'But there are a good few caves up there,' said Gulta. 'Looks like one of them is used. We could hide Svanhild up there.'
Svanhild raised herself up. 'I can shoot better than most of the men. And I will stand with my clan, not hide up in some other cave. We cannot get out of this valley? Well, so what? They cannot get in, either. We have food and water. Let them sit out there.'
She did not add that if her brothers and hearthmen died, and she were hiding in a cave, her best option would be to fling herself off the side of the mountain.
'And tonight we'll slip out and cut a few throats,' said Kari evilly.
Bjarni regarded him with a jaundiced eye. 'Well, if they can get to shoot into the cave mouth the ricochets will kill us.'
'Without being able to shoot around corners they'll hard pressed to do that,' pointed out Hrolf. 'From the lip over there we can target anyone who comes into the valley. They can't even roll rocks onto us. And there is not enough growing here to burn properly.'
Bjarni sniffed. 'They don't have to. They'll smoke us out.'
* * *
The villa was still standing as Erik and Benito rode toward it. Not torched, as most of the others they'd seen so far. The presence of Thalia, the peasant girl they'd rescued, had a very beneficial effect. They'd been forced to the back paths and side roads by patrols. She had actually managed to draw the hastily hiding or fleeing peasants back to them to get some directions. They would have struggled to find their way, otherwise.
Erik kicked his horse into a gallop when the villa Dentico came in sight, and rode straight up to it, as hard and as fast as he could make the horse gallop.
Benito, clinging to Thalia as she followed Erik, knew from Erik's own lectures that this was plain foolishness. He also knew stopping Erik would be beyond his ability.
Besides, Thalia was the one in control of this four-hoofed bollock-cruncher, not him. He was just trying to stay on.
Erik dismounted in a leap, and ran into the house calling 'Svanhild! Svanhild!' at the top of his lungs. Alerting every single enemy within hearing distance, or lying in wait in the villa, that there was someone up here. Benito winced; he had expected nothing less.
Erik did at least have that tomahawk in his hand.
Benito dismounted with as much skill as he could muster, and pelted after Erik. 'Catch his horse. And stay out here!' he shouted to Thalia. What he expected to find in there would be no sight for her. He raced into the villa with the Shetlander knife in his hand, wishing desperately for his rapier.
However, what Benito found was merely Erik, examining some bloodstains in the hallway. The blood had long since dried and gone a reddish brown, but a fair amount of it was splattered onto the whitewashed walls in various spots. There had been a lot of killing done here.
Benito swallowed. 'Erik. I'm sorry.'
But to his astonishment, Erik smiled at him. 'It wasn't their blood. Or at least, not all their blood.'
He ventured closer, and peered at the bloodstains as Erik was doing. He couldn't see how Erik could tell anything from them. 'Vinlander blood is a different color?' ventured Benito.
Erik swatted his ear. From past comparative experience, Benito knew he was doing it gently. 'No, you young idiot. There are no bodies. Somebody took the bodies away. I don't see that being the Hungarians, not if the bodies were Svanhild and her people. And with that many men and this much blood splashed about . . . I don't see that they'd have just captured everyone.'
Well, it made sense when Erik pointed it out, if you accepted the idea that the Hungarians wouldn't take away the bodies of their victims. 'So what happened?'
Erik shrugged. 'How would I know? But at least they made a fight of it. They weren't caught unawares because there are no bloodstains anywhere except here.'
Presumably Erik had already been everywhere but there. 'So where do we go now?'
'We try to track them,' said Erik, heading for the front door. 'Ask anyone we can find, I suppose. It isn't going to be easy. Actually, I should say
'The siege isn't going anywhere,' he pointed out. 'I can help you find them.'
Erik shook his head. 'With the numbers of men and guns that Emeric is moving in, this is going to be no light siege. And no besieged castle is that secure anyway. Days can count, Benito. Days mean lives. Lives of people like Thalia. I am a knight sworn to defend them. That doesn't mean I can let you waste time. Duty is not a narrow thing; you have yours, and I have mine. Mine is to find Svanhild if I can, then get back to Manfred with all possible speed. Yours is to make all possible speed to Venice, or at least to someone who can get help from Venice.'
'I suppose so, Erik. But . . .' he began.
'Just make all possible speed to Venice. Do it, Benito.'
They were outside in the courtyard by now. And Benito realized that Thalia wasn't. He tensed, heart suddenly racing . . . But there were the horses, tied up carefully.
Thalia was outside the wall, talking to a very nervous boy of twelve or thirteen. 'He says the people who were staying here went north, on the horses of the raiders. He says they killed those who attacked, all of them. He says the soldiers came two days ago, and took the bodies. They've been looking for people to question. There are some of the soldiers in the next valley.'
'Ask him if there was a woman with the people who got away. A woman with long blond hair.'
The boy nodded. He made an unmistakable gesture with his hands. Benito had to stifle a laugh. Manfred had said she was top-heavy. 'It looks like we go north together after all, Erik.'
