The Crooked Ladder: Heirs of Regula 2 by C. R. Bracher

Author:C. R. Bracher [Bracher, C. R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

Tears

Tears ran down Eldred’s face, dripping onto the wagon bench where he rested his elbows. Ceolwin and Orm were both down off the wagon. Ceolwin was bossing Orm about as Orm worked to untie the rope, the rope which ran up over the tree branch to where Dreven’s corpse hung, choked about the neck and swaying in the breeze. Mouse lay in the grass, a bloody wound coating the side of the horse with red gore. Eldred’s face shook with rage—the lucky throw of that Motherless bastard, Wulsin. Eldred clenched his fists. Luck could go both ways.

“Why would they do this?” asked Orm. “He was just a boy from Mamble. Those were bonded warriors. They should leave simple folk like us alone.”

Eldred furiously wiped away his tears with the palm of his hand. “He wasn’t. He was a warrior. He chased them from the field.”

The men glanced at Eldred for a moment before returning to work on the knot.

“Just cut it! Just cut the damned rope. We have to get him down!” yelled Eldred.

“We’ll get him down,” said Ceolwin calmly.

A moment later, they did resort to Orm’s knife. Orm gripped the rope and walked up the base of the tree as Dreven’s corpse slid down into Ceolwin’s arms. Ceolwin lowered Dreven to the ground and used his blade to free the noose from around Dreven’s bruised neck.

“We have to go back! He must be buried in Mamble with his family,” said Eldred.

Ceolwin brushed Dreven’s hair from his face. “We will. I will, but we need to get you away from here first.”

Eldred gave a hard laugh. “There’ll be nobody waiting for us at Hobart Gap. The plan’s done.”

Ceolwin squinted up at Eldred. “We will do what Dreven meant to do. We’ll take the southern road past Boar’s Tusk to Lutetia.”

“We won’t make it,” sputtered Eldred. “There’ll be a hundred warriors crawling on that road. When the noise returns, it will just take one to kill us all.”

Ceolwin gestured back along the way they had come. “We made it past them. They were just a few feet away from you without issue. Maybe your noise—or whatever it is—has been cured.”

“He has to be buried within seven days by the Mother decree,” said Eldred.

Ceolwin nodded. “Two, perhaps three, days to Lutetia. Then a faster ride back with an empty wagon. I’ll get him there in time.”

Eldred wiped his eyes. “You just want your gold.”

Ceolwin sighed. “Gold has its value. So does my word. If the new king, your cousin, has his men out looking for you, then we had best be quick about our business. He need only order the roads blocked and we would be undone.”

Eldred glanced at Dreven’s body. “Then where—”

“We’ll make room,” said Orm.

Eldred stayed where he was, elbows on the driver’s bench with his legs hanging down into the hiding space, while Ceolwin and Orm unloaded a barrel off the back of the wagon. Dreven’s face was pale, bloodless, but it still showed the sense of him. His

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