Part 25 (1/2)

'My Captain is hungry, but he is kind, he will save some for you!'

'We are better off dead!' gasped Elionbel as she tried to

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keep pace with the Nightmare. 'Father is dead! Thane is dead!'

'No!' whispered Martbel. 'That hand he threw at you. It was not Thane's!'

Dawn streaked the sky and the Nightbeast had slowed down. Elionbel and Martbel moved closer. 'Whom did it belong to? Do you know?'

'Do not ask, child. Names are dangerous things to utter when Nightbeasts are near.'

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Nerds of Kr7vlshards

Dawnlight had spread the jewels of morning all along the Greenway's edge. Skylarks climbed into the early sky and sang of the new daylight. Thane slid quietly to the ground, easing his weight out of Stumble's saddle and thanked him for a great run against the darkness.

'You are as bold as a Warhorse, and as tireless as a greyhound,' he laughed, running his hand down the horse's sweat-soaked shoulder and he fell silent for a moment, remembering that the little relay horse had none of Esteron's fine breeding. 'Forgive me, I have ridden you too hard in my haste to reach Woodsedge before the Nightmare, Krulshards.'

Stumble snorted, his eyes full of fire, and arching his aching neck he lengthened his stride to keep pace with Thane.

'You have a great heart,' he laughed, 'just like your brother, Sprint. He knew nothing of defeat and ran tirelessly for Kyot.'

Thane was quiet again, hoping against hope that Kyot would find and understand the message he had left at Stumble Hill. He sighed gently, pulling at Stumble's ears as he took the reins over his head and led him forward through the gra.s.slands. Stumble's coa.r.s.e coat dried quickly in the fresh morning breeze and s.h.i.+mmered, reflecting the sun from the fine layer of salt he had sweated on their night gallop. The quiver of steel-tipped arrows, clipped on to the pommel of the saddle, rattled with each measured stride he took and the

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oiled wooden bow hanging next to it sang out a haunting music as the wind tugged at the fibres of the bowstring.

Thane listened to the bow.

'Follow me, Kyot, with new forged arrow-heads from Clatterford,' he whispered, wondering what and where was

Clatterford; he certainly had not pa.s.sed it on his way to Underfall.

Looking ahead he could see a faint smudge on the horizon's edge; a dark line that marked the eaves of the black forest. 'Elundium is a limitless place,' he muttered between panting breaths as the sun climbed across the sky, shrinking his hurrying shadow. Thane slowed to a walk and chose a solitary clump of trees for a short noonday rest. The Nightbeasts'

tracks would still be there to follow, blackened footprints burned into the Greenway, no matter how long he rested. Even the heat of the sun had not dispelled the foul odour of death that Krulshards had spilled on to the gra.s.s as he pa.s.sed through Elundium. And Tombel had been right in his counsel; he could not match the Nightbeast's pace no matter how hard he tried.