The Alliance by David Andrews Read Free Book Online Page B

expert had trained Anneke. One proven right so many times, it was now second nature for follow his training. The fleeting memory of a strong male face passed through her mind and disappeared.
    “Time to go.” Anneke had finished and was packing the food away. “There’s a junction just beyond the creek that leads toward the sea.” She perked up, smiling a secret smile about some thought.
    Rachael finished the last mouthful of sausage and followed suit, folding her share of the food into her shawl and tying it diagonally across her back. “I’m ready.”
    “I’ll lift the branch higher going out,” Anneke said. “You should fit.”
    Rachael bit her lip in chagrin, but said nothing as she slid toward the opening, making it through without her bundle of food catching.
    * * * *
    Kamran felt amused when the servant girl brought him a platter of food. They were on tenterhooks to know his answer.
    “Thank you,” he said, taking the platter. “What’s your name?”
    “Helene.”
    “A High Born name?” He raised an eyebrow.
    “It amused my mistress. My parents called me Ellen.”
    “Which do you prefer?”
    “I’ve been Helene for so long it feels natural.” The girl gave an expressive shrug, still unconsciously aping her mistress.
    It wasn’t unusual for an attractive peasant girl to enter the Keep at an early age as a companion to a High Born child. Some of them became partners in sexual experiments as well. It made them discreet companions for illicit assignations.
    Kamran sampled the food on the platter, smiling a little as he remembered his earlier thoughts of poison. It tasted very good and he felt hungry, so he stood there and ate the lot, sopping up the meat juices with a thick-cut round of bread at the end.
    “Thank you,” he said, handing the platter to the girl, who stood patiently while he ate.
    “Another? We’ve cooked plenty.” She’d cleaned her face and hands, combed her hair and mended the rips in her clothes. This one knew how to use her appearance.
    The food tempted him, but it was full daylight now and he had much to do. “Feed the others. I’ve work to do.” He turned and walked away. He had to scout an ambush site. The second group of smugglers was due at nightfall and he wanted his men in place with plenty of time to spare. He felt her eyes watching him as he left, but didn’t turn back.
    They’d find out soon enough and he gained nothing by telling them prematurely—something could change his mind.
    * * * *
    Anneke set a killing pace along the trail and there was no conversation, not that Rachael had any breath to spare. “We have to hurry,” Anneke said at the junction when she returned from reconnoitering the path ahead, but had not explained why. Now they approached another trail junction and the girl lifted her pace again, forcing Rachael into a trot.
    “Another mile will see us clear.” Anneke’s speech showed nothing of her exertions. “They might see our tracks, but they’re hurrying to make the rendezvous by nightfall.”
    Rachael didn’t have the breath to ask who “they” were. In any case, Anneke’s tone booked no discussion. She focused on keeping up, seeing nothing but Anneke’s back leading the way. For all that, she almost cannoned into her when she slowed abruptly to a walk and said, “Relax. We’re clear.”
    Another twenty minutes at the slower pace brought them to a tiny creek crossing and Anneke called a halt, freeing Rachael to collapse on a sloping grassy bank.
    “There was a natural lookout further along the other track. Another rock like the one where we slept. From its top, I could see where the trail back there came through a gap and there was a large group coming our way. I know there’s a smuggler’s rendezvous back that way,” Anneke waved in the general direction of where they came, “and it made sense they were heading for it. Another mile that way,” she pointed the way they were going, “is the first village. They’ll want