Shadow of the Serpent

by Shannah Jay

  Alaran moved forward to join them without hesitation and then gestured in turn to Soo. Ivo was the last to seat himself in the circle. As his large callused hand reached out to clasp Herra's and complete the linkage, the air seemed to brighten around them. The fear crawled back from the wagons like a dark wave sliding off a shadowed shore.

  The trader's wife was still huddled in the back of her wagon as this happened. She lifted her head, her eyes puzzled, but they began to lose their look of terror and she sat up to stare outside. There was a rustling sound and very slowly her husband pulled himself over to the edge of the wagon and eased himself stiffly to the ground. She joined him, pressing herself closely against him. 'The children?' he asked in a faint breath of a voice.

  'In the other wagon.'

  He stared at the ring of men around them. 'Let's join the children. I won't let them fall into those blood-stained hands. I'd rather kill them myself.'

  With her supporting him, they moved across the short distance between the wagons, detouring to avoid the small circle of people. Everything seemed to be happening slowly, so very slowly.

  Not until the two traders had climbed into the second wagon with their children did Herra speak again.

  'Brother, we gather before you.' Her voice rang out more loudly than before, echoing among the trees like a bellbird's song. Echoing and re-echoing.

  The brightness around the small circle started increasing until it was a shining presence in the filtered green of the forest, a presence that owed nothing to the sun above them.

  Those of the Serpent looked uneasily at one another, but they had their orders from Sen-Sether himself and knew that death would be unutterably painful for any who disobeyed those orders. These people were not to be harmed in any way, whatever they did. They were to be contained, yes, but not harmed in any way until Sen-Sether himself arrived.

  As the brightness increased, one or two of the men took a step backwards, shivering as if an icy draft had blown around them. Those wearing the dark robes held their ground the longest, but after a time even they began to take one reluctant step after another backwards.

  Herra raised her voice in song, a delicate melody much loved in the temple, one which ordinary folk had sung as they went about their business in the days before the Serpent cast its shadow across the land. Davred joined in and then Ivo, in a deep sonorous voice, which threaded a bass harmony through the weaving of sound and light.

  The men under the trees could only watch and listen, and one or two at least found tears in their eyes as they remembered their youth and the Sisterhood ceremonies they’d enjoyed then, for they had enjoyed them, they remembered unexpectedly. It had been a pleasure to attend the meeting house and a rare delight to attend the temple ceremonies in the city.

  Herra led her friends from one well-loved melody to another. Alaran, who hadn’t had time to learn all the songs, listened with his head on one side and an expression of utter joy on his face. Although he didn’t know the words, after one hearing he would hum the melody with the others, then form his own harmonies. His voice was a pure tenor, a cascade of notes and trills that threaded through the songs like a silver thread embroidered in a richly coloured tapestry.

  It was a long time since Ivo had heard temple songs sung openly, and Soo had never been part of such a harmonious celebration. Like Alaran, she sang the tune, but without words, and sang in a gentle crooning voice. Not a great singer, Soo, but there was a place for everyone in these rich harmonies.

  Joy, sang the voices, and something augmented them, so that they rang and echoed through the forest.

  Love, sang the harmonies, love, love, love. Joy and love.

  Time flowed around the group like a slow river and still the music rang out, the voices never faltering in their soaring chorus.

  The men surrounding them continued to fidget and shuffle backwards. One suddenly fled away through the undergrowth. Even through her exaltation, Herra could see him dash away the tears from his eyes. A second man followed. And a third. But other men were coming through the forest to join the attackers, so the dark line didn’t falter for long.

  Herra brought the singing to a joyful conclusion. She let the rhythmic silence throb around them for many heartbeats more. 'Re-form the circle when I leave it, my friends,' she called softly as the last vibrations faded away. 'Together we are strong.'

  She cocked her head on one side to listen. 'He's here,' she murmured. 'The Dark One approaches.'

