The Third Kingdom

Already, Richard was scanning the trees, fields, and nearby buildings for any other sign of threat. He expected a horde of half people to emerge suddenly and attack all at once, hoping to overpower and rip into him with their teeth before he could fight them all off, but he didn’t see anyone else. Stillness settled once more over the countryside out beyond the animal pens. The pigs snorted and squealed as they fought to get at the head. The chickens, rattled by the man’s roar, were in a frenzied, flapping panic.

Samantha, clutching his cloak, peeked out from behind Richard. Her face was white.

“Are you all right?” he asked, his voice still alive with the twin rage within him.

Samantha’s mass of black hair jiggled up and down as she nodded, her eyes wide.

Richard, still holding the sword, looked back up the mountain to the cave opening. All the people up top gaped down in horror. He didn’t think it was necessary to yell up to them to ask. They got the point.

“He was right here, among us,” Samantha said, clearly surprised that one of the half people had been hiding this close. “They’ve found where we live.”

“They will find where everyone lives,” Richard said. “They’re on the hunt for souls.”

Richard laid a hand on Samantha’s shoulder, holding her back, and told her to wait where she was while he checked the area. She looked forlorn as she waited, standing all alone with her elbows pulled in tight to her sides and her hands clenched in a tight knot under her chin as she watched him searching the area around the small buildings.

More than anything, seeing that thin, frail young woman standing there all alone made him realize how alone she really must feel with her father murdered and her mother missing. She was only now stepping away from being a girl into a world that demanded she grow up or die. Richard reminded himself again that if there was anything he could do to rescue her mother, he was going to do it.

Samantha watched as Richard looked inside the buildings and coops and all around the firewood piles for anyone who might be hiding. As he went around each structure, making sure there was no one hidden behind them, she snatched glances to the sides for any sign of trouble.

After Richard had satisfied himself that the area was clear and that there was no one lying in wait, he signaled for Samantha to come on ahead. She raced to catch up with him as he started down the lane between the pens.

“Are you starting to see why coming along with me is going to be so dangerous?” he asked as he slid his sword back in its sheath. As he released the hilt, he let the anger go as well.

“I’d rather be with you than back there with my people,” she said. “They have numbers. You have a sword. After seeing them attacked the other night, and after seeing you use that sword just now, I’d rather be with one of you and your sword than with all of them.”

Richard had to admit that she had a point.

“Did you sense that man at all with your gift?”

Samantha frowned. “Sense him? What do you mean?”

“Gifted people—wizards and sorceresses—can often sense when there is someone around. They can often sense someone in the darkness, or someone hiding like that man was hiding.”

“Really?” Her mouth twisted with displeasure. “I wish my mother would have taught me that trick.”

“Stroyza doesn’t have any horses, do they?” he asked, even though he thought he knew the answer.

Samantha shook her head. “Just oxen to help in the fields.”

It struck him that they lived here; they had nowhere to go. Unless, of course, in their duty as sentinels they had need to put out a warning about the gates to the third kingdom being open, but that had not been necessary for thousands of years.

Since they didn’t have horses, there was no choice but to walk. From some of the terrain he had seen through the viewing port, horses could not make it all the way to where they needed to go, so it wasn’t as big a hindrance as it might seem. They would have to make do and cover the most ground they could on foot.

As they took the turn, making their way down the path leading north through the fields, Samantha pulled the hood of her cloak up over her hair. The drizzle was getting thicker. By the look of the overcast, Richard thought that it might soon be raining. It was going to be miserable traveling weather.

At least the forest, still some distance off, would offer them some protection. He hurried his pace to make it to the trees quicker.

Samantha didn’t look to be bothered by the gloom.

“Does it get gloomy like this often, here?” he asked her.

She nodded. “It’s dark and dreary here a lot. I’ve often wished that I could live someplace sunny, rather than in the Dark Lands.”

Before they reached the edge of the fields, off ahead among the towering trees, Richard thought that for just a brief moment he spotted eyes back in the darkness of the thick forest.

CHAPTER

38

Richard put his right arm out when he stopped, bringing Samantha to a halt as well. She looked up at him with a puzzled expression.