“Does that mean yes?”
The merahl studied him, its ears twitching. Endric didn't know what to make of it and didn't know how to take that response. Did that mean he should worry about groeliin or was this something else?
The merahl started forward, hackles raised.
For the first time since Endric had begun traveling with them, the creatures moved cautiously.
They snuck forward slowly, their massive paws barely making a sound along the rock. Both of the lead merahl swiveled their heads as they went, their noses drawing in the air, their ears constantly twitching.
Endric found himself mimicking them, sniffing the air, turning his head so he could listen, scanning for signs of movement. He saw nothing.
The merahl paused and lowered itself.
Endric crouched, crawling forward.
He found a ledge of rock, and from that saw a drop-off. Far below was a shallow valley. A stream ran through it. On one edge of the stream was a narrow bank of land. A cluster of men camped there, a flame having burned out. Endric’s breath caught, and he started forward, but both of the two lead merahl turned their heads and blocked him with their massive jaws.
The dark-eyed merahl flared a mouthful of fangs at him once more.
Something was amiss, but what?
The merahl seemed to know. That alone was enough to tell him he should move cautiously.
Endric studied the men below. He counted a little over a dozen men, all still resting soundly. Were they Denraen, there should be one or two on watch, but he saw none who appeared to be. Where would these men have come from?
He noted the dark streaks of paint along their faces and the leathers that declared them Antrilii. Had he come across a hunting party?
If that were the case, why were the merahl also hesitant to descend?
The merahl always seemed as if they willingly worked with the Antrilii, almost as if there was a bond between man and beast. This hesitancy left Endric curious, uncertain whether there was something going on that he might have missed.
He glanced behind him and saw the other two merahl shielding the cub with their bodies.
As he watched their behavior, he realized they were mother and father. The cub whined a quiet, soft sound that was deep in its throat. The hackles on its back stood tall, and he realized that the creature was more scared now than it had been when bound by the groeliin.
Endric crawled back and reached the merahl. He ignored the looks of the mother and father and reached between them, scratching at the cub's ears.
“It will be all right, little fella. I will make certain no harm comes to you.”
He looked up to the cub's parents and met their eyes. He had the sense that there was something almost disappointed buried there. Did they fear that he might betray the cub? Or were they angry that he was not truly Antrilii?
He heard the sound of movement down below the rocks, and Endric patted the merahl on the cub on the head and crept forward once more.
At the edge of the rock, he paused, lowering himself to his belly, looking down. The other two merahl remained motionless, blending into the rock, and made no sound. They continued to sniff the air, and the fur on the back of their necks remained standing.
Something unsettled them. Endric knew enough to let it trouble him as well. These were proud and vicious creatures, and he'd seen them jump willingly into battle, facing superior numbers of groeliin.
Now they would display a sense of fear? What would cause it?
The men began to awaken. They worked in an orderly fashion, quickly breaking camp. They buried the fire, and each of them replaced their packs into bags.
Endric was tempted to hail them and, had he come across them without the merahl accompanying him, he would have. Having the merahl gave him additional reason to pause.
Where would these Antrilii go? Were they returning to another of the Antrilii cities? Were they going to continue on a hunt, tracking groeliin? Or was there something else taking place, something that had the merahl unsettled? What did these massive cats know?
As they broke camp, they started away along the streambed.
Endric glanced at the two merahl that he laid between, waiting for them to do something. “I'm going to follow them.”
The dark-eyed merahl flared its teeth, and Endric shook his head. “I don't know what is bothering you about them, but I'll follow them, and I'll see what they plan to do.”
Endric would have felt better if the merahl had come with him, and didn't know if they would turn away, but as he crept along the ridgeline, the merahl remained with him, tracking beside him.
He moved in silence and was thankful for the dark laca fur cloak and breeches he had made. With the furs, he was better able to blend in, and he thought that he could almost pass as nothing more than another animal trailing along the ridge here.
The Antrilii were relatively quiet, at least from where he was. If they spoke, Endric couldn't hear them. They moved quickly and seemed to know where they were traveling. They were making their way west, heading quickly along the rocks.
Endric began to note that the two lead Antrilii in the rear kept their eyes focused on the ridgeline and he made certain to keep himself low. He might want to reach the Antrilii, but he wanted to know what he was going to encounter first. Why were they here if not for the hunt? And why were the merahl unsettled by them?
The merahl remained behind him, though they were down the slope a little bit now, almost intentionally keeping themselves out of view. When he shot the dark-eyed merahl a questioning glance, the creature growled at him. It was a soft rumble, one that was almost imagined.
By midday, the Antrilii paused. They stopped along the stream, drinking and taking a moment to pull meats and breads from their packs. Endric felt his stomach rumble, wishing for something better than squirrel or mouse or the insects that he had been forced to consume.
He leaned down and shimmied toward the rock so that he could get a better view.
As he did, he saw that these Antrilii had deep purple and blue striped paintings on their faces. Endric had seen those colors before, but which of the women of the Yahinv had he seen with them? He couldn't remember. Possibly Isabel.
