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11

Uppermost in both Slim's and Cal's minds, as they rode once more up the secret approach through the gorge to the fort, was the fear of what such a beating might have done to Jess. They'd both knew the results when the ganlet was used for punishment and Cal had seen a man put to death by this method. It did not help that they had no option but to pick their way slowly and cautiously until they were once more under the rope-point on the stockade.

"Do we climb?" Cal's whisper was barely audible even to Slim.

"In daylight? We can't risk it. Not unless we can definitely get to him," Slim responded equally softly. "Where is he?"

Cal was about to retort that he was not psychic just because he happened to dream his cousin's dreams, but the question was unexpectedly answered for them. On the walkway above, the guards were changing over for the evening shift and discussing their recent sadistic employment.

"Reckon we shoulda slung him over here anyway!"

"Nah, Carlin's right. Imagine gettin' gnawed by a coyote or pecked to death by crows." Harsh laughter accompanied the statement.

"If he doesn't escape somehow."

"He's in no state to go anywhere!"

"So where'd they dump him?"

"Down the trail aways – that big fall of bounders on the first bend – sun's goin' down and the breeze is comin' up – the smell of blood'll bring every carnivore for miles!" There was more ugly laughter, but Slim and Cal did not hear it. They were already on their way.

Inching their path round the bottom of the stockade and then through the woods lining the trail was painfully slow going. Both of them were reminding themselves that it would do Jess no good if they were caught and, equally vitally, it would make rescuing the children even more hazardous, if not impossible.

When at length they found the boulders, there was no sign of Jess, at least not on the obvious trail-side of the pile. And it was clear that he'd been there, because of the bloodstains drying rapidly on the dusty surface of a flat rock several feet above the road. It made good platform for a grisly warning or it would have done if there had been a tied, unconscious and possibly half-eaten body on it. But there was no such thing.

Slim and Cal looked at each other, the same reaction clear on both their faces: trust Jess to disappear when he was supposed to be unconscious, tied up and badly in need of assistance! Cal was mentally cursing him for an ungrateful brat and Slim found the word 'aggravating' had suddenly acquired a whole new level of meaning. Both of them were, of course, trying to subdue their deepest fears with the help of familiar annoyance.

"He must have left traces," Cal pointed out. He scrambled up to the ledge and looked around. He gave a chuckle and called down to Slim, "Only Jess would climb up! He must've gone over the top. I'll climb, you go round the base. He can't have got far!"

He hadn't. They found him wedged into a narrow crevice which would make it extremely difficult for any animal or bird to make a direct attack on him. He was just about conscious, battered and dehydrated and very grateful for the canteen of water which Slim thrust into his hands as soon as they'd cut the ropes. How he'd managed to climb and slide and scramble into the crevice was a miracle since his hands were tied behind him. It certainly hadn't helped his injuries. He was covered with dark, purpling bruises and blood was still running sluggishly from innumerable cuts. If he'd looked battered after his fall into the trees, he looked a darned sight worse now.

Such was the extent of the beating that salve and bandages were of little use. Cal put them away reluctantly, but he knew Jess well enough to realise that he was in no mood to be doctored anyway. They did not have copious supplies of water, either, causing some sarcastic comments from Jess on the efficiency of their rescue, as he drank most of it and poured the rest over his head. If anything, this served to make him look even more of a blood-stained mess than before.

It took a few moments for the water and the situation to sink in and then he looked up at the dark outline of the fort on its cliff-top and exclaimed: "My hat's up there!"

"And your shirt, by the look of it. Or did you think we'd bring you a spare?" Slim quipped, hiding his shock at Jess's condition under habitual teasing. "If you've got one, that is?"

"Hell! Carlin's probably usin' it for a floor-rag!" Jess's face twisted into a comical grimace. "I'm never gonna hear the end of it!"

Neither of them asked 'From whom?' They were both too concerned with whether Jess was going to be able to make it back to the comparative safety of their rendezvous below the stockade.

Slim reached out and ran a tentative hand over Jess's side. "Ribs again?" he asked.

"Probably," Jess admitted. "They'll keep. I'm fine."

Slim was so used to this contradictory statement that he ignored it completely, not even threatening to murder Jess in exasperation as he usually did. He looked Jess over carefully some more. The 'that-did-not-hurt' compartment was obviously still operating, but who knew for how long? Still, they could not stay where they were. "You ok to walk?" he asked.

"Y' know I hate walkin'!" Jess joked shakily, before he caught the gleam in two sets of eyes. "And you ain't carryin' me!" he added hastily, insisting again: "I'm fine!"

"Walk, then!" Cal ordered shortly and began to lead the way, leaving Slim to follow closely behind Jess, watching his every move for signs that it was too much. It was going to be difficult to know what to do if it was: Jess was about as open to being helped as a grizzly was to being woken from hibernation. In fact there was more than one resemblance in this comparison, but it did not make Slim chuckle. Right at the moment, he would give almost anything to have a totally grouchy and uncooperative Jess safely tucked up in bed and prevented from leaving it until he was fully healed. Some chance of that!

So their progress was slow, as slow as Jess's walk of torture had been. He stopped now and then, leaning a hand or an arm against a tree-trunk and drawing shallow, painful breaths. Slim and Cal wisely left him alone until he was able to go on. Eventually they reached the foot of the stockade and inched their way back to their starting point and thence down into the trees, out of ear-shot of anyone on guard. It was another location Slim was beginning to hate; he was just profoundly glad they had not had to climb the rope and rescue Jess from the fort.

