Malik said he was surprised that they would bother with watches. Hulagu checked with her that the tale could be told and then explained why they took this caution and they were happy to take part. They were even happier to hear the full tale as told by Bianca in her halting Khitan and more fluent Hindi and happier still to hear her sing and practice her flute.
She was glad when they began humming some of their clan songs so that she might learn them. Hulagu could not hold a note and so had been unable to help her. It was determined that Malik and Tzachaz would take the first watch, Hulagu would be alone on the second and Bianca and Uzun, who spoke some Latin and so could talk with Bianca, on the third.
~~~
They kept their watch on the crest above their camp. Towards the middle of the night Hulagu heard two faint popping noises in the distance. As luck would have it he was looking in that direction and, although the light was only half that of mid-month the night was clear and that was enough for him to see two shapes suddenly appear a bit over two hundred paces away. For a brief while they hovered in the air before turning directly towards where Hulagu lay and flying in his direction. They didn’t look friendly. Hulagu decided to loose a shot at them before heading down to wake the others so he stood. Night shooting is tricky, even on a clear night, so he aimed carefully before firing as they entered his middle range.
He was rewarded with a squawk, as if he had hit some sort of giant malignant bird, but it did not stop them. They both kept coming. At least he knew they could be hurt. Hulagu turned and ran down the short slope, shouting of danger and hoping to wake the others. By the time he had reached the campsite he had the undivided attention of two warhorses standing over Bianca, who was pulling on her jacket without lacing it. As he ran he had the stray thought that she must sleep in her knives, even when she took her clothes off. He hadn’t noticed that before. That would be uncomfortable. The other Khitan were stirring and prodding each other and should soon be on their feet.
“Monsters are coming. They must be nearly here. They are flying, but my arrows can hurt them. We should get two clear shots as they come over the ridge before they close.” The preparations grew more intense as the three Pack-hunters strung their bows.
~~~
Bianca started fishing in her pouch of magic bullets for one with many markings. She decided to try one with different markings to the last one she used. It had just as many, but they had some different bits that she could not understand. No one looked at mounting their horses, instead standing well forward and clear of them. Bianca asked why and was soon told that, without a saddle to give you a firm base fighting a flying creature was best done from the ground and there was no time to saddle them.
Nodding in understanding Bianca then turned to Sirocco and Firestar standing behind her and, moving them so that she could still use her sling, gave them the order to hold. Again their ears pricked up. Hulagu checked his martobulli in their belt quiver and noticed that the other three were strapping on shields and making sure that they had their martobulli ready as well. The heavy throwing darts did more damage when closing and were quicker than a bow and the Khitan favoured them when at close range and when one arm would have a shield on it already. The four tribesmen stood in a line with Hulagu on the right. Bianca and her horses stood further to the right and back a bit.
They had all just gotten themselves set when, not two, but three of the creatures came over the rise. Despite the night it was obvious that they had long leathery wings around four paces across, a bird-like head with a sharp, but toothed, beak and four clawed limbs. The upper limbs were tipped with fingers with sharp claws instead of nails, the lower ones with bird-like talons instead of feet.
“Bird demons,” said Malik, “they can bring others of their ilk in from somewhere.”
The tribesmen’s arms moved almost in unison and four darts flew through the air. Three struck home, but the fourth stopped in the air and just fell to the ground. The three hit chests. One in the left hand beast and two in the centre one, but this did not seem to slow them much. Bianca’s sling bullet was a heartbeat slower, but more devastating. It hit the right hand beast in the head and left it a shattered ruin. The demon made a short bleating noise and tumbled out of the air in an ungainly heap.
Globes of darkness started to coalesce around and surround the survivors as they continued down the slope. Four more darts and a bullet were sent into the globes, with unknown effect. With the clear cloudless night the globes, being about the same size as the demon’s wingspan, seemed to make little difference to hitting them as they flew. They just aimed at the centre.
Bianca watched the four Khitan now ready their sabres and horse maces and split up two and two. While they were doing that, another demon appeared on the rise.
“Becursed,” said Uzun, “more!” At that the two globes of dark struck the pairs of men. With just her daggers Bianca could do little. To hit the demons with hand weapons the men had to step into the dark. Each man was trying to stay opposite their partner. The demons in the globes had no such restrictions. They seemed to be able to see through the dark and the claws and beaks began to inflict wounds, although most blows were stopped by the padding and leather that was often slept in for the warmth—luckily in this case. Their shields were almost useless as an active defence, but just had to be held out or waved around in the hope of feeling a target.
In the meantime Bianca was casting bullets at the new demon. One stone fell out of the air, but the next hit it in a wing, causing it to tumble to the ground. It was soon up and running, but with a wing dragging along the ground behind it. This gave Bianca another shot, which hit its chest, partly caving it in. It didn’t slow, but still kept running down, not aiming for Bianca, but with a seeming fixed purpose running at Hulagu’s back, which he had turned up slope during the fight.
