The Illearth War

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The Illearth War Page 38

by Stephen Donaldson


  When he reached Mhoram, he shouted, "What is it.

  "Creator preserve us!" Mhoram replied. The yowling wind whipped his voice from his lips, and Troy barely heard him. "It is a vortex of trepidation."

  Troy tried to thrust his words past the wind to Mhoram's ears. "What will it do?"

  Shouting squarely into Troy's face, Mhoram answered, "It will make us afraid!"

  The next moment, he pulled at Troy's arm, and pointed upward, toward the top of the tornado. There a score of dark creatures flew, riding the upper reaches of the vortex.

  The tornado had already covered more than half the distance to Doriendor Corishev, and Troy saw the creatures vividly. They were birds as large as kresh. They had clenched satanic faces like bats, wide eaglewings, and massive barbed claws. As they flew, they called to each other, showing double rows of hooked teeth. Their wings beat with lust.

  They were the most fearsome creatures Troy had ever seen. As he stared, he tried to rally himself against them-judge their speed, calculate the time left before their arrival, plan a defense. But they staggered his mind; he could not comprehend an existence which permitted them.

  He struggled to move, regain his balance enough to tell himself that he was already tasting the vortex of trepidation. But he was paralyzed. Voices shouted around him. He had a vague impression that Fleshharrower's hordes greeted the vortex with glee-or were they afraid of it, too? He could not tell.

  Then Ruel grabbed his arm, snatched him away from the wall, shouted into his ear, "Warmark, come! We must make a defense!"

  Troy could not remember ever having heard a Bloodguard shout before. But even now Ruel's voice did not sound like panic. Troy felt that there was something terrible in such immunity. He tried to look around him, but the wind lashed so much dust across the ruins that all details were lost. Both Lords were gone. Warriors ran in all directions, stumbling against the wind. Bloodguard bobbed in and out of view like ghouls.

  Ruel shouted at him again. "We must save the horses! They will go mad with fear!"

  For one long moment, Troy wished High Lord Elena were with him, so that he could tell her this was not his fault. Then, abruptly, he realized that he had

  made another mistake. If he were killed, no one would know how to save the Warward. His final plan would die with him, and every man and woman of his army would be butchered as a result.

  The realization seemed to push him over an edge. He plunged to his knees. The sirocco and the dust were strangling him.

  Ruel shouted, "Warmark! Corruption attacks!"

  At the word Corruption, a complete lucidity came over Troy. Fear filled all his thoughts with crystalline incisiveness. At once, he perceived that the Bloodguard was trying to undo him; Ruel's impenetrable fidelity was a deliberate assault upon his fitness for command.

  The understanding made him reel, but he reacted lucidly, adroitly. He took one last look around him, saw one or two figures still surging back and forth through the livid anguish of the dust. Ruel was moving to capture him. Overhead, the dark birds dropped toward the ruins. Troy picked up a rock and climbed to his feet. When Ruel touched him, he suddenly gestured away behind the Bloodguard. Ruel turned to look. Troy hit him on the back of the skull with the rock.

  Then the Warmark ran. He could not make progress against the wind, so he worked across it. The walls of buildings loomed out of the dust at him. He started toward a door.

  Without warning, he stumbled into First Haft Amorive.

  She caught at him, buffeted him with cries like fear. But she, too, was someone faithful, someone who threatened him. He lunged at her with his shoulder, sent her sprawling. Immediately, he dodged into the maze of the masterplace.

  He fell several times as the wind sprang at him through unexpected gaps in the walls. But he forced himself ahead. The clarity of his terror was complete; he knew what he had to do.

  After a swift, chaotic battle, he found what he needed. With a rush, he lurched out into the center of a large, open space-the remains of one of Doriendor

  Corishev's meeting halls. In this unsheltered expanse, the force of the wind belabored him venomously. He welcomed it. He felt a paradoxical glee of fear; his own terror delighted him. He stood like an exalted fanatic in the open space, and looked up to see how long he would have to wait.

