Pausing in the midst of a scramble up a moderately wooded slope, Flik regarded an ant scrambling across the index finger of his right glove. The irony was not lost on him.
"Flik? Yo, Flik, you up there somewhere?" Viktor shouted, from somewhere down the slope. The noise, however, was partially muted by the incessant babbling and roaring of the River Dorthai, which up in these hills passed through a series of rapids and falls. Technically, Flik could pretend not to hear Viktor, and pass a moment in blessed solitude.
The sun was climbing overhead towards noon, easily visible through branches that were just beginning to bud. There were trees and brambles all about, making the ill-defined game trail that they were on hard going. It was much too hard going for the horses, and so the eight most exhausted men had been left behind to rest and water them. Ahead there was a stand of pine trees, green needles a stark contrast to the rest of the forest. The wind was from that direction, too, giving the air the scent of pine and water from the river. And the scent of something else…which drove Flik onward.
Alas, the moment came to a sudden end when Viktor crashed through the undergrowth and flopped onto the turf a few feet down the slope. He lay there for a few seconds, gathering his breath, and then propped his head up and said, "So, Flik…we getting any closer to where we're supposed to be going?"
"I'm not really sure, myself." Flik conceded. Below, the remaining eight mercenaries were staggering into view. Seeing their two commanders flopped down on the ground gave them excuse enough to do the same.
"Think maybe it's about time to call it quits and go home?" Viktor suggested. "We're not packing enough food for an extended trip." His stomach gurgled loudly, adding its two potch to the argument. The men looked up hopefully.
Flik looked away, back towards the pines, and pondered the request. When he had begun this trip he had had some doubts, certainly, but with each step closer, he was more certain that there was something worthwhile- no, important- to be discovered up here. Now, if only he could convince his men of this fact, without sounding like a madman.
"How about we climb up to those trees," Flik gestured at the pines, "and walk down to the river and see what there is to see."
Flik watched as Viktor considered the distances, trying to determine if it would be more of an effort to climb up there, or to try to argue Flik out of climbing up there. After a few moments, Viktor nodded his assent to the ascent. The men groaned, but continued their scramble.
About ten minutes later, the group was panting in the shade of the pine trees, on a stretch of level ground. Flik though, was looking towards the river, down a slight slope, about a hundred yards away. Without waiting to see if anyone would follow, he started out from under the trees towards the river. Approaching the water, the vegetation grew sparse, and bare rock appeared through the topsoil. At the bank, the ground was nothing but rock, and slippery too. The river itself flowed vigorously, broken into little rapids and whirlpools by rocks jutting out of the flow. It was about fifty or sixty feet wide at this point, and perhaps seven or eight deep at the deepest point. The far bank was much higher up and covered with trees that leaned out over the river, giving the impression that the mountain was about to collapse directly into the water.
For a moment, Flik was too absorbed in the scene to notice, but then his eyes caught a flash of color in the water, disappearing behind the swell of a rapid. He picked it up again as it reappeared on the other side, resolving itself into the figures of two teenage boys, holding onto each other, but not responding well in the water.
"Viktor! Viktor, get down here!" Flik cried, and splashed into the water. At the second step, he nearly collapsed as icy pain raced up his legs. Still he staggered forward, for the two boys were approaching rapidly, and he'd only have one chance at this. The current was terribly strong as he waded further in, and the river bottom extremely slippery. From behind, he could finally hear the sounds of Viktor and the others crashing through the woods to get to him.
Then he misstepped and slipped off his feet, plunging below the surface of the water. Bitterly cold water roared in his ears, and for a moment, Flik wondered if that was the last thing that he would ever hear. A hard, painful jolt in the back brought him to his senses, and he found himself back first to a rock, feet once again securely resting on the bottom. Still, he was numbed and he had to struggle a moment to remember why he was even here, assaulted by gallon upon gallon of rushing river.
He caught sight of the two boys once again, as they slammed against a rock in the rapids, the impact separating them, one in the main flow of the river, but the other caught in a side eddy, flowing towards the bank. This was the one that Flik swam towards, a figure in red on the water. In the back of his mind, he resolved to thank the Warrior's Village for all the early morning swimming lessons.
Flik reached the boy and tried pulling him towards the shore, but it was rough going. The boy was a deadweight, and Flik was not in good shape either, teeth chattering with every rasping breath he tried to take. He almost didn't realize it when Viktor suddenly grabbed both him and the boy.
"Steady now," Viktor chided, when Flik feebly tried to brush him away. "Now pull!" he shouted to the men on shore. Flik's consciousness was unsteady, but he realized that the Viktor and the others had jury-rigged a lifeline out of a length of rope, which was now securely tied around Viktor's waist, and they were being pulled back to the bank.
Flik's feet and arms were like ice cubes as Viktor pulled both him and the boy up out of the reach of the waters, but as soon as Viktor's grasp loosened, Flik began to stagger away as fast as he could.
"Wait! Where you going?" Viktor shouted after him.
