Sara's Story

Act 3 - Future

Chapter 17 - Desperately looking for Mary

© 2003 Nameless

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I wake up suddenly, wondering why it is so cold in the bed. Reaching out towards Henry's side of the bed, I find it empty and cold. "Henry!?" I wait for an answer until I remember the events of today and realized that there will not be one. My eyes flood with tears and I bury my head in the pillow. After a while I must have drifted back to sleep.

# # #

The next day we set out late in the morning. Lord Archwhiffle, Margaret and many other furs sent us off with a great many good wishes and advice. We entered Nevillestown a little after noon and found a room in a nice inn. Then we visited the merchant who had organized the convoy to make sure that there had not been any last-minute change of plans. Assured that they would set out as agreed the next day, we spent the rest of the day just strolling around the city. We visited the church, of course, and prayed for my daughter and for a successful and safe journey. We went to bed early, had some private entertainment and fell asleep.

The next morning we got up before dawn, ate a quick breakfast and readied our wagon. That is, Henry ate breakfast while I packed our things. The morning sickness had nearly stopped, but I just could not eat anything right after I got up. We made our way across town to the field to the north where the caravan was assembling. About an hour after we got there, the caravan set out. I ate my breakfast, while we waited for everybody to get their things sorted out. A few friendly words by Henry (and, probably more importantly, a few coins) assured us a spot forward of the middle of the caravan. I was glad that we would not have to ride at the very end and eat all the dust that the wagons before us would throw up into the air. Soon the road left the densely populated area around Nevillestown and made it's way through sparsely populated woods.

Henry had told me a bit about the road and showed me the map. Nevillestown was rather far inland, along a fertile river valley. Washington, the destination of the caravan, lay not very far to the north. But it was in a different valley.

Washington, he explained, had been named after the count Washing, who had explored that river valley and later settled there. Originally and officially it had been called 'Washing's town', but since the inhabitants had always mispronounced the name, the shorter form was now the accepted name.

It was only three days ride due north, but to take the direct road, one had to cross infertile hilly country. There were a few small settlements along the road, but otherwise the only inhabitants of the hilly region between the two valleys were a few small tribes of natives and several bands of bandits. Henry was pretty sure that the bandits who had abducted me from Lord Amanti's holding had their lair somewhere in this region. Since following the river to the settled coastal plains, going north across the plains and then riding upriver to Washington took a good two weeks, more and more traders elected to take the road across the hills. Because of the bandits, most travelers joined together to form the weekly caravans. Several small garrisons of soldiers did their best to protect the caravans traveling along that road.

The guards eyed the woods through which we traveled apprehensively, their guns loaded and at the ready. I held the reins most of the time and Henry had his musket in his lap. Mine was also loaded and ready to be used by either of us at a moment's notice.

The first day passed without any serious problems and we stopped for the night at a small settlement that consisted mainly of an inn, a few houses and a small garrison, all inside a wooden palisade. Since there were way too many furs for the inn and they gave preferential treatment to their regular customers (and the price was too steep for us anyway), we had to sleep in the small tent Henry had the foresight to bring along. The weather was pleasantly warm, so it was not too uncomfortable.

When we got up the next morning, the weather had worsened somewhat. The sky was cloudy and the wind had picked up. Traveling was a lot less pleasant than it had been the day before but it was not too bad. We set out shortly after dawn. During the day the wind picked up further and it rained from time to time. It was not much more than a drizzle, but it was not pleasant. Thankfully it was not enough to turn the road to mud and bog down the wagons. We pulled out cloaks tightly around our bodies and kept the weapons under the oilcloth we draped over our shoulders, to keep the powder from getting wet. The creaking of the trees and the other noises put everyone on edge. Several times a guard or one of the animal handlers thought that he had heard some fur trying to sneak up on the caravan and raised an alarm, but we were not ambushed. Every time I prayed that it would turn out to be another false alarm.

