Free Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick Page A

at Falthwaite End, enjoying the accolades of the crowd, watching Stella make her way arrogantly from family to family with her mother Herza beaming proudly in the background. Leave Loulea? He couldn't leave. Not when people were finally noticing him.
    'Traders are always going on journeys,' his father was saying. 'I've just decided to take my family with me this time. After all, I have been away the best part of two years.'
    'They'll never understand such a hasty departure,' Indrett replied. 'The story will spread throughout the district. Surely if your pursuers follow you here they will find a hundred willing guides to direct them to us.'

    'We've no time to say goodbye to the village. In fact, it would he dangerous if the villagers knew. It will be dangerous anyway lor anyone remaining here, but I can't do anything about that. Perhaps you can bid a few friends farewell early in the morning -those you know will keep their mouths closed for a while at least
    while I wait on the North Road for you. Eventually the story will get out, but by then we'll be well on the road. We won't be found.'
    Indrett cast an earnest look at her husband. 'But why flee at all? Why not tell the village what has happened? They'll set these strangers right! And if need be the men from Vapnatak would come and help. Then, when we've sent these people packing, we can settle into a quiet life.'
    There was no mistaking the hope in her voice.

    'You don't understand. I tell you, we must go! Not just for our own sakes, but because the village is in danger. You don't know these people. They are relentless, remorseless. They'll dispose of anyone in their way. There aren't enough men in Vapnatak to keep them at bay. I'd leave tonight if we weren't all so tired.'
    'These men who follow you, how many are there?' Hal asked.
    'Four,' Mahnum stated quietly.
    'Only four!' Indrett looked puzzled. 'What could four do against a hundred?'
    'Kill them very swiftly,' the tall man said grimly. 'Or kill them slowly, or any way they chose.
    I've seen them do it. These four could take a city. They would go through this village and leave no one alive if they thought it would get them closer to me. It didn't take me a year to get here because I lost my way. No, I tried to lead them anywhere else but here. However, I couldn't shake them off and here I am. And I don't mind telling you, the sooner we leave this village the better I'll feel.'
    'Who are these four pursuers?' Leith asked.
    'They are Bhrudwan warriors, Maghdi Dasht. In our language, Heart of the Desert. We know them better by their Falthan name: Lords of Fear. A thousand years ago the Maghdi were in the vanguard of the Bhrudwan armies that conquered Faltha. They are a secret society, a sort of brotherhood dedicated to violence. Ordinary Bhrudwans are petrified of them.'
    'Mahnum,' Indrett inquired worriedly, 'what makes you so important that four killers would track you across the northern world for a year? What do they want with you? If you've got some¬thing they want, why not give it to them?'
    'Because what I have, what they want, is inside my head. It wouldn't do me any good to give it to them. They'd kill me anyway. It's what I know that makes me dangerous, and they want me dead before I can tell anyone else. You remember that I was sent on a mission to Bhrudwo by the Court of Firanes. It seems that some vague rumours had come to the attention of the King, rumours of the rise of Bhrudwan power. He wanted them investigated and so sent for me. In his dotage, he had forgotten I had given up trading and moved back north to start a new life with the jewel of his Court.' He smiled at Indrett, but she did not respond. 'You remember the day: the envoys would not listen to reason. You remember how I felt. It seemed like some half-baked story had been fabricated in order to send me to certain death, based on some petty jealousy at the Court, and the senile old fool of a king had signed the orders. Only it wasn't a