Even when morning broke, there was still no sound from behind.
Leon did not move right away.
While Matthias fed the horses, Leon went as far as the edge of the forest and looked back toward the way they had come yesterday. The trees blocked the road from view in the distance, but there were no signs of people or horses passing through.
At least they didn't follow right behind us during the night.
“Should we leave?” “Not yet.”
Leon rested a hand on his horse’s back. They had traveled for quite a while yesterday, but most of the heat had already left its body. Matthias’s horse was much the same.
Both were still in good shape.
No idea about the four behind us, though.
“How far are we going today?” “South.”
Matthias waited a moment.
“I know that.” “Then that’s all you need to know.” “Isn’t there a village name or something?” “There probably is.”
Matthias looked at Leon.
“You don’t know.” “No.”
The boy asked no more questions and began putting on the saddle.
He could tighten the saddle strap by himself now.
Leon pressed it once.
“Too tight.” “Oh.”
He loosened the strap by one notch.
“The horse needs to breathe, too.” “Got it.”
Still a long way to go.
The two of them set out after the sun had risen well into the sky.
Instead of taking the shepherd’s path they had come down yesterday, Leon backtracked a little to the north and picked up another road.
“Isn’t south the other way?” “It is.” “Then why are we going up?” “To reach the main road.”
Matthias thought for a moment.
“Yesterday you said we should avoid places with people.” “Today’s different.”
Below the hill, they could see a few small farmhouses and, beyond them, the main road.
They had spent all of yesterday traveling narrow paths.
The people pursuing them knew that, too.
If they assumed the two of them would keep to the mountain roads, there would be times when the main road was empty.
Of course, there was no guarantee that was what they thought.
“We won’t stay on the main road long.” “How long?” “We’ll know when we get there.”
Matthias let out something like a sigh.
“I’m getting used to this.”
What now?
Once they reached the main road, their pace quickened considerably.
Leon kept to a speed similar to that of passing merchants and farmers. After about an hour, they came upon a small roadside inn, and he stopped the horses.
“Are we stopping?” “Yeah.” “There are people here.” “We have to eat.” “We ate on horseback yesterday.” “Today I want something hot.”
Matthias looked at Leon for a moment.
“That’s a valid reason?” “Why wouldn’t it be?”
There were two merchants and several farmers inside the inn. Leon sat down at a table against the wall and ordered two bowls of porridge.
“What if the people looking for us come in?” “Then we leave.” “While we’re eating?” “While we’re eating.”
The porridge was warm.
That was enough.
After a few spoonfuls, Matthias’s expression relaxed a little, too.
“It’s definitely better than yesterday.”
Leon could agree with that.
The problem came when they left the inn.
While Matthias mounted his horse, Leon looked at the dirt at the edge of the yard.
Several hoofprints overlapped there.
It was an inn, so that was only natural.
But one of them looked familiar.
The outside of its right hind hoof was slightly chipped.
It was one of the horses he had seen by the stream yesterday.
Leon crouched down.
The edge of a puddle beside the print was still wet.
It had not been there long.
“Is it them?” “Probably.” “Again with ‘probably.’” “You can’t identify someone’s face just by looking at hoofprints.”
When the innkeeper came out, Leon asked him,
“Did some people on horseback come by this morning? About four of them.” “They did. Could’ve been four or five.” “Did they ask about anything?” “People heading south.”
The innkeeper glanced at Leon and Matthias.
“I don’t know if they said two people or three, but they asked if I’d seen some armed men traveling with a kid.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Two or three?” “Yeah.” “Not one?” “Seems like it.”
Matthias looked at Leon.
“Which way did they go?” “South. Not long after sunrise.”
They’re ahead of us.
At some point, the people pursuing them had passed them and continued south ahead of them.
Hard to say whether that’s good or bad.
“Let’s go.”
Matthias spoke first.
“Why?” “If they’re ahead of us, isn’t it worse to stay here any longer?”
He had a point.
“Let’s go.”
They did not follow the main road the whole way.
