Tedi nodded his head in agreement and they both began gathering their gear. Quickly, they started southward down the steep path. When they reached the bottom, Arik stopped suddenly. “I have an idea,” he declared excitedly. “Follow me.”
Arik broke through the forest undergrowth with no regard to hampering the trackers and headed for the sea. When they reached the beach he was panting, but he did not stop. Arik waded right on out in the surf while continuing south. “Is this your good idea?” asked Tedi frantically. “We drown ourselves and deny the Dark Riders their fun?”
Arik stopped and smiled. “Okay, now that they are convinced that we hope to erase our tracks the same way we did at Lorgo, we walk north through the water until we reach the rocks below the promontory to our north. We can circle the bluff behind them and cross the coastal highway.”
Tedi smiled at the idea until he looked towards the rocks that he had seen the surf crashing on from up above earlier. “You want us to cross those rocks?” Tedi blurted out.
Arik nodded. “Have you ever spent the night with Dark Riders?”
Tedi didn’t even bother to answer, but started wading towards the rocks. The rocks were slippery and coated with some type of green slime wherever they had remained submerged for long periods of time. The salt spray here was intense and soon the boys’ eyes were smarting. Several times they slipped and were submerged. Once Arik had to grab Tedi by the collar to keep him from being swept away or dashed on the rocks. Slowly the boys made their way to the base of the promontory and rested on the rocks. The effort of forcing their way through the surf had tired both boys. “Why did you head here instead of continuing around the North side of the rocks?” asked Tedi.
“Two reasons,” panted Arik. “One, we have to be sure that the two riders we saw along the beach have already passed before we try to get behind them and two, look at the cliff face. It is hollowed out enough that we can stay here and rest and we can’t be seen from the shore either to the North or the South. Three, I could use the rest.”
Tedi chuckled and leaned back against the cold stonewall. The boys wiggled as far back as they could go so they could remain dry. “We can stay overnight back here if we have to,” remarked Tedi. “I think it is about high tide now. This far back would only get wet on a moon tide.”
“If we get some sleep now,” commented Arik, we can move out at low tide and it will be dark. Wherever our pursuers are they will be camped for the night and we should be able to avoid them fairly easily.”
Tedi agreed and the boys were tired enough to doze off.
“Where are they now?” asked Garth laying his bow on the seat of the wagon.
“They are sleeping at the foot of the cliff,” Kalina stated. “They are hoping the Dark Riders will pass them by and I think they might. Then they plan to cross over the road and lose the Dark Riders.”
“Nice if it worked,” Garth said simply. “The problem is the Dark Riders are not totally stupid. They will realize that they have been duped and that will lead them back to the cliff. It sounds like the boys have a defensible position, but they also have no reconnaissance capability. If they decide to leave their hole while the Dark Riders are near the cliff, they will be visible.”
“We could lose them before we can react to save them,” summarized Kalina. “This is not acceptable.”
“I agree,” Garth declared as he started moving. The bandit grabbed a coil of rope off of the wagon and retrieved his bow. “I want you to get the wagon about a half mile into the woods west of the coastal highway just north of the cliff. Avoid the Dark Riders at all costs. If you are not there when I need you, I will move directly south from that spot until we meet.”
“Where are you going, Garth?” she demanded.
“Me,” he laughed. “Why, I am going hunting. There are a couple of pigeons on the rocks, and I understand they are in season.”
Wolinda screamed at the men, “What do you mean, they didn’t come this way? Are you trackers or slackers? You told me they came south. You said that they hadn’t left the water and now you’re saying that they didn’t get this far. Explain yourself.”
The head Dark Rider stepped between the two scouts and faced Wolinda. “What they are saying is that the boys headed back north, Mistress. They must have done it very soon after they entered the water or we would have caught them already.”
“Now you’ve become a tracker, Klarg,” spat Wolinda. “I thought these two fine specimens were the trackers.”
“Enough, Wolinda,” Klarg cautioned as his men gathered around. Klarg was dressed like the rest of the Dark Riders in dark brown leathers with spurs on his boots and bands of metal spikes on their leather gauntlets, but he was also a massive hulk of a man. His imposing figure towered over the hardy witch. “My men wanted to check the area where the boys entered the water, but you were adamant about them heading south. You have no one but yourself to blame for this delay.”
Wolinda was stunned. She led this team and the stupid Dark Riders should know better than dispute her authority. She could destroy every man here with her power and their leader hadn’t even addressed her as Mistress. “You should have better control over your emotions, Klarg. I may be forced to punish you if you continue in this insolent manner.”
“Do not be a fool, Wolinda,” Klarg asserted, “and do not take me for one, either. You are in charge of this expedition and we have followed you without question, but it is the Dark One whom we both serve. If your actions jeopardize this mission, I would be within my rights to eliminate you, witch or no. I also have nineteen men to back my play. If you managed to kill all of us, you would still fail in your mission as you did back in Lorgo. And I’m sure you know that failure is death. My men and I are willing to follow your orders to accomplish our task, but do not blame them for your actions. If we must backtrack to capture these boys, let’s be about it without recriminations. If you are acceptable to our agreement, we are ready to serve.”
The color drained out of Wolinda’s face. She burned with the desire to kill every one of these maggots, but Klarg was right. Without them she was likely to fail and one did not fail the Dark One. “Lead the men north, Klarg,” she ordered.
Klarg slapped his fist to his chest in a salute. “I hear and obey, Mistress.”
Arik and Tedi awoke to the sounds of horses not far off. Quickly, the boys sat up and tried to determine which direction the horses were coming from. It was already dark out and the water was at low tide, but the sounds echoed off the walls of their little hideaway and determining direction was impossible. The boys hefted their duffel bags and readied their bows. Arik slid down the rocks a way and tried to pick up the sounds again. It had gone deadly quiet and he stayed perched on the rocks waiting without movement. When he finally heard a sound, it was the sound of men wading through the water from the South. “There are men coming through the water,” Arik whispered. “We need to move now or we will be trapped.”
Tedi was already at Arik’s side as the taller boy started edging across the rocks to the north. As the boys stepped into the water, they could hear shouts coming from behind them. Arik could distinctly hear a man bellow the order, “Take nine men with you over the top and cut them off.” Frantically, Arik tried to run through the water, but succeeded only in kicking up more water.
“We aren’t going to make it,” Tedi shouted. “They will have us between them.”
“Just keep going,” demanded Arik. “Don’t ever give up.”
As the boys struggled through the thigh-high water, ten horsemen galloped up the southern incline and across the plateau towards the northern path that led down to the other side of the rocks. The charge to encircle the boys quickly turned to chaos as the first four riders succumbed to a rope stretched across the path at neck height, right where the path started down the northern slope. The rest of the group of Dark Riders reacted quickly
