Part 20 (1/2)
Jed closed in, grinning, confident. Tom waited until he was almost in range of that staff before hurling the first stone. Too close for Jed to avoid, the missile struck him on the left temple, causing him to flinch, turn his head and pull his chin to his chest, while his free hand and shoulder rose instinctively to provide protection. Tom closed in, stepping within the arc of that stick, flicking out with his knife and cutting the bigger lad's raised forearm to add to the pain and confusion before punching him hard in the gonads, the second stone still clenched in his fist. The stick clattered to the floor and, with a strangled howl of pain, Jed followed, sinking to his knees, both hands covering his abused groin.
Tom was immediately behind him, grabbing Jed's hair and pulling his head back, knife pressed to the bigger youth's exposed throat.
As he'd hoped, the other two kids were ignoring Mildra, their attention focused on the unfolding drama. Both were flushed with either anger or fear and neither seemed inclined to sn.i.g.g.e.r anymore.
”Now, as we said, we don't want any trouble.” He tried to put as much menace in his voice as possible. ”If that means I have to kill Jed here or even all three of you to ensure that we don't get any, I'll do it. Understood?”
The pair nodded. Mildra climbed to her feet but made no move to intervene.
”Drop your weapons.”
After the briefest hesitation both tossed their knives to the ground, close to Jed's fallen stick. Mildra did move then, collecting the two knives and the stick before coming to stand at Tom's shoulder.
”Right. I'm going to let Jed here go and then count to five. By the time I reach five, I don't want to be looking at any of you. If I am, I'll a.s.sume you want to continue the fight, except this time we'll be the ones with the weapons.”
He whipped his own blade away from Jed's throat and pushed the larger boy in the back, so that he landed on all fours.
”One...”
The other two came forward, helping Jed to his feet.
”Two...”
The trio scurried away, Jed stumbling in the wake of the others, managing a lurching bandy-legged gait and needing their help to keep up.
By the time he reached five, Tom's shoulders were shaking and he couldn't control the laughter, nor could Mildra beside him.
”Well done,” the Thaistess said, and kissed him on the cheek.
The laughter drained out of him and visions of her naked b.r.e.a.s.t.s and her impa.s.sioned face flashed through his thoughts. She looked suddenly embarra.s.sed, as if the kiss had been instinctive, something she now regretted and wouldn't have done had she thought things through.
”Are you... feeling all right now?” he asked in an effort to breach the awkward silence.
”Yes, thanks. Sorry about your sword.”
He shrugged. ”No real loss. I was never any good with it in any case.”
She grinned. ”True.”
That easily, they put the awkwardness behind them and walked back to the cafe they'd visited earlier, if not arm in arm, then at least still side by side.
With evening drawing in the place was busier, and seemed to be slipping smoothly into a new ident.i.ty; that of bar rather than cafe. A few of the patrons looked to be locals, but they were in the minority. Most were clearly visitors, pilgrims such as they'd encountered at the temple; nor were all human. Three Kayjele cl.u.s.tered around a table on chairs clearly designed to accommodate beings of their size. Tom stared. These were the first of their race he'd seen apart from Kohn, and he was fascinated to note both the similarities and the differences to his fallen friend.
Mildra seemed delighted to see the trio of giants here, and rummaged in her pack to pull something out; Kohn's heart stone, which she held up to show Tom, smiling triumphantly.
”Do you really think” But before he could say any more, she was up out of her seat and darting the short distance across the floor to the Kayjeles' table.
Tom watched with interest as the three giants their faces as different as any similar group of humans might be stopped what they were doing and stared at the Thaistess. All were male, Tom noted. Presumably they were talking in the fas.h.i.+on of Kayjele. What must that be like? Could Mildra hear all three of their mental voices at once, and did they sound different? Or did she have to talk to them one at a time? There was nothing in their facial expressions or movements to give anything away.
After a few moments Tom saw Mildra hand the heart stone to one of the trio and she then came back to join him. ”There,” she said, obviously pleased with herself. ”They promised to make sure the pendant gets back to Kohn's family.”
”But can they be trusted?”
”What do you mean?”
”Well, I was just thinking, imagine a man, any man, just a traveller, in a strange place the land of another race or tribe and one of this race comes up and hands him a precious jewel, saying that it belonged to a friend of his who was human but has died, and asking the man to make sure this jewel reaches his family. I just wonder how many men would even bother trying.”
”Oh.” She looked crestfallen. ”I hadn't even thought of that.”
No, of course she hadn't not until he went and opened his big mouth. He could have kicked himself. ”Mind you, that's to judge the Kayjele by human standards,” he said quickly, making it up as he went along. ”I'm sure they're nothing like us and our friends over there will deliver the pendent as promised. They're pilgrims, after all.”
”Yes,” she gave an uncertain smile, ”I'm sure you're right.” But she wasn't, not any more, he could see that in her eyes. And that was his fault. Tom swore silently. Surely by now he should have learnt to keep his thoughts to himself, or at least to be a little more selective when voicing them.
”What was it like?” he said, both to change the subject and because he genuinely wanted to know. ”Talking with three of them at once, I mean.”
”Actually, that was a bit strange, especially to begin with...”
Before Mildra could go any further, the gold-toothed waiter from earlier that afternoon appeared to ask for their drinks order. The pair exchanged a knowing grin and both scrupulously avoided ordering the doolhd.
”Did you visit our wondrous temple?” the obsequious man asked, glinting gold at every word.
”Yes, it's very beautiful,” Mildra temporised.
”Ah, I'm so happy your pilgrimage has reached such a fulfilling conclusion.” He again clasped his hands, as if to bless their joyous journey.
”Actually,” Tom replied, ”we're not so sure it has reached a conclusion. We'd still like to explore the river higher up, above the town.”
”But why?” The man looked horrified. ”There's nothing up there but snow and rocks and cold and slipperiness. It's dangerous, and you're both so young!”
Eventually, once convinced of their seriousness and determination, Gold Tooth admitted that the town had a few hunters who ventured that way and knew the trails as well as anyone. By happy coincidence, one such was his brother, whom he'd be delighted to introduce them to.
Within the hour they were talking to a man who looked much like Gold Tooth swarthy skinned, with a flat, broad nose and heavy eyebrows but lacking the golden dental enhancement and also the bushy moustache. In place of the latter, Ky, the hunter, sported salt and pepper stubble around his chin, as if to emphasise that here was a rugged man who courted the wilderness and lacked the time for such niceties as regular shaving. There was something behind the man's eyes that made Tom uneasy. A cunning calculation that caused him to doubt the wisdom of entertaining the hunter at all.
”I can take you further up, for sure,” he told them. ”It's not an easy climb though. No real path up there any more, just game trails at best.”
”You say 'any more'...?” Mildra cut in.
”There is an old temple, half a day from here. Abandoned now because of the severe conditions, but there used to be a trail leading to it. We'll follow that to begin with, as far as we can at least.”
And so it was settled; they would leave first thing the following morning.
TWENTY.
The tingling in the prime master's arm was growing progressively worse. There were techniques at his disposal that could dull the feeling if not tackle the actual cause. He used them without hesitation. Not because he was afraid, although he very much was, nor because he was attempting to deny the truth or avoid the inevitable, but because the sensation could be a distraction. If, as he presumed, there was only a very limited time left to him, then he intended to maximise that time. There were things he needed to do, arrangements to be made and events to set in motion while he still could.