Withdrawing from the top of the hill, she then hurried down to Den and Alara. Nithia and Ray were still behind them.
She shook her head as she approached them.
"What is it?" Den asked, glancing beyond her to the ridge before looking at her again.
Tara stopped in front of Den and Alara. "We can't go that way."
"Why?" Alara said. "What did you see?"
Ray stepped up from behind Alara. "Did you find a town?" He looked eager to go to the top of the hill and look.
Nithia came forward too, taking a place beside Ray. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he looked up at her.
"No," Tara said to Ray before turning back to Den. "Dark Riders."
"Damn." Den took a couple of steps, getting a little in front of Ray, and faced the group. "She's right. We should find another way."
Alara tapped the base of her non-magical staff on the ground a couple of times. "How many?"
"They have weapons," Tara said. "And the beasts. Four of them."
"Were they close?" Nithia sounded alarmed. "Were they coming this way?"
"A quarter mile away." Tara looked back to the top of the hill. "I...I'm not sure which way they were heading." She turned to the group again. "But I'm sure they didn't see me."
Ray took a step toward the hilltop. "So, there's a road?"
"No." Tara shook her head. "They were in a forest. I saw them come out. I didn't see a road or a trail, or anything like that. Although, I couldn't see into the forest. It's large and thick. There could be a path in there."
She hadn't thought of that before, but she now realized there was a good chance the forest did indeed have a path. She hadn't seen one anywhere across the expansive plains that covered the rest of her panoramic view.
"What are you thinking?" Alara asked Den.
Tara saw the look on his face. He seemed to be considering a bad option.
"Four of them, Den," Tara said. "Those beasts are enough to kill us, without our weapons."
"I know." Den took a couple of steps toward the top of the hill. "But if they're down there, they had to come from somewhere. This may be our best chance to find our way. We don't even know where our boat wrecked. If we run off in another direction, we'll be giving up our best chance to find real shelter and food...and supplies."
"He's right," Alara said. "Is there a way to get down to where you saw them without being seen?"
Tara thought about the terrain and how far down and beyond the hill the forest was positioned. After a moment, she shook her head. "They'll definitely see us. There's nothing all the way down the hill but grass and patches of barren ground. Same thing to either side of the forest as far as I could see."
"Ray, what are you doing?" Nithia sounded alarmed.
Tara realized Ray had moved away from the group. She feared he must be going to the top of the hill where the Dark Riders would see him. She turned around to look, intending to rush to him and stop him before he gave their position away, but he wasn't there.
"Ray, stop!" Nithia yelled.
"What the hell?" Den said.
Tara turned to witness Den, Nithia, and Alara hustling toward Ray, who was kneeling down beside a heap of long dried grasses. It was a couple of feet high and nearly ten feet in diameter. He stood on the pile and had one hand extended over the center of it. Smoke was rising from the mound of brush.
As Tara moved closer, she got a better view. It wasn't just smoke coming out from the pile of grasses and brush. Flames rose from the center, and a little from the side. Before any of them could reach Ray, he stepped back. The entire pile burst into flames.
Ray had moved away from the fire, but Den grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back more.
Everyone was standing beside Ray by the time Tara reached them.
"The fire," she said. "They'll see it."
Den nodded. "It's too big now to put it out."
Tara watched the smoke as it rose to feed a growing plume.
"We should get out of here as soon as possible." Nithia said. She looked at Tara. "How close were they? How long before they get up here?"
"Hold on." Tara ran to the top of the hill and peeked over it. A moment later, she came back to the group. "They're coming. Fast."
Alara knelt beside ray. "Why did you do that?"
"How did you do that?" Den asked.
Ray shrugged. "I didn't mean for it to catch fire. I was just messing around."
"Do we go back the way we came?" Tara asked, looking to the expanse they'd crossed to get to the hills.
"No," Den said. "They'll just see us and run us down. You said they're on those beasts. There's no way we'll outrun them."
"And we'd just have to fight while exhausted," Alara said.
Den pointed past Tara, to the next hill. "We're going to get over there, around the side of that hill. It'll hide us as they come up here." Den looked at Ray. "He's actually solved our problem."
Alara stood and touched her hand to Ray's back. "Come on. We need to go now."
Ray looked back at the fire before following Alara's lead. Nithia jogged to stay with them.
Den came up to Tara. "Did you see how he did that?"
"No. You were closer than I was. He must have a flint piece."
"Yeah. I guess so. We need to get out of here. Think we can make it down to the forest without them seeing us, once they're up here?"
"I don't know, Den. It's a long way on foot."
"Let's hope they look around up here more after they check out the fire."
Tara nodded. "I hope this works."
"Me too."
Tara and Den moved together, running to catch up with their companions, who had crossed the breadth of the hill they'd been on and were now moving behind the next one. The two natural formations overlapped, leaving no gap between them for the Dark Riders to see the five of them hurry past.
Maybe this will work.
Tara glanced at Den, looking for some confidence in his face. He appeared focused, not scared. She wanted to stay the same, but she couldn't get the image of the Dark Riders out of her mind.
