by David Wind
Siwel started to say something, but stopped; instead, he leaned down, stretching out his arm to grasp Mikaal’s, and said, “May your feet be swift, your sword true and your way safe.”
“And yours,” Mikaal responded. “Return swiftly so we may see each other soon.”
Siwel turned to Areenna and bowed slightly. “Go with strength, My Princess.”
Areenna put her hand over her heart and nodded formally to him.
Three minutes later, as the hoof beats of the kraals faded, Areenna and Mikaal crossed the shallow river and entered Aldimor.
High above and slightly behind them flew a black dangelore that had been following them since their departure from Tolemac.
CHAPTER 24
LESSIG STARED AT the dark wall before her but saw it not; rather, she watched through the dangelore’s eyes as the two crossed the river and turned eastward, following the river bank.
Why Aldimor? Why had they come? She shifted her mindset, knowing those thoughts were unimportant as she tried to discover their ultimate destination, considering their path was eastward, and toward the sea rather than northeast to Dees.
Had they guessed the landing place of the coming fleet? If so, what could two do against The Masters? Each question led to another until she gave up guessing and again concentrated on the dangelore. As she did, the two changed course and turned north.
To Dees? she wondered when they entered a deep and wide grove of pine trees and disappeared from sight. She pushed the dangelore to fly lower and the carrion eater responded with a dive toward the trees.
Find them!
<><><>
“There,” Mikaal said, pointing to where the blue and white rabt they’d startled had raced into a grove of trees. “I would prefer rabt to dried meat for our next meal.”
Mikaal turned the kraal toward the grove. Areenna had no choice but to follow and even as she shook her head, she smiled, thinking about how good the rabt would taste.
A dozen minutes later, they were deep in the grove, a shaft readied in her bow and her senses ranging in search of the rabt. It took her only a few seconds to locate it and with a nod to Mikaal, she slipped from her saddle and started toward where the furry animal hid.
When she was within twenty yards of where the rabt hid, she moved sideways until she found a clear path for her arrow. Kneeling, she drew the shaft back. The bow bent, the gut pulled tight, the muscles in her forearm were taut and steady as she aimed the shaft. Just as she opened the two fingers securing the arrow’s noc, a loud cawing cry shattered the silence.
The rabt jumped and the arrow struck deep into the tree behind the rabt. From above, the body of a dangelore tumbled through the branches to fall at Areenna’s feet.
The instant the bird struck the ground; Gaalrie’s mind touch caught her. A second later, the black and cinnamon treygone glided through the branches to land next to the dead bird.
Areenna scooped up the giant bird, brought her against her chest and buried her face in her aoutems, feathers. Thank you, Sister. The familiar and comfortable feel of her aoutem’s mind filled her.
“How could she know?” Mikaal asked as he knelt by them and stroked Gaalrie’s head with two fingers.
Looking at Mikaal, Areenna cocked her head to the side. “A good question.” She closed her eyes and rejoined with Gaalrie, gently probing the treygone’s memory. She did not probe her aoutem’s mind often, but had a few times and knew where and how to find memories.
She opened her eyes and said, “The dangelore followed us from Tolemac. Gaalrie followed us for a short while after we left, flying high so I would not detect her. When she saw the dangelore following, she sensed something wrong and shadowed it. When we turned to the trees, and the dangelore dove toward us, she attacked it because she thought it was going after us.”
“Lessig’s creature?”
Absolutely! Areenna responded. “I missed the rabt,” she added aloud.
A low laugh tumbled from between his lips. “The rabt jumped so high the arrow went under it.”
“It was our dinner.”
“There are others,” Mikaal responded, “and I am sure Gaalrie can find one for us.”
“She has to go back to Tolemac.”
“Later.”
Areenna turned to Gaalrie and sent her a gentle asking. Gaalrie drew herself tall, spread her wings and lifted to the sky.
<><><>
“Once more,” Enaid said, pointing to the smoking tip of a two-hundred-foot tall pine tree.
“How many times must I do this?” Neleh asked, her words spoken in a harsh staccato rhythm of an annoyed teenager.
Enaid raised a single eyebrow. “Until I say enough. Neleh, this is what makes the difference between a Women of Power and a woman of great power.”
Neleh stared at Enaid for a half minute before she exhaled. “I am sorry grandmo—Enaid,” she corrected herself before Enaid could interrupt. “I’m tired.”
Enaid nodded. “And in battle you will be more than tired, so give me not excuse or apology; show me, now!”
Neleh spun, raised both hands and sent a bolt of amber tinged white light to the already smoldering treetop. At the same time, she cast a shield around them, an inverted mushroom of a shield that would protect them from another’s psychic weapon.
This time, the tree top did not catch on fire; rather, it exploded and disappeared within the space of a heartbeat. Enaid said nothing while she stared at the tree that used to be twenty feet taller.
Enaid turned to Neleh and, in the same level and unemotional voice she’d used moments before, commented, “Better. Let us work with Duv.”
<><><>
The grove of trees was dark; their fire extinguished an hour before and the moon lay hidden behind heavy clouds. Earlier, Areenna had sent Gaalrie back to Tolemac and to Neleh, but only after she’d asked the treygone to scout the land ahead. On Gaalrie’s return from scouting, Areenna thanked the treygone and sent her back to Tolemac, and Neleh.
