by H. M. Clarke
Dearen frowned.
‘What do you mean?’
Hauga’s face crinkled in thought as he tried to explain himself.
‘The man did not look like a warrior. He wore a uniform but he just looked…soft.’
‘Soft?’
‘That’s the best word I can think of for it.’
‘Kral says that he might mean that the man is more suited to the indoors than out campaigning,’ Trar’s voice interrupted. Trar was passing their conversations through to Tayme and then giving his response.
‘The last reports he had heard before leaving Foxtern were that some of the Arranian groups had Spellcrafters with them.’
‘Spellcrafters! You really think Hanton was right and that we may have a Spellcrafter with this lot?’
Dearen could not help the hint of fear that tinged her response. Only a few nights ago she had burned a Spellcrafter and his men to ash. She did not want to do that again.
‘It would explain how they could have captured Adhamh. Maybe this could be the one that had knocked you and Adhamh from the sky.’
Dearen ignored this from Tayme. She did not want to think about who she might be at this moment and did not need this distraction. She needed to be focused.
‘This might put a dampener on our plans. We need to come up with a way to combat the Spellcrafter.’
‘I could squish him from above,’ Trar piped in.
‘No you can’t. It’s dangerous,’ Dearen heard Tayme reply.
‘I’m quick. I could be on him before he could blink. You’ve seen me while hunting game, Kral.’
‘It’s an idea,’ Dearen cut in before Tayme and Trar could continue. She had the impression that an argument between these two might continue for some time.
‘If we could distract the Spellcrafter, then maybe Trar could take him unawares.’
‘There are only four of us. How would we distract a Spellcrafter?’ Hauga asked.
‘This is where we need to be a little creative,’ Dearen replied as she adjusted her crouch to relieve the pressure on her ankles.
She studied the camp from the cover of the surrounding underbrush. Most of the men were in their bedrolls sleeping. The only proper tent was the one Hauga saw in the center, though the opening was not facing in their direction so Dearen could not see any of the comings or goings. Though at this time of night, the only movement was from the sentries that Hauga had marked.
‘It would help if Lieutenant Peana were here with his men. Those extra swords may come in handy,’ Trar echoed Tayme’s comment and Dearen had to listen carefully as both voices sounded in her mind.
‘The extra swords may help, but would Peana direct his men as we want?’
Tayme/Trar paused a moment, then. ‘No. No, he wouldn’t. He might listen to us, but still, decide to act as he wished. He is on his own search which does not include finding Adhamh.’
At the mention of the Hatar’s name, Dearen felt the now familiar pull strengthen and found herself being drawn to the large, dark shape on the other side of the encampment. Thinking about it made her gaze travel to it and as Dearen watched, she could have sworn she saw movement.
Dearen tried to mentally reach out to the shape to see if this was the Hatar that Tayme and Trar were looking for, but she ran into some sort of barrier that stopped her mind threads from passing. She moved along the barrier’s perimeter and found that it completely surrounded the creature within, blocking it from mental contact with the outside world. She carefully withdrew her mind thread and thought again about the problem at hand.
‘The Hatar that is there is being blocked from communicating with anyone. It has a barrier build around him.’
‘Yes. I’ve been trying to contact Adhamh, but I can’t get through to him,’ Trar replied. ‘I saw him move so I don’t think he’s asleep.’
‘He is still chained in several places,’ Hauga said. ‘And they have his wings tied down against him with ropes so he can’t fly.’
‘I want to-‘
‘TRAR!’
Dearen heard Tayme shout across Trar’s outrage cutting it dead.
‘Trar, wait to do this properly so that we can all live. I would think Adhamh would like us all to be alive to see the sun rise in the morning.’
Trar gave no answer in reply but since Dearen saw no angry, red feathered creatures attack the camp the Hatar must have listened to her rider.
‘That means that we can’t expect help from the Hatar until we deal with the Spellcrafter,’ Dearen continued. She saw the movement of Hauga’s head nodding agreement in the darkness.
