Ofic: Out, part 15
Holy kick in the pants, Batman! Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter, it gave my inspiration such a poke that I managed to finish a large chapter in pretty much one go, and rewrote a scene that desperately needed it. Now I just need to fill in all the placeholders I put all over certain scenes, and I'm on track again!
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Part 15
Darius rode up to the stelae but did not cross into the circle delimiting the Kazanstar border; instead, he shouted until the passer stepped out onto the flat rooftop of the two-story inn fifty meters away, and then he shouted some more until he got his question across.
Ryou was hanging even further back, trying not to look anxious, furtive or guilty. He didn't make out what the passer hollered back. It was when Darius rode back that Ryou learned that all their hurry had been for naught; the Path to Essin was closed, something about the war. The Path to Anwat, the neighboring province, would lead them close enough to make their way to Essin, but could not be traveled for another three days.
"At least it isn’t three dozen," said Darius, trying to take it philosophically with only mitigated success. Ryou understood his companion's urgency get back, though he himself wasn't in any hurry to cross another border.
The days of waiting were spent quietly. A forested hill half a kilometer from the border inn gave them shelter. They made camp by a stream rushing down the slope and bisecting the circle of stones in the valley below. Darius spent that afternoon bathing and relaxing and doing martial maintenance stuff to his sword, javelin and bow, but by the next day it was obvious that Ryou's friend was constitutionally unable to sit quietly for any length of time. He was out hunting and just generally riding around most of the day after that. Ryou, by contrast, took advantage of the time to rest up, scrub his skin raw in the cold water, eat plenty of the rabbits and the tiny, wild pig Darius shot and roasted, and recoup his reserves. He’d been riding the edge of the latter for awhile now.
But mostly he sat on a rock and stared down at the circle of stones from his perch in the hills. Thinking, and trying to feel. It was perhaps a dangerous thing to do, but Ryou estimated that it was just as dangerous to not have any clue at all when next he walked one of Zaratusra's Paths. Between doing nothing and hoping for the best, or trying to gain some ascendancy over his abilities and the situation, the choice seemed obvious, particularly for a self-confessed control freak like Ryou.
The inn stood squarely in the centre of the clearing, defiantly prosaic and real despite the physicist's nightmare going on around it. A lot of people stayed there before traveling on; Ryou kept count of them and averaged it to thirty a day with a wide variance which might correspond to when a particular Path was available. Ryou idly calculated the margin of error on those crude statistics, and then how long he would have to sit here and observe before he could bring that margin down to an acceptable dimension...while deep inside, a sense he could not yet name, much less control, watched the people come and go, winking out of existence once they and the passer waded through the rushing stream. Like a radar, this inner sense sent out regular feelers as it waited for the passer to come back, and then it watched the man stroll over the dry grasses and rocks in a zigzag path that should make no sense at all, and yet spoke to Ryou on a level too deep inside to clearly distinguish...
"Damn, you should have seen the size of the buck that got away!" exclaimed Darius, and Ryou realized that his banal sense of hearing had registered the clip-clop of horse hooves for a few minutes now. "If only I had a decent beater to get the bloody animal to go up the gulley...Are you still feeling tired?"
"A little," answered Ryou, hoping to avoid getting dragged off to hunt tomorrow.
From the way Darius was studying him with faint concern, that had not been his intention. "Considering what you told me about the Inlands, I'm surprised you held up so far. Would it help if we went to that village the passer mentioned and let you rest in a proper bed for a night or two? It's only three miles away."
"Oh no, I’m fine," Ryou said contradictorily. Between roughing it out a few more days, and sleeping in a village as dirty as Kegsum and others he’d seen, Ryou was ready to heed the call of the wild.
Darius studied Ryou and decided to take that at face value. "For the best, then," he said, unfastening the girth of his horse. "Any place near a border is expensive."
Ryou looked at him in surprise. "I thought we were camping out here for discretion, so that your enemies won't get wind of us."
"That too, but I don’t want to waste money. With any luck we’ll be with Assyrian troops in three days time, but no man can tell what the Gods write in their tablets on his subject."
Darius was cautious that way, always an eye out for supplies, food, shelter and defenses like a good soldier and one used to living in a land with no convenience stores, visas and safety nets. If all else failed, he could live off the land for awhile and make do that way. Ryou was acutely aware of how helpless he was by contrast. He'd be hard-pressed to earn a living even if he stuck to the cities of the Outlands. He could not do the simplest manual task most of these primitive cultures required, either through lack of strength or knowledge, and though the merchants of Palis were reputed for their business acumen, they probably couldn’t use a financial expert of his kind. Since he had no clue what the gods were putting on his tablet, maybe he should-
"If you’re not too tired, do you want to go hunting tomorrow?"
...-should start learning how to flush deer out of gulleys, it seemed...
The day after an exhausting hunt in which they almost got that buck, they made their way to the border inn just before nightfall. They had to stay in the inn for the night if they wanted to take the dawn Path, but by common accord they slept in turns and only lightly, even though Darius had told Ryou that nothing should happen until they crossed the river and took the Path tomorrow.
The Path to Anwat was busy; half a dozen people crossed with Darius and Ryou the next morning at dawn. The passer was a portly young man with the overbearing manner of a bus conductor who won't ruin his schedule for one passenger's sake. Ryou would have still felt terrible if the man had gotten himself devoured by eldritch creatures, so he kept a close watch on his own mind and senses as he waded across the fast-running stream.
