He rounded a bend in the ravine and saw Beldin standing in the trail ahead of them. The dwarf’s matted hair hung in scraggly wet strands about his shoulders, and his beard was dripping. ‘You’d better slow down,’ he growled at them. ‘I could hear you coming for a mile, and we’re not alone in these foothills.’
Regretfully, Garion reined Chretienne in.
‘Exactly where does this ravine lead?’ Belgarath asked the hunchback.
‘It twists and turns a lot, but eventually it opens out onto a ridge top. The ridge runs north and south. If we follow it north, we’ll come to the main caravan route. That’s the fastest way down into Dalasia.’
‘Everybody else knows that, too.’
‘That’s all right. We’ll be at least a day ahead of them. They still have a battle to fight.’
‘Are you going to scout ahead again?’
‘Not until the rain lets up. My feathers are wet. It’d take a derrick to get me off the ground again. Oh, one other thing. When we get to that ridge, we’re going to have to be careful. A couple leagues north, it runs just a few miles above the spot where Nahaz has his ambush set up.’
‘Your choice of a route leaves a lot to be desired,’ Belgarath said. ‘If someone down there happens to look up, we’ll have half of Urvon’s army all over us.’
‘Not unless they can fly. An earthquake went through here a few thousand years ago and it sliced off the side of that ridge. It’s a very steep cliff now.’
‘How high?’
‘High enough—a thousand feet or so.’
‘How far is it to the caravan route?’
‘About fifteen leagues from the place where we’ll come out on the ridge.’
‘North of Urvon’s army, then?’
‘Quite a bit north, yes.’
‘Why did Nahaz pass it by? Why didn’t he just turn west?’
‘He probably didn’t want the Darshivans and their elephants coming up behind him. Besides, he’s a demon. I’d guess he just couldn’t bring himself to pass up the chance for a mass slaughter.’
‘Maybe. Do you think the battle’s going to start this afternoon?’
‘I doubt it. Elephants don’t move all that fast, and the Darshivans are moving cautiously. They’ll stop for the night soon. First thing tomorrow morning, though, things are going to start getting noisy.’
‘Maybe we can get past the place where the ambush is set up during the night.’
‘I wouldn’t advise it. You won’t be able to light any torches, and that cliff’s a sheer drop. If you ride off the edge of it, you’ll bounce all the way back to the Magan.’
Belgarath grunted. ‘Are you sure you can’t fly?’
‘Not a chance. Right now you couldn’t get me into the air with a catapult.’
‘Why don’t you change into a duck?’
‘Why don’t you mind your own business?’
‘All right, Garion,’ Belgarath said with some resignation, ‘I guess it’s up to us, then.’ He slid down out of his saddle and walked on up the ravine. Garion sighed, dismounted, and followed him.
They ranged out ahead, searching the soggy terrain with their ears and noses. It was almost evening when the walls of the ravine began to fan out, and they could see the line of the ridge top ahead. They reached it and loped north through the gradually diminishing drizzle.
‘Grandfather,’ Garion said, ‘I think that’s a cave over there.’ He pointed with his muzzle at an opening in the rock.
‘Let’s look.’
The opening of the cave was narrow, not much more than a wide crack, and the cavern did not open up noticeably inside. It was deep, however, running far back into the rock. It seemed more like a long corridor than a room.
‘What do you think?’ Garion asked as the two of them stood at the entrance peering back into the darkness.
‘It’s a place to get in out of the weather, and it’s a good place to hide for the night. Go get the others, and I’ll see if I can get a fire started.’
Garion turned and loped back down the ridge. The rain was definitely slacking off now, but the wind was coming up, and it was getting colder.
The others were coming warily up out of the ravine when Garion reached them.
‘Another cave?’ Silk said plaintively when Garion told them what he and Belgarath had found.
‘I’ll hold your hand, Kheldar,’ Velvet offered.
‘I appreciate the gesture, Liselle, but I don’t think it’s going to help very much. I loathe caves.’
‘Someday you’ll have to tell me why.’
‘No. I don’t think so. I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t even like to think about it.’
