Cam's Connection

Betrayal Chapter 5 ~ Grief and Love Jon was mad with grief, remorse, confusion, sorrow and panic. The entire group of Riders commanded by his wife, Thayet had disappeared into thin air outside a small seaside village a day's ride south of Pirate's Swoop. There weren't signs of a battle, no bodies, no horses, no tents, there was nothing! The only thing scouts had found were signs of a terrible fire that wasn't quite possible. There didn't seem to be a possible explanation so they would have to turn to the impossible. Was it possible that whoever had done this to his wife and the 74 riders might have burned the bodies? Or did Thayet and her riders just go off into hill country without telling anyone? Jon knew that Thayet was gone forever. He didn't get the distinct feeling that she was dead, just gone. In fact he didn't feel anything. His sixth sense felt absolutely nothing. Jon had made sure every group of men who could ride a horse were looking for Thayet. They had scoured the country clean. They had vanished without a trace. Numair Salmalin had been sent to examine the area that looked like it had experienced a fire after there were reports that a village girl had been "sucked into it" after she was out walking. Any other time Jon would have dismissed these claims as crazy and impossible but after his wife's disappearance he was reday to chase after any possible lead there might be. He had been comforted by his 5 children, Kalasin, Lianne, Roald, Liam and Jasson, but it wasn't the same as Thayet's gentle and loving touch... Jon sobbed out loud. He must keep his emotions hidden, he must be strong like the Yamanis and be a courageous leader of Tortall in these horrible times... But it was so hard! Losing his wife to who knows what... That was what bothered Jon. She hadn't been killed by raiders, she hadn't drowned, she hadn't had a terrible disease forever. She just completely disappeared out of the blue. Which was not something Thayet was prone to doing. Jon knew that someone or something had done something terrible to her. Tortall hadn't recieved any other threats or declarations except for the scroll from Tyra. Which reminded him. After another week of searching for Thayet he would have to give up. Once the Riders and King's Own were finished he'd send half of them to the Tyran border. The other half would guard Tortall and the Scanran border. Jon knew that that was the right thing to do, keep Tortall safe but it was ever so hard and painful to let go of Thayet. He loved her more than anything, and if he stopped looking for her... Then it would mean that he didn't care about her and love her more than anything in the world. But Jon did love her! Thayet would want him to get on with something important for the country. But it would still be hard to let go. And he knew that after three weeks of a fruitless search for clues it would be the good thing to do to use the troops better. After all, he wanted to make sure this never happened again in Tortall... Ever. ~*~ But three more weeks passed and Thayet had still not been found. Jon refused to give up hope even though he felt his heart breaking into a million pieces. He refused to have her funeral until her body was found. Officially, the position of the court was that Thayet was missing. Jon wouldn't admit that she was dead, but he had called off the search parties. He had sent another group to check up on things down south. ~*~ Right now 500 King's Own were riding as fast as they could though the great southern desert to the border Tortall shared with Tyra. It was the dry season and water would be scarce in the barren, dusty part of Tortall but weeks would be taken off the trip by cutting across the desert instead of skirting it and taking the coastal route like Thayet had. Knight Commander of the King's Own, Sir Raoul of Malories Peak and Goldenlake led his men on the quickest way possible. They trotted the horses as fast as they dared and had long nights at the saddle before they camped out and left before dusk the next day. Riding at night saved the horses form heat stroke and exhaustion that surely owuld have happened if they galloped across a desert in the relentless midday sun. They were camped outside Persopolis now. They had bought food and goods from the Bahzir residents of the city and watered down their mounts after a long trek. But they were only halfway there. Their next stop was Tyra. Raoul was conferring with Buriram Tourakom, the commander of the Queen's Riders. The company was mostly King's Own but Buri had brought two squads of the riders to add to the ten regiments of the Own as they were affectionately called by most Tortallans. They were arguing about what they should do once they approached Tyra. "We don't even have any proof that they were serious" Raoul said loudly. "We just got a war message out of the blue and nothing's happened since. How do we know that we might not be able to walk in and have peace talks instead of a war?" "Raoul!" Buri said, exasperated. "Queen Thayet and 75 Riders disappeared mysteriously while she was on her way to do what we're doing now! And that was the day after we recieved a declaration of war! This is very real danger we're talking about here! In fact, it's highly likely that we'll be a target! After all, We are a large force come to see what's going on. We have to be very cautious about what's going to happen. We could ride up to their walled capital and suddenly be shot down by hidden archers. Or whisked away by some new kind of magic like what must have happened to Thayet!" "I understand your point, but doesn't this all seem weird to you? Tyra is one tenth the size of Tortall and they have a miniscule army that doesn't do anything except patrol their country. Why would they challenge us, especially after our campaigns have been having astounding success in Scanra? Tyra is mostly marsh! Their livelihoods are fishing and all the bountiful merchant caravans from Maren, Tusaine, Carthak and Tortall. Why do they care about us? If we attacked them, they'd lose!" Raoul countered. "That's my point!" Buri said trying with all her might to remain calm when Raoul talked such nonsense. In a way she was like Alanna, never backing down. "If they're attacking us, then they must have something new and dangerous otherwise they'd be afraid of us! It must be some sort of magic. Or maybe they're allied with a powerful nation now?" "I suppose you're right" Raoul agreed. "So what will we do?" "Well, for one thing, make sure we're perfectly organized. I think we can leave that to our lesser officials to do" Buri replied, glad Raoul had finally come to understand her point. She smiled inwardly. She was great at convincing people of things. "Well in the meantime, if you have some time to kill, I have an idea of how we could spend it." Raoul said warmly with a twinkly sparkle in his eye. Buri pretended to be angry and shocked. "I should slap you for being so forward with one of your fellow officers!" Her face softened into a grin. "But I'll let it go, this time!" After giving the orders to the other officers in command they settled down for the night. And they got to know each other a lot better than they did before. ~*~ There was an air of uncertainty about the men and women in the Tortallan army. No one was sure who to trust or what was going on. But when they arrived on the southern coast half a day's ride away from Tyra, everyone knew that very soon, they would have answers to their questions... Next Chapter