Envinyatar's post
The two guards drew near. Aldwulf could see their eyes dart about the place where the four of them now stood. The one on the right drew near his companion and said something, then pointed with his chin toward where Aldwulf and his companions stood.
Aldwulf was standing at his mount’s side, holding the horse’s leg in his hand as he picked at the inside of the hoof with his knife blade. He placed the hoof back on the ground as if he had finished his business with it, and turned smiling to the two men who had now drawn quite near, his knife held by its point hung casually from his hand.
‘Picked up a stone, the poor beast,’ he said shaking his head at the riders. Their eyes betrayed no friendliness and they glanced about the camp as if expecting to find something their search did not yet ferret out. ‘My three friends and I expected to make it to Halef’s holding by mid-afternoon today, but now it looks as if we won’t limp in until tomorrow.’
‘Your three friends, is it?’ challenged one of the guards, his gaze fixed on Aldwulf’s face. ‘We have been riding steadily this way ourselves.’ He raised a gloved hand, pointing west to a small rise just behind them. ‘We came down through there. Five riders is what we counted. Where is your other companion?’
Aldwulf said nothing, only noted that the guards had come closer by a few paces and separated their mounts. They had thrown back their cloaks, and he saw that their swords had been loosed of their clasps in the sheaths. ‘What can I say? There are only four of us. Perhaps it was just a shadow or a miscount – the trees are thick up there, our figures must have been cut from your sight as we passed along.’
The pommel of his knife came to rest on his other hand’s palm. They were close enough . . . one quick flick and he could take the man in the neck . . . the other could be dealt with quickly after that . . .
[ July 29, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]
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