Reckoning by David Adams

Author:David Adams [Adams, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-08-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13: To the Vale

They had only stayed on the road for a short time after they had left Yosh’s camp. They figured it would be watched, and that anyone they might encounter moving in so public a fashion was as likely to be a servant of the enemy as anything else. The weather had turned warmer—not quite spring-like but not all that uncomfortable—and the further south they went the less the snow on the ground hindered them. They thought winter probably had a punch or two left, and late storms can be heavy with snow, but they grew more hopeful by the day that they might have seen the last of the truly difficult weather.

Given that they weren’t going to use the Coast Road, the best guide to Old Bern would be the Vale River, which originated in the Dragon’s Teeth just west of New Bern. Only briefly did they consider returning to Barlow’s former home, from whence Barlow had departed as a sort of hero for fending off the Dezku. It was still possible they’d be welcomed there as friends, but even if they were they would be exposing the town to attack or retribution. While the wilder accusations of some of Yosh’s men had been far off base, the idea that the travelers had brought disaster to the camp was not. They didn’t want to repeat that again, and so they took a more southerly course, planning to strike the river well below New Bern.

The country nearer the road was, in better times, fertile, and much of it had been farmed, making their passage for a time an easy one. While the land beyond these farms was still untamed, the low brush and sparse trees did little to hinder them, and for that they were grateful, particularly given that no paths were to be found here. The only other drawback was that there was little in the way of cover, but that worked both ways. An ambush was far less likely.

On their fourth day since leaving the road behind, just as twilight fell, Xanar thought he saw something ahead, a deeper shadow behind a line of short bushes. He called the others’ attention to the area, even as he urged them to keep moving. They passed some forty yards west of the bushes without further incident, and Xanar noted, “Might have been nothing. Just a trick of the fading light.”

“Possibly,” Silas admitted, “or even just a stray animal. But we’ve been watched before, and the enemy will do so again if he can.”

“And I trust your eyes more than you’ll admit that you do,” Uesra added. “Something was there. If it comes back, we need to be ready.”

The sky on this falling night was clear, but the moon, only a few days from being new, did little to light their way. They stumbled on for a time, wanting to put some distance between themselves and whatever Xanar had seen before stopping for the night. After a few

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