* * *
"They're as tight-lipped as anything I've ever seen," the General grumbled. He, Solis, Warn and I were having our evening meal. I listened carefully as the General complained about our current situation with Red Hand. "My spies have nothing to report, except the usual altercations. Two of ours were beaten and left for dead this morning. Windle's healer is tending them now. The High Commander will be here for breakfast in the morning, trying to explain all this away."
"So they haven't caught the perpetrators?" Solis asked.
"No." The General wasn't happy about that, I could tell. We'd sat in a deserted corner of the inn, eating roasted chicken and talking when four Red Hand troops walked in and sat at a nearby table. We had to stop talking, then. The innkeeper's daughter, a girl of sixteen, came out to serve them. They all ordered a meal with wine. Their wine came first, followed by platters of roasted chicken with potatoes; just what we'd had. One of the men reached out for the girl when she dropped off their food, causing her father to appear immediately. He told them, quite loudly, that his inn was respectable and he didn't allow anyone to touch his daughter. I was right with him on that one. The Red Hand troops proceeded to grumble loudly the whole time they ate and left after hurling more insults at the innkeeper and his daughter.
"Stupid filth," the wife, who cooked for the inn, muttered under her breath as she came out to help her daughter clear the table. The others didn't hear her words, but I did.
After we finished eating, we walked to the healer's home to check on the two wounded men—they'd been beaten badly and were still unconscious. I had my doubts that one would wake at all and the other probably had brain damage from a severe head wound. The General was angry, I could tell—these men had been on late watch and had likely been accosted by their attackers while everyone else was asleep. The early morning watch had found the wounded night guards on the edge of camp when they arrived for their shift. Neither of the unconscious men had awakened since then.
"We'll check on the Regulars," the General said after we left the healer's home. We walked—the army was less than half a mile away and I figured the walk would serve to clear away some of the General's anger. We met up with Desmun, Nord and Cordus; Blade and Grip were out patrolling the perimeter with their bodyguards.
"Have you found anything?" We sat inside Desmun's tent, drinking tea and going over information the Captains managed to gather from the troops. The General wanted to know everything, no matter how insignificant it might seem.
"Three Red Hand troops went to meet with the High Commander, at least that's what they said they were going to do when they left right after moonrise, last night," Cordus grumped. Red Hand had camped ahead of the Farus army, just a little way up the mountain. They had to pass the outskirts of the Farus army to get back to Windle.
"Horsed or not?" The General asked.
"Horsed," Cordus answered. "But the night watch on the north side said they came back through after three marks, long before the late watch guards came on duty."
"How many does the High Commander have in Windle to guard him?" I asked.
"Seven, I believe," Solis replied. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"How hard would it be for two or three of them to ride double coming back with the others, drop off in that stand of trees between here and Windle and then attack several marks later when the watch changed, just to divert suspicion from the three that came through earlier?" Yeah, I hadn't liked what I'd smelled when the four had come to eat at our inn. There was a taint about them and that had raised my hackles.
Solis drew in a ragged breath. He was seeing this, too.
"Then we need to be questioning those in town instead of those here, perhaps," the General said.
"And we need to be quiet about it," Desmun grumped. "I don't want the High Commander to find out we suspect his guards unless we have solid proof." Solis, Nord and Cordus all agreed.
"We'll start with the stable hands," the General said. "Tomorrow, after breakfast, when the High Commander is inspecting his troops." He went every day—we knew that much—but was back in plenty of time for a better meal in town later. I wanted to be in on that questioning, to make sure no tales were carried back to the HC or any of his troops. I didn't get any information after that, the bodyguards were sent away so the Captains could have a private chat with the General.
If I'd been alone, I'd have turned to mist and gone right back in. That wasn't an option with Warn, Maks and Ander with me. We ended up walking down to the stand of trees to see if we could find anything. The other three missed the hoof prints because of darkness, but I didn't. I also sniffed out the trees where they'd stopped to relieve themselves while they waited three or four marks to do their murderous misdeeds. Three Red Hand troops had come—their scents were clear to me. They were likely well trained in hand-to-hand combat, too. No wonder they'd beaten the two guards so badly. We walked back to the camp afterward, waiting at a table in the officers' mess tent while the Captains and General finished their meeting.
"Ready to go?" The General seemed to be in better spirits when he came out with Solis and the others. I stood with the others and we all walked toward Windle. Halfway there, the breeze carried a scent to me, which worried me greatly.
"Something's burning," I said, starting to trot and then to run. Solis was beside me in seconds, with Warn and the General coming behind at a slower pace. I was cursing when we raced into town—our inn was aflame.
"Someone's cut the well rope!" A man shouted. Things were chaotic as precious minutes slipped by.
"Get another rope," Solis yelled. "Find buckets now!" Some brave souls had gone inside the inn and pulled the bodies of the innkeeper, his wife and daughter out. All dead. My group was the only one staying at the inn, and we'd been away when the fire started.
The great room inside the inn was mostly what was burning, but the wing with the guestrooms was beginning to catch.
"What do you need out of there?" I shouted at the General and Solis over the din while we passed buckets of water along. Those buckets were too little and much too late—I realized that quickly, but an attempt had to be made.
"Almost everything," the General shouted. I nodded. "I'll go," I said, and stepped out of the line. That night the entire town watched me shimmy up a tree that stood near the guest quarters of the inn, and then swing on a branch to kick out a window before climbing inside the burning building.