Wink nearly bowled Joseph over as he broke from the underbrush. Then he was licking him all over. Joseph felt good enough to lick back. He settled for patting the dog’s head. He got to his feet. "Come on, boy" he said, “Take me home.”
***
Rawl, Paul, and Josie were seated at one end of the large table in the dining room of the settlement. They, along with Mara, had returned later than all the others from their work outside the walls and had found the dining area already abandoned. Mara sat most of the way down on the other side of the table.
Rundal Tillman and Vick Crane, two of the ship's soldiers, had come in shortly after them and sat in the far corner smoking. Occasionally, the room’s silence was broken by Rundal's coughing. The sound annoyed Rawl. What annoyed him more was the way Rundal watched Josie.
Why couldn't the fool do his smoking outside and find something else to gawk at?
Rawl got up and refilled his bowl and sat down on the opposite side of Josie from which he had been sitting, so that he was between her and Rundal. Feast your eyes, jackass.
"I don't understand what's taking them so long," Paul said.
"Maybe they found something," Rawl said, talking as much to Josie as to his brother.
"Or maybe something found them," Paul said, ripping a roll in half.
Josie gave a tense little start.
"Don't worry," Rawl said, "Dane's a sheepdog in human form. He'll find them and bring them back safe and sound." His voice felt stretched as he said the last words.
"If there's anything left to find," Paul said, popping his roll into his mouth.
Rawl aimed a kick at his brother's shin under the table. He placed his hand over Josie's and was more than a little surprised, and more than a little pleased, when she didn't pull away. "We'll find them," he said.
Rundal, coughing more obnoxiously than ever, got up and crossed to the door behind Josie. "That's sweet," he said, flicking the end of his pipe towards their hands. "Love on the battlefield. You're sure that's not what you were really looking for when you snuck onto our ship, girlie?"
Josie bit her lip. She pulled her hand out from under Rawl's and placed it under the table.
Rundal went out the door with a laugh, Crane behind him.
Rawl shoved himself to his feet and spun to follow them but Josie put her hand on his knee and gave him a terse smile.
He sat back down. There was a moment's silence. Josie leaned forward to look around Rawl and addressed Mara, "Why don't you join us down here?"
Rawl was not sure how he felt about this. It was not that he wanted to exclude Mara, but something about her made him uncomfortable. Earlier today, while they were inspecting the garden which stood in the meadow on the west side of the wall (it was in surprisingly good order, by the way) they had found a donkey, alive but trapped, its halter tangled in some thornbushes. It kicked at anyone who came near and Rawl cut his hands trying to pull the halter free.
Then, Mara, singing softly, walked slowly up to the beast. The donkey did a strange thing; the closer she got, the calmer it became, until she placed her hand on its fuzzy muzzle. She drew a knife and the donkey pulled back some with a bray, but she kept her hand where it was until the animal came back to rest its muzzle against her palm. She cut the halter and led the animal, not by the halter, but by walking in front and it following her, then walking beside her, through the gate and right back to the stable.
Rawl wasn't sure exactly why she made him uncomfortable, but the fact she charmed animals did not help. He guessed she knew things about people, maybe about him, that they hardly knew themselves. But she sat there, with her secret knowledge, so calm and quiet.
Mara picked up her bowl and came and sat down across from Josie. "Thank you," she said.
The girls exchanged a brief smile.
Paul cleared his throat and nodded towards Mara. "What do you think Dane will find out there?"
"Oh, will you shut up about that?" Josie said.
"Sorry," said Paul, leaning back and putting up his hands. “I’m just making conversation.”
Mara looked at Josie and gave the same small smile. "Tell me about your nieces," she said.
Josie gave a little laugh which sounded surprised and happy and a little nervous at the same time. "Nelly and Chloe. The orneriest little rascals you ever could ever meet. They can be so tired they can't keep their feet under them, but if you put them to bed they won't stay there until you give them butterfly kisses." She paused and looked up at Mara. "Do you know what those are?" she asked with the same little laugh.
Mara smiled, "Yes, we have those on my island, too."
The door burst open and Pratt Jennings burst in. "Rawl, Paul, where have you two been? I've been looking all over for you. It's your turn on watch and we need you at the gate."
Rawl rose with a sigh. Pratt, he imagined, could hardly have turned the page on his twenties, but he was already going gray and grumpy. He was habitually high-strung and this mission wasn't doing him any favors.
It was full dark and Rawl and Paul were on the wall when two men and a dog stepped out of the woods. They opened the door to Bailus and Tipper and Dioji.
"What took you so long?" Rawl asked.
"We were making good time coming back until we found some tracks," Bailus said. "We followed them until they disappeared."
"What kind of tracks?" asked Paul.
"The kind people make with their feet," Bailus said.
"Human? You found human tracks?" asked Rawl.
“Of course human tracks,” Bailus said. “You think we’d spend all afternoon running down rabbit trails?”
"We only found one set," said Tipper. "And they were small. Whoever he was, I think he was following us on our way out."
"But where's the rest of your squad?" Paul said.