"Nothing happened," he breathed once he and Darius were past the stone circle.
"Are you okay?" Darius asked dryly.
"Just dizzy. From the...you know." It'd felt like falling off a cliff once more, though this time Ryou had managed to keep to his feet rather than taking a nose-dive into the water.
"I was talking about the strain in your back and shoulders." Darius's hand landed at the base of Ryou's neck and gave it a quick teasing squeeze. "You looked like you're about to break like glass."
Ryou thought Darius sounded mighty flippant for a man who'd been just as wound up while crossing the rill. But the nervous tension and the effort he'd expended trying to control a part of himself he barely understood had drained him.
"So this is Aksum," was all he said as he got up on his horse - he could manage without help these past few days - and glanced around. "It looks a lot like Palis. A little greener."
Darius gave his surroundings a comfortable look. "Assyria is a lot like this as well."
"...Who are all these people?"
The circle of stone was surrounded at a distance by an even larger circle made of tents, firepits, impromptu paddocks with a few livestock, wagons, hand-drawn carts and people. A few gave Ryou a disinterested glance and returned to their pots, animals, children and business.
"Refugees waiting to walk a Path, or just people sticking to where it's safer. Essin is at war, has been for awhile. A group of soldiers might pillage these farmers' animals and pay with wooden talents; bandits won't even leave them that. No army would dare besiege or interfere with a border, though, so they're safe here, but they're not allowed closer unless they're actually traveling and willing to pay the fare."
Darius was about to add something else when he tensed and let his hand drop to his sword. Ryou followed the direction of his gaze to see half a dozen armed men on horseback circling the tents and wagons, making their way towards the pair of them.
"Who-"
"It's okay, I think," said Darius, relaxing a fraction. "They're king's men, from Aksum. They're on our side. Greetings, friend," Darius added to the man in the lead.
At Darius's words, there was a certain loss of tension on the other side too. The soldiers stopped carrying their javelins in a way that suggested they were a scant second away from using them. They were not wearing uniforms, their armor was disparate - Ryou had had a flashback to Gex and Gaius - but they all had small shields and thin round metal helmets bearing the same motif of highly stylized sheathes of wheat. The man at the front had a short cape made of sheep skin with the wool still on it, despite the rising heat of the day.
"Assyria?" he said, looking over Darius in surprise. "What the hell are you doing coming through here?"
"I've traveled through from Tot," said Darius, an explanation that explained absolutely nothing, but he said it with a business-like assurance which made it hard to point that out. "Is Essin still under siege by the armies of the Alliance?"
"Last I heard, yeah, but we've been on patrol for the past four days. They blocked the river five days ago, so it'll be coming to a head any day now. Who are you, which army do you belong to?"
"My name is Darius, my mother's name was Polenius. I'm one of Ghan's Hounds. And you are?"
The leader of the Aksum patrol had drawn his horse up side by side with Darius to talk; he was close enough for Ryou to note the widening of eyes when Darius mentioned his unit. Ryou measured what Darius had meant when he said the Hounds struck fear; even their allies treated them with cautious respect, it seemed.
"Huh...I'm Macedini from Daksosor, watchword officer. Um..." the patrol leader glanced from Darius to the Gates and back again. He looked like he had a mighty big question to ask but was now unsure he really wanted to ask it. Ryou felt for him; there were no papers in these Outland countries, no ID, no written and carbon-copied orders, not even a set of dogtags to back up Darius's claim of being an Assyrian soldier. Neither was there radio communication to their leaders, most of whom were several days away. Ryou briefly wondered how these ancient armies could even function...
"I have some important information for the General and Lord Ghan," Darius continued on briskly. "Can I get through? How are the lines?"
"Well, that's why we're here," said Macedini. "The lines are fast between Essin and Miribel, but there's been reports of small troop movements along the river road and around the Essin border. We're supposed to check anyone coming through Anwat who's obviously not a farmer, and detain anyone who's from the Imperium or from Kaides for interrogation."
"Kaides?" Darius's eyes narrowed. "Interrogation by whom? Who gave you that order?"
The patrol leader hesitated, but there was an air about Darius that did not invite the answer, "Why the hell should I tell you when I don't even know if I should be arresting you for being suspicious or not."
"Um, it was an Assyrian freeman. I don't think he was a soldier. But he carried sealed orders from General Terentius so my commander set up our patrols. He was one of King Leyam's men. Rand the Khinite, I think they call him-"
"Rand?! Rand is at Essin?" Darius leaned forward on his horse in sudden eagerness.
"Uh, yes-"
"I should have known he'd show up out of nowhere and take charge of this mess." A brilliant smile lit Darius's features. "Inder personally guides that man's footsteps. That's even better. Come on, Ryou, we need to get to Essin as soon as possible."
"Um-" said the patrol leader. He had his hand on his sword's hilt but a very dubitative look on his face.
"If there's enemy patrols and scouts around, can you and your men ride with us to Essin?" asked Darius, turning on the man.
"What? Er, no, our orders- we're being relieved in two days, we could escort you then."
"That's too long. Never mind, we'll manage. If Rand's there and up to date on the situation, he'll have other patrols out. Come on, Ryou. Oh, how do I get to the Alliance headquarters? Are they still on the banks of the river?"
Macedini's mouth was open and a helpless look plastered over his face. The five men behind him were looking from him to Darius, equally uncertain. "Uh, yes."
