Chapter 5
Twenty five men, plus Aravon, Hafnard, Rufus, Meranna and one of her retainers escorted us to the docks. They moved fast, and they expected us to move fast as well. No one was in a good mood, except me, and I'd wager my high spirits could have more than made up for everyone else around me. Cheating fate is hard enough in our meager little lives, and I'd just managed to cheat it, tie it up, take its clothes and throw in a sucker punch as well. This was a moment I wanted to revel in. Of course, that made the guards escorting us even more surly and eager to get me out of their sight. So I suffered through a few shoves and sharp pokes in my back.
“You need to explain to me how that worked,” Saras whispered as we approached the docks.
I smirked. “It was pretty inspired.”
“What was? Saving our lives, or nearly getting us killed in the first place?” I could see that Saras was in one those moods again so I scrunched my smirk away and looked ahead at the boat we were being led to. It was a simple freight ship that had probably been requisitioned to get me and my men out of Aberweyn. In fact, I could see them standing on the deck, no doubt wondering why they'd been rounded up and forcibly removed from their lodgings. They'd learn soon enough, though. I'd tell them all about it. Several times.
We reached the edge of the pier and our escort stopped, though Aravon stepped forward with us to ensure that we actually got onto the boat. I wasn't bound or chained, but he still felt it necessary to grab my arm and walk me to the ramp that led to our transport. Saras wasted no time in hurrying across the ramp, but Aravon stopped me before I could follow.
“Why didn't you kill me?” he asked, with no perceptible hint of feeling.
“Because I needed you alive. And when I do kill you, later, I want it to be on the battlefield, in front of thousands of witnesses. Not in a backwater hall with only forty people watching.”
He thought I was boasting, or maybe having fun with him, and he almost cracked a smile. But I was absolutely telling the truth. I knew I would kill him, in a glorious battle, and it would be a story told for centuries. But he just nodded at me, content with my answer, and moved back to the guards.
Hafnard hovered nearby as well, and his posture reeked of contempt. He took a step toward the boat and glared at me.
“All you've done today is forestall your fate,” he said. “I don't want you to think for a moment that just because you're out of Aberweyn, that you can escape it's justice.”
I gave him my own threatening look. “And I don't want you to think that just because I'm beyond your borders, that you can escape my vengeance.”
We held each other's stares for a long moment before a smile crept onto his face. It wasn't the jovial kind.
“We shall see,” he said, and I knew then that Hafnard was an enemy that wouldn't go away easily. I'd come here to escape people like him, and in a week I'd found a new one to torture my life. He walked away quickly, disappearing into the throng of spectators who had gathered to watch the procession. Rufus stayed with the guards, each of whom watched me with varying levels of contempt. Finally, Meranna and her escort approached. She seemed unsure what she should do at first, then decided to try and embrace me but I held my hand up.
"No, my lady. I'm an enemy of your land now. You must move on from me, for your own sake."
Her eyes teared up, and I thought she might cry, but to her credit she kept her composure and bowed her head. Then she turned away and left, leaving me alone on the pier. That is, except for the small army of guards still waiting for me to leave.
I stepped across the ramp and onto the deck of the boat, and the deckhands quickly pulled the boards across and released the ropes that tethered us to the pier. The boat slowly drifted away, and oars appeared from the lower decks, rowing us out beyond the harbor. The sail was raised, and the wind took us west, with the coastline in sight on our right. Two men on horseback followed us on shore, probably sent by Hafnard to make sure we actually did sail beyond Aberweyn, and sure enough they stopped at the tree line a few hours away that marked the boundary between Aberweyn and a land called Forleona. As the wind carried us away, I watched those two riders until they finally turned around to leave, satisfied that we were gone. That's when I pulled the captain aside and told him to stop.
“What?” he said. “I was paid to take you to Briston.”
“I don't want to go to Briston. Keep your payment, but drop us off over there, on the shore.” I pointed at a small cove nearby where the boat could be beached.
“What are you doing?” Saras asked as the captain ordered the sail taken down and the oars deployed.
“Our voyage is over," I said. "We're making for the shore.”
“But we can't go back to Aberweyn. They'll kill us if they find us.”
“We're not going to Aberweyn. Not yet,” I said.
It took a moment for Saras to realize my plan, and as soon as his shoulders drooped I knew he'd figured it out. “We're going to Cinnich?”
I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “We are. I have a business proposal for Lord Kurich.”
And so it was that my mission of vengeance began.
To Be Continued...
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