They made it to the far side of the second hill before any of the Dark Riders came over the ridge. Both of them had to slow down. There was a small opening between the hill they'd just run behind and the next one, which was much taller. The opening was due to adjacent cliff faces, one on each hill. The path was narrow, but would keep them hidden as they made their way through to get closer to the forest where Tara had seen the Dark Riders emerge minutes earlier.
Tara, barely entering the passageway ahead of Den, could go no farther for the moment. Alara was now directly in front of her and moving slowly. Tara saw that the passage narrowed ahead. In front of Alara, Nithia had turned sideways to ease her way between the rock faces on either side. Tara assumed Ray was in the lead, though she couldn't see him.
"Come on," Den said quietly behind Tara.
She could tell by the fact that he murmured it that he wasn't really speaking to her or anyone but himself. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed he was half outside the cover provided by the crevice. She stepped forward, pressing herself against Alara's back. "Den, get in here. They'll see you."
Alara, without looking back at Tara, said, "Going as fast as we can. It's a tight squeeze. But I can see that it goes all the way to the other side of the hills."
"Den," Tara said again. "Get in here."
Looking forward now, trying to see to the other side of the crevice, she felt Den's chest touch her back and more of him press against her rear.
"I'm trying," he said. "But I can't get in."
Tara almost laughed. Feeling him against her backside caused her to take his words differently than he meant. But the gravity of the situation quickly dominated her mind again. She worried the Dark Riders would come over the hill, see the fire abandoned, and then look around and discover Den—and thus the rest of them.
They'll kill us if we can't get through here.
"She'
s through," Alara said of Nithia, then moved forward into the tightest section of the crevice herself.
Tara stayed with her, relieved to make space for Den to hide himself too.
"There!" The voice was distant, coming from behind Tara.
Her chest froze up at hearing the Dark Rider. "No. They're coming."
She was about to look behind her to Den, but Alara made it through the tight section and Tara knew she had to do the same fast. Getting to the other side was their best and only hope of escape now. She knew she could waste no time. Turning her right side toward the more narrow opening, she shimmied through it quickly.
"Hurry, Den," she said as she exited the tight section and moved to catch up with Alara and the others.
A moment later, she glanced back to make sure Den was with her, but he wasn't. "Den!"
She stopped, then took a few steps back toward the narrow portion of the crevice. "What's wrong?"
Den was still at the other side of the tight squeeze. He had his left arm and shoulder toward her. "It's..." He exhaled and seemed to be straining to push himself through. "It's too narrow. I can't make it."
"You have too!" Tara moved back into the tight opening and made her way to Den, taking his hand when she reached him. She pulled his arm toward her, trying to step backwards as she held him. But it didn't work. He was too large to fit. His muscled back and chest, which she so admired, were trapping him on the other side. His great strength, she realized, was the thing that was putting his life in danger.
She heard the mounts of the Dark Riders approaching the crevice from behind Den.
"Go," Den said to her. "Get to the forest with the others. Hide. It's your best hope of survival."
"I won't leave you!" she said, pulling harder on his arm.
He shook his head. "You must. They've only seen me. Get out of here. Run to the woods as fast as you can."
"No!" Tara's voice cracked. Her eye's began to tear. "You'll die!"
"They can't see you," Den said. "Please. Go now. If I can, I'll outrun them. Lead them away. Then I'll make it to the forest and find you."
He pulled his arm free from her grasp and took a step back. "Go."
Tara shook her head and tears streamed down her cheeks. "I love you, Den."
"I know." He smiled. "I love you too."
Before she could say or do anything else, he turned away from her and moved back out of the crevice completely.
Tara stood silent and in disbelief. She watched him run away from the other side of the crevice, heading in the opposite direction from the fire Ray had started. She tried to remember what the terrain looked like where Den was now running, but she couldn't picture it.
Hearing the Rider's beasts pound the ground with their massive paws, she backed away until she reached the opening at the other side of the two hills. There she stood, slightly to one side, using the rock of the hill to hide herself. She wanted to know how close the Dark Riders were in their chase of Den.
He's fast.
She wanted to believe he could outrun them, at least long enough to find a route that would bring him to safety. She knew what she was hoping wasn't sensible, but she refused to think otherwise.
A few seconds went by without the Dark Riders moving past the opening at the other side of the crevice and her hope that Den would escape grew.
Yes. Please let him be safe.
The sound of the black beasts running grew louder, echoing toward her through the passageway between the two hills.
No.
A mounted Dark Rider rode past the opening, giving chase to Den.
Tara withdrew farther, but leaned forward so she could still look around the edge of the opening to the crevice. A second later two more Dark Riders rode past the other end of the passageway, following the first man and beast.
She recalled seeing four of them. She knew she should run to the forest as Den had pleaded for her to do, to join the others, but she had to see the last rider. If he doesn't follow the others, she thought, Den will at least have a better chance.
She listened for the sound of the last creature running, but she couldn't hear it.
Thinking nothing for her own safety, instead curious why the fourth rider hadn't run past, she took a few steps back into the crevice. But the dark hairy leg of the last creature stepped into view at the far side of the passageway and Tara froze. The beast took another step and she saw the side of it and the Dark Rider that was on it. The rider had his back to the crevice. He appeared to be watching his companions.
