by H. M. Clarke
Noise from moving men coming from the camp was getting louder. Through the trees near the edge of the cliff, Dearen could now see the man who called the alarm. He was the first man they had sighted coming through the trees earlier that day and now he stood holding a loaded long hunting bow aimed in their direction.
‘Do you see him?’ Dearen asked.
‘Yes I do,’ Hauga responded.
‘He can only hit one of us. Do you want to split apart? Or do you want to bull rush him?’
‘Split. He’ll see me as the bigger threat, the man will track me. It will give you the chance to jump him.’
‘Agreed. We’ll go on your mark Hauga.’
The whole conversation lasted less than a heartbeat and the two never took their eyes from the archer before them.
“Intruders on the cliff. Intruders! Come quickly,” the man was now shouting. If they were going to do something, they had better do it before the men in that camp got up here to the cliff face.
‘Go!’
Hauga’s voice had barely finished in her head before she was off and running. She broke to her left and ran in a curve leading towards the archer. Just as Hauga predicted, the man’s bow followed Hauga’s large form through the trees to Dearen’s right. His attention was away from her and she took advantage of it.
When Dearen judged herself close enough, she jumped and landed hard on the man’s back. She heard the whoosh as the breath was knocked from his lungs and Dearen’s arm slammed down hard enough over his shoulder to snap the arrow that was drawn in the bow.
The now empty string on the bow shot forward and slapped the broken end of the arrow into his forearm.
Dearen locked her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and used her weight to throw the lanky body of the man to the earth. She was ready for the ground so did not get her breath knocked from her. The man, on the other hand, began clawing at her arm across his windpipe. She was holding it tight enough to stop him yelling out but not tight enough to choke him.
Dearen responded by tightening the grip of her legs around the man’s waist, causing him to squeak in pain.
“Lay still and you won’t get hurt. Do you understand?”
The man gave her a short nod and stopped his fighting, but kept his hands clutched to her arm, not ready to completely trust her word.
Hauga appeared out of the undergrowth and Dearen felt the man jolt with surprise. Dearen briefly tightened her arm as a warning not to move.
‘You got him.’
‘Obviously. Let’s bind him and hide in the trees while his friends search the brush below us.’
‘Gag him and hand him to me, I’ll carry him up into the trees.’
“Don’t move or make a sound,” she said before moving her arm. Dearen pulled one of her scarves from around her neck and tied it around the man’s mouth as a gag. She then released the rest of her grip and gave the man into Hauga’s custody. The Dymarki quickly picked him up, tucked him over his shoulder and leapt up into the branches of the tall trees around them.
Dearen scrambled up into the tree as the sound of searching men came close to them as they climbed up the cliff. She was not as nimble as Hauga but was just as silent as she pulled herself up to the branch beside him.
She plucked some leather cords from her belt pouch and quickly bound the man’s hands. Dearen noted the man’s wide, bulging eyes and the flushed face covered with sweat staring back at her. She watched as the eyes frowned and then focused on the tattoo on her left cheek. Whatever he saw calmed him down from his fright.
The noise of movement came from below and Hauga placed a warning hand on the man’s shoulder. Dearen placed a finger to her lips to emphasize Hauga’s warning.
She then peered down through the tree branches and saw flashes of men moving in and out of view, busy searching for their missing friend.
“Any sign of him?” Dearen heard someone call out.
“None,” and “No,” were the responses she heard given back. After a little more fevered activity the men moved away from their tree.
Dearen was about to let out a silent sigh of relief when a shout rang out from someone out of her field of vision.
“Lieutenant Peana. I’ve found something.”
Dearen then caught sight of some men moving through the opening in the tree branches heading in the direction of the shout.
“A broken arrow. The fletching is Hanton’s. No blood though.”
A man came back into Dearen’s view holding the end of a broken arrow in his hand.
“Everyone spread out and see if you can find any trace of what happened to him.”
“Yes Sir,” was echoed back to the man and the people mingling about him moved away heading out in all directions.
‘What are we going to do Hauga? Those men are moving along our escape route.’
‘We’ll have to wait until they tire of searching.’
‘What about our guest?’
‘He seems pretty content at the moment. He seems completely fascinated by you. His eyes haven’t moved off you since we’ve been up here.’
‘Perhaps he hasn’t seen a female in a while?’
‘I can’t say. But if he tries anything-‘
‘I know, you’ll deal with him.’
Dearen kept her eyes focused on the man below her. This was the well-dressed man she saw earlier in the day. The leader of the group.
‘The sky is beginning to darken. These Bareskins will stop their search soon and go back to camp.’
Dearen looked up through the sparse branches above them. They were very exposed to the sky here in the tree, and the soft blue of the daytime was slowly retreating, drawing the deep velvet dark of night across the sky.
‘Once they go, we’ll leave this man here and then go. They’ll find him in the morning when they come to continue their search.’
Dearen turned her gaze to the man standing below quietly waiting, the broken arrow clutched tightly in his hand.
A loud high pitched screech pierced the air around them. The sound punched deep into Dearen’s ears and she saw Hauga’s mobile ears flatten hard against his head.
