The creature was enraged now—Elynna could feel it and see it. Hot red fluid spurted from three wounds on its neck. Tienna had darted back to safety. Namha clung just a moment longer before leaping off, executing a perfect somersault in the air and landing on his feet with two more knife blades already drawn. Bandor, Theo, and Alrew had now moved into the battle along with Lluach, while Anchara joined Hruach and Hrevia to examine Falien’s wounds. Nahoon, Beth, and Keet huddled near one of the huts in the village. Keet was weeping. Noab and Noaem were nowhere to be seen. Aram had picked himself up. Kayle was not moving.
Elynna turned and looked for aid. Near the hall, Cane miraculously continued all alone to battle two Daegmons and the Gaergaen, but the blue flames surrounding him had weakened under the constant barrage of attacks. The others could not help him now. The third Daegmon moved toward Cathros. The Northlander backed up a step and found himself near a small stable.
He reached behind him and ripped from the ground a huge fence post nearly his own height. The Daegmon pulled its head back warily. Bandor fired an arrow at its face. It snapped the arrow mid-flight in its jaws. He had another arrow already nocked.
Bandor shot toward the eyes. The creature opened its mouth again. Mid-flight the arrow burst into red flames and fell to the ground. Alrew and Theo darted in and made feints with their spears. As it turned to snap at them, Cathros stepped forward. With all his enormous strength, he swung the fence post down upon the enemy’s foreleg. The post and the creature’s leg both snapped with a loud crack.
Roaring with pain, it lunged forward on its good leg and snapped at Cathros. At that instant a knife flew from Namha’s hand. With deadly accuracy, it just missed grazing Cathros’s head and found its mark in the creature’s left eye. The Daegmon roared again, throwing its head back in agony at the new wound its small foes had inflicted.
Now Aram, Hruach, and Hrevia returned to the battle. With Northlanders’ zeal for battle, they charged straight at the Daegmon. Namha, Lluach, and Tienna rushed in from the other side. Theo, Bandor, and Alrew faced it from the front. Cathros stepped back, looking for something else he could wield as a weapon. Ten steps away was another post. He moved toward it.
All of this Elynna saw, but her concentration was now on the thoughts of her enemy. She could sense them clearly. It was weakening and in doubt. The creature, already wounded and finding itself set upon with a fury it never expected from human foes, reared back on its hind legs. Its tail lashed around once. Then it lifted its wings and launched upward. With a final fierce screech, its tail slammed the earth as it departed. Alrew, caught standing in the wrong place, fell crushed.
For just a moment Elynna and her companions watched the Daegmon rise away from them. Bandor and Theo wasted arrows trying to bring it down. Then they turned back toward Cane. He stood a hundred yards away, twenty yards from the great stone doors of the throne hall where the Gaergaen faced him. He was surrounded.
The other two Daegmons had worked their way around to his backside. He stood between them and the throne hall without hope of escape. And while his own flames had seemed to weaken through the battle, the Gaergaen had grown in power despite its broken staff. The red flames dominated the blue now. Just a thin halo protected Cane.
It was clear to Elynna that whatever power the stone held could not overcome the combined powers he now faced.
“Help him!” Elynna shouted. She turned to look at the others, but her shout was not needed. Cathros had already ripped another post from the ground and now charged to his brother’s aid. Tienna and Namha ran too, just a half step behind him. Elynna started after them also.
But they never reached Cane. As Elynna and the others ran after him, the Gaergaen raised his broken staff and hurled a blast of power at Cane. Red flames shot also from the mouths of both Daegmons in unison. The three flames converged on Cane with terrible force. The wall of blue flame around him shattered like a clay vessel in an explosion of red fire, and the stone on his neck cracked in two.
Cane fell to the ground dead.
39
DEFEAT
Elynna was still seventy yards away from where Cane had fallen. She could not see his face, but she knew. She could feel it—the life had gone out of him. His sword lay in pieces on the ground, and the flame was extinguished.
