12.10.2013. 605

My feet felt like clods of earth as I crept out into the nighttime world. The huntsman’s door swung open easily, however, sending a rush of icy air against my face. Outside, the snow lay freshly layered on the ground. I pulled my cloak over my face, dipping beneath sculpted boughs.

Venturing north, I hurried my steps through the darkness. The grooves in the ground led me nowhere in particular, which was exactly where I was hoping to go. Though the cold chilled me, it was a relief to be alone, without fear and without even the huntsman’s unseeing eyes to worry me. I breathed deeply, savoring the silence of the woods. Even as I did so, a sound caught my ear. It was voices.

“Who’s there?” A man called. I crumpled to the ground, my back against the rumpled roots of a tree. Boot stomps shuffled nearer.

“Who is it?” A second voice murmured, tinged with anxiety.

“Probably nothing.”

“But there’s wolves out this way, aren’t there?”

At this bit of unwelcome news, I remembered the safety and solitude back at the cabin and bit my lip.

“It’s not wolves. Those steps were much too light for a wolf, and besides, they travel in packs. We’d be meat by now if it had been them. Besides, why should they stop just when I call out to them?”

My heart beat like a battering ram. Peeking out, I saw silhouettes against the glowing embers of a fire. The shorter of the two men bent and stirred it up into flames again, and in the pools of light I saw bedrolls and sleeping men, all resting comfortably around the glowing warmth. The two watchmen cast glances out into the woods, and I ducked back behind the trunk again.  

“Who do you think it is, then?”

“A soldier no doubt, strayed away from his platoon.”

In the quiet that followed, the only sound was the crackle of flames. Then, the crunch of snow. To my relief, it was the sounds of shuffling as the men sat back down against the earth. But my intuition told me they would still be watching, so I waited.

“Dale, why are we going to fight? Why really?” The second man’s voice was higher and strongly accented. My guess was that he was a young northerner from up past the Gate of Havens. The other man, called Dale, seemed older, and his accent was Eastern, revealing a richer upbringing. If I was correct, he must have been the captain.

“Because. We’ve been called upon to help our allies.” He said, full of assurance in the way of things. A quick peek at his past would reveal him to be duty-bound and concerned with affairs of honor more than anything else. 

“But we don’t even know what this war’s about.” The younger man spoke softly again, his doubts obviously giving him grief.

“Steady, there. A man’s allegiance matters more than logic when it comes to battles.”

I pieced it all together, feeling sick. The heavy weariness of guilt sucked at my eyes until tears of blood threatened to spill out. I pulled them back, my shame overwhelming any sorrow. I suspected what their words pointed at, but I had to be sure.

“You are allies of the King?” I whispered. Both men stood instantly. I could feel their surprise and sense their coming trepidation.

“We are,” Dale replied softly, after a moment of searching for me with his eyes. “And who are you, lass?”

I smiled sardonically, rising to my feet. 

“Not a lass at all. I am your war in the flesh.”