ROAD TRIP

 ROAD TRIP

It was the jingle of a hundred bridles or so that had Brianna literally diving into the bushes in a ditch by the side of the road. There was the sound of rushing waters nearby that masked the beat of the horse's hooves and the jangle of the horse tack; bridles, bits, stirrups, and spurs; as well as the clanging of the knight's armor.  At first, she had thought the beating noise was the result of a small waterfall or a cascade, or even thunder, but as the cavalcade got closer she realized there was a metal-against-metal sound that had no part either in the weather situation or the nearby water. She barely made it into the bushes as the first rider rounded the curve in the road.

She landed on a small thorn briar, bit back a rude comment to the bramble, and crawled under a nearby leafy bush, pulling the voluminous hood of her forest green cloak even further over her head and face. She tucked up the length of the cloak and swaddled herself up as best she could in the brief amount of time that she had before the legion drew abreast of her.  Her verdant green garment almost exactly matched that of the surrounding woods and she was hopeful that the troops would not see her from the road as she lay on her belly with only her green eyes peering out of the bush. She heard a noise close by and hoped that whatever creature was nearby was not particularly hungry, but if worse came to worse, she would pick the creature over the hoard of men on horseback that even now approached her hiding place.

She held her breath as the two outriders with their long swallow-tailed pennants stopped at the command of their leader. They were exactly abreast of her current position. Their commander was just slightly behind them and Brianne had a perfect view of him. He rode a huge black destrier, a war horse of incredible size, strength, speed, and stamina. The horse was decorated with all manner of leather and silver trappings. Silver studs and spikes adorned the beast's great head and tack, giving him an evil look. A massive spike in the center of his forehead gave him the look of a demonic unicorn. The war horse’s master was similarly dressed with metal prongs sticking out of his armor, although he was missing the single demonic metal horn. His armor was polished to a brilliant shine and his coat-of-arms could be clearly seen etched or engraved on his breastplate, proclaiming his high rank and nobility. In case anyone further questioned his worth after viewing his front rider's pennants, the head rider of each of the four columns behind him also carried a banner with his crest. He removed his helmet and held it in his lap. His hair was as dark and black as that of his horse, and he passed a gauntlet over his chiseled chin, his penetrating eyes seemed to look deep into the forest and Bri held her breath.

“Search the forest,” he cried in a loud grating voice.

His men obeyed him instantly. Two columns descended the slight incline on the right of the road and two columns of knights descended to the left. One horse almost landed on top of her as it leaped the divide. The riders quickly circled the forest floor and yells of  “clear”, and “all clear” sounded throughout the forest as they quickly and thoroughly carried out their mission.

On the far side of the road, a knight’s voice could be heard.“Your Lordship, I’ve found someone.”

“Bring them forth,” shouted the commander.

Bri could barely see, she raised herself up on her elbows, it was an old man being dragged by two burly knights. Behind him, another knight led a horse and cart down the road.

The old man was held erect by several knights, his clothes were dirty, shabby, and torn. His long white hair and beard gave away his age while his emaciated body told the story of a life lived without the finer things in life or even the necessities.

“He's not who we search for,”  stated the Lord. “What's in the wagon?”

“As you can see my lord. Hay.” The old man’s voice shook with fear.

“Search the wagon,” his Lordship’s voice thundered.

.

One of the knights jumped aboard the cart, picked up the hay fork, and scattered the hay about the wagon. Stabbing here and there to find out if anything or anyone was concealed under the hay.

“What are you doing here peasant,” asked the Lord, his lip curled in disdain.

“Nothing my Lord. Just driving my horse and cart.

 I’ve done naught,” he said his voice still shaking.

“Perhaps he is a poacher?” said one of the knights that held him.“Are you hunting in the king’s forest?” The knight shouted to the old man, shaking him roughly. “Tell his Lordship the truth.”

