“We’re safe to shoot again from here. They don’t know where the arrows came from,” Nestor observed. Both archers had arrows in their hands and were taking a bead on the new animal. “The flesh must be too thick. We’ll stick to just the neck and eyes for this one; I’ll shoot at the eye and you shoot at the throat again,” he directed.
“And as soon as you shoot, put a hand on me and we’ll move,” Shaiss added.
Both bow strings snapped as the arrows were released, and then the small group began moving inside Shaiss’s bubble of invisibility. A few seconds later they were at the new site, and watching the scene below them. Each arrow had struck true, and the second animal was now down and thrashing. Armed soldiers had come running to the scene after hearing the shouts, but had come with swords, not bows, so despite the fingers indicating the point the Bondell archers had just vacated, there were no arrows flying upward just yet.
Two animals arrived simultaneously, bringing another load of supplies and three more soldiers. The handlers at the site started screaming at the animals to return to safety.
“You take the near one and I’ll take the far one,” Pollux an-nounced, and immediately released an arrow at his target. Nestor shot at his, then pulled another arrow from his quiver and shot it, as Pollux’s second arrow also went flying. Both paused for a second to look at their quarries. Pollux’s was thrashing, but Nestor’s second arrow had missed, and now he sent a third arrow that finished the job.
“Both of you grab hold,” Shaiss called. “We’re going to go back past our first spot and wait there for the next arrival.”
As they moved, archers began to arrive, and aim where they were directed by observers who had seen where the Bondell shots had appeared from thin air. Their arrows failed to hit the three moving targets hidden by Shaiss’s powers, and soon they sat safely in a new location.
For several minutes no new animals arrived, while the invaders brought more and more archers back to the site, which soon bristled with arrows pointed outward in all directions.
“It looks like a porcupine’s dream down there,” Shaiss said playfully.
“Why aren’t more animals arriving?” Nestor asked.
“We don’t know how many there are,” Pollux pointed out. “Maybe they only had four rotating in and out, and we’ve killed them all.”
“Or maybe they have more, but the folks at their home base don’t know why these haven’t returned,” Nestor asked.
“Look out,” Shaiss said and pointed. A makeshift ladder was being raised against the canyon wall. Just then another animal did appear at the landing pad.
“Shoot it now!” Shaiss urged. “Shoot fast and then we’ll move in a hurry.”
Both archers shot their first arrows. “Let’s move,” Shaiss said. He started to move forward, and as he did, he saw a swarm of arrows flying towards their location. Pollux placed a hand on him and followed him, but Nestor, seeing the animal not yet mortally wounded stayed to shoot one more arrow.
Shaiss didn’t realize that Nestor was still at their original site, and moved quickly to try to avoid the rain of arrows that were approaching. As he moved, his invisibility left Nestor exposed, and a great shout went up while more arrows began flying in frustration towards the first visible target the invaders had to focus on.
Nestor screamed, as Pollux and Shaiss put a bare yard of safety between themselves and the arrows that arrived. They kept moving for several more seconds, then stopped and looked around. The fifth animal was dead, thanks to Nestor’s last arrow, but he had paid for his success, as his body pay motionless, several arrows, protruding from him. Up ahead, men were starting to climb up the wooden ladder, promising more trouble for the men from Bondell and Goldenfields.
“Let’s get behind that rock ledge,” Shaiss suggested. “I can focus light to burn their ladder, but I’ll have to let us be visible to do it,” he explained his inability to do two functions at once. “That will buy us a little time to see if any more animals arrive, but after that we’ll have to give it up and head back.”
Pollux didn’t completely comprehend what Shaiss had in mind for the ladder, but trusted him. After seeing Nestor’s death, he fatalistically believed that his own life might also shortly come to an end, and he hoped to also kill one more animal at least before then. He patted Shaiss on the back in agreement, and they moved forward to their original location behind a ledge of stones.
“Lay down,” Shaiss instructed Pollux to stay hidden from view by the valley floor. He stretched himself out, pointed his finger at the base of the ladder that several men were now climbing, and refocused his use of his energy to develop the deadly beam he had used as a weapon against the lacertii several weeks ago. The beam jumped off his finger tips, so brilliant that Pollux turned his eyes away from it, too late to avoid momentary blindness.
All eyes in the canyon were drawn to the beam of light as it gave away the location of the hidden men who were killing the precious transport animals. But the light was so unusual, so unlike anything the invaders had ever seen before that no one thought to begin flinging arrows immediately into the sky towards its source. The ladder that received the light beam burst into flames as Shaiss washed the beam up and down a large length of the wood until he was satisfied with his work and shut the beam down.
“Move back a little,” he urged Pollux, and both men pushed themselves further behind the stone ledge.
Seconds later, as the wooden ladder burned and soldiers began falling or jumping off it, a woman on the floor of the canyon raised her bow and aimed a shot at the spot where the light beam had come from. her arrow arced across the sky in a solitary flight, and struck the dirt where Shaiss had laid moments before, kicking dust up into his eyes as he swore. Other arrows quickly began to fly as well, and the two men listened to a steady hail of them strike their stony protection or bounce off the canyon wall behind them.
