Tahn (19 page)
When Tahn was close enough, his heart ached for what he saw. Would it never end? In the middle of a wide clearing with a single tree, two of Samis’s men had a girl of ten or eleven tied by her wrists to a thick, low branch.
“This is a trap, Lord,” Tahn whispered. “Had they taken her for her own sake, they would be riding for Valhal now, or to some dark corner. They would not be waiting here in the open.”
The girl was sobbing, and one of the men struck her across the face. Tahn shook his head. “If I ride away, they will keep her, sure as I’m born.” No bushes or rocks were in the clearing for cover, just patches of meadow grass stretching out from the ancient tree. Samis and his men had chosen their spot well. There was no way to come at them unseen. And only two of them? Surely there were others, hiding in the surrounding trees, ready to descend when he showed himself.
He knew what Lady Trilett would do first, and he knelt down beside Smoke. “Lord, I don’t want to do this,” he said. “But I have no choice. They will use her and then kill her, you know that. Help me give her a chance. Help me, Lord, just to get her away from them.”
He thought of Netta and the children and how he longed to see them again. But he shook his head and turned his face to the sky. “My life is in your hands,” he whispered, then stood and took Smoke’s reins in his hand.
He rode in fast, low to the saddle and straight for the tree. When he was close enough, he leaped from the horse’s back to a branch of the ancient oak and cut the ropes quickly.
“Get on my horse,” he told the girl. But he knew she was hurt and shaken, so he jumped down to help her. Both mercenaries stood ready. Tahn took the girl’s arm to hurry her to the horse, but an arrow from the trees sunk deep into Smoke’s back, and the animal jumped wildly at the pain.
“Run for the woods, girl!” Tahn screamed. He drew his sword to cover her trail, but the two warriors were backing away. Tahn turned to run after the girl, but an arrow sunk swiftly into his upper leg and brought him to his knees. The girl stopped and looked behind her.
“Go on!” he shouted to her. “Run!” She disappeared into the first cover of trees as a second arrow pierced Tahn’s back and felled him to the dirt.
“C’mon girl, over here,” Marc Toddin called out as he saw the girl running into the woods. He pulled the girl up to the saddle behind him and glanced back at the fallen man. The soldiers of Samis were already descending on him like vultures. Nothing could be done for him now. “God rest him,” he whispered and kicked his horse forward to a run with the girl clinging to him desperately, surely hoping that this ride was for home.
“That’s enough!” Samis was shouting to the archers. “I want him alive!” He walked to his captive with gloating satisfaction. No one had ever successfully turned coat from him. No one ever would.
Tahn lay on his side, fighting for breath through the pain. Samis looked down at him with a cool smile. “Ah, Tahn,” he said. “A good fool is a fool nonetheless.”
I
t had been four days. Netta was tense with the uncertainty of what to do next. The children had never been so quiet since the first day they’d come. She had gone to the stream with them—fishing seemed to be one of the happiest diversions they had. But no one was happy today.
Finally Temas voiced the subject troubling everyone. “Is Teacher coming back?”
“I pray that he does soon,” Netta answered. Had he found trouble? Or had he simply had enough of them?
“Do you think he’s still mad at us?” Doogan asked with a worried expression.
“He wasn’t mad at
us
,” Stuva maintained. “He was mad at the lady.”
“He wasn’t mad at nobody,” Vari insisted.
Netta turned and looked at him. Something in his voice sounded broken.
“Do you think he got tired of us, then?” Briant asked sadly. “People do that.”
“You’re an idiot!” Vari shouted. “You don’t know him at all!” He ran from them, up the hill and away from the stream.
“Vari!” Netta called after him. “Stay here,” she told the rest, and followed the youth.
She found him sitting on a rock, his back to her. From the sag of his shoulders, she knew he was on the verge of crying. But he must have heard her behind him.
“He wouldn’t do it, Lady,” he said. “He wouldn’t just go without telling us.”
Netta sat beside him. “He is a loner, Vari. A man we cannot predict.”
“No. Something happened.” He stood and stared down at her. “He’s worked so hard for us, he wouldn’t just leave!” She had never seen tears in any of the children before, but Vari shed them freely now. “I’ve got to find him!”
Her heart broke for him. “I would gladly agree,” she told him, “had we any idea where to look. But Vari, we don’t know which direction he went, or how far. I’m afraid it is not safe. You know even the weather could be unpredictable soon. I wish I could tell you something different, but you can’t leave the little ones. You know better than I do how to provide for them right now.”
He looked down at his feet, wishing she weren’t right. But Tahn could be anywhere. There was no way of knowing.
Far away from them, Samis had his man but was still furious. Some of his own warriors were whispering that the old man had been bested. Tahn Dorn had deceived him, stolen away the children and Netta Trilett too. He had dared to violate the walls of Valhal in defiance and rescue one ordered to die. They were even saying that Tahn could never have been caught without the trap, that Samis himself feared to face him with a sword and so had hidden in the bushes and used arrows.
Even though he now lay unconscious and in chains, Tahn still posed the greatest threat to Samis’s power that he had ever faced. Tahn had shaken the simple belief that the master was invincible. Without that, the fear would fade away, and Samis’s power would eventually crumble.
Samis hated Tahn for that, hated that he must now prove himself unmatched again in the eyes of his men. Tahn must pay, and pay openly and powerfully, lest the bloody kingdom Samis had woven for himself begin to unravel.
He stood watching as Tahn began to stir. They had snapped the arrow shafts short, but no effort would be made to dig the tips from his flesh.
Let him carry them to his grave,
Samis thought.
And it shall not be long in coming.
When Tahn opened his eyes, he was not sure where he was, only that he had been moved. He saw first the face of his old teacher, and then behind him the interior walls of a modest building.
“Where is the lady?” Samis demanded.
Tahn closed his eyes again. His leg was numb, but the wound in his back hurt terribly. He had never felt so weak. But there was no fear in it, no worry. He did not bother to answer.
Samis had never been a patient sort, but this night he was in no mood to be ignored. He grabbed Tahn by the jaw with one hand and drew out his dagger.
“Where is she?” he yelled, pressing the point of his weapon at Tahn’s neck. “You know I meant her for myself! Where is she?”
“You may as well kill me,” Tahn told him. “I will never tell you.”
“You will tell me all I require, fool, or I shall make you sorry you ever saw the light of day.”
But again Tahn did not answer him.
“You will do what I tell you,” Samis insisted. “You will help me find the lady and the children. You know you dare not disobey me again. You know what I will do to you.” He pushed his blade at Tahn’s neck until he’d drawn blood.
“No,” Tahn told him. “Your dagger will gain you nothing from me.”
“What if I brought you flames, Tahn?” Samis asked cruelly. “What would you do then?”
“It doesn’t matter what you do. Because it can’t last forever.” It was such a comfortable, beautiful thought that he couldn’t help but smile. “Thank you, Jesus!” he exclaimed, noticing the chains for the first time as he tried to lift his arms.
“You’ve gone mad,” Samis said. “It is no wonder you dared challenge me. You’re a raving lunatic.”
“I am saved by God.”
“You are dead, and no god can save you.”
Tahn was surprised at how little he feared what would come. It truly did not matter. Only a few hours or a few days, and all of Samis’s tortures would be gone. He’d be free forever, welcomed by God. Blessed thought!