by Paul Cook
The orchard was in full bloom, and drifts of white and pink blossoms greeted Duranix and the weary humans as they crossed the bridge into the valley proper. The billowing petals lent an unreal air to their crossing, for these were from Tiphan’s enchanted trees, already twice as big as was natural for this time of year. If their growing continued, the villagers could be harvesting fruit well before the summer was over.
Jenla and the planters were working in the orchard and saw the lofty striding figure of Duranix before they spied Amero and the others. They came running, shouting cries of welcome. Though happy to be home, Amero had dismal news for them.
“The raiders may yet be coming,” he told the gathering of gardeners. “We must make ready to resist their attack. This Zannian leads a host of fifty score warriors and has the help of a vicious green dragon.”
“What of Tiphan and the Sensarku?” someone asked.
Grim silence revealed their fate more clearly than any words. Jenla shook her head, saying, “Pride was his undoing. Others may weep for him, but I can’t.”
Though Amero agreed with her, he knew of at least one person who would grieve. “I must tell Konza about this,” he said.
It was Jenla’s turn to reveal bad news. “Tiphan told us his father had gone east, seeking more of the spirit stones, but no one saw him leave,” she explained. “Trackers combed the upper passes, but they found no sign Konza had been through. I think Tiphan silenced his father, so the old man wouldn’t try to stop the ill-fated expedition.”
“Murder?” said Beramun, wide-eyed.
Jenla said no more, and the word hung in the air.
“We’ll puzzle that out later,” Amero told them. “We must get our defenses ready.”
“At least we have our Protector back,” said Tepa, taking in the dragon’s larger size. Duranix said nothing, his gaze still fixed on the western peaks.
The gardeners followed Amero’s little band back to town. Horns blew in a loud, flat chorus. Children lined the tops of the walls, and the elders trooped out to greet them.
Amero was pleased to see Udi, Tepa’s son, among the villagers. He had arrived in Yala-tene after Tiphan’s group had departed.
Duranix boosted Amero atop the lower wall. From there he addressed his people.
“Friends,” he said, “I’m glad to be back with Duranix and the brave scouts who came to find us. I grieve the loss of all the Sensarku.” He could not bring himself to mention Tiphan’s name. “Sad though I am, there’s no time for mourning. The threat from the raiders is grave. There are fifty score of them, led by a green dragon.”
Shocked silence greeted this announcement.
Nubis the stockman was the first to find his tongue. “When will they get here?”
“I don’t know, but we must make ready immediately. From this moment on, Yala-tene must become a war camp. Every villager over the age of fifteen will carry a spear at all times. Children will gather food and fodder for the animals. Every baffle must be sealed. By this time tomorrow, I want Yala-tene closed up tight and ready to fight!”
No one cheered, but no one objected either. Amero named his foundry master Huru as his second-in-command. Hulami the vintner was to take charge of the supplies of food and water. Montu and other craftsmen were to make weapons.
When he’d finished, Amero turned to Duranix and asked, “Do you have anything to say?”
The dragon’s head now rode well above the top of the wall, He surveyed the villagers clustered around him for a moment, then said, “Remember this — the raiders are not coming to steal your cattle, burn your homes, or carry off your women, though they will do all those things if they get the chance. They come at the will of Sthenn, who wants nothing less than the total destruction of Yala-tene.”
Few villagers dared ask questions of the bronze dragon. Jenla did.
“Why do they want to destroy us?” she said. “We’ve never done them any harm.”
“You exist. That is cause enough,” Duranix told her. This plainly did not satisfy her, so he elaborated. “Sthenn is a creature of corruption and chaos. He despises order in any form and hates any authority but his own whims. This village is an affront to his ideas and a threat to his desire to rule the plains as he does his native forest. You cannot bargain with him. You cannot buy him off. Your only hope is to fight. If you can defeat his horde, I will deal with him.”
Jenla nodded. “Let what the Protector says be done,” she said.
“Arkuden, about the baffles — ” Paharo began.
“I know.” Amero looked up at Duranix. “Can you bring boulders from the cliff and use them to block the entrances?”
Hungry and depleted from his long crawl across the plain, Duranix nonetheless agreed. There was no choice. No one else in Yala-tene could move enough stone in so short a time.
The villagers scattered to their tasks. Hulami marshaled the very old and the very young to gather food and water for people and beasts alike. Paharo remained behind after the villagers dispersed.
“Arkuden?” he said. “A word, please? I have an idea.”
Amero took the young hunter aside, and they conversed in low tones. Amero listened attentively, nodding in agreement with what Paharo was saying.
“Do it,” the Arkuden said at last. “Take whoever you need, but no more than thirty all told. I can’t weaken our defenses by more than that.”
Paharo went through the village, tapping young men and women to join him. He picked fleet, able hunters every one, none over the age of twenty. Bringing this band back to Amero, he announced his final selection: Beramun. She was still by the Arkuden’s side.
“Not her, Paharo,” Amero said quickly.
“Why not?” she protested.
“You don’t even know what you’ve been chosen for!”
“I don’t care what the task is, so long as I get to fight Zannian!”
He stepped closer and said privately, “I prefer you to stay here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. What could you have for me to do that’s more important?”
He had no argument greater than hers. Voice tight with concern, Amero told her, “Be careful, girl.”
“You too, old man,” she joked, and took her place with Paharo’s group.
After a brief explanation of his plan, Paharo led them toward the river at a jog.
Zannian gazed up at the hulking gray mountains. He’d never seen real mountains before, but his expression did not show awe or fascination. Instead his youthful face was etched with deep frustration. Too many things were impeding his progress. Someone would pay, and pay in blood.
Hoten rode up to his chief. “The trail goes straight in,” he reported. “It can’t be more than two days old.”
Zannian scratched a newly sprouted patch of beard on his chin. “Straight in? The dragon too?”
“Aye. The tracks run right down the center of the pass as far as we rode.”
Zannian turned his horse to face the open country behind them. His men were strung out all the way to the horizon, still regrouping after their headlong flight away from the injured Sthenn.
“We’ll hold here a while,” he said. “Some of those dogs won’t get here before sundown.”
Hoten cleared his throat and spat. “Speaking of stragglers, where’s the Master?”
Zannian eyed his lieutenant. “Those who speak that name lightly come to bad ends.”
“I mean no disrespect,” said Hoten, his tone anything but respectful. “I only wondered where our mighty leader is now that we’re at the enemy’s throat.”
“He’ll return when it suits him.”
No one had seen Sthenn since he’d lost his claw to the villager’s spirit stones. Weeping acid tears of pain, the dragon had flown away, leaving the raider band in total disorder. Most of the men who’d ridden away from the green dragon’s torment slowly returned. Others never came back. Without Sthenn’s fearsome presence to stiffen their spines, they deserted for good. For a time it seemed the entire
band might fall apart.
It was Nacris who had acted swiftly to keep the raiders together. On her orders, the Jade Men captured ten deserters and put them to death. Lacking trees from which to hang them, Nacris had the men beheaded and their heads displayed on spears.
Along with fear, she wielded another potent weapon — the power of greed. She reminded the men of the booty waiting in Yala-tene. She loudly scoffed at the notion Sthenn would not return. The desertions ceased, but it would be several days before the entire band was together again.
The young raider chief yearned for battle. Slaughtering those fools in their fancy robes wasn’t fighting, merely killing. Daydreaming of past battles, he suddenly found his thoughts filled by the black-haired girl. Sthenn had promised she was in the valley ahead.
Zannian licked his dry lips and wrapped the reins tightly around his left hand.
Hoten noted his chiefs characteristic gesture. Zannian always did it before riding into battle.
“Take a scouting party into the pass, Hoten,” Zannian said. “Leave your horses and go on foot, quietly. That narrow pass is perfect for ambushes. I want you to make sure the way is clear for the rest of us.”
“We get to be the bait?” A warning glance from his chief made Hoten shrug and add, “As you say, Zan.” He rode away to cull a suitable patrol from the men on hand.
Hoten found Nacris hobbling about on a crude crutch near the mouth of the pass, close to the stony banks of the Plains River.
“Careful you don’t fall in,” Hoten said, dismounting.
She laughed. “No water can harm me.”
“How can you know that?”
“My death’s been foreseen. The Master himself divined it. Neither water, nor fire, nor stone, nor metal shall kill me.”
He left his horse cropping the sparse grass. “Do you really believe that?” he asked, putting a hand to her weatherworn cheek.
She neither acknowledged his gesture nor pulled away, but said, “Why not? A dragon’s eyes see further than mine.”
He took his hand away. “I see another way to interpret that augury — Sthenn himself will kill you one day.”
Nacris laughed again, a short, harsh bark. “I’ve thought of that, too.”
“How can you be so indifferent?”
She hobbled a few steps away and looked into the pass, still misty in the morning light. “My life ended here twelve years ago,” she said flatly. “The man I loved died, the woman who killed him lived, and I was crippled. Since then, I’ve been waiting to take my revenge. When I have it, then I can rest what remains of my body.”
Hoten knocked her crutch aside and caught Nacris in his arms. Bitter and hard as she was, he cared for her.
“If I threw you in the river and held your head under, what would you do?” Hoten whispered.
“Drown.”
Her lack of fear infuriated him. “That’s all?”
“I’m not strong enough to fight you.” She looked him squarely in the eyes. “If you want a struggle, wait till we capture Arku-peli. There are many women there who can gratify you.”
Disgusted, he released her, picked up her crutch, and thrust it at her.
“Now I know why the Master gave you command of the Jade Men,” he said. “You’ve become as soulless as they are.”
In a cold fury, he left and rounded up the first twenty men he found idling by the water. He had each arm himself with a throwing stick and bundles of missiles. They left everything else behind — horses, food and water, heavy spears, and shields. Bait they might be, but Hoten saw no reason to weigh his men down. If the villagers were waiting for them, speed would be more valuable than armament.
They tromped past Zannian. The chief was listening with ill-disguised annoyance as his mother lectured him on tactics. Hoten acknowledged his leader with a nod. Mother and son both ignored him.
The outer pass was wide, with the river flowing down the middle. Heavy sandbars and tumbled gravel filled the floor of the ravine, tufted here and there with knifegrass and brittle scrub. The pass was twelve paces wide at this point, but the frowning cliffs and lofty slate peaks beyond made it feel much narrower. The men kept bunching up as the burden of the surrounding heights bore down on them. Time and again Hoten had to give the same warning.
“Stand apart, louts! You want some mud-toe villager to drop a stone and get six of you at once?”
The tracks, human and dragon, led unequivocally forward. Hoten followed them for three leagues, then the prints abruptly vanished. The tracks didn’t lead off in other directions. They simply disappeared. The gravel ahead was free of marks.
“Did the dragon pick them up and fly away?” wondered one of the raiders.
“Maybe,” Hoten said, but he wasn’t convinced. He squatted to study the ground more closely.
“It’s spirit power again,” said another man uneasily. The men muttered among themselves, clearly not finding such a thing hard to believe.
“There are no spirits at work here,” Hoten said harshly. “Not unless spirits use pine boughs to sweep tracks away.” He held up several loose pine needles, still sticky with sap. “This happened not long ago.”
Behind Hoten a voice called out, “Someone’s coming — many, and on horseback!” The raider was kneeling on a patch of rock, his hand pressed flat against it. Hoten did likewise and also felt the heavy vibrations. The strength and rhythm of the pounding could mean only one thing.
“It’s our own people,” Hoten announced. “It’s too soon. I’ll have to head them off.”
He ordered his men to hold where they were, then ran down the stony slope.
He soon spotted the outriders of the main band. Standing atop a convenient outcropping, he waved his hands over his head. The horsemen stopped. Zannian emerged from the ranks and rode to meet his lieutenant.
“What news, Hoten?”
“You came too soon, Zan. My men are only a hundred paces farther on. The bronze dragon himself could be hiding in the cliffs above us, and we wouldn’t know it until it was too late.”
“You give the mud-toes too much credit,” Zannian scoffed. “The ones who escaped us on the plain are probably home by now, and the rest are wetting their breechcloths just thinking about our coming. We should attack before they have a chance to regroup.”
“I think that’s unwise, Zan.”
The chief shrugged. “Then argue with my mother. It’s her idea.”
Hoten looked for Nacris, but she wasn’t to be seen. “We’re going,” Zannian announced. “Find a horse.”
One of the lead riders shouted a warning. Hoten pushed through the standing horses to the water’s edge, and Zannian followed him on horseback. They soon saw what had made their man cry out: a body, floating facedown in the river. From his clothing, it was clear he was a raider.
At Zannian’s command, two men waded into the stream, snagged the drifting corpse, and hauled it back to shore. Hoten turned the man over. His forehead bore a terrible wound.
“It’s Besh — one of my scouts,” Hoten said, frowning.
“Looks like he fell. Clumsy idiot.” Zannian turned his horse around and called to his men, “Forward!”
“Zan, wait.”
The chief rode away. Fuming, Hoten stared at the body. What was Zannian thinking? He was always bold, but never so rash. What was wrong with him?
A horse was brought, and Hoten mounted. He took a spear from the hide scabbard draped over the horse’s neck. Still filled with misgivings, he joined the stream of riders filing into the shadowed depths of the gorge.
The column strung out as the raiders thinned into a narrow line just two riders wide. Hoten made his way forward until he was riding alongside his chief. He remained watchful until they came to the spot where he had left his scouting party. His men were nowhere in sight.
“What trickery is this?” Hoten growled. He dismounted and searched the stony riverbank. Not a trace of his nineteen men remained.
A figure suddenly appeared out of
the scrub a hundred paces upriver. Several raiders yelled to alert their leader.
Zannian shaded his eyes to see who it was. There was no mistaking the mane of jet hair, the slim shape, and insolent stance.
“Beramun!” Zannian drew his bronze sword and brandished it above his head. “My elven blade to the man who takes that girl alive!” he cried.
The raiders cheered, urging their horses forward. The girl awaited their rush, hands on her hips.
Hoten grabbed the bridle of Zannian’s mount, shouting, “It’s a trap! Can’t you see that?”
“Let go!” the chief shouted, shoving Hoten away with his foot. “I swore to have that black-haired girl, and have her I will!”
With a hundred raiders well ahead of him, Zannian charged down the canyon at the unmoving figure. Hoten’s frantic warnings were lost in the din.
When the horsemen were sixty paces away, Beramun turned and sprinted up the ravine. The men followed, whooping and brandishing their spears, each believing he’d be the one to win the fine elven blade.
As the foremost riders passed a twisted cedar tree, Beramun scampered up a sloping heap of rocks by the south wall of the gorge. From behind this mound a dozen armed villagers appeared, spears ready. The raiders slowed, saw how few of the enemy stood before them, then charged onward, laughing.
Hardly had the triumphant shouts left their throats than a hail of heavy stones, some as large as a man’s head, rained down on them. Horses and raiders toppled.
Zannian, held up by the flailing mass of fallen men and animals in front of him, turned his horse this way and that, dodging missiles. He caught sight of Beramun again, standing with her comrades. The sight of his men being routed by a bunch of dirt-scrabbling farmers filled Zannian with fury. He drove his heels hard into his mount’s flanks. Riding over his own fallen men, he closed within thirty paces of Beramun.