by Gail Gernat
Maggie winged out of the dark and grumbled irritably to Illera as she squirmed under her cloak to sleep for the night. Lark and Raven were still sleeping on the backs of their horses, but Ashera regarded her with wide, owl eyes. Sighing, Illera made Copper bow and clambered to her back, setting off to the west, guiding herself by the gold and silver moons. The weary animals plodded with heavy feet, but still, she pushed them. The brush with Korul unnerved her and gave her a pressing sense of urgency, forcing her to keep moving no matter how tired the horses were, or she was. The must escape and keep him interested in chasing her, thus sparing Madean a few more days or weeks.
She noticed the forest becoming dryer as the land began to rise. She urged the horses onward, the way becoming steeper and the foliage lessening until they were traveling through rocks instead of trees. The horses stumbled repeatedly, and Illera could see that soon, either Lark or Raven was going to be pitched to the uneven, stony ground. Second moon was directly overhead when she halted, telling Ashera to get down. She pulled Lark and Raven from their saddles and settled them beside the giantess. Covering her three companions with their cloaks, she unsaddled and fed the last of the grain to the horses. With a mind troubled by urgency and sorrow, she joined her companions.
A songbird caroled joyously, joining the sounds of crackling fire, boiling water and the scraping of pots. Someone was humming under their breath; an ancient hill melody. She opened her eyes to long morning shadows and a bustling camp. The horses grazed on a narrow patch of grass just down the hillside. Raven was cooking something, and even Ashera looked more in tune with her surroundings. Lark came whistling down the slope, sloshing a kettle of water at his side.
“All right,” he called as he saw her sit up, “how did we get here? The last I remember, we were in the middle of the swamp and you were lost.”
Raven turned from his pan to hear her reply. Illera looked at them nonplussed.
“What do you mean? Don’t you remember? You were with me all day yesterday…when we left the swamp…when Korul almost caught us…when I said goodbye to the bobcat…don’t you remember any of that?”
“No, nothing,” Raven stirred the food in the pan. “I remember you had fallen into the swamp and the current was pulling you away from the island. I threw you a rope but it floated out of reach, and then you disappeared under the water. I dove in, but it was all black, and I couldn’t see anything. You were gone.”
Lark put the kettle over the fire. “Yeah, Raven splashed around out there for over an hour looking for you. I had him tie the rope around his waist, so I could pull him in, but we couldn’t find you at all. I finally gave up and pulled him out.”
“You should have let me keep looking. I told you she wasn’t dead.” Raven bristled.
“I came back the same night, in the blue fire. Don’t you remember that at least? Ashera was terrified.”
Raven looked at the sky, brow furrowed, “I remember going back to the fire and changing into dry clothes. I remember thinking you had to be dead, no one survives long on their own in the swamp, but I felt you were still out there somewhere. Then, I remember waking up here this morning.”
Lark nodded. “That’s about what I remember.”
Illera sighed. “I got pulled away by some big reptilian creature. It took me to a bay where there were dozens of little baby reptiles, all biting me. Look at my arm.” She pulled up her sleeve and showed them the large and small puncture wounds, crusted with scabs and dried blood. “I roared at the little ones, and they swam to their mother, and then I climbed out of the water. There was a blue flame in the middle of the island, and I went over to it, and for some reason, I don’t remember now, I went into it. It covered me all over, and I floated. It was the strangest feeling, but I floated off that island and followed the current back to where you were. You don’t remember any of this?”
Puzzled, the men shook their heads. Raven whipped his pan of food from the fire and divided it into four portions, handing them around.
“What did we do?” Lark asked between bites.
“You were around the fire, the three of you. Ashera was terrified and hid under the saddles, and you tried to run me through with your sword. But Raven took my hand, and all the fire went to him, but it dimmed considerably. Then Raven gave it to you, and the two of you passed it back and forth.”
“We were in the blue fire?” Raven shook his head as if he could not believe what she was telling him.
