Crunch, crunch. Melcart trampled dead leaves. "See what I've found hidden underfoot." He added a wild strawberry to his food pile. The season had passed now but the plants still offered the occasional seedy fruit. The pile was mostly nuts; ripe acorns lay buried in the clumps of grass and dead leaves at the base of the oak. Lon looked away from the muddy breakfast because he didn't find it very appetizing. His head-ached and there was still blood in his mouth.
Rather than rise to face the day, the white-haired lad collapsed and fell back to sleep; his body was badly bruised and needed more time to heal. Mel stood close and probably wished there was more he could do to help.
Lon glimpsed the walled settlement at dawn. He saw the vegetable fields out front of Atarskal in a half-slept dream and he imagined himself afloat over these verdant fields. He looked up and over the walls at Atarskal. It was strong fortress aglow in the sunrise. White smoke trails issued from the smiths' chimneys and caught the morning light. Up top, the watch tower gleamed; he saw a golden symbol on the peaked roof. It was a bor sign on top of the air element. Of course!
A slow drum beat of a single horses' hooves called him away from the discovery. The lad's eye drifted back across the fields again. His mind floated over the mist-covered cucumbers, and beans and ripening tomatoes and snow peas.
A female rider with long black hair rode a dark horse through the misty crops. Was she real? Or had he just imagined her? There she was again ; he could hear the horses' hooves, a heartbeat on the hard ground. He could see her now. The sunlight struck her face. It was Valari, and she looked profoundly sad.
Val was dressed in dark clothes and rode a black steed and cast long shadows across the land. She rode as though part of the animal, like she controlled its mind and they were one creature. The horse jumped the stone fences between the vegetable gardens and finally into the pasture field.
Barrrrrooooonnnnng. The ram's horn atop the lookout tower in the settlement issued a vibrant wheeze. The horn's report was loud and echoed in the mountains.
"I suppose everyone looks for us?" Melcart asked and his words cut through the fog and woke Lon from his hazy dream.
The sea drover opened his eyes and to his surprise he found the black horse he'd just imagined no stood right in front of him. It sniffed his face. He moaned and rolled away.
"No," Valari said. She dismounted and took the horse's bridle to keep it from nibbling Lon, "they're looking for the dairy herd."
Lon gulped. Was he somehow responsible for the cows going missing? He shot a glance at Melcart who shrugged to indicate he didn't know anything.
"How did you know we're here?" Lon asked. He wondered if they'd been spotted by the fieldworkers. Were the elders already discussing it? His whole plan required coming and going from this pasture completely unobserved.
"I didn't. What are you two doing here?" Valari examined Lon's bruised face and broken lip. "Have you been fighting again?'
"No."
"No. Of course not." Melcart said.
"So, then..." Valari tried to piece it all together.
"What are you doing here Val?" Lon asked,
Melcart walked closer and tried to put a hand on her saddlebags. "Is this everything you own?"
"Back off." She stopped him.
"Are you leaving Val?" Lon asked.
Valari didn't say anything but all eyes drifted toward her full saddlebags.
"She can't leave." Mel said. "She took a vow."
"I was just having a ride," the brunette said, "the gate was open."
"Don't go Val. We need you." Lon said, and Melcart nodded it was true.
Valari blushed at that and seemed lost for words. She looked about the field. "Have you seen the cows?"
The guards atop the lookout tower in the distance blew the ram's horn again.
Both young feigor looked around as if to spot the herd. There were no cows or goats anywhere in the field. Lon stood-up awkwardly and reached over his head to grab a tree limb. He felt all his many bruises when he hoisted himself up a few feet higher in the air. The height was necessary to see over the opposite fenceline and study the approach to Atarskal. There in the distance, he saw dogs. Packs of howling huskies pulled wheeled carts filled with the Calbian Defense Corp and they were headed his way. Oh great.
These were the wagons he'd seen three days ago. Lon had just assumed they'd used horses to draw them, but here were a dozen sled dogs from their kennels. They'd been given haircuts but still looked fierce as wolves which was likely part of their makeup.
"We don't want to be here when they show up," Mel said.
Too late. A new howling happened above. It was much closer and negated any escape. Lon turned, looked, and saw five husky dogs coming down the hill behind them.
"Valari!" Saeya called out from behind the pack. She stood upright in a green chariot that bumped along behind the canine avalanche. She called out to Valari whose horse she recognized before she saw Lon and Melcart under the tree boughs.