Garion led them to the narrow track atop the ridge. Ce’Nedra’s carriage jolted over the rocky ground. The smug look that had come over her face when she had expropriated the vehicle had evaporated, and she rode with resignation, wincing at every bump.
‘That’s not much of a cave,’ Beldin said critically when they reached the opening in the rock.
‘Feel free to sleep outside,’ Belgarath told him.
‘We’re going to have to put blinders on the horses to get them inside,’ Durnik noted. ‘They’ll take one look at that opening and flatly refuse even to try it.’
‘I feel much the same way myself,’ Silk said. ‘Sometimes it’s surprising just how intelligent horses really are.’
‘We’re not going to be able to get the carriage inside,’ Sadi said.
‘We can cover it with tent canvas and sprinkle dirt over it,’ Durnik said. ‘It won’t be really visible—at least not in the dark.’
‘Let’s get started,’ Belgarath said. ‘I think we want to be inside before it gets much darker.’
It took the better part of half an hour to get the balky horses into the narrow cave. Then Durnik covered the entrance with tent canvas and went back outside to help Eriond and Toth conceal the carriage.
The she-wolf had limped into the cave, followed by her frolicsome pup. Now that he was being fed regularly, the previously listless animal had turned playful. His mother, too, Garion noted, had begun to fill out again, and her fur was glossy and less matted. ‘An excellent den,’ she observed. ‘Will we hunt from here?’
‘No, little sister,’ Polgara replied, stirring the small pot of simmering herbs on the fire. ‘We have things that must be done in another place. Let me have a look at your hurt.’
Obediently, the wolf lay down by the fire and extended her injured paw. Polgara gently unwrapped it and examined the ulcers. ‘Much better,’ she said. ‘It’s nearly healed. Does it still cause you pain?’
‘Pain is to be endured,’ the wolf replied indifferently. ‘It is of no moment.’
‘The amount of pain, however, tells us how much longer it will be until the hurt is gone.’
‘That is true,’ the wolf admitted. ‘I have observed the same thing myself in times past. The pain is less now. The hurt is going away, I think.’
Polgara bathed the injured paw in the pungent juice from her pot, then mixed the pulped herbs with soap and sugar again, packed it over the wound, and replaced the bandage. ‘We will not have to do this again, little sister,’ she told her patient. ‘The hurt is nearly gone.’
‘I am grateful,’ the wolf said simply. ‘Will I be able to walk when it grows light again? The thing which runs on round feet is most uncomfortable to sit in, and the she who makes it run talks much.’
‘Sit in it one more time while it is light,’ Polgara advised. ‘Give the hurt that much more time to go away.’
The wolf sighed and laid her chin on her paws.
They carried water from a nearby spring, and Polgara cooked supper. After they had eaten, Belgarath rose to his feet. ‘Let’s have a look around,’ he said to Garion. ‘I want to get an idea of what we’re dealing with.’
Garion nodded and stood up. The two of them went outside the cave, carrying Silk’s supper out to him. The little man had volunteered, enthusiastically, Garion
thought, to stand watch. ‘Where are you going?’ he asked, sitting down on a rock to eat.
‘We’re going to nose around a bit,’ Belgarath replied.
‘Good idea. You want me to come along?’
‘No. You’d better stay here and keep your eyes open. Warn the others if anybody comes up the ridge.’ Then the old man led Garion a few hundred feet up the ridge line, and the two of them made the change into their other forms. Garion had changed back and forth so many times in the past few months that at times the distinction between the two shapes had begun to blur and, oftentimes, even when he was in his human form, he found himself thinking in the language of wolves. He loped along behind the great silver wolf, considering this peculiar loss of identity.
Belgarath stopped. ‘Keep your mind on what we’re doing,’ he said. ‘Your ears and nose won’t be much good to us if you’re woolgathering.’
‘Yes, revered pack-leader,’ Garion replied, feeling very embarrassed. Wolves seldom needed reprimanding and they were covered with shame when it happened.
When they reached the spot where the side of the ridge had been sheared away by the earthquake, they stopped. The foothills that sloped down toward the plain were dark. Urvon’s army was obviously under orders to build no fires. Out on the plain itself, however, the watch fires twinkled in profusion like small orange stars.
