For two days they remained within the copse of trees as the snow fell. At times there would come a lull in the snowfall, but with the threat of more in the clouds above, they remained within the shelter of the copse.
The dawning of the third day came with a cessation to the falling snow and a break in the cloud cover. “Looks like we might be able to continue,” Riyan said. Standing as he was at the edge of the trees, he looked out upon the snow covered landscape. Trees had their branches weighed down with accumulated snow, and where the road lay was anyone’s guess.
“Be hard to keep to the road,” commented Bart from where he stood next to Riyan. “If we leave we should do it soon,” he said. They had used up a good portion of their supplies over the last two days. Feed for their horses was almost gone, and with the snow covering everything, there wouldn’t be much in the way of foraging possibilities.
Riyan nodded. With a last look at the single patch of blue sky allowing the sun through, it looked as if the storm may be dispersing. “Let’s go,” agreed Riyan. In short order, they were mounted and leaving the copse of trees.
Outside the snow continued to fall. Kaitlyn sat at her table eating the last of a stew she had made the day before. Thoughts of Riyan plagued her, as they had every day since she and Elle went to talk with Daniel. What was he doing? Is he alright? And most important, would he have to face the Duke for thievery?
To her innermost being she knew Bart was somehow to blame for her son’s troubles. How she rued the day Riyan had ever become friends with such a boy! Oh, Bart seemed nice enough, but every time he, Riyan, and Chad got together, something would happen.
She thought back to the man who had come and tried to kill Bart while he was recovering from the poison. That experience still wakes her in a cold sweat at night, thinking the man and his friends have returned.
Glancing out the window, she looked through the falling snow to the place where she and Bart had buried the man. She now regretted going along with Bart when he said not to mention the incident to anyone. At the time it had seemed like wisdom. Now though, she felt sorrow for the unknown man lying in the ground out there. Did he have family? Was there someone who wondered what had happened to him? Was there a child who wondered if her father was ever coming home?
Maybe it was being alone too much that caused her mind to plague her with such thoughts. Raestin, the merchant who had begun to visit her from time to time, hadn’t been around for a couple months. She liked him and felt that he reciprocated the feeling. Over on a shelf near the door was a carved, wooden figurine of a sheep. He had given it to her on his return from delivering her first letter to Riyan.
She suddenly realized that her spoon had been poised motionless over her bowl for some time. Sighing, she laid it back in the bowl and got to her feet. As she began carrying her bowl over to the wash area, the sheep statue caught her eye. Without thought, she laid her bowl on the counter and went over to retrieve it.
The wood was beginning to darken from being handled so much. It seemed whenever she grew sad or lonely she would take it in her hand and caress its wood with her fingers. Somehow, it made her feel better.
She walked over to the window by the front door and stared out at the pen holding Black Face. A grin came to her as she recalled how much he had plagued her son. For that reason alone she had kept him when she sold her flock. He was really all she had left of her son other than some clothes that were still in his room, and his shepherd’s staff.
Black Face’s tail was sticking out from the shed that she had built for him. Now that he was alone out there and didn’t have other sheep to huddle with for warmth, she had built it to help keep him out of the snow.
Her thoughts once again turned to Riyan. How she missed him, the daily talks they once had, even their arguments. As her mind wandered along the paths of days long gone she continued gazing through the window.
A dark shape moving along the lane toward her home snapped her from her reverie. A smile came to her when she realized it was Freya. Glad for the company, she returned the figurine to its place on the shelf and removed her cloak from where it hung beneath the shelf.
Kaitlyn then opened the door and stepped outside into the falling snow. “Freya!” she called in greeting as she made her way into the snow.
Freya glanced up and saw her approaching. “Mrs. Borenson,” she replied with a smile.
Coming to her side, Kaitlyn said, “Now I’ve told you to call me Kaitlyn. None of this Mrs. Borenson nonsense.”
“Very well, Kaitlyn,” she said.
Kaitlyn placed an arm across her shoulders and proceeded to walk with her back to the house. “What brings you out in this weather?” she asked.
“I couldn’t stay in town any longer,” she admitted.
There was something in her voice that caught Kaitlyn’s attention. “Nothing bad I hope?” she inquired.
Now at the door, Freya shook her head. She waited for Kaitlyn to precede her into the house. “Nothing like that,” she replied. “Just the same old nonsense about the engagement.”
“Your father putting pressure on you again?” she asked. Closing the door after Freya had entered, she returned her cloak to its peg and took Freya’s outer garments and hung them up as well.
“Yes,” she said.
Kaitlyn gestured to the table and said, “Have a seat. I’ll make some tea.”