When we reached the next way station about two hours before sunset everybody was greatly relieved. Spending another night outside would not be pleasant, but at least we were safely behind a wall. Not only did the inn in this station have way too few beds, it also did not have an eating hall that was anywhere spacious enough for all the furs in the caravan, so we sat outside, around a campfire, together with several of the guards and animal handlers. A tarpaulin held off the worst of the weather. One of the soldiers from the garrison walked by and asked "Ready for some action tomorrow?"

"As ready as we are ever going to be." Answered one of the guards "How is the situation?"

"There have not been any bandit attacks in the last few weeks. Not since the duke of Egghill sent reinforcements to strengthen our presence here. But there are still signs of them and the sergeant thinks that they are bound to get desperate at some point."

"Do you think they will attack us?"

"Maybe, maybe not. This caravan is rather well guarded, but since we have to spend one night out in the open... The resting stop on the pass has been one of their favorite locations for a long time."

This puzzled me a bit "Is there no way station?"

"No, Madam."

"Why?"

"Well, the way I have heard it, is that the logical place for the station would be at the top of the pass. And that is right on the border between Egghill province and Kathrynia province. And the dukes of those two provinces have been squabbling about who has the right to build the station. And of course, who would get the taxes from is." [Note: Lord Archwhiffle's land is in Egghill province.]

Henry added "Trade along this route has been picking up a lot in the last few years and both dukes would like to have the bigger share of the proceeds, Sara."

"Yes. I have heard that they have both sent petitions to the Emperor, but that the matter has not been decided yet. Until it is, the station will not be built and any caravan will have to spend the night at the pass."

"At least they could find a few furs to cut a small clearing." One of the caravan guards added.

"Yes. And a squad of us will accompany you." The soldier put his paw on his heart and bowed in my direction "I will keep you safe, Madam."

"Thank you." I answered.

Henry added "Thank you, Corporal. I hope we won't need your protection, but I will be very glad to have you along."

I asked "Why are there so many bandits here?"

"Well, this road runs through pretty rough and unsettled land. And until recently the pickings were not that difficult, as most traders traveled in small groups. It was a rather good place for bandits."

"There is so much empty land here, why don't these furs just settle somewhere and live by farming?"

"Well, there were a lot of soldiers and mercenaries fighting in the wars against the Salanesian and the Franconians. Not all of them found farming to their liking. Then there are always serfs and slaves who prefer to take to the woods and live by robbing other furs rather than work for their lawful masters."

I thought "Considering some of the masters I have had, I can easily imagine that. I would have tried running away if I had thought I had a reasonable chance."

"And it is said that the Franconish King is sponsoring bandits to disrupt our settlements."

"And I have heard rumors that the Duke of New Walish [Note: The province through which the coastal road runs.] is also encouraging bandits to prey on the travelers on this road." At the cautioning look the soldier shot him, he added "No doubt false and spread by jealous malcontents."

Again we had to spend the night in our tent. It would have been very uncomfortable if I had not had Henry to cuddle up to.

A double pawful of soldiers from the garrison joined us the next day, since this was considered to be the most dangerous part of the journey and we would not be able to spend the night behind a palisade. The air had cooled down considerably and the wind was even stronger, our only comfort was that it did not rain too heavily.

It was late in the afternoon and we were not far from the pass when an alarmed shout from the soldiers riding in the van stopped the caravan. We stopped our wagon and readied our weapons. Soon I learned that a fallen tree had blocked the road. We prepared to defend against an ambush. There was none, but I was very much afraid and I grew even more afraid when it was found out, that the tree had been felled by furs.

It took nearly an hour of hard work to reduce the tree to pieces that could be dragged off the road. But we were not attacked. Probably some bandits had felled the tree but had then decided that our caravan was too well protected. A short while before sunset we reached the clearing where we had planned to spend the night. The wagons were formed into a circle.

The night was very unpleasant, as we were at the highest point of the road and the temperature had dropped considerably. The weather turned even nastier, it rained on and off and the clouds hung very low. Nearly half the guards were awake at all times and few furs slept soundly that night. I was afraid and woke up several times during the night, expecting an attack at every strange noise. We slept fully clothed and had our weapons close at paw.

