Being a group of six had its advantages, however minor they might be. They had a table to themselves for supper in the common room of the inn. The food was more than merely edible and the ale had been good from the start. Jamie stuck to water, rather than indulging in more cider, but seemed a little less aloof as the evening went on.

Alex suggested they retire a little earlier than the soldiers might be used to, but he didn’t want anyone to drink a little too much or be late for their departure in the morning.

“I’ve no intention of stopping tomorrow until we make it to Elvora. We’ll eat a good breakfast and be off as soon as possible.” Both Jamie and Cato looked less than enthusiastic at the thought of a full day in the saddle, but they both accepted the suggestion to get an early night and retired.

Alex and Peta were next to head upstairs, but Peta gave the two men a pointed look before he left them with their mugs. Sensibly, they both followed soon after, Alex hearing them settle in the room next to the one he shared with Peta.

Alex always thought of Elvora Ferry as the last bastion of Tanerian civilization on the western road. Sure, there was still at least a couple of days to the town of Berak and the border with Benteria, but the few villages before the mountains were small and there were no inns beyond the ferry.

With something like twenty-five miles to travel, they set off as soon as they had finished breakfast. Alex settled up with the innkeeper, paying another two gold coins. A little over the price he expected, but not unduly so. Besides, there was no point in carrying silver in change.

The morning passed slowly and steadily, their still-fresh horses eating up the miles at an even walk. They stuck to small-talk, Jamie and Cato chattering together about the different crops growing in the fields, the trees of the hedgerows and even the birds in the trees. As expected, Cato’s well of knowledge was almost without a bottom. He was clearly interested in knowledge for the sake of it and his chatter was infectious.

Even Alex found himself listening intently as Cato explained how the bees found their way from the hive to the best pollen and how that, in turn, helped the plants to set fruit and multiply. Descriptions of bees dancing inside the hive, giving directions to their workmates, were met with wonder and doubt by all except Jamie.

Such was the speed of their progress, that Alex allowed them all to stop and dismount for an hour at noon. They found a spot beside the river, under the shade of a truly massive elm. Brion and Garvan led all the horses down to the edge of the water for a drink and everyone got a chance to relax out of the saddle.

If anything, this day was warmer than the last and Alex had no intention of being out in the open in the heat of the noon sun. A short break benefitted horses and men alike.

Sitting down beside Cato, backs to the great trunk of the tree, Alex had a few questions for the scholar. “I understand that the King gave you charge of the funds for the journey?”

“Indeed. Do you need gold?”

“Not just yet, but probably soon enough if we keep using inns at night. If you like, you can settle our accounts as we go along. Makes more sense than me asking every time we need a few coins.”

“It’s no problem. I believe we have far more than we will need, even for an extended period away. I also have a number of letters of credit with merchants along the route.”

“I wasn’t concerned about the amount, it’s just that we must pass through the Elvora Forest this afternoon, before we get to the ferry and it’s not entirely safe. Is the gold all in one place in the baggage?”

“No. It’s in four different purses and I’ve made it clear to Garvan that they should be spread across all the pack horses.”

“Thank you. We’ll press on regardless, but I’d like all of us to be keen-eyed and wary for the rest of the day. There isn’t often trouble, but let us take no unnecessary chances.”

Within a couple of hours, they reach the edge of the forest. Traffic on the road has been getting less and less for several hours now. What has initially been mixed local and trade traffic is now only a few scattered wagon-trains of goods in each direction.

The forest is vast, a huge and ancient woodland of oak, elm and beech. Straight trunks of perhaps thirty or forty feet support massive green canopies that stretch out to completely shade the road. It takes a minute to adjust to the relative darkness of the now dappled shade, but the coolness of the air beneath the arching trees is welcome.

Built long after the forest was old, the road twists and turns between the great trees, limiting lines of sight and making it difficult to judge both the distance travelled and the speed of progress. With no other traffic in sight, Alex and the others spread out across the highway and close up together a little more.

Alex guesses they have come some four miles into the woods when their progress is blocked by a group of men on horseback seemingly walking slowly in the other direction. There are four of them and they seem to be travelling light. They make no attempt to move to one side, spreading across the road in a line abreast.

“Good day, gentlemen. How is the road ahead?” Alex asks as they stop, facing one another.

“Quiet,” the man second from the right mutters. Alex’s first thought is that his tone is a little off. There’s no reason to not be civil, at least. “You are traders?”

“Yes, we carry some samples of our wares to the west,” Cato tells him. “We hope to set up partnerships along the way.”

“Perhaps we can come to an arrangement ourselves. May we see what you have?”

“I’m sorry,” Cato tells him. “We’re only a day from home and already have local partners. We have many days of travel before we start to trade.”

“You will show us what you have.” The man tells him as he places a hand on his sword hilt and his companions suddenly become more alert.

“I will say this only once,” Alex tells the four men in a whisper that somehow still manages to carry through the woods, shaking his head slightly as he speaks. “You will continue on your way and so will we. I have no wish for a delay.”

The leader looks to his left and right, nodding at his companions in feigned understanding. “I do not think so,” he mutters and begins to draw his sword.

Almost instantly, a knife-hilt appears at his throat, blade buried so deep it cuts into his spine. He doesn’t even have time to reach up to it before he tumbles from his saddle. The man to his right topples backwards off his own horse, axe buried in his forehead.

The one on the far left gets his sword out of its scabbard moments before a second knife, this time from Brion, almost misses him, slicing across his neck and severing an artery in a fountain of blood. The fourth tries to turn and run, but Peta urges his horse forward and his sabre flashes across his neck as he turns, severing his head in another shower of crimson.

All four of the bandits are dead before the sound of Jamie retching breaks the silence. The bandit’s horses, apparently used to being in the midst of violence simply stand their ground.

“Cato, see to Jamie,” Alex orders. “It’s okay, lad. It’s over now.” Jamie manages a nod as he wipes his mouth on his sleeve.

“Brion, can you keep watch and hold all the horses.”

“Aye, Alex,” Brion replies, stringing his bow and knocking an arrow before taking offered reins in one hand and wrapping them around the pommel of his saddle. Peta, Alex and Garvan jump down to examine the bodies. The first thing Alex does is retrieve his knife and Brion’s knife, wiping both of them off on a clothed chest. Garvan takes his axe and does the same, careful of the razor-sharp edge of the thing.

“You almost missed,” Peta tells Brion with a chuckle.

“Bugger turned as I threw.”

“Search them quickly and then drag them off the road. We’ll lead their horses to Elvora and get rid of them there,” Alex commands.

The two men do as they are asked, and the road is cleared within just a couple of minutes – well, apart from the very obvious pools of blood seeping into gaps between the stones. “Nothing much on them, just a few coins,” Peta tells Alex after a quick search.

“Not true for this one,” Alex tells them as he finishes searching the leader and drags the corpse off into the undergrowth. “He has a fat purse at his belt.”

“Why would a man with a fat purse – bandit or not – try and take on a bigger party out in the forest?” Cato asks reasonably from his saddle. “If I were a suspicious man, I’d think they were on a mission.”

“I don’t want to think about it, but all of the gold is Benterian,” Alex tells him.

“That’s not what I wanted to hear just one day away from the city,” Cato mutters as he looks around the forest. “I thought we’d get further than this.”

“We might be wrong. We’ll move on with the assumption that we are right, however. Everyone be on guard.”