Shaiss waited for the arrows to stop flying and for his ingenaire abilities to be reinvigorated. “Can we move from here?” Pollux asked as an arrow that bounced off the wall above came down and grazed his temple on the rebound, causing blood to flow down his cheek.
“Let’s wait until there’s a pause in the archery, then we’ll move back to our last position by Nestor,” Shaiss suggested.
Two minutes later the arrows were no longer flying at them. “There’s an animal arriving!” Pollux exclaimed. He prepared an arrow. “Can you hide me?” has asked as he prepared to rise up and shoot.
“Just a moment,” Shaiss urged. He knew it was critical to kill the animal quickly; as soon as it appeared, handlers had begun screaming at it to leave. “Okay, shoot!” he said as he re-energized his powers to deflect the light from around them.
Pollux quickly rose to his knees and fired his arrow, then grabbed one off the ground next to him and fired it, then grabbed a third and fired it as well, as a new storm of arrows began to rise towards them. Pollux ducked back down and the sound of new arrow arrivals began to click and ping as their points were blunted against the stony protection Shaiss and Pollux relied on.
“As soon as this ends, we might as well leave,” Shaiss suggested. They’d been at their task for a long time now, and had successfully inflicted significant damage to the unusual supply train this invasion force relied on. “I’d like to take Nestor back with us, so we won’t be moving fast.”
There was another pause in the sound of the arriving arrows. Pollux nodded his agreement, and Shaiss led the way towards their escape. Moments later, they knelt by Nestor’s body. It was lifeless, as they had both suspected, but Pollux draped it over his shoulder, and then they began a slow pace of moving back along the game trail away from the frustrated invading army’s animal handlers.
The sun had passed the meridian by the time they were back within sight of their climbing rope. Rashrew, Imelda and Marina were waiting impatiently, and all called out when they first spotted movement on the trail below. They looked in dismay when they were able to see that Ne
stor was being carried back, and Marina gave a sob when his body was the first one they pulled up. Pollux rose up next, and Shaiss came last, then the two survivors quickly rehashed their adventure with the others.
“So you killed six of their animals all told?” Rashrew summarized as they moved along the trail back towards the top of the ridge.
“Yes,” Pollux agreed. “We don’t know how many they have available at the other end obviously, but they must have been worried about the lack of returns, because after the fourth kill, those last couple of animals were greatly delayed between each arrival, like they were hoping something would produce better results.”
“Any chance of going back to check on killing more?” Imelda asked.
“We can try,” Shaiss said reluctantly. “But if they’ve put more ladders up and occupied the trail, we won’t be able to force our way in to have a shot at their animals.”
“They’ll’ve put up the ladders,” Rashrew said abruptly.
“Probably,” Imelda agreed, “but we ought to find out.”
“We’ve already found out,” Rashrew told her. He pointed, “Look.”
A patrol of about a dozen soldiers were visible far down the trail.
Pollux put Nestor’s body down. “That trail’s too far below us to reach easily with arrows.”
“I can hit it,” Shaiss said. “I can probably set five of them afire with my energy.”
“Let them get closer, and lower me down the cliff on the rope, so I can get within range,” Pollux added.
Rashrew un-slung the rope draped over his shoulder, and he and Marina and Imelda began to lower the archer until he gave two sharp tugs on the rope. Looking down they saw him squatting on an isolated ledge above the trail. A minute later he tugged again, signaling that he thought the patrol was within his range, telling Shaiss to begin his lethal assault.
“Start with the ones on the back and work forward,” Rashrew suggested.
Shaiss took aim and unleashed his energy in that same tight beam that caused Imelda to shiver with fear every time she thought about how deadly it was. Shaiss hit the ground ten yards behind the last soldier, then began to sweep forward. All the faces on the trail looked upward at the appearance of the bright light. The furthest back man fell instantly, while a woman in front of him flailed at her head for seconds as Shaiss’s ray moved across her face and on to the next soldier ahead. Two more were rapidly hit, but the fifth one realized he needed to duck, and he fell to the ground rolling and only receiving a lancing burn across his legs. The intense drain on his energy was making Shaiss’s face turn white, but he attempted to keep it up, and hit a sixth man before the insubstantial weapon flickered and then went out, while Shaiss toppled to the ground unconscious.
The other members of the patrol had also ducked down, and waited until the death weapon was no longer aimed at them. Three of the untouched six survivors gathered around the wounded man while the other three spread out as lookouts.
Pollux waited until the small group tending the wounded man was busy, then began to let arrows fly towards them, hoping to judge the angle, the long downward fall, and the canyon breezes correctly. His first arrow overshot and continued to fly past the group to the canyon floor below, and he corrected as needed. His next arrow hit one of the patrol members, and as the others looked up, Pollux’s next arrow was released, and then another. One hit another soldier, and the third hit the wounded man, as the remaining soldier rolled away. Two of the lookouts shot arrows at Pollux’s location, but neither shaft made it to his perch.
