They rode towards the mountain to their west and south. The army had at least managed to meet the Triols early, far to the east of the suspected location of the chamber where the swords lay.
They had decided to ride the horses out, and had brought two “extra” horses that had been being used as pack animals. That way they could trot longer without resting the horses.
As the sun rose, casting its light onto the lands below, Hesiod paused to look behind them. The camp was already just a smear on the valley below.
“We’ve come far," he said, nodding to Renek. “Hopefully we won’t be missed for hours.”
Renek snorted. “I don’t doubt that we’re already missed.”
“The question is, are they going to come after us?” Hesiod quietly mused.
Renek snorted again. “If we’re lucky, James will stay behind.” He turned his horse around, and began to walk up the hillside again.
“Laggard,” Hesiod said, grinning, as he passed Renek at a trot.
* * *
By midday, it was clear that they were, in fact, being followed. A small group had broken off from what was clearly a battle between the main forces. A small dust plume marked their location despite the distance.
“They’re riding hard,” Hesiod said. “Think it’s Triols following us, or our own men?” He grinned.
Renek tilted his head to the side for a moment, considering. “I hope that they’re Triols,” he muttered. “We should be visible to them the same way they’re visible to us.”
“Harder to see us in the hills, though,” Hesiod interjected.
“I suppose.” Renek nodded. “But, in reality I doubt they’re Triol. They’ve come quite a ways, and I think that means they left a while ago.”
Hesiod grunted. “I fear that you’re right. We should ride. That little display the men put on for you last night probably angered James a great deal.”
Renek nodded, and they galloped a little while.
* * *
“Even switching horses frequently, the horses can’t keep up this fast of a canter for too long,” Renek said, sweat pouring down his face. “I’m not sure that I can, either.”
Hesiod grunted and slowed his horse to a walk. “They’re catching up with us. I’m not sure how they’re doing it … we’re going fast.” He mopped his brow with a handkerchief.
“They’ve closed almost half the distance. It is strange.” Renek twisted in his saddle to look back at the group. “From this distance, it’s hard to tell, but it doesn’t look to me like they have extra horses.”
Hesiod nodded. “They must have a Singer with them.” He, too, twisted to look back. “They can give some of their energy to animals. He must be getting tired, though—they can’t keep that sort of thing up all day.” He grimaced. “We might have a better chance if we split up.”
“Split up?” Renek asked, eyebrows raised.
“Yes.” Hesiod reached into his pouch and pulled out a pair of small rocks, about the size of the Kingdom’s largest coin—but about twice as thick. They had holes in their middles about half an inch across. He handed one to Renek.
“It’s so smooth,” Renek said, sliding his fingers over the stone. “What is it?”
“It’s a communications stone.” Hesiod smiled. “They’re fairly rare. They have to be found in a streambed. The hole has to be worn into the stone by the water, and then one of the Singer can link two of the stones.” He gestured at the stone. “Look carefully at the hole. Hold it up to the light.”
Renek held his stone up toward the peak in front of them, and gasped. In the middle of the stone, the hole showed the valley behind them instead of the peak. Then it blurred and changed to a miniature version of Hesiod’s grinning face. Renek at Hesiod, then back at the stone, then back at Hesiod. Hesiod was holding the stone about a foot in front of his face, and was looking into it, grinning.
“We can hear each other too,” Hesiod said. “This way, if one of us finds the cave, we can direct the other and meet up again.
“We’d better get going,” he added, glancing back at the approaching soldiers. “They’ll catch up with us by nightfall if they can keep up this speed.”
Renek’s smile faded. “Which way should we go?”
“You head west, around the base of the mountain, and I’ll head towards the peak.” He shrugged. “We’ll see if they follow you, me, or both of us.”
Renek nodded, and turned his horses to the west. “See you soon," he said, over his shoulder, as he held up the stone circle.
