Wolf Knight

Chapter 5

With tea over the big woman gave hugs, went to a cabinet, pulled out a pile of papers, folded them into an envelope, and handed it to the Raven.

The three riders went outside, checked their horses, and reloaded the remaining supplies onto the packhorse. Mounting up, they crossed the stream to head for the trees. Maud stood at her cabin door to wave after them. When the boy turned to look back one final time, she no longer stood there.

With the packhorse being unburdened, they made a much better time. The horses were able to trot at a fair clip, causing Caleb to bounce on the horse's saddle. When they stopped for lunch they boiled water to make coffee and oatmeal. The Raven cut up some pieces of dried fruit along with ground cinnamon and added it to the oatmeal. The break was pleasant, and the warming day promised to be better.

Caleb asked Red, "Who is Maud?"

"She's a hermit and she has been there for as long as I can remember. She gave me this cloak."

"Can she tell the future?"

Red looked at him kind of funny and said, "She told you something, didn't she? She did that to me once. I think she's crazy!"

They remounted and rode on for about an hour when they stopped and the Raven said, "I've had important business to take care of. I think Caleb is safe on the horse and you know the trail; so take over and bring him to camp, just stay safe." The Raven handed the pack horse's leader to Red and took off up the valley, at a canter to disappear among the trees.

"What's up?" Caleb asked.

We won't see the Raven again, not until we get into camp."

With that, she took the pack horse's leader, tied it to Mary's saddle, and told the boy to follow behind the packhorse. She led them in a different direction.

"Why aren't we following the Raven?" asked Caleb.

"He is going straight to the pass. It's a steep and rough path, too dangerous for Mary or the packhorse, they are loaded down. However, Midnight can make it. We're taking the old trail; it's longer but safer and well hidden."

"Who is the Raven?" asked Caleb.

Red answered with pride, "He's a knight, a ranger, a healer, and the best tracker I know."

"Is he your father?"

"No," said Red. "You are direct. He's my teacher and I'm his squire."

"Does he have a name? Who is he?"

"I don't know his real name. I'm sure he has one; it might even be Raven, but he's never told me. It wouldn't be polite to ask. I'm sure the deputy knows it, and the adults in the school know, but he's just Raven to me."

"You said you're his squire?"

"Yeah, it's an old term for a person who serves a knight and is in training to become one. All of the older students are called squires. I'm his student and his aide."

"You want to become a knight?" Caleb asked with an air of disbelief.

She beamed, "More than anything."

Caleb looked at his feet, this girl wanted to be a rough and tough knight. The whole idea of knights in this day and age felt weird. "What's your name?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," snapped Red, perturbed with the boy and his persistent questions said, "Besides, like I said it's not polite to ask. We need to get going."

They started up a trail by again doing the zigzag maneuver on a narrow path up the rocks. After a few minutes, the trail got steep and narrow and Red called a halt. They dismounted and walked the path up the side of the mountain, leading the horses. "It's just too steep to ride; the horses don't need to be worrying about us on these rocks," she informed him.

They continued up the slope until they reached a gap between two peaks. Crossing the gap they mounted up and followed an open path just below the ridgeline. They crossed another narrow gap where they dismounted and were challenged by two boys. "Halt! Who are you?" the first boy demanded. They both looked to be about a year older than Red and were twins.

Red looked him in the eye and replied, "Two children of the forest."

"What's the password?" the second boy demanded with a feral grin on his face.

Red said. "You know that I don't have it yet, we're just getting here."

"Without the password, we can't let you through," the second boy said with an air of authority.

"You know me, let us pass," Red growled through her teeth.

"We can't do that," the first one said as he crossed his arms and grinned.

Red's eyes narrowed and her face flushed. She snapped, "Let us pass or so help me I'll gut you like the little weasels you are, skin you, roll you in jalapenos, and slow cook you in lemon juice until you plead for mercy!"

Together they cried, "MERCY!" and ran up to hug her. The first boy said, "Why didn't you say it was you, Red."

Red scolded, "If I was as lame-brained and blind as you two seem to be, I'd still be circling the foothills. You know me."

"Glad to see you too," the second boy said laughing.

Red over her anger and with a big grin said, "So how did you two get guard duty together?"

"We got into a fight over who's a better rider," the first boy replied, smiling.

"Who won?"

Together they boasted, "I did!"

Red turned to her charge, "Typical boys. See what I have to put up with? This is Bob and Bill, our own troublemakers. They're more trouble than a wolverine." She turned back to the twins. "This is Caleb, a new kid."

"I hate it!" Caleb spits out.

The others looked at him, saying nothing.

"I hate my name. I hate Caleb."

Bob and Bill looked at each other, smiled, and said together, "That's not a problem." They each grabbed one of the boys' hands, shook it and gave him a hearty slap on the back. "Glad to meet you, we need some new faces around here," said Bob.

Red asked, "So what is the news?"

"Not much except the Raven came through here earlier this morning, going fast as blazes."

Red declared, "We'd better get on into camp. I'll deal with you two later."

"We look forward to it," they chimed together, smiling.

The boy and girl remounted their horses and continued down the trail, descending into the valley. After a couple of hours of riding their horses through the forest, they broke out into the first meadow.

There they saw two big muscular Percherons, bigger than Mary, teamed together. They were pulling a large log, with older boys riding in the saddles. The boys smiled, waved at Red, and she stood up on her stirrups to wave back.

Caleb whistled gently, "Does everybody have big horses? What are they doing?"

Red turned in her saddle and looked at him, smiling, "Most of the squires do. They're hauling logs up to the camp, mostly for the horse stables. We take care of the horses first, you'll see."

"So, when do we get to camp?"

"Soon, in about an hour." They rode the rest of the way to camp without much talking, he boy observing all the activity happening around them.

After stopping once to water the horses, they met more students. Some were as young as ten and others were as old as eighteen or more. All were involved in some sort of activity. A lot of the younger ones were collecting berries and fruit. A couple of older boys were engaged in cutting down a tall dead pine tree, while others were cutting logs to length. Red waved at them all.

Caleb noticed that they were all wearing green uniforms, similar to Red's, with patches of some sort over the heart.

When they finally reached camp, they passed a long row of stables, open on one side. Opposing them was another row of stables, still under construction. Older students and adults labored at the task.

There were several rows of small round tents, leading away from the stables to a group of big tents. The biggest tent stood surrounded by about twenty banners on poles. One banner had the same blackbird on white background, which the Raven and Red wore on their jackets.

Caleb all of a sudden realized he could not escape from this. Whatever would happen to him would happen inside the tent in front of him. He had forgotten about leaving, but he now felt like turning and running. He felt apprehension; if only he wasn't on Red's horse.

They rode right up to the big tent and dismounted. Red tied their horses to a hitching post. She looked at the boy and must have seen the fear on his face. "It's going to be all right; they have always been fair to me." She led the boy into the tent. There were several tables, on which boys and girls were working in groups on maps and books.

At a small table in the center of the tent sat the Raven and two other men. One wore a dark red tunic with a black patch, which had an orange dragon embroidered on it.

The other man appeared much older. He had dark gray hair, a short beard, and a large white handlebar mustache. He wore all black with a red patch over his heart on which a golden lion reared up.

The Raven waved them over, and as they approached, the three men stood up. The Raven introduced the boy to the older man, "This is Sir John, the Lion. He is the headmaster of the school and a Knight of the British Realm."

Caleb gaped at the man, "You're a real knight, with armor and swords?"