Free The Crimson Shield by Nathan Hawke

the enemy and that’s what Fenaric had made himself: the enemy. ‘Maker-Devourer. I have two sons by Arda and a daughter.
They’re too young to ride with us.’
    ‘Good. Then go back and watch over them and leave me be.’
    ‘No, better I ride with you, Screambreaker. I’ll save my rage for cracking Vathan skulls, not Marroc ones. You can show me the road to Andhun, which I might not find were I alone,
and remind me why I should grow my beard again. And I’ll return your generosity by hunting food and water for you.’ If he put it like that and made it sound like somehow the
Screambreaker was the one guiding them and not the other way round then maybe Corvin would at least shut up about being left to manage on his own.
    ‘That woman took your beard. Is she why you stayed in Andhun?’
    ‘Not at first.’
    ‘But she’s why you never came back.’ The Screambreaker screwed up his face. ‘I’ve seen how you look at her. And how she looks at you. Women like that make men weak.
You forget who you are.’
    ‘You’re wrong, Screambreaker. I’ve not forgotten. I chose to be something else.’ They rode in silence after that. Gallow watched Corvin’s shoulders start to sag and
then the Screambreaker slumped in his saddle. They were only a few miles from Middislet but the Marroc wouldn’t start for the Crackmarsh until dawn and probably not for hours afterwards.
Gallow reined in his horse. ‘It’s been a long night and I don’t trust these Vathan beasts not to trip and throw me. I’ll stop here and make my camp. I have food and water if
you choose to join me.’ He half expected Corvin to refuse, to insist on riding on alone until he fell off his horse, but the Screambreaker didn’t answer. When Gallow stopped,
Corvin’s horse stopped too. The old man was asleep. Gallow lifted him down and got a fire going. It had been a long night.
    He rose again at dawn. The fire was down to embers but they were enough to light some kindling and start a new one. He roused Corvin with warm water and soft bread and the smell of roasting
meat. ‘Breakfast, Screambreaker. Make the most of it. We won’t eat like this again until Andhun. I’ve got food for another day and then we’ll be foraging in the Crackmarsh.
You’ll not get another fire either, not with Vathen on our trail.’
    ‘Go home, Gallow.’ That was all he said, but he didn’t spit out the water or throw Gallow’s food away. Arda would howl about the meat, the only piece of it they’d
had for weeks. She wouldn’t have forgotten when he found her again in Varyxhun either, but they’d be doing well if that was the worst they had to scream about by then.
    ‘We’ll be at the edge of the Crackmarsh long before the sun peaks,’ he said as they rode. ‘We’ll head west when we reach it. Once the sun is high we’ll rest a
while. We’ll make it as obvious as we can which way we went. Maybe the Vathen will be too eager for our blood to stop and hunt for a handful of Marroc.’
    The Screambreaker laughed. ‘Shall we scare away the wolves and the bears and the bandits for them? Perhaps the foxes and the badgers too? Their teeth are sharp, after all, and their claws
can leave a nasty scratch.’
    Gallow ignored the scorn in the Screambreaker’s words. ‘Outlaws might lurk in its fringes, but the Crackmarsh is no place for food and shelter. The wolves and the bears know that and
yes, the foxes and the badgers too. The only things that hunt there are the ghuldogs. You can try to scare
them
away if you like. Likely as not they’ll come for us.’
    They rode hard through the morning; when they stopped, Corvin didn’t so much climb off his horse as fall. The Screambreaker waved Gallow away, made angry noises and then fell asleep. While
he snored, Gallow wandered the edge of the woods and the broken stones alone. The Marroc would go to the closer caves a few hours east of here, but if the Vathen came in any numbers then caves and
trees wouldn’t