Remnant of Power

Chapter Thirty-four

Timod

Timod scanned the horizon for soldiers. They'd seen none so far. Brushing his hair back from his sweaty forehead, he breathed deeply. He was a free man; he could scarcely believe it. Timod had been certain he was going to spend the rest of his life a prisoner. He only hoped his family were still alive. Folding his tatty sleeves back to let his arms cool down, he turned to the few men around him.

"We ought to walk while it's still dark, lads, but it'll be difficult to spot anything to eat - let's get a good distance away from the city and find somewhere that looks safe to sleep" said Timod, "once we're rested we can go faster."

"The only thing that'll make me go faster is a bloody good dinner, after all I've suffered," blustered Stufan. "I'm starving."

"Well I say, we'll get a bit further away from the rest of 'em," said Timod, nodding at the other prisoners walking off, "and keep a look out for anything we can eat, and then sleep till it's light." The five of them - Timod, Reban, Stufan, Halfred and Garth, set off at a swift pace.

The land was silent and still, apart from their marching, and the occasional rustling of small wild creatures. After about an hour, they burrowed into a thicket of junipers and slept.

Timod woke up at dusk a few hours later, groaning at the emptiness of his stomach, but then he remembered he wasn't a prisoner any more.

"Wake up lads, you're free men. Come on, let's look for food. Don't start moaning Stufan, we're all starving. Come on, get up." The rest of them got up stiffly.

"Free men, yes, that's right. We're free men wanted for disobeying the King and murdering his guards. Nothing too serious then," grumbled Stufan struggling to his feet.

"Timod, over here!" Halfred called, kneeling next to a bush. "I've found wild peanut plants. We could march for days on these," he said, pointing. The men grabbed handfuls of the plants, gorging themselves on them, and then stuffing as many as they could carry into their clothing.

"Well Stufan, have you decided what you'll do when you get back to Hilltown?" asked Timod, cautiously, as they walked on.

"What, you mean if soldiers or trolls don't get me first? Well I don't want nothing to do with this fighting malarkey. All's I want is to be able to feed my family, sleep soundly in bed at night with the wife and have me own flagon of ale on a Saturday. They aren't bothered about me; why should I be bothered about them?" He shook his head and stuffed more peanuts in his mouth, along with a bite of raw potato he'd found near the peanuts.

"Ahh, things have changed a lot in the last couple of years, make no mistake," grunted Halfred, "everything was a lot simpler before them soldiers started coming around chopping stuff down and beating everyone up. I don't know any folk who are happy about it. Osbert the innkeeper, from my town, Mirnbank, he's made a right bob or two out of them, but he's about the only one. And I know he doesn't like how they behave themselves when they've had their fill of ale. One of them went after his daughter, wouldn't let her rest. Osbert had to send her away to Fordworthy to stay with his sister."

They crossed the open land quickly and quietly, stopping one at a time at a stream to drink. There were no soldiers to be seen, the air was still warm and the moon was shining. Now his belly was full, Timod almost burst into song a few times. He was a free man! But he'd better keep on his guard if he wanted to stay that way.

They marched on through the night across the hilly central region of Arvad, then slept again, ate more peanuts and slept again. Many leagues later, as they trudged wearily though cluster of pine trees Timod heard the first twitterings of blackbirds announcing the dawn of their second day marching.

By the dawn of the third day, they were beyond famished. Timod was starting to daydream about the gruel they'd been given in the compound. He hardly had the energy to put one foot in front of the other.

After a day of eating mushrooms and leaves, a farm on the edge of Winterbridge came into sight. Timod felt his heart beat speed up, as he saw his family in his mind's eye. He desperately hoped they were safe. Stopping for a while in a small copse of ash trees, he bid farewell to the other men.

Garth, Reban and Halfred reaffirmed their commitment to fighting, and agreed to meet early on Thursday morning, at the crossroads outside Mirnford.

Stufan still refused to join the army. "Don't expect me to agree to it. I told you what I think. There's no way I'm doin' any more fighting. And there's no way you'll win against the King. As soon as he finds out about it, you'll all be killed, straightaway. I'll say good day to you." He stumbled away, behind Reban and Halfred, a handful of leaves poking out of his mouth.

Peering through the branches of a large elm tree, Timod squinted at his town. It hadn't been knocked down and dug up yet, then. That was some relief. He watched a few people pass in and out of the gates. Suddenly he saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, in front of the town walls, in the long grass next to the road. He stared, studying the ground in front of the town. Another movement caught his eye.

"You swines," he whispered, under his breath.

There were soldiers hidden in the grass.