  Riding nerids' hoofs shredded the stillness of the forest. The lines of watchers came out of their abstraction and jerked to attention. But the brightness shone undimmed around the small circle between the wagons, and its glow sheltered the family huddling in Ivo's wagon, so that the children sighed into sleep as they nestled against their parents.

  Then, with a tearing and snapping of undergrowth, a group of white riding nerids galloped into view, beating the dust into clouds as they stopped dead at the line of men.

  Sen-Sether vaulted down from the first nerid, flinging the reins to the nearest man. His body was lithe and beautiful till you looked at the face above it, and then you knew what evil was. 'So, Elder Sister,' he said, walking to the very edge of that glow. 'I have you at last. Snared in my trap.' But even he didn’t try to enter the brightly lit zone.

  She stood up. 'You meet me at last,' she corrected, as gently as if she were speaking to a trembling novice.

  He smiled and gestured around him. 'You think to escape, then?'

  'Not yet. I think to speak with you, learn your measure, Avatar of Evil.'

  He stared at her. 'You call me that?'

  'Of course. It's what you are.'

  He gestured to the restless group around him to keep back and took a few steps forward. 'Well, then, and what have you become, Elder Sister of Tenebrak?'

  'I have become a focus, the whetstone that hones the knife which will one day excise your evil from the land.'

  He chuckled, though the sound had little mirth in it, rather triumph. 'I think not.' He raised his voice,

  'Initiates, to me!'

  Some of the black-clad figures moved to form a wedge behind him.

  In the circle sitting cross-legged on the floor, Davred felt his energy flowing out to the group around him.

  Such a small group to counter such a concentration of depravity. He thought of Katia. He thought of joy -

  and light - and the power of their Brother's goodness. And the bright energy continued to flow through him like soft silk sliding through his veins.

  Herra raised her arms and light coruscated along them, cascading around her in a nimbus of glory. 'Come and take me, then, Sen-Sether,' she cried, and her voice echoed as loudly as a temple gong, gaining in power as Davred and the others augmented it, and as something else joined them.

  For a moment the tableau was frozen, then several gigantic deleff trampled out of the wildwoods. They knocked aside the dark line of men and began to trumpet shrilly, beating at their enemies with the sounds of their own anguish. And the men of evil reeled away, hands to their ears, moaning from the pain.

  Only the wedge of dark-robed Initiates held firm.

  Herra concentrated her forces, but couldn’t shake that group, couldn’t move them back even one pace.

  Sen-Sether began to intone, 'Serpent, save your servants! Serpent, save your servants!' and the Initiates joined in, sending out a shell of darkness that stood upright against the wall of light.

  The deleff continued to trumpet and for a few more long moments the trial of darkness against light was waged like a miniature battle. Neither gave, not by one breath, not by one half pace.

  Herra it was who eventually looked across at the Avatar and admitted the truth. 'Not this time.'

  Sen-Sether inclined his head and the darkness rippled around him. 'No, not this time. But one day. One day, we shall triumph against you.'

  Herra stood her ground grimly. 'Only by killing us all. Every last one.'

  He smiled, a smile fro
m which darkness radiated, making an emptiness in the air around him, a blankness that yet promised unplumbed depths of evil behind it. 'That,' he said softly, 'will be a great pleasure for me.'

  Then he gestured to his wedge of dark-clad men and though they looked at him in amazement, they immediately obeyed his command to retreat.

  'One day,' he called back as he disappeared through the undergrowth. 'One day we shall meet for the final time, Elder Sister.'

  Four of the huge deleff that had come out of the forest to join their struggle moved into the harness of the wagons and began pulling them deep into the wildwoods. The other deleff moved into a rearguard position behind them, tails beating at the foliage. When Sen-Sether's verderers would have followed, they found it impossible to penetrate the strange twisting tangles the distorted their vision and warped their perceptions, impossible to walk through the wall of noise that deleff raised.

  'What happened?' Davred asked, as the glow around them lessened and Herra became herself again. 'What happened?'

  'The two powers met and tasted each other's strength,' she said, her eyes sombre and a shudder passing through her body.

  'But why did he just - move away?'