“Yes, all of us, but Ashera. Then yesterday morning, I couldn’t wake up. The bobcat and Maggie both kept trying and finally I sort of managed to force myself to do things, but I was so tired. I’ve never been that tired in all my life. It was better when I washed the ash from myself, so I washed you, and Lark too. We got to the horses and ran from Korul and his men. The bobcat brought us out of the swamp, and I brought us here.”
Lark hunkered down in front of her. “We were covered in ash?”
“Yes. All of us who had worn the fire.”
He shook his head. “For years we have found bodies of those who died in the swamp, covered in ash and perfectly preserved, as though they were just sleeping. Some of them disappeared years before. That ash is one of the most dangerous phenomena in the swamp. We call it being taken by the Darkliete.”
Illera thought. “I don’t know. I think…maybe…we came very close to dying. I was tired enough to be dying, and the two of you weren’t any better. But we passed the flame back and forth between us. Do you think that could have weakened it enough that we survived?”
Lark shook his head. “I don’t know. I do know we were very fortunate.”
Raven nodded. “I think you might be right. What would have enough strength to kill one person couldn’t overpower three. Good lesson.”
Maggie gave an outraged yelp and fluttered her wings. The travelers turned. Far down the hillside, a group of riders paused in a wide clearing. Trees cupped the group in a tight embrace, but the sunlight struck flashes from the pikes and swords they carried. The riders spurred their horses forward and under the covering trees. Lark doused the fire with water as Raven scrambled for the horses. Illera threw their things into the saddlebags and heaved her saddle onto Copper’s back. She jammed the bit between the horse’s teeth and mounted as she buckled the bridle. Lark forced Ashera onto her mount, and they set off up the steep hillside at a spanking trot.
Maggie scouted ahead, finding the easiest way over the rocks. Lark followed close behind her, then Ashera, Illera, and Raven. Small rocks dislodged by the horses tumbled down the hillside in a continuous cascade. The animals slipped and scrambled, heaving higher and higher. After an hour’s hard riding, they made the flattened crest of the hill. They stopped to let the horses blow.
The wind was piercing here, blowing sodden from the bay and driving low scudding clouds before it. It worked its way under cloaks and sought out their damp places to chill the flesh beneath. Illera turned, searching the lower levels for any sign of Korul or his knights. Close behind her Raven turned and pointed. Squinting, she could see their shadows slipping from tree to tree at the verge of forest and rock. They must have been watching Illera’s band, and as if Raven’s finger was a signal, they burst from the covering foliage and charged the hill.
“They’re coming. We have to move.”
Lark spurred his shaking mount ahead, and the others followed. They galloped along the crest of the hill, searching for a way down, but the ocean side proved too steep for the horses. The weary animals maintained the best pace they could, but Illera could see Korul and his men overtaking them. She heard Raven talking behind her and twisted in her saddle to hear him, but the strong winds from the sea blew his words away. She followed his pointing arm with her eyes and beheld the rocky beach littered with seals. She shook her head; it was too much to imagine the selkie among them.
The power of the wind increased, stiffening the travelers and slowing the legs of their steeds. The clouds lowered and grew heavy and Illera tried a few time
s to reach out and touch them. The far side became steeper and more dangerous the further they cantered to the north. The horses were dripping foam now, and their breathing was like a blacksmith’s bellow. Illera pulled Copper to a halt. The chestnut hung her head, coughing and panting. Raven dismounted and came up beside her.
“I’m not going to kill the horses,” she told him. “I can climb down this side, then Korul will chase me, and maybe he’ll lose a few men getting down to the beach.”
“Then I’m coming with you.” He flung himself from Abbadon’s back.
Illera shook her head. “You need to stay with Lark and help Ashera. There is no need for both of us to die.”
Raven laughed. “My Lady, I swore to protect you with my life, and I will do just that. You can’t think that Korul will let Lark and I get away after we defied him in front of his knights, do you?”
“I suppose not. I’ve been so involved with my own problems, I guess never gave any thought to yours. Sorry.” She gave him a sweet smile.