I was woken suddenly and rudely, but I could not figure out exactly what had woken me up. For a moment I was disoriented and stared into the darkness, trying to make sense of the situation. Henry was already moving and when another shot rang out, I realized what had happened as well " Bandits! They are attacking us!" Henry was already out of the tent by the time I finally threw off my blanket. I picked up my musket and crawled outside. Furs were running around, shouting in confusion or struggling to crawl out of their tents or the wagons. I cocked my gun and looked around, trying to find Henry. But the dimly and unevenly lit fog made it very difficult to make out much, so I made my way to the closest wagon and peered out into the darkness.

There was a sudden flash of light a few yards in front of me and the thunderous roar of a gunshot. A heartbeat later there was a cry of pain and when I looked there, I saw one of the caravan guards clutch his belly. He howled again and crumpled. A moment later I could make out the fur who had shot him as he ran towards me, brandishing a pistol and a hatchet. Trembling in fear, I nearly dropped my gun, but then I suddenly heard Henry's voice "Bring the gun to your shoulder, press it tightly against your shoulder and take a moment to aim. Hold your breath for a moment and pull the trigger." I had not really realized that I had actually done so, when my gun roared and a moment later the wolf in front of me howled in pain and dropped his weapons. His eyes wide with shock, he stared at me for a terribly long moment before he dropped dead.

I don't know how long I stared at his suddenly still and lifeless form, it might have been only a heartbeat or it could have been a minute, I could never tell. A shouted " Take care!" woke me from my daze and I turned around. Just in time to catch a sword stroke aimed at my back on my raised musket. I must have had an angel look out for me that day. Still, the force of the blow slammed my raised musket into my face and sent me reeling backwards. I crashed into the wagon behind me and fell down. The bandit could have killed me if he had attacked me right away, but for some reason he hesitated for a moment and then one of the soldiers charged him, screaming a war cry.

My head was spinning as I watched the two circle each other, but I forced myself to stand up and I stumbled towards the pair of struggling furs. The bandit had his back to me and I tried to stab him in the back with my musket, but my paws were weak and it was barely more than a light poke. Still it was enough. It distracted the bandit for a moment and suddenly I found myself staring at the bloody blade sticking out of his back. He crumpled with a gurgling cry of pain.

And then, all of a sudden, it was quiet. The only noises were the footsteps of the remaining bandits as they ran away. And I suddenly realized just how close I had come to being killed. My suddenly trembling paws dropped the gun and I sank to my knees and wept.

A paw on my shoulder brought me back to the present and I looked at the face of the young soldier. The one who had promised to protect me and who had now saved my life. He asked "Are you all right, Miss?"

"I..." I could barely speak, but finally I managed to say "Yes. I'm not hurt. Thank you. You saved my life."

"Thank you for your help." He squeezed my shoulder again "I have to see if there are any wounded who need help." With that he padded off. I stared at him, then I forced myself to stand up and I stumbled after him, looking for Henry. Praying that he had survived the battle.

" Sara!"

I turned, dropped my gun and cried " Henry!" I nearly bowled him over when I jumped into his arms and buried my face in his chest. " He is alive!" I was so happy and suddenly all the tension in me unwound. Shaking with emotions, I cried in joy.

We had beaten off the bandits but several furs had been killed and several more were wounded. The copses of the bandits were carried into the woods a way and left for the scavengers. After a quick hot breakfast we set out again. The weather improved a little and we made good time and reached the next way station in the middle of the afternoon. Everybody was glad to be able to sleep behind a wall again.

There were no more problems and we reached Washington two days later. We said our good-byes and made our way through the city and to the western side, looking for a cheap inn. A little while before nightfall we found one that was clean enough and not too expensive for us. We rented a room, put our horses into the stable and ate a quick dinner. Then we retired to our room where we spent some time celebrating the fact that we had survived the attack. I think the furs in the next room appreciated our efforts, because they repeatedly knocked on the rather thin wall.

# # #

Since we did not have a very long journey that day, we stayed in bed a little longer than usual. Then we set out for Lord Amanti's holding.

