“Have you heard of that stranger in town?” Freya asked after a moment’s silence.
Stiffening, Kaitlyn nodded. “Yes.” Neither she nor Elle had told anyone about their meeting with the man except Elle’s husband. They had agreed to keep it to themselves so as not to exacerbate the situation by starting rumors.
“He and another man who is here with him have been asking around about Riyan, Chad, and Bart,” she explained.
“Oh?” questioned Kaitlyn. She sat there quietly as Freya talked.
“Seems they’re awfully curious about them,” she stated. “Who they are, what they do, that sort of thing.” She paused a moment to see the effect her words were having on Kaitlyn. When no reaction was forthcoming, she asked, “Have they been out here to speak with you? Being Riyan’s mother and all I would think you would have been the first person they would have talked with.”
Kaitlyn sat there a moment not sure what she should say. Finally, she nodded her head. “Yes, one of them came to see me shortly after their arrival,” she said. The questioning look in Freya’s eyes prompted her to say, “He was looking for the boys and hoped I would know where they were.”
“Why?” Freya asked.
“There’s a matter of some importance with which he needs to discuss with them,” she explained. When Freya started to ask another question, she held up her hand to forestall her.
“They say Riyan, Bart, and Chad found something in the mountains before they left,” Freya said. “The rumor going around is that they found a stash of the King’s coins.”
Kaitlyn nodded. “I heard that too,” she replied. “But if they did, Riyan never said a word about it to me.”
“But we all wondered how they managed to enter the Warriors Guild,” continued Freya. “If they had found some of the King’s coins, that would explain it.”
Just then the water over the fire began to bubble and steam. Kaitlyn got up and brought it over to the table where she filled the tea kettle with hot water. She then returned the pot to the fire and situated it so it wouldn’t be directly over the flames, just close enough to keep it hot without boiling should they desire more. She let the flavor of the tea leaves permeate the water for a few moments before filling their cups.
As Freya took the cup offered her, she took a sip and said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” replied Kaitlyn.
“Not just for the tea,” she said. “But because you’ve always been there for me.” When Kaitlyn looked up at her with caring in her eyes, Freya said, “You don’t know how much it means to have a place to go where no one is pushing for the engagement, or talking about it.” Setting her cup down, she looked to Kaitlyn with tears forming in her eyes.
Coming out of her seat, Kaitlyn quickly moved around the table and took her in her arms. For the next hour, she held her as all the emotions Freya had kept locked inside were suddenly released.
Some miles west of Quillim, two men leading a pack mule were walking through the forested hills near the base of the mountains. Despite the snow coming down, they have been combing these hills for several days.
“Maybe it’s further toward the mountains?” suggested one man.
The other shook his head. “No Kelby,” he said. “The shepherd was with his flock when he found the coins. That means he wouldn’t have gone too far past the pastures.”
“But these pastures have been used for centuries,” argued Kelby. “Surely someone would have found the entrance by now.”
“Didn’t you hear what that one lady told us?” the man asked.
“What?” replied Kelby.
“She said that around the time the boys disappeared, there had been a bad earthquake,” he explained. “Bad enough to crack the mill’s grinding wheel.”
“So?” Kelby asked.
“So, maybe it also opened up the ground where the Horde lies,” the man concluded.
“Oh,” said Kelby.
“Keep your eyes open for anything that looks recently disturbed,” the man said.
They had been out in the hills around Quillim for over a week now. Ever since word reached them of the silver King’s coins that had been found, they followed the rumor’s trail until it led them here. Now they were trying to locate the entrance to the Horde. For surely, that amount of silver coins could only have come from the Horde itself. No other cache of silver coins had ever come close to that amount, not even copper ones.
When they first arrived in Quillim, they were quick to discover that the boys who had found the coins had gone and joined the Warriors Guild in Gilbeth. So they traveled to Gilbeth only to discover the boys had been promoted to Armsmen and were once again missing. With nothing else to go on, they returned to Quillim where they were sure the boys would resurface at some point. After all, wasn’t this where their families were?
They had been rather circumspect in their questioning of the townsfolk, neither one wishing to alert them as to what they were really after. They were fortunate to have made the acquaintance of the Magistrate’s son. The lad had been most forthcoming with information about the boys, especially the shepherd. Once they had a good idea where the shepherd usually took his flock, they set out to search.
The snow on the ground greatly hampered their efforts, not to mention the fact that it could very well hide whatever entrance there may be. But that didn’t discourage these two men from searching. For assuredly, if they had heard of the finding of the King’s coins, so too had others. And how long would it be before others arrived? Pulling their cloaks tighter around them against the chill, they continued on.
It was very peaceful in the woods. Animals were hidden in their burrows and what birds were left were silent in the face of the falling snow. The only sounds were the noise of their feet compacting snow with every step and the occasional snort from their mule.
Having just finished searching the area around a pasture some distance west of Quillim, they headed off toward the next. From what the Magistrate’s son had told them, there were five separate pastures to which the shepherd would take his flock. With four down, that left just one more to go. It was a bit further from town than the others had been and it took them a good half hour before they had forged their way through the trees and came to it. The pasture was a wide expanse of open grassland nestled around one of the many small lakes dotting the region.
“Nice area,” Kelby stated when they emerged from the woods.
The other man nodded. They came to a stop several feet from the woods and took a good look at the surrounding area. For the most part it was flat with only moderate hills. On the south side of the pasture was a hill a bit more pronounced than the others. The man pointed to the hill and said, “Let’s try there.” Setting out, he led Kelby and the mule across the pasture.
As they drew closer to the hill, Kelby said, “Doesn’t look like it’s here.”
“We’ll see,” the man replied.
“But I don’t…” Kelby started to say then abruptly stopped.
The man glanced back at his comrade and started to speak when he saw the startled look on his friend’s face. “Kelby?” he asked. Coming to a stop, the man watched as Kelby sank to his knees and fell to the ground. That’s when he noticed the feathered shaft of an arrow protruding from his back.
He grabbed for the hilt of his sword as he began backing away. Glancing to the edge of the woods from which they had emerged, he tried to find the one who had killed his friend. As he quickened his pace away from the trees, another arrow was launched from the woods and took him in the shoulder. Spinning the man completely around, the arrow elicited a cry of pain. Just as the man regained his balance another arrow struck him square in the chest, knocking him backward onto the ground. Then before his eyes darkened as his life left him, he saw three men emerge from the woods.
“I told you they would be here,” a young man said.
One of the other men nodded. Reaching into his coat, he pulled forth a small, coin filled pouch. “Here,” he said. “Let us know if anyone else asks about your shepherd friend and you’ll get more.”
The young man nodded. “Yes sir,” he said.
Staring at the two dead men, the third man asked, “What should we do with them?”
The young man replied, “The kidogs and wolves will take care of the evidence before long.”
The man who had given the young one the coins said to his man, “Retrieve your arrows. We don’t want questions arising should someone stumble across them.” His man nodded and left him there with the younger
