Their luck didn’t hold long. Roo had found a small game trail that led into sparse woodlands, but it forced them into a gully that eventually became too narrow for the wagon to navigate. They backtracked until they found another route north, and again tried to find a way to the small road leading east.
Near midday, riders could be heard over a small rise, and for several tense minutes, Roo, Luis, and the mercenaries waited silently with weapons drawn while Karli, Helen, and Jason kept the children quiet. When the last rider passed, less than twenty yards off but out of sight, Roo signaled to turn toward the east and see if they could find yet another route.
By sundown they were completely lost in the woods. Around a cold camp, they discussed options, and one of the mercenaries said, ‘I’m for just leaving this wagon and striking east, Mr Avery.’
Roo said, ‘How well do you know these hills?’
‘Not very, but our boys are to the east, so you said, and any road worth calling such is going to have enemy cavalry riding along more likely than not, so if we keep to the woods we could slip past them.’
Roo said, ‘Between here and Darkmoor Province there are a dozen little villages, give or take, and we might blunder into one of them, but if we don’t have a local guide, what we’ll find is a sudden rise that turns into a big enough hill it might as well be a mountain for how easy we can get around it.’ He glanced around the quickly darkening woods and said, ‘It’s easy to get turned around in the woods if you don’t know the way. You could be heading right into the enemy’s arms if you don’t know what you’re doing.’
The camp was so somber the children were silent, looking at Roo and the other adults with large eyes. Karli and Helen did what they could to reassure them, but in a quiet way so as to encourage their continued silence.
After a moment, Roo said, ‘But I think you may be right. Unload the wagon and get blankets and food. Leave the rest and we’ll start walking tomorrow.’
The mercenaries glanced at one another, but no one seemed willing to say more, so they did as ordered. Roo sat and quietly watched his children, the Jacobys, and the others in the failing light.
Helen had his son on her lap, singing to him softly as Karli held Abigail in her arms. Willem leaned against his mother’s shoulder, fighting off sleep, determined to stay awake while Nataly was already asleep, on a blanket between Helen and Karli. Jason made himself useful repacking the food so it could be carried, and Luis kept close to the mercenaries, keeping them calm and promising them bonuses when they got to Wilhelmsburg.
When the children were all asleep, Karli came to sit next to Roo. ‘How is your shoulder?’ she asked.
Roo realized that he had not thought about it since the encounter with the raiders, and he flexed it. ‘A little stiff, but I’ll be all right.’
She leaned in to him, whispering. ‘I’m frightened.’
He put his left arm around her. ‘I know. But if we’re lucky we’ll be safe tomorrow.’
She said nothing, just sitting there, stealing comfort from his presence. Throughout the night they sat silently, dozing, but unable to sleep, as the night noises of the woods kept startling them.
As the sky lightened, a few hours before dawn, Roo quietly said, ‘Get the children up.’
As Karli did so, Roo said to Luis, ‘We need to be moving before dawn.’
‘Which way?’
‘East and north. If we run into an obstacle in one direction, we head the other. But we only turn around and go south or west if there is no other way. Eventually we’ll reach that road I told you of, or we’ll hit the farms outside Wilhelmsburg.’
Luis nodded. ‘The mercenaries are not to be trusted.’
‘I know, but if we make it clear they stand a better chance with us, staying in a group, than they would on their own -’
The sound of horses alerted them and they both turned, to see the six mercenary guards riding out in the pre-dawn gloom. ‘Damn!’ said Luis.
Roo said to Jason and Helen, who were now awake, ‘We don’t have time to eat. Grab what you can and let’s get away. If there are any raiders nearby, they’ll hear that clatter and come looking.’
The children complained, but their mothers quickly silenced them, and handed them pieces of bread to chew on while they walked. Roo had studied their surroundings the evening before and had spied a small dry creek bed that ran to the northeast. He decided that would most certainly take them upward, into the foothills, so he would follow it until they found a clear route to the east or north.
The going was slow. The children couldn’t move quickly and they tired easily, but they managed to keep going for a full hour. Then they had to rest.
There were no signs of pursuit. After resting for a quarter-hour, Jason picked up Helmut, freeing Karli from carrying the youngest of the four children.
They continued along, finding the way difficult, with deadfalls and debris providing constant obstacles. When it was near midday, they heard distant sounds of fighting echoing through the trees. They couldn’t tell from which directions the sounds came.
They moved on.