  When he glanced behind him, his heart leaped. One of the birds glided effortlessly toward him, as if it were in total command of the wind. It had a clear approach to him. The ease of its movement thrilled him, and he poised himself to jump into its jaws.

  But as it neared him, he saw that it carried Ruel's crumpled body in its mighty talons. He could see Ruel's flat, dispassionate features. The Bloodguard looked as if he had been betrayed.

  A convulsion shook Troy. As the bird swooped toward him, he remembered who he was. The strength of terror galvanized his muscles; he snatched out his sword and struck.

  His blow split the bird's skull. Its weight bowled him over. Green blood spewed from it over his head and shoulders. The hot blood burned him like a corrosive, and it smelled so thickly of attar that it asphyxiated him. With a choked cry, he clawed at his forehead, trying to tear the pain away. But the acid fire consumed his headband, burned through his skull into his brain. He lost consciousness.

  He awoke to silence and the darkness of night.

  After a long lapse of time like an interminable scream, he raised his head. The wind had piled dust over him, and his movement disturbed it. It filled his throat and mouth and lungs. But he bit back a spasm of coughing, and listened to the darkness.

  All around him, Doriendor Corishev was as still as a cairn. The wind and the vortex were gone, leaving only midnight dust and death to mark their path. Silence lay over the ruins like a bane.

  Then he had to cough. Gasping, retching, he pushed himself to his knees. He sounded explosively loud to himself. He tried to control the violence of his coughing, but he was helpless until the spasm passed.

  As it released him, he realized that he was still clutching his sword. Instinctively, he tightened his grip on it. He cursed his night blindness, then told himself that the darkness was his only hope.

  His face throbbed painfully, but he ignored it.

  He kept himself still while he thought.

  This long after the vortex, he reasoned, all his allies were either dead or gone. If the vortex and the birds had not killed them, they had been swept from the ruins by Fleshharrower's army. So they could not help him. He did not know how much of that army had stayed behind in the masterplace.

  And he could not see. He was vulnerable until daylight. Only the darkness protected him; he could not defend himself.

  His first reaction was to remain where he was, and pray that he was not discovered. But he recognized the futility of that plan. At best, it would only postpone his death. When dawn came, he would still be alone against an unknown number of enemies. No, his one chance was to sneak out of the city now and lose himself in the Wastes. There he might find a gully or hole in which to hide.

  That escape was possible, barely possible, because he had one advantage; none of Fleshharrower's creatures except the ur-viles could move through the ruins at night as well as he. And the Raver would not have left ur-viles behind. They were too valuable. If Troy could remember his former skills-his sense of ambience, his memory for terrain-he would be able to navigate the city.

  He would have to rely on his hearing to warn him of enemies.

  He began by sliding his sword quietly into its scabbard. Then he started groping his way over the hot sand. He needed to verify where he was, and knew only one way to do it.

  Nearby, his hands found a patch of ground that felt burned. The dirt which stuck to his fingers reeked of attar. And in the patch, he located Ruel's twisted body. His sense of touch told him that Ruel was badly charred. The dark bird must have caught fire when it

  died, and burned away, leaving the Bloodguard's corpse behind.

  The touch of that place nause
ated him, and he backed away from it. He was sweating heavily. Sweat stung his burns. The night was hot; sunset had brought no relief to the ruins. Folding his arms over his stomach, he climbed to his feet.

  Standing unsteadily in the open, he tried to clear his mind of Ruel and the bird. He needed to remember how to deal with blindness, how to orient himself in the ruins. But he could not determine which way he had come into this open place. Waving his arms before him, he went in search of a wall.

  His feet distrusted the ground-he could not put them down securely-and he moved awkwardly. His sense of balance had deserted him. His face felt raw, and sweat seared his eye sockets. But he clenched his concentration, and measured the distance.

  In twenty yards, he reached a wall. He touched it at an angle, promptly squared himself to it, then moved along it. He needed a gap which would permit him to touch both sides of the wall. Any discrepancy in temperature between the sides would tell him his directions.