"Someone must be looking after you," he commented as they all slumped down in the shade and concealment of the forest. "At least you weren't inside. It would have wrecked everything."

Jess moved restlessly, unable to find a comfortable way to sit or lean. "Y' can thank Tal for that," he told them. "She gave Carlin the idea."

"What?" Slim shot to attention. "Where is she?" This had simply not occurred to him, preoccupied as he had been with what had happened to Jess, and his immediate reaction was of immense guilt and concern.

"Runnin' rings round Carlin I expect." Jess gave him a somewhat lop-sided grin.

Slim stared at him in amazement, once again baffled by the contradictions of this relationship. "You can't seriously be telling me you're not worried?"

"I'd be worried if I was Carlin!" Jess replied. "You ain't seen what Tal can do when she puts her mind to bein' really awkward."

"Takes one to know one!" Cal remarked from under his hat, safe in the knowledge that Jess was not going to be able to wreak physical retribution for this.

"But –" Slim's objections were cut off by the startling silent appearance of several armed men as their reinforcements began to arrive. Vin stalked straight up to them and towered over Jess, radiating dire retribution. "You young idiot! You nearly wrecked the whole operation, pulling a stunt like that!"

Jess struggled to his feet, ready as always for confrontation. "Things were gettin' boring," he drawled in a casual manner deliberately calculated to provoke his former superior.

"Rope it in, the pair of you!" Cal ordered with sudden steel in his voice, as he too got to his feet. "Let him be about it, Vin. You know the dreaming ain't a matter of choice!" He swung round on his cousin too: "And you, Jess, quit foolin' and admit y' didn't have any option!"

"You dreamed?" A look of utter surprise transfixed Jess's face. "But I wasn't sleepin'." He was used to the indignation this unusual communication unfailingly provoked in Vin. But he was thankfully conscious that, as always, Slim had moved decisively to stand just behind his left shoulder, ready to meet any trouble together.

All the same, trouble was not going to improve matters and Slim was not going to let it break out and endanger the whole rescue operation if he could help it. "Sit down, everyone!" he said sharply, with a glance at Cal, enlisting his support.

"Good idea," the older Harper agreed. "Jess had better sit down before he falls down."

"Tell me about the dream!" Jess demanded.

"How many times have I – !" Vin began angrily, but Cal cut him off.

"Apparently I scared them out of their wits by actin' like you were feelin'."

Jess's eyebrows rose in puzzlement. "I didn't feel anything. Not while …" His voice trailed off, then he added. "Maybe that's why." He paused again. When he spoke next, his voice was more than usually husky with emotion: "Thanks!"

Cal shrugged. "Maybe it's the way you were brought up," he said, but immediately regretted it. It was not a part of the family history that they should be delving into in public. "Now just sit down, will y'. It'll make us all feel better."

Jess gave him a long look, full of hidden pain which only Cal could read, but to their surprise he slumped back down obediently. Slim walked round him and deliberately sat down between him and the others, shielding him from more confrontations.

Cal took Vin firmly by the arm and moved him away to join the growing group of Ranulfiar as they materialised through the dusk and tree shadows. There was an almost inaudible murmur of conversation – Vin giving orders for the attack. Presently the whole group, now numbering twenty men, moved with an uncanny unity and settled closer to Slim and Jess.

"You know who you're working with and what your targets are," Vin reminded them. "Leaders, check signs and communication with your men."

The men broke up into groups of five and began what appeared to be an entirely silent conversation, made up only of gestures, movements and natural sounds. After a few minutes of this, they settled back equally silently for the next stage.

"We need four more ropes over that stockade," Vin said. "Can't throw them – the noise'd give us away. One man needs to put them up there. Less chance of being observed."

Slim lifted a hand, caught by the non-verbal communication of the group. Then he added softly, "I've been up. The rest of you haven't."

Vin nodded in appreciation and thanks. It looked as if Jess was going to object because he'd climbed the rope too, but his commanding officer was too quick for him. "Not you, Jess! You'll be a damn nuisance in your present state and you'll jeopardise the others. Unless I have your word that you'll keep out from underfoot, I'll personally hog-tie you and leave you here till we're finished."

The words were uncannily familiar. Slim looked at Jess and knew without being told that he wasn't prepared to be left out. It was difficult to be intimidating when sitting cross-legged on the ground, but Vin seemed to manage it fairly effectively and Slim was not going to be outdone.

He leaned forward and ordered: "And if you don't use every last bit of energy and skill you've got left finding Chantal and getting her out of there, I'll be personally responsible for doubling those bruises you're carrying now!"

Jess looked them both up and down speculatively. "Take the two of y' then, will it?" he goaded with an attempt at a grin. And as an after-thought: "What the hell d'y think I'm goin' to do? I am her bodyguard!"

"Nothing more?" Slim raised an eyebrow disbelievingly. There were chuckles from one or two of the Ranulfiar who had encountered Chantal.

"Nothing that won't improve by keepin'," Jess replied obscurely; he seemed to be quoting.

"So let's get going." Slim rose to his feet and took the new ropes from Vin. They all crept once more towards the looming fortress.

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Acknowledgement of idea from 'The Sword in the Stone', T.H. White