As They Went By

The discussion spread among the group; Manueline translating for Silis and Tormond. There was no specific decision; it just became apparent to them all that there was no choice in the matter. The direct route across country to Norton would take at least two days, the sooner they left the better. Silis and Tormond left and started spreading the word of where they were going and especially of the prospect of food at the end of it. Manueline, Wals, Drem and Brac also went among the people telling them where they were going but also listening to their stories and telling their own.

People still would not touch Wals but they listened to him and his story now including how he was lost in the river and found by the woman of the forest; how he was taken to the death hut and taken out again by Manueline. He repeated the story many times, always accompanied by Illumina. She understood how the people heard it and took it in but did not change in how they saw him. He still represented some elemental force to them. It was almost as though the story served to confirm their understanding of what he was. It added details; where before they had just a vague idea of who he was and where he came from, they now had specific places and circumstances; these were just incorporated into what they believed about him rather than supplanting it.

By mid morning, many people were already heading off across country and the company all gathered again at the campground. By some common consent, Wals and Libby walked ahead while the others rode behind them. They traveled quickly, much faster than the people of the following. Wals and Libby walked ahead of the others and the people parted before them, standing on the side of the road as they went by.

By midday, they came to the edge of the crowd. There were still some people on the road ahead of them but the bulk of the crowd was behind them. The countryside was quite hilly as they got away from the river, for some time they had been unable to see very far ahead. Cosimo remarked that the hills were the reason the river made a sharp turn, south and east before turning west again and coming back to something like its original course. They made their way through the hills, shut off from the river in the east and from the flat plains that lay between them and the Loro Mountains in the west. Illumina sent Daisy ahead to watch and the wolf went with her. Illumina and Wals were riding, Manueline and Libby walking. Daisy came running back, clearly excited about something. Illumina and Wals trotted off ahead, following Daisy, leaving the others behind; they followed Daisy up the slope, cresting the rise in time to see a large herd of cattle disappearing round a hill in the valley below them.

Illumina looked at Wals and back at the others, "Can you keep up? We should get to them and warn them what will happen if the following catches them."

Wals grimaced and then smiled at her, "I can manage so long as we don't gallop."

Illumina clucked to Cavalla who was pacing impatiently understanding the idea of catching the herd and promptly launched into a quick trot. Wals hung on behind managing to match the rhythm of his horse but looking rather precarious in the process. They quickly made their way down into the valley and round the slope hiding the herd. Illumina realized her first impression of a huge herd was an exaggeration. There were perhaps thirty or forty animals. In a way, she was relieved, as there were nowhere near enough to feed the following. If the people caught up, the herd would just lead to a fight over scraps. She felt it possible to warn the herdsmen off and protect them with a clear conscience as the herd could not offer any relief to the people of the following anyway.

There were two men on horses, both riding behind and to either side of the herd. In addition, there were four men on foot with long whips, which they cracked in the air as they called to the cattle, encouraging and leading them on. One of the men on foot saw them first and called out a warning to the others. The two men on horseback turned and rode back a little. Two of the men on foot came round to the back of the herd taking the place of the men on horseback. It was obviously a prearranged response. Illumina slowed the trot, the distance between her and the two mounted men still diminished rapidly. They stopped a good way off, evidently not wanting to get too far from the herd. Both men carried heavy cavalry sabers of a type favored by the North Lord's people. They rested their hands on the weapons but obviously relaxed as they took in the fact that all they faced was a young woman and a barely competent rider.

Illumina was well ahead of Wals and stopped about ten paces away from the two riders. She did not wait for Wals but spoke immediately, "Hello, are you headed for Norton?"

"We are. Who are you and where are you going?"

"Who we are is a rather complicated story. We are going to Norton as well. I came to warn you."

"You mean to threaten us?" Both men reached for their sabers.

"No. I don't believe I or my companion pose any direct threat to you. Have you heard of the death march?" She paused but did not wait for an answer. It was obvious they had heard. "The death march is on the road behind us." She turned, pointing behind her, "There are ten thousand starving people over that hill. If they see your cattle there will be nothing you can do to stop them from slaughtering the entire herd and you and your men along with it if you stand in their way."

"What are you saying we should do?"

"Move quickly, run if you have to. The death march moves slowly, you must move faster than they do; keep well ahead of them." Even as she spoke, some people came round the hill and stopped, seeing her and Wals talking to the men on horseback. She saw the expression on the men's faces and looked back, seeing the people come into sight. "Go you must hurry."

