Aalis escaped the hut, needing to breathe. It was partially because she had been working nonstop since Verne brought the Mauls to the nomad’s palisade, Judd bringing up the rear with Suvau barely conscious, slumped over Xenon. But it was mostly because she needed distance from the heartache. As a healer she had learned to be dispassionate, to separate her emotions from her patient in order to do what was necessary. But after hours of tending, feeding, dressing and soothing the Mauls, Aalis’ heart couldn’t take it anymore. She stretched her arms and breathed in and out several times, moving away from the hut, allowing the cool air to slap some sense into her.


    The sun was well overhead but it was still cold enough for her breath to turn white with every exhale. Aalis rubbed her hands together and went to where her pack rested on the ground next to where the horses were stabled. She rubbed Zeke’s muzzle then opened her pack and dug through it. Normally their belongings would be in the place they were sleeping but with a dozen Mauls, an imminent knight and a stubborn archer, space in the hut was less than abundant. Giordi was looking after the Maul babe, freeing Aalis to do what she needed to.


    Her medicinal supplies had taken a substantial plummet and she frowned at their food situation.


    “We stocked up before we left Mavour, but still…” She mused. “That was for six people, not eighteen or nineteen…I have lost count.” She sighed and looked at the trees. “I do not wish to wake Verne…perhaps hunting for food can wait until tomorrow. I can make our supplies stretch.” She glanced at the hut, glad all was quiet then picked up her herb collection pouch and slipped out of the palisade. Her trained eye was able to sight mushrooms and even some potatoes and carrots, seeded by a breeze when the Mavour fields were being planted. At the edge of the stream Aalis was able to find medicinal herbs as well as some for flavour. Feeling pleased with her bounty she rinsed all the potatoes and carrots then returned to the campsite.


    She knew she wouldn’t be able to cook until night fell as the smoke would give away their location and an eager scout might find them so Aalis set aside her vegetables, imagining that she would use some of the dried meat and stock from their supplies with them to make a nourishing stew. But there was nothing stopping her from prepping her medicinal herbs and pounding the leaves and roots to make a paste for the open wounds she knew would need redressing.


    It was familiar work, things she knew how to do, possibly even a little too well.


    Aalis found her mind could wander while she added a little water and a touch of salt.


    Her thoughts naturally veered towards Judd, causing her ribs to feel as though they were caving in, her heart cringing at the memory of Judd’s heartbroken expression. She looked at the trampled herbs in her mortar, all solid forms pulverised into paste.


    “You finally find a man who really loves you,” she said softly, “and the proof is in the way you reduced his heart to this…” She closed her eyes and willed herself to think of something else, anything else…and found herself thinking about the moment when she nearly lost him.


    The minotaur had Judd pinned in the Arena, about to kill him outright with a single blow.


    Aalis had leaned forward, feeling something leave her body and the world around her slowed. The sounds dulled, drawn out and quiet and the people’s movements became so slackened it was as though they were not moving at all. Aalis had felt tendrils of herself trail out of her fingertips, like roots through the earth, spreading and deepening until she felt them wrap around the black, shaggy minotaur directly in front of her. It was as though they were drawn to something which was hidden around his neck, something that knew her better than she even knew herself…as if it was a part of her or had been.


    As the tendrils reached it, curling about the leather pendant, soaking into it through the cracks until it reached the emerald core, Aalis felt herself pulled forward, power absorbed out of her.


    The minotaur turned its head and looked at her. “Gairil?”


    “I…am not she.” Aalis said softly.


    “You wield the same power as she.” It replied with a deep, baritone voice. “Where am I?”


    “In a battle for your life.”


    “What am I?”


    “A minotaur.”


    It closed its eyes. “I…remember…falling in battle. I had heard the cry to retreat…but my beloved was gone…so I chased the monsters into Maul until Maul made me one.”


    Aalis’ eyes stung. “I am so sorry. I need your help.”


    “As one whose presence can only be linked with Gairil, ask it of me.”


    “Save that man.” Aalis begged.


    The minotaur held her gaze. “Will he end the madness?”


    “If I know him at all…he will not stop until his last breath to do so…please…”


    “Then it shall be done.”


    Aalis had breathed in sharply and the bubble that had enveloped her and the minotaur burst with violence, the world suddenly joining them, loud, bright and harsh. The minotaur had done as she asked and though she knew it pained Judd, when its life was ended, there was peace in its eyes.


    “Thank you.” She whispered, not for the first time since that terrible day and she knew it would not be the last. “Thank you.”


