Pluck't

Chapter II

"I hate traveling," Toma said as he watched a heavy spring rain pour down outside the carriage window.  The storm had rolled in three hours into their travel and had made the journey dismal since.  It was getting dark, and they were still a couple hours from stopping for the night.  The road had gotten bumpy, and Toma's backside hurt from the constant bouncing up and down.

"Are you sure you don't want me to massage the ache away, milord?" Andrei asked.

Toma shook his head.  "It's fine."  He could only guess why Andrei was so eager to get his hands on his rear end.  He imagined that would be the least favorite part of one's duties.  Andrei looked disappointed to be turned down.  He was so dedicated to his job.  It was endearing.

The carriage lurched to a halt.  Toma took another peek outside the window to see the rain had no intention of letting up.  It was getting on toward dark, and a lick of lightning flickered across the heavy clouds.  A few seconds later, thunder rolled.

Andrei called to the driver, "Why have we stopped?"  To Toma, he said, "The wheels might have gotten stuck in the mud."

"There's a log in the road," the driver called.  "You two stay inside the carriage."

Andrei swallowed, then said, "Milord draw the curtain."

Toma did so, and he glanced over at Andrei to find him pale.  "What's the matter?"

Andrei lowered his voice to a murmur, leaning in to be heard.  "It's possible the storm knocked a tree down over the road."

Toma nodded.  That was the most reasonable explanation.

Andrei added, "Or it could be that it was put there to stop carriages like ours."

Toma shook his head.  "I don't understand."  He kept his voice down as well, taking his cue from Andrei.

Andrei said, "Highwaymen, milord.  They'll want to rob us."

Toma's brow furrowed.  "So we give them our things and go on our way.  They're just things."

Andrei sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.  "Will that it'll go so smoothly."

There was a bang outside, and the driver cried out.  Then there was a thump.  Voices called from the forest, three of them.

"Get the horses!"

"What about the carriage?"

"Leave that to me."

The horses whinnied, and the carriage lurched.  There was another bang and the footman fell off his seat, hitting the ground with a thud.

"Are those colors green and gold?"

"Shit! This is a royal carriage!"

"Leave no witnesses, lads, or it'll be the gallows for us."

Andrei drew the curtains aside, peeked outside, then said, "All right, milord, we're only going to have one chance, so when I say run, you flee the carriage, you run into the woods, and you don't stop for anything!"

Lightning flickered again, and Andrei counted a few seconds, then opened the carriage door when thunder rolled, to cover the sound, and shoved Toma out.  Toma went tumbling to the ground, landing in the mud.

Over the thunder, Toma barely heard Andrei yell, "Run!"  Then the valet bailed out the other side and started yelling at the highwaymen, drawing them off.

Toma gathered himself to his feet and took off, into the woods.  There was another bang from behind him, and he kept running.  Twigs snapped against him, scratching his face and tangling in his hair.  He stumbled over the uneven ground until he found a game trail.  It was easier to follow, and he found he could move more swiftly.  When his strength started to give out, he turned and said, "Andrei?"  He had assumed Andrei would be behind him, but he discovered he was alone.

It was dark, and Toma was hungry, cold, and soaked to the bone.  He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself.  He found refuge under a tall fir.  Its boughs blocked most of the rain, and he huddled against its trunk.  His doublet was ruined, and sap from the wood didn't help.  He tried to sleep, curled up and shivering, as the storm raged on, but the flashes of lightning and roar of thunder jolted him out of his restless drifting every time.

It was the worst night of Toma's life, and when the storm broke with dawn's first light, he had never felt such relief.  He crept out from under the tree and made his way back to the animal trail.  He recognized the direction he'd come from because of a crooked branch he's run into face-first the night before.

He started back along the path, picking his way carefully around the brambles, ducking under branches.  His footprints had been washed away, but their broadness had left a widening of the trail that remained.  When he came to the end of the animal trail, he saw broken branches and trampled underbrush where he had stumbled blindly.

Toma took his time so he wouldn't get lost, which he did anyway, but he managed to make his way back to the road.  He wasn't sure in which direction the carriage was, so he stood there, looking this way and that.  A soft rain began to patter down.  The croaking of ravens caught his attention.  He saw them circling in the overcast sky, and he had a sinking feeling that led him toward the carrion birds.

The carriage had been turned on its side.  The trunks of Toma's belongings were gone, as were the horses.  He crept closer to find the driver and footman face down in the mud.  They lay still, even as the ravens landed on them and pecked at their hair.  Toma let out a cry and staggered back.  Then he ran to the side of the road and dry-heaved, with his stomach empty as it was.

Once he had control of himself, he turned and went around the other side of the carriage.  He hurried forward when he saw a familiar, pale hand.  "Andrei?"

Andrei lay in the mud where he had fallen, gazing up at the sky through unblinking eyes.  There was a hole in his forehead with a trickle of blood trailing down to his temple.  His skin was ashen.  Toma's hand flew to his mouth as he cried out again.  "Andrei!"  A raven landed on his valet and began to peck at his eyes.  "Stop it!" Toma cried, and he ran to Andrei's side, swishing away the bird with one arm.  It hopped a little ways away and croaked at him.

"I'm not going to leave you," Toma said to the dead valet, his voice choked.  The tears came hot and fast, rolling down his cold cheeks.  "I won't let these birds have you."  He plopped down in the mud in the rain, scratched and filthy, and he sat vigil beside the body of his servant and friend.  He couldn't think of what else to do.