Artin thought Stormmond had noticed that someone was watching him. If things had come to this, he thought, Stormmond would stop hiding what he was and rebel.
The commander of the follow-up force was Artin. The lord had sent the expedition to Orpul to stop the barbarians coming over the Grimhall Mountains, but right now Barad Castle was in immediate danger.
With both the advance force and the follow-up force gone, Barad Castle had only a thousand or so troops. They had to turn back.
If troops from the South came pushing up through this gap, it would only be a matter of time before Barad Castle fell. They had to arrest Stormmond before the southern troops attacked.
Artin went back to the campsite. Then he ordered the knights to assemble.
"Urgent orders. We are returning to Barad Castle."
"Vice Commander, what do you mean? Didn't the lord send us, the follow-up force, to Orpul?"
The knight who questioned Artin was in his late 20s, and his name was Tiles Gelinde. Because he came from southern nobility, he had sometimes been shunned by House Rosrad's senior knights, but he was a man of rigorous self-discipline and a rational temperament.
"When a situation arises, you have to respond flexibly. I am the commander of the follow-up force. The barbarians haven't stormed Orpul right now, after all. At the moment, Barad Castle is in greater danger. This is no time for this. We return to Barad Castle at once. Every moment counts."
Artin didn't intend to tell them that the mage was plotting rebellion. He would tell them when they were nearly at Barad Castle.
Artin raised his voice.
"We return to Barad Castle at once! That's an order. From now on, we march at double time."
In the follow-up force's camp, complaints and guesses were going around among the knights and soldiers.
"Having to go all the way back to Barad Castle at double time is awful."
"I'm going to run so hard I'll die of breathlessness."
"Lord Artin is commander of the follow-up force, so we've got no choice but to obey."
"Something big must be about to happen at Barad Castle."
The follow-up force turned on its heel and headed for Barad Castle.
***
The news that the stablehand Mofford was dead reached the advance force too.
When Rafin heard the news, he found out what the stablehand had looked like. He had been a stablehand with black hair, bronzed skin, and a solid build.
His name was Mofford. When he heard that name, a memory flashed through his mind. The stablehand he had chatted with briefly had been Mofford.
The advance force kept marching toward Orpul. And a little later, Gerhardt learned that the follow-up force had turned back to Barad Castle. That meant they would have to fight the barbarians at Orpul without the follow-up force's help.
Gerhardt couldn't tell why the follow-up force had turned back. They had marched in two groups, an advance force and a follow-up force. Yet now, for the follow-up force alone to return to Barad Castle was a decision he couldn't understand.
Artin must have decided on his own to turn back, without the lord's approval. Without the follow-up force, it might be hard to hold off the barbarians with only Orpul's troops and the advance force.
If Artin's stupid decision cost them many troops, Gerhardt would hold him responsible. He had to tell the soldiers that the follow-up force would not be joining them. While the march paused, Gerhardt called for the attention of the soldiers sitting and resting.
"I have something to pass on to you. The follow-up force came as far as the vicinity of Geston and then turned back to Unton. The reason for turning back is unknown for now. Seeing that they came as far as Geston and went back, it's certainly a very urgent situation.
We will go on to Orpul as planned and carry out our mission. Don't be shaken because the follow-up force isn't here; our mission is to join forces with Orpul's troops and hold off the barbarians. And it gets colder the farther north we go, so the baggage train is to issue thick cloaks to the soldiers."
Hearing the Knight Commander, Rafin felt that Mofford's death and the follow-up force turning back were somehow connected.
Hearing the Knight Commander, Rewad wondered what was going on and went to Rafin.
Rafin was sitting and drinking water.
"Rafin, what happened? The follow-up force turned back."
"I know. This is no ordinary thing. They split the troops in two and sent the follow-up force out at night, and now it's suddenly turned back. Something big seems to have happened."
"In this situation, what could something big be, other than troops from the South marching on Unton?"
"That's true, but it makes no sense for the Vice Commander to come all the way to Geston and then learn that and head back to Barad Castle, either. I think it has something to do with the stablehand's death."
Rewad took Rafin's water pouch and drank.
"They say only that stablehand was killed, in the middle of the night, in quarters where a lot of people sleep. People only found out about the murder in the morning. It seems like a skilled assassin killed him."
Rafin thought back to when he had run into Mofford. It seemed to have been when he was coming and going from the mage's keep on the east side of Barad Castle after finishing the mending.
Mofford was a mere stablehand, not the kind of man to earn anyone's grudge.
When he thought back on his past life, the people who got assassinated had been people with power or wealth. If the one killed had neither power nor wealth...... he was someone's hands and feet. That was it. Mofford was most likely a henchman, acting on someone's orders.
And if someone had cut off Mofford's head without anyone noticing, in quarters full of people, it had to be either a very skilled assassin or a mage.
Fire, lightning, and ice magic were all conspicuous, and they gave off smells or made noise. Magic that could kill a man in the dead of night without a smell, in silence, might well be necromancy.
The dead made no sound when they moved. A mage who could wield necromancy, then.
When his thoughts reached this far, a cold sweat broke out lightly on Rafin's back.
He remembered that the reason Lord Stormmond had left Himister's Mage Tower was forbidden magic. Necromancy was not magic that ordinary mages wielded.