Bailus seemed more annoyed than before, if that were possible. “You mean that trio of jackasses hasn’t showed up yet?” He turned to Tipper. “We just have all kinds of good news for Captain Hallander, don’t we?”
"He’s not back yet either, sir,” Paul said out of the corner of his mouth.
Bailus swore. Then, "Tipper, go get you and your dog something to eat.”
"Aren't you coming, sir?"
"I'll be along shortly."
Bailus mounted the wall with the twins in tow. They stared into the darkness in the direction in which Dane had set out that morning. The hills hunched there, blotting out the stars, like a black hole in a black sky.
"Do you think we should send out a party to look for them, sir?" Rawl said.
"No," said Bailus. "Eight men lost in the dark is enough."
The twins devised signal flares by wrapping strips of wool around the tips of their bolts, lighting them, and shooting them straight up in the air. They tried to do this at regular intervals, but after the fourth or fifth they realized they were doing it more for their own catharsis than the benefit of the men in the woods and gave it up.
Bailus did not leave his place above the gate.
A sudden scream split the night air.
"What was that?" Paul asked, stepping quickly to the wall to look out into the black forest.
"That wasn't human, was it?" Rawl asked.
Bailus just stood there, never taking his eyes off the woods. "Do you boys pray?" he asked.
"I know some lines from a few old prayers," Paul said.
"Well, then I suggest you get to it," Bailus said.
***
"We have to move now," Bax said. The drums continued to throb in the valley below them.
"No," said Dane, "We wait for the others to come back."
"They're not coming back," Bax said. "Besides, we don't have time to wait. He doesn't have time to wait." He pointed to Owen's silent form.
Dane knew he was right. Something was very wrong with Owen. Of course, Dane thought, the spikes were poisoned. Why hadn't he thought of that earlier?
A scream tore out of the valley again and Owen sat bolt upright. Dane jump
ed to his side but Owen tried to push him away. Dane caught his hands and held his quivering body against his chest. "Owen, it's me. It's just me. It's alright. Everything's going to be alright."
Owen sank down onto the litter again. His eyes had been wide-open, wild when he'd sat up, but he closed them once more now. "They're coming for me, sir," he said. His voice was feverish; half-crazed, half-dazed.
"Who," Dane said.
"Them. Every time I close my eyes, they’re there. They come out of the mist and stand before me. Terrible black shapes. Waiting. Waiting for me."
There was a sudden rustling in the brush to Dane's left. He dove between Owen and the sound and brought his bow up. The sound rushed nearer. Dane’s finger was squeezing the trigger when a small voice inside him said, Wait. He relaxed his finger as a dark shape broke through the brush and bounded in upon them. It was Wink. Dane sank down with a sigh. Bax actually laughed out loud.
"Sir?" a voice called out from the darkness in the direction the dog had come.
"Joseph, over here," Dane called.
A moment later and they were reunited.
"Where's Rem?" Bax demanded.
"He's gone," Joseph said.
"What do you mean, he's gone?"
"He left. He deserted us."
"You should have stopped him."
"I tried."
"You tried," Bax mimicked.
"That's enough," Dane said. "It's not Joseph who deserted us."
Then they were moving again. The dog and Joseph in the lead, retracing their steps the best they could. Getting down the cliff-path was harder even then Joseph had thought it would be. The path was so steep they had to take Owen off the stretcher. Dane supported his top half by hooking his arms under his armpits and letting Owen's head rest on his chest and Bax went in front with his arms hooked around Owen's legs. They slipped and landed hard on their butts several times, jarring their spines and their ward, but Owen did not stir. This worried Dane more than ever. At the foot of the cliffs they laid Owen back on the stretcher and sat down to rest. A stream spilled over the cliff to their left.
Leaving Owen on the stretcher, they filled their canteens in the pool at the base of the rocks and returned to sit by Owen. They sipped from their waterskins in silence. Dane felt a sudden chill creep across the back of his neck. He instinctively hunkered down against the rocks and motioned for the others to do the same. They were already doing it. They had felt the same thing. Dane peered around the rock he crouched behind, back to the cliffs they had just come down. Something was moving there.
It was dark, black against the black of the rocks, and it seemed to be crawling along the face of the cliff. Dane strained his eyes. It moved rather like a giant spider, picking its way across the rocks. It was on the other side of the little waterfall, but it was coming towards them. Its body was terribly slender and instead of eight limbs Dane thought he counted four, arched out above the body and each longer and more slender than a man's arm. Dane felt the chill spread over him. It was a deeper and nastier feeling than the damp cool of his sweat beneath his clothes. It made his heart cold as though his insides were gripped by icy fingers. The dog lay with its head between its paws beside him. It whimpered softly. Dane placed his hand on Wink’s head. He felt frozen with fear but he willed his fingers to scratch Wink between the ears. The animal stopped whining and lay still.
The thing on the rocks came nearly to the flow of the falls, then turned and crept down the face to the base of the cliff. It skirted the pool and followed the stream down the hill a ways as though looking for a place to cross. It paused as though listening. Joseph brought up his crossbow. Then the creeper did something that nearly made Dane shout in surprise. It rose up on its hind legs. It was taller than a man, and very slender, but it was impossible in the gloom to tell anything more about its form. Then it moved off slowly in the direction of the drumming and disappeared into the mist.
