Breaking an Empire by James Tallett Read Free Book Online

keeping an eye on you, is all.”
    “Right, right. And where are your forces located?”
    The prisoner looked around and closed his mouth, clearly not willing to talk. “Llof, you busy? Might need you in a second.” Llofruddiwr looked up, then loudly and deliberately scraped a sharpening stone across his longknife.
    “They’re forming up around Horaim. I’ve been out in the field a week, so I don’t know if they’ve moved or not since then.”
    “Good enough. Locsyn, I’ve got a present for you. Keep this little bundle of joy from scarpering for the rest of the day, can you?”
    “I’m touched.”
    “We’ve still got a job to do, so lets move.”
    The patrol gathered itself and what little it had taken from the enemy squad, and moved across the land in search of food. The first places they searched were bare ruins, but they found a cache hidden under one of the outbuildings in the fourth farmhouse. The building had collapsed, but Taflen noticed the edge of a trapdoor in the rubble, and with Gwyth doing the heavy lifting to clear the burnt timbers, the latch was soon broken. Rhyfelwyr and Llofruddiwr descended into the dark below to find themselves in a square earthen chamber, with several barrels of grain and dried meats stored away. Sending Gwyth to hoist each of the containers out of the ground, Rhyfelwyr then detailed Llofruddiwr and Taflen and Rhocas to hunt up whatever forms of transportation might be available.
    The squad couldn’t carry all of the supplies, and with a prisoner, Rhyfelwyr knew they couldn’t send a runner either. Cursing at the officers for sending them out here without more men or a wagon, the sergeant waited for the return of his three men. A grunt sounded nearby, and Rhyfelwyr spun, to hear Taflen call out. “Send us Gwyth, damn you!”
    The sergeant gestured at the large man to go help, and shortly a wagon came around the corner, with the traces draped over Gwyth’s neck, his legs churning to pull the contraption along. Taflen and Rhocas were pushing at the wagon, which slowly settled to a stop in front of the outbuilding.
    “Where’d you find this thing? I’d thought they’d all been ruined or taken.”
    “Some farmer left it out in a little dell in a field about a mile away. Must have panicked and fled.”
    “Good work Rhocas, Taflen. Now get the barrels on top. And Locsyn, keep an eye on your present, he’s looking shifty. Poke him with a sword if you have to to keep him from being too active.”
    With that, Rhyfelwyr grabbed one of the barrels, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and then over the side of the wagon into the bed. Gwyth followed, shrugging a barrel onto either shoulder and flipping them into the wagon. With the others helping, soon all of the supplies were loaded, and they were ready to turn for home.
    “Right, Locsyn, get him into the traces. It’ll stop him from trying to escape, and we need the muscle anyway.” This next was to the prisoner. “And if you think about taking a break from pulling, well, the big guy will be pushing at the back, and you’ll get run over, so step lively until I call for a halt.”
    The prisoner spat at the ground in front of Rhy’s feet. The sergeant waved at Locsyn in response, and his friend shoved the prisoner into the traces, settling them over his head. With a slap to the prisoner’s skull, Locsyn set the man pulling. Gwyth, Rhocas, and Rhyfelwyr chipped in at the back, breaking the inertia of the heavy vehicle, before letting Gwyth take the first stint pushing. The others would rotate in pairs to free Gwyth up. The sun was near to setting, and the sergeant hoped the wagon didn’t slow them down so much that they would be forced to camp for the night.
    ***
    The squad was exhausted when they stumbled into camp, an hour after the sun had set. Rhyfelwyr had thought of stopping as the sun’s light disappeared, but the next rise had shown a field of small fires, and so they had pushed on. The Lianese soldier was sagging in