"Who are you?"

Illumina looked at him seeing both a risk and an opportunity. If she told him who she really was, he might not believe her. He might know that the North Lord had been looking for her, though she doubted it. If she told him who Wals was, he might try to take them both as hostages for the safety of his herd. It was a risk but she took it. "I am the daughter of the Margrave of Loro. You have heard that in the death march there is a man who is thought to be the personification of death?"

She paused again but did not wait for a response as she could see from the fear in their faces that they had heard. She pointed to Wals, "This is that man. Or rather, he is one such man as there are two of them. We can influence the death march in some ways but we cannot control it. It is coming to Norton because it is starving. We hope to be able to stop it and control it there. If we cannot, it will ravage the whole countryside. Get your herd to Norton and get behind the walls. Send word to us if you can; at least warn the people there that we come trying to control the death march and trying to stop it."

"Thank you for the warning. These animals represent all my wealth. I will do what I can. What is your name?"

"Illumina"

"I will tell them that you come, riding with death and bringing the death march with you." Illumina was about to protest when he added, "That it is a stampede and that your only hope is to run with it or turn it, you cannot stand in its way."

Illumina smiled at the odd image. He smiled briefly in response and turned his horse, shouting to the men and they urged the cattle into a trot, the men on foot now jogging along beside them. They disappeared in a cloud of dust as they went down the road. Illumina sat and watched, wondering if she would regret saying so much in such a short time to someone she new nothing of. She turned back to Wals and they waited as the others came into sight and rode up to them.

They spent the rest of the day keeping ahead of the following, actively discouraging people from going beyond them. Later in the afternoon, one of the herdsmen came riding back. They saw him on the road on the crest of a hill. Illumina recognized him and had been warned by Daisy that someone was coming. She rode a little way to meet him and he came down from the hill meeting her part way. The others stayed back not wanting to intimidate him.

"I came back to see how far we are ahead of the death march. If I run the cattle all day they will lose much of their value." He sat on his horse looking beyond Illumina down the road below them. They could see a long way back so a good portion of the following was in sight, perhaps five or six thousand people. He was visibly impressed but confused as well. "Why are they here? Where do they think they're going?"

Illumina looked back over her shoulder and then looked back at him, shaking her head, "I don't know. I only joined them recently." She bit her lip, again not knowing how much she should say. "We were pursued by the North Lord. The Prince of the King's City is with us and the North Lord sought to prevent us reaching the South Lord." She watched his reaction wondering how he would take to the idea that his Lord was trying to stop them from doing something and had evidently failed. The herdsman just looked more confused than ever. "We fled north and made our way through the forest, heading for the river. We came across the death march and they believed that the Prince was the personification of death and let us ride among them unmolested."

"You said there were two, the Prince is one of them, who is the other?"

"A man from the north."

"He is responsible for all this?"

"I don't think so. Well, no more than the first pebble is responsible for the avalanche." She saw the metaphor meant nothing to him. She tried again, "Anymore than one skittish animal is responsible for a stampede."

He nodded his head, "He did not mean this to happen. Yet it has and he must bear some responsibility for stopping it."

"True enough, we all do." Here she waved her hand back at the mounted group waiting for her back on the road. "We must have help to stop it we cannot stop it on our own."

He looked doubtful, "It doesn't sound as though the North Lord will help you."

"The North Lord is dead. The death march killed him and most of his men at the North River Bridge four days ago."

The herdsman looked horrified, "Who is to defend Norton?"

"The people who live in it must do so. Certainly, they and you will not stand a chance out in the open; they will merely become members of the death march. We will stop the march in a little while so you should be safe enough tonight. I would recommend you keep going for a while and start again well before dawn. How far is it to Norton from here?"

"It is a little less than a days travel. You should be there by nightfall tomorrow at this pace."

"Good, well look for us then and warn the people of Norton. You should go."

He was about to turn away when he stopped looking at her curiously, "What if I betray you?"

Illumina shrugged her shoulders, "What is there to betray? The North Lord no longer cares and his successor, if there is one, I am sure has a lot more on his mind than a meeting between the Prince and the South Lord; if he does not, he certainly will do when the death march arrives. Warn the people of Norton; tell them to speak to us. That is all you can do." She waved her hand at the road behind her. "The only thing you can betray is your own people. If you do not help us to stop this, it will destroy us all."

The herdsman nodded his head, turned and fled back up the road.

To follow this thread in the story go to: Life in Each Other

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