She looked up above and saw something big and silent pass over them, blocking the sky momentarily from her vision. Dearen’s head whipped around as the loud crack of broken wood then cut through the woods and then heard something big moving in an area too constrained for it. Cries quickly came up from the men and the high pitched screech echoed up. This time it came from the direction of the trees and the shouting men.
‘What was that?’
Hauga’s ears were still flattened against his head and the fur all over his face and body was raised.
‘That was something that we don’t want to tangle with. That was a Hatar’le’margarten.’
‘The thing that brought the rocks down on us in the mountain pass?’
‘The same.’
‘Whiskers! That’s not good. Do you think it saw us?’
‘There’s a good chance it did. They have exceptional sight and smell.’
‘Whiskers! And we are trapped up here in this tree.’
Dearen looked at their prisoner who still did not look worried about his current predicament. In fact, he looked more happily excited than anything else.
The sounds of commotion below drew Dearen’s attention back to the ground and she watched as the leader was quickly surrounded by his men and in the slowly darkening gloom a newcomer dressed in black appeared and headed directly to the trunk of the tree.
‘Kalena, is that you?’
Dearen stilled in shock at the strange female voice that sounded in her head. For a moment she did not know what to do, but then her inner urge for action took over.
‘Who is this?’
‘It is you! Thank the One we found you Kalena. This is Trar. Kral is coming to you now.’
‘My name is Dearen, not Kalena. And if you do not let me and my brother leave in peace, we will harm the man we have with us.’<
br />
‘Your brother? Is that Videan with you?’
‘Videan? What? No!’
The conversation with Trar was confusing and a headache was now starting at the back of her head.
‘What’s wrong Dearen?’
Dearen held a hand up to Hauga for silence.
“You. Below. Let us leave in peace and we will return you man unharmed.”
The man in black suddenly looked up at her excitedly before throwing a hand up to silence the well-dressed leader.
“Kalena, is that you?”
Dearen closed her eyes and frowned. Not this again.
“My name is Dearen, not Kalena. What say you to my offer?”
The man seemed put out by her comment but quickly regained his composure.
“Of course you can come down. None here would harm you.”
“What about my brother? What about him?”
“Your brother?”
“Hauga. My brother and my protector.”
“Any friend of yours is welcome here Kalena.”
‘Dearen, no. You can’t trust them,’ Hauga said breaking Dearen’s request for silence.
‘There was that Kalena thing again. Maybe we can use this to our advantage somehow.’
‘I don’t like it.’
‘What else are we going to do?’
‘I still don’t like it.’
Dearen took the response as Hauga’s concern and not a flat out no.
‘At the first chance of escape, we’ll take it.’
Hauga did not reply and his ears remained flattened against his head.
‘Just remember, if they do try and double cross us, this power I have might come out and burn them all to a crisp.’
That comment brought an answering fang showing smirk on Hauga’s face.
Dearen turned her attention back to the group now gathered around the trunk of the tree.
“Back away from the trunk and we’ll come down.”
The men below slowly backed away from the tree trunk and Dearen gave Hauga a small nod before starting her descent from her tree branch. As she climbed down, she could hear the whispers of conversation flowing back and forth around her which felt familiar, like the feeling that brought them here. The voices were not like the Dymarki, so Dearen put up a stronger mental block to ignore them.
As soon as her feet hit the ground, her body tensed and she kept a wary eye on the men surrounding her. Especially the man in black who stood at the front of the men with the well-dressed leader.
A warning from Hauga and Dearen stepped forward as the body of their captive landed with a thud on the ground. Dearen kept her gaze focused on the man in black. He had a red mark spread across his face that caused a feeling of déjà vu in Dearen. She had the feeling that she had seen it before.
Dearen realized that Hauga had not yet come down.
“Get down here Hauga.”
‘Very well.’
She heard the creak of a branch and then felt Hauga’s presence appear silently behind her. The men surrounding them quickly stepped back with cries and exclamations.
Dearen saw the leader turn to the man in black. “That is an Ice Tiger! Kral Tayme, what is going on here?”
CHAPTER Eight
Now Found
The man, Kral Tayme, held up a hand for silence, keeping his eyes focused on Dearen. “If you have patience, all things will be revealed Lieutenant Peana.”
“So, what happens now?” Dearen asked the man called Kral Tayme.
“Kalena. It’s me. Kral.”
Dearen frowned. “I don’t know you. And my name is Dearen.”
Hauga moved forward and planted himself protectively next to Dearen. Gone was the fun-loving brother, now replaced with the serious bodyguard of the Cearc.
The soldiers around them immediately moved their hands to the hilts of their weapons.
“No. You are Kalena Tsarland. Wing Commander and paired with the Hatar’le’margarten Adhamhma’al’mearan. We have been out looking for you since you disappeared.”
Dearen’s frown deepened but said nothing in return. Asnar had mentioned nothing about this possibility.
The man took a step forward, encouraged by Dearen’s lack of response.
“Your best friend, Adhamh, has been taken by the Arranians. We are tracking them north and hope to catch up to them soon. It will be a nice surprise for Adhamh to see you with us when we rescue him.”
