Return Journey - Rath.

Lissa had a quiet sob in the back of the wagon after we left the village behind. She has always been the tender hearted one, and had hidden her distress about leaving Theodore behind very well from him, but as soon as we were on our own, she went back and threw herself down on the makeshift bed. I pretended not to hear of course. 

It's not that I wouldn't miss my son, but I've always been a little more pragmatic than my wife. A bit of independence from his mothers wouldn't do him any harm. And, although he would miss us too, boys his age are far more resilient than people give them credit for. No doubt he would be up to all sorts of mischief very soon. 

I scratched my chin. Maybe I should have said something to him about peeping in on Freia. No, she was grown enough to deal with that herself, should she wish it. It did make me smile a little though, that our lad was already curious about the ladies. He was going to be a real pain in the ass when he was older. I couldn't fault his taste though, Freia was a very attractive lass. Had I been a bit younger, and not with Lissa... Ah well, ifs and buts.

Lissa eventually stopped crying, I think she fell asleep actually, because it was a good hour more before I heard her moving about again. By that time we were well on our way. 

"Would you like a tea?" she called out.

"Yes please love," I said. There, it was out of her system. She would be fine. Lissa was the strongest woman I had ever met. People thought I was frightening sometimes, I knew, but they didn't understand what Lissa was truly capable of, if really provoked.

"Here." I was handed a cup of green tea, in one of our lidded cups that stopped the liquid slopping over the side due to the rough road. Lissa came up and sat beside me, her own cup in hand.

"He will be fine," I said, after a few minutes.

"I know. I just miss him."

"Me too. Don't worry, it will be good for all of us. Plus…" I leaned over and gave her a kiss on the side of the face. "We get some alone time."

Lissa giggled, and slid up close. "I love you lots, you brute," she said. 

"Hey, you're the brute!"

We both laughed as the wagon rumbled on down the road.

~*~

The journey back through El was pleasant. We made love under the stars that night, after making good progress, and I woke with Lissa in my arms, a warm cushion by my side.

Things carried on well into South Reinhart. The guards at the border gave us the latest information on the roads, which was that bandit activity seemed to be quiet just now. However, that didn't mean we shouldn't be vigilant. The civil war between the south and north of the country had been at a stalemate for years, but sometimes things flared up suddenly, and reserve troops were called to the front, and during those times bandit activity peaked, and monster encounters also increased.

In any case, our journey through most of Reinhart went smoothly, with no surprises, pleasant or unpleasant. There was a stroke of bad luck as we were finally getting close to the border of Silfen though. The wagon hit a rock, and one of the wheels came loose from the axle. We had to stop to do some makeshift repairs, which was tiring and time consuming.

"There," I said, finally, as I handed the mallet back to Lissa to put away. "That should hold until we're over the border at least."

"We're behind schedule though," she replied, looking at the sky. "We won't make it to our usual camping spot by evening."

"We'll just have to find somewhere else. Let's keep our eyes open for somewhere suitable, even if we have to stop a bit earlier."

Which turned out to be lucky for us.

I was jogging along, just inside the forest by the road, as was our practice in this area. As we were trying to find somewhere to camp I was ranging further in front than was usual, moving stealthily through the woods. And because I was, I saw the man in the tree before the wagon came into range. Immediately I froze, and scanned the rest of the area, at the same time pulling out my sword. 

There was another, near the base of the same tree, standing as still as a lizard. These were professionals. I considered taking them out, but if there were more, and there may well be, that could alert them. I had to get back to Lissa and warn her first. 

So I slipped away, and ran as fast as I could back to the wagon. Lissa saw me coming, and I could tell she knew we were in trouble. Without me even saying anything she began an incantation. I recognised it as a shield spell. Good, that would protect her and the wagon.

Using hand signals, I informed her that there were at least two ahead, and to be ready. She just nodded, and started another spell. I didn't wait around to hear what it was, but headed back towards the ambushers, arriving just about the same time as they saw the wagon. 

They didn't move as it passed by. Obviously these two were going to hit it from the rear, which meant there were others waiting further up. 

Time to act. Whilst their attention was on their target, I closed in and threw a knife at the one in the branches. I wanted to go for the man on the ground first, but he moved behind the tree. 

The knife hit true, and the ambusher slid off his perch without making a sound. Unfortunately, his body crashing to the ground wasn't as quiet, and of course that alerted his friend, who turned around, sword in hand, to meet my attack.

