Free Between Dark and Light by D. A. Adams Page B

pulling him backwards. “I’ll pay your toll, and we’ll be on our way.”
    “Make it fifteen gold coins for his insolence.”
    Roskin took his pouch and counted out the coins. He handed them over and motioned for his companions to leave. Then, he laid two more coins on the table and thanked the barkeep for his hospitality. The five freed slaves had already reached the hallway, but as Roskin moved to join them, Alganeon blocked his path.
    “I’ll take that pouch,” he said, winking.
    Roskin’s temper flared, but he took a deep breath and held it out. Alganeon snatched it from his hand and felt the weight.
    “Smart dwarf,” he grinned. “Now, get moving and don’t come back.”
    Pulling back his shoulders as if about to address his father, Roskin strode down the hallway to the main door. Outside, Krondious and Bordorn were surrounded by twenty more heavily armed Ghaldeons, five of them those who had been sitting on the porch. Despite the odds, both dwarves had their weapons drawn ready to fight. The freed slaves were busy un-tethering the horses, shaken by the scene they had just witnessed.
    “Put your weapons away,” Roskin barked at Bordorn and Krondious.
    “We can take this filth,” Krondious growled.
    “Do as I say,” Roskin snapped. “We’re moving on.”
    “Listen to your master,” Alganeon said, emerging from the inn. “And maybe we’ll let you keep those weapons.”
    Roskin told Krestreon to lead them out of town, and Krondious reluctantly returned his axe to its place on the pack horse. Bordorn followed suit, and the group followed Krestreon south down the wide street. Behind them, the thirty Ghaldeons jeered and teased them as they went. Krondious glanced back once, but Roskin snarled at him to keep his eyes forward. Huffing audibly, the Kiredurk obeyed. They marched for an hour, crossing the river and several small hills. Deep tensions rippled through the group as they walked, and no one spoke. Once they were a safe distance from town, Roskin ordered them to halt and called them together.
    “If anyone has anything to say to me, say it now,” he spoke sternly.
    “We should’ve split their skulls,” Krondious said, waving his arms about. “Those dwarves were no match for us.”
    “I agree,” Krestreon mumbled. “How could you just cave in like that?”
    “Anything else?” Roskin asked.
    Nobody spoke.
    “Let’s make one thing clear,” Roskin said calmly, his voice deep and authoritative. “We’re not here to fight our own kind. We’re here to raise an army to fight the Great Empire. I got us out of there best I could to keep us focused on that goal and that goal alone. If anyone has a problem with that, you’re free to part my company right now.”
    “I’m sorry,” Krondious said, hanging his head.
    “Me, too,” Krestreon added. “We’ve got a higher purpose.”
    “I give both of you my word,” Roskin said. “One day, we’ll go back there and settle the score. That thief needs to be brought down a notch or two, but right now, time is short.”
    The dwarves nodded their agreement, and Roskin made a point to shake hands with each, stopping at Krondious.
    “Make no mistake,” Roskin said, gripping the dwarf’s powerful hand. “You have nothing to prove to anyone.”
    With that, he told them to eat lunch and be ready to march in half an hour. Kehldeon was two days away, and he wanted to reach it soon. He had hoped to offer the acting king his gold as a gesture of good faith, and without it, he wasn’t sure how to gain the dwarf’s favor. Since his father’s decision not to send troops during the Resistance, relations between the two houses had been strained. He would have to find some way to impress him, and after this fiasco, he would again have to win over the freed slaves, for he could sense from their body language that they didn’t understand why he hadn’t stood up to Alganeon. None of them had been leisure slaves, so he didn’t know how to explain his