Bianca surprised herself by running up to leap in the way unconsciously yelling ‘Kill!’ as she did so. She got in a couple of quick cuts with her daggers, one of which struck home in the demon’s other wing, slashing the membrane in two before she was shouldered aside by Sirocco. In a moment the demon only had attention for defence as it belatedly attempted to put its shell of darkness around it before it was driven into the ground. The darkness went up, but the horses continued to take turns attacking the centre and recovering, attacking and recovering, suffering some small cuts in the process, but from where their hooves stopped, and the noise that was made, pummelling the demon into paste.
Bianca was left to look at the other combats. The Khitan seemed to be having a harder task. They had no idea how effective their blows were or what weaknesses they could exploit, even with her inexperience she could see that they were blindly striking out and only connecting by luck. In the meantime when they came out of the dark she could see that the cuts on their bodies, limbs and, more worryingly, heads were becoming more numerous and they were starting to run with blood.
All at once Hulagu swung his mace in an upper cut through the blackness. It seemed to intersect with something. A high-pitched scream erupted and the darkness vanished. The demon lay stunned on the ground in front of Hulagu and Uzun. They quickly dispatched it.
Just as they were turning to the other two Malik slashed at head height through the dark sphere and was rewarded by seeing the darkness around their demon vanish as its head flew away and the body fell to the ground. All four turned to Bianca who was standing with her arms crossed watching for more demons while Firestorm still pounded an obviously dead demon with his hooves, minor cuts streaming while Sirocco stood aside with blood running from a fairly deep wound on his shoulder. It seemed that the attack was over.
Hulagu ran back up the ridge and scanned around the area. Everyone tried to stay still as he listened for any more ominous popping sounds. It all seemed clear and he called this out to the others. Tzachaz gave a sigh and fell to the ground, bleeding from a cut to the head. Malik began stemming the flow of blood as Uzun rummaged for bandages. Tzachaz was bleeding from
many wounds but the one to the head looked serious. Bianca ran to the horse packs and pulled out the bandages and compresses and began attending to the horses’ wounds, in particular Sirocco’s shoulder while the others tended to the man.
Once the bleeding was stemmed on people and horses Bianca dug out of the packs the small bag of what they hoped were betterberries. Uzun volunteered to try them and ate three. After a while it looked like some of his wounds were closing slightly. The bleeding had certainly stopped. By this time Tzachaz was almost unconscious as the exhilaration of combat was replaced by pain and the loss of blood. Before he could no longer swallow they made him eat half of the berries while Hulagu and Malik had three each. Tzachaz continued to lie down, waiting for the berries to work their magic.
Hulagu went back to the top of the rise to resume his watch and Malik and Uzun began dragging the demon’s bodies clear. These stank already as they began to quickly rot. Bianca sat for a while giving a fervent prayer of thanks before resuming a very nervous and disturbed sleep.
~~~
In the morning Malik spoke up, “Those things are not supposed to roam around. They are either left in a place or are summoned or sent. I suggest that we look carefully around as we try and find our darts.”
Several of these, and most of Bianca’s bullets, were in what remained of the bodies, but the others needed looking for in the long grass. It didn’t take long to get a result. Near the place where Bianca had brought down the first demon, Malik found a small oaken rod. He picked it up and turned around, immediately dropping it with an expression of surprise on his face.
“It went ‘beep’,” he said.
Bianca thought that he sounded embarrassed.
“What do you mean?” asked Hulagu.
“I picked it up and was turning around when it made a soft ‘beep’ noise. I was surprised and dropped it,” replied Malik.
Uzun picked it up. “No noise,” he said and waved it around.
‘Beep’, went the rod. They all crowded around and looked at the rod closely and saw that there was an arrow engraved into the wood. Uzun tried to point it at things to no effect. He pointed it at people. Nothing happened until he pointed it at Hulagu. It went ‘beep’ again. They passed it around. It only made noise when it was pointing at Hulagu. It did not matter who held it, but it had to be held.
“We have a wand of detecting Hulagu,” said Bianca in wonder. She turned to Hulagu. “Remember that Koyunlu said that you would be taken care of. It looks like these were what had been sent to do that. They would have succeeded if you had been on your own or just with me.” The Pack-hunters looked impressed. They had never known anyone before that had had demons sent after him, and especially seeing that they had been given some magic to help them find him as well.
Hulagu nodded in agreeance. “The more we see, the more grandfather Nokaj’s prophecy is confirmed. We must be off.” He turned to the Pack-hunters. “We thank you for your aid. It certainly helped to save our lives. Now Bianca and I must be on our way as quickly as we can.”
“No!” said Malik, glancing at the other two of his kin. “Your story was glamorous, but it was just a story until now. The attack and this rod confirm that it is a real and important story. You are on the land of our clan and we must, in honour, make sure that you are safely escorted through it to your destination. We will escort you towards Evilhalt. The honour of our totem is at stake here and, perhaps, even more.” He again looked at the other two.
Bianca saw them both nod.
Hulagu spoke again. “Again I thank you and gratefully I accept your offer. Still, if we have recovered our weapons, we must now be off.”
Quick preparations and checks followed as they mounted and rode off. Bianca mounted Firestar and let Sirocco move unencumbered, his saddle on Sluggards packs.