    She gathered what she needed to prepare the stew and heaved it into her arms, nearly falling over from the weight.


    “Hang on, Aalis.” A familiar voice reached her, and strong hands pushed her upright before she could tumble.


    “Thank you, Judd.” She said quietly and went to move past him.


    “H…How long?”


    “I am sorry?”


    “Until the Mauls can move?” Judd asked abruptly then cringed and waved his hands. “Not that I’m insensible to how battered they are or want to push them…”


    “I understand.” She stopped him blundering any further, doing her best not to meet his gaze but if she had looked up for even the smallest moment, she would have seen he was doing the same. “I understand that we are on borrowed time…”


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    “Stolen.”


    “Stolen time,” Aalis corrected, “but they are extremely malnourished, there are open and infected wounds and Suvau was badly concussed so any time that you can give me, I will take.”


    Judd folded his arms and nodded, still not looking at her. “The longer we stay here, the greater the risk of being discovered and then it won’t just be the Mauls in the dungeon but probably all of us as well.”


    Aalis held her armful of vegetables like a shield. “The answer to your question lies in tension between those two conditions.”


    Judd nodded. “Then…I’d like to stay tonight but leave tomorrow and put as much distance as we can between us and Fort Mavour and Chael’s patrols.”


    “I will treat them accordingly.” Aalis replied and went to escape his presence when Judd’s voice reached her, subdued and unlike his usual self.


    “You know, I never thought my journey to knighthood would turn me into a felon.”


    “Judd…”


    “I stole, Aalis. I stole from a knight.” Judd cringed. “I know Caste adheres a little too hard to the black and whites of this world without flexibility for compassion…but I have to admit…my actions grate on my conscience.”


    Aalis paused. “If you had to make the same choice again…would you choose differently?”


    “Not a chance.” Judd chuckled. “I’d do it all over again…”


    Aalis smiled. “That is a good way for a knight to be.”


    “Yes but…” Judd stopped her from walking away. “I can’t change all the folly of this world on my own or even in my lifetime. Surely you know that, Aalis.” She gazed at him as he stuck his hands in his pockets and kicked at a stone. “I’m only one man, not even a knight yet already a criminal and there are many men in power like Donimede who see nothing wrong in what they were doing.”


    Aalis was glad her arms were taken up with produce or she would have darted forward and grasped his hands in hers. It would be cruel after she had already broken his heart.


    “Judd, I do not ever wish to be in a world where there are rules that protect men like Donimede from doing what they did to Suvau and his people.” She insisted gently but firmly. “This has to stop.”


    “I know,” Judd nodded, “and I promise I will try.”


    “I know you will.”


    Despite their reluctance to be in the conversation, neither of them were in a hurry to escape it now.


    “You know, you’ve changed a lot,” Judd shook his head then added in a hasty blurt, “I mean, from how frightened you were of Suvau in the beginning.”


    Aalis’ mind immediately recalled the vision she had endured in the mangrove swamp, of Suvau on the bloody battlefield, Caste dead nearby and the land strewn with countless corpses, men and monsters. She had done her best not to think of it and there had been much to occupy her thoughts but in the blink of an eye, it returned and her heart trembled and retreated in her chest.


    “I…”


    “I guess it’s understandable.”


    Aalis blinked. “Understandable?”


    “Well…you were raised in that village, as far north as you can go…what are the chances you would ever even see a Maul?”


    Aalis laughed, hiding her gasp of relief. “Yes…yes of course.” She licked her lips and glanced at the hut. “Well…I should…”


    “Yeah.” Judd nodded and turned away, allowing Aalis the chance to escape.


    Moving the Mauls from the palisade was not an easy task, especially with Suvau drifting in and out of consciousness. It was he they looked to for direction and were hesitant to do anything without his confirmation. However, Suvau was able to be coherent for enough time to order them to listen to Judd as they would him. After that the Mauls, though anxious, obeyed Judd’s direction. Verne, Giordi, Judd and Oska cobbled together a sledge, dismantling part of the stable in order to do so. Anyone who could carry a pack or swag did so and the Mauls took it in turns to ride the horses. Suvau lay on the sledge, protesting in between dozing.


    Judd never felt more relieved when he looked behind and couldn’t see Fort Mavour anymore because of the thick tree line.


    “Not that I think anyone would have realised the deception Suvau pulled off.” He remarked to no one in particular but Giordi heard him and side stepped towards him as they continued across the prairie, heading steadily north.


    “Not much in the way of intuitive brilliance amongst the military types?” He asked, hiking his pack onto his shoulders.


