Arik quietly started building the fireand Tedi nervously grabbed buckets and headed off towards thestream. Niki followed Kalina as though she was going to be preparedfor cooking instead of the breakfast. Fredrik walked over to Arikand whispered, “We will have to play along until the right momentand breakfast will be welcome if we have to spend days on the trailtrying to shake Garth. He can’t really do anything until all fourof the graves are done, anyway, and you said he had completed onlytwo.”
Kalina and Niki quickly had breakfastgoing with more of the strange, large eggs and slabs of bacon. Thesmell of the campfire and the cooking bacon lured Garth out of thewoods and he came over and sat by Kalina. The four others huddledtogether on the other side of the fire and everyone ate insilence.
Finally, Garth put his empty plate downand looked across the campfire at the others. “Today is going to bean unusual day,” he began. “As you can see we are eating earlierthan normal and there will be no practice sessions. Arik and Tedi,you two have a special task ahead of you. I need you two to finishdigging some holes for me, very large holes.”
Tedi and Arik looked at each other withtheir mouths hanging open. “I am not feeling well today,” Tediquickly blurted out.
“Perhaps it was something weate or the effects of the magic last night, but I don’t feel reallywell, either,” Arik got out.
Garth looked at the two boyssuspiciously as well as the almost concealed grins of the other twochildren. Something was going on with the four of them that he didnot understand, but he would not allow it to get in the way of theplan he had for them this morning. “It is unfortunate that you twodo not feel well,” he said slowly, “because it will make thedigging appear worse than it really is, but make no mistakes, youtwo will finish the digging if it kills you.”
Niki leaped to her feet, spilling herplate and her second helping of food on the ground. Placing herhands on her hips, she glared at Garth and Kalina. Fredrik slowlyrose and placed his hand on her shoulder, but this time it was in ashow of support rather than a reprimand.
“Niki is right,” Fredrikstated clearly. “We both have powers that we would prefer not touse right now because of the Dark Riders, but we will if we have toand damn the consequences. You are not going to order Arik and Tedito dig their own graves.”
Arik and Tedi also rose and placedtheir hands on the hilts of the swords they had managed to get onwhile doing their breakfast chores. Kalina stood with a smile onher lips, but Garth rose with a scowl on his face.
“They are not digging theirown graves,” Garth said flatly, “they are digging yours. I havealready finished theirs. If you children are quite finished withyour mutiny, I will describe my plan.”
The scene around the campfire appearedfrozen and nobody spoke. Niki, who would have already attacked bynow, felt patience and reassurance from Fredrik’s hand on hershoulder. Arik and Tedi knew the minute they drew their swords,Garth would strike them down. They had been practicing two on onewith Garth for several days now and they knew they were not evenclose to being ready to take him on.
“The Dark Riders will mostcertainly be here this morning,” Garth continued. “If any of youare seen, we will have to do battle and destroy them all. Thegraves that you speak of are holes for you to hide in. I havealready cut strips of wood to hold canvas over the holes, so thatthe dirt piled on top of you will be very thin. You will be able toeasily get out if something should happen to Kalina and myself. Ihave cut long reeds for you to breath through and the excavateddirt will be spread evenly over the ground just before I repositionthe horses to ring the area. The Dark Riders will not give it asecond glance.”
Fredrik and Niki looked stunned and thetwo boys from Lorgo sported deep red faces as they sat back down.Kalina went around and refilled the coffee mugs as Fredrik and Nikialso sat back down.
“Niki cannot stand enclosedspaces,” Fredrik stated. “We will have to devise something else forher.”
Garth nodded thoughtfully and resumedhis seated position. “Just as well,” he finally said. “We havealready wasted too much time arguing about the two incompleteholes. I think I can arrange to strap the two of you up underneaththe wagon so that you will not be noticed. The only danger is ifthey ask us to move the wagon. The strapping would hurt severelyand perhaps even break if we had to move it over any distance. Itwill have to do, though, and we had better get to it.”
Arik was sent off to arrange a stringline for the horses that would screen the two holes, while Garthslid under the wagon and began fastening leather straps that wouldhold Fredrik and Niki tight to the floor of the wagon. Kalina andNiki cleaned up the campsite and removed all traces of anythingthat might indicate that there were more than two people here. Tediand Fredrik worked to spread the dirt that was extracted from thetwo holes.
Everything took around two hours andafter the children were all secure, Garth collected his blackstallion and the white mare and tied them gently to the side of thewagon. Less than half an hour later, three Dark Riders rode intothe campsite and stared at Garth and Kalina who were sitting idlyat the campfire.
“What brings gypsies this farinland?” asked one of the Dark Riders.
Garth looked up lazily from his cup ofcoffee. “Lack of people chooses our path,” Garth said. “If you wisha moment’s rest on your journey, you may have a cup of coffeebefore you depart.”
One of the Dark Riders dismounted andwalked over to Garth while the other two let their eyes roam overevery inch of the campsite. “I am called Klarg,” the Dark Riderannounced as he sat by the fire and waited for Kalina to get him acup of coffee. “Have you seen any people come by thisway?”
“We are gypsies,” Garthstated. “We have not even seen you come by.”
Klarg did not smile at Garth’s remark,but seemed to be studying the man in black. “You are rather wellarmed for a gypsy. Do you not fear traveling alone?”
“The world is an unsettledarena,” Garth reflected. “We all know fear from time to time, butfear does nothing to change the facts. You travel this same landwith only three of you and you are also well armed. This only showsthat we both know that to travel this land in small numbersrequires at least a show of strength.”
“I do not care for riddles,gypsy,” Klarg stated impatiently. “Where have you traveled from?Have you been near the coast?”
“We have been here for sometime now,” Garth answered. “I have seen the coast before, but noton this trip. There are too many people along the coast and banditscongregate where people live.”
Klarg chewed his lip and stared back athis men. One of the Dark Riders nodded towards the woods at the farside of the clearing and Klarg’s eyes followed the directionindicated. Even from where he was, he could see the stand of horsesonce he knew where to look. Klarg rose and walked across theclearing to the horses. He stared at the string of horses andreturned to the campfire.
“You have many horses, gypsy,”Klarg declared, “and unless my eyes grow weary, I recognize some ofthem as having belonged to associates of mine. How is thispossible?”
“All things are possible,”Garth stated dryly. “We have been fortunate on this trip to runacross horses roaming free. Some of them did, indeed, have saddles.Gypsies are known for taking what other people abandon. If yourassociates care to claim their horses and come to us, we will beglad to return their animals for the cost of caring for them. Forthat matter, we will gladly sell you the horses and you can dealwith your associates as you like.”
Klarg snorted at the comment of thegypsies finding the horses. Gypsies were well known for stealinghorses and reselling them to their previous owners. The occupationof horse thief suited this armed man more than traveling gypsy, buthe would let Wolinda decide.
“You two will accompany me toour camp,” Klarg stated authoritatively. “We shall let othersdecide what to do with you.”