He remembered what Mera had told him about Stormmond when they met at the victory banquet after the tournament.
That was it. Lord Stormmond had been driven out of Himister's Mage Tower for the crime of researching or wielding necromancy, and Mofford had died by Lord Stormmond's necromancy.
Mofford must have been someone's trusted man. Rafin could guess that much.
Rewad looked at Rafin, who was saying nothing.
"Why so quiet?"
"Yeah. A great assassin must have killed Mofford. Maybe he had big gambling debts. People kill each other over money, after all."
Rafin didn't tell him his own thought that Mofford had probably died by necromancy.
"Gambling's something you do a little for fun and then quit. If you get too deep into it, you lose your money and your life too. Don't you get hooked on gambling either."
Rewad gave Rafin back his water pouch and went back to his spot.
Rafin was worried about what would happen at Barad Castle. Vice Commander Artin wouldn't know that the one who had killed Mofford was Stormmond.
It seemed the Vice Commander had simply anticipated some change inside Barad Castle after Mofford's death and decided to turn back.
The mission given to the advance force was to go to Orpul and hold off the barbarians, so he had to focus on that.
The one consolation was that the follow-up force had far more troops than the advance force, so even if something went wrong at Barad Castle, they had the strength to stop it.
Rafin decided to focus on the advance force's real mission: holding off the barbarians together with Orpul's troops. Rafin was only a squire now; worrying about Barad Castle's safety wasn't going to let him do anything about it.
There was no need to worry about injuries. The baggage train had laid in plenty of potions in preparation for battle.
Some 10 days after the advance force passed Geston, Castow Castle in Orpul came into view far off on the horizon.
Gerhardt sent a courier to Castow Castle to announce the arrival of House Rosrad's expedition.
The courier kicked hard at the grassland's earth. Clods of dirt flew up behind the horse's hooves.
The expedition was some 500 meters from Castow Castle. About 10 people on horseback were waiting for the expedition.
Gerhardt and Rafin went to the very front of the column.
A man with long black hair and thick eyebrows rode up in front of Gerhardt.
"You must be weary from your journey. I am Alan Tiregel."
Gerhardt knew the name Alan Tiregel by hearsay. He was the older brother of Artin Tiregel, Vice Commander of the knights.
"A pleasure to meet you. You must be our Vice Commander's elder brother. I've heard a great deal about you from the Vice Commander, Lord Alan."
When Alan's eyes met those of Rafin, beside Gerhardt, he gave a slight nod.
"Haha. That rascal hasn't been bad-mouthing me, has he?"
"He's said that you disciplined him strictly from childhood. He says that's what made him a strong man."
Alan was looking around Gerhardt for someone.
"I don't see Artin."
"The Vice Commander was leading the follow-up force here, but he returned to Unton on urgent business."
Alan looked over the size of the force behind Gerhardt. The troops House Rosrad had sent did not look like enough.
"What urgent business could make Artin turn back....... Oh, dear me, I've kept you standing far too long after such a long journey. Let's talk more at the castle."
Led by Alan, the advance force headed for Castow Castle. Since Castow Castle stood in the north of the continent of Caldrea, close to the Grimhall Mountains, it was marked by thick, sturdy stone walls and tall watchtowers.
The character of the northern noble houses, which put strength before grandeur and survival before splendor, was reflected just as it was in Castow Castle's architecture.
Far beyond Castow Castle, the rugged peaks of the Grimhall Mountains spread out wide like a folding screen.
Rafin pulled the collar of his cloak closed. The wind blowing from far away was biting.
Alan led the expedition's knights and squires to the great hall of the main keep and sent the rest of the troops to the guard barracks.
In the great hall, the lord, Iras Tiregel, sat in the lord's chair, with his vassals standing to his left and right.
The vassals and squires of the expedition knelt on one knee and bowed their heads in greeting.
Alan introduced Gerhardt to the lord, who was also his father.
"Father, this is Sir Gerhardt, commander of the expedition."
The expedition finished its greetings and rose.
"It is an honor to meet you. I am Gerhardt, commander of the expedition."
"Welcome. You must have had a hard time getting here. But I don't see Artin."
Rafin stole a glance at Iras Tiregel. He was a gray-haired man with a sharp face. Even inside the castle, he wasn't wearing everyday clothes but leather armor.
"We were the expedition's advance force, and Artin had the follow-up force. The follow-up force marched as far as Geston, then an urgent situation came up and it turned back to Unton."
"What urgent situation made them come all the way to Geston and turn back?"
"We don't know the details yet, but word should come from Barad Castle soon."
Rafin expected that things at Barad Castle concerning Stormmond would come to a head quickly. But having come all the way to Orpul on the expedition, there was nothing he could do about it here. And talking to the Knight Commander about it would only trouble his mind.
Rafin thought that now that the expedition had come all the way to Orpul, they had to focus on holding off the barbarians.
"How large was the follow-up force?"
"About 3,000."
"That's a good many. If that many troops went back to Barad Castle, they'll settle whatever it is well enough. Not long ago, I heard the winner of the jousting tournament had become a squire of House Rosrad. What was his name again?"
The lord, Iras, looked at Alan.
"I believe it's Rafin Valone."
"Right. It was Rafin. Is Rafin here?"
Iras was looking over the expedition's knights.