Carack

Carack Ch5 revised and complete

Chapter 5    The Bear

As the four of them carefully moved along the hillside they could hear the sound of horse’s hooves on the lane, which ran along the ridge top. N’zar kept halting to make sure they were not in danger of being spotted, but there were no sounds of close pursuit. After a tiring hour of creeping along, halting to make sure they were undiscovered and creeping forward again, they heard the rumbling of the wheels of a solitary cart on the lane and the sound of voices. N’zar halted once more, as the cart drew level with their position they all crouched down amongst the undergrowth in silence.

‘Indeed I assure you my dear,’ a woman’s voice came across to them, ‘I swear it was arranged we should meet by the great oak on the seaward edge of the ridge, as I told you before. N’zar put this plan in place as an emergency fall back some three months ago, when I did first appraise you of it. He was to leave the town as though he were taking his mother and sister, or whomever, out for a visit somewhere, as if all were normal and we were to meet at the oak the next morning to go on together. It was not expected that he would leave during the night, but the meeting place and time would have remained the same, nothing had been changed.’

‘I relied upon your information woman, I would have sent my guards after them last night and caught them on the hillside, but for your knowledge of their plan.’ Came a voice they all recognised as Madron’s, N’zar glanced round at Gerent and gripped his arm tighter as if he expected him betray them. ‘But now, because we have obviously missed them, I have to send trackers and a vast number of guards to seek them out in this infernal forest.’ Madron concluded with bitterness in his voice.

‘My love all I have said is true, somehow, I fear, they must have heard your men approaching and hid. Scour the hillside I daresay you will find them,’ replied the woman, ‘they could not have got far, I alerted you as soon as Cam had left me, you saw them go down the steps.’

‘And wounded one in the process, but it was not your precious N’zar for all that I aimed the knife at him.’

The rumbling cart took the voices away beyond their hearing; N’zar’s face was one of rage, and without saying anything he let go of his grip on Gerent’s arm. Still listening intently for any noises of horses or men, he led them closer to the lane and crawling on his stomach, he peered through the foliage at the side of the road. He waved them forward and the four ran across the lane and started down the hill on the far side. Behind them, coming along the lane, they could hear the sound of riders and far off the barking of dogs. Cam and N’zar glanced at each other anxiously and then pushed forward with renewed vigour.

Now they were hurrying, stumbling downward. The trees thick around them and the ground covered with ferns and brambles. Then occasional clear patches as they came under pine trees. Gerent’s legs and arms became a crisscrossed with scratches and cuts, which he did not heed in the necessity for speed. The sun got higher in the sky, but they did not get much of the light due to the thick canopy of the trees. As they got further away from the lane and the top of the hill the sounds of pursuit died away.

N’zar brought them to a halt in a steep sided mossy gully, where cold sparkling water dripped down the rock face from the top of the bank. Gerent took a handful to drink then he  sat down with Wampa where they halted, who was breathing heavily. Gerent was glad of the rest. N’zar and Cam looked around to make sure it was safe and that they could not be seen, then they squatted next to Gerent and began to discuss the situation.

‘Tis Obvious we are unable to go in the direction we had planned, as she has betrayed us. Tis certain they will have that route under observation.’ said N’zar, with an element of rage in his voice.

‘You don’t know she did it on purpose, she might not have had a choice, you should know that.’

‘Thou heard her words!’ N’zar hissed, ‘“my love”’ she said, each woman maketh that choice for herself dost she not?’