The Lord of Misrule

Chapter 7

"De pilo pendet" - It hangs by a hair

She stared back at him in shock, before her temper flared suddenly. "What the hell do you mean 'Are they gone'? I almost soiled my pants!" She kept her voice in a harsh, barking whisper and her face contorted into an amusing mixture of rage and relief.

"Why? Don't you trust my judgment?" Mikael answered coolly, pulling himself out of the hollow. His clothes were smudged in several places with damp soil, and the tears on his sleeve and the hem of his tunic were quite conspicuous. He looked like he had been mugged.

"I...wha..." Ami stammered. Her neck stiffened suddenly. "Why in hell would I trust your judgment? I barely even know you! And how in Dante's Inferno could you take such a big risk?"

Mikael patted his tunic to try and rub off the smudges of dirt. "Pshaaw, it was damn near a sure thing – even if it wasn't, the risk wasn't material in any way."

"Like Hades it wasn't. This is the poorest excuse of a hiding place I've ever seen." She pointed to the hollow with her lips curled in contempt. "Ever."

"Ah, but you see, that was the point!"

"What in the name of Gehenna does that mean? You wanted to show them your incompetence?"

"It's psychological warfare!"

Ami took a threatening step forward. "Are you not making sense again? Because the Yama Kings help me..."

She was interrupted when Mikael put an index finger on his own lips. He grabbed her arm and guided her away from the cluster of oaks, heading back towards the main pathway that led into Totnes.

They made their way through the underbrush as quickly and as silently as possible. Ami threw nervous glances over her shoulder, as she tiptoed through the forest like it was an obstacle course. Every now and then she would see a flash of their blue livery peek out in between the trees to confirm that the mercenaries were doubling back on their tracks.

They stumbled out of the forest and climbed the small embankment, Mikael eyeing the foot traffic for any signs of Mawsby or his hired goons. He grasped Ami's hand and eased them onto the path to merge in with the rest of the travellers.

To the west, the sun was nearing the horizon, causing elongated shadows to twist and flicker upon the packed gravel. He knew the late afternoon would provoke a last surge of activity from merchants and farmers trying to get their goods into the city before the gates were closed to everything but foot traffic. While Mawsby looked like a fool, Mikael doubted that he would be daft enough to not have his men stationed at the main entrance.

"Do you have any money?" he asked, staring at the gates.

"Uhh, I have a few copper." Ami felt nervous and uneasy, knowing that the mercenaries could burst onto the path at any moment. Her fingers began twiddling with the hem of her tunic. Her skittishness didn't seem to faze Mikael in the slightest.

"What's a few?"

"Not enough to buy a horse, if that's what you're thinking." To Ami, the obvious thing to do was find some form of transportation and get as far away from here in the shortest time possible.

"No, that's not an option." Mikael said absent-mindedly, as they got in line behind a group of pilgrims. He had made sure that they were positioned right in the center of a small cluster of foot traffic, partially hidden by merchant carts that were forced to share the road and had slid in behind them.

"What do you mean? That's the only option! We can't just jounce right through the main gates like a couple of clowns, now can we?" Ami's whisper became coarse and she felt the unnerving panic of before grip her once more.

"We can't risk being out in the open. That's the first thing they will focus on. They'll be better equipped than us and they'll know the terrain far better than we do. Going out into the open countryside would leave us dead-to-rights."

Ami shot a glance at him, wide-eyed with fear. She had not really thought that far ahead. In the back of her mind, her views on the boy were changing. He might be prudish and rude, narcissistic and overbearing, infuriatingly stupid, and mildly retarded, but he was not completely daft.

"Then what are we going to do?" she said breathlessly.

"Well, I could just leave you with this strongbox and be on my merry way," he smirked, nodding at the box wedged in between his arm and torso. She looked downwards and sighed, studying the dirt path. She knew now that taking the box was a huge mistake – she had stumbled onto something that was far more important than a fine pearl necklace or a few gold coins.

"There's no use now, anyway. I have become an accessory to your crime," Mikael jibed further. "And by the way, why in the name of the Blessed Saint Trigenta do you know so many different terms for the word 'hell'?" He threw an incredulous sneer her way. "It's a bit unnerving, coming from a fine lady as yourself, if you ask me."

The sudden non-sequitor startled her out of her self-pity and she scowled viciously at him.

"Ahh, there's grumpy. I was wondering where Ami had disappeared to."

"It's Amaterasu to you, you churl!"