One man walked five paces away from the log fort, dropped his trousers and began to relieve himself. Max continued, emerging in the area cleared of trees and into full view of the two men. The man facing him took a half step backward when he saw Max, splashing himself on the leg. Lifting his mug to point it at Max, he said, “Hey, I know you. You were one of the guys who was with that Rollo gal.”
Max didn’t answer and kept walking toward the two soldiers with his gaze on the door to the fort.
Shaking, the man called to his companion, “Hey, Borg! Isn’t this that boyo who was with the she-bear?”
Max had never heard this phrase for a woman and assumed he should be offended. Maybe she-bear is something they call women warriors, he thought, trying to put a positive spin on it.
The second soldier, his back turned to them, continued to relieve himself onto the forest floor. He looked over his shoulder in a half-drunk stupor. “Oh, yeah,” he said swaying as he surprised himself with his aim.
“I have a message from your leader,” Max told them, stopping just far enough away that he could flee if they tried anything. In his youth, he’d seen drunk soldiers at the Brookside Inn and knew what they were like when they came into a mood. Max didn’t trust them when they were like this.
“A message from our leaders?” the first soldier said surprised. “Well that’s funny, we got one in here. Maybe we should talk to him about it, because he ain’t said nothing about no message.”
“Take me to him,” Max said, trying to sound confident.
The soldier nodded and tried to take a swig from his empty mug. Lowering it from his mouth, he looked at it in surprise when nothing came out. Shrugging, he said, “Come on then, in we go.”
Max followed the two soldiers into the log fort. A wave of alcohol and sweat filled his nose, shocking him with the stench. How long have they been at this? It can’t have been that long, he wondered. Squinting through the dimly lit space, he saw men staggering with mugs tightly gripped in hand, laughing and trying to speak over one another. A dozen women soldiers mingled flirtatiously, more than a few he saw were locking lips with family men. I bet there are a few wives who might have a thing or two to say about this, Max thought, recognizing two of the husbands.
“He’s over there, next to the big one with the long beard,” the soldier said, motioning toward the back corner of the room.
Max spotted a tall man with a long bushy brown beard. He gulped when he recognized who was standing next to him. “Are you sure that’s him?” Max asked keeping his eyes on the man who’d been identified. When he didn’t hear a response, he turned back to look for the drunk, only to find that he’d gone.
This can’t be happening, Max thought. Of all the people in this outfit who I didn’t want to see, Tony is their leader? Great. Well, I better get this over with. I was bound to have this conversation with him eventually. I only wish it were in a different setting.
Taking a deep breath, Max adjusted his sword belt before setting out across the dirt floor to pass along the critical warning to Tony.
Max stopped an arm’s reach from the man who had only agreed to take him and his infant brother in as children because of his wife’s pleas. Max stood still for a few seconds waiting to be acknowledged by the large bearded man. In a gruff voice that sounded over the others, the soldier asked, “Can I help you?”
Max continued to wait silently until Tony looked for himself to see who was standing in front of him. A sudden fear came over Max when he saw Tony’s face tighten with cold recognition. He thought Tony might attack him right then and there, but after a tense several breaths, Max broke the silence, “I have an urgent message from the other leaders.”
Tony’s upper lip quivered in anger as he said, “Whatever you heard isn’t official until it passes through me, boy.”
Max narrowed his eyes at him, which provoked a further response from Tony.
“You think you’re a man now?” he said squaring off with Max and showing him how large his frame really was. “Just because you grew a little taller and have put on a couple of ounces of muscle? No man I know would sport that pathetic excuse for a beard. Only boys who still wear their hair in a knot do that,” Tony said looking at Max’s hair. “You can’t fool me, boy. No, you’re still the skinny little cuss I should’ve left in Southland all those years ago.”
“The news comes directly from the dragonrider. Merglan has…” he started, but Tony cut him off.
“I thought I told you not to come back.”
“But,” Max managed to get in, but Tony carried on over him.
“The only thing I’m worried about right now is how best to be rid of you. For good.” Tony stared coldly into Max’s eyes, never breaking eye contact as he lifted the mug to his lips and drew a lengthy draft.
“What message do you have?” the large bearded man asked.
Max broke the stare with Tony and saw that the big soldier was concerned.
Tony hit the man in the chest with a backhanded slap, but Max was already talking, “Merglan has escaped capture and we are to retreat to Brookside.”
“Wrong,” Tony spat. “The mad sorcerer has not yet been captured. You are feeding us lies, boy. What game are you playing at anyway?”
Max stammered, “No, I… I’m telling the truth.”
“Evil follows you everywhere you go, boy. It can’t be a coincidence,” Tony snarled. He turned to his large friend and said, “Don’t listen to what he’s saying, Rickard. This scum is the son of one of Merglan’s own servants. He’s been plotting for a way to avenge her death for years. As a boy he took one of my own daughters from me and now he’s trying to lure us out from this fort to go back to Brookside where his friends are undoubtedly waiting in ambush.”
Max shook his head and shouted, “No, none of that is true! Wild horses killed your daughter. I would never put her in harm’s way. I loved her like a sister!”
“I’ve had enough of your filthy lies, boy,” Tony said, dropping his mug and shooting his hand down for his broadsword.
Max’s eyes grew wide and he reached for his own.
Tony had pulled his blade half way out of his scabbard when Rickard grabbed him by the elbow, staying his arm. “Enough!” the big man shouted. Though Rickard rivaled Tony in size, Max knew it wouldn’t be enough to stop the bull of a man from killing him.
The fort went quiet, and Max felt all the eyes of Tony’s soldiers fall on him. He glanced to either side, still poised to draw steel. He heard the ring of blades being summoned out of scabbards and felt the gravity of the situation.
Tony struggled against the large man’s grip and broke free. Max took a step backward and withdrew the grip on his sword. Other soldiers near Rickard stepped in between, clearly not wanting more blood to be shed during their celebration. While he backed with his hands up to show anyone still unclear on the commotion that he meant no harm, Max heard a soldier now helping Rickard stop the potential fight say, “Tony, you’re drunk. Let him leave.”
Tony tried to push through the wall of men, shouting, “He killed my girl! Damn him, he killed my little girl!”
Max continued to back away from them with hands raised high into the air. Anyone who hadn’t seen the initial conflict had felt the tension in the crowd and was staring at him. Max knew this was not the place for him to take risks, not with an entire host of armed men against him.
When he reached the entrance, he said loud enough for everyone who stared at him to hear, “Rune asked me to come here and deliver a message. The message is that this battle we won today is only the beginning of a war that will be coming to Westland, a war greater than the skirmishes fought on the plains in the past. Evil is approaching and we must be ready to face it at any time.” Having done his duty of warning the group in the fort, Max turned and ran out the door.
Sprinting across the clearcut, Max ran for his own safety. He knew that what he said wasn’t exactly what he was supposed to tell them, but after Tony had turned against him, he knew a more powerful description needed to be told. If Tony had been able to speak to them, he would’ve had the entire room coming down on him. He already had begun suggesting that Max was somehow working for Merglan and trying to thwart the Resistance. Thankfully that burly Rickard had sense enough to see that Tony’s anger was based on a personal hatred.
I did more than I needed to by saying what I did to those men and women, Max thought. I’m not going back to warn them again. If they don’t at least come down to check on the situation, then they can stay up there in that log hut getting drunker than damnation.