She stepped to the edge of the cliff and lowered herself over. Stones tumbled past her head telling her that Raven followed. Carefully searching for footholds, she lowered herself an inch at a time down the steep and perilous rocks. Above and to one side, Raven loosened an avalanche of fist-sized stone, one of which struck her on the side of the head, threatening to bowl her from her precarious perch. She clutched the hand and footholds as her head spun, the whirling sensations making her feel ill. Only the chill hand of the wind, forcing her against the hillside kept her from falling.
Unable to move either up or down, Illera regretted what she had done in leaving the horses to climb to the beach. Raven moved parallel to her. He stretched out one hand and touched the side of her head. Her stomach rebelled and hurled its contents down the clean rocky face. She could see blood on his fingers when her tears cleared.
“My Lady, I am sorry. I should have stayed further away.” Raven stared, face stricken.
He descended from her view. The wind cut off, and Raven’s body was around her. The sudden warmth made her gasp. He went lower, exposing half of her to the cold.
“Move this foot here,” he commanded, gently guiding her foot to a secure resting place. “Now this one.”
Slowly and painfully, they descended the cliff, Raven guiding her feet as she hung on with her fingers and toes and moved to his command. The last step was steep, a five-foot slide of sheer rock. Raven let go and slid down on his belly. Rising he dusted himself off.
“Let go and I’ll catch you.” Legs braced, he spread his arms wide.
Illera shook her head, too sick and dizzy to try his maneuver. He tugged sharply at her foot, pulling it from the safety of the last foothold and she tumbled downward. She closed her eyes, astonished that they made it down the treacherous cliff face. Finding her balance, she turned, determined to take charge of herself again.
The seals littering the beach regarded them with mournful eyes. On shaking legs, Illera approached them and scanned the group.
“Shwawnigon, are you among the seals,” she called over the pile.
The animals shifted restlessly, a few heading for the sea and diving in. Illera sighed.
Turning to Raven, she began, “I guess it was too much to…”
A man approached them from further up the beach, wearing a sealskin loincloth and a short, thick beard. He smiled as he approached, revealing pointed canine teeth. Illera paused on shaking legs as relief washed over her. He placed his hand on the wound on her head, and she could feel the strength returning to her limbs, and the spinning in her head retreated. He smiled his feral smile again.
“Turnabout. This way.” He turned back the way he had come.
They struggled over rocks and stones and sank in the soft black sand of the smooth areas, but the selkie breezed along, and they had to run to keep up with him. Rounding a curve of smooth rock, Illera saw a tall prowed ship under full sail approaching the rocky shore where the land jutted out in a natural dock. The sails were furled, and the ship glided into the land. Sailors jumped to the stones and made the ship fast, running out a gangplank.
Turning her head, she saw Lark and Ashera leading Copper and Abbadon mincing down the steep path from the top. The selkie sped his steps and Illera began to fall behind. The seal-man scrambled up the ten-foot-high nose of land, reaching down a hand to help her up. Raven boosted her from behind and together they hoisted her to the rough pebbles of the strand connected to the ship. Raven pulled himself up and helped her to her feet. The horses clattered over the gangplank. Illera and Raven staggered after them.
The sailors jumped aboard and pulled in the access. Turning to the land, Illera looked at the hillside. Korul and his men were charging down the steep path to the ship, their mouths open and she could imagine the curses that the wind was blowing away.
The sails zipped up the masts, and the ship regained headway, turning and sweeping to the sea majestically as Korul pulled his foaming war-horse to a halt at the edge of the rock. She could see the purple choler in his face and was tempted to reply in kind to the shaking fist. She restrained herself. Korul’s archers moved to the fore, losing shafts at them. Lark caught her shoulders and pulled her to the wooden planks of the deck, covering her with his own body.
The wind filled the sails, and soon they were past all dangers of the land, heading down the Bay of Hostages to the open sea. Sailors gathered around them.
