Free Witch Bane by Tim Marquitz Page B

closer but could pick out no words. He looked
between the closest homes and saw flickers of movement, red and
silver passing in flashes.
    “ Red Guard,” he whispered, shaking his
head. “Damn it.”
    Darius nodded, casting a glance toward the
trees behind them. Sebastian split his focus, keeping his ears to
their back and his eyes on the village. Their follower had stopped
his advance just as they had, so Sebastian felt fairly confident it
wasn’t a minion of the witches on their trail. If it were, he
wouldn’t have gone silent at the sight of his fellow Red Guard. It
was a minor comfort to know something of the man at their
backs.
    Another burst of voices echoed from the
village, followed by a storm of motion. Sebastian clearly
recognized one of the Red Guard as he hovered in his line of sight,
his sword in his hand. The man shouted at someone he couldn’t see,
but the tone was clear. It was an order. The village was under
siege, just as Deliton had been.
    Sebastian’s stomach rumbled and he growled
back. He’d been looking forward to food and sleep, not a fight.
With the Red Guard occupying the village, the only way they would
be able to gather supplies would be to take the squadron out. As
tired as he was, he wasn’t sure he had it in him. Frustration
building, he thought it best to scout out the situation. His father
would expect it.
    He crept to the side, clearing more of the
town to his view. As he looked for the Red Guard’s transport, he
caught a shimmer of movement from one of the nearest homes. He
ducked deeper behind his cover, motioning for his father to do the
same.
    Darius dropped at the hand signal, a
lifetime of military training making the action instinctive.
Sebastian stared off at the hut, the shuttered windows cracked but
a few inches. Between the slats he could see flesh; a face peering
from the crack. It sat low, in an obvious effort to be
surreptitious. The face dropped from sight an instant later.
    Sebastian glanced off toward the rest of the
buildings near the edge. He sighed when he saw that all of the
shutters facing the forest were open just a tiny bit, just enough
to allow someone inside to see out without giving themselves away,
if they were careful. He let his eyes drift over the windows and
after a few moments, he saw the nearly imperceptible flutter of a
face at another. A moment later he saw yet one more flash of
movement, catching a glance of red through the slats. The soldiers
were impatient.
    Sebastian stayed low and returned to his
father’s side. “While I can’t be sure it’s for us, this is a trap.”
He pointed to the row of homes, marking the windows where he’d seen
the lookouts.
    “ I saw.” Darius marked two more
houses. “There was one there and there, as well, and who knows how
many are stuffed inside.” He motioned over his shoulder with his
eyes. “Our tail hasn’t moved since we stopped, so I don’t think
he’s a part of this.”
    Sebastian nodded, his father echoing his
earlier thought. “What now?”
    “ It looks like we’re going hungry
tonight.” Darius moved off low, circling away from the village,
keeping a safe distance from where they believed their follower
hid.
    Sebastian grumbled and followed after. Had
they not been so close to the village they could have hunted for
dinner, but with an obvious Red Guard ambush set up at Cammpras,
they had no certainty as to how far the watch extended. They would
have to travel well away from the village before it became safe
enough for them to set up camp without fear of detection. It would
be another long, uncomfortable night with the follower at their
heels and the Red Guard on the hunt. Sebastian could feel his anger
rising.
    They stayed low for a long way before
Darius straightened and their movement sped up, the earliest part
of the journey a tedious crawl. Even at speed, it was still many
hours before his father brought them to a halt with a weary wave,
under a dense overhang of interwoven