The Shadow Roads tsw-3
Page 20
Struggling to gain his feet, Pounder faltered and fell tohis hands and knees. Beln leapt down from the wall and put himself between themonster and his companion as Tam and the others rained arrows down on thecreature.
“Shoot at its face!” Alaan cried.
Tam pulled an arrow back to his shoulder and let it fly,aiming at what he hoped was an eye. The creature bellowed and put an arm up toprotect its face. Beln had dragged Pounder to his feet, and the two of themstumbled toward the stair. But the creature ignored them, bounding straightacross the yard toward the men on the wall.
Tam and the others kept firing, but the creature did notslow. It swept the two Dubrell aside with one backhanded swipe and threw itselfat the stone wall, using the debris from the gate as a step.
“It is after the outlanders!” one of the giants shouted.
Alaan cursed. Tam fired a last arrow at the horns he sawrising from below and drew his sword. Claws scraped up onto the stone of theramparts, and Tam swung at what he hoped was the creature’s hand. But it wasquicker than he and snatched its limb away. Grasping Tam by the ankle, it threwhim off the ledge so that he slid down the creature’s back, barely missingbeing gored.
It is afterAlaan,Tam realized.
He fell hard on the ground, driving his knees into hischest. His sword lay a few feet away, and Tam rolled and snatched it up, despitebeing shaken and hurt. On the parapet above, Tam could see shapes jumping asideas the creature tried to bull its way up onto the ledge.
Tam jumped up onto the fallen gate, which lay at an angle,still connected at a top corner by one hinge, bent impossibly out of shape. Thegate shuddered and heaved beneath him as the creature struggled to climb upagainst the resistance of the men above. Taking no time to think, Tam drovethe point of his sword into the back of the creature’s leg joint. It howled soloudly that Tam was frozen for a second. When he tried to pull his sword freehe found it lodged. The creature swung a clawed hand at him, and Tam dived offthe swaying gate just as the beast came tumbling down, tearing the gate awayfrom its last hinge.
Pain shot through Tam’s shoulder, and he struggled up. Hestepped back and stumbled over Pounder’s round-headed hammer. He swept up thehandle and discovered it was all he could do to heft the thing, pain cuttingthrough his shoulder like he’d been stabbed. He swung at the arm of the monsteras it fell full length. Whatever he hit gave, snapping like a thick board. Themonster bellowed and looked up, fixing its terrible gaze on the frightenedValeman.
“Run,Tam!” Fynnol shouted.
Tam bolted for the narrow stair, but he stumbled and fell.The creature would have been upon him had someone not dropped down from thewall above, landing between Tam and the monster.
“It is me you want,” Alaan said calmly. “I’m the one yourmaster sent you for.”
Tam got slowly to his feet as though not to draw the monster’sattention. A sword landed point first a few feet away, and stood therequivering. Tam yanked it free and braced himself, not sure what Alaan might do.
“I’m at your back,” Tam said softly.
“Move away,” Alaan whispered.
The creature had risen to its full height, more than twicethat of Alaan, and thrice the body weight of the largest giant. Before it,Alaan looked like a child holding a toy sword. But the creature eyed himwarily, snorting. It hobbled, the sword still lodged in its knee, so it wouldnot charge headlong, but even so it was the most horrifying monster Tam hadever seen. Against the stars, horns pierced the darkness.
“Come, you stupid beast,” Alaan muttered. “Your master iswaiting.”
“I speak, sorcerer,” the beast hissed, its voice like rocksrumbling down a chasm.
“Then I am the sorcerer once known as Sainth, son of Wyrr.Alaan men call me now. Your master has sent you to find me. Why is it you wait?Can you not work up your nerve?”
The thing began to circle to the left, hobbling painfully onits injured leg.
“I know you, sorcerer,” the creature said. “You have been tothe gate before, but this time it is opening. Can you hear it? The sound ofgrinding bones?”