Saeya drove a five-dog team. Her pack animals had white faces and legs and bushy white tails. The creatures didn't bark so much as howl and they were not angry or afraid, they were just excited to be out and meeting new people. These were healthy huskies who'd had some fur trimmed but still remained shaggy, even in summer. The young lad wasn't sure how they were harnessed, but he knew it was the lead dog out front that brought them forward together. This was the animal to which Saeya had fixed her reins and which she now pull-on and tried to stop. A handbrake on the left front-wheel also helped slow the wagon beside the mighty oak. Valari held the bridle and calmed her horse as the huskies howled.
Saeya's winter sleigh turned summer dogcart was magnificent; the bentwood frame had wicker sidewalls covered in copper sheet pounded thin and each plate had a unique green patina. The sled was made for winter but looked terrific mounted on wheels on a hot summer morning. Indeed, it was the wheels that really caught Lon's eyes. He was happily beguiled at how each disc looked like twelve hammers bound together inside an iron hoop. The cart was a 'dumb wagon' however with no steerage. Its hefty wooden axles were braced to the frame in such a way that made him believe the whole arrangement could be easily swapped-out for skies come winter and the first heavy snowfall.
Lon was so captivated by her sudden appearance that he almost didn't notice Saeya had a passenger. He gasped. Jarl of Lambspetal sat beside the blond on the drivers' bench. Am I still dreaming? Why is he here? The big cat looked years younger and was now dressed in full leather armour emblazoned with the Calbian emblem; the golden triangle with the ram's head gleamed on his buckler and breastplate.
Jarl stepped down right away and came around front to see if Lon was okay. The lad could see his fellow fugitive was now well armed with a proper steel sword at his side.
"What are you doing here?" Lon asked Jarl.
"Guardn' miss Saeya."
"Huh?" Lon remembered how Captain Owen had said the foreigners would not be allowed on the walls or near the gate. He must have softened as the guard-captain from Lambspetal now appeared well armed in the Calbian style and had a position of respect protecting one of the camp's principle administrators.
"What's he doing here?' Melcart asked the blond huntress.
"I chose to bring Jarl as my hand," Saeya said.
Jarl growled at Melcart but said nothing comprehensible. Perhaps he still held a grudge for being put to sleep in the sunflower patch. Yes, Lon decided, he definitely still held a grudge.
"Where's Tharus?" Lon asked Saeya but he looked at the lionsfeigor.
"I chose the lion," Saeya said, "now it's your tun to answer my questions."
"Like?"
"Like where are the cows?"
"No idea," Lon looked at Melcart and he also shrugged.
Sergeant Orchee arrived on the roadway below. He led a kennel's worth of barking dogs which hauled four carriages. The buses rolled to a halt on the port road and disgorged tall-booted soldiers who swarmed forth and furiously tore apart the split rail fence. One by one the dog teams pulled the wagons into the empty pasture.
Orchee, his red face barely visible under an ostentatious gold helmet, led his dog-powered dispatch overland. The sergeant's magnificent gold inlaid leather armor reflected the morning sunlight and left no doubt he commanded of the oncoming force. These carts were personnel -carriers. These were large wagons which were pulled by long teams of rambunctious dogs who howled like banshees.
"The herdsfeigor came here at dawn and the field was empty." Saeya said.
"I've been here all night. I saw nothing." Melcart pointed. "I slept right there with my back against the tree."
"Why?" Saeya turned to study Lon. She appraised his bruised and bloodstained face and clothes and bit her bottom lip in trepidation. Lon wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind.
"I do not want Zed torturing me for this." Melcart said
"Oh no," Lon groaned. "Me neither."
Orchee issued shrill whistles as his dogs howled across the field below. Lon hoped he would not try to interrogate him here in front of everyone. Valari held her horse and Melcart munched on a handful of nuts and berries in his hand.
Lon never got a chance to say anything, which was fortunate, because he had no good explanation . This whole adventure had gone horribly awry and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, it kept getting worse. More and more feigor kept arriving at the scene of his greatest failure.
Orchee bowed politely and then spoke rapid Calbian to the young masters. Saeya translated the sergeant's orders with the same urgency she heard in his voice. "We are to leave here immediately and make a full report to Captain Owen. Come on."
Captain Owen! Lon groaned. This was the worst possible outcome.
