As they rode further toward the village center, they didn’t at first notice the lack of people out and about. But when the homes became more numerous, the absence was unmistakable.
“Where are the children?” asked Paul. The last time they had come this way, the sound of children at play could be heard everywhere. But now, only the occasional call of a bird broke the stillness.
“And their parents too,” added Kern. Things around here were a bit too quiet.
Then from up ahead they saw a woman coming toward them carrying a basket. When she took notice of them heading her way, she stopped. Then lifting the hem of her dress, she turned and fled toward the nearest house.
Raestin sat there on his horse stupefied by her reaction. You would have thought Raestin and his guards were the devils themselves by the way she reacted. Running without a sound, she reached the door, began knocking vigorously. When it opened, she darted inside and the door slammed shut behind her.
“Odd,” commented Sterret.
“Yes,” agreed Cailin, “you could say that.”
Continuing their way toward the heart of Quillim, Raestin began to grow worried. Quillim was nothing like it had been on his last trip. Many people had been about then, and most had either offered a wave, or some sort of salutation. This quietness began to have an ominous feel.
Leaving behind the house in which the woman had fled, they continued on.
Soon, the large arms of the windmill appeared through the tops of the trees as it slowly turned in the breeze. But in the quiet stillness through which they traveled, it only intensified their feelings of foreboding.
“Did someone die?” asked Terrance. He was an older guard with almost thirty years experience, the last ten having been with Raestin. Terrance was like the grandfather of the group, easily ten years everyone’s senior, including Raestin. Despite his age, he was still able to hold his own in a fight.
Riding on either side of him were the last two of their group, Koryn and Warry. Koryn was a sandy haired man of middling years who had been with Raestin for the last three summers. Warry on the other hand was dark haired, a bit taller than Koryn, and had but two years with the trader. He and Koryn were close to the same age, and during the time they had served together, grew to be fast friends.
Raestin was about to answer Terrance when shouting came from further ahead. “No!” a man yelled with anger in his voice. “Now, get out of here!” Nudging his horse into a faster pace, the trader hurried ahead.
Five men of an unsavory aspect were sanding before the door of the mill. One took notice of Raestin and his guards. Shortly, all five had taken note of their arrival.
“What should we do?” asked Paul.
“Nothing,” replied Raestin. “Let’s find Kaitlyn and see what’s going on.”
The five men continued to glare at Raestin’s group as they moved along the road. Then all of a sudden, the five men departed the front of the mill and headed around the back, disappearing in the trees.
“Ever see them before?” Raestin asked.
Behind him came several negative responses. Paul shook his head and said, “No.” Keeping a quick pace, Raestin and his guards hurried toward the village center through which they would pass on their way to the Borenson home.
As they passed home after home, they were greeted with silence and solitude. Occasionally, the occupants would peer out at their passing without any attempt at salutation. The whole situation had Raestin growing more and more worried.
Raucous laughter was suddenly heard coming from up ahead. It wasn’t long before they saw four men, derelicts by the look of them, standing together outside The Sterling Sheep. A woman emerged from the inn, a short distance from them. Upon seeing the four men, she immediately turned in the opposite direction and hurried away.
One saw her departing. Breaking off from his fellows, he hurried after her. “Now, where are you going in such a hurry?” he asked.
The woman didn’t even so much as turn her head to look at him, only quickened her pace.
His three buddies followed after and they soon had her surrounded.
“Leave me alone!” she cried as she was forced to come to a stop. Her plea only made them laugh all the harder.
Paul glanced to Raestin who nodded. To the other guards, he said, “Come on boys.” Kicking his horse in the ribs, he bolted toward the poor woman.
“Give us a kiss,” one man was saying as he grabbed her by the arm. He was about to pull her closer when he heard the approach of Paul and the other five guards. Releasing the woman, he and his three friends gauged their odds. Outnumbered by men on horseback, they backed off.
Crying badly, the woman raced away as well.
“Madam!” cried Paul. But she paid him no heed and raced away as fast as she could go. Anger filled him. Little in this world set him off like when he saw the helpless being victimized. Turning his gaze to where the men who had accosted her, he saw that they had been joined by the five who had been in front of the mill. The nine of them stood in a group, staring at Paul and his men.
“What is going on here?” questioned Paul.
“Not at all like it was the last time,” commented Sterret. He too had little patience with men like these.
“No,” he replied, “it isn’t.” With a final glare toward those who had accosted the woman, he turned his horse about and returned to Raestin. “Let’s find your lady and get to the bottom of this.”
Raestin nodded, then moved off quickly toward Kaitlyn’s home.
Paul kept an eye out toward the nine men that still stood watching them. The other he scanned for any signs of potential danger.
Once past the village center, it wasn’t far to the Borenson home. As they turned off onto the lane leading over the hill to the house, they heard the sound of men’s voices and the bleating of a sheep.
“Trouble,” Paul said.
Without thought for his own safety, Raestin kicked his horse in the sides and sped forward. Paul raced alongside him with the other guards right behind. Topping the hill before the Borenson home, he saw a group of men, eight in all, gathered before the front door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A tall man in his mid thirties with sword in hand banged on the door with its hilt. “Open this door!” he demanded.
From within the house, came the voice of his love. “Go away!” she cried, fear evident in her voice. “He’s not here and I don’t know anything.”
“Yes you do!” he yelled.
Baaaaaaa! Baaaaaaa!
In the pen not far off, Black Face was bleating wildly. Running along the fence of his pen, it almost seemed as if he was trying to go to her aid.
“Shut that sheep up,” the leader said.
Raestin raced with all speed forward.
A man drew his sword and headed toward the pen.
“No!” screamed Kaitlyn from within the home as she realized what was about to happen.
The man with the sword moved to the pen and with a single strike, removed Black Face’s head. As its lifeblood flowed from its lifeless body, Kaitlyn shrieked.
Bearing down on the men that had caused his beloved such pain, Raestin was the specter of death as he drew his sword and charged. He was halfway to the gathered men before they even noticed. As they turned toward him, fear appeared on their faces and they drew their swords to defend themselves.
Such was the fury that drove him, that upon reaching the first man, he struck with great ferocity. The blow cleaved the other man’s sword in two and continued on to remove his head. As the bodiless head flew through the air, Paul and the others joined the fray.
Sterret’s horse trampled one man, and with a cry of battle, he struck at another but the blow was deflected. A second later, a bolt from Cailin’s crossbow struck the man in the chest and knocked him backward.
Koryn and Warry had waded into the fray with swords flying. The men before them were no match. Simple caravan guards they may be, but Paul was a hard taskmaster and daily drills were a requirement. Now, all that hard work was paying off.