Tarbaby Trouble [Mudflat 1]

by Phoebe Matthews

  "You?"

  He bent forward, squinting in the temple's shadows, his eyes still filled with late afternoon light. The pale, matted growth of hair on his face could not hide his surprise. He had a weak face behind the scars, with small eyes and large loose lips, but I knew the heavy body beneath the fur cape could move more quickly than the dull mind. His robes were mud-spattered. His boots were torn.

  I chose my words. “It is I, keeper of the temple, priest of the Daughter of the Sun."

  "Where is the other one? Nance?"

  "She is gone."

  I thought about adding a few “oh glorious ruler” phrases, but decided it might be overkill. He was not a believer in the Daughter, which was okay with me if I could make him a believer in the templekeeper.

  "Gone? And Tarvik? And everyone else?"

  "Gone. All of them gone."

  He rocked back, frowned, creased his brow. “My lady Ober and my daughter, where are they?"

  Ah, so the stars had sent me a snitch of luck. Their paths had not crossed and she was not with him now to advise him. He didn't know Tarvik had banished her. So here he was, expecting the city to welcome his army with feasting. Until his men had time to search all the storerooms in the castle, he presumed he could replenish his supplies.

  I said, “The lady Ober and your daughter and their servants returned to your own city, my lord. They thought your paths would cross."

  "They were to wait here for me."

  I nodded. “Their plans were changed."

  "Did Tarvik go with them?'

  "No, they left before the fever began."

  "What fever?"

  "The fever that killed so many.” I strained to keep my face calm, my voice firm. No point explaining viruses, but I counted on a few historical references to work. “There is death in this place. It is well your family left before the fever came. It leaves its traces everywhere to spread to anyone who enters here."

  Would he remove my head now or would curiosity slow him down?

  His voice was a rumble of scratches and roughness. I had to lean toward him to be sure of what he asked. “Where is Tarvik and why are you still here?"

  Should I mention plague, apocalypse? Or just tell him my headstone design preference?

  I babbled on because when it comes to execution, delay is always good, and it might give Lor and Nance more time to get away.

  "Tarvik led the living away to build funeral pyres for the dead. He hopes the fires will frighten the lifedrainers back to the mountains."

  "What are you talking about? What lifedrainers?"

  "I know nothing but what I have seen and been told. They come from the western mountains. Is that true? They look like giant bats in the sky and it is they who brought the fever. Is it true they fear fire?"

  "You have seen them?” He grabbed me by the shoulders and leaned so close the smell of him made my stomach go into a tight clutch.

  Between gagging sounds that I could not control, I said, “Yes, several, with wide black wings."

  "Then why are you still here?"

  "I am not of Tarvik's people and so was left behind to tend the temple."

  "Impossible!” he shrieked. “Tarvik is here, hidden somewhere! I will find him. This city is mine now!"

  I widened my eyes and stared at him, then continued with Nance-approved phrases. “Do as you think wise, my lord. May your gods protect you from the fever. It is everywhere, in the city and in the hills."

  And then as he leaned even closer and his stench overwhelmed me, completely unplanned and certainly at a terrible loss of dignity for me, the fried onions burned upward from my stomach and I doubled over and vomited.

  He roared an oath. After wiping my mouth with the hem of my robe, I stood up and tried to regain my balance. I felt myself sway with nausea. He grasped the hilt of his sword and swung it above his head.

  There was no place to run. The temple walls imprisoned me. Beyond its doors his whole ragged army waited and it'd be kind of overoptimistic to think they were too weak to finish off one templekeeper.

  I stared at him, expecting the sword to swing toward me but unable to think what to do.

  A guard ran into the temple. “My lord Erlan,” he shouted, “the far hill burns!"

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  Chapter 19

  Erlan clamped my elbow, his rough fingers digging through my sleeve. He marched out of the temple, dragging me behind him as though I had no more weight than an empty cape. His sword swung freely in his other hand, the blade edged blood red in the last rays of the sun.