“Hulagu was right,” Malik said to her as they rode off. Your totem is indeed the Horse. I have seen many of these Latin fighting horses, but few that are eager to fight when their rider is off them, except to defend themselves or their rider. I have never seen them following like a puppy and coming when they are called as yours do.”
~~~
The day passed uneventfully with grass and wind until they reached the Baerami River. Here they had to move along it until Malik showed them a ford so that they could cross without getting the horse packs wet. Bianca was shown the mouth of the Aissa Flow where it met the Baerami as they moved east. Malik showed her the great crocodiles of the river, which can take a horse and man easily. They saw several sunning themselves on the opposite bank and even some below them on their side. While crossing they were even more vigilant and the men all had their bows or heavy spears ready the whole time.
Once across they moved a short distance to where Malik showed them a spring that led to a small trickle of water running to the river. It was now late in the day so they decided to set up camp here. Bianca started cooking, and Hulagu took up station on a rise while the Pack-hunters made a thorough sweep of the area. They reported no sign of anything suspicious. Everyone went through their evening preparations and, in Bianca’s case, prayer. Already Bianca felt that she was getting more of a handle on her knife throwing and was now becoming more confident in it. She was no expert, but at least she felt like she was now throwing harder and the knives even stuck into the shield better. She thought that perhaps now they would cause some damage, as long as the target had no armour to protect them.
Before the watches were set and they went to sleep, they all made their final prayers or rituals for the night. It seemed to Bianca that it was not just her that was a little worried, each of them seemed aware of how close they had come to dying on the previous night, even if the men did make light of it. This night proved to be quiet and uneventful even if Bianca, as she did every night, tossed and turned in her disturbed sleep. Her dreams were of rape and torture and fell beasts—not pleasant at all and she was glad to wake up slightly damp with sweat and with a pounding heart, but with no actual threats present.
~~~
Bianca enjoyed the next four days and nights that followed as they moved north with the Aissa Flow somewhere to their left, passing herds of eland, zebra and wildebeest and the occasional mob of hoppers. Midway through their fifth day a line of trees became visible on the horizon to the northeast.
“We will reach the tree line within a few hours,” said Malik. “Do you want to camp before we reach the edge of the trees, or at their edge, or do we keep going and look for a clearing within the trees? We still have several days travel within the trees before we reach Evilhalt and I would prefer to spend the time in the clear on the free plains, rather than confined.”
“I agree,” said Hulagu, looking at Bianca for her opinion.
“Why are you looking at me?” she said as she looked back. “I was raised in cities. I know nothing at all of the land outside. I do, however, expect you to listen to me when we get to towns.”
Bianca had been getting used to the noises of the grasslands, even if she was not sure what made them. Now unfamiliar noises came from the thick woods beyond the edge, but, at least, the night passed uneventfully.
The next day Malik led them further north, staying well out of bowshot of the trees. Looking closely at them, Bianca thought that she recognised many of them from around Freehold, but here they grew in untidy profusion, unlike the few coppiced and tended forests that she had seen before in her life.
Just before noon they came upon a track coming from the west, although track was probably too generous a term for it. It was noticeable to Bianca that there was a lot of traffic went along it, but each set of travellers seemed to make their own choices as to which way was the best to follow through the grass and low scrub. The result was a braiding of wheel ruts and hoof prints. It was also now obvious even to Bianca that they were also following another of these threads that moved beside the trees, one that was less travelled than the others. All of these paths, wherever they came from, had a common destination. In the wall
of trees there was but one large gap and all of the tracks led there.
As they turned and entered the forest, the winter sun was cut off and they came into a dappled world. Bianca noted the clarity of light on the plains was replaced by the muted sounds, soft chirrups of birds and occasional patches of sunlight that worked their way through bare branches to fall dappled on a litter of leaves. Overhead were large and old trees, mainly with spreading branches. Underfoot, at the sides of the path, were short and what was left of well-eaten grasses, small herbs and patches of bracken and brambles. Every now and then a small clump of rocks could be seen. It was much cooler here in the forest and she was not the first to reach for the cloaks that they had needed only at night on the plains. Soon all were wearing them.
This was a very different part of the trip to Bianca. The path they were following tended unmistakeably east, but in doing so it meandered around trees and rocks, over small rills and sometimes through open glades of different sizes. She could usually see quite a distance through the open spaces under bare branches, but sometimes the sight of cattle or deer at close range surprised them. Once they rounded a clump of evergreens to see, two hundred paces away, a small herd of cow lizards moving away from them in an unhurried fashion. They set up camp that night on what was obviously a well-used campsite in a clearing. There was even a rudimentary enclosure for animals and a low wall between the campsite and the forest itself. Malik led the way and explained that the enclosure and the wall were being built by the persons who used them. He looked around on the ground outside the wall until he found a few rocks. They may have once already belonged to a structure of some sort as they looked shaped. He brought these and added them to the wall where it looked like they would fit best. The others followed suit, or brought in wood for her fire while Bianca, as usual, ended up cooking.
Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1) Page 18