Free the Walking Drum (1984) by Louis L'amour Page A

warm upon the hills, and I followed the road cheerfully. My Barb was an intelligent animal, and I held him back to conserve his energy for what might lie ahead. Yet as night drew near I began to close the gap, fearing I might be too far behind to help if an attack did come.
    Before me lay a dense and wind-barbered forest, dark and tangled. A dim path led off into the woods, and it seemed to offer a cutoff that might put me ahead of John's party.
    Turning quickly, I followed it, my sword ready for instant use. I went down a grassy slope and into the trail once more. Glancing back, I glimpsed three men staring after me. Had they meant to intercept me?
    Drawing up beside the way, I let the party of John of Seville overtake me. As they drew near, they bunched as if for defense, although I was a man alone.
    "Greetings, O Father of Wisdom! May your shadow never grow less!"
    He was an oldish man with gray hair and a keen, inquisitive face, high cheekbones, and an aquiline nose. "You speak Arabic but with a strange accent. What are you? Who are you?"
    "A man who travels, who would give you warning."
    "Warning of what?"
    "There is a party of men before you and another coming up behind, and I believe they mean you harm."
    Those who accompanied him were but a fat old man and two boys, although one of the boys was tall and strong. "They mean to rob us?"
    "It is my belief." He pondered the answer, obviously uncertain what course to adopt. "The man behind who watches us? We can wait for him and kill him. It would be one the less."
    "Is it so easy then, to kill?"
    "I prefer killing to being killed. One may talk of peace only with those who are peaceful. To talk of peace with him who holds a drawn sword is foolish unless one is unarmed, then one must talk very fast, indeed."
    "We will seize him. Perhaps we can learn their plan." At a curve in the road we drew off to one side, concealing ourselves in the brush. John and the fat man prepared to block the trail. Yet then there was a time of waiting, and John looked over at me. "You are Frankish?"
    "A Celt. From Armorica, in Brittany."
    "I know of it. You are a landless man?"
    "My home was taken from me. I seek my father who was lost at sea."
    "And now?"
    "I go to Cordoba to see the library there."
    He looked at me more thoughtfully. "Do you read, then?"
    "Latin," I said, "and some Arabic."
    "But there are few books in your country." So I spoke of the books I had read, and we talked until the boy across the road hissed a warning.
    The oncoming rider was walking his horse, approaching the curve carelessly, sure that his quarry was far ahead. Rounding the curve, he beheld John of Seville on foot beside his horse, apparently working at the saddle. He glanced sharply about and, seeing nothing, rode up to John, his hand on his sword hilt.
    The boy was silent as I myself, and we had him before he could move. The tall boy slid a forearm across his throat, pulling him back. Together they fell from the horse. Coolly, I drew my scimitar. "Hold him a little to your left," I told the boy. "No reason to get blood on your tunic."
    The prisoner stared at me, alarm in his eyes. John nudged him with a toe. "You and the others? What is your plan?"
    "You speak in riddles. I am only a traveler." He was a surly rogue and a tough one, yet I believed him to have no more loyalty than most of his lot. "What of the band ahead?"
    "I know of no band."
    "You lie," I said. "I heard your words as you planned. Keep a knife at his throat," I told the boy, "and should we be attacked, cut it at once. Cut deep," I advised, "I have seen men with heads half cut off who were not dead."
    "Why not kill him now?" the fat man suggested.
    "No!" The thief was frightened. "I owe them nothing. Let me go free, and I will tell."
    The plan was not to attack us on the road but wait until we reached an inn that lay ahead. It was a logical stopping place. A small caravan of merchants was to stop also, and they would attack both at once.
    "But they