"Another-" Flik chattered to no one in particular, mostly to keep his focus. He stumbled downstream and tumbled down a slope, sprawling into a bramble.
"You two," Viktor's orders floated through the air, "get after him. Get him back here."
None of his limbs seemed to want to work correctly, but Flik managed to disengage himself from the bush mostly by main force and continued along the riverbank at an ungainly lope. His eyes weren't working well; everything seemed to come at him out of a haze of gray. All of his clothes were soaked, dragging him downward, pulling him towards the earth. Down…down-
"Wait commander, wait!"
Suddenly strong hands gripped him, holding him up, pain wrenching at his consciousness where their warm skin touched him. His heart was working with great, slow throbs, trying to push blood through his system. He suddenly felt unbearably weary.
Then he felt the sun, full on his face, and he could see again. He was perched on the edge of a cliff face; a thirty foot drop into the upturned branches of the trees below. The river roared down series of falls, dropping down towards the plain.
Lifting up his eyes, Flik looked over the plains at noontide. The sun was riding high in a perfectly clear sky, and the river was a gentle stream of light down on the plains. Beyond, he could see the greater waters of Lake Dunan, away to the south and west, disappearing beyond the horizon. He thought he could even make out tiny boats plying the surface of the lake.
Likewise, he could look out and see the plains, little belts of forest breaking up the vast grasslands. The East Road was just a faint smudge on the panorama. To the east and north, the ridges built up into taller mountains, some few even glistening with the last of the snows on their flanks.
There was no hope of pursuing the other boy over those falls.
A gentle breeze came up, like a thousand needles pricking Flik at every piece of exposed skin, and he sank down to the earth in the grasp of his two soldiers.
"Commander, you okay?" one of them asked nervously.
"Thank you for coming after me," Flik replied.
"Just doing our job." the other answered, a touch of professional pride in his voice.
Flik basked in the sunlight for a long moment of painful bliss, but hearing Viktor's voice carrying on the wind spurred him back to action. He did want to see to the boy that he had rescued. Slowly then, with the assistance of his two minders, Flik managed to work his way back to a standing position. Carefully he put one foot in front of the other, and when he found that he didn't collapse, started back towards the others.
With each passing step, Flik felt more strength returning to his limbs. Besides, Viktor seemed angry, or at least loud, and he didn't want the kid roughed up, or scared witless. In fact, Viktor seemed to be threatening to cut the kid's tongue off if the kid didn't speak the truth. Flik decided to pick up the pace.
"Are you having fun picking on that poor kid, Viktor?" Flik asked, as he stepped back into the clearing. Viktor was standing in front of the kid, with a soldier on each side. Flik edged closer to look at this gift of the river.
Viktor mock-frowned. "Picking on him? I wouldn't do that. I'm one of the good guys, remember?"
The kid in question was thoroughly soaked and his color was poor, though from the cold or Viktor's questioning, it was hard to say. He had short, brown hair and big, brown expressive eyes. He was wearing a long red tunic, short black pants, a beige bandana tied around his neck, and a circlet. He was standing in a little pool of water, which was being continuously fed from his dripping clothes. Flik couldn't place his expression, as the kid glanced briefly over at him. It wasn't fear, or relief, but perhaps simply acknowledgement of his new situation.
"This is Riou," Viktor said, proudly. "He's a Highland soldier in the Unicorn Brigade."
Flik nodded. The Unicorn Brigade was a youth squad, made up of sixteen and seventeen year old boys. It was mostly a training formation, not a fighting unit, and usually only did garrison work away from the main lines. Thinking back to the map, though, he remembered that they had been stationed recently in the Tenzan Pass, north of here, back up the river.
"He says that his unit was attacked by the State Army, or something like that," Viktor continued. Flik looked back at Riou; he looked pretty out of it.
"What happened to the other one?" Viktor asked.
"I'm sorry, I lost him in the river."
Viktor shook his head. "Poor guy. I hope he makes it."
Again, Riou took the news with a curious lack of emotion, simply nodding that he had, in fact, heard. Flik found this to be unsettling, almost intimidating. It must be the fact that he is close to hypothermic, Flik decided. That had to be it.
Viktor, of course, was intimidated by nothing. Slapping Riou heartily on the back, he laughed and said, "Well, it looks like you'll be my personal guest for a while. Not that the accommodations are all that great. Don't worry, though, we're not going to mistreat you. After all, we're the good guys."
The ride back was at a much more sedate pace than the ride out. About half the stragglers had caught up with the group at the bottom of the ridge, and they had brought with them many of the extra horses. Riou was given an extra mercenary outfit, complete with shorts, that was just a touch too big for him, though it was dry. His hands and legs were kept free for the ride, but a rope was fastened about his neck, such that any escape attempt would result only in his own humiliating death.
