Part 18 (1/2)
”Now, soldier. And keep it quiet. If you clank things about and wake one of them, it's all over.”
”Right.” He dropped to his knees beside her.
Cogswhallop popped out from below the log. He was covered with mud. ”You'll have to get under it. The weakest link is where they attached the chain to the bolt, and they rolled the log so it's on the bottom.”
The knight wiggled beneath the log.
”What happens if someone looks this way and sees no guards, and him crawling around the chains?” she asked her lieutenant.
”Then we're cooked. That's why we wanted to do it late.”
There was a loud clank and they both winced, but the sleeping guards didn't stir. The knight swore.
”Here's your hiding charm, gen'ral. The soldier took a bit of a risk and stole it back.” He fastened it around her neck. ”We've all got one. Once we're away they'll not find us.”
”Why do you keep calling him soldier?”
”He thinks like one,” Cogswhallop told her. ”When he's put to it. And he doesn't make excuses, even whena””
A snap sounded and the knight slithered out. ”Wrap the chains around you, and try to keep them quiet,” he advised. Cogswhallop reached under the log and pulled out a drab servant's cloak, and the knight dropped it over Makenna's shoulders and arranged the hood to hide her face. ”It'll do.”
Makenna staggered stiffly to her feet, grateful for the helping hand that caught her elbow. ”You'd best use your cloak as well,” she said.
He looked down at his filthy armor, as he pulled his cloak around him. ”You said I should get some mud on my armor. Are you satisfied now?'
”It's a start,” she told him as they crept toward the line of sleeping guards.
The inevitable soft clanking kept her heart racing as they pa.s.sed the guards, but none of them stirred. Once they were out of the torchlit ring, she breathed easier. ”What next? Anyone looking this way will see I'm gone, and the alarm goes up.”
”That's why we're getting out of here fast.” The knight picked up his pace, striding rapidly through the darkness. ”And that means horses.” They were already saddled and waiting. He helped her mount and set Cogswhallop up behind her, tucking the goblin beneath her cloak. ”You're just a servant, so keep quiet,” he told her as they rode toward the camp's perimeter.
Makenna, who knew more about this kind of escapade than he ever would, nodded meekly, amus.e.m.e.nt warring with indignation. Both emotions died at the guard's challenge. ”Halt. Who pa.s.ses?”
There were two of thema”they looked bored and sleepy.
”Sir Tobin,” the knight replied. ”Leaving for the city.”
”In the middle of the night?” said the guard incredulously.
”Master Lazur's been interrogating the sorceress and he discovered something the Hierarch must learn immediately. Or so he says. I think it could have waited till morning.” He smiled. He did niceness much better than arrogance, she noted.
”Aye, well.” There was cheerful sympathy in the guard's face. ”We're all under orders. You'rea””
”She's escaped!” The cry was distant, but perfectly clear. ”Call out the guard! Close the perimeter!”
”By the saints!” The guards reached for their swords, but they looked at the darkness around them, not at the knight or her. ”Sorry, Sir Tobin, buta””
He got no further, for the knight's fist lashed out, knocking him down. The second guard spun, opening his mouth to shout, but Makenna kicked him in the face, and then kicked her horse till it galloped wildly down the road.
She concentrated on staying in the saddle, for she wasn't a skilled rider. When the knight spun his mount and abruptly left the track, her horse followed his and she almost fell. Only Cogswhallop's firm grip kept her aboard.
They rode in near silence for some time. She'd asked Cogswhallop about the number of casualties and the answer, though not as bad as she'd feared, left her with no desire to chat.
It was morning when they finally rode into a clearing filled with goblins, and the knight pulled his horse to a stop. They pressed around her, cheering, laughing, touching her, and it was several minutes before she was free to look about.
The shelters of brush and woven gra.s.s were all but invisible, unless you knew what to look for. But Makenna knew, and the sight of the desperate, shabby little camp, the bandages, the few treasures they'd managed to save, filled her with helpless fury. She had seen into the future, and it was full of sights like this one. ”What can I do?” she whispered. ”Ah, Bright Ones, what am I to do?”
”Ia”we've got an idea about that.” The knight looked dirty and weary, much more like himself.
”What do you mean?”
He didn't answer immediately but led her to a hollow at the far side of the clearing. She flinched when she saw the blood-stained bandages around Erebus' head, but he beamed at her with all his usual cheeriness, and the tightness in her gut eased.
”We've been talking a lot, the past day or two,” the knight told her.
”And mad meetings they were, with him having to run off to deal with those priests every five minutes,” Cogswhallop grumbled. A Maker brought him a hacksaw and some rags, and he tucked them between her wrist and the shackle and started to cut.
”Anyway, Jeriah said that you've been told about the barbarians . . .” the knight went on. ”So you know humankind is going to settle beyond the wall.” There was a long pause, broken only by the saw's rasp.
”We can't stop it, mistress. Not forever,” Erebus told her gently.
”Aye.” Bitter, bitter to admit it. ”But what else is there? You've said the barbarians killed off all the goblins in their lands. If we can't dwell there, and we can't dwell here ... We can't survive in the frozen wasteland of the far north, either. What's left for us but to go down fighting?”
”Well.” The knight looked oddly embarra.s.sed. ”There isa”at least I'm told there isa”the Otherworld.”
”The Otherworld? That's madness!”
”But people have gone there. St. Agna. Some priests ... and others. It is an actual place.”
”Aye, they go there, but they never come back! No one knows what becomes of them. Even if we could go, it's likely suicide!”
”It's suicide to stay here,” Cogswhallop put in calmly. The shackle fell from her wrist with a clank. ”It's just a long, slow suicide, instead of a short, fast one.”
”You're not in favor of this!” She had always relied on Cogswhallop's pragmatism. If he approved of a plan this mad . . .
He shrugged. ”I don't know, gen'ral. I haven't got a better idea. He”a”he nodded at Erebusa””loves the idea. 'A whole new world to discover!'”
Erebus flushed. ”It's easy to pull another's plans apart, but you haven't gota””
”I don't think you have any choice.” The knight interrupted quietly. ”Not in the long run. And the sooner you go, the more lives you'll save.”
”Oh, that's fine. There's just one flaw in this wonderful plan. We can't get into the Otherworld without the help of a lot of powerful priests, and somehow I don't think we're going to get it.”
”But you can cast magic,” said the knight.
”Don't you listen to anything I say? I'm naught but a common hedgewitch. I can cure the harvest sneezing or chase off mice. What you ask is as far beyond my power as the moon is beyond the treetops!”