didn’t even let the other half know where their mates had gone.” “Which way?”
Nip shook his head. “I must have been watching the wrong places, that’s for certain, and I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry. I thought I was on to his little ways.”
“What ways?”
“Strike and grab.” Then he sat bolt upright, his face stricken.
“Ruatha! I should have gone there! Warned them.”
“Ruatha!” Robinton cried in the same moment.
“Get me a runner-beast, the fastest you’ve got,” Nip said.
“I’ll go with you.”
“No, Rob. I can hide in the shadows, but there’s too much of you …
“I’m going!” The Harper was changing into old clothes, dark ones, warm ones, and he tossed a spare fur vest towards Nip, who was shivering with the midnight chill now that he was no longer moving.
Robinton paused long enough in the kitchen to dump travel rations into a saddlepack and leave a brief note for Silvina, and then they were out of the door, startling the watchwher who whined at their appearance and followed them the length of his chain.
They roused the beastman and had him saddle Big Black for Robinton, and a fast Ruathan runner for Nip. They walked their mounts circumspectly so as not to rouse Hall and Hold, and then Nip pointed to the runner track which branched off from the main road. It was straight and fast rather than curved. Robinton would apologize to the Station Master and hoped they’d encounter no runners on their way. Once on the straight track, they put heels to their mounts. They ran at a pace that Robinton would have considered dangerous at any other time, but both Black and Nip’s mount were sure-footed and the track was a pale, thin ribbon they could follow through the night.
Riding and periodically walking their mounts to rest them, they made the Red River by early morning. Urging the tired animals, they kept them moving at whatever pace they could manage until they turned a bend in the road and saw Ruatha Hold ahead of them.
Despairing, Robinton surveyed the hideous dawn-lit scene.
Ropes still dangled from the fire heights of Ruatha Hold – ropes which had allowed Fax’s men to approach without arousing the watchwhere Where had the watchman been? Robinton wondered.
Or had he been bribed not to hear? Why had the watchwher not given an alarm? A row of bodies lay crumpled on the stone of the courtyard; long bloody lines showed that the dead had been dragged out of the Hold, down the steps, and to this resting place. Men were coming out of the Hold laden with clothing and the fine furniture which Lady Adessa had brought with her. He saw a knot of frightened people being driven from their cots into the beasthold, saw men riding off in other directions on runners which had been taken out of the beasthold. Ruatha runners! The animals which Fax had coveted … and now had possession of. Worse still, as Robinton’s eyes returned constantly to the bodies in the courtyard, he noticed smaller ones among the adults and thought of the bright, pert Lessa. She’d’ve been no more than – what? Nine, ten turns at the most. He reeled in the saddle with nausea and fatigue, and allowed Nip to urge him and Black further into the shadows of their shelter.
Distant shouts and a thundering sound made Robinton look back at the dreadful carnage. The fields were being emptied of their runners and these were being herded back to Fax’s beastholds. Groghe must be warned. So must Tarathel and Oterel. There was nothing Robinton and Nip could do here.
They got the best speed possible out of their exhausted mounts on their way to the nearest of Groghe’s border checks, where they roused the startled guards and told them to light the beacons to spread the alarm. Then they changed to fresh mounts and sped back towards Fort Hold. There, while Nip charged up the stairs to the Drum Towerut of the Hold, down the steps, and to this resting place. Men were coming out of the Hold laden with clothing and the fine furniture which Lady Adessa had brought with her. He saw a knot of frightened people being driven from their cots into the beasthold, saw men riding off in other directions on runners which had been taken out of the beasthold. Ruatha runners! The animals which Fax had coveted … and now had possession of. Worse still, as Robinton’s eyes returned constantly to the bodies in the courtyard, he noticed smaller ones among the adults and thought of the bright, pert Lessa. She’d’ve been no more than – what? Nine, ten turns at the most. He reeled in the saddle with nausea and fatigue, and allowed Nip to urge him and Black further into the shadows of their shelter.