    “Chael and Roust aren’t fools,” Judd insisted, “but how are they going to find out Suvau didn’t lead them into Maul?”


    “It’s not like they can send out a search party.” Giordi nodded.


    “And even if they did suspect they went into the wall, they would assume that they are still in there…because they wouldn’t suspect I would be on the outside, helping them escape.”


    Giordi raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you’re convincing yourself.”


    “I am.” Judd shuddered. “I still can’t believe we pulled it off.”


    “Perhaps it was not the most brilliant of escape plans,” Giordi admitted, “but the success of it lies in the arrogance of the might of Mavour. They would never assume that they could be fooled…”


    “Not to mention the man who made sure to leave some tracks heading into Maul.” Judd shuddered. “He’s dead by now.”


    “Perhaps he just didn’t want to live anymore.” Giordi grimaced. “Not the way I would choose to go. So…where to now?”


    “North to the winter camping grounds of the combined nomad clans.” Judd tapped his teeth together, clambering up a steep incline. “I’m hoping Chief Bear and Elk won’t mind a few extra guests and Yolana must be terribly worried about Suvau.” Giordi nodded, wincing slightly, coughing to cover it but Judd spotted his pretence. “Something wrong?”


    “No.”


    “Your back paining you?”


    Giordi gave a small shrug. “It’s nothing. I haven’t carried a pack since the whipping post and I swear one of the scars keeps rubbing.”


    “Let me.”


    “No, I can carry it.” Giordi refused. “We all carry our weight in this fellowship. Some of us are even carrying others.”


    Judd saw Giordi’s eyes alight on Aalis. “The baby?” Giordi nodded. “Did you know anything about it?”


    “Nope. No one did until we were in the foyer, waiting for Donimede to grace us with his presence and Verne and I noticed she was carrying something.”


    They continued to cross the prairie, rolling hills, rocky outcrops and light dustings of snow. Their progress was slow and Judd was tempted to harass them into a faster pace. He had to remind himself that they were out of sight of Fort Mavour and would be difficult to trace after using the stream to break the entry and exit points of their tracks. Had the party been made up of able bodied persons and they’d forced themselves to hurry, they could make the northern campsite by the following night but at the pace they were setting, Judd knew they would spend at least two nights in the exposed prairie.


    “I wonder where it came from.” Judd mused.


    “The baby?” Judd nodded. Giordi sighed dramatically. “I was wondering when we would have to have this conversation. You see, Judd…when a man and a woman…”


    “Knock it off.” Judd pushed him aside and chuckled. “That I know. I’m just wondering where that particular baby came from.”


    Giordi clucked his tongue. “Well…there is one scenario that seems plausible.”


    “Why don’t you tell me your theory and I’ll know whether or not my suspicions are ludicrous.” Judd muttered.


    “I’m imagining that a certain lady took a certain liking to a certain Maul in the Arena…and made him a certain offer he could not refuse.”


    Judd sighed. “Jocasa?”


    “She is the only one with enough power and influence in Mavour to be able to manipulate the Maul and bribe the slave master,” Giordi nodded, “and she gave birth just days before we arrived.”


    “So…the baby…the one Donimede calls his son…it isn’t his?”


    “That would be a question you would need to ask Aalis,” Giordi shrugged, “but substitution or ‘fudged’ adoption has been practiced in noble families before.”


    “So Donimede’s son, the one that he crowed over Willower with, isn’t even his own bloodline.” Judd pressed his fingers to his nose.


    “Look at it this way. The baby will be treated to an education and lifestyle that would have to be far beyond his natural existence and the nobility will get a fresh injection of blood into their line. Everyone wins.” Giordi mused. “The question I would be asking is, which of our Mauls is the father.”


    “That’s the question I already know the answer to.”


    “The tall, handsome one?”


    “I was going to say the one without very few scars.” Judd sighed. “The rest look like they’ve got scars over scars…”


    “There’s also the fact that the other Mauls aren’t overly friendly with him.”


    “If sleeping with Jocasa kept him out of the Arena, one of the others would have had to take his place.” They both looked up as Verne jogged over. “Don’t you ever get tired?”


    “Caste said there’s a nomad palisade we can reach before sundown but we’ll need to veer to the east,” Verne said, ignoring his question, “we could travel further on our northerly heading, but we’d end up camped in the middle of nowhere, very exposed.”


    “We’ll head for the nomad camping ground.” Judd nodded.


    “So…Caste is speaking to you?” Giordi asked pointedly.


    “Well yeah,” Verne shrugged, “I haven’t irritated him yet…but there’s plenty of daylight left.”