"We'll just follow the river road, then, it's the only passable route from Anwat to Essin anyway, I remember from my maps. I was here less than a month ago," Darius added with a bemused shake of the head. "A lot's happened since. Carry on, Macedini from Daksosor, and next time I see Commander Zossen in Aksum I'll mention your name."
Macedini made a sort of "Whu?" sound behind them. Darius had already kicked his horse into a trot and Ryou's had followed.
"We're nearly there," said Darius as he led Ryou past a broken-down wagon abandoned by the side of the road. The terrain between the two provinces was very rough, boggy and craggy in turn, but the ancient road that had been carved through that terrain centuries ago had facilitated their progress. They hadn't seen a single fellow traveler since they'd crossed into Aksum yesterday morning. Anybody who was going to cut and run out of Essin had already done so. It was now mid afternoon, the rough terrain had given way to fields and meadows these past two hours, the river the road had paralleled for the past day and a half had slowed and broadened, and Ryou was looking forward to a future where he would not have to ride a horse or otherwise travel and camp out for a few days.
"So the Empire of Aksum is as large as Assyria, and Anwat and Essin are just two of its provinces," Ryou recapitulated. They were alternating stretches of trotting and walking the horses, the latter allowing for a modicum of conversation.
"Yeah. Like Assyria, Aksum started as a city-state built by refugees from an ancient Inland empire. Kush, if I recall. And like Assyria, Aksum eventually spread and engulfed its weaker neighbors. That was a thousand years ago or more. Most people can't remember where the lines of the old countries are anymore, except there's a Path starting in the center of each province that used to be an independent territory. Except when some Imperial snake infiltrates our lands and finds those satraps and lords who are ready to forget who their master really is, and who think they can break off of the father land and become their own country again with the Imperium's support."
"But why is it the Assyrian army and the Free City army of Terentius who are attacking Essin if we're in Aksum?"
Darius gave Ryou an appraising look. "You caught that, huh? It's politics. The leader of Essin is pro-Imperial to the hilt. He's been a major thorn in Leyam's side for ages because Essin is a powerful province, and the capital city Essin is sitting near a border that's a major trade route through Zarathusra's Paths. It's been a point of access into Aksum and then into Assyria for the Imperium these past twenty years. But the problem is that Lord Sezerena of Essin is the leader of an important faction of provincial lords, and he's also King Ka of Aksum's brother-in-law."
"Oh."
"So the Alliance sent an emissary bedecked in gold and purple, carrying gems and mhyrr, and officially asked Essin to freely let us take the trade Paths, and stop letting Imperial Legions pass through any way they pleased and camp on his land. Lord Sezerena sent back a lyrical ten-page letter of refusal. So we asked King Ka if he didn't mind if we came in and trounced the bastard. King Ka said he deeply regretted the necessity, but he could see his precious allies had been pushed past all endurance by Essin's stubborn refusal to cooperate; the only thing that he asked was that Lord Sezerena be delivered to him alive, if the fortune of wars allowed it. That's political code for 'Slit that Roman arse-licker's throat for me, and I'll deal with my sister.' She's fortunately at the Imperial city of Aksum, so we won't even have to worry about her. Once Essin is down, that'll be the main line of troop and equipment supplies into Aksum broken. After that, we just have to take care of the pro-Roman provinces in Assyria and Aksum individually; they got complacent and quarrelsome and didn't see the danger until it was too late. This is the result of King Leyam's overall plan; they said we could never be free of the Imperium in our lifetime, and now we could end this war in a year."
Ryou hadn't known a war in his lifetime, not one involving anyone he knew. Darius's intensity was fascinating and a little alarming. So this was what it was like to fight for one's sovereign and country...
The fierce light flickered and died in Darius's eyes. "Hey, Ryou..."
"Hmm?"
His friend was looking at him as if he had something difficult to say. "We'll be at the fork of the river Koskal pretty damn soon. It looks like I'll be able to get you home after all. But I should probably tell you a few things about my situation...I've not said a lot about myself. You never asked."
"You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to," said Ryou, while 'going home' echoed in his mind in a way that was not entirely comfortable.
"Yeah, well..." Darius scratched his beard, which had grown raggedy in the two weeks since Ryou had saved his life in a construction site with a Nissan. "Tell you the truth, I don't know why I didn't tell you before. It's been awhile now that I knew I could trust you, and you're going to find out sooner or later, but I guess I just liked-"
Later, Ryou would remember he heard a dry 'tack!' sound over the rush of the river and the clop of the horses' hooves.
Something swished by a meter in front of him. Ryou's horse snorted and reared, and the ground, sky and river interchanged their respective positions. Then Ryou crashed into the rocks and dirt of the road. His right arm took most of the impact- a wet crunch sent sick shockwaves throughout his body.
"Ryou!"
Ryou curled up around the pain in his arm.
"Ryou, get up!"
Tack....swish...thunk!
That noise- An image of Gex staggering back with an arrow in his throat came vividly to Ryou's mind and prompted him to focus in a hurry.
An arrow was quivering in the ground ten meters away. Ryou glanced around wildly, but he couldn't see the shooter. Darius, sword drawn, had swung his horse around and was interposed between Ryou and the river. The river. The shooter was on the other side of the-
"Ryou-" Darius ducked. Ryou didn't see the arrow, but heard another thunk behind him, nearer this time. The river was high and very wide around here, almost two hundred meters to the other side, the archers were having a hard time adjusting their shots.
