“So their leader at least, this Dharmal, and two mages escaped? One other as well? I presume the carpet was sent to them,” said Rani, who had followed Hulagu, in Hindi.
“Yes,” said Ordin.
Rani would not pick it up, but Hulagu could see Ordin wondering who this city dweller was and, even more, what right she had to ask or even speak to him. He waved for him to continue and he did.
“But the good news is that there are only a small number of them left. It is now a problem for the town dwellers here. We think we have found the way to the bandit village and have a copy for the town dwellers and one for Hulagu.” He now looked around.
Hulagu thought that he was looking at each person who was nearby to see if anyone was listening who should not be. “It is important though that what we have done is kept secret. These brigands seem to have friends in many places, perhaps even among the tribes, who will tell them anything important, and they may be able to do so secretly.”
Hulagu grunted. “It is my problem, not that of the village,” he said. “I have found companions here,” he gave a tiny nod of his head towards the Hindu mage beside him.
His cousin almost imperceptibly nodded back.
“And we are going after them now to complete this justice. I have a geas and we leave to follow it as soon as we have finished speaking here. This river lady is a seer and the signs given to her are as strong as those I received that this is the right thing to do. I have now given my word and must keep that. Tell Nokaj that this is what I must do and why. He will understand. At least we will now know where to go instead of tracking forever in these forests, unable to see our hands in front of us. I don’t think that we have said anything important where anyone would overhear, but all of the town would now know of Bianca and my arrival and what happened to her caravan. All will soon know of yours as well. Some of them may be able to count a hand of horses blindfold and pass this on. Our enemies may still do something before we are able to attack them.”
“You will have to be careful,” said Ordin. “I listened to some of the questioning. It is all in what I gave you, but the road is trapped and they have potent magic and it is sure that they will know if someone is coming after them. It will not be as easy as trapping Brotherhood chariots against Sundercud Creek.”
“We have our own mages,” replied Hulagu. “This one,” he indicated Rani again. She nodded her head, but he thought she looked a trifle prickly at being mentioned like that. Too bad, he thought as he continued, “Is a Haven battle mage and the other is from Darkreach. We also have a priest of the Christians, a Dwarf who knows the mountains and at least one who may be very good at hunting and staying unseen in the forest. If what Shri Rani has seen is right,” behind him Rani’s face grew harder, “and, from what we have seen in her own life she seems to see the truth,” her smile reappeared, “then we should succeed.”
With this and a little more on what had been said and done during the questioning they said their farewells. Ordin and the other messengers were taken to see the Baron, while Hulagu and Rani rejoined the others.
“I have been given information by my tribe,” Hulagu said quietly. “I am sorry Bianca, but most of the brigands are dead. Most of them died at the hands of captives, so you will be pleased with that. Before they died many were helpful and we may now know the way to their village. I don’t want to say any more about this where we may be overheard, so we will talk more about it tonight.”
As Hulagu mounted, the rest resolved itself. Rani now nodded to them all and signalled everyone to mount up. Astrid consented to ride across the ford to stay drier. Thord snorted. He made a comment that he would get wet anyway and would have to be almost towed across. Shepherds on sheep were not as far off the ground as horsemen and the wool on Hillstrider trapped air and made it hard for him to sink properly to the bottom of any deep water and so get a firm grip with his hooves.
To Hulagu’s amusement he watched as, Astrid, helped by Bianca, climbed onto Firestar, a process that she conducted in a fashion that was more like climbing a tree than mounting a horse. It was something that was obviously not to the liking of either horse or rider and Bianca had to speak firmly to the horse, even as she held him. It was also obvious that both horse and rider were considerably relieved when the river had been crossed and Astrid could clamber back down to the ground. He mused that it was just as well that he had met Bianca and the priest had met Astrid, and not the other way around. The northern woman regained her weapons and, with her bow in one hand and her spear in the other, headed off in a trot along the road that led to Kharlsbane, leading the party out towards their destiny.
~~~
Astrid realised that she was glad to be out of a town and loping through the forest again. What is more, she only had to worry about weapons, as if she were hunting. It was an illusion of freedom as she still had the horses plodding along behind, but she jogged ahead and had time to stop and look at tracks, to hear the woods and listen for their denizens. It was a shame to stop that afternoon, after a pleasant, if uneventful day. Now the real fun would begin as she found them a caravan stop for the night.
She supposed that the Khitan knew about living in the field. As for the others…After they had all gotten down and stretched, and while she got to sit, it seemed that, surprise, surprise, religion would be the first order of business as Father Christopher and Ayesha went in different directions to pray. Christopher set up so as to include most of the party in his. He seemed content to just do a service while they all set up. Bianca seemed shocked at this.
I guess she is used to priests being more formal. At least I am used to that now, she thought. The Freehold girl checked and cared for the horses and, while still keeping alert, the others began to gather firewood to replace that which they would take from the pile that was usually found at such places.
Astrid was enjoying sitting while her lover, she liked that word, got a fire going for her. Soon she was cooking with Bianca helping her prepare the meal.