The power supporting her vanished in a single instant. And all the terror that had been held at bay rushed over her. Still, for a moment she stared in disbelief as one of the Daegmons reached out a great talon and rolled Cane over.
Cathros, Tienna, and Namha must have felt it also. Or they could see it. They stopped in their tracks.
Then a screech from above seized Elynna’s attention. The injured Daegmon called to its comrades. The two larger Daegmons turned toward the remaining companions who stood alone in the open. Their deafening roars shook the village from end to end and echoed off the mountains. The power that had protected her companions from terror was gone. And the terror had grown fourfold. Covering her ears, Elynna turned and fled.
It was a mad chase. Keet and Nahoon, who had been furthest from the throne room and the main battle, led the race toward the far end of the village. Bandor and Theo were a step behind, along with Beth. Several yards to the side limped Falien, who had regained consciousness. Hrevia and Anchara ran on each side of him, helping to hold him up while Hruach, Aram, and Lluach came behind. Elynna came last along with Cathros, Tienna, and Namha. Namha was silent and grim. Tienna jogged low to the ground, keeping an eye out over her shoulder. Cathros still carried the huge fence post, the last guard for the fleeing companions.
A hundred feet behind them, the two huge Daegmons lumbered across the village. The Gaergaen, in human form, came between. The third Daegmon soared overhead. Elynna could sense them behind her. Even so, she could not help but look over her shoulder as she ran.
Those in the lead came to the hall in which they had spent the night, but there was no escape there. Elynna knew she could not hide her presence from the enemy pursuing her, and the building would not stand one minute against their might. “Out of the village,” she yelled. “To the woods.”
What help they would find there, she did not know. But she knew what was behind them if they did not flee. She was now in the lead, and her companions were behind or beside her. Onward she ran, between the last houses and through the cluster of barns and sheds, across the open snow-covered ground toward the wood through which they had come in the blizzard. Behind she could hear a terrible commotion, and she glanced over her shoulder to see the Daegmon falling upon the village. Flames shot into the sky as the creature punished the Undeani villagers who had failed to do their part in the battle. The delay gained the companions valuable seconds at the expense of those who had betrayed them. Yet Elynna did not pause to watch, nor did it give her any satisfaction. The ground rose ahead of her. Like the others, she was panting from exertion, but terror drove them on. Cathros flung aside the post.
Elynna reached the trees and continued on. A hundred yards later she was forced to stop and catch her breath. Bandor took the lead, running through a grove of thick evergreens with little snow cover and then across a small open field. Out of nowhere a Daegmon swooped down from above. It held one injured leg tight to its body, but its other talon skimmed over the backs of the fleeing companions, missing Namha’s tall head by mere inches.
Bandor veered to the left, darting back under the shelter of the trees. The others followed. Unable to get at their prey from above, the Daegmons screeched in frustration. Elynna sensed it. “Keep to the trees,” she yelled. But her companions needed no urging. Through the trees they ran. When Bandor came upon what looked like a trail, he turned to follow it. It led over the ridge and down the other side.
The Daegmons followed. Elynna could sense them keeping pace. For a time they made no effort to overtake their fleeing prey, but the pain and terror of their presence sufficed to drive Elynna forward. Ke
eping pace with the others, she stumbled on, forcing her lungs to take in air, her legs to keep moving. They were definitely on a trail now. It cut across another small meadow. To stay on the trail they would have to leave the safety of the trees. Bandor stopped at the edge, scanning the sky in terror. Elynna saw no sign of the Daegmon. Her senses told her it followed from some distance back. “Go,” she yelled at Bandor. “Get across while we can. Our enemies are not here.”
They ran across the meadow and were soon back in the trees. They came to a small stream and plunged through. Finally the pace slowed. Elynna glanced around at her companions. Even with the help of Hrevia and Anchara, Falien struggled to keep up. His right leg bled profusely. And Aram held his ribs in obvious pain.