  After twenty more yards, he arrived in a corner. Turning at right angles, he-followed this new wall. He kept himself parallel to it by brushing the stone with his fingers. Shortly, he stumbled into some rubble, and found an entryway.

  The wall here was thick, but he could touch its opposite sides without stretching his arms. Both sides felt very warm, but he thought he discerned a slightly higher temperature on the side facing back into the open space. That direction was west, he reasoned; the afternoon sun would have heated the west side of a wall.

  Now he had to decide which way to go.

  If he went east, he would be less likely to meet enemies. Since they had not already found him, they might be past him, and their search would move from east to west after the Warward. But if any chance of

  help from his friends or Mehryl remained, it would be on the west side.

  The dilemma seemed to have no solution. He found himself shaking his head and moaning through his teeth. At once, he stuffed his throat with silence. He decided to move west toward Mehryl. The added risk was preferable to a safe escape eastward-an escape which would leave him alone in the Southron Wastes, without food or water or a mount.

  He leaned against the unnatural heat of the wall for a few moments, breathing deeply to steady himself. Then he stood up, grasped his sense of direction with all the concentration he could muster, and started walking straight out into the ruined hall.

  His progress was slow. The uncertainty of his steps made him stagger repeatedly away from a true westward line. But he corrected the variations as best he could, and kept going. Without the support of a wall, his balance grew worse at every stride. Before he had covered thirty yards, the floor reeled around him, and he dropped to his knees. He had to clamp his throat shut to keep from whimpering.

  When he regained his feet, he heard quiet laughter -first one voice, then several. It had a cruel sound, as if it were directed at him. It resonated slightly off the walls, so that he could not locate it, but it seemed to come from somewhere ahead.

  He froze where he stood. Helplessly, he prayed that the darkness would cover him.

  But a voice shattered that hope. "Look here, brothers," it said. "A man-alone." Its utterance was awkward, thick with slavering, but Troy could understand it. He could hear the malice in the low chorus of laughter which answered it.

  Other voices spoke.

  "A man, yes. Slayer take him!"

  "Look. Such pretty clothes. An enemy."

  "Ha! Look again, fool. That is no man."

  "He has no eyes."

  "Is it an ur-vile?"

  "No-a man, I say. A man with no eyes! Here is some sport, brothers."

  All the voices laughed again.

  Troy did not stop to wonder how the speakers could see him. He turned, started to run back the way he had come.

  At once, they gave pursuit. He could hear the slap of bare feet on stone, the sharp breathing. They overtook him swiftly. Something veered close to him, tripped him. As he fell, the running feet surrounded him.

  "Go gently, brothers. No quick kill. He will be sport for us all."

  "Do not kill him."

  "Not kill? I want to kill. Kill and eat."

  "The Giant will want this one."

  "After we sport."

  "Why tell the Giant, brothers? He is greedy."

  "He takes our meat."

  "Keep this one for ourselves, yes."

  "Slayer take the Giant."

  "His precious ur-viles. When there is danger, men must go first."

  "Yes! Brothers, we will eat this meat."

  Troy heaved himself to his feet. Through the rapid chatter of the voices, he heard, go first, and almost fell again. If these creatures were the first of Fleshharrower's army to enter the masterplace -- ! But he pushed down the implications of that thought, and snatched out his sword.

  "A sword? Ho ho!"

  "Look, brothers. The man with no eyes wants to play."

  "Play!"

  Troy heard the lash of a whip; cord flicked around his wrist. It caught and jerked, hauled him from his feet. Strong hands took his sword. Something kicked him in the chest, knocked him backward. But his breastplate protected him.

  One of the voices cried, "Slayer! My foot!"

  "Fool!" came the answer. There was laughter.

  "Kill him!"

  A metallic weapon clattered against his breastplate, fell to the ground. He scrambled for it in the dust, but

  sudden hands shoved him away. He' recoiled and got to his feet again.

  He heard the whistle of the whip, and its cord lashed at his ankles. But this time he did not go down.

  "Do not kill him yet. Where is the sport?"