Once everything was going well, Theodora came over to see her, interrupting her turning some meat. “Do you have anything, perhaps some jewellery, with either copper or amethyst in it?” she asked.
Astrid thought briefly before looking up and replying, “My mother left me an old iron cloak pin. It has been inlaid with a pattern in copper and has a large amethyst mounted on it. I don’t wear it much, but it is in my pack. Why do you want that?”
Theodora looked a little taken aback at being questioned. She had better get used to that. Whatever she was in Darkreach, she isn’t that here. It took her a moment to reply.
“Because, while I am sure you are adept at hiding from animals, I am also sure that you have no skill at hiding from magic,” she said a trifle shortly.
She must have realised that she was being sharp, not that Astrid was offended, as she continued.
“Those who are watching for us will probably rely more on magic than on their eyes, particularly to set off traps. This will be more so since they have lost so many of their people. I wish to make a charm that will make you invisible to magic and create an illusion that you are not there. Seeing that I must use something that is already made, rather than casting into something that is being created as I am casting, I am best to be using something that is already of yours and something that has that metal and that stone in it. I have been thinking of this as I rode and I think that I have a good solution. I will now go and prepare. Keep cooking and, when I am ready I will call you over. It will only work a few times a day, but that should be enough.” It made sense.
Astrid returned to helping Basil, who had taken over while she talked. It turned out, that he was a far better as a cook than she was and she sat down again to watch. Over near the horse enclosure Theodora, with Rani’s help, laid out her pattern rug and set up what she needed. It wasn’t long before Rani came for Astrid. She had already dug in her pack for her mother’s jewellery and found the cloak pin wrapped up with the rest of her inherited treas
ures in its old felted-wool pouch.
Astrid stood and went with the Havenite woman. Theodora stood Rani on the rug and then, taking the cloak pin from Astrid, placed her on another vertex opposite Rani. Theodora began chanting, in a language Astrid didn’t understand. It had a soft and liquid sound and Astrid was sure that she had heard Theodora sing songs in it—although it seemed different now in the forest and with an enchantment being cast—somehow more meaningful. Rani also began to chant in the same tongue, in time with Theodora and then she began to point at her lover. Rani stopped and dropped her hand, now standing still and silent. Theodora continued for a while longer and then lowered her hands. A slightly smug smile came onto her face. She indicated that Astrid should move off the rug, which she did, carefully not standing on any lines.
“Put it on,” Theodora directed, “and fetch your spear.”
Astrid did as she was told.
“Can you sense her? Anything at all?” Theodora asked Rani. Rani shook her head.
Theodora continued, “No, I can’t either, so we presume that it has worked then?”
Rani agreed.
As they concentrated Astrid felt something strange and she eventually giggled and felt both of the mages looking at her. “I sort of felt a little tickle feel all over when you were looking hard at me—once for each of you. Does that mean it tells me when it works?”
The two mages looked at each other. “A side effect,” said Theodora to Rani as if that explained everything. Now as well as her smile, her voice was a little smug, “I had a feeling inside that the incantation worked very well. I was lucky.”
“I hope it was worth it,” said Rani. “Neither of us has much mana left to defend us with if we are attacked tonight.”
Theodora shrugged. “Better now than later. We should be fairly safe this close to town and she will almost certainly need it.” She turned to Astrid. “I hope that you can find any physical traps before we spring them.”
Astrid snorted amusedly at this.
“But you should be safe from magical detection as long as you wear this pin.”
~~~
Out of practice for a day spent running, and not wishing to get a cramp, Astrid paced around the camp looking out. As the others waited for the food to finish, they all sat quietly. Theodora combed Rani’s hair and Ayesha combed hers. She saw that Hulagu stood and looked all around into the woods before bringing out the message from Nokaj. He had a sheet of parchment in his hand.
“We have directions,” he said waving it. “Several of the brigands talked freely in the hope of a quicker death. They were very disappointed. It says here that there is an old trail running from where this road turns north to Kharlsbane. It runs towards the southeast and the first Darkreach watchtower in the foothills and is almost all under the cover of trees. It passes south of the watchtower and enters the mountains turning to the south to the villages of the Bear-folk. We have to pass along it and look for a very narrow valley with a small river coming from it that splits in two around a small hill with some stones on top. Only the southern path is safe to use, but it still has some traps on it to watch out for. Once inside the valley widens out. The village is hidden in a small second side valley inside the first on the south side. We will probably be seen, and perhaps attacked, at any time from the moment we leave this road to when we enter the valley. Every other way in when we get there is dangerous unless we are going to be very lucky.”
“Not if I can help it,” said Theodora. “All of my best spells deal with illusion. As we ride I will see if I can think of a way to get us in unseen.”
“I am mountaineer,” said Thord. “If’n others can climb, t’en I can get t’em into mountain valley without a touching any paths. I have some equipment wit’ me to help. On many slopes I can even ride Hillclimber up t’ slope,” he grinned broadly, “or down it, in places where your horses couldn’t even be led ’n’ some of you would have to crawl.”
