It's hard to keep a good man down

Whack! A leather-gloved hand crashed into Tanner’s face. The pain stung more than anything else, and he could feel the spot start to warm.

‘Now tell us where The Red Wolf is!’ Captain Sykes was growing noticeably irritable.

Tanner paused and collected his thoughts. ‘Well sir, it’s as I told you. Faolan got in that fight around noon and your men hauled him off. I spent the election near you and your men. He escaped sometime in the afternoon. Once the election was done, and I was declared the winner, you arrested me. There has been a Red…Royal Crown Guard in my presence since noon today. I would think that it is a few hours from midnight now. So how could I know where he is at? It’s not like I have spoken with him since before the fight.’

Sykes shot Tanner a sour look. Tanner was in the right, though it was of small consequence. He wasn’t sure where Faolan was, all though he had a notion that he was not anywhere near the farm where the elections were held. The dead Red Legs behind the wagons might have seen where Faolan was headed, but they would tell no one but a necromancer where The Red Wolf was going.

Small consequence indeed. Tanner had been roughed up since being taken into custody, but nothing serious. But there were a couple of thumbscrews and pincers across the table, so a session of torture was probably in order. All Tanner had done to deserve this was come out forcefully in favor of Frontier independence. Apparently, the Anglian court did not like the thought of this, and sent an army south to influence the election. Then Tanner had the temerity to win an election to the Frontier Council, which the Anglian army would not stand for. He had been arrested on trumped up charges of aiding Faolan’s escape from custody. This charge held no basis in fact, but it didn’t matter. At best, Tanner would end up in an Anglian prison. At worst….

‘Hawkwood, I ask you again, where is Faolan?’ Sykes glared at Tanner.

‘Captain, even if I did know, I would not betray my friend. You might as well get your torture session over with and then kill me while ‘I try to escape’.’ Tanner’s voice dripped with good natured sarcasm.

‘But I have to give you credit, Captain. There are two hundred soldiers and twenty Red Legs outside. Mm, make that fifteen Red Legs, as five of your boot lickers, I mean men, were no match for Faolan, apparently. Add in the two or three magicians you have sitting outside, and I have to give you credit. I won’t be escaping. In fact, I’m honored that you deem me so dangerous.’ Tanner chuckled.

‘That’s right Hawkwood. You won’t be escaping the King’s Justice this time. Don’t think your activities against the Royal Crown Guards are unknown. You’ve been murdering members for years now. You’ll be beaten, and that will be just the start of it. And tomorrow morning, you’ll be pushed out of the tent and cut to pieces while you escape.’ Sykes grinned.

Tanner composed himself for a moment. Slowly he spoke. ‘The Red Leg bastards I’ve killed are a small repayment for the deaths of my mother and father. And I’ve only killed those who crossed the Brown River. I’ve helped save the king’s life before, and helped save the damned kingdom at the Battle of Southgate. I didn’t notice many of you Red Legs there, although there were 250 Southrons there.’

Tanner then sat up as straight as possible. ‘I may be dead by the morning. But consider this. Any Red Leg that stays south of the Brown River will be a target. In the dark corners of the towns, out in the woods. It won’t matter. All of you will have a target on your back. Soon, you’ll be too scared to go anywhere. Anglian mothers won’t want to send their sons off to the south. They know their boys will die. And all because you had to meddle in Frontier politics and kill a fairly elected official.’ He looked at Sykes coolly.

Sykes’ face turned bright red and he back-handed Tanner. ‘It won’t matter in awhile.’ He turned to the guards. ‘Keep an eye on him. We’ll want in the main tent in awhile.’ At that, Sykes left the tent.

One of the guards, a large, black-haired fellow turned to Tanner and looked him over. ‘Not so tough now are you?’

Tanner looked at him and issued a sad smile. ‘You should still get out of the south while you still can. There’s no need for this.’

The other guard was about to say something when a massive sword ripped through the wall of the tent. Not surprisingly, The Red Wolf stepped through behind it. The guards’ faces looked surprised. The look was frozen on their face as Faolan’s sword cut deep into their chests. Tanner felt himself speed up. ‘Nice of you to come to my execution.’

‘Only a book readin’ fool would walk off with a bunch of Red Legs. And here I am saving your sorry hide again.’ Faolan grinned.

Outside the tent, there was a loud commotion. Shouts of alarm were raised. All of a sudden, through the gap in the tent, Tanner could see a wall of light appear around the perimeter of the tent. Petra stepped into the tent.

Tanner looked at her. ‘You came to rescue me with him? You’re braver than I thought.’ Petra smiled back at him.

‘Shall we get out of here?’ asked Faolan.

‘Let me get my sword’ answered Tanner.

‘Do we really have time for that?’ asked Petra.

‘I’ll only be a minute. Get us a portal out of here.’ Tanner took off through the opening into the main tent. He stuck his head through and saw about ten Red Leg and Anglian army officers in the tent. Each of them had a look of astonishment. Seeing his sword on the other side of the enemy, Tanner felt it prudent, yet painful to surrender his sword. But as he valued his neck more than his sword, Tanner ducked out as quickly as he had stepped in.

Once back in the small tent, Tanner saw a gate. ‘Underworld’ he thought. He looked at the dead men and grabbed one of their swords. ‘This ought to do nicely for awhile.’ He stepped into the gate and disappeared.

An hour later, Sykes and the other officers were sorting out the details of what happened. A mage claimed to have seen the Red Wolf, but the soldiers and Red Legs had seen no one but Tanner.

‘Somehow, he overpowered two men, took a sword and killed them.’

‘The man can build any sort of machine. They say he's Gahanna's equal as a commander of men. But no knew he was a magician. How can you kill a man like that?’

‘Orders were to make sure that if Hawkwood won the election, he was to meet with an accident. What do we do? The court won’t be happy.’

‘We’ve had reports that five Guards have been killed by arrow fire. They were by themselves. There are more reports coming in of soldiers being picked off.’

Sykes rubbed his forehead. His head began to ache. His superiors would not be pleased at the turn of events.