Graeme Talboys - Players of the Game

When it was fully dark and they were certain it was safe, they re-saddled their mounts, making sure everything was secure and tightly strapped so they wouldn’t rattle or jingle. And then they settled down and waited.

‘If that little display this afternoon wasn’t interesting, I don’t know what is. The way they wheeled off into three groups like that and disappeared into the nearest hiding places. They’ve done that before,’ said Alltud. ‘A lot of times. And as for their reaction to the shooting of the refugees…’

‘They’ve seen it before. All too often. And are too well schooled to let their anger get the better of them. Whatever they are, they aren’t an escort. There’s certainly no evidence of treasure. Nothing large. And no real sign of anything small.’

‘Certainly no sign of anything so valuable it needs sixty or more men as an escort.’

‘Sixty-seven,’ said Jeniche.

‘Are you sure? I thought it was sixty-five.’

‘It was when we set out, but we picked up two more today.’

‘Where from? We haven’t passed through a settlement for days.’

‘No idea, but—’ She stopped short at the sound of horses.

‘One of the pickets?’

‘I’ve never heard them ride off before.’

‘Well, we had better walk the horses out of here for some distance before mounting.’

They said nothing more, but settled down to rest. It was going to be a long, tiring, and dangerous night.

They waited side by side in the dark listening to the camp go to sleep. The whispered exchanges of tired horsemen, grunts and rustling, snores, the soft thud of a boot to stop the snores, and then just the shifting of horses, the rustle of a nocturnal creature, and the occasional footfall of someone on watch. The storm that had loured on the sunset horizon had come to nothing and the wind, such as it had been, died away as darkness fell.

Edging a horse through sparse woodland at night without waking anyone else in the process was every bit as difficult as Jeniche had anticipated. Had it been possible to put distance between themselves and the troop without their mounts, she would have been the first to suggest going on foot, but it all went well. Right up to the point they were about to climb into the saddle.

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