One rider was dispatched ahead to notify the fort, and the rest followed on at a walking pace. Viktor was in high spirits, pleased that the journey had netted something. Flik, though, couldn't help but wonder what this capture foretold. Riou, naturally enough, didn't say a word. He rode like a novice, at least at the start, but the horse did not give him a bit of trouble. After an hour or two of silently watching the others, especially Flik, he managed to ride with a better position than nearly half of the scouts and far better than Viktor. Flik noted this with concern, for it spoke to a cunning cleverness that was not readily apparent at first glance. He wondered if they had been duped into "capturing" some sort of Highland elite, who would now wreck havoc within Jowston.
That night, after the cooking was done, the horses cleaned and tethered, and Riou was secured by tying his hands and feet, Flik and Viktor walked out from the camp a ways. Climbing a hill, Flik sat down and looked up at the night sky. The Scarlet Moon was full, rising above the Aramayan Ridge in the east. The Blue Moon was still waning, dancing in and out of some high clouds that were building out of the west. This night was warmer than the last, the winds blowing out of the southwest, and the night insects and frogs were chorusing.
"So, any particular reason why you called me out here?" Viktor asked, when his patience had finally worn thin.
Flik sighed. "What do you think of his story about a State attack on his unit?"
"It's nonsense." Viktor replied. "There's no State unit of any size within a hundred miles of Tenzan Pass."
"Sure, but what do you think it means?"
"He's delusional, or maybe they set up their camp in the middle of a flash flood, or maybe he's a deserter for all I know."
Flik shook his head, looking up at Viktor. "He doesn't look like a deserter and they would have a captain with them to make sure they didn't do anything as stupid as setting up their camp in a place that flash floods."
Viktor stamped his feet restlessly. "Fine, but what are you getting at, Flik? So we pick up one kid out of the river who believes that a State unit destroyed his friends. You think the whole war will start up again just over that?"
"It might." Flik replied. Viktor sucked in a breath and crossed his arms. "The boy believes his unit was destroyed. What if it was?"
"It wouldn't happen," Viktor growled, a little sulkily. "Anabelle wouldn't do something like that."
"It doesn't have to be her," Flik answered, with a wave of one hand. "There are plenty of people on both sides who might want the war restarted."
"Are you suggesting that Highland slaughtered the Unicorn Brigade?" Viktor asked, incredulously.
"Many things are possible, including that. We need to be ready, Viktor. I'm going to send a letter to Muse, detailing this incident and requesting more money. We also need to step up our recruiting, rehire some of our old soldiers, and keep the ones that we have ready."
Viktor nodded, and then looked off into the distance. "You know," he said, after a moment had passed, "I was kind of hoping that this war was going to end soon. I don't like it when my homeland has to fight."
"I know." Flik said quietly.
The conversation tailed off then, but neither man left the hilltop. Flik kept his eyes down, toying with a piece of grass. Finally he asked, "What do you think of our prisoner?"
"Riou," Viktor laughed, "he's a string bean. His arms are like cooked pasta."
"Viktor," Flik laughed in reply. "To you, everyone's arms are like cooked pasta."
Viktor's laughter shook the night.
They returned to the fort late in the afternoon of the next day. By that time, the wind had shifted round to the west-northwest and built up to a steady breeze. Storm clouds, fed by moisture off the lake, were rolling across the sky, threatening rain. Even so, there was quite a crowd waiting for their return. Or perhaps, for the arrival of the prisoner. Life at the fort was more or less the same dull routine, so anything to break the monotony was welcome.
Still, it was a bit much, with soldiers lining the road and sitting in the trees and Gengen barking merrily and even Leona and Barbara out to see what all the commotion was about. Riou bore the stares and gawking with remarkable dignity, walking confidently, almost haughtily, even if his hands were bound behind him. Viktor did not bear the celebration well, yelling at the slackers to get back to training and for everyone else to clear out.
Leona and Barbara, of course, did not clear out. As Flik approached with Riou, Leona stepped down the stairs and asked, with an icy look, "Surely you're not planning of making a prisoner out of a kid?"
"He's a soldier, Leona, out of the Unicorn Brigade," Flik said, maybe just a touch defensively. "Besides, we're not going to mistreat him; he'll have regular meals and a place to sleep." This did not seem to mollify the two women, who frowned even more deeply. Luckily, Flik knew exactly how to duck their anger. "After all, he's Viktor's "special guest", so he'll probably eat better than the men."
Viktor, having returned from chasing the men back to work, wiped his brow and asked, "You talking about me?"
Leona sniffed and turned about, walking back into the fort.
Barbara scowled and said, "You'd better take good care of that kid, Viktor, or I'll knock your block off." Then she, too, went back inside.
Viktor scratched his head and asked, "They mad or something?"
It was all Flik could do not to break out laughing. Even Riou seemed to be smothering a smile.
He was not smiling at all when Viktor escorted him into his new sleeping quarters, also known as the cell where they normally locked the drunken rowdies. Not that there were any drunken rowdies in here now, Flik mused, and then wondered where they would put the rowdies in the future.
Viktor, meanwhile, was saying, "Sorry about the sleeping arrangements, kid, but we're a little short on space now. Anyway, it looks like you'll be staying with us for now, so get used to it."
The first droplets of rain had just begun to fall when they closed the cell door on Riou's big, expressive eyes.