Kenton sat on a log with his horse tied to the tree next to him. He had just observed the dragon swooping down on the road full of soldiers he had advanced beyond. He had noticed his quarry coming back his direction later than he would have liked because of the distraction he regretted allowing himself. Due to that, he had to ride hard so as not to be seen when they came back to the rise, which meant being hundreds of yards down the road. Now his horse needed rest and he needed to think. His log and tree were just enough off of the road to not be noticed easily but close enough he could hear them pass, and slip back in behind them.
A dragon appearing was related to this whole thing, he was sure. First the soldiers and the girl are headed in the same direction, both looking for Kestrin. He knew the soldiers were, but he was certain the girl was as well even though he had no real proof. He was now also certain that the Minister was sending the soldiers to get Kestrin because of the links to dragons, or at least the one. He knew he should not assume there were more, but also knew that he should not discount the possibility. That also meant Kestrin sent the dragon, he thought. This must be his escape plan. If Kestrin was leaving Mova, using a dragon as a distraction for time to escape, that meant that he had no reason to go to Mova. That left him free to follow the girl, which still might lead him to Kestrin.
Why had they turned around? Why go that far, just to turn around? Did the dragon''s appearance give them a warning to travel another way? This did not seem like it was a planned trip, but it felt like a planned event. The dragon had to be a warning off, and if that was the case, then they knew a second rendezvous point or else they would not have turned around so quickly. They would have stopped to plan --- unless there was a messenger. He wished he had not allowed himself to be distracted by the dragon, but the implications of a dragon appearing were weighty and he was distracted by those more than the dragon. This trip the girl was on seemed unplanned, so his instincts told him it must have been a messenger that he missed while not watching.
He could hear them going by, now. There was indeed another voice. He could not hear what she said, but he could tell it was a woman and she did not sound like the Minister’s daughter. He would get a better look tonight, being mindful of the old man’s instincts. Once they had passed far enough he could no longer hear them, he walked his horse back to the road and started trailing them again, keeping to the edge of the trees and following them when they turned down the valley path.
For the next two weeks Bayrn, Cerna, Renno, and Gia traveled down away from Mova and into the plains. It went from heavily wooded land to open rolling hills with a few trees here and there to very flat land. Nightly they practiced with their weapons and were fed stories of dragons and Keepers. Cerna joined Bayrn in the tutelage and also acted as a second sparring partner allowing them to both train at the same time. Bayrn stayed impressed with their learning and Cerna was also awed at how fast they picked up their skills. Gia was after two weeks as skilled as someone who had trained for a year, by Cerna’s reckoning. She could see how much Bayrn appreciated them, not just for the weapons skills they learned but he seemed to be taking on a fatherly role, or grandfatherly due to his age. She was not sure how they learned so fast, but saw that there was something special about them and understood Kestrin’s interest. It made her feel more comfortable being out here in the flat land with little cover because she knew that their follower would have to stay back further, so as not to be discovered. It was useless, since they already knew about him, but it still gave her that small sense of comfort.
She had observed him when he sneaked nearer to get a better look --- at her she assumed. She had slept in the wagon that night and made sure the fire was bright later than normal to dull his vision in the darkness. She knew that he could see exceptionally well in the dark when he wanted to, but she also knew that bright lights obscured that. He could not see her watching him and she could see the frustration on his face. They were still in the woods at that point, and she knew since he could maintain a closer tail, he would come back again until he saw her, so from that night on she did not hide herself away. She got her look, and that was what mattered. Frustrating him was just the sweetener in the tea. Let him see.
Maintaining a rather long distance from the wagon and its occupants, Kenton had let them get well beyond sight during the day and would follow along the same road during the day, catching up at night He was led to them by the beacon that was their nightly fire. He did not know who the woman that joined them was or what her affiliation was, but there was something about her that both unnerved him and also made him feel a kinship. It did not make sense, as he felt a kinship with no one. That made him feel an anger towards her, which did make sense. He knew he did not like that feeling because it was something he was not used to having, so his anger towards her was his knee-jerk emotional reaction. He knew he was not really angry with her, but with himself for feeling that way, but that knowledge did not stop how he felt towards her. It did not help he found her woefully attractive.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
He spent the two weeks from Mova to out here in the Flatlands alternating between working through those feelings and trying to suppress them. He came to the conclusion that it would be best to kill her first and away from the others. This distraction was not good for him and risked making him less effective. If she was dead, she could not distract him. He decided this after enjoying watching her spar with his quarry for three days in a row. Reaching the decision to kill her made those observations not a perversion of his mind, but instead tactical, as he knew better how she fought. Once they reached the forest he would stay near enough that he could get to her when she broke from the group to relieve herself.