Ryou scrambled to his feet. Darius had managed to snag his horse's reins. The animal was rolling its eyes, and danced away when Ryou staggered towards it. Ryou used some of the words Darius had inadvertently taught him these past few days, and managed to catch the pommel with his left hand.
The pain was coming in waves, almost bearable at times, at others overwhelming. He didn't know how he managed to get onto his horse, but when he blinked away the darkness smothering his head, they were galloping away from the water and across the ruts of a fallow field, Darius still holding on to his reins, the spare gelding following out of herd instinct. There might have been more arrow impacts behind him, it was impossible to hear above the thud of hooves through ploughed dirt. Ryou clung to the horse for all he was worth and concentrated on not passing out.
After five minutes made of pain and darkness, Darius pulled on his reins and slowly brought the horses to a stop.
"Where are you injured?" he asked tersely, bringing his mount around so he could look over at Ryou.
"Huh..." Ryou held out his wrist, which was already swelling; the fingers were pale and useless. His head and right shoulder also hurt, but that was just bruises.
"Shit," Darius muttered. He leaned over and moved without hesitation, straightening out Ryou's right arm with a smooth but undeniable motion. Ryou ground his teeth together and focused every ounce of his concentration and willpower on the pommel to avoid being washed away by unconsciousness. Darius unfastened and transferred the scabbard of Ryou's dagger from the left forearm to the right, tying the flat leather straps around the swelling with two scabbards, Ryou's and the sheath of Darius's own short dagger, bound on either side to make a rough splint.
"That'll keep the bone from grinding too much." His eyes were flicking ceaselessly from what he was doing to the countryside around them.
"Who...why did they shoot at us?"
"I made a mistake. I should have pulled rank and gotten Macedini to escort us, and fuck discretion. I knew they were not going to let me live with what I know." Darius's face was frightening with intensity and a murderous aura he'd not had when facing those deserters over a week ago.
"They were on the other side of the river. We left them behind. Right?" Ryou had slumped forward in his saddle, cradling his right arm with his left. He and Darius were going to be alright now. Right?
"There's no ford for miles, but they wouldn't have risked a pot shot if they didn't have a backup plan. That's what that signal was for; it'll bring more down on us."
"...Signal?"
"That horn blast. The kind that tells the main hunting party that the quarry's been sighted," said Darius with a humorless grin.
Ryou hadn't heard a horn, but then again the blood had been rushing through his ears at a volume that had threatened to drown him.
"What are we going to do?"
"For starters we're going to pray to Inder that the idiot tootling away back there will alert some of the patrols Rand deployed and bring an Assyrian squadron down on their heads like the wrath of Assur himself. Next..." Darius didn't say what he was going to do next, but he kicked his horse to turn him back around, reached for Ryou's dangling reins and tugged. His eyes were raking the countryside around them. He headed towards the third gelding, cut loose the packs from the saddle with his sword and then picked up the animal's long lead again.
"Come on, let's get as far as the Furies and those shit-licking bastards let us," he said.
Every jolt of the horse was a thud of pain for Ryou. He counted them, just to give his mind something to focus on. Darius found a farmer's path they could follow without losing sight of the river, and they broke into a gallop. It was actually easier on Ryou than the jagged trot that'd preceded it, though his horse didn't like it from the snorts and short complaining whicker.
Two thousand one hundred and forty two hoof beats later a horn blew, sudden and jarring and quite near.
Darius cursed and drew up, glancing around. Three fields away, what looked to Ryou like an entire army of mounted men were flowing across a hilly meadow.
"There they are. Fuck me, there's only five of them," Darius added, and that smile was back, that wicked cut of a grin that held no fear, no regrets. "Well, well, well, that's almost an insult. Ryou, I'm going to need your help one more time."
"What can I do?" Ryou asked immediately. He trusted Darius to know what was in his capabilities.
Darius gave him a crooked smile and there was a light that was both warm and pained in his eyes that Ryou had never seen there before. "Ready as always, heh? Ei, Ryou, what am I going to do with you." And then Darius the soldier, the survivor, was jabbing an authoritative finger in the direction away from their attackers. "I'm going to lead them after me. Follow the river. Ride as fast as you can."
"You'll be a decoy?! But-"
"Don't worry!" Darius shouted, he was already five meters away, still leading the spare gelding. "You know by now I'm not the self-sacrificing kind! I have two horses, I can lead them on a merry chase. And when I get bored of that, I can fight! I'll stay within a mile of the river. Go get help! Ask for Rand the Khinite- Terrentius- Ghan, fuck, anybody! Tell them-" the words were lost in a thunder of hoofbeats- "Ghan- enemies from Kaides- out here-" Then he was out of range.
"But-"
Ryou bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and whipped his horse's head around. The riders behind him were within arrow shot, though they'd have to stop to shoot at him if he remembered Darius's lessons in antique warfare correctly; there was not enough stability in these ancient saddles and stirrups to draw back correctly while in motion.
The horse galloped on. The pain in his arm squeezed Ryou's heart, but his mind was clear and full of a cold concentration. He did not like Darius's plan, but he had to admit it was probably their best option if they both wanted to survive.
The riders didn't follow or split up to send someone after him. Had they recognized Darius? He and Ryou were dressed much the same- but if this was the enemy that had attacked Darius before and somehow dropped him into the no man's land of the Inlands, they might have recognized him. Either way, they left Ryou alone and all went after Darius, and that left Ryou with the responsibility to go fetch help.