As we rolled along the road and I recognized a few landmarks, I began remembering the things that had happened to me there. My paws began trembling and finally Henry had to take the reins from me. Feeling his arm around me helped to keep me from panicking. Still, when the road emerged from the forest and the mansion came into view, the memories of all the horrible things that had happened to me there overwhelmed me. Henry stopped the wagon and held me for a long time, until I finally got my weeping under control again. He helped me clean my face and then we drove on.

We pulled up in front of the entrance and Henry helped me climb down from the wagon. Not that I would have needed his help, more to let us appear like gentlefolk. Several guards watched us and I had to suppress a growl when I recognized one of them who had been particularly cruel. They eyed me curiously, wondering why I looked faintly familiar, but I think none of them recognized me.

Then the door opened and the butler approached us. He eyed us for a moment before he decided that we were furs worthy of his attention, if barely so "A good day to you. Be welcome to the holding of Lord Amanti."

"A good day to you and your house." Henry answered and gave a slight bow while I curtsied.

"What brings you here, good furs?"

"My name is Henry Stouffer, this is my wife Sara. I am in the employ of Lord Archwhiffle and we are here because we have some private business to discuss with Lord Amanti."

"I presume you can prove that..."

"Yes." Henry pawed the butler a ring engraved with Lord Archwhiffle's crest.

The fox examined the ring for a long moment before he returned it "Please follow me." He led us into the mansion and then he said "Please have a seat. I will inform Lord Amanti of your arrival." With that he padded up the stairs.

Several slaves hurried past us while we sat there and waited. I recognized some of them, but some were new, probably bought to replace those who had been kidnapped by the bandits. I began trembling when I saw the fear in their eyes, saw them flinch when they realized that I was watching them. I could barely hold back the tears when I saw the obvious pain in the way some of the slaves moved, when I saw signs of fresh and old but badly healed wounds. "The bastard! This is so different from Lord Archwhiffle's household." Henry took my paw and squeezed it, doing what he could to help me keep calm.

After a long time the butler returned and said "Lord Amanti will see you now. Please follow me."

It galled me to have to do this, but I curtsied and waited for Lord Amanti to acknowledge us. He took his time, barely not long enough to be really considered insulting. Finally he looked at us and gave a barely perceptible nod.

Henry bowed again "A good day to you, Lord Amanti. May God's light shine upon you."

"A good day to you, Mr... ?"

"Henry Stouffer, my Lord. And this is my wife Sara."

"Be welcome, then Mr. Stouffer." He looked me up and down. For a moment he looked puzzled, then he recognized me "And a good day to you, Mrs. Stouffer." He turned to Henry and winked at him "I must congratulate you on your wife. Quite a catch, even if she looks a bit worse for wear."

I barely managed to suppress a growl at the insult. Only the knowledge that it would almost certainly get me killed and ruin any chances of ever seeing my daughter again kept me from going for his throat.

"Well, what brings you here?"

"My wife bore a daughter while she stayed here. We want to find out about her whereabouts and, if possible, take her with us. My liege lord, Lord Archwhiffle, has given me a letter for you, to ask you to help us in this matter." With that Henry produced the letter and pawed it to Lord Amanti.

The Lord examined the seal and broke it. We waited patiently while he read the letter. Finally he looked at us again and said "Let me see what I can do to help you." He waved at a couch "Why don't you have a seat." He snapped a finger and had a slave bring us drinks. "Let me check my records, I don't quite remember what happened to that little kit." He got up and fetched a large book from the shelf. He paged through it for a while before he looked up and said "Ah, yes, now I remember. I gave the little kit to another slave to care for. I'm very sorry to have to tell you this, but in the winter she caught a disease and died. May God have mercy on her soul. I am truly sorry that your journey was in vain."

I knew he was lying, still I could not hold back the tears. Even if she were alive, my former master would not help me find her. For a terrible moment our eyes met and I saw that he really enjoyed hurting me once more. That he enjoyed knowing that he was doing something that would hurt me for a long time, possibly the rest of my life.

"Mr. Stouffer, I see that your wife is distraught. Since it is too late to travel back to the city today, why don't you be my guests and stay the night?" His voice dripped with smug cruelty, safe in the knowledge that we were powerless to do anything.

