News in the night

The assembled made a path for him through their midst. A strained silence hung over the whole room, interrupted by the occasional murmur reaching his ears. As he approached he looked his mother in the face, and did not like what he saw there. The others at the front showed the same. Anxiety, mingled with fear, masked so that villagers wouldn’t notice. But Caden noticed. He reached the small platform, taking his place between his mother and Master Lukhan. He gave her a brief smile, which she attempted to return, and collected himself before turning to face his audience. No one spoke yet, they all waited with eyes on him. He was the lord of Ruefort now, he must act like it. “What happened?” He asked his mother, with all of the confidence that he could muster.

As if his words were a signal, everyone in the crowded room began to talk at once. A hundred indistinguishable voices clamoring. He could barely hear his mother standing directly next to him. They were worried, anyone could tell that. And they all wanted to talk about it, they all wanted the ear of the lord of Ruefort. This must be what his father felt like on a regular basis. Master Lukahn stood there, his face showed that he was too tired to bring the crowd under control yet again. He was a great man, but not made to be in control of this many people at once.

“Silence!” Frey’s voice came out as half command, half guttural scream that ground the conversation to a halt. His blue-green eyes shown with an ethereal light. He could be very intimidating when he needed, and obviously now he felt the need. In the silence that followed Caden turned to his mother again, “What happened?”

He realized suddenly that she looked very old right now; far too old to be the mother that he remembered from just this morning. She also didn’t want to tell him something. The way she refused to look him in the eye made that very clear. “There was an attack, this afternoon,” she said slowly, still refusing to meet his gaze. She paused and looked around before continuing, “On the Adkins’ farm.”

Caden’s world spun. He looked for something to steady himself with as the walls shifted, and the torchlight danced before his eyes. The room seemed suddenly dark, and hot. Far too hot. Had he really thought it was a cool night? His worst fear had come true, an attack on his people. And at the Adkins farm on top of that. He looked down at his mother. She tried to continue but couldn’t, instead turning away from him and crying, her last bits of strength finally leaving her. He knew he would have to be strong for the both of them. He willed his world back into control, but it escaped him.

“We believe it was bandits.” Master Lukahn said, rubbing his hands together, nervously. He, too, looked very old, and tired. A lot fell on his shoulders when father was gone; as it did on Frey, although the elf rarely showed signs of the stress. “They came this afternoon. Took all of them prisoner. Only young Alec survived, he was outside when they came, and was able to ride away before they got him.” The spinning had slowed, but now he wanted to be sick, right up there in front if everybody. Rowena, in the hands of bandits, and her whole family captive. Who knows what was happening to them right now. At least the sickness would give him something to take his mind off of this. He had to will his eyes to stay open, and his knees to not buckle. He looked at the faces around him. They looked back, expectantly.

“What are we to do, my lord?” Someone said from the crowd, but he wasn’t sure who, for suddenly something new began to happen. Rage began to seep from the very core of his being. He was angry, in a way he had not ever been angry before. He saw the bandits dirty hands grabbing Rowena, and he felt the inescapable urge of breaking something, anything. He tightened his grip on the sheathed longsword at his side, as hundreds of eyes looked at him, all expecting something.

He looked at his mother, still sobbing. Her wet eyes looked up at him now. Master Lukhan, who had spanked him as a child, and made him write endless sentences for acting up in school, now looked up at him in a very different way. Benton, a man who had been old long before Caden was born, looked ready to fight to death at a word from him. Frey, ever impossible to read, stared back, waiting, and testing. He looked at the crowd, people that had been his elder’s: Master Colwell who taught him to fish, Ebin who had first taken him the mountains against his father’s will, and even Mistress Diore who had never liked him, calling him a spoiled, rich brat on many occasions.

They were all looking at him, expecting something. Every one of them in that room waited for his next order. It was true, he was the lord of Ruefort now. Somehow they all knew it, they all expected something from him. With his heart still pounding, and the fire burning still hotter in his chest, he spoke to himself as much as anyone else.

“We ride after them”

Men began to speak up now, all around the room. The braver ones wished to ride out with him. “I’ll go.” Sebel said from the front row. “And me,” from someone he couldn’t quite make out in the back. Tom spoke up from the right side of the room. “Me and my boys will ride with you, too.” Old Benton piped up on Caden’s right, “I can have the soldiers ready to ride by morning.” Now there were voices all over the room. Some volunteering, more making excuses for them not to ride, women pleading with their men not to go.

He silenced them all with a raise hand. “No.” He paused to let the last of the conversation die. “Frey and I,” he accentuated the names, “will ride after them.” He could see relief wash over all of them. Not even the brave ones truly wanted to go. “The rest of you are needed here, you have crops to grow and sheep to feed. Wives and children, and houses. You must stay here.” He looked at Benton. “And the guards must also stay here. Taking them away now would be asking for another attack.”
He looked at all of them, the crowd, the old priest, his mother. He was surprised how calm he was. The anger was still there, deep down inside, but he had covered it now, in a sense of resolve, and something new, that he could not describe.
“The two of us can ride faster than a large group, and maybe catch them quicker. The best thing the rest of you can do is go back to your homes. Anyone who wants to is welcome to spend the night inside the walls of Ruefort. The women and children can stay for as long as they want, we will make sure they are safe.” He guessed that they would all go home tomorrow anyway, but they needed to know that they would be safe here if they needed. “But going home is the best thing you can do now.”

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Caden personally oversaw the sleeping quarters for all that wished to stay inside the walls. Most had opted to go home, while a few with longer trips had decided to spend the night. It took a good deal of time to get them all settled, especially with everyone vying for his attention. He had to assure dozens of people that they would be still safe, listen to almost every man say how they wished they could ride with him, and endure a lecture from one of the local trappers on how to track down and kill bandits. The worst though were all those people assuring him Rowena was safe. How they knew that she was the one he worried about, he didn’t know. It couldn’t be that obvious. But all their well-wishing just served to make him think about her in the hands of bandits all the more. After all this, he just wanted to go to bed.

When he finally opened the door to his room, it was well into the morning hours, he would be riding on very little sleep, a thought that did not please him. To his surprise, Frey sat on the only chair in his room, waiting for him.

“What are you doing here?” He said closing the door behind him.

“I just thought you should know, that it wasn’t bandits who attacked the Adkins’
farm today.”

Caden eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know that?”

The elf’s face was almost indecipherable in the scant firelight of the room. “It was not something that bandits would do. Attack a farm, leave all the animals and crops, not even bother looting the house. And bandits don’t take prisoners. Except for the occasional young woman.” The look on Caden’s face slowed him for just a second. “Sorry.” He said when he realized what was going through Caden’s mind. He motioned the elf to continue.

“It’s more mouths to feed. Something they can scarce afford to do in these times. No, those were no bandits.” He looked around as if to convince himself no one was watching. “They were slavers.”

“Prepare yourself, Caden. In the morning we ride to Jicole.”