“That would be welcomed,” Freya replied.
As Freya sat down, Kaitlyn filled a pot with water and set it over the fire. “Sorry I haven’t been able to visit more often,” Freya said.
Kaitlyn turned toward her with a pouch of tea leaves in her hand. “To be honest, I’m surprised you’ve been able to come as often as you have,” she replied. Taking two cups and the tea kettle off the shelf above the counter, she brought them over to the table. Then she deposited some of the tea leaves into the kettle before sitting down across from Freya while they waited for the water to come to a boil.
“Have you heard of that stranger in town?” Freya asked after a moment’s silence.
Stiffening, Kaitlyn nodded. “Yes.” Neither she nor Elle had told anyone about their meeting with the man except Elle’s husband. They had agreed to keep it to themselves so as not to exacerbate the situation by starting rumors.
“He and another man who is here with him have been asking around about Riyan, Chad, and Bart,” she explained.
“Oh?” questioned Kaitlyn. She sat there quietly as Freya talked.
“Seems they’re awfully curious about them,” she stated. “Who they are, what they do, that sort of thing.” She paused a moment to see the effect her words were having on Kaitlyn. When no reaction was forthcoming, she asked, “Have they been out here to speak with you? Being Riyan’s mother and all I would think you would have been the first person they would have talked with.”
Kaitlyn sat there a moment not sure what she should say. Finally, she nodded her head. “Yes, one of them came to see me shortly after their arrival,” she said. The questioning look in Freya’s eyes prompted her to say, “He was looking for the boys and hoped I would know where they were.”
“Why?” Freya asked.
“There’s a matter of some importance with which he needs to discuss with them,” she explained. When Freya started to ask another question, she held up her hand to forestall her.
“They say Riyan, Bart, and Chad found something in the mountains before they left,” Freya said. “The rumor going around is that they found a stash of the King’s coins.”
Kaitlyn nodded. “I heard that too,” she replied. “But if they did, Riyan never said a word about it to me.”
“But we all wondered how they managed to enter the Warriors Guild,” continued Freya. “If they had found some of the King’s coins, that would explain it.”
Just then the water over the fire began to bubble and steam. Kaitlyn got up and brought it over to the table where she filled the tea kettle with hot water. She then returned the pot to the fire and situated it so it wouldn’t be directly over the flames, just close enough to keep it hot without boiling should they desire more. She let the flavor of the tea leaves permeate the water for a few moments before filling their cups.
As Freya took the cup offered her, she took a sip and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” replied Kaitlyn.
“Not just for the tea,” she said. “But because you’ve always been there for me.” When Kaitlyn looked up at her with caring in her eyes, Freya said, “You don’t know how much it means to have a place to go where no one is pushing for the engagement, or talking about it.” Setting her cup down, she looked to Kaitlyn with tears forming in her eyes.
Coming out of her seat, Kaitlyn quickly moved around the table and took her in her arms. For the next hour, she held her as all the emotions Freya had kept locked inside were suddenly released.
Some miles west of Quillim, two men leading a pack mule were walking through the forested hills near the base of the mountains. Despite the snow coming down, they have been combing these hills for several days.
“Maybe it’s further toward the mountains?” suggested one man.
The other shook his head. “No Kelby,” he said. “The shepherd was with his flock when he found the coins. That means he wouldn’t have gone too far past the pastures.”
“But these pastures have been used for centuries,” argued Kelby. “Surely someone would have found the entrance by now.”
“Didn’t you hear what that one lady told us?” the man asked.
“What?” replied Kelby.
“She said that around the time the boys disappeared, there had been a bad earthquake,” he explained. “Bad enough to crack the mill’s grinding wheel.”
“So?” Kelby asked.
“So, maybe it also opened up the ground where the Horde lies,” the man concluded.
“Oh,” said Kelby.
“Keep your eyes open for anything that looks recently disturbed,” the man said.
They had been out in the hills around Quillim for over a week now. Ever since word reached them of the silver King’s coins that had been found, they followed the rumor’s trail until it led them here. Now they were trying to locate the entrance to the Horde. For surely, that amount of silver coins could only have come from the Horde itself. No other cache of silver coins had ever come close to that amount, not even copper ones.
When they first arrived in Quillim, they were quick to discover that the boys who had found the coins had gone and joined the Warriors Guild in Gilbeth. So they traveled to Gilbeth only to discover the boys had been promoted to Armsmen and were once again missing. With nothing else to go on, they returned to Quillim where they were sure the boys would resurface at some point. After all, wasn’t this where their families were?