“Nay me Lord. I am not a poacher. I am but a simple farmer. I have a small vegetable garden I have only the horse and the cart that I use to take my goods to market. I have no weapons, I have no bow, no sword, no lance. I live by myself in the woods and as I said, I have no weapons.”

“Search him,” his Lordship demanded.

The two knights patted down the skinny body and discovered a small bone-handled knife tucked into a leather belt around his slender frame. The knight held it aloft, “See my Lord, he told a falsehood, he is armed, he did have a weapon.”

“That’s no weapon you could barely cut up a  wee quail with that child's toy,” said the other knight holding up the old man.

“I use it for hunting mushrooms my Lord, only mushrooms and fiddleheads and the odd wild potato. It's my eating knife.”

“We are wasting valuable time here. Mount up men,” the noble yelled. The knights, who were now assembled on the road after completing their search, all went to their column except for the two holding the old man.

“What shall we do with him my Lord?’’

“Kill him and dump his carcass in the bushes. I would not sully the King's highway with such pig droppings as he.” Looking the old man up and down with repugnance his Lordship added, “We will be doing him a favour.”

“What should we do with the horse and cart Sire?” asked one of the knights by the prisoner.

“Leave the nag here, it will only slow us down. Mount up.”

The old man’s screams were soon cut off. Bri shuddered.

 Moments later with the thunder of many hooves and the clanging of metal, the small army moved down the road and were soon out of sight.

Chapter Two

Bri started to slowly crawl back out of the bushes.

“Wait!”

She froze at the sound of the urgent voice. She had only heard the one word but it seemed to come from above.

“God?” She whispered in awe.

“Two men are guarding the way at the next curve in the road,” said the voice from above.

What seemed like an eternity later she again heard the voice.

“They are gone now. You may come out now. It is an old ploy often used by armies to see if anyone will show themselves thinking the army has passed by.”

“Who are you?” asked Brianne her eyes darting around the forest, definitely not God. “Where are you?”

There was some scrambling in the branches of an enormous tree nearby.

“Where are you, I don’t see you.”

“Up here, above you.”

Brianna looked up and sure enough, there was a face peeking out from several branches up on the giant oak tree.

“Who are you?” she repeated.

“The name is Jack,” he said with a grin. ‘They call me laughing Jack.”

“What are you doing up there?” she asked.

“Saving my skin, same as you.”

“Bri nodded, “That old man didn't save his skin, was he a friend of yours?”

“No, never saw him before but these forests abound with all kinds of scoundrels.”

“Scoundrels?  Well, that may be so, but he still didn't deserve to die. I think he was just who he said he was, a tenant farmer and that wee knife was hardly a weapon, hardly worth dying for. I should check to see if he is still alive.”

“Don't waste your time, those men are professional soldiers, they kill for a living. Trust me, he's dead and it won't be a pretty sight.”

Bri pushed her way out of the bush carefully avoiding the thorny bush beside her hiding spot.

 The bushes rustled from overhead. “ I glimpsed you behind me on the road. Where are you headed?”

She glanced at him and then away. Bri said nothing as she busied herself sweeping off the last of the leaves and small twigs off her cloak.

“Oh come, come. I’m not the one you have to fear, after all, you weren’t the only one hiding in the bushes from that brigade.” Laughing Jack grinned down from his branch. 

“Surely you don’t fear me? You can trust me,”  he said.

 She tilted her head back and stared up into the tree branches and looked him straight in the eye. “I don’t trust anybody, oh, but don't take it personally.” She craned her neck peering up at him. “Are you planning on staying up in that tree forever? Or are you planning on flying down here like a giant hawk? I swear I am getting a crick in my neck from peering up at you.”

