Part 14 (2/2)
A quick glance told him that Warren had escaped, running toward a boulder with Soren following close behind. The seventh and last Hodyn dived off his horse and rolled over the hard-baked soil, but nothing could escape the deadly speed of a laser, and his body split in a gruesome spray. It was Losien.
Caleb extinguished the beam. Horses ran everywhere except Soren's, who still bucked and snorted several yards away. Blood trickled down the animal's rump.
His heart hammering and hands shaking, Caleb stood staring at the results of his deed. All around, bodies and parts of bodies lay flaccid on the blood-soaked earth, ruptured entrails fouling the air until he gagged on it. A few mounds of horseflesh steamed in the cold, magnifying the horror.
Soren returned, transfixed at the carnage, Warren following. ”I have never seen so many enemies slaughtered so quickly by one weapon,” he uttered. At last his gaze fell upon Caleb. ”I don't understand-how can your device burn through the air like that?”
With tears streaming and bile rising to his throat, Caleb could only shrug in answer.
”No matter,” said Soren as Warren sped past and into his father's arms. ”You've proven your worth again today. Forgive my silence-I shouldn't have judged you so soon.”
Caleb slowly caressed the boy's tousled and dirty hair, accepting comfort as well as providing it. ”For the last two days, I've only had one thought in my mind: how to save Warren. Every man holds something dearer than any oath or law, Soren.”
”You still don't understand the Oath if you believe that,” he replied. ”By saving Warren you saved us. You did your duty.”
Shaken, Caleb turned away from the grisly spectacle. ”I've had my fill of duty for one day. Right now all I want is for you to be my friend.”
”How touching. If you be mine, you still have one duty left!” Soren held his bound hands in the air.
Caleb grinned in spite of himself, and went to find a knife.
14.
The Stranger To take the safest path is to take the loneliest.
- from an ancient diary found in Leiff SOREN BROUGHT back three of the horses without much trouble: his own, Caleb's, and one of the Hodyn's. The horse with the laser wound had fled, limping away to the south. The rest were not needed, and too far scattered to bother with anyway.
Though the Hodyn had confiscated their supplies, the third horse was loaded with enough provisions to last a few days. Their swords were there, too, packed among the baggage. The Hodyn knew a valuable weapon when they saw one, especially the Master Raen's, a great prize to bring back to Grimoa. With the mules gone as well there was precious little water for the horses, but they were approaching the far edge of the wastelands, and Soren estimated they would hold out until then.
They sped away, turning directly to the west, Warren on his father's horse as before, the pack horse tethered behind. Caleb wondered aloud if any other Hodyn would find the bodies. In answer the old Raen jerked his thumb to point behind them: carrion fowl circled in the hazy distance. Though the last trace of the slaughter gradually vanished Soren did not slacken the pace, determined to reach the mountains by sundown. These were the Irenseni, sharp, scattered peaks like hard white horns dominating the western horizon. The Hodyn seldom roamed this far west, and of the Adaiani, only miners or the occasional hunter ever ventured farther north than a day's ride from Enili.
By midday they had reentered the ever-present scrub bordering the mountains, and they relaxed the pace, stopping to rest the horses more often. Ahead lay a wide gap winding its way through the peaks, with pines scattered along the slopes on either side. But the climb proved long and difficult for their weary horses; days of hard riding and the ordeal of their capture had drained the strength of both man and beast.
At last the daylight faded to a swath of rose-tinted clouds behind snowy peaks. They camped beneath the cover of tall pines, where a nearby creek twisted and tumbled through a maze of stones and roots. Lighting a fire was out of the question, and what Hodyn provender they had, stale biscuits and tough strips of dried meat (of what animal they dared not think), made for a cheerless meal. Warren alternately nodded and s.h.i.+vered where he sat. Caleb abandoned his futile attempts to get him to eat, and wrapping him in extra blankets laid him down on the soft, resinous carpet of pine needles.
Preparing his own bed, he asked, ”Exactly which way are we headed?”
Soren was sharpening his sword with a whetstone. ”How do you mean?”
”Is it still your plan to avoid Enili?”
He paused. ”I don't see how we can, now.”
