our way to Krinneor before they know what happened.'
'We'll be the first traders through Skorm's blockade,' said Graym suddenly. 'They'll call us heroes and pay triple the value on every glass of ale.'
He raised the Axe of the Just Kidding. 'To Krinneor!'
Skormt turned around, looked in their general direction.
The Wolf brothers shrieked and dived for the cart.
'No!' Graym shouted.
It was too late. In the struggle to fit underneath the cart, Fanris's foot dislodged the chuck block. The cart started rolling downhill.
The ale!' Graym ran forward. Darll followed, swearing. Jarek whooped and charged alongside him. The Wolf brothers, terrified at being left alone, jumped up and ran after them.
Cart and barrels hurtled down the hill, bouncing over rocks, heading straight for Skorm and his officers.
The officers took one look and ran.
Astonishingly, none of the rank-and-file warriors budged. 'Training's training,' Darll panted, 'but that's not possible.'
The lead barrel, now thundering down faster than a man could run, bounced off a dirt pile and into the first row of warriors, who didn't even look up.
The second barrel hit the second row. The third barrel tangled the ropes that had strung the soldiers together. The bodies fell apart.
Darll gripped Graym's shoulder. 'They're fake! Nothing but armor on sticks and bones!'
He ran toward the 'officers,' apparently the only living men on the field. Skorm shouted a command in a harsh voice.
Two of the men sidled around Darll, keeping out of range of his sword. One of them raised a throwing mace and swung it with a deadly whir.
Graym, desperate, flung the axe end-over-end. It thunked handle-first into the mace-swinger, knocked him senseless.
Darll leapt over the fallen man, stepping on his back. 'Officer material,' he grunted, and wrapped his dangling manacle chain around the other man's sword and pulled. The sword flew out of the man's hand.
Darll shouted back to Jarek. 'Pick up his sword!'
Jarek picked it up, dropping his own sword. Graym punched an opponent in the stomach and doubled him over, sent him stumbling into two men behind him.
The men staggered back and raised their swords, jumping at the Wolf brothers, who were closest.
Fanris and Fenris looked at the armored, bone-covered sword-carrying men. Panic-stricken, the brothers both shrieked, 'We surrender!' and tossed their maces in the air.
The maces hit each man squarely in the head. Fenris and Fanris looked at each other in relief and turned to run away.
The remaining men, daunted by five berserkers crazed enough to charge an entire army, fled.
Skorm turned his skull face toward Graym. The graverobber charged, aiming a vicious two-handed sword straight for Graym's heart.
Darll yelled, 'The axe!' picked it up, and threw it.
Graym caught the axe by the thong, just as it struck Skorm's sword and shattered the blade. Graym grabbed the axe handle clumsily, and smacked Skorm on the head.
Skorm Bonelover, the Sorrow of Huma, the Dark Lady's Liege Man, the legendary Eater of Enemies, dropped to the ground with a whimper.
The fat cooper, axe in hand, stood panting over him. Rhael ran down the hill, spear in hand.
'We won!' she cried exultantly.
Halting, she looked down at Skorm's shattered sword and frowned. 'That looks familiar,' she said. 'That's the Protector's Sword of Office!'
Graym bent and pulled the skull off Skorm's face. He was conscious again and looked pinched and scared, but fairly ordinary beyond that.
'Protector!' Rhael gasped.
Darll kicked the Protector's sword hilt away from him and stood watching over him.
Rhael was staring admiringly at an embarrassed Graym. 'I heard the noise. I saw the whole thing. You charged an army by yourselves!'
Darll opened his mouth to explain, but Jarek trod on his foot. 'We toppled our barrels on them. Then Graym was the first one down. Not even Darll could outrun him.'
Rhael sighed. 'What a wonderful idea. But your trade goods — your ale — you sacrificed them for us?'
'One barrel made it,' Jarek told her. 'It rolled off to one side and didn't hit anybody.' He shook his head. 'But I bet all those other soldiers are drinking it now.'
'There are no other soldiers, rock-brain!' Darll growled. 'This Protector and his friends built them out of corpses, tugged on ropes to make them move, pretended to train them. They wanted to scare everyone out of town, then loot it, and it nearly worked.'
Jarek scratched his head. 'Why didn't the town set up a bunch of fake soldiers to fight back?' he asked.
Darll looked at Graym, at Jarek, and at the Wolf brothers, who, seeing the fight was over, had returned. Darll grinned.
'They did set up fake soldiers. Sort of.'
Graym cleared his throat. 'Well, we'd best get on the road.' He handed the Axe of Just Kidding back to Rhael. 'Business calls, Miss. Glad we could help, and all.'
She brushed his cheek with her finger. 'You knew,' she said wonderingly. 'Even before you attacked, you knew Skorm was a fraud.'
Graym looked uncomfortable. 'Well, I had an idea. Couldn't be sure, of course.'
Darll rolled his eyes.
Graym, feeling awkward, said simply, 'Nice meeting you, Miss.' He turned and walked through the graves and the shattered mock soldiers.
They collected the cart and the single surviving barrel. Graym tried, briefly, to find the barrel taps and the rest of their belongings, then said, 'Give it up.' They dragged the cart through the scattered armor, framework, and bones of the open graves.
The cart rolled freely. Jarek looked at the single barrel in it and said happily, 'The price of ale must be way up now.'
'Best thing that could happen, really,' Graym said, but he sounded troubled. He and the Wolf brothers drew the cart alone. Darll and Jarek walked alongside as they moved up the last hill before Krinneor. Darll was trying to learn the second verse of 'The Bald Maid and the Barber.'
Fenris, beside Graym, said, 'I hate to turn him in.'
Graym nodded. 'He's not a bad lot. Wanted to kill us or jail us, but face it. Who wouldn't?'
Fanris, on his other side, said, 'Can't we just let him go?'
Graym stared at the road. 'He's expected. We were paid half in advance. We can't just two-step into Krinneor — '
'Do we need to go there so bad?' Fenris asked softly.
Graym looked back at the cart, bouncing easily with one barrel of ale and no supplies. 'It's all we've got left.'
They walked in silence, watching Darll try to teach Jarek to juggle. The mercenary, even while mocking Jarek's efforts, had a hand affectionately on the man's shoulder.
The road cut through a pass and angled to the left.
Jarek sniffed the air. 'I smell something funny.'
'That's the sea, boy,' said Graym.
But Darll looked troubled. 'I didn't know there was an arm of the sea here.'
'A port city,' Graym explained. 'Not just rich, but a trade center. We're nearly here. Beyond this curve, we'll see the road on the shore, probably a lovely seaside view, all the way to Krinneor — '
They rounded the comer.