* * *
Hesiod had been right; the soldiers had slowed down a little while after the two had split up. They didn’t close any distance for the rest of the day.
Renek stopped for the night after traveling nearly to the western side of the mountain. As he was scavenging for scrub brush to build a fire with, he came upon some old bones. They were human-shaped, but much larger.
Huh. I wonder what happened to him. Renek thought. Giants are pretty formidable creatures. After a moment, he shrugged and went back to gathering wood.
He made the fire behind a boulder so that it wouldn’t be as visible, and he waited until after full dark so the smoke wouldn’t give him away. He sat and warmed his hands before curling up on the ground.
“Renek.” He heard Hesiod’s voice, muffled and tiny. “Renek! All I can see is blackness!” Renek leapt up, opened his pack, and pulled out the stone Hesiod had given him.
“They’re following me, Renek,” Hesiod said as soon as Renek could see his face. “I don’t think they’re stopping to rest, tonight. I don’t think you should stop.”
“I already did,” Renek admitted, grimacing. “I suppose you’re going to tell me to get going, though.” He walked over to the fire, which was dying down, and started to kick dirt onto it.
“Yes, I am. I don’t know who it is, but I could tell that there were five of them.” He grimaced, and his head turned to the left. “No extra horses,” he added. “One of them must be a Singer.”
Renek nodded. “Then it’s almost certainly the prince, or the prince sent them.”
Hesiod grunted in agreement. “Nobody else would be able to ask the Singers to do something like this.”
“Not and have them actually do it, anyway.” Renek shrugged.
“Ok, I’ve got to go. I’m getting near the top of the mountain. I saw a cleft in the rock before the Sun fully set, I’m heading towards that.”
“Ok,” Renek said. “That sounds promising. I’m going to start climbing from this side. One of us will get there, anyway.” He put the stone into a belt pouch and climbed back up on his horse. He nudged the horse into a walk in the dark, directly up the mountainside. A few minutes later, he came to a small bubbling stream.
That’s odd. There must be a spring around here somewhere. He dismounted to let the horses drink for a while and to fill his water skins. Or maybe it’s snowmelt. He thought, gazing up at the mountaintop in the darkness.
After the horses had drunk their fill, he mounted again and walked into the darkness.
* * *
He heard a muffled cry, as if from a distance, and stared into the darkness. There moon was crescent waning—setting in the early evening—and along with the starlight the night’s darkness was barely pushed back enough for him to walk the horses—there certainly wasn’t enough light to pinpoint whoever was making the noise.
“Hello?” he said cautiously. He was exhausted. It was the middle of when he normally slept, and he felt groggy. “Who’s there?”
There were sounds of a struggle. Swords clashing and yelling drifted through the night and to his ears.
“Where are you?” He yelled into the night, cupping his hands on either side of his mouth. “Are you in trouble?”
There was a hollow thwacking noise, and then the thump of a body hitting the ground. The latter sound was strangely loud, and Renek almost slapped his forehead and pulled out the stone that Hesiod had given him. There was no vision in the cent
er, but he could hear a faint voice speaking. He quickly held the stone up to his ear.
“Well, we got one of them.” It was the prince’s voice. “You—tie him up.” Loud sounds of rumpling cloth came through the stone. “Can you determine what direction Renek is in?” James said.
His voice is fading…I hope he stays close enough that I can hear him. Renek thought to himself. Despite the excitement of hearing his pursuers, he was still tired. He closed his eyes for a moment.
He heard a muffled reply to James.
“Well, you have said that you need to rest, Sorcerer,” James said accusingly. “If you cannot…” James’s voice faded.
Renek paused to consider.
Are they going to rest for the rest of the night? He grimaced, wincing in tiredness. “Can I lie down for a little while?” He asked the circle of rock in front of him, lifting his eyebrows sarcastically.
“Did you hear that?” someone said through the rock. It was a bit muffled, but he could hear every word.