"Thank you, my Lord." Henry said. The note of tightly controlled anger was clearly audible.

The fox clapped his paws and a moment later the butler entered "Well, then, unless you have other business, why don't you accompany your wife to your room, so she can grieve properly. James, my guests will be staying with us for the night. Show them to their room."

"A good day to you, my Lord." Henry bowed and I could hear the barely controlled anger in his voice. He extended his arm to me and we turned to leave.

Just before we got to the door, the fox called "Mr. Stouffer. Just so you know, bandits have been seen in the area recently. If you leave this house for any reason, I cannot guarantee your safety."

"Thank you for the information, my Lord." Henry all but growled.

# # #

As soon as Henry closed the door, I flung myself on the bed, buried my head in the pillow and began sobbing helplessly. After a while I noticed his paw on my shoulder and turned to him " The lying bastard!" I snarled.

He sat down on the bed and put his arms around me "I know, Sarah. If I were a noble, I'd challenge him to a duel. But the sad truth of the matter is that we can't do anything about it."

I blew my nose and asked "What if we find her here? I know some places where he could have hidden her..."

"What then? Do you think we could take her away from him?"

"I don't know..." I almost wailed "If we knew that she was here, maybe we could get some help from the local duke..."

"Sorry, no. Think about it, we don't have any right to her, even if we could prove that she is actually your daughter. You were his slave when you bore her and that makes her his property. And even if the duke ruled that you had some right to your daughter, that 'Lord' could just claim that you were mistaken and the kit in question is not actually your daughter. Whom do you think would the local duke believe? A lord he has known for years or a common femme, one who was a slave until recently?"

I buried my face in Henry's chest and sobbed bitterly for some time. After a long while I looked up at him and ventured "Maybe, we could spirit her away or something..."

"No. We will be closely watched whenever we leave this room."

"In the night?"

"Did you listen to what he said as we were leaving?"

"Yes, but... What are the chances of bandits actually attacking a manor today?"

"He was not talking about bandits, Sara. Without actually saying it, he warned us that he would have us killed if we left the room during the night. I'm pretty sure there will be guards who are only waiting for us to try something like that."

"He can kill us just like that?"

"Legally, no. But if we die, who will doubt him if he says that we were shot by bandits? Or, that one of his guards thought that we were bandits and shot us by mistake? We will be dead and he will get a slap on the wrist, if that. And even if we succeed, we will be criminals if he reports this to the sheriff." He gently took my muzzle and made me look him in the eyes "If they catch us, we will be killed or enslaved. Do you want to risk the child you are carrying? Do you want to risk her becoming a slave of this bastard here? Do you want to risk becoming his slave again?"

My eyes filled with tears and I could not stop crying. After a while I must have fallen asleep.

"Wake up, Sara." For a moment I was disoriented until I remembered where we were. "I brought our things and got something to eat from the kitchen."

I sat up and looked at the food on the table. Promptly my stomach began to rumble "Thank you, Henry. Are we eating here?"

"I thought it best. I did not think you would want to eat together with the fine furs of this household."

I thought about that "You are right. I probably would have lost my appetite rather quickly if I had to eat in the presence of furs who enjoyed hurting me." I got up and walked to the table. Henry held the chair for me and I sat down. He joined me, we said grace and began eating.

I was nearly finished when I noticed our guns leaning against the wall "Did they allow you to bring our guns here?"

"The butler did not like it, but once I reminded him of their 'bandit problem' he could not refuse to allow me to bring our weapons. At least he knew that he would have to admit that the 'bandit problem' was only a fiction."

"Do you think we will need them? That they will try to kill us?"

"Not really. But I feel better with them close at paw."

It was not really late, but since there was not much else that we could do, Henry secured the room as best as he could. The air was a bit stuffy with the shutters closed tightly and tied down. He also tied down the door bolt to make sure no one could open it from the outside. Then he checked our guns and stored them where we could grab them quickly.

When everything was ready, we got into bed together. For a while he helped me forget about my daughter. And then I fell asleep quickly, pleasantly exhausted and emotionally drained.

End of Chapter 17