“Let everyone else think about what they can contribute,” said Rani, “and let me know any ideas or skills that may be useful. Once we have worked out what we have between us I will come up with a plan. We can discuss this over the next few nights. Now let us eat. The Holy Fish and his Cat seem eager to feed us.”
From behind her Astrid stuck out her tongue. She noted that Basil just smiled, turning to his pots.
It was not just her, thought Astrid. She always went over her blades and arrowheads to check them at night. It seemed that the others all had their own routines. They went through these before starting their night. They were the simple habits of prayer, of cleaning and sharpening and of looking at the sky for omens of weather for the next day that all travellers went through, if they were sensible.
Those on the first watch all spoke Darkspeech—Theodora, Basil and her. By the end of the watch the Cat knew that the other two were both far too used to being in the towns. Basil was far better than Theodora, but both showed inexperience in the bush. They might come out to the wilds sometimes, but this was not where they were at home. These woods were not the forests she was used to, but the other two reacted to each little noise as if it were an attacking army. Once she had to stop them waking the others when a small herd of horned plant-eating lizards wandered past the camp going south. They were very large beasts and looked fierce but they were as anxious to avoid the people as any herd of reindeer would be, steering clear of the camp and the horses and keeping themselves between the sleepers and their calves—all of which were bigger than the largest reindeer. They must be what Hulagu called cow lizards. They didn’t live in the boreal forests. Few of the giant lizards came that far north between the tight-packed trees, although the small ones were as common there as any other small creature.
The night air grew chilly around them and some other animals could be heard heading south—many birds had already passed overhead from the far north. Winter had begun to set in and yet they were headed towards the mountains. Soon their watch was over and Astrid handed over and dragged Basil off to where she had set up their bedrolls together. Theodora crawled into the warmth beside Rani, who briefly grumbled something indignantly about cold hands.
~~~
Rani had set four people to make up the second watch: Father Christopher, Ayesha, Thord and Bianca. Bianca’s first thought was for the horse lines. All the horses were fine and secure. They discovered that they only had Hindi in common, and it was the first tongue for none of them. To Bianca’s surprise the priest had decided that Ayesha should learn some Latin and Greek as well as her other tongues. She was eager to add more languages to those she already had. Tonight they were starting with Latin. Ayesha watched out into the night as Father Christopher had her repeat softly the basic words that they would need as they travelled. He told her that grammar could come later. From his patient manner it was obvious that he had experience as a teacher.
Bianca heard them murmuring away and thought that perhaps there was much of her own language that she did not know. If the heathen woman could learn, perhaps she should get Father Christopher to teach her more as well. When it came time to wake the next watch Father Christopher gave her a smile as Bianca refused to wake Rani, preferring to head for Hulagu instead.
~~~
The last watch, all feeling the chill of the early morning, when the night is coldest, were all very comfortable speaking Hindi. Both Stefan and Hulagu were used to the wild, although for Hulagu the horizon was uncomfortably close. He was not used to so many trees being around him. Rani wanted to know more about Khitan culture and kept asking Hulagu about the tribes and their history. It was taboo to discuss much of this with outsiders and Hulagu felt some relief when she changed the subject—but only briefly.
She next wanted to know more about Bianca and how he met her and her relationship with the horses. He was happy to talk about their meeting, but felt that the rest was Bianca’s business. It didn’t matter how he put the mage off, she would come back with another question in one or the other area. In despera
tion he eventually hit on a way to distract her. He explained the significance of his birth, and how his grandfather was a shaman and wondered, offhand, if that meant that she could teach him to be a mage in her manner.
He felt relief at his cunning as she fell silent for quite some time, indeed for most of the rest of the watch. He could see that Rani was finding the idea irresistible as she turned it over in her mind. It kept her silent until just before dawn. Eventually it was obvious that she had decided that she could and she started Hulagu on some tests and exercises straight away to see if he had the talent. He soon had difficulty doing a proper watch and soon pointed out that they both had to pay attention to the woods around them. Hulagu was somewhat surprised by her eagerness and wondered if he was doing the right thing and if his grandfather would be upset with him. Still—as least it stopped her asking questions even if it was going to be a waste of time for anything else.
~~~
Day dawned, bright and chilly. Astrid woke to find Stefan had restarted the fire using Basil’s magic rod and had heated water for washing and making kaf and tisanes. He could do breakfasts easily while she stretched her muscles and rolled up the sleeping gear. Looking across, the mages were both very sleepy. Neither seemed to be an early riser and the bed that they had slept in was obviously not what they were used to. While Astrid woke up looking much the same as when she had gone to bed, both of the mages had somehow added leaves and twigs to their hair and their hair now covered half their faces in a curtain. Both peered out through the hanging locks. Astrid asked Basil if his charge was always like this and when he nodded said, “Then I hope we are not attacked first thing in the morning before they have had a warm drink.”
She headed over to help them to discover that Ayesha was doing the same with the aroma of kaf and herbal tisane following her. As they all began to stir and get themselves ready people could then smell porridge.
Intimations of Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 1) Page 36