TBC...
As you can imagine, next two chapters heat up a bit.
Link to all chapters
Part 15
Darius rode up to the stelae but did not cross into the circle delimiting the Kazanstar border; instead, he shouted until the passer stepped out onto the flat rooftop of the two-story inn fifty meters away, and then he shouted some more until he got his question across.
Ryou was hanging even further back, trying not to look anxious, furtive or guilty. He didn't make out what the passer hollered back. It was when Darius rode back that Ryou learned that all their hurry had been for naught; the Path to Essin was closed, something about the war. The Path to Anwat, the neighboring province, would lead them close enough to make their way to Essin, but could not be traveled for another three days.
"At least it isn’t three dozen," said Darius, trying to take it philosophically with only mitigated success. Ryou understood his companion's urgency get back, though he himself wasn't in any hurry to cross another border.
The days of waiting were spent quietly. A forested hill half a kilometer from the border inn gave them shelter. They made camp by a stream rushing down the slope and bisecting the circle of stones in the valley below. Darius spent that afternoon bathing and relaxing and doing martial maintenance stuff to his sword, javelin and bow, but by the next day it was obvious that Ryou's friend was constitutionally unable to sit quietly for any length of time. He was out hunting and just generally riding around most of the day after that. Ryou, by contrast, took advantage of the time to rest up, scrub his skin raw in the cold water, eat plenty of the rabbits and the tiny, wild pig Darius shot and roasted, and recoup his reserves. He’d been riding the edge of the latter for awhile now.
But mostly he sat on a rock and stared down at the circle of stones from his perch in the hills. Thinking, and trying to feel. It was perhaps a dangerous thing to do, but Ryou estimated that it was just as dangerous to not have any clue at all when next he walked one of Zaratusra's Paths. Between doing nothing and hoping for the best, or trying to gain some ascendancy over his abilities and the situation, the choice seemed obvious, particularly for a self-confessed control freak like Ryou.
The inn stood squarely in the centre of the clearing, defiantly prosaic and real despite the physicist's nightmare going on around it. A lot of people stayed there before traveling on; Ryou kept count of them and averaged it to thirty a day with a wide variance which might correspond to when a particular Path was available. Ryou idly calculated the margin of error on those crude statistics, and then how long he would have to sit here and observe before he could bring that margin down to an acceptable dimension...while deep inside, a sense he could not yet name, much less control, watched the people come and go, winking out of existence once they and the passer waded through the rushing stream. Like a radar, this inner sense sent out regular feelers as it waited for the passer to come back, and then it watched the man stroll over the dry grasses and rocks in a zigzag path that should make no sense at all, and yet spoke to Ryou on a level too deep inside to clearly distinguish...
"Damn, you should have seen the size of the buck that got away!" exclaimed Darius, and Ryou realized that his banal sense of hearing had registered the clip-clop of horse hooves for a few minutes now. "If only I had a decent beater to get the bloody animal to go up the gulley...Are you still feeling tired?"
"A little," answered Ryou, hoping to avoid getting dragged off to hunt tomorrow.
From the way Darius was studying him with faint concern, that had not been his intention. "Considering what you told me about the Inlands, I'm surprised you held up so far. Would it help if we went to that village the passer mentioned and let you rest in a proper bed for a night or two? It's only three miles away."
"Oh no, I’m fine," Ryou said contradictorily. Between roughing it out a few more days, and sleeping in a village as dirty as Kegsum and others he’d seen, Ryou was ready to heed the call of the wild.
Darius studied Ryou and decided to take that at face value. "For the best, then," he said, unfastening the girth of his horse. "Any place near a border is expensive."
Ryou looked at him in surprise. "I thought we were camping out here for discretion, so that your enemies won't get wind of us."
"That too, but I don’t want to waste money. With any luck we’ll be with Assyrian troops in three days time, but no man can tell what the Gods write in their tablets on his subject."
Darius was cautious that way, always an eye out for supplies, food, shelter and defenses like a good soldier and one used to living in a land with no convenience stores, visas and safety nets. If all else failed, he could live off the land for awhile and make do that way. Ryou was acutely aware of how helpless he was by contrast. He'd be hard-pressed to earn a living even if he stuck to the cities of the Outlands. He could not do the simplest manual task most of these primitive cultures required, either through lack of strength or knowledge, and though the merchants of Palis were reputed for their business acumen, they probably couldn’t use a financial expert of his kind. Since he had no clue what the gods were putting on his tablet, maybe he should-
"If you’re not too tired, do you want to go hunting tomorrow?"
...-should start learning how to flush deer out of gulleys, it seemed...
The day after an exhausting hunt in which they almost got that buck, they made their way to the border inn just before nightfall. They had to stay in the inn for the night if they wanted to take the dawn Path, but by common accord they slept in turns and only lightly, even though Darius had told Ryou that nothing should happen until they crossed the river and took the Path tomorrow.
The Path to Anwat was busy; half a dozen people crossed with Darius and Ryou the next morning at dawn. The passer was a portly young man with the overbearing manner of a bus conductor who won't ruin his schedule for one passenger's sake. Ryou would have still felt terrible if the man had gotten himself devoured by eldritch creatures, so he kept a close watch on his own mind and senses as he waded across the fast-running stream.
"Nothing happened," he breathed once he and Darius were past the stone circle.
"Are you okay?" Darius asked dryly.
