Richard Tuttle - Sapphire of the Fairies

Garth suddenly sat upright and cockedhis head. “Everybody gather their gear and saddle a horse. We areleaving immediately. If you can’t get it together in two minutes,leave it. We are about to have company, Dark Riders to beexact.”

Garth leaped to his feet as the lastwords left his lips. He quickly wrapped the Sword of Heavens andraced to the wagon to select which items he would be taking withhim. The whole camp followed his lead and ran silently gatheringtheir belongings.

Tremors of fear and determination rangthrough the campsite as the gypsies and the children prepared toevacuate the camp before Wolinda and the Dark Riders arrived.Evidently, the magic display given off by the Sword of Heavens wassufficient to alert the witch, Wolinda, who was leading the groupof Dark Riders. Events of the day had been sufficiently unusualthat no one had thought to question Garth on how he knew the DarkRiders were approaching and everyone scrambled to secure the thingsthey each wished to bring.

Garth rummaged through the wagonselecting the items he did not wish to leave. He piled up severallong lengths of rope and several quivers of arrows before reachingfor the heavy canvas satchel. The satchel was divided into twocompartments and Garth was relieved that the children had notthought to search through it. One side of the satchel held a largenumber of Lanoirian Stars that he had purchased from a source inOngchi the last time he was there, but the other was packed withdeadly myric quills. A touch to the point of one of those quillswould have meant instant death to the children who touched them,something he would cover in his next lesson. He had purposelyexaggerated the two minutes that it would take the Dark Riders toarrive so the children would not dawdle. He knew they had closer toten minutes, but that was still cutting it close when it came tofleeing from servants of the Dark One.

Tanya appeared at the back of thewagon. “Is there something I can do to help you?” she asked. “Inever unpacked my belongings and Arik has already shown me thehorse that I will be riding.”

Garth stared at the young girl whoenjoyed dressing as a boy. He handed her the coils of rope. “Useone of these to create a lead for the two wagon horses. We will betaking them with us. Then secure the other coils to my horse.” Sheturned to go and Garth reached out and held her arm. “Do you haveany fighting skills?” he asked.

Tanya looked up at the imposing gypsyand grinned. “More than any of your boys. Uncle Boris oftenbartered for lessons for me. I can handle myself with sword, knifeand bow, although I do not own a bow.”

Garth reached into the wagon andgrabbed three bows and handed them to her. “Take these and chooseone when you have time to test them out. The large one willprobably not be suitable, but we will take it anyway.” He alsohanded her a quiver of arrows before she left.

Garth shook his head in amazement athow things had developed and bent to complete his task. Within twominutes of his warning the group was ready to go. Garth smiledbroadly as he called for the assemblage to mount up and ridenorthward. Kalina took the lead on her beautiful white mare thatlooked suited to leading a grand parade down the street of a greatcity during festival time. Niki and Tanya rode behind Kalina, withFredrik and Tedi behind them. Arik pulled in alongside Garth at therear, as Garth looked back over the campsite and the wagon that hadbeen his home for so long.

Kalina kept to a strong pace as shekept her eyes on the path for a good spot to stage an ambush,something that Garth had instilled in her repeatedly over theyears. Garth was busy playing with the leads on the two sparehorses.

“What are you up to?” Arikinquired.

Garth separated the two leads andhanded one over to Arik. “There is a small canyon coming up in ahalf hour at this speed, and we are going to surprise ourfollowers. Tie this to your saddle. You and I are going to bediversions, but not just yet. Keep an eye behind us and if you seeanything, shout.”

Garth moved his stallion up betweenFredrik and Tedi. “Do you and Niki know how to shield against magicspells?”

Fredrik looked at him and nodded.“Somewhat,” he explained. “I am better at it than Niki, but sheknows the concept. We have had precious little chance to practiceand I’m not sure how effective they will be.” Fredrik laughed. “Acouple of days ago, I would have boasted that I could stop anyspell. After the little display with Kalina, I realize that I knowvery little of my craft.”

“We are going to plan a littlereception for our friends,” Garth explained. “I will need you tocreate a shield around you and Tedi. Can you handle it?”

“I will try my best,” Fredrikstated.

“I can ask no more of anyman,” Garth smiled. “If you feel the shield coming down, you andTedi will run away from the fight. Is that clear?”

“Yes,” declared Fredrik. “Iwill do nothing stupid.”

“Good,” replied Garth. “In ahalf hour we will be coming to a canyon, Tedi. Just before thewalls start to rise, you and Fredrik will bear to the right andfind a way up to the rim of the canyon within eyesight of a smallcave where the path below turns. I want you to keep hidden untilthe Dark Riders attack, and then you will shoot at the Dark Ridersin the valley. If you get the chance, without moving your position,to shoot the witch, take her first. Fredrik, keep the shield on thetwo of you as long as you can and then both of youflee.”

The boys nodded and Garth started tomove ahead, but dropped back quickly. “Tedi, I don’t want you toveer off the path where your tracks will show. Wait until theground is rocky, even if you have to backtrack a way. I don’t wantthem to know that you have split off.”

Garth rode up between Niki and Tanyaand repeated the instructions, but sending them to the left. He hadto grill Tanya about her understanding of tracking and leavingtracks before he was satisfied that she understood. Niki’s attitudebothered him a bit. She seemed eager to use offensive magic againstthe Dark Riders and he had to keep stressing that the only magicshe was to use was shielding.

Garth rode up to Kalina and explainedhis plan before dropping back to Arik. After telling Arik what hetold the others, he launched into the diversion plan for himselfand Arik. “As soon as we can see the canyon rising in the distance,you and I will head off at angles from our current track. We willlead our pursuers into believing that the group has split intothree groups. They will be forced to divide their men. After youhave gone out about ten minutes, turn enough so you are headeddirectly at the canyon mouth. At this point, cut the spare horseloose. Try to chase him to continue the way you had been heading,but don’t waste any time if he chooses a different way. Then gallopas fast as you can to the cave in the canyon. You will have tohurry because your false trail will have shortened the distancebetween you and your pursuers.”

Arik nodded solemnly. “I understand,Garth. I will make tracks that are easy to follow right up to thepoint where I turn. I will make it to the cave. Do notworry.”

Garth placed a firm hand on Arik’sshoulder and smiled. As soon as he caught sight of the canyonrising in the distance between the trees, he indicated for Arik tomove out. Garth veered sharply to the left with his horse kickingup large clumps of grass while Arik veered to the right. When Garthhad ridden out for ten minutes, he cut the spare horse loose andchased him off. The free horse went more westward that Garth wouldhave liked, but it didn’t really matter much. Garth dismounted andchose the best tree for this part of his plan.

* * * *

Klarg and Wolinda halted their columnby the two trackers who had stopped on the path. “What is it?”Klarg demanded.