  At the gate he stopped, held me at arm's length and stared into the fiery west.

  The arc of the setting sun rested on the far ridge, streaking the sky scarlet. From the base of a hillside beyond the huts at the city's edge, in deep shadow, flames shot upward, hundreds of scrub trees burning like giant bonfires.

  Lor and Nance. As we had planned, they had succeeded in soaking dry branches with oil, then stuffing them into the small scrub trees. Better yet, they had succeeded in hiding from Erlan's army, and had now returned to start the fires.

  Next line in the script was mine. My throat was dry and hot from vomiting and lacked the deep dramatic tones I had practiced, but I managed to make my rasping really loud.

  I shouted, “Funeral pyres!"

  "Who lights them?"

  I shrugged within his grasp. “Those who have not yet died. They burn the bodies to prevent the lifedrainers from stealing the souls."

  "What of Tarvik? Is he with them?” he shouted at me.

  "I do not know if he is with the living or the dead."

  "He was dying?"

  I was perfectly willing to lie to save the others, but I was unable to look at him and keep my voice steady. The problem wasn't honesty, it was my screaming nerves. His face was so close to mine, the furious eyes small glittering dots in the maze of scars, I couldn't think. What a time to forget my lines.

  I fell back on chanting. “I pray the Daughter of the Sun chooses to spare him. And may the Sun guide the dying to his eternal home. May the Daughter gather their souls before the lifedrainers can steal them."

  Even as I spoke the sun disappeared behind the ridge.

  As I knew it would, the last ray cut through a gap in the peaks, a single gold pathway on the hilltop. I caught my breath and glanced at Erlan.

  He stared where I pointed, his scarred face drawn into ridges of thick flesh, tense with anger and confusion.

  There was no reason to trust that my scheme would work, that Erlan would believe the city was destroyed by fever on my word alone, but it was my best shot. He might still follow Tarvik, determined to see for himself the extent of destruction and the number of survivors.

  All I could hope for now was delay to buy traveling time for Tarvik and company. They were the warriors, not me, so part of the game was up to them. I had gained no more than a detour on the way to my own death.

  Those fires meant Nance and Lor had returned. Were they still there, on the far side of the hill? What if the flames spread out of control and caught them?

  Erlan shook me. “You have seen lifedrainers?"

  "Oh yes. Hovering above the funeral fires,” I said.

  What I really wanted to do was shout, “Run! Keep going!"

  If Nance stumbled or faltered or Erlan guessed there were only two humans on that far hill, she and Lor would be trapped. Shaking with fear, I stared at the western hills.

  And then I saw her.

  And then Erlan saw what I saw except that I knew the script and he saw the performance.

  His hand dropped from my arm. I heard his indrawn breath.

  "There, you see! One of the lifedrainers, gathering the souls of the dead,” I cried. “Daughter of the Sun, spare their souls!"

  Drifting out from a cliff's edge and down through the light shaft, huge and black with tattered edges outlined against the last sun rays, was Nance's latest version of a hang glider, a triangular span of wings as wi
de as a tent. She slowly circled low in the sky, through the rift between the smoking hills.

  The effect was greater than Nance or I had hoped it would be.

  The play of fading sun streaks behind the thick screen of smoke made the wings appear both terrifying and ghostly, black as evil and tinged blood red.

  The guards around us fell to their knees and covered their heads with their arms.

  Sure he was stunned to silence, but I didn't dare let Erlan think too long about what he saw, in case he noticed a small figure dangled below the bright wingspan.

  As the glider drifted, I began to chant, “Daughter of the Sun, take our souls. Do not let the evil ones have us, for the sake of your loyal servant Kovat and his brave brother Erlan, do not let them capture us."

  Erlan's brow shadowed his staring eyes, his mouth hung slack. His sword hung loose in his hand, its point touching the ground.

  I backed slowly away.

  His guards cowered on the ground, their hands over their faces.