  'Because he knew he could do nothing against us at this time.'

  'Then how shall we find the boy?'

  She smiled. 'Our Brother will indicate the path. For the moment, let us move away and set these poor souls on a safe track through the world.' She indicated the second wagon, in which Hathlim, Miralla and their children sat pressed together, wide-eyes and fearful. 'Later, my Davred, we shall regroup and find another path to our goal.'

  After that, she sat remote and silent on the wagon, jolting along through the penumbra of the wildwoods, and the others knew somehow to leave her to herself.

  CHAPTER 20 THE FOREST TRAILS

  Katia sat on the driving bench of the wagon, enjoying the forest scents and sounds. Her eyes had been feasting on the coolness of the greenery for days, and she still couldn’t get enough of the sight. It seemed wrong that in the midst of these troubled times, when their every effort ought to be devoted to the Quest, she could be allowed a period of such deep and unalloyed enjoyment. They passed mainly through wildwoods terrain, but the occasional tract that had turned into forest spoke of the presence of settlements nearby.

  She wondered wistfully what Davred was doing at the moment and whether he was thinking of her. And Alaran, dearest Alaran, was he still a happy soul? She missed his joyful discoveries about the world they lived in, and the sense of fun that always radiated from him. Missed his singing, too. He had a beautiful voice.

  With the urgency of the Quest tugging at her, Katia ensured that they took to the road again soon after the battle to win back Jeddiak, leaving Dennil and Lellia to reorganise the town.

  Young Yeldo had recovered enough to get into mischief again. Jenna's second pregnancy was as secure as any pregnancy could be, and enough of the villages and settlements near Jeddiak had joined in the rebellion against the Serpent to cause a stalemate in fighting in the region, and some hope for the peace to continue.

  However, Dennil had ordered all men and women who were strong in body to learn the craft of fighting and had hired teachers from the Hashite Guild to show them how to defend themselves – only the Guild refused to charge them, saying it was everyone’s struggle now.

  After the town had been cleansed of the Serpent taint, and its people had recovered from the effects of the incense - a process as painful emotionally as physically - most of the deleff which had helped in the rescue left.

  Two of them had stayed behind, however, making it clear they were waiting for Erlic and his companions, and wanted to leave soon.

  Dennil had found them this wagon and the townsfolk had equipped it for them, in gratitude for all the help Katia, Quinna and Erlic had given them, though Katia believed they had been more catalysts than actual help, except for Quinna, who was a lusty fighter and a talented leader of others. She was beginning to work as a fighting team with Nim, and the two of them seemed to know instinctively what the other could be left to do. Quinna had never thought of herself as heroine material and grew embarrassed at the praise and thanks she received.

  The rebellion had all seemed to happen so naturally, with everything falling neatly into place, that Katia was sure their Brother had been guiding them. Or the deleff helping. Or both.

  And here they were, riding across the high reaches at the normal walking pace of a deleff. The sound of huge feet trampling forward punctuated the ride - K-thump, K-thump, K-thump. Quinna said it got on her nerves, but Katia found the rhythm very soothing, and sometimes hummed little tunes to it, the same tunes that traders and their children had sung for as long as anyone could remember.

  Quinna vaulted down from the back of the wagon and strode forward to walk beside it. 'Doesn't this cursed greenery ever end?'

  Katia smiled. 'We don't know. No one’s ever reached the end of it, though some have tried to explore the outer lands. They never got anywhere, though. They always wound up walking round in circles till they came back to the place from which they’d started. I wonder,' she stared ahead for a moment at the rippling muscles under the myriad tiny grey scales that gave the deleff an iridescent look, 'I wonder if the deleff caused them to do that.'

  Quinna was totally uninterested in such speculations. 'Well, all this greenery is driving me mad. You can't see far enough ahead to watch out for your own safety, and besides, it's as cold as a fishpond up here in the hills.' She was now wearing forest leathers supplied by Dennil. That had delayed them a day, while leathers were specially made for a woman of her size. She was wearing a nerid-fleece jerkin as well, but still complained regularly of the cold, as she’d never complained of anything before. Katia suspected Quinna was fretting for Benjan and the fuss was just to mask her feelings.