Though the pain caused by so many Daegmons was intense—even from a distance—Elynna knew what she had to do. She plunged into the darkness with her thoughts. Without Cane’s support, it took a greater effort, and the pain was more intense. But she learned what she needed.
She turned. Seeing Tienna several strides behind, she stopped and waited. “One Daegmon follows above,” she said when her friend had caught up. “It will not attack right now. The other two left the village. They pursue us now all together. But the Gaergaen is with them, and they travel on foot more slowly. They are still some distance away.”
Tienna nodded. She called the company to a halt and gathered the survivors around her. “We must have a plan,” she said, “even if we are fleeing. Who is still with us?”
Elynna looked around and took silent survey. She knew they had no time for grief, and she was still too numb to grieve. But she was counting the dead as much as the living. Counting the losses. Was it also her fault for telling them where their enemy was so that they could walk into a trap? Were her friends dead because she hadn’t understood the power and nature of their enemy and their ability to hide in the substance of the earth itself?
Bandor shook his head. “It got Alrew.”
“Kayle and Pietr also,” Theo added.
The weight of guilt pressed on Elynna. She looked at Keet. He had collapsed to the ground with his head between his hands. She did not mention Marti’s name, nor did she have to say anything about Cane. Their hopes had rested with him. And without him? Was there any hope? But then she noted another absence. “What of Noab and Noaem?” she asked. Two more of the gifted gone? “I did not see them fall.”
“Nor did I,” Bandor said. “They disappeared before the battle.”
Everybody looked at Anchara, but the lone remaining Ceadani said nothing. Her face was pale white. Then a screech filled the air at the same moment a sharp stab of pain pierced Elynna’s thoughts. The others looked to the skies above. Elynna didn’t have to. Two Daegmon had taken wing and circled overhead.
“Do they see us?” Lluach asked.
“They don’t have to,” Elynna answered. “They can sense us. We cannot hide.”
“What of the stone?” Bandor asked. “What of Cane?”
“Gone,” Tienna answered. “Destroyed.”
“Then so is our hope,” Aram said.
“No,” Tienna replied. “There is always hope.”
“Maybe,” Elynna replied. “But not in battle. Not against all of them together without the stone.”
Tienna nodded. “Then we have no good choice but to flee.”
The words echoed in Elynna’s thoughts. No choice. Never any choices, she thought. Or always choices—just not the types of choices she thought she should have. But she had no time to dwell on it. Another mind invaded hers.
Gagging on the burning stench, she choked out the words. “The Gaergaen. It is here.”
The words had barely left her mouth when an explosion of red fire shook the ground at their feet. Elynna turned to see the Gaergaen, three hundred yards away through the trees, holding his broken staff. “Run,” she shouted.
Once more Elynna and her companions were on the move. The trail turned eastward and began to descend. The trees grew sparse. All of a sudden they were out of the woods and on a wide rocky expanse. And there, standing ahead of them right in the middle of the trail, stood one the Daegmons.
Bandor’s sudden halt caused several companions to stumble into one another. They looked in the direction of his gaze, and all stopped. A shadow passed over them. Another Daegmon was in the air above. They turned to retreat. But behind them, crashing through the woods, came the third Daegmon with the Gaergaen beside it. There was no way back.
Elynna should have known—she should have sensed it. And yet, what difference would it have made? She looked around at her companions who had followed her, or at times led her, for so many weeks. Their time was now coming to an end. They formed a tight circle facing outward. All but Namha were dripping with sweat and white with fear. The great Amanti warrior somehow remained as calm as stone, immune, it seemed, even to the Daegmon terror. But Elynna was not immune. The terror crept over her, taking away even the small choices she might have been able to make.
The voices of her companions drifted through the air, reaching her ears as though she was dreaming.
“So this is the end,” Aram said.