‘So we need to be able to come up with a distraction for the Spellcrafter, which will not have us captured or killed by the rest of the camp, so that Trar can take him out by surprise, and then go and Free Adhamh. Is that all? Is that it?’
‘Sounds about right,’ Hauga replied.
‘That’s the problem in a nutshell,’ Trar added.
Dearen frowned as she looked across the camp.
‘Maybe we can do this while freeing that Hatar at the same time.’
‘You really like to make life difficult don’t you,’ Hauga said snorting a little through his whiskers.
‘Once Trar is on the Spellcrafter, there will be little chance of us getting the Hatar free without the soldiers seeing us. If we can do it while they are distracted by the attack on the Spellcrafter, then we might have a chance of freeing him unhindered and then have another set of claws and teeth to hit them with.’
‘She has a point,’ Tayme said by way of Trar.
‘We are only four. If you spread us to thin we will be ineffectual,’ Hauga said.
‘And will be probably killed or captured,’ Trar added.
‘After that group vote of confidence,’ Dearen glanced at Hauga with a raised eyebrow showing her sarcasm. ‘I think we need to split into three groups. One to play distraction to the Spellcrafter, Trar to stay above, ready to pounce on the Spellcrafter and the third to go and free that Hatar from its chains.’
Dearen looked at Hauga again, more serious this time. ‘Hauga, since you can talk to Trar, I think you should be the main distraction for the Spellcrafter.’
‘I should be the distraction,’ Tayme cut in. ‘Trar is my partner.’
‘Tayme, one look at your face will tell these bareskins that you are a Hatar Kalar and that another Hatar’le’margarten is nearby.’
‘The cat has a poin,t Kral,’ Dearen heard Trar say.
‘He has a very good point,’ Dearen emphasized. ‘Which is why Hauga is going to distract them. He is much quicker and stronger than you Tayme and the mere sight of him will incite them more than you would.’
‘Thank you for the complement Dearen.’
‘You’re welcome Hauga.’
She looked again into the camp.
‘Trar can wait for Hauga’s signal above, and Tayme and myself can work on freeing the trapped Hatar, Adhamh. Are we agreed?’
Hauga and Trar immediately gave their agreement and after a long pause, Tayme did as well.
‘Very well, let us all get into position and then at my signal, we’ll make them wish they had never come into the Bhaligers.’
CHAPTER TWO
“I should be the one distracting the Spellcrafter,” Tayme muttered as both he and Kalena/Dearen crouched down in the underbrush not far from the roped and chained mass that was Adhamh.
“Shush Kral. What’s done is done. Focus on what you have to do now.” Kalena replied without even looking at him. Her gaze was focused on the Hatar and the bonds holding him.
Tayme’s eyes followed hers and as his gaze alighted on the dark form of Adhamh, he was truly shocked by what he saw.
Even in the darkness, Tayme could see that in the brief time Adhamh had been away, his condition had deteriorated. He looked flat and dull and in the reflected light of the camp site could be seen bare skin where the ropes and chains had rubbed away his feathers. Adhamh had his back to them so they could not see his face.
&n
bsp; The ropes and chains were secured with large, metal pegs that had been driven deep into the ground. The Hatar looked to be pressed hard to the ground under them. His wings were bound tightly to his body with a separate set of ropes.
“There seem to be no guards around the Hatar.” Kalena’s whisper broke through the outrage Tayme could feel building within him.
“They may be guarding his front. That would be the most dangerous part of him tied up like this,” he replied. His hand drifted to the hilt of his dagger and it was all Tayme could do to stop himself from sprinting out to tear the ropes and chains out of the ground to free Adhamh.
“Sounds like a plan.” Tayme leaned forward on his leg, redistributing his weight more comfortably.
“Once we have most of his pegs removed, I’ll call out to Hauga to make his move against the Spellcrafter. Then Trar can come down and deal with him. Hopefully, the Hatar can free himself enough before anyone in the camp notices.”
