meet anyone on the trail. The Wren Clan are exiles of the Wood-folk and as such do not care much for them. If they find out she is in your ranks, they might attack us."

It surprised Sara as she had no idea that the Wood-folk had enemies. "Ok, I will make sure the order is issued to her. How long will it take to travel through their territory?"

The Woodsman let out a sigh. "Normally less than a day but at the pace we are going, it will be a day and a half to two days. We are going to have to camp on their territory. I was hoping to be already at their territory by now."

He then stopped what he was doing and looked at Sara in the eye. In the moonlight, she could see the scar on his face. It ran all the way from his ear to the corner of his mouth. The full beard that he was sporting did not cover the scar because the hair on his face around the scar grew very sparsely. She wondered what had given it to him. She wondered if it had something to do with why he left the Emos army. Could he have been injured in a battle and unable to fight?

"I know you have a schedule to keep for this mission, but unless you do something about your wounded, we may not make it to Emos on time."

She had been concerned about the same thing. "What do you suggest I do about them?"

The Woodsman paused before he spoke.  "Well, we will not be passing close to any Carriland or Doorshire outpost. You could send the medic off with them to take them back to Fort Applatch."

She had thought about that option. "He is our only remaining medic, and we are going to need him."

"You could just leave them behind."

It was an option that she had refused to let herself consider. Hearing from him now just made her upset that it had to be an option. "I cannot believe you would suggest that. You were a leader of men once, would you ever just abandon you men like that?"

He thought for a moment and said, "No I would not, but these are not my men, this is not mymission, and that is not my decision to make. For once I am not the one who has to make the hard decision."

Sara thought for a minute and then asked, "So would the Wren Clan be willing to take our wounded back to Fort Applatch?" She was hopeful.

"No. These people are isolationist. They want nothing to do with the outside world. They do not travel beyond their territory."

Sara thought for a moment and then said, "I guess we will have to get them to Bougainville and find someone there. It might delay us a couple of days but it is the best we can do."

After a long look, he said, "It is your schedule, I am just your guide." He then turned and prepared to crawl into his bivouac.

After a moment, Sara turned and walked back to her bivouac.