Free Solomon Kane by Ramsey Campbell

him; it only suggested what might await him there. “Satan’s creatures will take me,” he said, “should I stray from the path of peace.”
    “Then do not stray, Master Kane.” Crowthorn’s eyes seemed to fasten on the light and render it as steady as his gaze. “Do not stray,” he repeated, and for that moment Kane was sure that the Crowthorns could keep him on his chosen path.

TWELVE

    “C aptain Kane.”
    It was a form of address that he might have hoped never again to hear. The last man to use it Kane had shot in the back, and every other memory it awakened seemed to be tainted with blood. The voice was not a man’s, however. It was Meredith’s, and perhaps it was even capable of purging the words of their taint of evil.
    She was riding in the front of the wagon beside Edward while Kane walked ahead with the horses. The exercise invigorated him, and the open fields on either side showed him no danger. The last few hours had felt like a promise of peace. A few snowflakes were abroad under the pale sky, and one touched the fading bruise on his forehead, a hint of chill that instantly melted away. Kane let the horses overtake him and turned to look up at Meredith. “Yes, miss,” he said.
    She had been sewing, and looked suddenly embarrassed as she displayed the results. “I made these clothes for you,” she said and hesitated until Edward glanced at her. “As your others are so...” she said, and nothing else.
    “So what, miss?” Kane said.
    “I thought...” Perhaps she was abashed by his attention and Edward’s. “As your others were so worn,” she said with an effort that turned her cheeks prettily colourful, “I thought you might like these.”
    Edward watched her hand Kane the bundle, and Kane thought he saw approval in the young man’s eyes. Perhaps it was just for the Puritan clothes, a dark tunic and shirt. “Thank you, miss,” he said.
    “Let us find a sheltered place to take our repast, Edward,” William called from pacing behind the wagon, “and then Solomon may don his new attire.”
    “We are coming to a river,” Edward said.
    Kane saw only a line of trees in the distance ahead. Edward had the better vantage, and Kane had to hope that he was vigilant – surely he would be alert for danger when he had lost two people dear to him. Nevertheless Kane redoubled his watchfulness as the landscape grew less open. Snow had begun to fly across the fields, but not so thickly that it interfered with his view. Soon he saw water glinting between the trees. He strode ahead of the wagon, and the river seemed to raise its breathless voice to greet him.
    Both banks were thinly forested, and he made sure they were deserted. As soon as the wagon trundled to a halt beside the water Katherine and her younger son climbed down from the back. “Here is your dressing-chamber, Master Kane,” Katherine said.
    Kane hoisted himself into the wagon as Meredith and Edward left it. He dragged his torn shirt over his head with scarcely a twinge from his bruises. The one that had empurpled his chest was barely visible now among the symbols that covered his skin. He took a moment to imagine that eventually those might fade too, if there came a time when he no longer needed their protection, but he could not afford to feel safe. However comforting it was to be surrounded by the family, he had to remember that he might bring peril upon them. He dressed quickly and stepped down from the wagon.
    Meredith smiled at him, but mostly to herself. “Now there’s a fine figure of a man,” Katherine said. “Don’t you think so, William?”
    “Better than those rags you were wearing, Master Kane. There’s no doubt of that.”
    Kane saw Meredith permit herself another smile and knew that William had conveyed more praise than his words seemed to contain. “So I meet with your approval?” Kane said.
    “Finally you are respectable,” Katherine told him.
    Kane did his best to match her humour, but his words defeated