Betrayal

Upon hearing the call of the deep crest cardinal, a chill ran through my heart. I knew that bird call from hunting in my youth. It took me a moment to fully realize why that sounded odd; they don't fly this far north. From behind me I heard a return call, looking back Wassa was a few people behind me and while I didn't see her make the call, I just knew it came from her. Turning back around I saw Diocles change in his posture as his hand moved towards his sword.

He didn't speak loud but I could tell he said to me, "Remember what I said." Before riding up to the guard in front of him.

"Vice Captain." I called out to her on the other side of the caravan. She didn't respond to me, her sword was already on the way out of its scabbard as she turned towards the hills.

"AMBUSH," she yelled as arrows shot towards the caravan.

My own sword was out as I turned to see a number of bandits charging out of their hiding places along the road. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Diocles stab into the guard he was next to. I wanted to ride forward and kill the bastard but two of the bandits were already close enough to me.

I didn't hesitate to circulate my aura through my body. The first bandit wasn't expecting my speed as I swung past his sword, slicing through his neck. The second bandit, having seen my work, was able to deflect a few of my swings before my blade dug deep into her shoulder.

With no immediate threat I was able to see the chaos around me. Diocles was cutting his way through the guards around him, Wassa had crossed the caravan to take on the Vice Captain. Further up our line I saw a hulking figure with a large maul taking on Captain Manx. Close by them, Vesta was launching firebolts towards the archers on the hills. The illusion around Zephyr wasn't holding up well, I could make out the silver sheen on its hair as well as the single twisted horn on its head. A few other guards and even some teamsters had also turned on the caravan and they had red cloth tied around one of their hands to indicate what side they were on.

I charged towards Diocles. He reacted in time to deflect my sword.

"Don't be an idiot. Vulferam's people are finished. We want you to join us." He said.

We traded a few more blows before I responded with something my father had said to me a number of times. "Death before dishonor."

While our auras were at the same level, he had more practical experience and I had better technique. It left neither of us able to make more than glancing strikes until I made a risky move. It wasn't that the move put me in danger but it could expose my identity. Lowering my guard, I left an opening for Diocles to strike as I brought forth the stronger of my two Lineage auras.

Where he thought his sword would cut into my leather armor and slice into my side, it hit against the Osgar Lineage. I had concentrated the life force of my aura on that section of my armor, making it unbreakable under his swing. What he thought was a sure hit left him open to my counter. As my sword pierced his heart, he had the nerve to have the look of betrayal in his eyes.

I made my way between the carts to help out the Vice Captain. A teamster with a red cloth on his left hand leapt at me, making himself an easy target. Wassa and Verena seemed to be equally matched in terms of aura and skill. I wanted to take out Wassa not only because I hate traitors but because it would free up the Vice Captain to help organize our people.

My arrival immediately put Wassa on the defensive. I let the Vice Captain take the lead, only striking when her attacks lowered Wassa's guard for me. Had I been fighting her alone, I'm not sure I would have been able to defeat her without using every ability that I was trying to keep hidden and even then it would be tough.

"RETREAT!" Wassa yelled. I couldn't tell if the bandits overall were at a disadvantage or if she was just fearing for her own life. Either way the call was picked up by other bandits as they started to disengage. Wassa must have had a high standing to be able to pull them back like that.

Their archers took a few more pot shots as the rest of the bandits did their best to separate from us and head back up the small hills. A few of those retreating were guards and teamsters with the red cloth. Looking around I saw Vesta shooting daggers of ice towards the large man that had been fighting Captain Manx as he ran away. The captain was off his horse with his helmet off, blood covering half his face. The Vice Captain and I made our way to them, killing a few stragglers along the way.

"Are you okay?" I asked Vesta. She looked at me with cold eyes.

"I'm fine." She dismounted and began casting the same spells she cast on my horse the other day on Captain Manx. Her unicorn had it's illusion back up.

There were only two reasons she would turn so cold to me. It was either because the two people I seemed closest to had betrayed us, or she saw me use my Lineage aura. There were eight Grand Lineages in the kingdom. One belonged to the royal family, the others belonged to the families of the seven Dukes. The common person wouldn't be able to recognize specific Lineage auras, but Vesta had proven herself to be an uncommon woman.

The Osgar Lineage was known as the ultimate defense aura. If I used it effectively, I could wear plain cloth and be just as defended as someone in plate mail. The higher levels could even use the aura to make melee weapons stronger. Even though I had only used it once against Diocles, if she had seen it, she may have realized I was the scandalous bastard of Duke Osgar. My supposed crimes were complete bullshit but that wasn't something I could easily explain since my own father tried to kill me because of it.

"Wilmaer head toward the rear and make sure the wounded are being tended to and that everyone is still on guard. There's no telling if that bitch is going to regroup and try again." The Vice Captain said.

I saluted and started toward the rear.

"Manx. Manx, is it over Manx?" I heard Vulferam call from his wagon. It was built up to be a small wooden room on wheels.

"We're safe for now." Manx called back.

Vulferam poked his head out of the door at the back of the wagon. "Well then we need to get traveling again as soon as possible. We've already wasted enough miles."

Even though my back was to him and I was a ways away, I could hear the Captain saying, "Bastard."

As I made my way I stopped to help some of the wounded and remind a few guards that were trying to take it easy that we weren't out of danger. I met the veteran guard Kloan towards the rear. He had already started to get the wounded taken care of and loaded into the wagons.

After I arrived there, I saw a small armed group riding towards us. In the far distance I could see that the other caravan that we had passed at the inn had stopped and was waiting to see what was going on. An older woman with short graying blonde hair was leading the group.

"Where's Manx? That idiot had better be alive." She said.

"He and the Vice Captain are towards the front. Though he did take a nasty blow to the head." I said

"Those damn Dukes need to decide who wants this territory and start patrolling it properly again or we're going to have more bandit attacks going forward." She said.

"Well it didn't help that several of our people turned on us." Kloan said.

She spit in disgust when she heard that. "Let the bastards freeze in hell. Kelper I want a list of anyone that could turn traitor on us by the time when make camp tonight."

"Yes Captain." The man next to her said.

"I'll go see if Manx needs any help." She rode forward after that.

It took us several hours to dispose of the bodies. While most wanted to leave the traitors and bandits out in the open, it would attract monsters to the road. In total we lost a third of our people. It slowed us down for the next few days and though Vulferam was against it, we had to let the other caravan pass us.

Vesta avoided me for the rest of the journey. The fact that I wasn't placed under guard to be handed over when we reached civilization again, told me that she either didn't know who I was or had kept it to herself. I thought about abandoning the caravan as we passed a few towns and minor cities. But if she hadn't caused me trouble yet, maybe she wouldn't.

Besides, the chilly warning that had plagued my heart since I started north was mostly gone. I barely noticed it most days. It wasn't until we arrived at the capital of the northern province that its icy grip returned.