CHAPTER TWELVE - A WALK IN THE GRASS

A quarter of an hour passed.

Julian sat in his saddle next to his friend and tried not to grow impatient. The Mayor and Constable Malory were supposed to have brought the prisoner out by now. Where were they? Just then, he began to think maybe Melanie was right, and the people in Lydelton were just a bunch of yokels.

But then the sound of horse hooves clopping on flagstone drew his eye. Three men, one of them leading a saddled horse, were walking down the main street toward where Julian and Raedrick waited.

At last!

They drew nearer and their conversation slowly became audible. “…terribly sorry about this. We cannot control what drifters who happen to pass through do. You understand?” The Mayor was good. He actually sounded nervous, terrified even. His voice dripped with sycophantic pleading. Julianhopedhe was just acting.

The brigand wore a deep scowl, but his eyes glittered with contemptuous amusement. “Of course I understand, Mayor Brimly. But I can’t guarantee Farzal will. Those two killed some of our brothers, and you gave them shelter here. That will cost you.”

“But…” The Mayor wiped his brow as his eyes darted toward the brigand nervously. “We didn’t know…”

The brigand snorted and turned his back to the Mayor. Holding out a commanding hand to Constable Malory, he said, “My horse?”

The Constable’s face was a storm cloud, but he handed over the reins without comment. The brigand smirked, a distinctly unpleasant sight considering the scabbed-over scrapes on his cheek and chin, the swelling around his eyes and nose, and the broken teeth in his mouth. In spite of the man’s smile, Julian felt a certain satisfaction in seeing the results of his kick.

The brigand mounted the horse and adjusted the reins. He took one last look at Mayor Brimly, who bobbed his head and wrung his hands nervously.

“You will remember to give Farzal our offer?”

The brigand shrugged. “I’ll tell him. He’ll say no, but I’ll tell him.”

“That’s all we can ask.”

The brigand snorted again and dug his heels into the flanks of his horse. She surged forward into a canter and quickly carried her rider away out of earshot.

“Laid it on a bit thick, didn’t you?" Constable Malory said, disapproval plain in his tone.

“I hate this. I hate it.” The Mayor mopped his brow again. You would think it was the height of summer, as much as he was sweating. The Mayor looked around, his frantic expression making it apparent he wasn’t acting much at all. “Where are they?”

“They said they were going to follow at a distance and avoid being seen. They wouldn’t wait right here for him.”

Julian grinned and exchanged glances with Raedrick. He hadn’t doubted Melanie’s word, precisely, but it was nice to get confirmation that her spell had worked. Raedrick returned the grin and nodded toward the brigand, now several hundred yards away.

They kicked their horses into a fast trot and set off after the fleeing man.

* * *

The brigand slowed after a quarter mile or so. His horse could only canter so far, and it wasn’t like she was a racehorse or battle-trained. Truth be told, Julian was surprised she went that far before having to walk. It was just as well, because he had no desire to waste his and Raedrick’s horses to follow the thug.

For the rest of the afternoon, they followed about a tenth of a mile behind the brigand as he rode south. From their position behind him, he appeared wary, looking behind himself every few minutes. Julian couldn’t blame him. The Mayor was clearly spooked, but Constable Malory hadn’t even tried to pretend to be scared. Considering the brigand’s line of work, treachery was probably second nature to him, so Julian was sure he more than expected the Constable to have some trap set.

An hour after leaving town, they reached the ford across the Eastflow, near the burned out farmhouse that had almost cost the brigand his life. The bastard didn’t even give it a second glance. He did glance backwards again, though, while Julian and Raedrick were in the middle of their crossing.

“Stop!” Raedrick cried.

“What? Why?”

“The splashing.”

“Son of a…”

Julian reined in, bringing his horse to a quick halt. He hated to leave his steed with his hooves in the flowing, cold water for long, but Raedrick was right: their invisibility, or whatever it was, that Melanie had bestowed probably would not conceal the splashes from their crossing.

Were they blown already?

The brigand stopped also, looking back over his shoulder for a long few minutes. It was impossible to see his expression from that distance, but Julian imagined he wore a mask of concentration as he studied the ford. A sudden chill went down Julian’s spine. The swirling of the current around the horses’ legs was probably distinctly visible as well. He was just about ready to kick his horse forward, certain that they had been spotted, when the brigand shrugged and turned around again, then nudged his horse into motion.

Julian exhaled, letting out a breath that he didn’t even realize he had been holding. “Let’s get going,” he said, and urged his horse forward.

They quickly exited the ford and rode up to the burned out farmhouse.

“We’d better stop,” Julian said, “and rub down the horses. We don’t want them getting cramps.”

Raedrick nodded. “Not here, though. I don’t want to look at this farm.”

“Me neither.”

The brigand turned to the left, veering southeast toward the hills leading to the mountains. They followed and soon found themselves riding over a small hillock. In the miniature valley between it and the next rise, they stopped and dismounted.

It took several minutes to dry the horses’ legs and rub the circulation back into their feet. Julian grew more concerned by the minute as they worked. For one thing, the horses’ lower legs were extremely cold. For another, the brigand was getting farther away every second, and in this hilly terrain it would be very easy to lose him. Finally, he and Raedrick determined they had done the best they could for their mounts and got moving again.

They reached the top of the next rise, and Julian breathed a curse. The brigand was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s got to be here somewhere,” Raedrick said in a concerned tone.

“Let’s give him a minute, hope he climbs a hill.”

And so they sat. And sat. After ten minutes, there was still no sign of the brigand. Where was he?

“Could be he’s sticking to the low areas between hills,” Julian said.

“If that’s true, we may never find him. Damn it.”

“Let’s head out and see.”

The next hilltop revealed more rolling hills ahead that gradually got larger as they ran up to the mountains that ringed the Vale. But no brigand. They looked around carefully, then moved off again. The story was the same at the next rise as well. And the next.

The sun was beginning to sink lower on the eastern horizon and the shadows grew longer. As they crested yet another rise with no sign of their quarry, Julian reined in his horse and turned to look at his friend.

“Well what do you think?”

Raedrick shook his head and made a gesture of hopelessness. “We’ll lose the light soon, and there’s no way we’ll find him then.” He punched his thigh with a clenched fist. “How the hell did we lose him?”

“We’d better get back to town. I don’t want to spend the night out here. It’s bloody cold.”

Raedrick let out an extremely colorful curse, but he nodded in agreement. Without another word, they turned back and nudged their horses into a trot. With luck, they might make it back before full dark.

Glimmer Vale is the first book of the Glimmer Vale Chronicles, an ongoing heroic fantasy series set in a world of valor and magic. It will be published here, one chapter per week, on Tuesday.

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