The sounds of fighting caused Arutha to order a halt. He motioned for Galain and a soldier to ride toward the source of the sound. They returned minutes later, the elf saying, “It’s over.”
They rode to the east to find soldiers from Highcastle in a clearing. A dozen moredhel bodies lay about. The sergeant in charge saluted when he saw Arutha approaching. “We were resting our mounts when they hit us, Highness. Luckily, another squad was just west of here and came running.”
Arutha looked at Guy and Galain. “How the hell did they get ahead of us?”
Galain said, “They didn’t. These have been here all summer, waiting.” He looked about. “Over there, I think.” He led Arutha to a deadfall, which hid the entrance to a low hut, cleverly concealed by brush. Within the hut were stores: grain, weapons, dried meats, saddles, and other supplies.
Arutha inspected everything quickly, then said, “This campaign has been long in planning. We can now be certain that Sethanon has always been Murmandamus’s objective.”
“But we still don’t know why,” observed Guy.
“Well, we’ll have to proceed without regard to why. Take anything here that we can use, then destroy the rest.”
He said to the sergeant, “Have you sighted other companies?”
“Yes, Highness. De la Troville had a camp a mile’s ride to the northeast last night. We encountered one of his pickets and were ordered to continue on, so as not to concentrate too many men in one place.”
Guy said, “Dark Brothers?”
The sergeant nodded. “The woods are swarming with them, Your Grace. If we ride past, they give us little trouble. If we stop, we’ve snipers to deal with. Luckily they don’t usually come in bands as large as this one. Still, it might do well for us to stay on the move.”
Arutha said, “Take five men from my column and begin to head east. I want word passed that everyone is to keep a watchful eye for these stores of Murmandamus. I expect you’ll find them guarded, so look for places where the Dark Brothers begin to object to your trespassing. Anything that can help him is to be destroyed. Now you’d better ride.”
Arutha then ordered another dozen men to ride a half day to the west, then turn south, so that word of the caches of arms could be spread. He said to Guy, “Let’s get on the march. I can almost feel his vanguard stepping on our heels.”
Du Bas-Tyra nodded and said, “Still, we might be able to slow him a bit along the way.”
Arutha looked about. “I’ve been waiting for a place for an ambush. Or a bridge to burn behind us. Or a narrowing in the trail where we can fell a tree. But there hasn’t been a single likely place.”
Amos agreed. “This is the most bloody damn accommodating forest I’ve seen. You can march a parade through here and not one man in twenty would miss a step for having to dodge a tree.”
Guy said, “Well, we take what we can get. Let’s be off.”
The Dimwood was a series of interconnecting woodlands rather than a single forest such as the Edder or the Green Heart. After the first three days’ travel, they passed a series of meadows, then entered some truly dark and foreboding woods. Several times they waited while Galain mismarked moredhel trail signs. The elf thought some of the moredhel scouts might wander a bit before discovering they were being misled. Three more times they came across caches of Murmandamus’s stores. Dead moredhel and soldiers showed their locations. The swords had been tossed into fires to rob them of temper, while the arrows and spears were burned. The saddles and bridles had been cut up and the grain was scattered about the ground or burned. Blankets, clothing, and even foodstuffs had gone to feed the fires.
Late in the second week in the forest, they smelled smoke and had to flee a forest fire. Some overzealous ravaging of one of Murmandamus’s caches had resulted in the fire breaking loose in the woods, now dry from the hot summer. As they rode away from the advancing blaze, Amos shouted, “That’s what we should do. Wait until his magnificent bastardness gets into the woods and burn it down around him. Ha!”
Arutha had lost six horses by the time they left the Dimwood, entering cultivated lands, but not one man, including the merchant and his mercenaries. They crossed twenty miles of farmland, then made camp. After sunset a faint glow on the southern horizon appeared.
Amos pointed it out to the boys. “Sethanon.”
They reached the city and were halted at the gate by soldiers of the local garrison. “We’re looking for whoever’s in command!” shouted the sergeant in charge, his chevrons clearly shown in gold upon the finely tailored green and white tabard of the Barony of Sethanon.