"What happened to you?" Jarl asked him directly. Saeya listened for his reply, which never came.
Melcart attempted to board the buggy but the blond blocked him with her arm and pointed him over to Valari on her horse.
Mel groaned, okay. Valari say him coming. She didn't look happy about carrying a passenger either but then she nodded and helped him up.
Lon knew Saeya rejected Mel only to save her cart. The buggy wasn't made for so much weight. Jarl handed her the reins and she took her perch and whisked the straps. The dogs lurched forward and pulled the carriage across the bumpy pastureland. The cart continued down into the vale and the dogs soon found a cow trail upon which they sailed faster up the opposite slope toward the gate to Atarskal.
Valari rode her horse beside the wagon and Mel shared her saddle and clung to her back. Her long black hair covered his face no matter how many times he tried to brush it away.
Once Saeya's dog cart crested the hilltop, the drama below became hidden from view. Lon sat up in the wagon bed and looked east as was his custom each morning. He breathed a bit easier when he saw there was still no black smoke on the skyline. He wondered what he could say to Coronal Obreon or worse yet Captain Owen. How could he explain why he'd disobeyed their orders to remain inside the settlement? And what story could he supply to explain why he spent the night in the western pasture? Should he tell them the truth and reveal exactly why he'd sneaked away and what he'd set out to do? And what he'd managed to do? And how it was that he'd sustained these ugly injuries? Probably not the best idea. But he'd have to come up with some other explanation quick.
While the young lad wrestled with these thoughts, Saeya reigned the dogs before the fence about fifty feet back from the narrow gate. She'd also pondered something, and wanted to talk. The blond girl handed the reigns to Jarl and stepped down. She waved Val and Mel onward toward the gate so she could speak to Lon alone.
There was a gentle calm in the air. The dogs no longer howled and even Orchee's fast attack force, no longer in view, was muffled and now sounded far away in the distance.
"Can you walk?" Saeya asked.
Lon nodded and stepped out of the buggy .
"Do you want to tell me what you're doing out here?" Saeya asked
The white-haired lad just looked at her. Here it was. He could just say he tried to learn something new, but that would reveal that he intended to use the Calbian dairy cows as test subjects and he was pretty sure that wouldn't go over real well with the blond administrator.
"Saeya we don't have a lot of time before the Crols come..." Lon began.
"Yesterday," Saeya said, "Zed tortured you just to show he could, but in the mix, he said something ..."
"The prayer chant for Alocer?" Lon asked. "It's how their clergy charge the smilkstone for Horne to use..."
"No, not that. " Saeya waved her hand to show its insignificance. "When Zed said you were on a clean path, and you could not be blamed for anything you did?
"Yes. I do recall he said that."
"That struck me as being so odd. Imagine being blameless? Like a big baby."
"I am?"
"Zed says."
"...Can't be the right interpretation."
"I think it is." Saeya said, "He's been alive for a real long time and he's seen the pattern repeat itself over and over again. The Bombora. Do you understand? When someone shows up wearing a Toll and doesn't have a clue what he carries... That rarely happens. And when he has a special friend with hot hands. That's ... Not a coincidence."
"Clyde of Barobell. You've seen him?"
"Lon. Did you swim in the south pond, the bottom of Atarskal?
"No"
"You must."
"I will sure." He heard her sobs. "Are you crying?"
"Atar spoke to me... Like it was the last time," Saeya said.
"What? Why?"
The blond just shrugged. "He told me that everything depends on you."
"On me?" Lon asked. The full weight of his impending destiny loomed, "so the Crols are coming. He's gotten word."
"Atar says these are his last days.." Saeya cried. "He says his time is nigh."
Lon pondered that as he watched the others. He saw Melcart slide off the back of Valari's horse and he watched how skillfully the brunette girl managed the animal.
"I'm scared Lon."
The rogue kicked a dry cow patty across the greensward. He meandered toward the hook-n-eye latch on the hinged gate. Jarl minded the five canines who idled as everyone waited for Saeya and Lon to complete their quiet talk.
The blond girl wept, and her loud sobs were the only sound in the empty pasture.
Lon reached out and was about to say something brave, but the tender words he composed were immediately forgotten. A smilkpulse rippled through his body.
The sudden jolt was unheard and unseen, but it and caused all four young masters to suddenly turn and stare at the wheat field beyond the fence line.