  "Make him play."

  "Yes, brothers. Play."

  "Play for us, man with no eyes"

  The whip burned around his neck. He staggered under the blow. The bewildering crossfire of voices went on.

  "Play, Slayer take you!"

  "Sport for us!"

  "Why sport? I want meat. Blood-wet meat."

  "The Giant feeds us sand."

  "Play, I say! Are you blind, man with no eyes? Does the sun dazzle you?"

  This gibe was met with loud laughter. But Troy stood still in his dismay. The sun? he thought numbly. Then he had chosen the wrong direction, east instead of west; he had walked right into these creatures. He wanted to scream. But he was past screaming. He could feel the light of his life going out. His hands shook as he tried to straighten his sunglasses.

  "Dear God," he groaned.

  Numbly, as if he did not know what he was doing, he put his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill whistle.

  The whip coiled around his waist and whirled him to the ground.

  "Play!" the voices shouted raggedly together.

  But when he stumbled to his feet again, he heard . the sound of hooves. And a moment later, Mehryl's whinny cut through the gibbering voices. It touched Troy's heart like the call of a trumpet. He jerked up ; his head, and his ears searched, trying to locate the

  Ranyhyn.

  The voices changed to shouts of hunger as the ' hooves charged. "Ranyhyn!" "Kill it!"

  "Meat!" Hands grabbed Troy. He grappled with a fist that

  held a knife. But then the noise of hooves rushed close to him. An impact flung his assailant away. He turned, tried to leap onto Mehryl's back. But he only put himself in Mehryl's path. The shoulder of the Ranyhyn struck him, knocked him down.

  Then he could hear bare feet leaping to the attack. The whip cracked, knives swished. Mehryl was forced away from him. Hooves skittered on the stone as the Ranyhyn retreated. Howling triumphantly, the creatures gave chase. The sounds receded.

  Troy pushed himself to his feet. His heart thudded in his chest; pain throbbed sharply in his face. The noises of pursuit seemed to indicate that he was being left alone. But he did not move. Concentrating all his attention, he tried to hear over the beat of his pain.

  For a long moment, the open space around him sounded empty, still. He waved his arms,
and touched nothing.

  But then he heard a sharp intake of breath.

  He was trembling violently. He wanted to turn and run. But he forced himself to hold his ground. He concentrated, bent all his alertness toward the sound. In the distance, the other creatures had lost Mehryl. They were returning; he could hear them.

  But the near voice hissed, "I kill you. You hurt my foot. Slayer take them! You are my meat."

  Troy could sense the creature's approach. It loomed out of the blankness like a faint pressure on his face. The rasp of its breathing grew louder. With every step, he felt its ambience more acutely.

  The tension was excruciating, but he held himself still. He waited. Interminable time passed.

  Suddenly, he felt the creature bunching to spring.

  He snatched Manethrall Rue's cord from his belt, looped it around the neck of his attacker, and jerked as the creature hit him. He put all his strength into the pull. The creature's leap toppled him, but he clung to the cord, heaved on it. The creature landed on top of him. He threw his weight around, got himself onto the creature. He kept pulling. Now he could feel the limpness of the body under him. But he did not re

  lease his hold. Straining on the cord; he banged the creature's head repeatedly against the stone.

  He was gasping for breath. Dimly, he could hear the other creatures charging him.

  He did not release his hold

  Then power crackled through the air. Flame burst around him. He heard shouts, and the clash of swords. Bowstrings thrummed. Creatures screamed, ran, fell heavily.

  A moment later, hands lifted Troy. Rue's cord was taken from his rigid fingers. First Haft Amorine cried, "Warmark! Warmark! Praise the Creator, you are safe!" She was weeping with relief. People moved around him. He heard Lord Mhoram say, "My friend, you have led us a merry chase. Without Mehryl's aid, we would not have found you in time." The voice came disembodied out of the blankness.

  At first, Troy could not speak. His heart struggled through a crisis. It made him gasp so hard that he could barely stand. He sounded as if he were trying to sob.

 

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