“At least let us die like Anghare,” Hruach replied. “I’m not going to stand here and wait for them to attack.”
“I will come with you,” Aram added. “At least we may inflict some wound before our death, as Marti did.”
“Wait,” Tienna said. “Do not be rash. Help may yet come. The All-Maker sees us yet. He does not forget. I will still call upon his name.”
The name of the All-Maker reached her ears as something more solid than the other words. Hope was a choice, Tienna had said. Was that all she was doing now? Choosing hope, even when there was no reason for it? Or did Tienna have some reason Elynna could not fathom.
“Rash or not, I will wait no longer,” Hruach answered. “Nor will I die running. Look. The Daegmons approach even while we stand here.” He turned away from the Gaergaen and faced the Daegmon blocking the path ahead of them. He drew his sword. Hrevia came to his side. Her own blade was drawn. “Cathros? Will you come with us? The Anghare all together. And any others who will join.”
Elynna waited for Cathros’s answer, as though it had some sudden weight to shape them all. Cathros did not answer. She gazed at his face, trying to understand his expression. His eyes searched the land around them, perhaps hoping for some way of escape. Perhaps, like Tienna, still choosing hope. She followed his gaze. North of the wide rocky field a steep slope with a few cliffs led up another of the mountain’s rocky spurs. To the east and south the field dropped away to a river. Behind them to the west was the wood through which they had just run. Every way was blocked.
Hruach, Hrevia, and Aram began marching across the field toward the waiting Daegmon. It greeted their approach with a low rumbling growl, soon echoed by its two comrades. “I will go with them,” Cathros finally said. “We have lost both my brother and the stone. In them was my hope.”
“If I must die, I will die at your side,” Lluach chimed in. The two started after Hruach. And with them went most of the rest of the company. All except Tienna, Elynna, Namha, and Keet. Even Falien limped along beside them. How was it that that Daegmon terror did not overwhelm them? That they were approaching their enemy instead of fleeing?
Or was this action her companions now took the result of fear?
Elynna watched her companions’ backs as their slow strides took them away. She wanted to call them back. To give them some reason not to rush toward death. But she could think of no words of hope. To turn from the Daegmon ahead was to face the Daegmon behind, and the Gaergaen with it. To stand still was to wait for all of them.
A moment later her own feet carried her forward also. Tienna was on one side, Namha on the other. She thought she could hear Falien and Keet behind her, but she did not turn to look.
Hruach and Hrevia had left firs
t and set a faster pace. Most of the others were only halfway across the space when the brother and sister met the Daegmon blocking their path. Elynna could only watch in horror—watch and listen with disgust to the thoughts of her enemy. Thoughts devoid of mercy.
The creature thought little of their Northland honor. Without ceremony, it snapped at its two attackers. So big were its jaws, it looked to swallow both in a single gulp. Hruach and Hrevia were quick, however. They had trained as warriors for as long as they could walk, sparring with each other as often as with any others. Their instincts were like a cat’s, and their minds and bodies moved together as twins. The Daegmon’s jaws closed on air as they rolled to opposite sides. They sprung to their feet an instant later, and brought their swords down on the creature’s tough hide with all the might they could muster. Their blades rang, but to no avail, deflecting off the hard scales.
Again the Daegmon struck. Its talons sliced through the air toward Hruach. A cloud of white powder blocked him from Elynna’s sight as he rolled through the snow and came up again, sword still in hand. Hrevia darted in to strike the creature’s neck. It reared back and slapped at her with its other leg. The talons missed her, but the upper foreleg caught her in the shoulder with a sickening crunch that knocked her sidelong into her brother. Its foes together once more, the Daegmon took a second lunge to snap both of them up in its jaws.
Elynna’s legs carried her faster now, though not as fast as Tienna and Namha, who quickly outpaced her toward the battle, not away. She could not watch it end like this. Better to die with them than to watch.
The Betrayed Page 39