Areenna and Mikaal had seen that the grove of trees proved to be more a forest, extending for another five miles before thinning into the more civilized areas and farms using the river for irrigation. Now, lying in their sleeping silks, Mikaal’s arm around Areenna’s shoulder, her head on his chest, she said, “We will have to ride fast before she finds us again.”
“Yes. We leave early and ride until we reach the sea. It will be dark and the village asleep.”
“What if Timon is not there?”
“It matters not,” he said. “Either way, we will be in a boat. If he is there, we transfer to his boat. If not, we take the one we are in.”
She closed her eyes as the long day finally caught up with her.
“Rest easy,” Mikaal whispered when he heard the evenness of her breathing. But sleep eluded him until he realized that without their aoutems, without Gaalrie and Charka, they were vulnerable, for they had no guards to watch over them as they slept.
He thought about rising and sitting guard, but decided against it. Areenna had already seen them on the Island, which meant there would be no trouble tonight; yet the earlier incident with the dangelore bothered him. Lessig knew where they had been when Gaalrie had killed the dangelore, which meant she could send another creature to follow them.
He shifted, easing Areenna from his chest, and slipped out of the lean-to. He went to where his bag lay, and took out the rolled map of Aldimor and, with a flick of his wrist, pulled up a globe of light to see by. He traced the route they’d planned to use, and looked at the various ways to reach Aldimor’s fishing village and their boats.
It took him only a few minutes to work out the best way to hide their journey and realized that using the wastelands would be to their advantage, as Lessig would be looking for them in Aldimor. Rising, he put the map back into the bag and returned to the lean-to and, as he laid back down, set a reminder in his mind to wake before dawn. With that thought easing his tension, Mikaal drifted into sleep.
<><><
>
Areenna woke with a start. She blinked several times before realizing it was still dark. Then she felt Mikaal joined within her. Stripping off the silks, she rolled, stood, and a heartbeat later, asked, What happened?
Nothing. “After you fell asleep, I realized Lessig would have another creature ready to follow us when we come out of the trees. Your block is effective to keep Lessig unaware of us, but her creatures can see us, yes?”
“Of course,” she said, wondering where he was leading.
“So when we leave, we go back to where we entered the woods, cross the river again, and go through the wastelands, not Aldimor, where she will be looking for us.”
“How certain are you that she has set no sentry behind us?”
“Why would she? I’ve used my sensing, as you taught me. Nothing from here to the edge of the woods has any purpose other than hunting for food or mating.”
Areenna, her eyes fully adjusted to the low light the few remaining stars granted them, studied his face. “It will cost us a few hours, but it may be worth the extra time. Thank you.”
She watched Mikaal’s brows pull together, puzzled. “Why thank me?”
“For thinking of this, while I did not.”
“And you thank me for doing what I should? No more, Areenna, never thank me for the obvious. We are one.”
Something in his voice tripped her heart. She started to apologize but stopped herself, knowing he would have a similar reaction. Instead, she nodded, smiled, and stroked his cheek with the back of her fingertips. “I understand.”
“Good, let’s eat and go before the sun rises.”
Nine long hours later found them moving east in the greyish brown wastelands separating Llawnroc from Aldimor. The ground was dry, what little vegetation grew consisted of washed out bushes and strands of hay-like grass. They had not seen another creature since they’d reached the western bank of the shallow river, and Areenna was pleased about that.
She glanced at Mikaal, who rode his kraal with the reins hanging loose on its neck while he studied the map. “Does your map tell us where the best crossing will be?”
Mikaal looked up from the map. “We are perhaps four hours from where we need to cross and five hours from the village.”
Areenna looked at the sky. “It will be dark in two hours. By the time we reach it, the villagers should be asleep, or at least occupied.”
“I would be more comfortable with Gaalrie looking ahead.”
“As would I.” She shrugged her shoulders. Are you not yet tired of these things we do? Do you not yearn to be done with this...if ever that will happen?
He turned to her, his gray eyes ablaze. He shook his head and reached across to take her hand. Think you that there will ever be a time we can do so, if the Dark Masters are not defeated? Yes, I want an end to it, to be able to breath and to...for you and I—
When he cut himself off, Areenna felt it as though he’d used a knife to sever the words from his thoughts. She stared at him, knowing exactly what he wanted to say. She said nothing further, rather, she turned and looked ahead, knowing there were no words to speak, or thoughts to share, not until The Masters were defeated...or they lay dead.
<><><>
There was no moon, and they had only the starlight to guide them—starlight and their extraordinary senses. They’d crossed back to Aldimor just before full darkness, and spent the next several hours riding in the same silence as earlier.
When they reached the first of the cultivated fields, Areenna stopped her kraal. Hold.
Mikaal drew back on the reigns. What?
Do you not feel it? The power?
She joined with him instantly. There, she said, pointing his senses in the direction of the emanations.