Dearen and Hauga glanced at each other at the mention of Adhamh moving north.
‘Maybe that is why you are being drawn to the north?’ Hauga said.
‘Maybe. It depends on when he was taken.’ Dearen turned back to Tayme.
“When was this Adhamh taken by the Arranians?”
“A day or so ago.”
‘It matches up then. Maybe it is this Adhamh calling for you,’ Hauga said.
‘But why doesn’t he just speak to me like you do?’
‘Just like sound, our mind voices cannot be heard over long distances Dearen.’
‘Yeah, I know. But I thought Hatar’le’margarten were these ‘all powerful’ mind mages’.’
‘They might not be as powerful as they once were Dearen.’
‘That is true. They might not be,’ she agreed. ‘But, if they are going in the same direction as us, maybe we can travel with them a little.’
‘Dearen, they will not travel freely with me. Look at them. They are itching to run their blades through me.’
‘But they have given their word that they wouldn’t.’
‘Would you trust the word of strangers after what we have witnessed of Bareskins so far?’
‘But these are southern Bareskins. Not Arranians. We’ll take a chance. What other choice do we have?’
‘None. But remember that this chance you are taking involves me keeping my life.’
Dearen gave Hauga a nod. Their conversation had lasted no more than the blink of an eye and the man, Kral Tayme, was waiting for her reply.
“I have your word, and the word of everyone here that Hauga will not be harmed?”
“He will not be harmed-” The officer, Peana, cut off Tayme’s reply by grabbing him roughly on the shoulder and spinning him around. After a hurried but heated conversation, the officer reluctantly nodded his agreement. Tayme turned back to Dearen.
“He will not be harmed as long as he shows no aggression towards us.”
“Hauga will only attack if you threaten him or me.” Dearen looked at Hauga who gave her a brief nod. “Very well. We will surrender to you and entrust our lives into your care.”
Dearen drew her sword and handed it hilt first to Tayme.
“Don’t be silly Kalena. You can keep your weapons. Your friend on the other hand…”
Dearen looked at Hauga quizzically. “As you can see, he does not carry any hand weapons.”
Tayme gave Hauga a quick look up and down before letting his gaze linger on the Dymarki’s big hands tipped with razor-sharp claws. The sharp fangs did not help Hauga’s case either.
“He does have his natural weapons and those he will very definitely not be giving up.”
“So I see,” Tayme replied. “Very well. Agreement accepted.” Tayme spat on the palm of his hand and then held it out towards Dearen.
Dearen looked at the hand and then up at Hauga.
‘What am I supposed to do with that?’
The Dymarki shrugged.
‘I don’t know. Maybe he wants you to spit on it as well.’
Dearen was drawing her breath to do just as Hauga said when the man must have realized her confusion.
“Here, you need to shake my hand to make the deal binding.”
Dearen felt a stir of revulsion in the pit of her stomach, but she swallowed it down before spitting into the palm of her right hand and clasping it firmly to Tayme’s.
“Deal is made.”
“Excellent. Now we can release Hanton from those bindings and get back to camp so we can all eat what is now pro
bably burnt in those camp pots.”
CHAPTER Nine
Food And Sleep
Dearen spent the night curled up next to Hauga. The comfort of his warm fur allowed her to go over the events of the day in her mind. They were surrounded by these unknown Bareskins and at the far end of the riverbank slept the red Hatar’le’margarten that had flown over them earlier.
Kral Tayme was the name of the man in black and he was the rider of the red Hatar who she learned was called Trar. He had spent a large portion of the evening talking to her about this Kalena person. Hauga sat quietly next to her, keeping an eye on all the men about them. The men about them returned the favor.
Lieutenant Peana, who was in charge of the men sat across from them listening and adding his own comments when needed. Apart from that, he did not say much else.
A lot of what Tayme spoke of just washed over her. And it was not his words that made Dearen begin to think that Tayme, maybe, was speaking the truth. Hauga noted that Tayme carried the same mark on his face that she did. It was then that she really looked at him and saw the black leaping ram tattoo on his face.
When she asked about it, Tayme said that it was the mark of a Flyer and that she was one too and that her Hatar partner had disappeared while looking for her.
Dearen did not know what to think of this information. Except that the mention of Adhamh’s name struck an answering chord with the feeling in her head.
That tattoo on Tayme’s face did more to convince her of Tayme’s tale than anything that he actually came out of his mouth.
She was relieved when eventually Tayme and Dalon Peana had taken their leave of her to go to sleep. At the far end of the camp, she could see the cold glint from the red Hatar’s eyes as she surveyed the camp.
They had no chance to leave the camp without the Hatar giving the alarm if they so decided. Dearen and Hauga found a space just outside of the ring of firelight and laid out their bedrolls.
Hauga and Dearen then fell into a restless sleep. Well, Dearen did at least. She knew that Hauga would most probably stay awake not really trusting the strange bareskins around them.
But during the night, Dearen decided what they would do. This Bareskin group’s goals coincided with her own. So she and Hauga will travel with them until they can get cleanly away from them. Or if they find this Hatar ‘Adhamh,’ she can find out if this feeling in her head actually was connected to him.