On the Black Wind to Baldairn Motte

Part 21.

The northlands were vastly different from the countryside surrounding Gaulang. In the south, there were golden fields of grain and white oaks and birch trees, but here in the north, everything was harsher. The trees were mostly evergreens, the few oaks present were prickly scrub oaks, and the overflowing stream—Gildan's Sprite, as it was called—was bordered on either side by blackberry brambles. They had left Black Zefferus behind, moored to the trees in the mouth of Gildan's Sprite, and now traveled by foot. Everild led the procession upstream, staying clear of the thorny vines, but never veering out of earshot of the stream's rushing waters. The rain continued its perpetual downpour, and they marched steadily northward, slogging through the mud and weeds up and down a series of ridges bordering the streambed.

Terryll walked in the middle of the group, between two men-at-arms and separated from his three surviving men—Palomo, Kipp, and Vinton—as well as from Lyrie and Lord Klaye, though his eyes were always on them. Lyrie slogged along as well as the rest of them, and while she sometimes stumbled or faltered, she never fell nor accepted Lord Klaye's hand when he offered it to help her over a ridge or slippery patch of rock. She kept her eyes bored squarely into his back and was determined that as long as he kept trudging on, so would she, even if she carried a pack half again her weight and he carried nothing but a dagger at his belt.

When they finally stopped on the first night, they made camp in a grove of trees on a hillock above the stream and Lord Klaye made Lyrie erect their tent by herself. She did so and immediately went inside and fell asleep without eating. Lord Klaye came in sometime later and roused her. She awoke at his prodding, but when she tried pushing him away, he grinned. "The Earl seems pretty intent on lopping your head off," he reminded her. "If you're not going to be a good girl I guess I'll have to go help him find his axe." She closed her eyes and said nothing; he stripped away her trousers and had his way with her, making sure to be noisy about it so everyone outside would hear what he was doing.

***

Terryll sat by the fire silently. None of the Earl's men acknowledged the noises coming from Lord Klaye's tent, and certainly none of Terryll's own crew said anything, but all knew what was going on. Terryll vowed to himself that he'd see both Lord Klaye and Everild dead before the journey ended, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.