Tayme’s jaw tightened at the mention of Trar. He was not happy about being split from her, not partnered together.
“If the Spellcrafter has placed a block on Adhamh, he might not be able to do anything until Trar dispatches the Spellcrafter.”
“True, but at least the Hatar will be out of his bonds and will be able to act once Trar has done her job.”
“Okay Kal. We’d better get to it then.” Tayme then moved forward in a crouched run without waiting on a response from Kalena.
“Kral! Wait,” he heard her hiss but he kept moving. A moment later faint steps followed him.
When he arrived at the closest peg, he stopped and whispered as loud as he dared to Adhamh.
“Adhamh. It’s me, Kral. We’re here to rescue you. Get ready to move when you can.”
Adhamh did not move a muscle. Tayme hoped that the Hatar had heard him. He saw Kalena move to the peg at the opposite end of the row and watched as she drew her dagger to start working the first peg loose.
He looked down at the peg and saw that it was a fairly thick piece of metal that had been driven deep into the ground. Tayme drew his own dagger and began to use it to dig away the soil from the peg. Once he had cleared enough of the dirt away to expose a hand length of metal, he placed his dagger down and took a firm grip on the peg. He then used the strength in his arms and legs to pull.
The peg came up easily and Tayme laid it carefully aside so that he would not rattle the chain so much and alert any unwanted ears that they were there.
He picked up his dagger and then moved on to the next peg and slowly worked his way down the line towards Kalena. As he worked, he could hear the soft sounds of earth being moved coming from Kalena’s direction. The smell of freshly turned earth laid thick around him, and he felt lucky that the ground had been softened by the newly melted snow in these parts.
He pulled his last peg and saw Kalena pulling up the spike next to him. All the pegs along Adhamh’s left side except near his head were now freed.
“That’s the best we can do without being seen,” Kalena whispered to him. “I’ll tell Hauga that he needs to make his diversion now. Trar tells me that she is ready above.”
Tayme nodded to her as he slipped his dagger back into its sheath. He did not understand why Kalena could now hear Trar when before she couldn’t. Maybe it was some type of Dymarki magic. He will talk to Adhamh about it when this is all over with. And then another thought struck him.
“What do we two do once Hauga and Trar attack?”
He saw Kalena smile back at him in the semi darkness. “We make sure your Hatar can look after himself, and then we move as best we can to help Hauga.” She then fell silent.
A moment later Kalena whispered. “Okay, he’s going to start. We’d better get ready to move.”
Tayme drew his sword and followed Kalena around Adhamh’s side where it faced the trees and they settled to watch the happenings in the camp from the cover of Adhamh’s shoulder.
CHAPTER THREE
Everything was as it was when Dearen and the others first peered out onto the Arranian camp. The snoring of sleeping men could be heard over the crackling of the campfires. The only tent was the central command tent and, apart from the sentries, the rest of the men slept in their bedrolls in ordered circles radiating out from the central tent and the main campfire.
Dearen watched and waited for Hauga to make his first move. Tayme crouched beside her with his sword drawn, using the black feathered shoulder of the Hatar for cover.
“GROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAWWW….”
The roar resonated around the clearing and nearly made Dearen jump in surprise. Next to her Tayme did start in fright nearly jumping out from behind Adhamh, but she put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
The camp abruptly came to life as soldiers sprung up from their bedrolls like thirsty sunflowers after a drenching downpour. But what caught Dearen’s attention the most was the ripple of movement as the Spell caught Hatar reacted to the sound of Hauga’s Challenge Cry.
The movement wasn’t much, but it looked like the Hatar was finally waking up. Tayme, with his hand leaning against the feathers, felt the movement too.
“Adhamh! Can you hear me? It’s Kral.”
This was no time to worry about the Hatar now. Dearen looked back into the camp. Noise and hubbub were everywhere and the camp swarmed in the direction Hauga’s roar had come from.
All the camp except two men.