It stumbled and went down on one knee, but as it came up ithurled something in the dark. Alaan threw himself aside, and Tam’s swordclanged off the stone steps. The beast was upon him, seemingly unhurt. Alaanwas rising from the ground as it leapt forward. He put up a hand, and there wasa flash of white light, so bright Tam staggered back, blinded.
A terrible scream echoed off the stone walls and rose upinto the dark sky. Tam tried desperately to see, but the flash had stolen hisvision. He found himself against the wall, blinking furiously, sharp paincutting through his watering eyes.
It was a moment before his vision began to clear, and thenhe could see only vague silhouettes, odd shapes. Finally, he began to make outsomething large, prostrate on the ground, a small shape-Alaan-standing over it.
Tam groped forward, the scene coming slowly into focus.
“You killed it,” he said to the figure standing there.
“If you can kill something that came from Death’s kingdom,”Alaan answered wearily. “Yes, I killed it. You kill a charging bull by dodgingaside and driving your sword between its shoulder blades.”
“You’ve done it before?”
“No, but Sainth had. The thing was blinded, luckily, whichmade it a bit easier. Let’s see who’s injured.”
Alaan put a hand on Tam’s shoulder, guiding him, for Tamcould still see little. The giants came down from the wall. They had no tauntsfor the outsiders now, but kept glancing from Alaan to the dead creature, andTam wasn’t sure which unsettled them more.
“It spoke to you …” Pounder said.
Alaan nodded.
“It knew your name,” one of the other giants said very quietly.“Death knows your name.”
“It is a long story,” Alaan said. “And you would rather nothear it.” He was walking toward one corner of the keep, where they foundCrowheart soothing the horses.
“We lost a packhorse,” Rabal said, stroking the neck of ashaking mare. The horses gathered around him as though he would protect them.
“I don’t imagine we will be bothered again this night,”Alaan said, “but we should try to do something about the gate.”
The giants all jumped to the task with a will, stillglancing now and then at Alaan. Tam couldn’t tell if they were more awed orfrightened. Sometimes he wondered himself.
“Wolfson?” Alaan said, interrupting their work. “Tomorrow wewill go into the shadow lands. You needn’t travel farther than this.”
The giant nodded quickly, then went back to his work, obviouslyrelieved.
Twenty-five
They waited several silent hours for cloud to wrap the moon,then slid their boat into the Wynnd. Samul didn’t like what they were doing. Itreminded him too much of his foray east of the river with his cousin, Beld,when they had been on the run after their failed assassination of Toren-andmurder of Arden.
The company was better this time-he had to admit that-butthe situation was more desperate. Fondor had dressed them as poor travelers,though they looked like nothing so much as highwaymen. It didn’t take a greatdeal of wit to see why he’d done that. They could not travel openly for fear ofbeing recognized, and highwaymen were forced to slink about, keeping to secretpaths and out of sight. If they were to run afoul of soldiers of Innes or ofthe Wills, they would have to fight for their lives, for highwaymen were, moreoften than not, cut down where they were found and never came before amagistrate. If they were caught, Fondor clearly hoped, they might be buriedbefore any recognized them.
The two watermen who manned the oars were frightened, andcould not hide it, which-didn’t increase Samul’s confidence. A
glance at Lord Carl told him nothing in the darkness. He satvery still, though-listening, Samul guessed-and stared into the night. LordCarl and his servant-thief had already been on the run across the Isle ofBattle, and the two of them looked terribly haunted and wary. Samul guessedthat he would soon become equally wary-i
f he lived long enough.
Jamm was recovering from injuries and illness and had thatvulnerable look common among the sick. Samul wondered if the little thief, inhis present condition, would be able to guide them successfully through landscontrolled by the Wills family and the House of Innes.
Better this than death, he told himself. He glancedup at the moon, which could just be seen behind a thin veil of racing cloud. “Faster,”he whispered.
But the watermen didn’t change their pace, and the Rennerealized that greater speed would make more noise, and they couldn’t affordthat. He glanced up again. A patch of cloud, illuminated from within, grewbrighter as though the cloud stretched and thinned. At any moment the mooncould break through.
Samul turned his gaze back to earth, seeking the easternshore. A band of shadow was probably a line of trees, but how distant it was hecould not say. The watermen kept dipping their muffled oars, the smell of theirsweat mixed with the river musk. Wind tore the cloud to rags, and the moon brokefree, turning the water to silver. Before he thought, Samul threw himselfdown. It didn’t matter; their black hull would be impossible to miss on theglittering river.
There was nothing for it now but to race for the eastern embankmentand get ashore as quickly as they could. They would have to trust to Jamm toslip them away before they were found.
Trees loomed out of the dark, and the boat slid almostsilently up on the mud. Immediately, Michael and Carl leapt ashore. He couldsee their blades gleaming in the moonlight. Jamm scurried after them, crouchinglow, casting his gaze anxiously this way and that. Samul made his way past thewatermen, wanting to keep his boots dry if at all possible. He stepped ashoreas something erupted out of the trees.
A horseman, sword high, went straight at Prince Michael, whobarely got a blade up in time. Two other riders and men on foot crashed throughbush, milling about in the tiny clearing.
Samul turned back toward the boat, but the watermen were alreadytwenty feet out into the river and pulling for their lives. Arrows beganthudding against wood, but Samul saw no more as he dove aside to miss a blowdesigned to take off his head.
A horse screamed, rearing high, as Jamm yanked a sword freeof its ribs. The rider was thrown down at Samul’s feet, and he plunged a swordinto the man’s throat before he’d gained his knees. Carl and Michael were in afight for their lives, leaping this way and that, keeping the horses betweenthemselves and the others. The confined space worked against the riders, andin a moment the four fugitives were stumbling through the dark wood, the shoutsand curses of their hunters right behind.
Samul felt someone grab his arm and pull him hard to the oneside, where he was dragged over a large log to land on top of his fellows. Hecould hear their harsh breathing as the hunters came thundering by, five men onfoot and two horsemen, he judged. For a moment they listened to the men gocharging into the darkness, tripping and falling as they went.
“Follow me,” Jamm whispered. “Stay down.”
They went off across the mossy forest floor on hands andknees, stopping every twenty feet to listen. Men were shouting not far off, andothers answered. Samul could see torches waving through the trees.
They had stopped again, and Jamm drew them all close.
“That is the road,” he whispered, “where the torches are. Ifthey can keep us this side of the road until sunrise, they’ll trap us here. Wehave to pass over, no matter the cost.”
Samul nodded in the dark. Sunrise was only few hours off.There wasn’t much time to waste. They followed Jamm, creeping a few paces,stopping, then moving again. The little thief was more stealthy than a spider.Such a man could slip in your window, steal anything he desired, and slink outagain. Good reason to keep dogs, the nobleman thought, before remembering thathe possessed not a thing in this world but a good sword, a dagger, and afast-beating heart. He felt his resolve harden then. If they were forced tofight their way across the road, he didn’t care-no man-at-arms was going tostand between him and another dawn.
Three horsemen thundered by, far too close, and Samulpressed himself into the ground, hardly daring to breathe. They were hard upagainst the road now. Horses clattered by, their hooves just feet from hishead, and torches bobbed past in the near distance, a bitter haze left hangingover the lane to sting his eyes. Here and there a bit of moonlight found itsway through the trees, illuminating the cart tracks, though Jamm had picked thedarkest section he could find.
Carl A’denne was beside him and leaned close to Samul’s ear.“Jamm says to be ready to run across, all at once, as quick as we can.”
Samul nodded and dug his fingers into the detritus of theforest floor. Every time he felt the others brace themselves to sprint, ahorsemen or a small company of infantry would appear. Too many men wereswarming the area. Apparently the Wills took spies rather seriously, thoughthere must be enough of them around-on both sides of the river.
Just as Samul began to the think the light in the easternsky was not imagined, Jamm leapt up and dashed across the road, his legs a blurin the poor light. The others were only a few paces behind, diving into thewood opposite. Samul hit his head so hard on a branch that he was driven to hisknees. Carl dragged him up, and the two of them went blindly on, blunderinginto boulders and tree trunks.
Thirty feet farther they dropped to their knees again,crawling quickly to their right. A company of foot soldiers came crashing intothe wood, a single torch lighting their way. They stopped not fifteen feetaway.
“Listen!” their captain ordered, and the soldiers stoodthere, trying to control their breathing.
Samul and the others stayed as still as they could, afraidthe torchlight would find them in the dark, for they could see the soldiersfairly clearly through leaves and branches.
Other men were calling into the wood from the road, thenthey too came crashing through the underwood: Samul could see the torchesflickering, turning the tree trunks a dull orange. They were in trouble, now.
Jamm stood up a little, raising his arm. He let fly agood-sized rock, which struck one of the men with such force that he droppedthe torch. Chaos erupted, men stamping out a fire that had started, otherscrashing in from the road.
In the noise and confusion, Jamm led them off. They did notgo quickly, but they never stopped, and in a short while the torches were lostfrom sight, and the shouting of the men grew distant and unintelligible.
Even with daylight Jamm kept them moving, until he finallycrawled into a spreading thicket of spiny bushes. The path they took forcedthem down on their bellies, and even then they were scarred and scratchedrepeatedly. A little “room” lay in the center of the thicket, the bushesarching over them so that even a hawk wouldn’t know they were there. Here theylay in the sparse grass, not daring to move, listening to men pass all morningand on into the afternoon, before the search moved off to the south.
Samul could see the look of wariness disappear from Jamm’sface, and he tried to smile at the others.
“Well you did it again, Jamm,” Carl A’denne whispered. “Didyou know of this place?”
“I was shown it once, but we should not talk. A few wordscan be worth your life, sometimes.”
They slept in shifts that day, eating the little bit of foodthey carried. Jamm did not like to bear more than a mouthful of water, sayingthat it sloshed about and made noise at the most inconvenient times, so theywere all parched by sunset. Jamm, however, did not seem much concerned abouttheir thirst, and when Samul mentioned this to Lord Carl the young man put afinger to his lips.
Leaning close, Carl whispered. “If not for Jamm I would bedead many times over. If you are hunted, do as the fox does.”
Samul tried to ignore his dry mouth and cultivate patience.
When the night was good and dark, Jamm crept out to the oppositeedge of the thicket from the place they’d entered. After what must have been anhour, Samul leaned close to Carl.
“He’s run off,” he whispered.
Carl shook his head in the near darkness. “Patience,”he whispered.
Jamm was a master of finding shadow-beneath a hedgerow,alongside a dry stone wall. He went often on hands and knees, and even on hisbelly, when he was forced to cross open areas where the moonlight fell. Hestopped frequently to listen and watch for lengthy periods. Hilltops werethings to be feared in his world, and he eyed them with a deep, abiding suspicion.
A few hours after their march began, he led them to aspring, though not before circling it once and watching it for some good timebefore he deemed it safe. Despite what Lord Carl had said, Samul was certainthere was no fox so wary as Jamm.
They skirted a small village and left farm buildings in thedistance. Once they went out of their way to avoid a couple furtively makinglove in the shadow of a hedge. By the time the eastern sky began to show a hintof coming morning, Samul Renne could hardly have gone another yard.Fortunately, the little thief led them to a cliff, up a steep, narrow gully,across a bit of a ledge, and into a shallow cave that angled down into therock, like a pocket.
“You can’t see this from the ground,” Jamm whispered. “Only afew know it’s here.”
They ate the last of their food as they lazed there, anddrank the little bit of water that Samul had left in his skin, the others asreluctant as Jamm to carry water. The day spread out below, and Samul crept upbeside Jamm, who lay on the stone, his eyes just above the rim, surveying thelands. They were fairly high up-not because the cliff was high but because theland sloped up from the river-and they were afforded a view for half a league,Samul was sure.