“As you will.” With a few agile moves, he swung down from the tree branch and landed neatly at her feet.  He was tall, much taller than her, and young, probably only a few years older than she. He was comely as well. Bri put that thought firmly out of her mind, she had plan and places she must go,

“Granted, these are dangerous times, but I feel that we might be of some service to one another, at least if you are bound for the city of Leandra as I am. Many footpads, scoundrels, bandits, and roques inhabit the woods between here and the city and it is several days journey.  There is more safety in numbers. These small private armies are also a menace as we have just seen,” he said gesturing to the road where the old man had so recently been dispatched. “They would slit your throat for your boots or any coin that you might have on your person. We might have a better chance of making it to Leandra unscathed if there are two of us traveling together.”

“Why should I travel with you?  You are a stranger,” stated Bri. “You could be every bit as much of a scoundrel as those you say travel these forests. You could slit my throat as easy as they.”

“Indeed, you might consider that possibility though I tell you truthfully I can not abide the sight of blood. It might not be a manly thing to admit, but there it is”. He grinned and nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

 Brianna thought about it for a moment then nodded. “It is a sensible plan Jack, and has merit. Very well, agreed, we will travel together. By the by my name is … my name is Bri.”

 He gave a slight bow and a grin. “Now that we are fully acquainted may I be so bold as to ask why you find yourself half buried in the leaves of that laurel bush in the middle of the King’s forest like some…”

 Brianna broke in, “I might ask you the same question, Why do you find yourself perched on a leafy branch like a giant hawk?”

“Ah yes, I see your point. Perhaps some questions are better left unanswered …at least for the moment.

Where are you headed?”

“Leandra,” she stated. “Very well, so it shall be, we will have an agreement between us though. We shall not slit each other's throats while traveling to Leandra together. Agreed.”

“Agreed!” Jack grinned.

“I suppose we should also agree not to stab each other in the back with a knife or throw a rock down on each other's head while the other is sleeping or push each other off a cliff. Or drown each other in a raging river or…”

“Stop! Stop, we could go on like this forever,” he laughed.

“Now that you have come down from your lofty perch we must be on our way.  Bri started up the small embankment. “We have spent enough time this morning perfecting our hiding skills.”

“Very well Bri, lets away. And look, we no longer have to walk all the way to Leandra, we can now travel in style.  We will save our shoe leather.”  He pointed to the horse nibbling grass on the verge of the road. “Come, our chariot awaits.”

“Are you suggesting we steal the horse? That is punishable by death. We would swing from the gallows for sure if we were caught.”

“Of course not! I don't have a death wish. You heard the old man say clearly that he lived by himself in the woods, therefore he has no heirs. We can’t just leave the horse to fend by itself with a cart attached to it. He no longer has an owner.”

 Brianna shook her head, “I see clearly you have an eye for the main chance.”

“A man must boldly take advantage of what God and fortune present before him. I see that God and fortune have both shone down on us today and plainly presented us with a way and means to go to Leandrea. We can now travel this road in style,” said Jack.

“You call this hay cart and horse style?” asked Brianna.

“No! I call it fortuitous. He grabbed onto the horse's bridle and turned the cart around in the road pointing it in the direction of Leandra. He patted the horse's neck, “Come on Fortuitos, good boy. We will now have a wonderful trip on this road.  A road trip if you will, ” grinned Jack.

“I like that,” said Bri.” A road trip,” she climbed into the cart.

“Leandra is several days' journey from here, we can have quite the adventure on the way. We can stop at the fair in Marketville, and sample their pigeon pie and dried apples. Then there is the Shrine in Hampton, it's right on the way. We can stay at the monastery in Cloister, the monks accept guests and offer a wholesome meal.” Jack clambered aboard the cart and extended his hand to Bri. “The monks have a wonderful choir and they practice every evening after supper and before vespers. I hear they are really worth seeing.”

“I am excited about reaching Leandra,” stated Brianna as she settled herself on the rough seat. “I want to see the cathedral and the castle. There are so many never to be forgotten sights,” Bri nodded, “Yes, I believe this will work out very nicely.”

“What will work out nicely?” asked Laughing Jack.

“Why, this road trip of course.”