“Probably just low level thugs sent with orders to steal the map and nothing else,” said Proteus. “That’s the problem with slave based militaries. You can’t trust the average soldier with even the simplest task because they have no motivation to think on their own.”
Jon nodded, “It’s the same in Tanelorn. We defeated the orcs of the Five Nations just a couple of years ago when they attacked us. The orcs themselves come from five different tribes and don’t coordinate well, but they also relied on slave auxiliary who never fought like soldiers.”
“I thought you didn’t fight wars of aggression,” said Proteus as the two moved over to Sorus. “Keep pressure on that for a few more minutes,” he said and examined the blood-soaked bandage, “I don’t like the look of that, we’ll probably have to stitch.”
“It was a strange war. I was only eleven or so when it started” said Jon with a shake of his head. “It began with them trying to fight a group of elves that live on the opposite side of Tanelorn. They marched across our territory and we didn’t allow it. After that they sent an army but we defeated them and all of sudden the orcs began to revolt against their leaders, against the idea of slavery. My father says the presence of a free nation like Tanelorn makes every right-thinking man want a better form of government for themselves.”
“We’ve seen similar things here in Elekargul,” said Proteus, “but I think now we need to take care of young Sorus here. Have you ever stitched someone up before?”
Jon shook his head.
“Now’s as good a time as any to learn and I’d prefer you practice on the boy in case something happens to me later!” said Proteus as he clapped Jon on the shoulder.
Sorus looked up while he still held the bloody bandages to the back of his head. “Do I get any say in this?”
Proteus shook his head, “Nope.”
Jon looked nervous as well. “Do I get any say in this?”
Proteus smiled and walked over to his pack and began to rummage around for the needle and thread. “You want to put the needle in the fire for a bit to keep down the chance of infection,” he said, “and we’ll douse Sorus’s head with some of the bourbon to clean the wound.”
“Can I drink some as well?” said Sorus as he eyed first the needle that Proteus pulled out of his pack and then Jon Gray’s huge hands. “Do you think you can handle something so fine?” he asked the big knight.
Jon shrugged, “There’s a first time for everything,” he said with a smile, took the needle from Proteus, then looked to the fire as he twisted the little thing in his hand back and forth. He thought about it for a moment and then pulled a fiery brand from the blaze and held the needle up to it for a few moments. Meanwhile Proteus found the flask of bourbon and applied it in equal doses to Sorus’s head and mouth. Jon attempted to thread the needle several times without success but eventually managed the trick.
“I’m gaining a new respect for mother,” said Jon with a shake of his head as he tried to tie a knot in the end of the string after watching the thread slip out the first time.
“Your mother,” said Sorus, “Not your sister; hey can I have another swig?”
“My sister,” said Jon with a snort as he finally managed to tie off the thread. “She wouldn’t know a needle and thread if I stabbed her in the behind with it. You think I’m a stubborn mule? I wish you could meet her,” he finished as he walked over to Sorus and Proteus with the tools of his new trade. “All right Sorus, this will hurt you more than it’ll hurt me!”
“Great,” said the young knight with a smile and bent his head over. “Let’s get this over with.”
Proteus leaned over and offered advice as Jon began to slip the needle through the skin on the top of Sorus’s head, “Come in at a steep angle, that’s right, there you go, and pull it through, excellent. Now repeat that about ten more times back and forth.”
“What are we… unnh… going to do without the map?” said Sorus as he gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the pain.
“Good question,” said Proteus as he watched Jon’s work carefully. “You’ve got to pull the thread tight but you don’t want to break it, that’s the way.”
“You pretty much know that map by heart anyway, don’t you Proteus?” said Jon, his huge hands on Sorus’s forehead making the knight look more like a child than a young man. “I think we just go on with the mission. Our other choice is to head back down the mountain, find the First Rider, and then climb all the way back up and be pretty much in the same position.”
Proteus nodded, “That’s right, now loop back one more time, there, I can’t say I disagree with you, Jon. I’d rather get in trouble for doing something than not doing something, but the thing that concerns me the most is that our foes know we are here, they know where we are headed, and they might even know what we are looking for if they captured the other knights.”
“We don’t even know who are foes are,” said Sorus and winced as the needle passed through his skin one last time. “They can ambush us any time.”
“That is true,” said Jon. “There, now what?”
Proteus looked down at the stitch work and smiled, “You’ve got to make a little knot there at the end, no, don’t cut it until after you finish the knot. Here,” he said and took the needle from Jon’s hand, “it’s a special kind of knot called a square knot, like this. There we go. Good as new, Sorus. I’ll want you to clean that out with bourbon or alcohol every day but we’ll dress it for now with some more cloth. Was that too bad?”
“No,” said Jon and Sorus in unison and then they laughed.
“I think he was talking to me,” said Sorus and held a wad of fresh cloth to the back of his head while Proteus wrapped a length of leather around it.
“This won’t be such a great hold,” said the older knight as he cinched the bandage on, “but it’ll do for now. The light is coming up already so we need to decide on our next course of action pretty quickly now.”
“They might still be watching us,” said Sorus with a pat to his head to test the bandage.
“Don’t play with it,” said Proteus. “You could be right. There are plenty of places to get a good vantage point. They probably had scouts at the pass waiting for the next group of knights to come up. Then, whoever is in charge ordered last night’s little show.”
“I’ve got an idea,” said Sorus and suddenly sat upright which made him dizzy for a moment. “Bury me and head back.”
“What?” said Jon.
“Not really bury me, make a cairn while I hide somewhere, and then ride back like you’re giving up. Then I’ll stay here and watch who comes along. Head back a couple of hours and then get in a fight or something and pretend to change your minds. When you get back I can report what I saw. I might even overhear something important!”
Proteus looked to Jon and nodded his head while he tucked his lower lip under his upper, “That’s actually a pretty good idea, Sorus. Jon, what do you think?”
“It’ll be dangerous,” said the gray knight and looked intently at Sorus. “You’ll have to be very quiet and don’t do anything heroic. Just watch and listen.”
“My head hurts so much I’m not sure I want to move around all that much anyway,” said Sorus with a wan smile.
“We need to get going with this then,” said Jon as he suddenly stood up and looked around. “If they are watching us it’ll be light soon, so you need to figure out a hiding spot while Proteus and I build a cairn.”
Sorus looked around, “There are plenty of spots, over there behind those rocks, back there beyond the tree, somewhere overlooking this camp is probably good because that’s the first place they’ll come.”
“Here,” said Proteus, “take your blanket, some food, and water too. You might be there for hours depending on how long it takes Jon and me to get down the mountain a ways and turn around. I think we should go a couple of hours at least to convince them we’ve really quit.”
“Good idea, Proteus,” said Jon. “Take that stuff and get yourself hidden. We can check if you are visible. Get a decent distance too or they’ll hear you breathing. But, not far enough away you can’t hear them talking. Proteus, maybe we should start talking like Sorus is dead.”
“Right,” said the older knight with a nod of his head. “Here Jon, help me with these rocks. We’ll bury Sorus and then decide what to do.”
The two busied themselves building a rock pile until light began to filter in from dawn, and then saddled their horses and headed back down the mountain as they continued their phony conversation. Sorus waited in the shade