  'We don't need to keep watch for our own safety here,' Erlic interjected. 'The deleff would sense danger and warn me.'

  'Well, I don't like to rely on others. I like to do my own watching, thank you very much.' Quinna patted Nim's head absently as she spoke, for the great cliff cat seemed equally ill at ease in the lushness of the high reaches. 'And we're not even sure where we're going.'

  'Of course we are. We're heading westwards, towards the High Alder.' Katia almost hesitated to name it, for she couldn’t believe she’d be going home, seeing her grandfather again. 'Brother, let him be still alive!' she breathed quietly, then smiled at Quinna 'I'm sorry you don't like this terrain, but if we keep to the high reaches, it'll be easier to stay out of danger. There aren't any towns up here, just small settlements and the occasional village. It's towns that are the most dangerous places for us at the moment.'

  Even as she spoke, the deleff stopped, snorted and began tossing their heads up and down, staring ahead, slightly to the right of the track. Erlic was off the wagon in a flash. He ran round to the front of the team and laid his hands on M'Sheniss's great head.

  'There are people living ahead.' Erlic frowned in concentration. 'Not dangerous, but wary of strangers.'

  They hadn’t encountered anyone for two days.

  'They must be founding a new settlement,' said Katia, her face still tranquil and happy. 'There have always been a few settlements in the high reaches beyond Dyandra and Nulandra, groups of people who wanted to live differently from others. When we went into our scatter and flee routine, some of our people were going to travel beyond the mountains if they could, to avoid the Serpent. Herra told me about it. She said Sisters would be among them.' She suppressed a sigh. She’d have loved to meet another Sister, to hold a proper Gathering, to feel the joy and certainty of that communion filling her once again.

  'Well, personally I think we should avoid people and settlements,' Quinna picked up a fallen piece of branch and began swishing at the nearest clump of foliage with it. 'People will only be wanting you to stop and heal them. In fact, we should avoid everything that slows us down. The sooner we get out of these fores
ts the happier I'll be.'

  The deleff began to swing their heads to and fro, ruffs raised and M'Sheniss nudged Erlic until he laid his hands on the rough grey skin again.

  'This track passes near the new settlement,' Erlic said, speaking slowly, as if the communication with the deleff didn’t come easily, even to him. 'And there's only one track suitable for wagons in this region, anyway.

  That's why we've passed through so many stretches of wildwoods. This part of the world is,' he frowned as he tried to find a word, 'newly open.' He stared across at his mother. 'I don't understand what they mean by that, and they won't explain.'

  'There are more mysteries and secrets in the Twelve Claims than a plain woman like me can cope with,'

  Quinna grumbled. 'Why can't folk just get on with their lives without all this hiding and twisting around?'

  Nim caught her mood and growled, which distracted Quinna. She put an arm round the cliff cat's neck, which was just below her shoulder, and gave it an affectionate hug which quickly turned into a mock wrestling match. More and more, Nim was staying with Quinna, transferring her early allegiance from Katia, who had rescued her as an injured kit, to the swordswoman who always had time to play, and play roughly, too, as Nim preferred. The two of them had started hunting together now and made a good team.

  'So we must pass near this settlement, then.' Erlic swung himself up on the wagon, this time choosing to sit next to his mother on the driving bench. As soon as he was in place the deleff started trampling forward again. Quinna fell into place behind the wagon, still grumbling under her breath and occasionally patting Nim's head.

  Erlic tensed as the deleff slowed down and began tossing their heads. 'Someone's coming along the track.'

  Quinna disappeared into the forest edge with Nim behind her, both of them now accustomed enough to the terrain to move almost noiselessly. People could say what they liked about deleff knowing if there was trouble, but Quinna liked to take care of herself, and she'd grown up knowing better than to sit there in the open waiting for an unknown person to trap her. She wasn't going to change her ways now, whatever anyone said.