"Just dizzy. From the...you know." It'd felt like falling off a cliff once more, though this time Ryou had managed to keep to his feet rather than taking a nose-dive into the water.
"I was talking about the strain in your back and shoulders." Darius's hand landed at the base of Ryou's neck and gave it a quick teasing squeeze. "You looked like you're about to break like glass."
Ryou thought Darius sounded mighty flippant for a man who'd been just as wound up while crossing the rill. But the nervous tension and the effort he'd expended trying to control a part of himself he barely understood had drained him.
"So this is Aksum," was all he said as he got up on his horse - he could manage without help these past few days - and glanced around. "It looks a lot like Palis. A little greener."
Darius gave his surroundings a comfortable look. "Assyria is a lot like this as well."
"...Who are all these people?"
The circle of stone was surrounded at a distance by an even larger circle made of tents, firepits, impromptu paddocks with a few livestock, wagons, hand-drawn carts and people. A few gave Ryou a disinterested glance and returned to their pots, animals, children and business.
"Refugees waiting to walk a Path, or just people sticking to where it's safer. Essin is at war, has been for awhile. A group of soldiers might pillage these farmers' animals and pay with wooden talents; bandits won't even leave them that. No army would dare besiege or interfere with a border, though, so they're safe here, but they're not allowed closer unless they're actually traveling and willing to pay the fare."
Darius was about to add something else when he tensed and let his hand drop to his sword. Ryou followed the direction of his gaze to see half a dozen armed men on horseback circling the tents and wagons, making their way towards the pair of them.
"Who-"
"It's okay, I think," said Darius, relaxing a fraction. "They're king's men, from Aksum. They're on our side. Greetings, friend," Darius added to the man in the lead.
At Darius's words, there was a certain loss of tension on the other side too. The soldiers stopped carrying their javelins in a way that suggested they were a scant second away from using them. They were not wearing uniforms, their armor was disparate - Ryou had had a flashback to Gex and Gaius - but they all had small shields and thin round metal helmets bearing the same motif of highly stylized sheathes of wheat. The man at the front had a short cape made of sheep skin with the wool still on it, despite the rising heat of the day.
"Assyria?" he said, looking over Darius in surprise. "What the hell are you doing coming through here?"
"I've traveled through from Tot," said Darius, an explanation that explained absolutely nothing, but he said it with a business-like assurance which made it hard to point that out. "Is Essin still under siege by the armies of the Alliance?"
"Last I heard, yeah, but we've been on patrol for the past four days. They blocked the river five days ago, so it'll be coming to a head any day now. Who are you, which army do you belong to?"
"My name is Darius, my mother's name was Polenius. I'm one of Ghan's Hounds. And you are?"
The leader of the Aksum patrol had drawn his horse up side by side with Darius to talk; he was close enough for Ryou to note the widening of eyes when Darius mentioned his unit. Ryou measured what Darius had meant when he said the Hounds struck fear; even their allies treated them with cautious respect, it seemed.
"Huh...I'm Macedini from Daksosor, watchword officer. Um..." the patrol leader glanced from Darius to the Gates and back again. He looked like he had a mighty big question to ask but was now unsure he really wanted to ask it. Ryou felt for him; there were no papers in these Outland countries, no ID, no written and carbon-copied orders, not even a set of dogtags to back up Darius's claim of being an Assyrian soldier. Neither was there radio communication to their leaders, most of whom were several days away. Ryou briefly wondered how these ancient armies could even function...
"I have some important information for the General and Lord Ghan," Darius continued on briskly. "Can I get through? How are the lines?"
"Well, that's why we're here," said Macedini. "The lines are fast between Essin and Miribel, but there's been reports of small troop movements along the river road and around the Essin border. We're supposed to check anyone coming through Anwat who's obviously not a farmer, and detain anyone who's from the Imperium or from Kaides for interrogation."
"Kaides?" Darius's eyes narrowed. "Interrogation by whom? Who gave you that order?"
The patrol leader hesitated, but there was an air about Darius that did not invite the answer, "Why the hell should I tell you when I don't even know if I should be arresting you for being suspicious or not."
"Um, it was an Assyrian freeman. I don't think he was a soldier. But he carried sealed orders from General Terentius so my commander set up our patrols. He was one of King Leyam's men. Rand the Khinite, I think they call him-"
"Rand?! Rand is at Essin?" Darius leaned forward on his horse in sudden eagerness.
"Uh, yes-"
"I should have known he'd show up out of nowhere and take charge of this mess." A brilliant smile lit Darius's features. "Inder personally guides that man's footsteps. That's even better. Come on, Ryou, we need to get to Essin as soon as possible."
"Um-" said the patrol leader. He had his hand on his sword's hilt but a very dubitative look on his face.
"If there's enemy patrols and scouts around, can you and your men ride with us to Essin?" asked Darius, turning on the man.
"What? Er, no, our orders- we're being relieved in two days, we could escort you then."
"That's too long. Never mind, we'll manage. If Rand's there and up to date on the situation, he'll have other patrols out. Come on, Ryou. Oh, how do I get to the Alliance headquarters? Are they still on the banks of the river?"
Macedini's mouth was open and a helpless look plastered over his face. The five men behind him were looking from him to Darius, equally uncertain. "Uh, yes."
"We'll just follow the river road, then, it's the only passable route from Anwat to Essin anyway, I remember from my maps. I was here less than a month ago," Darius added with a bemused shake of the head. "A lot's happened since. Carry on, Macedini from Daksosor, and next time I see Commander Zossen in Aksum I'll mention your name."