After riding down for about an hour, they turned onto an old quarry road. The ground was covered in stones, so hoofprints did not show well, and soon the road split in two.
The left path led back to the southern main road.
The right led to an abandoned quarry.
Leon stopped his horse.
“Get down.”
Matthias dismounted at once.
Leon handed him his horse’s reins.
“Take both of them left. Just as far as that rock.” “What about you, Leon?” “I’ll catch up.”
Matthias led the two horses to the left.
Leon walked down the abandoned quarry road to the right.
He did nothing particularly clever.
He picked up two piles of horse droppings from the ground and tossed them into the middle of the right-hand path, then stepped on several dry branches along the roadside.
Then he went back.
Matthias was waiting beside the rock.
“You’ve got something on your hand.”
Leon looked at his hand.
“Oh.” “What is it?” “Horse droppings.”
Matthias wrinkled his nose.
“Why?” “If someone follows us, let them take a look.”
Leon wiped his hand roughly on the grass.
“So it looks like we went that way, too?” “If it confuses them, good.” “Was this planned?” “How is tossing two piles of horse droppings a plan?”
Matthias gave the right-hand path another serious look.
“But if they go check, it’ll slow them down.” “That’s enough.”
As the afternoon passed, the main road grew distant again.
Leon deliberately did not increase their speed.
If the pursuers were ahead, there was no reason to catch up with them. If they were behind, there was no need to tire the horses out.
Matthias now checked his own horse’s condition first.
After they had gone a fair distance, he said,
“I think we should rest for a bit.” “Why?” “He’s breathing faster than before.”
Leon looked at the horse’s flank.
Matthias was right.
“We’ll rest over there.”
When they reached a small patch of shade beneath the trees, Matthias loosened the saddle strap a little first.
“You don’t need me to tell you that anymore.” “You told me a lot yesterday.”
Did I?
They gave the horses a little water and took out some bread.
Matthias chewed for a while before asking,
“Why do you think they thought there were several of us?”
That bothered Leon a little, too.
“I don’t know.” “There are only two of us.”
Yesterday, they had changed routes several times.
They had ridden their horses, then led them on foot, mixing the shepherd’s path with the main road.
By the stream, Leon had stayed behind alone before sending Matthias on separately.
Anyone looking only at the traces they left behind would have had trouble counting the exact number of people.
“Did you do that on purpose?” “No.” “But that’s how it turned out?” “Looks like it.” “Is that good?”
Leon thought about it.
If their opponents believed there were more people, they might hesitate to rush in.
On the other hand, they might call for even more men.
“Too soon to tell.”
Matthias nodded.
“I figured you’d say that.” “What?” “That you’d say that.”
Leon took a bite of bread.
“I’ll tell you if I find out.” “Okay.”
As the sun began to sink, the two of them came down near the main road again.
This time, they did not join it right away.
From atop a hill, they looked down and saw two mounted men standing in the distance. One was asking someone by the roadside something, while the other kept looking behind him.
Their clothes and the condition of their horses were similar.
Leon gestured.
“Get down.”
They dismounted and pressed themselves behind a tree.
After a long while, a faint voice drifted up from below.
“Check the western road!”
Another voice answered.
“What about the rest?” “They’ll be to the south. There have to be at least three.”
Matthias looked at Leon.
He did not open his mouth.
The two of them waited there until the men turned their horses and disappeared in different directions.
A little later, Matthias whispered,
“He said three.” “I heard him.” “There are only two of us.” “Yeah.” “Why?”
Leon did not know either.
But he did know one thing.
They were not tracking them after getting a proper look at them.
They were following the traces.
And they were getting it wrong.
Leon brought the horses back out.
“Let’s go.” “Where?”
Instead of the main road below, Leon looked toward a narrow path running northwest.
“Somewhere they aren’t.”
Matthias mounted his horse.
“Is this another plan?” “No.”
Leon mounted as well.
“It’s just obvious.”
The two of them moved on.
No one was watching from behind.
At least for now.