Dearen elbowed Tayme to grab his attention as two soldiers came running up to Adhamh and stopped a respectful distance beyond the snapping range of the Hatar’s jaws. Luckily, from their position, they could not see the pulled pegs from the Hatar’s bonds.
“Kalena, what are we going to do?” Tayme hissed at her.
Dearen ignored the name for now, but the southerner was right. They will need to deal with these two. Best do it now.
Without replying to Tayme, Dearen rose and stepped out from behind the Hatar’s shoulder.
Instantly both men turned to look at her. Dearen slowly drew her sword and moved forward. On the edge of her vision, she saw Tayme scrambling to follow her. As soon as the two men caught sight of Tayme, they charged.
Dearen ran to meet them. Her sword clashed with the nearest guard, deflecting his blow away from her neck. She then batted the sword away two more times before her attacker swung it in the way she wanted.
Dearen caught the man’s blade against the hilt of her sword and used it to lever the weapon away as she slid her weapon down along the length of the blade to smash against the hilt. She then grabbed his sword hand with hers and, twisting her arm used the pommel of her sword to smash the man in the face.
He cried out and backed away from her. Blood streamed from his nose and lip, but the man was experienced enough not to take his attention off of her.
The sounds of shouting quickly followed by screams rose up from the camp and the ‘ting’ of clashing metal came from where she assumed Tayme and the other guard were fighting but Dearen did not let it distract her. She stood, sword slightly lowered and waited for this man to make his next move. Whoever moved first would die. And she was not going to move.
He stood watching her, letting the blood run freely from his nose and mouth. There was a good chance that the man’s nose was broken. He did not move. Her opponent was no fool then.
A snarl cut across the clearing and then everything went silent. Within the blink of an eye, black jaws closed around her opponent and flicked him up into the trees.
Dearen leapt backwards to the clearing edge as a rope with a metal hook came swinging past her. The rope was quickly followed by many others as the Hatar shook away the remaining bonds.
‘KALENA!’
Dearen heard the voice in her mind. It was deep, rich and strangely so very comforting. But she did not recognize it.
“Kal, are you alright?”
Tayme came running up to her around the form of the black Hatar who had now sat up on his haunches and was stretching his wings as far a
s he could in the space allowed.
Cries and screams still came from the camp and Dearen could see flashes of red as Trar dropped down and plucked her victims from the ground.
“I’m fine, but I think we should go and help Hauga and Trar deal with the rest of these Arranians.”
Tayme nodded and then turned to look up at the Hatar.
“Adhamh! You okay?” he shouted.
The Hatar turned its ice blue eyes down on the Human and then nodded its head in the affirmative.
“We’ve got to go and help Trar. And we have an Ice Tiger with us, so don’t eat him.”
Dearen could have sworn she saw the Hatar raise a feathered eyebrow before nodding again to Tayme.
‘Kalena, are you alright? Why do you not speak to me?’
Dearen heard the voice again and this time she replied.
‘I am not Kalena. My name is Dearen. I am Cearc of the Dymarki – the Ice Tigers. I do not know you.’
Tayme must have had an idea what was happening when both Dearen and Adhamh did not move.
“Adhamh. We’ll talk about this-,” Tayme gestured vaguely between himself, Dearen and the Hatar,”-later. We’ve got to help Trar.”
“And Hauga,” Dearen said.
“And Hauga.”
Dearen, not wanting to waste any more time turned and sprinted past both Tayme and the Hatar towards the far side of the camp where all the action was still happening.
‘Hauga, we’re coming,’ she mentally called out as she ran.
‘Trar and I have cleaned up most of them.’
Dearen heard him reply.
‘Except that some of them have run into the trees where I can’t get them,’ Trar added.
As Trar finished speaking, the hubbub at the edge of the clearing abruptly vanished. The man Hauga was fighting slumped to the ground and the Dymarki and the Hatar found that there was no one left to fight.
‘How many escaped into the trees?’
‘Two,’ Trar answered as she landed carefully in the clearing, arranging her feet daintily so that she did not disturb the many bodies that littered the grass.