Lady Carliss and the Waters of Moorue Read Free Page B

If we get caught, there won’t be anyone to rescue your family. We need to go for help.”
    Salina looked at Carliss with anguished eyes. “I must see them.”
    “If we go any closer, they will surely see or hear us,” Carliss protested.
    Salina looked toward the sounds of the encampment, then shook her arm free. “You stay, I’m going on.”
    Salina carefully moved forward two steps, then glanced back at Carliss before proceeding. Carliss felt trapped between her oath to never abandon a fellow knight in peril and her dismay over the foolhardy actions of her friend. She carefully followed behind Salina, staying low to the ground. The smell of smoke and cooked game filled her nostrils, and she could now see movement ahead.
    More laughter burst through the trees, and Carliss could almost make out the conversations of the marauders. Finally she reached a point where every fiber in her body resisted further advance. She felt for her sword and lifted it slightly out of its scabbard to unseat it in case she needed to draw it quickly. She grasped her bow, drew an arrow from her quiver, and set the nock of the arrow in the bowstring. Then she positioned herself on the far side of a tree stump, near some heavy underbrush, where she could clearly see Salina advance toward the encampment.
    “Don’t get yourself killed, Salina,” Carliss whispered to herself, then focused intently on providing cover as she advanced.
    Salina carefully made her way nearer the camp. Carliss took another step, then froze as she heard two men behind her. She dropped to the forest floor in the cover of the underbrush, hoping that Salina would see the men before it was too late. Carliss held her breath and turned her head just enough to see them as they approached. She could only hope that the brush at her back would be enough to hide her.
    “Which castle do we deliver the vermin to this time?” one of the men asked.
    “These are for Lord Malco himself,” the other replied. “And if that cracker Barstoon sends me out there again, I’ll—”
    “You’ll what?” the other man interrupted. “Leave Moorue and take up farming?” He laughed and slapped the back of the man’s head.
    The man spit and snarled, then grabbed the arm of his accomplice. They stopped right beside Carliss, and her stomach rose to her throat.
    “Look there!” she heard one of the men whisper.
    The other man’s eyes grew wide, and they both slowly drew their swords. Carliss held her breath as they looked beyond her to Salina. Carliss watched in torment as the men silently made their way to her unsuspecting friend. When they were a short distance away, Carliss lifted herself high enough to be able to draw back her bow. Salina was still thirty paces from the edge of camp, and Carliss was just as far behind her, with the two marauders between them.
    For a moment, Carliss could think of no way to save her friend andstill escape the clutches of these evil brutes and their comrades. She broke from her cover to get a better view of the men. Moment by moment the terrifying scene unfolded, and Carliss could hardly bear it. The men were close to Salina now, and Carliss drew back her bow, targeting the one closest to Salina, steeling herself for what she knew must come next.
    Salina was so intent on the encampment that she was still completely unaware of her impending demise. She took two more steps, which put her just out of Carliss’s sight.
    “No!” Carliss whispered. She relaxed her bow and ran forward until she caught sight of Salina again, but she was too late. One of the men had grabbed Salina from behind, and his hand was now encircling her throat. The second man stood behind them, his back to Carliss. He lifted his sword and hesitated.
    Carliss drew back and let loose an arrow that followed the perfect path through the trees toward the man’s heart. Before the arrow hit its mark, Carliss drew another arrow and ran three more paces toward her friend.
    Thud!
The hollow