I was impressed. He held out for a good ten seconds before I managed to penetrate his defences, and his neck. The man was above average for sure. Without wanting to sound boastful, not many could stand against me for that long. 

Leaving him thrashing about on the floor, his life blood spurting from the deep wound, I ran on. Now I could hear screams and shouts from ahead. It seemed Lissa had encountered the enemy. More accurately, they had encountered her.

I burst out of the woods, to find three bodies lying on the road, or at least, the blackened remains of them. My wife, it seemed, had used one of her most powerful spells, essentially it was death spell, and in theory at least, was banned from use. Lissa had a dark side that very few people knew about. Mainly because the people who had seen it were dead.

Two more men were behind the wagon, both garbed in leather armour, and both trying to climb into the rear. They were having difficulty doing so, presumably because of Lissa's defensive wards. 

"He's not in here," one was saying. Then he saw me, and screamed a warning. It was the last thing he did, as I ran him through.

The other man leaped backwards, impressively quickly, and brough his sabre to bear, leaving the wagon to rumble on.

Snarling, I attacked, and was efficiently blocked. If I had been younger and less experienced, meeting such an opponent in such a situation might have actually caused me to pause, which, in turn, would have left an opening. In this case, I was ready for his counter attack, and fended it off easily enough.

"You're as good as they say," my opponent said, smiling. He was a tall man, muscular, but not overly so, with long blond hair tied back, and intelligent blue eyes. If I had been interested in men, I'm sure I would have found him attractive.

"I'm glad I meet your expectations. Have we met?" Even as I asked the question, I moved in for another attack, which he dodged, and this led to brief flurry of swordplay, with him matching me stroke for stroke. His free hand moved, and, out of pure instinct, backed up by years of training, I dodged to one side, which meant the dagger he threw only impaled my upper arm, which hurt, but wouldn't prove fatal.

"Nice dodge," he said, skipping back to avoid my thrust. Pushing him back gave me time to pull out my long dagger with my other hand. This was a serious fight I had on my hands. 

"No, I think not," he said, grinning, showing pearly white teeth. "Retreat!" he called over his shoulder. 

"You are leaving me?" I asked, guard still up.

"Next time Rath Helmage," he replied, putting his sword up in a brief salute. With that he backed away, turned and ran. 

I considered giving chase, but he wasn't alone, and I needed to check on Lissa.

Rushing round to the front of the wagon, I ducked as she faced me, hand wrapped in an unhealthy looking mist, ready to cast a spell.

"Don't shoot!" I said.

She smiled, and dropped her arm. The power dissipated. Then her eyes widened. "You're hurt!"

"It's nothing," I said.

She cast a quick dispel on the protective wards, and leaped down, examining the knife that was still embedded in my shoulder. "Not too bad, and no poison. Hold on."

I nodded, and she pulled the blade out, making me wince. After letting the blood flow for a second or two, she put her palm over the injury, and spoke a healing prayer. 

"Thanks love," I said, once the injury was closed up. "Don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd have a lot more scars, that's for sure. Anywhere else?"

"No, fine."

"They were not your usual bandits," she said, as we walked around the wagon, and I examined the bodies that were not charcoal. 

I shook my head. "No, look. Plain weapons yes, but good quality. Same with the armour." I checked their pouches, but other than a few coins, there was nothing to identify them. "Certainly professionals."

"Why would they attack us? Some enemy of ours from the past?"

"I heard one of them say 'He's not in here,' as I was coming up on them."

"He?" Lissa's eyes widened. "Do you think they were after Theo?"

I shrugged. "But why? I know he's strong, but he's just a small lad." I rubbed at my shoulder, even though the injury was now gone.

"What if someone doesn't want him to get more powerful?" Lissa looked worried. "Perhaps we should turn back."

"No, if they wanted to attack him at home, they wouldn't have waited until we were here. Your wards around the house, and Hungerford, not to mention Freia, and Theo himself, make that a much harder target."

"Perhaps." Lissa sighed.

"Come on, let's get moving, find a place to stop."

"Very well." Lissa looked at the bodies. "We'll take their armour and weapons though. At least let's make some money of them."

"There's my adventurer wife," I said, smiling.

She gave me a kiss and then climbed back onto the wagon. "Let's not tell Theo, I don't want to worry him. I'll write a separate letter to Hungerford and warn him."

I nodded. "I agree. Now, give me a minute or two, and we'll be off again."

"Indeed."

I spent a few minutes stripping the bodies of anything valuable and loading them onto the wagon, after which, Lissa gee'd up the oxen once more, and we rolled on, leaving the dead behind.