The Wanderer

Chapter 8

            Aric stifled an enormous yawn as he stumbled out of the local inn and into the cool morning air.  The dawning sun had just begun to paint the sky in hues of pink, purple, and orange.  He would have found it beautiful if he had not been so tired.  After leaving the previous inn and changing into uniforms of the King’s Own, the men had gone to join Lex’s troops.  Of course, it had not been as simple as just finding a room to bed down until morning.  Conor had dragged his three most important men into yet another meeting.  They had discussed the search for the peasant girl until late in the night.

            When he was finally excused to bed, Aric had laid awake for several hours thinking about the next day.  The plan was to just barge into Miss Annie’s home, searching for the girl, but from what Aric had seen of Annie and her brother the day before, he highly doubted the two would believe anything bad about their friend unless there was evidence of some kind, and pretty convincing evidence at that.

            Walking around the inn, he made his way to the stables to join his fellow soldiers.  He thought back to the meeting the men had held the night before.  The official story that Conor had told all of the troops was that they were looking for the peasant girl because she had been seen stealing jewelry from the late Queen’s quarters, including the King’s signet ring that had been in the jewelry box.  Conor spun the tale artfully, taking in every soldier, save the three that had been with him that night.

According to the story, another maid had been cleaning the Queen’s sitting room and saw her sneak in dressed in servant’s garb.  Under the guise of dusting, she had been seen stealing several priceless jewels.  Seeing she was armed, the maid did not confront her, but left to call the guards.  By the time the guards had gotten there, the girl was already riding off.  She had been traced back to this village, but was being hidden by someone in the village.

Their task today was to find out where she was hiding and bring her back to the palace for justice.  Conor had confided with his three conspirators that they would start the search a street down from Miss Annie’s house, as it would be too suspicious if they were to find her in the first house they searched.  However, the soldiers would be too close for her to escape before they could capture her.

Reaching the stables, Aric entered to find his companions readying mounts.  His brow creased in confusion.  Why in the world were they riding out to find her, when it was not even a five minute walk from the inn to Miss Annie’s house?  He spotted Conor’s tall frame across the stables and picked his way across towards him.

“Aric.  Nice of you to join us,” Conor sneered when he drew close.

Aric brushed his surliness aside and inquired, “Why are the men mounting?  The woman lives a short walk from here.  Surely the men can make it on foot to her house.  Plus, it’s easier to search houses on foot.”

“It looks more official if we show up mounted.  It’s more intimidating when the entire army shows up in calvary, don’t you think?  She won’t know what hit her when we show up.  Just a matter of time, men, and we’ll be back on track with no problems.” He smirked maliciously for a few moments before sobering.  “Aric and Corwyn, your job will be to stay close to Miss Annie’s house and make sure she doesn’t escape while everyone else is searching the other houses.  Don’t get too close.  If anyone asks what you’re doing, tell them that you were ordered to keep anyone from leaving until the whole street had been searched.”

“Yes, sir,” they replied formally.

“Now go get your mounts ready,” he ordered.  “We leave in five minutes.”  With that he turned his back, dismissing them.

Refraining from rolling his eyes at his leader’s smug surliness, Aric made his way over to a nearby stall holding a beautiful ebony mare.  He reached out a hand, rubbing her forehead and down her nose. Her black coat shone brilliantly.