They had been rather circumspect in their questioning of the townsfolk, neither one wishing to alert them as to what they were really after. They were fortunate to have made the acquaintance of the Magistrate’s son. The lad had been most forthcoming with information about the boys, especially the shepherd. Once they had a good idea where the shepherd usually took his flock, they set out to search.
The snow on the ground greatly hampered their efforts, not to mention the fact that it could very well hide whatever entrance there may be. But that didn’t discourage these two men from searching. For assuredly, if they had heard of the finding of the King’s coins, so too had others. And how long would it be before others arrived? Pulling their cloaks tighter around them against the chill, they continued on.
It was very peaceful in the woods. Animals were hidden in their burrows and what birds were left were silent in the face of the falling snow. The only sounds were the noise of their feet compacting snow with every step and the occasional snort from their mule.
Having just finished searching the area around a pasture some distance west of Quillim, they headed off toward the next. From what the Magistrate’s son had told them, there were five separate pastures to which the shepherd would take his flock. With four down, that left just one more to go. It was a bit further from town than the others had been and it took them a good half hour before they had forged their way through the trees and came to it. The pasture was a wide expanse of open grassland nestled around one of the many small lakes dotting the region.
“Nice area,” Kelby stated when they emerged from the woods.
The other man nodded. They came to a stop several feet from the woods and took a good look at the surrounding area. For the most part it was flat with only moderate hills. On the south side of the pasture was a hill a bit more pronounced than the others. The man pointed to the hill and said, “Let’s try there.” Setting out, he led Kelby and the mule across the pasture.
As they drew closer to the hill, Kelby said, “Doesn’t look like it’s here.”
“We’ll see,” the man replied.
“But I don’t…” Kelby started to say then abruptly stopped.
The man glanced back at his comrade and started to speak when he saw the startled look on his friend’s face. “Kelby?” he asked. Coming to a stop, the man watched as Kelby sank to his knees and fell to the ground. That’s when he noticed the feathered shaft of an arrow protruding from his back.
He grabbed for the hilt of his sword as he began backing away. Glancing to the edge of the woods from which they had emerged, he tried to find the one who had killed his friend. As he quickened his pace away from the trees, another arrow was launched from the woods and took him in the shoulder. Spinning the man completely around, the arrow elicited a cry of pain. Just as the man regained his balance another arrow struck him square in the chest, knocking him backward onto the ground. Then before his eyes darkened as his life left him, he saw three men emerge from the woods.
“I told you they would be here,” a young man said.
One of the other men nodded. Reaching into his coat, he pulled forth a small, coin filled pouch. “Here,” he said. “Let us know if anyone else asks about your shepherd friend and you’ll get more.”
The young man nodded. “Yes sir,” he said.
Staring at the two dead men, the third man asked, “What should we do with them?”
The young man replied, “The kidogs and wolves will take care of the evidence before long.”
The man who had given the young one the coins said to his man, “Retrieve your arrows. We don’t want questions arising should someone stumble across them.” His man nodded and left him there with the younger one.
“No one will be in this area until spring,” the young man explained.
The man turned to him and scowled. He said, “We were here. And so were they.”
The young man nodded in acknowledgement. “I best be getting back,” he said.
“Yes,” replied the man. “It wouldn’t do to have your townsfolk seeing us together.” As the young man started to depart, the man said, “Remember, if you hear of anything come and tell me.”
Pausing, the young man glanced back at the other and nodded. “I will,” he replied then returned to the woods and headed home.
Once the young man had gone, the other man walked over to where his man was removing the last of the arrows from the dead men. Off to their right stood the mule the dead men had brought with them. “Better kill the mule too,” he said.
“As you wish.” Wiping the blood off the arrow onto the dead man’s jacket, he stood up. Moving over to the mule, he drew his sword and soon had the beast lying on the ground, kicking in its death throes.
“We were fortunate to have found that boy,” the man said.
The other man nodded. “He’s got some hate in him that’s for sure.” Wiping the horse’s blood from his sword, he replaced it back in its scabbard.
“Being the son of the Magistrate, he’ll know if anyone comes into town looking for the shepherd, and the miller’s son,” the man replied.
“How far do you think we can trust him?” asked his man.
Daniel glanced to his man and said, “Only to a point. If he should grow troublesome, he can easily be disposed of.” Looking around the pasture, he knew the entrance to the Horde didn’t lie there. The shepherd’s pastures had been the first place he and his man had searched after arriving in Quillim.
Turning his attention one more time to the dead men lying on the ground, the thought occurred to him that if the shepherd didn’t return soon, this scene was likely to be repeated many times.