Tara knew when the Dark Rider looked into the opening between the hills, as he was sure to do, he'd see her and she'd have no chance to run to the forest before he came over the hill and ran her down. Stepping as softly as she could, she backed out the few steps she needed to take to get out of the crevice, watching the rider as she did. As soon as she was clear of the two hills, she moved to one side, taking cover behind the hill. She'd seen the rider begin to turn his head toward the crevice as she stepped out of it, but as she stood quietly off to one side of the opening, she heard no footsteps of the beast, nor the rider.
For a second, she thought she'd wait and continue to listen, to see if the man approached. But she came to her senses and realized wasting any more time getting to the cover of the forest would be foolishness that could cost her life. It also hit her that the rider and beast wouldn't be able to get through, just as Den couldn't. Careful to move at an angle that kept her away from the opening between the hills, she took off toward the forest.
As she ran for the trees, she scanned the plains and glanced back at the hills behind her. Alara, Nithia, and Ray were nowhere in sight.
They must've made it to the woods.
She didn't see any of the Dark Riders either, but she didn't expect to see them. She knew at least three of them were chasing Den, and the fourth had no reason to double back to the forest with Den drawing their attention away from it.
As she raced toward the forest, she thought of Den, and whether he would make it to safety. The deep breaths she took to feed her body with air as she ran were broken by the unrestrained sobs from her concern for him. She felt tiny streams flow down over her cheeks and the forest ahead blurred.
I should have stayed with him.
She glanced behind her again. No one was following her, but part of her wished she'd seen all four of the Dark Riders coming after her.
Please run fast, Den.
Chapter 12
"You seem troubled, Faltimir," the acolyte said after lifting his gaze more to see the other green-hooded man standing in the doorway staring down at the black stone floor and shaking his head. His face resembled ash-covered bone in color, as did all the skin of all the Dark Lord's priests, most of their lives spent indoors, often in darker tunnels and caverns beneath the massive stone buildings of the Dark Lord's stronghold that could be seen by any foolish traveler with the fortitude and bad fortune to survive the mountainous trek there.
Faltimir, not the eldest in the priesthood, which would have allowed him to pass the duty on to someone else, held a position of greater responsibility than the young acolyte who addressed him. Faltimir, in that moment, wished he were either more senior or more junior. Unfortunately, he was neither. His experience and arcane skill had brought him the duty of monitoring the Dark Lord's realm through the pool of divination, a twenty-foot diameter hole in the natural stone cave beneath the room where he now stood. At one time, that was a duty he cherished, but not today.
He spent every day for the last year and a half peering into the dark gray vapors which hung in the air just above the thick black goo in the hole. Each day, after searching the ever-changing vapors for several minutes, he would drift into a trance and begin to see the secrets the swirling fog held for those trained as he had been. For the remainder of each day, once the trance had set in, Faltimir observed life across the land claimed by the Dark Lord—watching the activities in the towns, at the ports, and on the oft-traveled areas which connect
ed different parts of the realm. And on the occasions when a command for specific knowledge came down to him from the Dark Lord, Faltimir would coax the gray cloud to show him the people or targeted location with which the Dark Lord had particular concern.
But now, he stood in the doorway, having left his post over the divination pool, girding himself on his way to an audience with the Dark Lord himself, to tell him of the event he'd witnessed—an event he wished had happened instead during the divination watch of his counterpart, who would continue sleeping until the two traded places, as they did each night. He thought of another of his fellow diviners, who had once shared with the Dark Lord news of the sort he now bore for delivery. He had never seen the man again, and only later heard of the audience the man had with the Dark Lord, and why.
Perhaps I will not suffer his fate.
"Are you troubled?" the acolyte asked Faltimir. "What did you see?"
Faltimir turned to the priest-in-training and stared at him a moment before answering. "If you have a chance to choose the path of divination over some other path as you progress in your studies..." He took a deep breath and let it out. "Don't take it."
The acolyte appeared confused by Faltimir's reply and Faltimir understood why. Divination was considered one of the highest and most prestigious of the arcane arts, but he knew the acolyte had no idea how dangerous knowledge could be...especially when the information was something the Dark Lord never wanted to hear.
Faltimir left his advice unexplained and departed the room, heading down the long stone corridor toward the stairs which rose to the first of many more hallways he was to walk on his way to an audience with the Dark Lord. He counted each torch on the wall lighting his path, knowing he might not walk past them again. Divination had been what he dreamed of doing when he was an acolyte, but he never even saw the divination portal for the first twenty years of his priesthood. Divining for the last year and a half had been mostly enjoyable, or at least interesting, he thought. At least I got to see more of the realm than I ever would have if I had stayed in Mur.
Faltimir had been born to fishermen in one of the most southern coastal towns this side of the Sea of Ronak, but had never taken to the work of his father. At an early age, during a particularly harsh winter, his mother passed away from illness. After that, his father and he grew further apart, and eventually Faltimir ended up on his own when his father went to sea and never came back.
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