As it had been happening since the Staff transferred itself to them, they moved in unison, with Areenna leading the way toward what she had first become aware. It took only moments to find the presence of three women whose block was good enough to protect their presence from most, but not strong enough to prevent Areenna and Mikaal from finding them.
They are not overly powerful. Do you feel them?
I do. I sense no darkness.
Nor I.
I think we must go to them.
It can endanger our mission.
Areenna shook her head. “There is something about them. They are not here to enjoy the night. They hide from something, of that much I am certain.”
She sat still under Mikaal’s scrutiny. Then he smiled. “I have never known you to be wrong, My Princess.”
She drew in a deep breath and dug her heels into the kraal’s flanks. Seven minutes later, they stopped on the narrow strip of uncultivated land separating two fields.
Dismounting, and with a soft command, Areenna bound the kraals to where they stood and, with Mikaal, started toward the women.
I should go first. A man will frighten them.
You have no need to remind me.
She smiled and stepped between the tall leaves of the kern stalks. Ten steps later, she reached the three women who sat together on a swath of ground within the cultivated field. A tent was set off to one side. No fire burned.
Taking a deep breath, Areenna stepped out of the kern stalks and into the clearing. The woman who faced in her direction stiffened. An instant later, the other two turned and together, they stood to face Areenna the newcomer.
“Come no further,” said the woman who first spotted Areenna. “We have not any wish to harm you.”
“Then harm me you should not.”
“What do you here?” the woman asked. Areenna sensed she was raising her powers.
“I seek those not aligned with Lessig and the Dark Ones. I think you three are among those.”
The woman glanced at her companions then back at Areenna. “Who are you?”
“One strong enough to sense you through your block. If I was your enemy the fight would be over.”
“Who are you?”
“I am Areenna of Freemorn.”
“You are far from Freemorn,” the woman to Areenna’s right said. “What do you here?”
“We...I go to the Island.”
All three of the women’s eyes widened. “Liar,” the first woman said, and raised her palms toward Areenna, a flare of energy bursting from her hands.
<><><>
Mikaal watched the goings on from his concealment. Then, everything changed. The world spun and stopped and he saw, not twenty feet away, a man stand and draw back on his bow. Mikaal watched the shaft strike Areenna in the center of her chest.
He shook his head and his vision cleared. Down! Mikaal screamed silently.
Without hesitation, Mikaal pulled the knife from its sheath and raced toward where his foreseeing told him the man hid.
Just as he reached the area, the man stood and drew back on the bow. Before he could launch the arrow, Mikaal released his knife in one smooth movement. The blade spun end over end and struck the archer in the base of his throat. As he fell, his dead fingers released the arrow.
<><><>
Mikaal’s command exploded in her mind. Instead of dropping to the ground, she released a bolt of energy at the women, knocking them from their feet. As they fell, the arrow spun forward. Off course, the arrow struck the falling woman who had been standing to Areenna’s left, penetrating her shoulder.
“Stay down!” she shouted and turned in the direction of the arrow. Mikaal? Her heart pounded with fear for him.
I am here. The assassin is dead.
A moment later, Mikaal emerged from the kern stalks and, dragging the dead body; he deposited it in the center of the clearing.
“Now, why are you out here?” Areenna said as she knelt next to the wounded woman and examined the arrow embedded in her shoulder. The other two were not looking at her; rather, they stared at Mikaal. The woman who had confronted Areenna suddenly bowed. “My Lord,” she said to Mikaal.
Mikaal stared at her, his brow furrowed. “You know me?”
The woman nodded. “I saw you when you were at court in Dees, two years ago. You came with Queen Enaid.”
“Then you know neither Princess Areenna nor myself are your enemies.”
Her eyes flicked between the two. “Yes, My Lord.”
Areenna looked up from the injured woman. “I need your help,” she said to Mikaal, silently telling him what she needed.
He knelt behind the woman and nodded. Areenna cupped the woman’s chin in her hand and stared deeply into her eyes. “The arrow’s head entered bone. I cannot push it through. Will you allow me to join with you?”
“Yes,”
She joined with the woman and after the few seconds it took to find the area her mother had taught her of, she nodded to Mikaal and closed around the area in the woman’s mind.
Without hesitating, Mikaal pulled the shaft free. Then Areenna pushed within the woman, and the woman fell unconscious into Areenna’s arms. She turned to the other two. “You will care for her?”
The second woman nodded and went to the injured one. While she did, Areenna addressed the first woman. “Why are you out here and why was that man trying to kill you?”
The woman exhaled slowly. “My name is Eittel; we three are the last Women of Power in the village. The others...they were taken by Lessig and her creatures.”
“So you hide in the fields?”
“We do,” Eittel confessed, glancing quickly at the other two women.
Careful, Mikaal warned, that shaft was for you.
Me? Impossible for Lessig to know we are here. We did not plan this.
It is still the way of it, no matter what you think. Could she not see you through the assassin’s eyes?
She glanced quickly at him and then back to Eittel. “As you see, it is no safer here. Do you recognize this man?”
Eittel moved closer to the dead assassin, knelt, and studied his features. She spoke without looking up. “His name was Mot, he had barely twenty years. A week ago, Mot and four other of our young men disappeared. Now I know why.”