Keep on the Borderlands

haven’t had a decentmeal in days! We’d never make it back into the realm, so why try? What else wasthere-go up to the gates of the Keep and beg for bread?”

Jerdren was quiet for a long moment. The wounded man watched him warily. “Eddis,” Jers said finally. “All of you. You know what we have to dohere, right?”

Eddis nodded. “It was a mistake letting any of them go thefirst time. We do that now, and they’ll attack us again. Or-”

“Or they’ll get lucky, find the men they’re looking for, anduse the information about us to get into that camp,” Blorys finished.

The wounded man paled “You-you can’t just…!”

“Can’t just kill you?” Jerdren’s lips twitched. “Would yourather we tied you up and left you here? There’s a mountain lion out here, andthere’s orcs, and worse things. The castellan of the Keep’s given us a charge.We have the right to execute lawless men like you.” He turned and caught hold ofthe fellow he’d brought in, dragging him cursing and snarling to his feet. “Youfirst. At least it’ll shut you up.”

M’Baddah came across. “Two men to hold him for me. I havedone this before.” He glanced at Eddis. “Let us do this and be done, quickly,”he added. He turned and walked into the woods. Two Keep men came after with the ragged prisoner between them, and two others with drawn bows, in case he somehow broke free. The wounded man gazed after them, stunned, then buried his face in his hands and wept harshly.

Eddis took a deep breath, and Blorys wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She nodded, not trusting her voice at the moment.

The sun was nearly down by the time the last of the bandits was taken away-the wounded man, still weeping, had to be carried because hislegs wouldn’t hold him. The other bodies were dragged off into the brush.M’Baddah was gone for some time after that, dealing in his own way withcoldblooded killing, Eddis thought. Mead had tended to her face, and she was grateful for the sudden lack of pain, though all the fuss seemed foolish.

Jerdren looked around the clearing finally and sighed. “Allthat for seven miserable coppers. It seems we keep piling up dead enemies around the campsites, doesn’t it? I say this time we leave ’em right here, and we moveon.”

“No argument,” Eddis said, when it became clear they were allwaiting for her. “And don’t fuss over me, please. I don’t ask it or need it. Itwasn’t cut that badly to begin with, and it’s healed.” The shoulder and sleeveof her shirt were stiff with blood. She’d have to change into her spare and washthe thing before she slept.

Jerdren gave his sword one more wipe before sheathing it. “Once we get settled, if there’s still time, I’d like to send M’Baddah out withhis pick, four or five men, to see if there’s any sign of those men along theriver.”

The dark man merely nodded, and moments later, they were on their way.

Eddis found herself in the middle of the party, with M’Whanat her side, and Mead a few paces ahead, two of the Keep men a distance behind. M’Whan was quiet, his brows drawn together. She touched his arm to get hisattention.

“Anything wrong?” she asked quietly.

M’Whan sighed faintly. “It’s Father,” he said. “This scoutingparty. I… he’ll ask for me to go with him, I know he will. Though afterwhat happened on our way up to the Keep, I wish he wouldn’t.”

“After-oh. Odd. I’d nearly forgotten about that ambush.M’Whan, it was not your fault that your father was wounded. Maybe one ofus would have been killed, if you hadn’t taken care of that man on the road.”

Silence, which she finally broke. “You aren’t as good as heis, but that is only because he’s had more years of practice. Someday-”

“No, Eddis. He will always be my Nehuah, and I willalways be his student. He has the greatness to be a master, a true Nehuah, and I do not. It is better that I accept that, don’t you see?”

His voice was like M’Baddah’s, Eddis thought-low andnon-carrying.

“I don’t believe that’s true, M’Whan,” she said, as quietly.“Remember, your father chose you as his Nehuelo, and he explained it tome. Nehuelo doesn’t just mean apprentice. It means ‘the one who guardsthe back of the master.’”

M’Whan shook his head, visibly frustrated. “If he chosemerely because he and I are the last of our family, if he chose for love of a son, or pride in his family…?” An abashed smile turned the corner of hismouth, very briefly. “I doubt my father ever would have spoken of such things toyou, as I do now, when he was Nehuelo. That is another difference between us.”

Eddis kept her eyes on the ground before her. Shadow was deep here and the ground uneven.

“All right,” she said finally. “Perhaps he did choose you forfamily, or for love. But remember, when he and I needed another guard, he asked that I hire you. You’re his son, yes, but if you weren’t skilled enough to takecare of yourself, why would he put you in danger that way-or himself, or theclients who hire us? Or me, come to think of it. He’s fond of me-damned if I canthink why, but it’s so.”

“If I fail him again…” The outland youth’s voice wasoverly tight as it faded.

“You haven’t faded him yet, M’Whan,” she replied. “The merefact you worry that you aren’t good enough is reason to send you. The lastperson we’d want out there is someone like Jers-someone so full of himself thathe’d wind up tripping over his own feet and putting everyone else at risk.”

A familiar voice spoke up just ahead of her. “Someone mentionmy name?” Jerdren asked. “Just making sure my co-captain is all right,” he addedcheerfully.

Eddis rolled her eyes. “Save the sweet concern for yourmerchants’ women,” she replied crisply. Jerdren laughed and strode off towardthe lead again.

M’Whan bit back a chuckle. He still looked tense when sheglanced his way but not as bad as he’d been. “Thank you, Eddis,” he saidquietly. “If he does ask, I’ll go, and I’ll do my best.”

“I know you will.” She smiled. “You don’t think I’d risk your life, do you? You’re important to me, and I value your skills and yourpresence. Your sense of humor. Good enough?”

He nodded.

“Good. It looks like we’ve found someplace to stop,” sheadded as they came into a clearing-this one longer than the previous one, with ashallow creek running along one side. She dropped her pack next to the water and knelt to bathe her face.

M’Whan went in search of his father.

The sun was near setting when M’Baddah led M’Whan, Willow,and two Keep men across the road and into high, frost-crisped grass. The air here was damp, and fog was beginning to pool in low places. They followed the west riverbank for some distance, then struck out due west as the shoreline became mucky and rank. The last of the tussocks behind them, M’Baddah againturned south and met up with the river almost at once, but now the ground was firm, sandy, and smooth and the bank lined with willow trees and bushes. Berry bushes, aspen, and the tall reeds blocked his view of the water, though he could now hear it, very close by.

The outlander signed for his men to stay where they were while he and the elf eased silently through the underbrush, stopping only when they could make out the ruddy light of sun on the water. It moved slowly here, a broad stream but shallow, the pebbly bed clearly visible. Partway across, massive black stones twice his height reared skyward, and the water boiled white around them. Not a good place for a man to walk, M’Baddah knew, unless he wantedthe feet swept from under him.

There were two large islands midstream, the larger directly across from him. He couldn’t tell much about the second because it was west, indeep shadow. Smooth water there, and he thought it might be deep.

The sandy bank was marked with prints, but none of them belonged to men or horses: there, the deep, pointed prints of deer, and beyond them a large bear.

The nearest island was nearly flat, and wooded, but not thickly. A long look told him it was uninhabited. From here, he could just make out the far bank of the river, and beyond it, rocks and trees climbing steeply toward the darkening blue sky. If they crossed now, there would be enough light for them to be seen, if there were any watchers, but they would need what light there still was to pick a safe way across and to see any prints on the south shore. M’Baddah thought this over as his eyes searched upstream and down onceagain. Nothing and no one