Only four of the dozen in the patrol remained, and they swiftly began to retreat back along the trail. “Can we follow them?” Rashrew asked.
“There are just four of us, five if you think Shaiss will awaken,” Imelda answered. “By the time we get Pollux back up here and Shaiss awake, and backtrack far enough to find the switchback to descend to their trail, they’ll be far away, or reinforced.
“We’ve done what we came to do, hopefully, and disrupted their transport system. Let’s try to get back to our command group and organize the evacuation and retreat, if we can,” she concluded.
Rashrew looked at her for a moment, then looked down at Pollux. He looked back up at Imelda. “You’re right. Let’s head back.” He reached for the rope and gave three tugs as a signal to Pollux, then all three of them began slowly hauling the archer back up the cliffside.
As Pollux scrambled back atop the ridge, Imelda bent low over Shaiss and examined him closely. She gently patted his cheeks and checked his vital signs. He was alive, but she could only sense some-thing was wrong, without any sense of what it was. She rocked back and felt the wind whip around her as she sat and thought.
Alec had obviously been hurt by using too much power in the wrong way in Bondell. Perhaps Shaiss had likewise strained himself with too much effort to use his powers. She looked up at Rashrew. “I can’t wake him. He may be like Alec was in Bondell, when he used too much energy, or back at the lacertii battleground. Alec laid and rested for days.” She paused as she thought of Alec for the first time in a long time.
“We can’t wait up here for days,” Rashrew answered. “Can we move him?” he asked as he looked over at Nestor’s body.
“I’d prefer not to move him, but I understand we have no choice,” Imelda answered.
“Let’s build a cairn over Nestor so the scavengers don’t disturb him, and then we can carry Shaiss,” Pollux said, making Imelda grateful. She had considered the same thought, but hadn’t felt comfortable suggesting they abandon the body of the Bondell fighter while carrying the Goldenfields ingenaire instead.
They spend considerable time gathering large stones and piling them in a crude shelter around and over Nestor, then giving Marina time to recite the prayer of mourning.
“Right then,” Rashrew said after a silent interval. “Let’s get moving.” He bent to pick up Shaiss, and hoisted him over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” Shaiss asked groggily. “Put me down!”
Rashrew obliged him gently, and Imelda knelt over the light ingenaire to check his health. “How do you feel?” she asked, rubbing her fingertips on his temples to try to treat the headache she sensed. Her spirits lurched upward at his recovery; they’d been companions on the battlefield through many experiences now, and she appreciated Shaiss’s indomitable optimism, although his lack of true military discipline still aggravated her.
“I’ve got a splitting, oh it’s better now,” he responded. “Thank you. It’s almost gone.”
“That’s as much as I can do for you. Get up, and let’s get moving,” she told him, standing.
Shaiss followed her lead. “What happened and where are we going?” he asked as they started walking again.
“We’re heading back to our horses to get back to the village,” Imelda told him. “We’ve done all we can and now it’s time to organize and make the best of the situation.” With those words she understood that they had done a great deal, although it was probably not enough. They would face a very uneven battle ahead.
Chapter 12 – Reunion with Friends
Alec led Walnut across the river, to where the three riders sat on their horses watching him. Delle Locksfort sat furthest to the left as they faced him, wearing a grin on his face. In the center, Kinsey has a look of compassion and concern. And on the right a thundercloud sat on the face of Armilla. Alec would have expected nothing less if he had thought about it, and now he knew he would pay in double for having slipped away from his bodyguard once again.
Kinsey slipped off her horse first and ran into the river’s shallow edge, wrapping her arms around him fiercely in a hug that conveyed nothing but love for him and joy at seeing him alive. He returned the hug, closing his eyes and letting Kinsey’s affection fill him.
Suddenly another body was also present in the splashing water, with arms around both he and the Spirit ingenaire, and Alec opened his eyes to see that Delle had joined them. On the bank, gathering up the di
scarded reins of the others horses, Armilla was now watching the three of them. “Don’t think I’m coming out there getting my boots wet to give you love for running away again,” she rumbled.
“You’re going to break this bad habit before it kills you. If we have to seal the shackles around your ankles we will,” she threatened, but already, Alec could see the corner of her mouth beginning to rise in a smile.
He pulled away from the two in the river and walked forward to Armilla. “Now your boots don’t have to get wet,” he laughed, and he held out his arms to exchange a hug that made both their cheeks wet with tears.
“I am so glad to see all of you,” he said. “I had to do it, Armilla. John Mark told me this was the way to recover my powers. I know I ran away from a lot of responsibility, but finally I decided it meant more to me to be a healer than anything else.”
“Well,” Armilla said with a pause as the other two arrived, “we shouldn’t be standing around here when there’s a long ride ahead of us. “Do you know where you’re going?”
Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian Page 9