Demontech: Rally Point: 2 (Demontech Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

They weren’t afraid of bandits; bandits would shy away from twoscore fighting men. They did find refugees, though.

 

CHAPTER
TWO
    They found a small caravan camped alongside a stream that dribbled wanly though a clearing where trees began to shrink from healthy forest to the stunted growth of the Eastern Waste. The dozen people or so gathered around the cook fire were startled when the group of armed and mounted men suddenly appeared at the edge of their clearing. Three or four children ran and hid. Some of the adults stared fearfully at the strangers, others cast anxious glances toward the ten horses they had tethered on a drag line. A couple of the six armed men were about to draw their swords, but held back when a woman in late middle age waved a hand to stop them. She stood and advanced halfway to the edge of the clearing to greet the newcomers.
    “Everybody hold in place,” Spinner said. “Don’t draw your weapons.” He dismounted and handed his reins to Haft. “I’ll go and parley.” He glanced around, then added, “Do you think it’s a good idea to put out some security?”
    Haft eyed the armed men around the fire for a moment and briefly tattooed his fingers on the haft of his axe before deciding they were no threat. He snorted. “Already doing it.” He handed the reins of his and Spinner’s horses to the rider next to him and dismounted. In a moment he was leading a quartet of Skragland Borderers away to place them where they could observe the approaches to the clearing.
    Spinner unbuckled his sword belt and hung it on his saddle’s cantle. He held his quarterstaff like a walking staff and stepped toward the woman in the clearing.
    “Wait a minute, Spinner,” Alyline called to him. “Doli, come with us.” She joined him and spoke before he could object. “There are all these armed men, these people are afraid. If women come to talk to them they’ll see us as less of a threat.”
    “But . . .”
    “Do you know what language these people speak? Neither do I. Doli speaks more languages than either of us. She doubles our chances of finding one we have in common.”
    Haft stifled a sigh. Alyline was right about languages. Still, some of those men looked ready to strike fast and run faster and he didn’t like exposing the women to that danger. He turned to call for Silent to join them, but the Golden Girl guessed his intent.
    “Just the three of us, we don’t do anything threatening. Let’s go.” Alyline strode to the woman who stood alone waiting for them. Spinner caught up with her in two long strides but Doli had to scamper to catch them.
    “Just remember, I’m in charge,” Spinner said.
    “Of course you are,” Alyline said dryly.
    Doli saw what Alyline had in mind and walked at her side opposite Spinner so the Golden Girl was in the center of their short line.
    Alyline threw the front of her cloak over her shoulders to demonstrate that she wasn’t carrying a sword. When they reached the woman she stopped directly in front of her. Placing her hands together with the fingers in front of her chin, she bowed.
    “Lady,” she said in heavily accented Skraglandish, “we are refugees from the Jokapcul invasion. We seek a port of refuge and wish harm to no one.”
    “There are many of you, and many armed men,” the woman replied warily. Her Skraglandish was also accented but with the sounds of a different language.
    Doli listened carefully and mentally played with the sounds. She worked some saliva to wet her throat, then spoke in Bostian. “Lady, there are bandits and Jokapcul about. We need the men and the arms for defense against them.”
    The woman looked at her in surprise and answered in the same language. “How do you come to speak my language? I can’t place your accent, but Bostian is not your native tongue.”
    “I used to work in an inn that had visitors from many nations. I had to speak many languages in order to properly serve the guests. Some of the guests were from