Ugh. That must be the soldier who tied Hesiod. He grimaced again—more quietly, this time—and leaned on his horse’s neck, still holding the stone up to his ear.
“No, what?” another voice said through the stone.
‘I heard something. I mean, someone.”
Renek couldn’t hear anything.
“Hey, this guy’s holding something!” one of the voices said. “I don’t think he’s out!”
There was another thump, and then it went silent.
Renek slid off his horse gratefully, pulled a blanket out of his pack, and went to sleep.
* * *
He awoke, shivering, while it was still completely dark. He studied the stars for a moment.
The dawn star isn’t up yet. I hope that James isn’t either. He searched for a star he knew, but couldn’t seem to find one.
He tried to sit up, but he had wrapped himself up in the thin blanket so tightly that he couldn’t move. He pulled his blanket out from under his right side, and managed to stand up. He stuffed the blanket into the saddlebag. The horse snuffled as he patted her on the neck.
“Good girl," he said. “I know you’re tired, but we’ve got to get moving.” He mounted and started walking, the other horse in tow, his bridle tied to his saddle. Renek stared up at the sky.
Ah, finally!The Lily is still in the sky, he thought, spotting one of the seven flower constellations. So it has to be before midnight, still. No wonder I couldn’t find anything, I was expecting it to be much later. I must’ve slept less than a half an hour…what’s that? He thought as he looked back down from the sky.
There was a fire up ahead, flickering in the night, no more than a hundred feet ahead. He slipped off of his horse, and tied her to a bush, then crept forward towards the light.
About twenty feet from the fire, he could tell that there were two people sleeping in the circle of the fire, which was nearly burnt out. He crept forward a little further, hiding behind a bush, trying to get close enough to see their colors.
He whirled as he heard a small scuffing sound.
“You were right,” James said as he reached over the bush to grab Renek’s collar. “He went right for it.” The prince brought a dagger up to Renek’s neck. “Come with me, deserter.”
Into the Mountain
Prince James and his Singer tied Renek up quite tightly, then threw him next to Hesiod. They were just outside the light and warmth of the fire.
Hesiod rolled his eyes at Renek. “At least we’re not gagged,” he whispered, almost silently.
Renek nodded.
“All right, then,” James said. “You can have your rest now, Sorcerer. But we’re breaking camp no later than an hour past sunrise.” They had thrown Renek in such a way that he couldn’t see the camp, but Hesiod was watching.
“Thank you, your highness,” the man said. It took only a few moments before he started snoring loudly.
“Oh, for the gods’ sake,” James said. There was a thumping noise, and the snoring stopped.
Renek looked at Hesiod and raised his eyebrows.
“He kicked him,” Hesiod whispered. “Try to get to sleep before he starts snoring again.”
Renek snorted, but tried to get comfortable with his hands tied behind him. He watched the stars turn in the sky above him, but sleep didn’t come for a long time.
* * *
When he woke again, it was still dark. The Singer was snoring loudly.
This is a freakishly long night, he thought to himself. If I keep waking up, does that make the night longer, or is it just the whole ‘bound and lying in the cold night on a mountainside with a rock sticking in my side’ thing? His brow furrowed as he realized that nobody was lying in front of him.
Where’s Hesiod?
A moment later, a knife was sawing at the rope holding his hands together. He twisted to look backwards, and saw the silhouette of a man bending over him.
“They’re all asleep. They didn’t set a watch,” Hesiod whispered with glee, his lips close to Renek’s ear. “I tensed up while they were tying me, so it was easy to slip out of the ropes.” He glanced towards the glowing coals where the others were sleeping. “Amateurs.”
“What time is it?” Renek was barely breathing, he was trying to be so quiet.
“About an hour before dawn. I figure we’ve got about a half an hour to get a decent head start.”
Renek felt the rope part, and blood started pounding in his hands again. Hesiod bent to Renek’s feet, and soon he was standing in the cold mountain air.
