Free Witch Bane by Tim Marquitz

slow through the woods without
another word, each casting furtive glances back in hopes of spying
whoever it was that trailed them. Sebastian could see no one, but
the widespread silence of the insects beyond their immediate
vicinity assured him he was still there. The bugs never lied.
    While the trip was made more tedious by
their closeness, the fake limp an aggravation to them both, they
stayed together, the whole of their senses trained on the forest
around them. No one showed their face, and they continued on until
the sun began its slow descent below the trees. At last, they
settled for the night, pitching a small camp but starting no fire.
The watcher still unseen, they settled beneath a concealing web of
foliage that hung from a cluster of giant trees. The greenery
providing a good measure of cover from the eyes that had lurked
behind them for hours, they sat more comfortably, the weight of
miles fading slowly from their weary bones.
    Sebastian peered off in one direction, his
father the other. Through the fugue of weariness, Sebastian kept
his eyes on the trees despite his wish for sleep. His sword at the
ready, he stared off into the silent darkness and waited. It would
be yet another long night.

Nine
     
    Morning was slow to come. Sebastian and his
father had slept in fitful bouts, each taking turns at watch.
Whoever followed them had kept his distance, never approaching the
camp. The fact that he remained in hiding could be interpreted in
different ways, the majority of the possibilities having flitted
through Sebastian’s mind hundreds of times over the course of the
night. Either he was correct in assuming the tracker was afraid of
them, or he knew they were aware he was there and he’d stayed away
simply to wear them down, their weariness becoming a disadvantage
at some later point in their travels. Sadly, assumptions were all
Sebastian had.
    To add to their misery, a number of Red
Guard patrols had crisscrossed the dark skies above their
encampment. The piercing screeches of griffons shattered the
silence, startling Sebastian and Darius from their languid slumber
several times. The night was full of their sounds, and it did
nothing to ease Sebastian’s mind as he sat tense, waiting for
someone to leap from the bushes.
    At the first hint of orange in the sky, he
saw his father climb to his feet and stretch. A yawned groan
floated in the morning air, punctuated by the muffled pops of his
knees. Sebastian smiled but he knew he’d sound no better when he
got up, the cold comfort of the earth a horrible substitute for a
feathered mattress and warmed rushes. He tested his ankle to find
it was a little sore, but nothing that would limit his motion.
    Sebastian got up slow, knowing his father
would be impatient to leave, but unwilling to rush. His blurry eyes
were on the trees. Hidden as the pair was by the mass of foliage,
it was unlikely they could even be seen, but he had no desire to be
proven wrong. It was far too early to be worrying about being
killed.
    He heard his father watering the trees
and waited until he was finished, giving him another moment to
secure his pants before Sebastian followed suit. He chuckled as he
relieved himself behind the broad shelter of a tree trunk. Now would be the perfect time for an
ambush.
    Grateful he got to finish his task without
interruption, he turned back to find his father. A short distance
away, Darius stared at the lightening sky through the shifting
canopy.
    “ I suspect we’ll see more patrols
today. After all the excitement, they’ll be thick in the area,” he
whispered, his voice barely carrying to Sebastian’s ear. “We’ll
stick to the deeper woods to keep their eyes off our
backs.”
    Sebastian yawned and gave a halfhearted nod.
His day had just become more tedious. While the thick forest might
protect them from being spotted by the soldiers, it made it that
much easier for their follower to draw closer without being seen,
and that much harder for them to