"Let's go," Dane said after it was gone.
No one said anything. There was nothing to say.
They hooked around back to the main stream and followed it southward. Dane kept them moving in as straight a line as possible while keeping the stream within earshot. Joseph and the dog moved about on their flank, between them and the stream and slightly ahead of them, making sure they took the best path. Dane began to recognize things he'd noticed at the beginning of their hike that morning. And there was an unmistakable salt tang in the air, borne on a breeze which was pushing back the mist. For the first time that night they could see a decent distance in front of them. They were close.
Joseph came trotting back out of the fog for a final time with Wink at his side and a smile on his face. "Sir," he said. "I can see light through the trees."
"They're waiting up for us," said Bax, "How sweet."
Dane nodded to Joseph to lead them on but at that moment a voice called out from the blackness of the forest behind and to the left of them. It was Rem's voice. He was calling for help. "Dane, Bax, are you guys out there? Is anybody out there?"
The fool, Dane thought. Had he made it this far on his own only to get lost now? Dane swore under his breath. He drew a deep breath and opened his mouth to call out to Rem when he caught movement among the trees.
Dark figures, two of them, were moving through the trees between Dane's party and the sound of Rem's voice. For a minute, he thought they were his men sent out to look for them. But why would they not carry torches? Dane watched the figures as Rem called again. There was no doubt about it, they were moving towards the sound of his voice. And Dane knew then, by their silence, by the stealth of their movements, they were not his friends. But he saw only two of them. And he marveled they should not have heard his own party when they were so close. The nearest now was no more than twenty paces and drawing closer, slinking from tree to tree.
Dane turned to the men kneeling beside him. "Joseph, give me your bow," he said. "Help Bax with the stretcher and get ready to run as soon as I say."
Joseph nodded.
Slowly, carefully, as silently as he could, Dane drew a bolt from the quiver at his hip and loaded his own bow. "How far to the walls?"
"A quarter mile, maybe a little less."
Dane swore. "A quarter mile?"
"Is there anything more I can do to help, sir?"
"No, just run like hell as soon as I'm up."
"What are you going to do, sir?"
"What I have to. Then I'll be right behind you."
Something wonderful and terrible happened in the next instant. Rem called out again, not very loudly, as though he was afraid of attracting unwanted attention, and Dane could hear the fear in his voice. Then he came into view, a dim gray shape, stumbling through the brush. He stopped. Dane imagined he was listening for the sound of the stream. He began to move again. He was headed for the stream, but his path would take him right between the silent stalkers.
Noiselessly, Dane stole forward several paces, carrying both bows with him. He crouched behind a large tree and set one bow on the ground at his feet. He peered around the trunk. He could see the two dark figures. He could have reached the nearer one in ten steps. Rem came on. Dane could see the whites of his eyes, like little half moons in his pale, dirty face.
Dane leveled his crossbow on the farther figure. He let his breath out slowly as he pulled the trigger.
He hit the dark man between the shoulder blades (he knew this though he did not watch it) as he dropped the first bow and picked up the second. The second man swung around as Dane raised the bow. Dane saw the figure briefly in profile, had a glimpse of a dark shining helmet with a pointed snout. Something he had seen lords in other houses wear. A style called a hounskull, if he remembered rightly.
The second bolt was already in flight and it must have hit home because the figure spun down and out of sight.
"Rem, over here. Run."
Even as he'd reached for the second bow, Bax and Joseph had been up and running.
"Come on, move," Dane
shouted to Rem as he turned to follow them.
Then he was crashing through the underbrush, breaking branches, tripping, stumbling, springing to his feet. Bax and Joseph made so much noise he could have followed them with his eyes closed. He overtook them, turned, saw Rem running pell-mell right behind them. He could see nothing beyond him.
Bax stumbled, struggled to get to his feet. Dane slid on his knees, pushed him out of the way, and grabbed the handles of the litter. Up and running again. Bax up again and passing them. Lost from view in the trees ahead. Branches stung Dane’s face and cut his hands. He kept his grip on the litter. He glanced back. Rem still behind them.
This time, as he turned his head forward, he caught a glimpse of dark shapes running alongside them. Shapes of men, but they moved unlike his desperate party. They moved with grace as though used to running in the forest at night. He glanced again. They were gone. Finally, the light up ahead. Bax shouting hoarsely, "The gate. Open the gate."
Over-shoulder glance; Rem there. Side glance; nothing. Trees thinner now. There, a glimpse of the wall. Slip. Fall. Owen's body nearly jerked off the stretcher. Pull Owen back into place. Up again. Another glimpse of the wall through the trees.
Finally the gate. Half open, opening. Men on the walls and in the gateway. Torches and weapons in hand. Bax shouting to them to beware. Twenty yard dash across the cleared area to the wall. Passing under the lookouts above the gate.
Safe.
The Silent Isle Page 11