  When I reached the temple gates, I turned and ran. I raced across the courtyard, through Nance's rooms, through the secret door to the stable. I slid it open, stepped through, shut it behind me, ran out of the empty stable and hurried to the building's corner.

  The sun had dropped and the sky darkened. Now hidden by the thick screen of smoke from the burning shrubs, Nance and Lor would toss the wings into the closest fire. Then they would head down the far side of the hills to where they had tethered their horses and get out of there. From some distant point they would stop to watch.

  If Erlan remained in the city, Nance and Lor would leave forever. We had agreed. Nance had promised. She had done all she could. And Lor would see to it that she kept her promise, no matter how much she might beg to return for me or to join Tarvik.

  "You must save yourselves,” I had told her and she had wept and stormed, but in the end she had promised.

  I did not completely trust her but I trusted Lor to take her away to safety.

  Now I needed to try to save myself. I stared into the shadows and saw no one between me and the castle. Creeping between the protective scrub trees, I tried not to touch their brittle, rustling twigs. With each step my robe caught at some small branch. I clutched it around me. The cracking of dry wood seemed huge, louder than his shout.

  "The templekeeper,” I heard Erlan scream. “The dark one! Where is she?"

  His voice cut the silence. I heard his men moving and calling to each other.

  "Search the courtyard!"

  "Search the temple!"

  "Go in! I command it!"

  Well that sucked. Had I underestimated their superstition? Were they really going to stick around?

  "There is fever here,” a voice protested.

  Good for you. Stick by your convictions, whoever you are.

  "There may be dead inside."

  Whether or not they feared lifedrainers, they all knew fever, remembered plagues. There must have been some really grim outbreaks in the past to make them argue now with Erlan.

  While they hesitated outside the temple, I ran beneath the shadows of the trees to the castle wall and touched the latch stone. Behind me voices rose. I swung about, expecting them to rush around the wall and see me. But in the dusk they hesitated, arguing at the temple gate, not yet thinking to separate and search the grounds. If they plucked up the courage, they would run through the temple, with its many archways and cupboards and passages behind the altar, thinking I might hide in a small space.

  "She carries the fever,” I heard someone mutter, not far away from me.

  Ah. Clever of me to vomit on their feet.

  I slipped inside the secret passageway. My hands pressed against the stones and I slid the door back into place. In darkness, I closed out the shouts of Erlan's army.

  The stale air was as cold as sleet. It seeped through my velvet temple robe. The darkness pressed against my face and filled my ears with silence. I stood in terrifying blackness, pulled my cloak tighter around me, and would have traded just about anything for a flashlight.

  Okay, so I wasn't worried about lifedrainers or fever but there were worse fates. Had others come here to hide in times past, only to be trapped, maybe later found dead from cold or hunger or terror? If I had a light, would I see gleaming bones on the dark floor? And why hadn't I thought about that back when I had the city to myself and could have opened a few doors and carried in a lamp?

  My Gran knew bits and pieces of magic. She could open her hand and shine a light from her palm. True, the light was dim and only lasted thirty seconds, but it was enough to get across the room to the light switch. Maybe not much use, still, it would be nice to light the passage for half a minute and be absolutely certain no one else was here. Then I could feel my way along the walls without any unpleasant surprises.

  How long could I wait here, alone, shivering from fear as much as cold? I had stashed a small sack of food and a jug of water for myself while I waited for Erlan's army to arrive. But when that was gone, if Erlan remained, would I starve? And how could I know when he left?

  When I was not found in the temple, would they search the castle? Or would he cease to care about finding me? Securing food for his army would be more pressing, and there was not a scrap of food in the castle.

  What if their own supplies were more than we'd guessed? What if Erlan decided to stay around, move into the castle, get a start on stealing Kovat's lands? What if I opened the secret door and found myself staring into the face of a guard? What if the doors no longer opened, if the latchstones stuck?

  This could be my tomb.