That was even more reason to hesitate. She hadn’t cared for him and had seemed almost eager to send him into the mountains.
He began to formulate in his head what he might say were they to see him. How could he explain his presence, and his appearance, to Antrilii on a hunt? Would they take him at his word if he admitted that he had agreed to his father's penance? Would they attempt to return with him to one of the Antrilii villages? Endric wasn't certain that he could go with them if they did. If he went along with them, he worried that he would come back into contact with someone like Nessa, someone determined to quarter him were he to ignore the demands of the Yahinv.
No, in this way, it might be better for him to trail along behind the Antrilii, see where they were going and if he couldn't find some way to get to safety. If he came under attack from groeliin again, he might be able to use these Antrilii for help, but until then, he would remain hidden.
He could hear the voices carried on the hint of the breeze. They were faint and stoic. There was none of the jovial mood that he'd remembered from traveling with Dentoun and Nahrsin. He tried to pick up the conversation and caught snippets.
“How much longer are we going to keep at this?”
“You know what Isabel instructed.”
This came from the two men leading the procession along the stream. They spoke in hushed tones and sat apart from the others. Was there something they didn't want the others to hear? Endric’s vantage nearly above them gave him the opportunity to listen in. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known what they said.
At least he knew he had been right. This was Isabel’s tribe.
“The others aren't certain we’ll find the Chisln this way.”
“She was confident we would. She said the Yahinv saw the evidence. T
hat is why she has sent us here.”
“If the Chisln is here, then it’s a dangerous time for us to work independently.”
“Not independently. We’re working together, but must wait for the others, as she said.”
As he listened, Endric realized that they were hunters, but there was something taking place, some plot that involved the Antrilii, something that he suspected placed others of the Antrilii into danger.
“But the others—”
“It’s possible a sacrifice must be made, Alleyn. For us to unify the tribes, a sacrifice must be made.”
The other Antrilii, Alleyn, seemed to be troubled by that statement, and he fell silent.
Endric remained crouched where he was, trying to listen for more information, but there was nothing more that they said. The Antrilii continued their meal, eating in silence, before heading back out.
As they moved, Endric crept back, looking at the merahl. He focused primarily on the dark-eyed merahl, meeting the creature's gaze. “What are they plotting? What is it that has caused you to abandon these Antrilii?”
He wasn't certain whether his guess was right, but something told him that it was. The merahl no longer trusted these Antrilii, which told him that they likely had at one point, which meant they likely had traveled with them before.
What would they have done to have upset the merahl?
The dark-eyed cat watched him.
Endric let out a frustrated sigh. “I can't help you unless you share with me what happened. I can tell that something did. They were your tribe, weren't they?”
The merahl tipped his head. He flashed his fangs, and the fur on the back of his neck stood once more.
“This sacrifice they were talking of, what is it?” Endric asked.
The merahl growled softly.
Endric raised his hands. Whatever it was, it bothered the merahl.
“Can you show me? Can you help me see what it is that has troubled you?”
The smaller merahl with the streaks of black along its fur, the one that he suspected was a female, began to nudge him. Endric looked and realized that she was nudging him away from the ledge, away from the Antrilii.
With a dawning realization, he recognized she was sending him toward the south.
The message was clear: Away.
Endric shook his head. “I want to help. That is why I came.”
That wasn't entirely true. He had come because he thought he needed to know the Antrilii. He thought he needed to understand them. Now that he'd been here, now that he faced the groeliin, he thought he did understand the Antrilii, if only in a certain way. Their vows demanded that they face the groeliin. Those vows demanded that they become hard. Those vows required that they be cruel at times. With what they were forced to face, Endric couldn't blame them.
It was much the same with his father. Now that he had seen the way the Antrilii acted and seen what had driven them, he better understood his father. He was a hard man, and could be cruel, and had shown a willingness to do not only what might be easy but what might be necessary. His father took his vows as seriously as the Antrilii took theirs. Only, Dendril’s vows were to the Denraen.
Endric finally thought he understood why his father had reacted the way he had to Andril's death. He finally thought he understood why he had acted at the pace he had when it came to Urik. It wasn't a reluctance to fight, not the way Endric had thought. He was keeping focused on his purpose, on what he knew needed to happen. He remained focused on the ideals of the Denraen.
When had Endric ever had the same singular focus? Would he ever be able to maintain the same level of dedication his father had shown?
Somehow, he thought he would need to find a way.
Endric met the merahl’s gaze. “I need to help. If the Antrilii have abandoned their vows, if they are somehow making a sacrifice that would be dangerous to the rest of the Antrilii, I need to help. Show me. Take me to where they're going. Help me understand what they're doing.”
The smaller, black-streaked merahl looked at the dark-eyed merahl. She seemed to focus on him, waiting for him to choose what they would do.
The lead merahl howled softly. Endric thought he understood.
It was a summons to follow.
18
The merahl led him east, but with a southerly direction as well. As they went, Endric could tell that the Antrilii that they had found and followed remained nearby. After the days that he’d spent alone, there was a certain reassurance in having someone else near him. The merahl remained silent as they tracked east, barely making a sound on the stone and never once growling or even howling, not as they had before.