Macedini made a sort of "Whu?" sound behind them. Darius had already kicked his horse into a trot and Ryou's had followed.
"We're nearly there," said Darius as he led Ryou past a broken-down wagon abandoned by the side of the road. The terrain between the two provinces was very rough, boggy and craggy in turn, but the ancient road that had been carved through that terrain centuries ago had facilitated their progress. They hadn't seen a single fellow traveler since they'd crossed into Aksum yesterday morning. Anybody who was going to cut and run out of Essin had already done so. It was now mid afternoon, the rough terrain had given way to fields and meadows these past two hours, the river the road had paralleled for the past day and a half had slowed and broadened, and Ryou was looking forward to a future where he would not have to ride a horse or otherwise travel and camp out for a few days.
"So the Empire of Aksum is as large as Assyria, and Anwat and Essin are just two of its provinces," Ryou recapitulated. They were alternating stretches of trotting and walking the horses, the latter allowing for a modicum of conversation.
"Yeah. Like Assyria, Aksum started as a city-state built by refugees from an ancient Inland empire. Kush, if I recall. And like Assyria, Aksum eventually spread and engulfed its weaker neighbors. That was a thousand years ago or more. Most people can't remember where the lines of the old countries are anymore, except there's a Path starting in the center of each province that used to be an independent territory. Except when some Imperial snake infiltrates our lands and finds those satraps and lords who are ready to forget who their master really is, and who think they can break off of the father land and become their own country again with the Imperium's support."
"But why is it the Assyrian army and the Free City army of Terentius who are attacking Essin if we're in Aksum?"
Darius gave Ryou an appraising look. "You caught that, huh? It's politics. The leader of Essin is pro-Imperial to the hilt. He's been a major thorn in Leyam's side for ages because Essin is a powerful province, and the capital city Essin is sitting near a border that's a major trade route through Zarathusra's Paths. It's been a point of access into Aksum and then into Assyria for the Imperium these past twenty years. But the problem is that Lord Sezerena of Essin is the leader of an important faction of provincial lords, and he's also King Ka of Aksum's brother-in-law."
"Oh."
"So the Alliance sent an emissary bedecked in gold and purple, carrying gems and mhyrr, and officially asked Essin to freely let us take the trade Paths, and stop letting Imperial Legions pass through any way they pleased and camp on his land. Lord Sezerena sent back a lyrical ten-page letter of refusal. So we asked King Ka if he didn't mind if we came in and trounced the bastard. King Ka said he deeply regretted the necessity, but he could see his precious allies had been pushed past all endurance by Essin's stubborn refusal to cooperate; the only thing that he asked was that Lord Sezerena be delivered to him alive, if the fortune of wars allowed it. That's political code for 'Slit that Roman arse-licker's throat for me, and I'll deal with my sister.' She's fortunately at the Imperial city of Aksum, so we won't even have to worry about her. Once Essin is down, that'll be the main line of troop and equipment supplies into Aksum broken. After that, we just have to take care of the pro-Roman provinces in Assyria and Aksum individually; they got complacent and quarrelsome and didn't see the danger until it was too late. This is the result of King Leyam's overall plan; they said we could never be free of the Imperium in our lifetime, and now we could end this war in a year."
Ryou hadn't known a war in his lifetime, not one involving anyone he knew. Darius's intensity was fascinating and a little alarming. So this was what it was like to fight for one's sovereign and country...
The fierce light flickered and died in Darius's eyes. "Hey, Ryou..."
"Hmm?"
His friend was looking at him as if he had something difficult to say. "We'll be at the fork of the river Koskal pretty damn soon. It looks like I'll be able to get you home after all. But I should probably tell you a few things about my situation...I've not said a lot about myself. You never asked."
"You don't have to tell me now if you don't want to," said Ryou, while 'going home' echoed in his mind in a way that was not entirely comfortable.
"Yeah, well..." Darius scratched his beard, which had grown raggedy in the two weeks since Ryou had saved his life in a construction site with a Nissan. "Tell you the truth, I don't know why I didn't tell you before. It's been awhile now that I knew I could trust you, and you're going to find out sooner or later, but I guess I just liked-"
Later, Ryou would remember he heard a dry 'tack!' sound over the rush of the river and the clop of the horses' hooves.
Something swished by a meter in front of him. Ryou's horse snorted and reared, and the ground, sky and river interchanged their respective positions. Then Ryou crashed into the rocks and dirt of the road. His right arm took most of the impact- a wet crunch sent sick shockwaves throughout his body.
"Ryou!"
Ryou curled up around the pain in his arm.
"Ryou, get up!"
Tack....swish...thunk!
That noise- An image of Gex staggering back with an arrow in his throat came vividly to Ryou's mind and prompted him to focus in a hurry.
An arrow was quivering in the ground ten meters away. Ryou glanced around wildly, but he couldn't see the shooter. Darius, sword drawn, had swung his horse around and was interposed between Ryou and the river. The river. The shooter was on the other side of the-
"Ryou-" Darius ducked. Ryou didn't see the arrow, but heard another thunk behind him, nearer this time. The river was high and very wide around here, almost two hundred meters to the other side, the archers were having a hard time adjusting their shots.
