“Well, that’s nice,” drawled the archer. “Good of you to clear that up. Now, come on out of there and let’s have a look at you, bandit scum."
Chapter 12
Khollo blinked in surprise. After a moment, he got his mouth working again.
“Bandit scum?” he asked incredulously.
“Out, now,” the archer growled. “You don’t fool me. Though you are younger than I expected,” he added with a slight frown.
Khollo looked beyond the archer and saw there were five other men with bows drawn, waiting. They were all on foot, sunk waist deep in the snow. They had left a wide path of turned snow in their wake, and at the far end Khollo could just make out a dome of snow similar to what he and Janis and Hern and Sermas had built.
“I don’t care to keep repeating this,” the archer said, licking his lips. “Out wit’ you. An’ keep your hands where I can see ‘em.”
Khollo raised his hands over his head. “They have bows,” he called to Janis and the others. “Best do as he says.”
“Who has bows?” Sermas asked. “Who are these people?”
Good question, Khollo thought. “Just come on out for now,” he called. He turned back to the archer. “I don’t think they’re our enemy.”
“Ha!” the archer snorted. “Not your enemy. You burned our homes! Had to be you. Those are fightin’ horses,” he said, nodding to Arle and the others. “An’ yore carryin’ weapons.”
It took a good deal of self-control for Khollo not to roll his eyes at this paltry evidence. “Look,” he started. “Just because – ”
“I ain’t talking to you no more ‘til yore out of yon snowbank,” the archer snapped. “An’ I’m losing my patience.”
“Janis! Get out here. Now,” Khollo called, struggling to boost himself out of the shelter. Instead, a section of the roof gave way.
“Careful!” Janis snapped. “Or you’ll collapse the whole thing on us. Give us a moment to pack our gear up.”
Khollo smiled pleasantly at the archer. “Sorry about this. I’m afraid you caught us in the middle of breakfast. The others are clearing up and packing our gear. They’ll be right out. Then we’ll answer any questions you have.”
“I told you – ” the archer began. But he fell silent as part of the smooth dome of snow collapsed and Sermas’ grinning head popped out, his hair powdered with snow from the collapse.
“These snow shelters are warm enough,” Sermas observed. “But getting out of them is a right pain.” He looked around at the dome, now cracked and broken in multiple places. “Not exactly reusable.”
The archer was dumbfounded. Hesitantly, he lowered his bow, having seen how young Sermas was.
“Careful!” Hern’s voice came from below. “I’m coming up!”
“Wait!” Janis shouted.
Too late. Hern popped up on Khollo’s other side and what remained of the dome collapsed. The three boys were suddenly waist deep in snow, just like the archers. Khollo looked around, frowning.
“Where’s Janis?”
There was a roar like that of a wounded bear, and snow flew in all directions as Janis thrust his massive frame to the surface, shaking his head. The archers’ bows came up again immediately. Janis glowered at them, crusted with so much snow that it was difficult to make out where his body was.
“Here’s your gear,” he growled, pulling a pack out of the snow and handing it to Khollo.
Khollo set his gear on the packed snow in front of him and looked up at the archer.
“Well, what do you want to talk about?” he asked.
The archer opened and closed his mouth several times, rather like a landed fish. Then, he recovered his previous antipathy.
“Don’t try and charm me, bandit!” he snarled. “I saw what yore lot did! Why did ye do it? What did ye get out of it?”
“If you’re talking about the snow shelter, we built it to get out of the weather,” Sermas replied.
“Shut it, bandit child, you’ll have your turn,” one of the other archers growled.
“Child?” Sermas asked, raising an eyebrow.
Khollo shot him a warning look. “What are we supposed to have done?” he asked the archer.
“You know perfectly well!” the archer shouted. “You were talking about it just now!”
“What?” Khollo asked, genuinely confused.
“Reoth, damn you, Reoth!” the archer practically wailed. “Why did you do it?”
“Hold on,” Hern said. “We haven’t been to Reoth yet. We’re on our way there.”
“The hell you are.”
“It’s true,” Khollo said. “I am Khollo. These two are Sermas and Hern, cadets. Our leader there is Janis Kurkan, lord of the West Bank.”
The archers exchanged uncertain glances. “Why are you here?” their leader asked suspiciously.
“We are investigating the destruction of villages in the Renlor Basin,” Janis replied. “We were in Holwey yesterday. There was nothing left. We had heard Reoth was the same and were headed there next.”
The archers finally lowered their bows. “Reoth is gone all right,” the leader said thickly. “A spot of ash and rubble on the plains. The people massacred. We found . . .” his voice faltered. “We found the bones piled in the center of the village. Picked clean. There was hardly anything left to bury.”
“Reoth was your home?” Khollo asked gently.
“Yes,” one of the other archers replied. “And the home of our families.”
Khollo closed his eyes. These men have lost everything. No wonder they were ready to shoot us on sight.
“How did you escape?” Hern asked.
“We weren’t there,” the lead archer replied. “We were out hunting, three days. When we left, everything was fine. But when we got back, Reoth was gone.” He looked over the three boys and Janis again. “You really didn’t do it?”
“No,” Janis replied shaking his head. “But we can tell you who did.”
“Point us to them and we’ll fill ‘em with arrows,” the archer growled.
Janis shook