”Aren't there places outside of town we can resupply?”
”Not without stealing, or wasting precious time searching.”
Caleb shrugged. ”Well, if anybody recognizes us, they won't know what's happened.”
”You forget we've lost at least a day's travel with the Hodyn. But Enili has plenty of inns to choose from, and we'll be approaching down a less-traveled road from the north.”
Caleb's eyelids drooped, and he lay down and s.h.i.+vered under the blankets. ”After Enili, then Tnestiri?” he asked after a yawn.
”And on to lake One'en-that is, if we make it through the forest.” He gave his Fetra one last inspection, then slipped it back into its sheath.
”If we make it through ... ah, yes. A mental barrier of some kind, as I recall.” Soren said nothing, and he added, ”Or do I have it wrong?”
”Yes, yes, Gur'alyreiv,” he growled as he laid out his blankets. ”It was so named because of the spell of madness lurking along the edge of the forest. I felt it myself once. The closer you get the stronger it grows, until even the most determined run back screaming. We don't know much beyond that.”
Caleb's drowsiness vanished. ”What more do we need to know? Or isn't it really that bad, and you're just having fun at my expense?”
Soren grunted, then lay down with his back turned.
”So that's your plan-to become totally insane?”
Soren whipped around in his blankets. ”There is no other way! Gur'alyreiv surrounds the whole of Tnestiri, and the mountains to the south, too. Besides, it's never been known to kill anyone.”
”No, we'll just end up in an asylum. But maybe I should look on the bright side: I'll have a plausible defense in your courts!”
”You forget I've already survived such an encounter. Do you think I'm so reckless to charge into it at a full gallop? Or was the bravery you displayed this morning an illusion?”
Caleb tried to think of a good comeback, then stopped himself. ”I'm sorry. You stuck your neck out for me in Udan. The least I owe you is a little more trust in your judgment. Just don't forget Warren in all this.”
”You should have thought of that before we left Ekendore. But we have to get to Enili first, and for that we need rest. Good night!”
A deep sleep restored much of their strength and cheer. But a long day of riding lay ahead, for Soren hoped to reach Enili that night under cover of darkness. He quickly led the way down the thick groves on the western side of the pa.s.s; their horses' hooves, silent over the needles, sent huge pine cones tumbling down the slopes. Out beyond the treetops, a dense forest rolled like waves to the distant s.h.i.+mmer of Lrana, a vast lake stretching beyond the northern horizon.
Yet the sun had barely cleared the trees when Caleb noticed that Soren's horse had developed a slight limp. Soren jumped down to inspect her and found nothing to alarm him, saying that it was probably just a s.h.i.+n splint. But Tellahur was getting a little old for such long journeys, and the Hodyn, who had lost some of their horsemans.h.i.+p skills over the centuries, had probably made matters worse. So Soren grudgingly admitted defeat and sought about for an early campsite.
Fortunately Tellahur showed no sign of strain or injury the next morning, and they resumed their journey in confidence. They made a wide sweep around the last peak on their left, and spent much of the day riding through the deep forestlands at its feet. Great russet clouds of towering oaks shut out the sky, and the air was so still they could hear acorns tapping and bouncing through the branches to vanish with a rustle into the carpet of leaves below. When Caleb spoke he almost startled himself with the intrusion his voice made upon the solitude.
”Are there many forests like this in Ada?”
”No,” Soren answered. ”Most woods in Ada have been heavily deforested over the years. Parts of Tratirene to the south have suffered as well, due to all the s.h.i.+pbuilding in Trethrealm. But there are no trees like the ones in Tnestiri.”
Caleb tilted his head back. ”Larger than these?”
”These are like children compared to them. It is said that deep within, the trees are so tall their crowns know rain five minutes before their roots.” He shrugged. ”An exaggeration, I suppose. I can't imagine any trees bigger than the ones I've seen at its edge.”
By the time the sun was in their eyes they came across a narrow road. Rutted and pockmarked by horse-drawn wagons, it angled in from the lake to meander through the low hills toward distant Enili. They halted for a few minutes in the shadows, but there was no one in sight, and Soren urged Tellahur onto the road.
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