‘Zandramas has a big army,’ Garion sent his thought quietly to his grandfather.
‘Yes,’ the old man agreed. ‘That battle tomorrow morning might take quite a while. Even Nahaz demons are going to need a lot of time to kill that many people.’
‘The longer the better. They can take all week, if they want to. We could be halfway to Kell by then.’
Belgarath looked around. ‘Let’s go on up the ridge a ways and have a look.’
‘All right.’
Despite Beldin’s warning that there might be scouts from the two armies here in the higher foothills, the two wolves encountered no one. ‘They probably went back to report,’ Garion heard Belgarath’s voice speaking in his mind. ‘They’ll be out again first thing in the morning, most likely. Let’s go on back to the cave and get some sleep.’
They rose early the following morning, long before first light. They were all subdued as they ate breakfast. Although the two armies facing each other below them were composed entirely of enemies, none of them took any particular pleasure in the prospect of the bloodshed the day would bring. After breakfast, they carried out the packs and their saddles and, last of all, they led out the horses.
‘You’re quiet this morning, Garion,’ Zakath said as the two were saddling their mounts.
‘I was just wondering if there might be some way to stop what’s going to happen today.’
‘Not really,’ Zakath told him. ‘Their positions are too firmly fixed. It’s too late to turn it back now. The Darshivans will advance, and Urvon’s army will ambush them. I’ve organized enough battles to know that at a certain point things become inevitable.’
‘The way Thull Mardu was?’
‘Thull Mardu was a blunder,’ Zakath admitted. ‘I should have gone around Ce’Nedra’s army instead of trying to go through it. The Grolims had me convinced that they could hold that fog in place all day. I should have known better than to believe them. And I definitely shouldn’t have underestimated the Asturian bowmen. How can they possibly shoot arrows that fast?’
‘There’s a knack to it. Lelldorin showed me how it’s done.’
‘Lelldorin?’
‘An Asturian friend of mine.’
‘We’ve always been told that Arends are stupid to the point of imbecility.’
‘They’re not overly bright,’ Garion admitted. ‘Maybe that’s what makes them such good soldiers. They don’t have enough imagination to be afraid.’ He smiled in the darkness. ‘Mandorallen can’t even conceive of the possibility that he could lose a fight. He’d attack your whole army—all by himself.’
‘The Baron of Vo Mandor? I know his reputation.’ Zakath laughed wryly. ‘It’s entirely possible that he’d win, you know.’
‘Don’t ever tell him that. He has enough problems as it is.’ Garion sighed. ‘I wish he were here, though—and Barak and Hettar and even Relg.’
‘Relg?’
‘He’s an Ulgo mystic. He walks through rock.’
Zakath stared at him.
‘I don’t know how, so don’t ask me. I saw him stick a Grolim into a large boulder once. Then he just left him there with only his hands sticking out.’
Zakath shuddered.
They mounted and rode slowly up the ravine with Ce’Nedra’s carriage jolting along behind them. The sky gradually grew lighter overhead, and Garion saw that they were approaching the edge of the cliff that overlooked the site of the impending battle.
‘Belgarath,’ Zakath said quietly, ‘would you mind a suggestion?’
‘I’ll always listen to suggestions.’
‘This is probably the only place where we’ll be able to see what’s going on down below. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to stop and make sure that the armies down there are fully engaged before we move on? If the Darshivans outflank Urvon’s ambush, we’ll have them no more than a few leagues behind us. We’ll need to run at that point.’
Belgarath frowned. ‘You might be right,’ he conceded. ‘It never hurts to know the whole situation.’ He reined in. ‘All right,’ he said, ‘we’ll stop here and go ahead on foot. There’s cover enough at the edge of that cliff so that we can watch without being seen.’ He swung down from his horse.
‘The ladies and I will wait here, father,’ Polgara told him. ‘We’ve seen battles before. I don’t think we need to watch another one.’ She glanced at Eriond. ‘You stay with us, too,’ she told him.
