But for the humbler sorts, a return to the ancient order-the bad old days-would be a return to the status of dumb, enslaved beast of burden. So none of the noble Kindred could fathom any gain these common folk might hope to secure in turning on their present rulers.
CHAPTER XI
The village of Hohryos Morguhn-service and garden village of Morguhn Hall-lay not quite two Ehleen kaiee from the Hall. Beyond it, a few hours by horse and half a day by wagon, lay the city of Kehnooryos Deskati, squarely athwart the north-south Traderoad and consequently the main commercial center of the Duchy.
The village was deserted, as Bili had felt it would be. But the evacuation had been very recent, for the blacksmith’s forgefire still was very hot and a scytheblade, which had snapped while being straightened, was yet warm to the touch. All wagons and carts, all mules and oxen were missing, along with their owners, which meant that the villagers must have gone by road, and since the patrol had encountered not a single person on their ride down from the Hall, the people must have fled to Kehnooryos Deskati.
The young Thoheeks sent one of the troopers galloping back to the Hall to fetch the wagons and guards. It was a safe bet, considering the amount of loot they had appropriated along with the horses, that most of Pawl Raikuh’s men were old hands at pillaging and could go through the outbuildings and the village’s twenty-odd homes like the proverbial dose of salts.
By the roadside, just beyond the village, they found a savagely mutilated corpse. From its general build and masculature, they assumed it to be a man’s body. There was no remaining way to tell the sex, much less the identity of the hacked, charred, incomplete carcass. Bili could only hope that the poor creature had been dead before the dreadful mutilations had been done.
Leaving the grisly discovery where it lay, Bili led his five troopers in a wide crosscountry sweep to the south and west. At the crest of the first hill, they spied a mounted party laboring up its south slope-half a dozen appeared to be women and twice that number well-armed men. As the party neared Bill’s concealed position, he recognized the leader and trotted downslope to meet him.
“Thoheek’s son Bili, you are a welcome sight to clap eyes to!” Vaskos reined up knee-to-knee and gripped Bill’s hand with fierce geniality. The thick-thewed man had a few fresh cuts on his face, a bulky wad of bandage protruded from under his helm, and he rode somewhat stiffly, as if his armor might conceal other wounds, but he greeted Bili with a smile. “And how fares my father? Have you seen aught of him?”
The smile was infectious and Bili found himself sharing it. “Komees Hari is at Morguhn Hall, Vaskos, and he’s well enough, physically; but sight of you will do wonders for his spirit. Your loving uncle, Drehkos, swore that he’d had you murdered, you know.”
“Aye!” Vaskos’s grin faded and his dark eyes clouded with anger. “His dogs and those of Hehrah-the-bitch very nearly did slay me, would have, but for the warning of my half sisters, bless them. My poor Frahnkos gave his life that the four of us might get away. We arrived at Komees Djeen’s hall just after the Clan Bard had left. Lady Ahnah and her women bandaged our hurts and provided me with armor, then they took over the care of my sisters and I took command of the mercen … uh, Freefighters.”
After formally greeting the ladies of the party-Lady Ahnah, Komees Djeen’s vivacious wife, her daughter, and the three Daiviz girls-Bili detached one of his troopers to guide Vaskos on the quickest route to the Hall, com mandeering a brace of Vaskos’s Freefighters to fill out the patrol.
When he had seen the refugees on their way, Bill instructed the troopers in the location of their rendezvous point, then all set out in a wide-spreading crescent. They rode on and on through the deserted fields, meadows, and woodlands. At the beginning, the westering sun bore upon their right, then directly into their faces, finally bathing their left sides. Bili allowed the new horse his head in walking across a freshly plowed field, then warily traversed a narrow strip of woods. He mounted grassy knolls at the trot, galloped over the rolling leas, leaping lichened fences and the deep-cut brooks which chuckled amongst rounded stones.