  I felt my way along the walls in a darkness heavier than I remembered. I couldn't see my own fingers. Some light must have filtered into the secret passage from the rug-covered doorways the other times I had been here. Now all the openings were sealed with stone and I had only touch to guide me.

  When my foot bumped into my food pack, I sank down beside it and hugged it to my chest. Fear drove hunger away, or maybe it was the nausea thing left over from too much close up with Erlan. Why hadn't I thought to grab a temple lamp? Still, if I had, what would it gain me? I knew what my prison looked like, a long stone corridor.

  All right, so I now lived in a narrow prison. A few torches to cast shadows around the stones might have made the prison bearable, unless light revealed grinning skulls. What is it about darkness that is so much more horrifying than cold or hunger or even pain?

  By now the night outside would be as black as the corridor, nothing but the stars to break the dark. Yah, I could use a few stars in here.

  When the sun rose and its light touched the castle walls, would that warm them? I had never been in the passage at daytime. Maybe in the summer it might be warm, but in winter, day and night were pretty much the same. How would I know when the night ended? And even if I knew, what should I do? The original plan was for me to wait until Erlan was frightened away. Then the door would open and Nance would call.

  Dumb me, Erlan would decide to hang around, count on it, maybe for a couple of months. I should figure a way out, maybe sneak out at night and head down the mountainside and find the place where I had entered this damn nightmare because, oh yeah, I knew all sorts of survival tricks. True, they all required a car or cell phone or an all-night deli, and none of them would be much help if I ran into a bear. Or ran out of food or water. Or had to spend a night in the forest alone.

  Maybe I should throw myself on Erlan's mercy because death by beheading was sounding better and better.

  I slid slowly down to the floor and drew the temple robe across my face to close out my fears. Huddled in thick velvet, I hoped to hold my own warmth in around me. A brighter bulb would have stashed her wool cloak here to give herself another layer. If hunger did not drive me to open the door, the cold would. I couldn't remain here for very long.

  My bones stiffened until it seemed to me that winter's frost lined my clothing. Slowly I sat up, pulled open my backpack with numb fingers
, and found the cheese.

  I could imagine Nance saying, “That's you, Stargazer, living on cheese and bread because you don't know how to cook."

  While I nibbled at the cheese like a demented mouse, I tried to decide what to do next.

  Would Erlan have the courage to sleep in Kovat's castle? Or would he be torn between greed and fear? He might camp outside the walls tonight, not knowing how fever spread. But if his ragtag army was down to the last supplies, they would be driven by hunger to search the castle for food. If I was going to escape I should probably act quickly, find the latchstone to Tarvik's room and pray no one in Erlan's army decided to bed down there on the bare floor. With the night to hide me, I might find an unguarded doorway and somehow sneak past Erlan's sleeping men.

  My hands slid along the rough stone, feeling for the indentation of a latchstone or any other sign to tell me exactly where I was in the corridor. The stones were ice cold and sharp with chipped edges that caught at my skin.

  My fingers felt numb. I couldn't even tell where one stone met another.

  How far was I from the outer entrance, how near Tarvik's room? Or had I gone well past it? And how long was the passage? I thought I must be close to the end, but did it end or did it wind back and forth between the walls?

  I leaned against the wall and almost gave way to sobbing. If I did, I might never make it back to sanity. To lie down in snow and rest was to freeze to death, right? I suspected the same would happen now if I stopped walking. Shuffling away from the wall, my hands outstretched, I reached forward to find the corner.

  My fingers touched warm flesh.

  I screamed. The sound tore from my throat. My mind did not direct it. There was no one to hear me or help me, no one who would, nothing a scream could gain. But all the fear that tightened my muscles and blinded my mind now ripped out of me, my throat so tight and raw I could almost taste blood in my shrieks. Worse, I could not stop.

  My voice echoed off the narrow walls.

  I was caught in a strong grasp and pulled forward into a circle of arms. I tried to struggle free, twisted helplessly, kept on screaming, tried to scratch and bite, tried to move my leg and get enough room to jab with my knee.