Rylin quickly scans the camp through the rain but sees nothing other than the dead bandits. “Sheila!” he cries into the rain. “It’s Rylin! It’s safe, they are all dead.”
James looks around as well and soon spies two silhouettes appearing out of the rain, coming toward the camp.
“Sheila!” Rylin cries and runs over to them, James following.
The women, though shaken and upset, seem to be alright. Sheila is wrapped in a blanket and her mother has her arms around her. She has a lost look about her.
Rylin turns to her mother and asks, “Is she okay?”
“One of the bandits was just about to have his way with her,” she explains. “He had stripped her and was about to…,” overcome with emotion, she stopped. Getting hold of herself, she continued. “Then something hit the side of the tent, knocking it over.”
Rylin puts his arm around her and begins to offer comfort when her eyes suddenly widen at something behind him and she looks as though she’s ready to bolt. Seeing her reaction, Rylin turns around expecting an attack but only finds James walking toward them.
“It’s okay,” Rylin assures her. “This is James, he helped rescue you.”
Relaxing somewhat, she says, “Thank you for helping us.”
“You are welcome,” he replies. “I hope you and your daughter will be okay?”
“I think we will,” she says. “It may take some time for my daughter to get over this, but she will. She’s a strong girl.”
“Maybe we should put the tent up again,” James suggests, “so the ladies can have shelter?”
“No,” the mother says adamantly. “We will not stay in that tent. Besides, we need to see about our caravan.”
“How?” Rylin asks. “The horses are gone.”
Shaking her head, she says, “Our horses were taken by several of the bandits to the south while this group continued this way. If we can get them back, then maybe we can bring in our caravan to Trademeet and salvage something from all this.”
Seeing the doubt in Rylin’s eyes, she continues, “With my husband dead, we need the money from those goods to survive.”
“James!” Miko’s cry interrupts the conversation.
“Over here!” James hollers back. Shortly they are able to see him approaching through the rain.
“Oh, you’re hurt!” Sheila cries out when she finally becomes aware of Rylin’s blood soaked shirt, pressed to his side. “Let me help you.” Taking him by the hand she leads him over to the tent and rummages around, coming up with several strips of cloth. Removing his shirt, she inspects the cut and decides it’s not too deep. She then proceeds to wrap the cloth around his side tightly, finally securing it with a knot.
“Thanks, ma’am,” Rylin says when she’s finished.
“That should do for a while,” she says. “Just be careful from now on, okay?”
“Alright, ma’am, I will,” he assures her.
Sheila finds her clothes in the tent and with her mother’s help, gets dressed while everyone else looks the other way.
As Sheila dresses, James says to Rylin, “Miko and I can go after the bandits and see if the horses can be recovered, though I will need to rest for an hour or so before I leave. I pretty much wore myself out during the fight.”
“Perhaps I should go with you as well,” Rylin offers.
“You need to stay with the ladies and watch over them,” James replies. “You can defend them better than either Miko or myself. And we certainly don’t want to leave them alone and unprotected.”
Rylin glances over to the mother who nods her head, agreeing with the plan. “Alright, but how will we know if you are successful?”
“If we are, we’ll take them back to the road and meet you there,” explains James. “Take the horses here with you and if we don’t come back, use them as best you can to get the caravan to Trademeet.”
“Those are not draft animals,” the mother says, looking at the nearby picket of horses.
“Better than nothing wouldn’t you say?” James counters.
“I suppose so,” she agrees, though not entirely happy about the situation.
“Miko,” James says to him, “search all the bandits, especially the leader. See if there is anything that may tell us why they are here.”
“What do you mean?” Rylin asks as Miko begins to rummage through their belongings and inspecting each of the dead bodies.
“The leader seemed too professional to simply be a bandit leader,” James explains. “Also, if they were merely bandits, why did they split their forces and send the horses south? It just doesn’t feel right to me.”
“I see your point,” Rylin acknowledges.
While Miko searches the dead, Rylin and James tie the bandit’s horses in a line, bridle to saddle. Three saddlebags are found to be filled with gold and other valuables.
“This must belong to the ladies,” James guesses when he sees the fortune, “taken from their caravan.”
“Most likely,” Rylin agrees.
The rain begins to lessen though it’s still a constant nuisance. Miko returns from his search and says “Couldn’t find anything on anyone. There was some paper on the leader but it’s ash now, couldn’t make out any writing.”
“Alright, let’s get our stuff and we’ll go look for the horses,” James tells him. “Also, let’s take the tent with us, it may come in handy should the rain continue.”
“Alright, James,” Miko says as he turns to go over to where the tent is lying in the mud.
Rylin, having already assisted the ladies to mount, comes over to James and says, “Thank you for your help in rescuing them.”
“We couldn’t leave them to their fate,” he replies. “I just hope Miko and I are able to get the horses back for you.”
“So do I,” he says. “We’ll wait on the road for a day or so before continuing on toward Trademeet. If you manage to get them, try your best to find us.”
“We’ll find you,” James assures him. They walk over to Rylin’s horse and James gives him a hand mounting.
“Goodbye ladies,” James says as he turns toward them. “We’ll see you in a couple of days.”
As Rylin gets the line moving, the mother says, “Thank you again, James. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for you helping Rylin to save us. Should you ever need anything, the House of Ellinize will help you.”
“Thank you ma’am,” James replies. He stands back a bit and waves as they begin moving northward to where the caravan was abandoned back on the road.
Miko waves to them as they begin to leave. “Everything set?” James asks him.
“Yeah, I got the tent on the mule,” he answers.
“Then let’s go,” James says and then walks over toward their horses.
“What is that?” he asks as they approach the horses. On the back of the pack mule is the tent all right, but it looks like it was stuffed and tied up there without any effort made in compacting it.
He looks over at Miko and asks, “Ever folded a tent before?”
Shaking his head, Miko answers, “No, I’m a city boy.”
James begins to untie it from the horse, and then lays it on the ground. “Here, give me a hand and I’ll show you how to do it properly so it will be a much smaller package to handle.” Having never folded this particular type of tent, it takes him a couple of tries but they eventually get it down to a manageable size and secure it on the mule.
Then they mount up and begin to ride after the other band of bandits.
Chapter Eighteen
The rain continues to lessen throughout the morning until shortly after noon, when it stops altogether. Not long after the sun breaks through the clouds to bring a much welcomed relief to the sodden pair. James and Miko manage to maintain a quick pace as they try to catch up with the remaining bandits, only stopping for brief periods to rest the horses before continuing the search.
They pick up the trail about mid afternoon when they encounter a swath of grass that has recently been trampled. “I think we found their trail,” announces James.