Ryou scrambled to his feet. Darius had managed to snag his horse's reins. The animal was rolling its eyes, and danced away when Ryou staggered towards it. Ryou used some of the words Darius had inadvertently taught him these past few days, and managed to catch the pommel with his left hand.
The pain was coming in waves, almost bearable at times, at others overwhelming. He didn't know how he managed to get onto his horse, but when he blinked away the darkness smothering his head, they were galloping away from the water and across the ruts of a fallow field, Darius still holding on to his reins, the spare gelding following out of herd instinct. There might have been more arrow impacts behind him, it was impossible to hear above the thud of hooves through ploughed dirt. Ryou clung to the horse for all he was worth and concentrated on not passing out.
After five minutes made of pain and darkness, Darius pulled on his reins and slowly brought the horses to a stop.
"Where are you injured?" he asked tersely, bringing his mount around so he could look over at Ryou.
"Huh..." Ryou held out his wrist, which was already swelling; the fingers were pale and useless. His head and right shoulder also hurt, but that was just bruises.
"Shit," Darius muttered. He leaned over and moved without hesitation, straightening out Ryou's right arm with a smooth but undeniable motion. Ryou ground his teeth together and focused every ounce of his concentration and willpower on the pommel to avoid being washed away by unconsciousness. Darius unfastened and transferred the scabbard of Ryou's dagger from the left forearm to the right, tying the flat leather straps around the swelling with two scabbards, Ryou's and the sheath of Darius's own short dagger, bound on either side to make a rough splint.
"That'll keep the bone from grinding too much." His eyes were flicking ceaselessly from what he was doing to the countryside around them.
"Who...why did they shoot at us?"
"I made a mistake. I should have pulled rank and gotten Macedini to escort us, and fuck discretion. I knew they were not going to let me live with what I know." Darius's face was frightening with intensity and a murderous aura he'd not had when facing those deserters over a week ago.
"They were on the other side of the river. We left them behind. Right?" Ryou had slumped forward in his saddle, cradling his right arm with his left. He and Darius were going to be alright now. Right?
"There's no ford for miles, but they wouldn't have risked a pot shot if they didn't have a backup plan. That's what that signal was for; it'll bring more down on us."
"...Signal?"
"That horn blast. The kind that tells the main hunting party that the quarry's been sighted," said Darius with a humorless grin.
Ryou hadn't heard a horn, but then again the blood had been rushing through his ears at a volume that had threatened to drown him.
"What are we going to do?"
"For starters we're going to pray to Inder that the idiot tootling away back there will alert some of the patrols Rand deployed and bring an Assyrian squadron down on their heads like the wrath of Assur himself. Next..." Darius didn't say what he was going to do next, but he kicked his horse to turn him back around, reached for Ryou's dangling reins and tugged. His eyes were raking the countryside around them. He headed towards the third gelding, cut loose the packs from the saddle with his sword and then picked up the animal's long lead again.
"Come on, let's get as far as the Furies and those shit-licking bastards let us," he said.
Every jolt of the horse was a thud of pain for Ryou. He counted them, just to give his mind something to focus on. Darius found a farmer's path they could follow without losing sight of the river, and they broke into a gallop. It was actually easier on Ryou than the jagged trot that'd preceded it, though his horse didn't like it from the snorts and short complaining whicker.
Two thousand one hundred and forty two hoof beats later a horn blew, sudden and jarring and quite near.
Darius cursed and drew up, glancing around. Three fields away, what looked to Ryou like an entire army of mounted men were flowing across a hilly meadow.
"There they are. Fuck me, there's only five of them," Darius added, and that smile was back, that wicked cut of a grin that held no fear, no regrets. "Well, well, well, that's almost an insult. Ryou, I'm going to need your help one more time."
"What can I do?" Ryou asked immediately. He trusted Darius to know what was in his capabilities.
Darius gave him a crooked smile and there was a light that was both warm and pained in his eyes that Ryou had never seen there before. "Ready as always, heh? Ei, Ryou, what am I going to do with you." And then Darius the soldier, the survivor, was jabbing an authoritative finger in the direction away from their attackers. "I'm going to lead them after me. Follow the river. Ride as fast as you can."
"You'll be a decoy?! But-"
"Don't worry!" Darius shouted, he was already five meters away, still leading the spare gelding. "You know by now I'm not the self-sacrificing kind! I have two horses, I can lead them on a merry chase. And when I get bored of that, I can fight! I'll stay within a mile of the river. Go get help! Ask for Rand the Khinite- Terrentius- Ghan, fuck, anybody! Tell them-" the words were lost in a thunder of hoofbeats- "Ghan- enemies from Kaides- out here-" Then he was out of range.
"But-"
Ryou bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and whipped his horse's head around. The riders behind him were within arrow shot, though they'd have to stop to shoot at him if he remembered Darius's lessons in antique warfare correctly; there was not enough stability in these ancient saddles and stirrups to draw back correctly while in motion.
The horse galloped on. The pain in his arm squeezed Ryou's heart, but his mind was clear and full of a cold concentration. He did not like Darius's plan, but he had to admit it was probably their best option if they both wanted to survive.
The riders didn't follow or split up to send someone after him. Had they recognized Darius? He and Ryou were dressed much the same- but if this was the enemy that had attacked Darius before and somehow dropped him into the no man's land of the Inlands, they might have recognized him. Either way, they left Ryou alone and all went after Darius, and that left Ryou with the responsibility to go fetch help.
TBC...
As you can imagine, next two chapters heat up a bit.