At about the midpoint of the day after leaving the Antrilii, one of the merahl bounded off, powerful legs carrying the red-furred creature up the slope of the mountain until it disappeared altogether. Endric paused to watch, as always impressed by the creature and its grace. The smaller merahl with dark stripes through its fur nudged him, pushing him forward.
They began moving south, and the sky parted, giving a hint of warmth from the sun, the clouds that had been present finally clearing. Despite the heavy bank of clouds that he’d seen since entering the mountains, no rain had ever come.
The air was colder here, but with his laca fur coat, Endric barely felt the bite of the wind, able to ignore the way it gusted between the peaks and could push away the harshness of this land.
After a while, the merahl that had disappeared returned, carrying a pair of hares in its jaw. It set one of them down in front of Endric and then backed away, leaving him.
“Thank you,” he said.
The merahl met his gaze, and he had the unsettling sensation that the creature could tell what he was thinking. Using the sword he’d taken from the Antrilii, he made quick work of skinning the hare. Then he collected a few branches for a small fire. While the hare roasted, he crouched, watching the merahl.
The cub made its way toward him and licked his hand. The cub’s tongue was rough, and it felt almost like the cub was peeling the flesh from his hand, but Endric didn’t pull his hand away. When it was finished, he scratched it under the chin and then moved to rub its ears. The cub watched him as he did, and Endric felt as if the creature could tell what he was thinking. Even in their youth, the merahl had a certain intelligence to them.
When the hare was done, Endric tore meat off it, chewing slowly and savoring the flavor. He tossed hunks to the cub, who caught them in the air with a sharp snap of his smaller jaws. The other four merahl all watched, and Endric wondered if they were going to share the remaining hare, or if they wanted to share with him. They waited almost expectantly, and he decided that he should throw them pieces of the meat. When the hare was gone, the red-furred merahl that had gone hunting pushed the other hare toward him.
“Do you want this one roasted as well?” Endric asked softly.
The merahl sniffed, a sound that Endric took as agreement.
He quickly skinned it and roasted it the way that he had the other. With a full stomach for the first time in days, he didn’t feel an urge to rush it and took his time. When finished, he tore off chunks of meat and handed them to the merahl.
“It would be better with salt, but I imagine you can’t find that for me out here,” he said, smiling. Sitting by a fire with his stomach full and the four merahl around him made him feel like he could almost stay here and could relax and could almost believe that he was on patrol with the Denraen.
The dark-eyed merahl sat up suddenly.
The fur on his back stood on end.
Endric unsheathed his sword and stood next to the merahl, surveying the land around him. “What is it? What do you detect?”
The merahl sniffed and started forward.
Endric went with him, but the merahl swung his head toward him and blocked him from continuing. “I can help,” he offered.
The smaller merahl, the one with the stripe of black, stalked forward, her hackles raised as well, and went with the other.
When Endric made like he might follow, they both turned back and flashed their fangs at him.
He let out a frustrated sigh. He could help the merahl, but they would have to let him.
He returned to the fire and decided that he should put it out, especially if there might be something here that had drawn the attention of the merahl.
With the fire extinguished, he kept the sword unsheathed and made a circuit of the small clearing, scanning all around him. The other two merahl sat motionlessly and seemed to be watching the rock around them. The cub patrolled differently, nipping at Endric’s heels, tagging along behind him. Every so often, Endric smiled and returned the cub to what he thought was its parents. Each time he did, the cub returned to him, once more nipping at his feet. After a while, Endric stopped trying to avoid the cub and allowed him to keep pace.
One of the remaining merahl—the larger of the two, with silver through his fur—loped off suddenly, leaving Endric with the cub and what he suspected was the female. Then she bounded off as well.
That left Endric alone with the cub.
“Where do you think they went?” he asked.
The cub nipped at his heel in answer.
Endric shook his head. Did he attempt to go after the merahl, or did he stay where he was, knowing that the merahl seemed interested in protecting him?
He heard a sound on the other side of the rock that answered for him.
Endric started toward it, and the cub followed him. “No. You should stay here,” he suggested.
The cub nipped at his hand.
“Fine. You can come with me, but I don’t know what we’re going to find.”
Endric climbed along the rock, and the cub followed him. Where had the other merahl gone? Why would they have run off and left him with the cub? Had they detected groeliin? If they had, wouldn’t they make some noise?
Maybe not. Not if it would draw the attention of the Antrilii, and not if there was some reason they didn’t want to draw the attention of the Antrilii.
He crouched lower, not wanting to be noticed, not until he knew what they were going to come across. As he did, the cub bit at his heel. Endric pulled the cub toward him and wrapped his arm around its neck. The cub tried to bite at his face, but he ignored it. Now wasn’t the time for playfulness. Now was a time for… he wasn’t entirely certain what it was time for. Caution. At least until he knew what they were dealing with.
Soldier Sworn (The Teralin Sword Book 3) Page 13