‘Yes, Polgara.’
The rest of them moved forward at a crouch and took cover behind the few boulders at the edge of the cliff. The gloomy overcast that hung perpetually over Darshiva covered the blasted and decaying plain below with a sullen twilight. Out on the plain, Garion could make out tiny-appearing figures moving forward at what seemed no more than a crawl.
‘I think I’ve detected a flaw in what was otherwise an excellent plan,’ Zakath said wryly. ‘They’re too far away to make out any details.’
‘I can take care of that,’ Beldin growled. ‘A hawk’s eyes are about ten times more acute than a man’s. I can circle over them at a few hundred feet and pick out every detail.’
‘Are you sure your feathers are dry?’ Belgarath asked.
‘That’s why I slept near the fire last night.’
‘All right. Keep me advised.’
‘Naturally.’ The grim hunchbank crouched and blurred. With an agile leap the hawk settled atop a boulder, his fierce eyes looking out over the plain. Then he spread his wings and dropped headlong off the cliff.
‘You people always take that so casually,’ Zakath noted.
‘It’s not really that,’ Sadi murmured, rubbing his scalp. ‘It’s just that we’re numb. The first time I saw him do it, my hair stood on end, and for me that’s a neat trick.’
‘Urvon’s army’s hiding in shallow pits along the ridge tops on either side of that long gorge,’ Belgarath repeated the silent words of the hawk soaring through the murky air far below them, ‘and the elephants are moving directly toward the same gorge.’
Zakath leaned out over the edge and looked down.
‘Careful,’ Garion said, catching the Mallorean’s arm with one hand.
‘It is a long way down,’ Zakath agreed. ‘All right then,’ he said. ‘Now I see why the Darshivans are making for that gorge. It branches at the foot of this cliff, and one branch goes north. It probably connects with the main caravan route.’ He thought about it. ‘It’s actually a good strategy. If Nahaz hadn’t driven his troops so hard, the Darshivans would have reached the caravan route first, and they could have set up an ambush of their own.’ He pulled back away from the edge of the cliff. ‘That’s one of the
reasons I always hate to operate in rough terrain. I got a number of very nasty surprises in Cthol Murgos.’
‘The elephants are starting to form up into a column,’ Belgarath reported, ‘and the rest of the Darshivans are strung out behind them.’
‘Are they putting out scouts?’ Zakath asked.
‘Yes, but they’re only scouting along the floor of the gorge. A few of them went up to the ridge tops, but the Hounds eliminated those.’
They waited as Beldin circled above the two armies.
‘They’re committed now,’ Belgarath said sadly. ‘The elephants are starting into the gorge.’
‘I feel a little sorry for the elephants,’ Durnik said. ‘They didn’t volunteer for this. I wish they didn’t plan to use fire on them.’
‘It’s fairly standard, Goodman,’ Zakath said calmly. ‘Fire’s the only thing elephants are really afraid of. They’ll stampede back down the gorge.’
‘Right through the Darshivans,’ Silk added in a slightly sick voice. ‘Nahaz should get his fill of blood today.’
‘Do we really have to watch this?’ Durnik asked.
‘We have to wait until it gets started,’ Belgarath replied.
‘I think I’ll go back and wait with Pol,’ the smith said, edging back from the cliff top. Then he and Toth went on down the ridge.
‘He’s a very gentle person, isn’t he?’ Zakath said.
‘Usually,’ Garion replied. ‘When it’s necessary, though, he can do what needs doing.’
‘You remember the time he chased that Murgo into a quicksand bog?’ Silk said with a shudder, ‘and then watched him sink?’
‘It shouldn’t be too long now,’ Belgarath said tensely. ‘The last of the elephants just entered the gorge.’
They waited. For some reason, Garion felt suddenly cold.
Then, even though what was happening was more than a league away, they heard a thunderous rumbling sound as Urvon’s troops began to roll huge boulders down on the advancing elephants. Faintly they could hear the agonized screams of the huge beasts. Then, smoke and flame began to boil up out of the gorge as the brutish Karands rained huge piles of burning brush down on the helpless animals.
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