IV

“Well you see…” the man said. “It’s a rather complicated situation. Say—are you folks from the kingdom of Aevalin?”

“Yoreno,” Mai said quietly. “There are more.”

“Oh,” the man said. “Yes, my group is not far behind.”

“Why are you in a group?” Lev demanded. “Tell us now.”

“Well, you see, we’re—uh—followers of Mytusa and we’re on a pilgrimage to the south in her honor.”

“Oh?” Dorrin asked. “That’s good of you.” Dorrin turned around on his saddle. “They’re devout Mytusa worshipers.”

“Except the temple of Mytusa is in the north from here,” Mai said, “and pilgrims typically travel north to the second temple, not south. There are no more temples south.”

“Uh—yes,” the man said with a smile. “But you see—“

Yoreno pulled his blade free.

“Yes—uh…“ the man continued as he backed away. “You are right, so I’m going to come clean.”

“Oh?” Lev asked. “Go on, then.”

“I’m actually here so you can give me your horses and valuables.”

“I knew it!” Lev raised his bow and put an arrow in the man’s chest.

“Wait!” Mai screeched.

“Now!” a voice from the rocks called. “Attack them now!”

“Oh no!” Dorrin croaked. “Not again!”

“Go!” Yoreno commanded as he kicked his horse. “On me!”

He rode forward through the sand and passed the rocks. Two men with spears came out ahead of them. Yoreno leaned over his horse and swiped upward with his blade, deflecting the spear point from hitting him.

Worried for the others, he pulled on his horse’s reigns. She neighed angrily and kicked up on her back legs. He booted her haunches again and came at the man who had been on his left and cut him down as the others passed him up.

A man stood up from cover and loosed an arrow.

Yoreno brought the flat of his blade forward and deflected the shaft. The other man had failed to hit anyone as they passed by and now he screamed, coming in close with his spear point, but he cried out and fell on his face.

Looking up from the arrow in his back, he saw Lev. The thick-armed adventurer gave him a nod and wheeled his horse around.

Yoreno pursued him.

But when he caught Lev, he realized the others up head had stopped and were coming back toward them, mounted enemies on their tails.

Mai turned and blasted the ground, causing one of the mounted enemies to go flying through the air as his horse flipped and squealed.

Yoreno just kept riding, his blade held out far from his body. He intended to cut the first attacker down. But when they met, his blade came in for a strike and Yoreno had to block the blow. Wheeling his horse around, the other man came at him again. He was wearing a cloth over his head and face, his sword curved slightly.

The attacker’s shorter weapon didn’t have the same reach as Yoreno’s bastard-hilt long sword and he pushed the point into his attackers chest.

The man cried out and fell off his horse.

Dorrin shot his crossbow and cursed, obviously having missed his target. Lev loosed an arrow that flitted past Yoreno. Flinching, his eyes went wide, and for a moment, he almost thought Lev had tried to shoot him, until the horse behind Yoreno squealed, reared and bucked its rider off into the sand.

The man grunted as he hit the ground.

Yoreno booted his horse forward and stabbed him in the chest.

There was one more rider, but he didn’t stop to turn around as he galloped back toward the men on foot that had ambushed them near the rocks.

“Come on!” Lev called, riding past Yoreno.

When he turned, Dell was there. “Good kill, Yor.”

“Thanks.”

Together they galloped their horses for a good quarter of an hour. Yoreno’s horse was breathing heavily, groaning dryly with each breath.

“Slow down!” he called. “Slow down! We’re going to run our horses into the ground if we don’t rest them.”

“Do you think they’re still on our tails?” Sorika asked as she turned to glance down the road.

“I don’t sense any auras,” Mai said. “I think we lost them.”

“With that many dead of their number, I doubt they will chase us,” Dell said. “Unless they want to lose more. But they would have to be pretty suicidal to want to do that.”

“Damn straight,” Lev said.

Yoreno nodded as he got off his horse. The poor girl was all lathered up, breathing so heavily Yoreno thought she might fall over. “Easy, girl,” he said, and patted her.

As the others got off their mounts, Yoreno reached into his saddle bag for a dried oat cake and gave it to his horse. Despite her tiredness, she munched on it happy.

“There you go.”

“Hey,” Sorika said. “I think there’s a river that way.”

“How can you tell?” Dellwyn asked.

“I just know,” she said. “I’m a rogue and a tracker.”

Dorrin nodded. His hands were visibly shaking.

Yoreno walked up to him. “That was nothing,” he said. “Listen, once you shoot your bolt, you need to go for your blade. Don’t waste time trying to crank for another shot when you might be killed moments later.”

Dorrin swallowed. “Oh—Uh…” He nodded. “All right,” he said with a smile.

Yoreno returned the other adventurer’s gesture and slapped his shoulder with his gloved hand. “Well, you’re still alive.”

Chuckling, Dorring said, “Yeah.”

“For now,” Lev said.

Mai came over quickly. “Hey! Don’t be that way, Lev.”

“Let’s see if there’s that river, Sor mentioned, “Dell said.

“Probably just a stream,” Sorika said. “It’s very dry around here.”