Niki went and lay down on a blanket togo to sleep, covering herself with her old cloak, a white cloakwith gold trim and a sunburst upon the left breast. Within momentsshe was asleep. Fredrik sat staring at her for a long time. She wasa very beautiful girl with her flaming red hair and pert nose, butsometimes he wished he were traveling alone. She never seemed tolisten to reason and never missed an opportunity to punish him withsilence at some unseen offense he was supposed to have committed.Eventually, Fredrik went to bed still mystified about the ways ofwomen.
The next day the pair wound their wayback to the coastal highway and towards Cidal. There was verylittle traffic on the road and the people they passed did no morethan acknowledge the couple. Several days later they reached theoutskirts of Cidal and immediately proceeded to a less traveledstreet. Like most towns, there were some abandoned houses andFredrik picked the one that seemed to be in the best shape and yetout of the way. They did pick up a few strange glares entering thehouse, but most people were afraid to say anything to strangers.Still, they could not stay here long before somebody reported theirpresence in the house to whoever passed as the authorities inCidal.
After they got settled in, Fredrik wentout alone to see what the town was like. Cidal was in much bettershape than Forgum as no army had yet ravaged it. There was a fairamount of people and the businesses seemed to be doing rather well.Fredrik visited some of the inns, always blending in and keeping tothe shadows, and picked up the local rumors. There was a localorganization of mercenaries, which probably accounted for the factthat Cidal had not been plundered yet. The most important piece ofinformation was of the Black Devils who had left town this morning.They had obviously killed an old sea captain and taken over hismansion while in Cidal. Fredrik learned the name of the sea captainand hurried back to Niki. Within moments, Fredrik and Niki wereback out of town in the woods where they dressed in their finestoutfits. Fredrik was dressed in gray flannel breeches with a finewhite shirt whose wrinkles were covered by a gray flannel vest.Niki donned a violet silk dress with white frilled sleeves and alavender sash around her waist.
Once suitably attired, the pair strodeinto town with Fredrik leading the train of six horses. This timeeveryone turned and stared at them as they walked along the coastalhighway. Niki walked right up to a group of mercenaries that seemedto include an officer or at least someone whom the others deferredto. The men all stared at her and she had to push back images ofdrooling dogs else she would ruin her entrance.
“Excuse me, kind Sir,” shecooed, “but we are just in from Trekum and I am seeking my uncle,Amos Alrecht. “Could you possibly direct me? We’ve had such adreadful journey with the wagon burning and all and I really wishto make an early night of it.”
The smiling faces all grew dim at themention of the old sea captain and most of the group melted away.The authoritative man remained and appraised her. “Your uncle, yousay?” he asked. “Old Amos never mentioned any kin tome.”
Niki had to strain her neck to look upat the man. “Well, that is quite a minor problem, Sir. I can assureyou that I am his niece as I am sure he will also attest, but thatis no concern of yours. I am merely asking for directions to hishome so I might settle in with my brother.”
The man appeared suitably rebuffed, buteventually nodded. “All right, Mistress Alrecht, I can show you tohis home, but you won’t be finding old Amos there, I’mafraid.”
“Well, if he is not in, I amsure he will return soon, Sir,” she smiled. “He is, after all,expecting us.”
“It is not that he is out,Mistress,” the man frowned. “Old Amos was killed a few days ago byBlack Devils. They claimed he was a sorcerer. When we found out, itwas too late to do anything for Amos and it didn’t make much senseto start a war with the Black Devils over something that could notbe undone.”
The man lowered his head sheepishly;obviously ashamed of letting the Black Devils have their way withinhis domain. Niki collapsed in the street and Fredrik let go of thehorses and rushed to her aid. He frowned up at the mercenary, butnodded at the man. “It’s all right, Sir,” Fredrik added. “Similartragedies have occurred in the South as well. I’m sure you and yourmen would have done something if you had known before it happened.Could you have some of your men grab our horses and help us to hishouse?”
The man was only too eager to helpAmos’ kin after not avenging his death. Fredrik and Niki allowedthe men to fawn over them and see them safely put into Amos’mansion. The head mercenary introduced them to the servants andscowled at any objections to the youngsters moving in. By the timethe mercenary left, the servants were satisfactorily cowed toaccept their new Lord and Lady.
Chapter 7
Escape
Arik and Tedi rose at first light andsurveyed the area they had chosen to camp at the night before.“It’s a good thing we didn’t try to roam around last night,” Tedicommented, looking over the cliff to the sea. The promontory theywere on was about eighty feet above where the waves crashed intothe rocks below. The view was spectacular with long vistas ofbeach, both north and south. This was clearly the highest point forsome distance and afforded glimpses of the coastal highway fartherinland where the trees were sparse enough to see through or theview was not blocked by the plateau itself.
Arik fixed breakfast while Tedi stoodinhaling the strong salt air. After a quick breakfast Tedi cleanedup the campsite while Arik checked out the surroundings. “Hey,Tedi,” Arik called. “I think I see something coming down thebeach.”
Tedi ran over and looked northward. “Idon’t see anything,” he remarked. “It’s too far to see anything,anyway. Maybe it’s just someone out for a morning walk.”
“Could be,” Arik mutteredstraining for a better view, “but not unless they’re on horsebackand it looks like two people. Wait, they’ve stopped.”
Tedi looked once again, trying to makeout what Arik was looking at. “I don’t know about seeing people orhorses,” he commented, “but that looks like the area where we leftthe beach yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, they are, too,”Arik said hurriedly as he watched the tiny dots disappear into theforest. “I think someone might be tracking us. If they are onhorseback, they’ll catch us for sure.”
“How do you know they are onhorseback?” Tedi asked. “I can’t see anything at thatdistance.”
“By the relative size of thetwo dots,” Arik answered. “I think one of them got down for somereason and led his horse. I could be wrong, but can we afford totake a chance?”
Tedi thought for a while and said,“Horseback won’t help them that much on the trail we tookyesterday. It was hardly more than an animal trail and not oftenused, at that.”
“Unless they swing out to thecoastal highway,” declared Arik. Arik swung his eyes back to theonly major road in the area and froze. “Tedi,” he whispered. “Lookdown at the road.”
Tedi joined his friend and looked wherehe was pointing. A large group of riders was gathered millingaround, not traveling. “The trees are in the way,” Tedi frowned. “Ican’t quite make out who they are or how many of them there are,but I am beginning to not like this.”
“I like it even less,” addedArik. “It looks like more than ten, but worst of all, one of themis almost assuredly a woman.”
“Okay, let’s keep calm,”instructed Tedi. “If they knew right where we were, we would havebeen dead on our blankets this morning.”
“You have a great way ofmaking me feel calm,” Arik quipped. “We can’t outrun them if theyhave even one fairly decent tracker. We can’t go out to sea or tothe road. A couple of them are coming in from the North. We reallydon’t have much of a choice on which way to go.”
“We do have the option ofstaying right here,” declared Tedi. “This place is prettydefensible.”
“I don’t think I’m ready tostart killing people even if they turn out to be Dark Riders,”frowned Arik.