“Welcome to the Waiting, strangers,” a short man greeted them. “I’m Captain Rivard, and this here’s my vessel.”
The captain was a short man, brown and lean with his eyes wreathed in smile lines and a permanent grin embedded in the furrows of his face. A fringe of graying brown frizz encircled his shining bald head. A uniform of midnight blue bagged on his spare frame, but was as neat and clean as the rest of the crew and ship itself.
“Here now, show this boy where to set the animals.” He appointed one sailor to the task.
Raven went with the horses to a compartment in the middle of the ship.
“An’ you, take the lady and her crew to The cabin amidships.”
Another sailor escorted Lark, Ashera, and Illera down a set of stairs so narrow it was almost a ladder. They were in a corridor lined with doors. The sailor took them to one door, opened it and left them. Illera staggered inside collapsing onto one of the sturdy wooden chairs.
The room was paneled in wood, warm and golden. A pair of narrow bunks, neat and tidy with cream-colored bedding, filled the space behind the door. A chest carved with whorls and abstract shapes of great delicacy decorated its foot. A round table with a raised edge around its circumference was bolted to the middle of the floor, and surrounded by eight of the sturdy wooden chairs. A small round window with a thick glass cover admitted light. The brass frame glowed with warmth in the daylight. Suspended from the ceiling, a brass lantern swung with the motion of the ship, echoing the colors of the frame. A set of floor to ceiling bookshelves made the fourth wall. Slats of wood kept all the volumes in their places. Illera tried to read the titles graven in gold on leather bindings, but it was written in a language with which she was unfamiliar.
Lark escorted Ashera to the lower bunk, and then came and sat beside Illera.
“Do you know who these people are?”
“No, I’m afraid I don’t.”
“Then how could we just jump aboard this ship. We don’t know what they want.”
“The selkie brought me. Besides what choice did we have? Strange ship who wants to save us or Korul who wants to kill us?”
The door opened, and Raven was escorted into the room. The sailor left as Raven sat down beside his brother. Before either could speak again, the door opened, and two tall, slender women entered the room. Dressed in identical flowing robes of sparkling white they moved regally to stand before the three companions. The woman closest to the door had a serenely beautiful face with strong cheekbones and a high forehead surrounded by hair the color of the summer sun. Her eyes
were dark, dark blue with sparkling lights of cerulean and azure. She had full wide red lips and a strong nose. Her companion was almost a mirror image, but with hair the color of midnight.
“I am the priestess dark,” began the raven-haired beauty.
“And I am the priestess light,” returned the other.
“The selkie called us to your rescue,”
“so, we left our pursuits and came to his call.”
“Can you tell us who you are?”
Illera rose, her legs trembling with fatigue and not a little awe. “I am Illera, princess of Madean. These are Lark and Raven my squires and my bodyguard and maidservant Ashera, who was brutalized by Torul, son of Korul until her mind was broken as badly as her body.”
The priestesses moved to the bunk. The blonde turned back to Illera.
“The maid servant’s body is well healed.”
“Who accomplished this service?” the dark one asked.
“I managed to heal her body, but could do nothing for her mind,” Illera replied. “I should warn you that Korul, King of Frain, is hunting us. He thinks I killed his son, but I did not. The brute fell down the stairs and broke his neck.”
The two priestesses gazed at each other, a deep communing. The most incredulous smiles of pleasure spread across their faces. They bowed to Illera and rose again.
“We thank you,”
“Princess, for this cheering.”
“news of the demise of Korul’s”
“spawn. You make”
“the world a cleaner”
“place to live.”
The priestess dark ran her hands an inch above the surface of Ashera’s face. Turning to her twin, she nodded.
“We can”
“heal the mind.”
“of your friend.”
“Give us.”
“a few hours to prepare.”
The priestesses glided from the room. Illera sank back down on the chair and lay her head on the table. The stress of the last few days rose up in her, and she wept, sobbing away the exhaustion and the terror. At last, there were other people to help them. Raven and Lark sat on either side of her and patted her back.