He felt much better with himself once he had resolved his thoughts in the matter, but tonight, a week from the forest, another surprise reared its shiny, horse riding head. From two different directions the Ministry soldiers appeared. They were far off yet, but closing. Instead of being two or more days back, they were on a course to catch up to him tonight. Sure, they had no clue he was there and were headed to the same group he chased, but they would be upon the girl and her companions by tomorrow. They were too far apart for him to intercept both. He would have to take care of one group tonight and another after they caught the girl. He would not let them bring the Minister’s daughter back alive, and he still needed to figure the Kestrin puzzle out to fulfill his initial quest. He aimed for the closest group and headed their way. No sense wasting time.
He met up with them as dusk was nearing. This cluster’s leader was lieutenant Agasi. Kenton knew him, so it was easy to walk right in. He and Agasi talked about the Minister’s daughter. He confirmed for him that she was indeed with the group they followed, which relieved the leader. They had dry rations for dinner, so as not to alert their position too far, and about an hour after dark, nine soldiers and lieutenant Agasi all bedded down in tents, with one soldier on watch.
Kenton went and sat with the watch soldier and they talked about horses. The soldier really seemed to love horses and Kenton just wanted him to feel comfortable, so he made the conversation follow the man’s preference. After a while Kenton excused himself, saying he must get some rest and walked past the man, patting him on the shoulder. After the second pat, the dagger he had pulled out with his other hand went quickly and silently into the man’s throat. He used the hand he patted with to hold the man’s head against his body so the man was not able to flail or make noise. He gently sat him down and proceeded to go from tent to tent, extinguishing the life from each of the soldiers. In reverence to the soldier who was on watch he had killed first, he decided to un-hobble the horses and loose them to the wild. He took some of the extra dry rations, some of their water, and headed back in the direction of his prey.
Bayrn and Cerna had both also noticed the soldiers right around dusk. They still could not see Kenton, but the soldiers were much easier to see from afar than him because they were a large group. Close to a dozen in each group, they assumed. Together, they hatched a plan to put the soldiers further off of their trail, and maybe Kenton, but Cerna doubted that. Gia seemed to agree, though she did not say much to the matter.
They decided that tonight they would set camp, and they did so while dusk was settling to darkness. They even used the dead gnarly bushes and set a decent sized fire a good way off from the wagon and horses. After they ate a little bit of food, actually hot food tonight as it was cooked on the fire, they quickly loaded back up in the wagon and headed down the road. It was not easy to see, as there was only a sliver of moonlight but that would only help mask their leaving. They hoped their fire was bright enough to obscure anyone seeing them in the night. They trusted the horses to lead them down the trail more than they would have preferred but this gambit could get them a safe distance ahead of the soldiers, so it was worth that risk. Cerna took the first shift in the driver’s seat and let Bayrn get some rest, and a few hours later, they traded off. They rode the trail at a mild pace until the sun rose. They took a short break to reorient themselves and rest the horses, and then resumed at a quicker pace, then only a half a day’s ride from a small farming down in the plains called Skirf.
Once they reached Skirf, they planned to abandon the wagon and buy two more horses and all the equipment they would need to ride them and carry their belongings on them. They had been seen with a wagon, and so those following would be looking for them to be doing just that. Hopefully it would make them less obvious. Cerna also believed they should alter course from Skirf and take a different trail through the Arahk Woods so they would not only look like a different group, but also not be on the same road they were seen on. Bayrn agreed, and they managed a very short stay in Skirf, just long enough to get what they had planned, plus water and some hot sandwiches. Bayrn would have preferred something different, but Cerna seemed to really enjoy sandwiches and was the one to acquire the food.
They took the path that headed to Fahrand Lake, and as they left town they still could not see the soldiers nearing town and felt confident in their plan. They would be camping far off of the trail tonight with no fire. Luckily, after two more days, they would reach the trail that went towards the Arahk Woods, and as they neared, there would be more trees, though still spread apart it would give them more cover.