From the sound of it, it was a small group, maybe a half-dozen riders or less, but with Roo’s shoulder injury, Luis having only one good hand and a dagger, and Jason having no experience with a weapon, even two skilled mercenaries would have been dangerous. If the riders had bows, Roo knew they were lost. Their best chance for the women and children was for them to get out of sight and stay in hiding. Roo and the two other men were determined to delay anyone coming their way long enough to facilitate their escape.
Roo glanced over his shoulder and saw Helen usher the children into the cave’s mouth, and he thought she smiled back at him. At this distance he couldn’t be sure.
Soon four riders came into view, at the far end of the little wash Roo’s band had been hiking. Roo said, ‘Jason, if this turns ugly, don’t try to be a hero. Try to hamstring one of the horses and don’t get killed. Luis and I will try to take care of the fighters.’
Seeing three men in their path, the riders slowed to a walk. Luis said, ‘If they stay in single file, they’ll talk. If they fan out, they’re going to fight.’
The four riders continued in single file. When they were a dozen paces away, the leader held up his hand and studied the three men. After a moment, he said, ‘Who are you?’
Roo realized they were speaking the language of Novindus, somewhat accented, so he judged they were from a different part of the continent than those Roo had visited. Roo hazarded a bluff. ‘My name is Amra.’
Hearing their own tongue, the four riders seemed to relax a little. The leader pointed to Luis. ‘And you?’
‘Haji, from Maharta,’ he answered without hesitation.
‘And you?’ he said to Jason.
Before Jason could open his mouth, Roo said, ‘He’s mute. His name is Jason.’
Jason couldn’t understand a word of this strange dialect, but upon hearing his name, he nodded.
‘What company?’ asked the leader as the second rider moved out of line and came to stand next to him. Both men still held weapons, ready to act if they didn’t like the answer.
Roo thought furiously. He knew things had changed radically in the Queen’s army since Calis’s Crimson Eagles had served in it. He knew the names of some companies, but had no idea if they still existed, or where they might be stationed. But he also knew no answer would get them killed as quickly as a wrong answer.
Softly, Roo said, ‘We were put into Shinga’s Black Blades after the battle of Maharta.’
The second rider said, ‘Deserters?’
Roo said, ‘No, we ran into some of the Kingdom’s lancers and they cut us up.’
Luis lowered his dagger slightly, as if relaxing, and said, ‘We got loose and ran. Somewhere along the way we got completely lost. We’ve been wandering around these woods for a week. We found a little food, but we’re pretty hungry. We’re trying to get back to our own side.’
Roo said, ‘Can you help us get back? We’re really not deserters.’
The other two riders moved their horses and took up the flanks. The leader of the four said, ‘Not deserters? That’s too bad. We are.’
Suddenly they charged, and Luis and Roo were diving out of the way. Roo hit the ground, rolled, and came up in a crouch, in time to see Jason standing rooted in terror as he was ridden down by the second rider, who unleashed a blow at the clerk. Jason ducked and lashed out with his blade, and Roo saw it wrenched from his hands as he was knocked to the ground and struck in the shoulder by a horse’s hoof. A horse’s scream indicated he had done some damage with his sword, but he lay on the ground, in blinding pain, unable to move.
The horse he had wounded stumbled, its right foreleg bloody from the deep wound Jason’s thrust had caused, throwing his rider over his shoulder. Roo had rolled and come up, ready for the second charge. Luis threw his dagger and took one of the men in the neck, killing him before he hit the ground.
The thrown rider was groaning as he lay on the ground, and Luis and Roo faced an equal number of opponents. Luis pulled a second dagger from his boot and crouched. The two men spoke softly to each other, obviously aware that Luis’s ability to throw his weapon made him a more dangerous opponent.
They shouted as they urged their horses into a charge, and they appeared to be charging both men, but at the last instant, the one heading for Roo turned and circled around to attack Luis from behind. Luis threw his dagger at the rider heading straight for him, who dropped over the neck of his horse, presenting almost no target.
Luis had anticipated such a move, and had thrown low, aiming at the man’s exposed thigh. The blade struck the man full in the right thigh, and he howled in pain as he sat up, trying to move away from Luis as his companion charged him.
Luis had a third dagger, carried in his shirt, out, and was throwing the moment the man sat up. He took the blade in the throat and fell over the rear of his horse.
Roo charged the man who rode past him, as soon as his back was turned. While he bore down on Luis, who was turning and attempting to get another dagger out of his sash, Roo held his sword above his head.