Renek felt Hesiod’s fingers on his lips, accentuating the need for silence. They tiptoed over to the horses. Renek was happy to feel his packs—James had obviously found his horses.
“We’re going to have to move quickly, but silence is important,” Hesiod whispered. Soon, both of them were mounted. “I’m going to lead their horses away, and then let them go. Hopefully, they’ll head back to camp. I’d kill them, but the horses didn’t do anything wrong, and it would make too much noise anyway.
“Hold on to this rope so we don’t get separated," he said, holding out the rope while he held his lips next to Renek’s ear. “And for the gods’ sake, be quiet!”
They walked quietly for about half an hour before the sky lightened in the east. Then they let go of the bridles to the other horses, and slapped them on the rump to get them going back towards the camp.
“I hope they go far,” Hesiod said, in a normal voice. “Let’s ride.”
They turned towards the peak and spurred their horses into a gallop.
* * *
Hesiod and Renek galloped up the hillside, which was growing steeper by the minute.
“We’ve been running for a long time! The horses are getting tired!” Renek yelled to Hesiod, who reined his horse in to a walk. He patted his horse’s shoulder, and grimaced. He then wiped his hand on his pants; it was soaking wet with his horse’s sweat.
Both of the horses were trembling from exertion. They had come at least four miles in ten minutes.
Renek looked accusingly at Hesiod. “Are you trying to kill the horses?” He asked, sarcasm—and concern—in his voice.
Hesiod raised his eyebrows. “Better the horses dead than us caught by that bastard James," he said, darkly. “If he catches us again he won’t hesitate to kill us.”
Renek was shocked. “You think he’d kill his own men?”
“Certainly.” Hesiod nodded. “Not only did we ‘desert,’ as he calls it, but we escaped him the same evening that we were caught. He won’t want that story told, it’s embarrassing.
“Not to mention that he believes that the legend is true,” he continued. “He wants those swords. He’ll be after us already, and out for blood.”
Renek looked around them, trying to get his bearings. “We headed pretty close to straight to the top of the mountain," he said, pointing towards the east. “But it’s getting steep.”
Hesiod nodded. “It seems a lot steeper, on this side. I was
able to ride nearly to the top on the other side.”
They both stared into the dark shadow that covered this side of the mountain as their horses walked. The beasts had stopped wheezing. Renek absent-mindedly patted his mare on the neck.
“I think I see a path,” Renek said, gesturing wearily. “We can ride up to it and see how it climbs the mountain.” He looked down at his horse, which was beginning to shiver, its sweat steaming off its body in the cold morning. “We’d better get these horses warmed up, too…it’s amazing how fast they get cold.”
Hesiod grinned. “What, you mean it’s surprising that they get cold, when they’re in the shadow of a mountain, on a cold morning, and drenched with sweat?”
They trotted up to where the mountain truly started. There was a path, a narrow one, that went diagonally up to the left, then switched back and went up to the right before switching back again.
“So that’s how you make a path up a cliff,” Hesiod said, nodding. “Interesting. Still pretty steep, though.” He turned to Renek. “I don’t think it’s wide enough for us to ride the horses. Shall we bring them along, or tie them up here?”
Renek considered, squinting up at the path. “Let’s tie them here," he said. “We’ll be able to move more quickly without them, I think.”
He dismounted and put a small amount of feed into his nosebag, then strapped it on over his mare’s head. “Good girl," he said, petting her neck right behind her ear. Hesiod followed suit, but he repeatedly glanced back at the hillside below them.
“This is taking too long, Renek. We’ve got to hurry, they’re bound to be right behind us.”
“Well, let’s get climbing then.” Renek tied his lead to a bush nearby, straightened, and strode toward the narrow path, Hesiod following in his wake.
* * *
A half an hour later, they were four switchbacks higher and could see the prince and his men approaching on horseback.
Legend of the Swords: War Page 23