David Gemmell – Rigante 4 – Stormrider

‘Where did she go?’

‘Lived with Eain for a while. Left him last year. Living with a crofter now, east of Black Mountain.’

‘She was a sour woman,’ said Eain. ‘Not a good word to say about anyone or anything. Days were either too hot or too cold, too windy or too damp. I told her once she was the most complaining woman I’d ever met. Whacked a cook pot into my face, she did. Knocked out a tooth. Damn, but that hurt.’

‘She must have loved you, Eain,’ said Draig. ‘Any other man had said that she’d have cut his throat in his sleep.’

‘I do miss her,’ admitted Eain.

Chara eased herself towards the fire, and Draig moved back to give her room, Feargol brought two more bowlfuls of snow before Eain told him it was enough. Jaim sat beside Draig, leaning in against him. ‘You are good with children,’ said Chara.

‘Don’t know why,’ he said, with a grin. ‘Can’t stand ’em. All that noise and mayhem.’

‘He’s good with dogs too,’ said Eain, stirring dried oats into the cook pot.

Draig called out to Feargol. ‘Can you see the men chasing us now?’ he asked. Feargol closed his eyes for a moment. Then his face crumpled and he sobbed. Chara scrambled across to him, taking him in her arms. Little Jaim began to cry too. Draig patted his shoulder. Eain sat nonplussed, idly stirring the porridge.

‘What’s wrong, Feargol?’ asked Chara, stroking her fingers through the boy’s red hair.

He looked up at her, tears falling from his eyes. ‘They killed Senlic and Patch,’ he said.

Draig felt a cold touch of dread and glanced at Eain. ‘Shouldn’t have got involved,’ mouthed his brother, silently. ‘Let’s go home.’

Draig shook his head. ‘Too late,’ he mouthed back. Feargol was crying again. Chara kissed the top of his head and held him close. Jaim moved alongside her, his chubby arms reaching up. Chara drew him into the embrace and Draig sat silently watching them. It seemed to him that Kaelin Ring was a lucky man. This was a woman to walk the mountains with.

‘Feargol,’ he said softly. The boy looked up. ‘We need to know where they are now.’

‘They are coming,’ said Feargol. ‘Senlic shot one of the riders. He’s hurt. They rode their horses after us, but then found the deep snow. The hurt man has taken the horses away, and the others are walking now. They are following our tracks.’

‘Are you good with a musket?’ Chara asked Draig.

‘No. Neither is Eain, though he thinks he is.’

‘What about pistols?’

‘No. No good with them either.’

Chara sighed. ‘This would be a good time to tell me something you are good at.’

‘I don’t quit,’ he said. Tostig won’t get you while I live. And I’m not the kind of man who dies easy.’

‘Then let’s you and I go out there and give them something to think about,’ said Chara.

‘What about me?’ asked Eain.

Chara moved to the far wall and swung on her sheepskin-lined long coat. Then she took up her musket. ‘You look after the children. Feed them and sit with them until we get back. And you should stir that porridge. It’ll burn else.’

‘Black bits in his porridge every time,’ said Draig. ‘And the horse you rode in on,’ said Eain.

There were a number of surprises for Draig Cochland as he followed Chara Ring through the snow. The first was that despite his lack of rest he was no longer weary. The second was that the cold was not affecting him. The fur of his bearskin coat was bristling with ice. Crystals had also formed on his moustache and beard, where his hot breath had instantly frozen. Draig’s heart was pounding wildly, and, at first, he could not identify what he was feeling. When he did it was the most surprising thing of all.

He was terrified.

Draig was not unused to fear. Any man who risked his life stealing other men’s cattle or belongings understood what fear was. A chance shot could bring him down. Soldiers could surprise him. His life would likely be snuffed out on the end of a rope. These fears were common, and easily dealt with. Not so this unreasoning terror.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217

Leave a Reply 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *