CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The threat seemed to have worked, for the time being at least. Despite Rudi’s apprehension Fritz said nothing to his companions on the way back to the camp. He simply darted terrified glances from one to the other, which reminded Rudi uncomfortably of a rabbit in a snare.

Before leaving the clearing Conrad had picked up the youth’s pack and thrown it to the young forester, who caught it absently with one hand.

“Here,” the archer said. Rudi looked at him quizzically. “You beat him on your own. It’s all yours.”

“Thanks.” Rudi responded mechanically, still trying to come to terms with the feelings the fight had stirred up in him. Now it was over he was trembling from the reaction and he felt vaguely sick. He had little enough time for Fritz, that was true, but he’d been profoundly shocked by how close he’d come to killing the hulking youth. Not trusting himself to speak he simply shouldered the burden and walked after the others. Conrad carried the spear, joking that the army would be more pleased to see it back than they would the man who’d stolen it.

To Rudi’s relief Hanna wasn’t around when they rejoined the others, although Bruno was hovering on the fringes of the group looking vaguely dejected. They all crowded round with congratulatory back-slappings, and Theo thrust a mug of carefully hoarded ale into his hands.

“Sounds like you earned it,” he said.

“That he did,” Bodun confirmed, looking up from hobbling the prisoner. “He was doing so well I thought he was going to cheat us out of our bounty!”

“That would have been unfortunate,” Theo said, looking at Rudi with renewed respect, and taking in the injuries to Fritz’s face. “I should have warned you the warrant’s specific about bringing him in alive.”

“Waste of time if you ask me,” Bruno put in sulkily. “They’re only going to hang him anyway.” Fritz flinched, looking even more terrified than he had before. Rudi tried to ignore a pang of sympathy.

“Who cares?” Alwyn said, taking her husband’s arm. “So long as the bounty’s paid.” She and Conrad looked as though they were planning to celebrate their success early.

“He doesn’t look worth five crowns to me,” Bruno persisted. “The last couple we brought in were only one apiece, and they put up a lot more of a fight.”

“So,” Rudi asked him, hoping to divert his attention. “Where’s Hanna?”

“Out looking for herbs.” Bruno shrugged. “I offered to go with her, but she said she’d be fine.” She’d probably said a lot more, judging by his expression, but Rudi tried not to gloat. If the youth wanted to pay court to her he was just going to have to learn to live with her temper.

“Right. She does that.” Rudi shrugged, trying to look as unconcerned as he could. “Which way did she go?”

Bruno indicated the direction, and Rudi set out across the open grassland to find her. The trail was easy enough to follow. The undulations of the ground soon hid him from the others, and a sense of unease began to grow in him. Would Fritz really keep quiet, now he was out of sight, or would he try to bargain with the adventurers and reveal their secret? All his old forebodings about potential treachery came rushing to the fore again. After all, they’d known these people less than a week, and they’d cheated them before…

“What are you doing here?” Lost in his thoughts he’d stumbled across Hanna sooner than he’d expected. She looked up from her seat on an outcrop of sun-warmed rock and glared at him, fumbling the piece of shiny stone she’d taken from the skaven back into its bag. Rudi shrugged.

“We’ve got a problem,” he began.

Getting to talk to Fritz without the others overhearing them turned out to be less tricky than he’d anticipated. The wound the boar had left on the older lad’s arm was the perfect excuse.

“Better let my sister take a look at it,” he said, loud enough for Fritz to hear him, and hoping the simpleton would have enough wit to realise their imposture and say nothing to undermine it. Theo looked a little dubious, so he added “I’m sure you don’t want him dying from an infected cut before we can cash him in.”

“I don’t, that’s for sure,” Bodun agreed, and after a moment Theo nodded.

“Better safe than sorry. But stay with her. I don’t want her left alone with him.”

“That makes two of us,” Rudi assured him truthfully. Evening was falling now, and the campfire had been lit. He and Hanna walked into the shadows with a reassuring sense of concealment.

“What do you want?” Despite the truculence in his tone Fritz shied away from them like a frightened horse.

“Show me your arm,” Hanna said, her brisk tone somehow reassuring. Rudi squatted next to the lad, angling himself so that his back would conceal most of their conversation from the adventurers clustered around the fire. The mouth-watering odour of roasting pork drifted across on the breeze, and he fought against the distraction.

“We need to talk,” he said in an undertone.

“I’ve nothing to say to you.” Fritz extended his arm as best he could, encumbered as he was by the heavy manacles Theo had produced from his pack. He flinched as Hanna took it between her hands. Rudi suppressed an unexpected pang of jealousy.

“Then listen. If you keep your mouth shut about us, we’ll help you escape.”

“Why should I trust you?” Fritz glared at him, wincing as Hanna peeled the blood-encrusted bandage away from his arm. She glanced up.

“Because right now we’re the only chance you’ve got of escaping the noose,” she pointed out reasonably. She washed the gash with a little water from her canteen, and swabbed it clean. “I’m afraid that’s the best I can do for now. I’ve been keeping my eye out for some woundwort, but so far no luck.” She began to retie the bandage, using a clean strip of cloth.

“That feels better.” Fritz looked surprised, and returned his attention to Rudi. “All right. But I want to know how you got here.”

“That’s a long story.” Rudi sighed, glancing back at the group around the fire. So far most of them had their attention on the roasting meat, apart from Conrad and Alwyn that was, whose attentions were firmly on one another. But Rudi did not dare risk prolonging the conversation too much. “The short version is the witch hunter accused us of heresy. We’ve been on the run ever since, and ran into these people a few days ago.”

“So why are they after you?” Hanna asked. “They said you were a deserter, but somehow that doesn’t seem right.”

“No, it’s true enough.” Fritz shrugged, the linking chain of the manacles clinking metallically. “A couple of days after leaving Kohlstadt I ran into a recruiting party at an inn on the Pottermer road. The army seemed like a good place to hide, so I enlisted.”

“So why leave?” Rudi asked. Fritz’s face seemed to pale in the distant glow of the fire.

“The witch hunter came to the camp, looking for soldiers to search the countryside. For dangerous heretics, he said.” He looked appraisingly at Rudi and Hanna. “I didn’t realise it was you, of course.” Rudi felt as though he’d been doused in the Reik again. If Gerhard was that determined to find them they had to get a lot further away from Kohlstadt than this.

“Did he say why?” Hanna asked, her voice tight. Fritz shook his head.

“I didn’t hang around to find out. The minute I recognised him I was out of there.”

“He must have recognised you too,” Hanna said. Fritz shook his head.

“He didn’t see me. I was on my way to the captain’s tent with a message when I saw him go in.”

“But they must have known who you were,” Hanna insisted. “Why else would they put such a big price on your head?” A thought occurred to Rudi.

“Fritz,” he asked carefully, already sure of the answer, “what name did you give when you enlisted?”

“Name?” The brawny youth looked confused. “Fritz Katzenjammer of course.” Rudi sighed, meeting Hanna’s expression of stunned disbelief. It seemed that life on the run had done nothing to sharpen his old enemy’s wits.

“So the moment you disappeared he realised you’d been there.” And would no doubt be waiting for the fugitive to be returned. That meant he and Hanna would have to leave too. Every day they spent with Krieger’s company would bring them closer to the man who’d destroyed their lives. And apparently he would stop at nothing until they were dead. As to how they would manage to slip away under the noses of a party of experienced warriors…

“We’ll think of something,” Rudi promised, standing to leave. As he turned away Fritz called after him.

“Wait a minute.” Rudi turned back, meeting an expression of eager enquiry. “You left Kohlstadt after I did. How’s my mother holding up?”

As the days passed, Rudi found no opportunity to keep his promise to Fritz, despite his assurances. They were within sight of the river again and were heading back upstream. Knowing that they were getting further away from Marienburg where he might get answers to the questions which continued to torment him was almost as painful as the thought that every step was bringing them closer to the witch hunter.

“We have to go tonight,” Hanna murmured, dropping into step beside him. She gestured to the left, where a grey mass rose indistinctly from the marshland between them and the water. With a start Rudi recognised the ruins where they’d fought the skaven. “Bruno says we’re only two days from the soldier’s camp.”

“That’s not good,” Rudi said, but he smiled as though she’d made some remark about the weather. He glanced at Fritz, who was stumbling along in the middle of the group, goaded by Bruno. Since they began to plan their escape he and Hanna had become closer again, and Bruno had become correspondingly more sulky, taking his bad temper out on the prisoner. A small part of Rudi relished the idea that the bully was getting a taste of his own medicine, but he was ashamed too. Fritz had suffered enough, and he ought to intervene, but doing so would draw attention to them. “How’s Fritz doing?”

“His arm’s getting better,” Hanna said, smiling and waving as Bruno glanced in their direction. She’d continued to treat him, but Bruno had insisted on accompanying her on subsequent occasions, so it hadn’t been possible to talk openly. “But as for how he’s feeling…”

Rudi sympathised. Fritz had taken the news of his mother’s death more calmly than he’d expected. He had just nodded slowly, and hugged his knees. But he knew the older boy well enough to know that he would be feeling it keenly, just as he and Hanna still felt the pain of their own losses, but unlike them he could do nothing about it except brood.

“We’ll need a good start on them,” Rudi said. Though none of the others had his tracking skills they could follow an obvious trail after a fashion, and Fritz was in no condition to move stealthily enough to conceal the traces of their passing. Hanna nodded.

“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve an idea…” But she was cut short as Bruno came trotting over; Theo had told him to leave the prisoner alone. No matter, he trusted her. He forced his face into a smile of greeting as the youth joined them.

“Hello,” he suppressed another pang of jealousy as Hanna took hold of the lad’s arm.

“Hello.” Bruno seemed more awkward than usual, as though he had something on his mind. He patted Hanna’s hand absently, and cleared his throat. “If you don’t mind, liebchen, I’d like a word with your brother.”

“All right.” Hanna looked a little puzzled, but detached her arm. “I’ll be with Alwyn when you’ve finished.” She wandered away, leaving Rudi to fall into step beside Bruno.

“What’s the problem?” Rudi asked, trying to mask his annoyance at the casual endearment Bruno had used with the girl.

“To be honest, it’s you.” Bruno’s voice was unwavering. He kept it low and emphatic, so none of the others would overhear. “I know what’s going on with you and Hanna, and I’m giving you fair warning, I’m not going to stand for it.”

“What?” Rudi stopped walking; momentarily paralysed with astonishment. Bruno walked on a couple of steps before stopping too. He turned to face him.

“You’re trying to get between us. You think a wandering sell-sword isn’t good enough for your precious sister, don’t you?” Bruno prodded him in the chest for emphasis. Rudi fought down the urge to strike him. Conrad’s words at the coaching inn came back to him, and for the first time he truly believed that this awkward buffoon could be dangerous. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll back off.”

“I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick,” Rudi said, trying to sound reasonable. “Hanna makes her own decisions. Whatever’s going on between the two of you is nothing to do with me.”

“Damn right. And you’d better remember it.” All of a sudden Bruno was smiling, as though the conversation had never been anything other than affable. “See you later then.” He wandered off to look for Hanna, leaving Rudi to wonder if things could possibly get any more complicated.