It was near one in the morning when Navarra finally left Solarii again. Chaos, a big dapple gray mare, trotted easily into the night with Vesania and Furia, the dogs, trotting along behind. Navarra would have liked to sleep, but the girl was already a full day ahead of him and he wanted to be back at the Fultan estate before noon tomorrow. He would travel another hour or so to an inn outside the hamlet of Danbridge. It started to rain before he was half way there and so he arrived cold, wet and angry.
He pounded on the door and woke an innkeeper named Lou, who was smart enough not to protest. In turn, Lou woke his son to rub down the horse. The dogs, much to the innkeeper’s dismay followed the large man dressed in black inside and up to the room at the top of the stairs. Lou started a fire as Navarra took off his wet clothes and hung them on a rack to dry.
“Wake me at sunrise,” Navarra said as the man was leaving. “Knock. If you try to enter they will kill you,” he added, motioning to the dogs. They happily jumped up on the bed as the Executioner climbed under the covers. He found sleep immediately.
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Samantha arrived at Stanton Falls nearly an hour before noon, and though Nancy and Bane could use the rest, she still chafed at the thought of not moving on. She could feel the Executioner coming, and for the thousandth time wished she had put an arrow in him instead of his horse. With a sigh, she dismounted and allowed both animals to drink and then she led them a short way to a field where tiny new shoots of grass were just appearing. She hobbled them so they wouldn’t wander too far and then moved back to the falls. Stanton Falls were not high as waterfalls go, only about twice the height of a man, but the river was wide and the falling water created a thunder of noise making it impossible to hear anyone approaching. She moved onto a flat, damp rock far enough from the falls so that she would not get overly wet from the mist created by the falling water, then she knelt carefully on the water’s edge. She put her hair completely in the cold water to rinse off some of the dirt from her travels. She combed her fingers through it and when her hair felt relatively clean she twisted it dry as best she could then moved out into the meadow. She took the short ropes from the legs of Bane, but stayed near him in case she had to leave quickly.
The time past slowly, but thankfully Mr. Madres and Lonney arrived before noon. Samantha was extremely relieved to see them. She smiled shyly as they rode up to her. Lonney smiled back.
“I’m sorry to hear about your family,” Mr. Madres said, immediately all business.
Samantha’s heart sank as she was brought back to her sorrow. She nodded, but said nothing.
Mr. Madres didn’t say anything more on the subject, just dismounted and moved to Lonney’s horse and removed a couple of large saddlebags. He placed one set over his horse and another over Bane, then still without saying anything, removed the pack from Nancy then led her to Lonney and handed him the reins.
“What?” Samantha started, but stopped as the older man held up a hand.
“Lonney, take the mule and head back home.”
Sam could tell that Lonney did not want to, but he nodded. “Yes, father,” he said and took one last look at the girl in front of him before turning and heading back the way he had come.
When he was out of sight he turned to her. “I didn’t want him to know exactly where I’m taking you, though he is a smart lad, and has probably worked it out already.”
“Mr. Madres,” Sam answered, dismayed at the departure of Nancy, “why…”
“Tomm, my name is Tomm,” he said, glancing at her as he packed her things into the saddle bags. She was a striking girl, and apparently tougher than she looked, or else smarter.
“Tomm,” she said, feeling strange about using his name. “Why did you take Nancy?”
He moved back to his horse and mounted smoothly. Samantha did likewise.
“You were leaving very distinctive tracks,” was all he said and then began to lead her off to the north following the river toward Lynndon. “One horse leaves much more ordinary tracks than a horse and a mule.”
Samantha didn’t say anything. It was obviously true. “But won’t the Executioner follow Lonney now?”
Tomm sighed. “Possibly, if he is a poor tracker, most likely he will follow us. He knows you are fleeing undoubtedly to the ford at Lynndon. Once he realizes this, he will make to the ford at all possible speed.”
“Where are you taking me?” she asked as Tomm broke them into a trot, with luck they would reach the ford in the early evening tomorrow.
“To the ford,” he answered. “But hopefully we will get there sooner than the Deutzani killer.”
“And then?”
“I will leave you there with a group of soldiers. Afton Sath has them watching the ford for any large troop movements. Sath’s building up an army of his own, but it will take time, and patience to collect and train them all.”
“An army?” Samantha said, very surprised. She’d assumed the Deutzani had tight control over all of Massi.
Tomm shrugged. “I wouldn’t call it that just yet, but we are working hard to get a network across the land so we can recruit and send anyone able out west. The Toranado have begun to supply us weapons…small quantities so far. They fear the Deutzani. They are moving most through the Scar Mountain passes.”
“The Toranado?”
“Yes and there are other rumors still…coming from the Islands, rumors that Prince Gwaynn still lives. If they are true it will make Master Sath’s job of pulling the people of Massi back together much easier.”
“You think it is true?” She asked as they rode briskly on. “Could Prince Gwaynn still be alive?”
Tomm shrugged. “Don’t rightly know, but it could be the reason the Toranado are so eager to help us. Without an heir, they would view our lands as forfeit,” he explained with a great show of suspense, “But it would seem they do not.”
They rode in silence for nearly a mile before Samantha glanced over at her new companion. “Are you apart of all this…with Uncle Sath?” She asked then felt foolish for asking so obvious a question.
Tomm puffed up and nodded, then reached behind him and into his saddlebag. He pulled out an apple, and tossed it carefully to Sam, who was gratified that she snatched it out of the air quite nicely. He pulled out another and took a bite. “I’m the contact for Dunn and the surrounding area. I’m too old to be a soldier, but Lonney may go off and join in the next year or so.”
They ate their apples in relative silence, and just rode at a steady pace, which allowed them to cover a good distance. For the first time since the death of her family, Samantha began to feel a little hope and a growing confidence that she might escape with her life. Although her new found confidence would have melted away if she knew how quickly the man following her was gaining.
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Navarra reached the Fultan’s estate just before Samantha reached the falls. He paused at the house only for a short time to collect his axe. He moved the block into the barn for it would slow him down and in any case the Fultan girl would not get such a ritualized execution. The dogs sniffed about the bodies of the Fultan family as he worked, but he called them away as he finished, then he moved down the lane, following the girl’s tracks as he went. He was thankful that it had not rained very hard last night or tracking her would be much harder. Once he was off the lane and onto the field he dismounted and showed the tracks to the dogs, and they took up the business of tracking. They followed her easily, and he was shocked when about an hour later he came across her first campsite, less than six miles away. He shook his head, smiling at the girl’s recklessness. If he’d known she was so close and moving at such a slow pace he would have returned immediately from Millvale and started out on his own. Even with that damned sway back, he would have caught up with her by now.