The clearing in which they were standing formed the end of a wide roadway which had been cut straight through the forest, leading away from the canyon, exactly matching the road on the other side in all respects except for its plain earth surface. They followed it back for a short distance, until they came to the edge of the plateau which formed the rim of the canyon. A forest of pure native trees spread into the distance before them. Away in the valley they could see the dragons, not moving towards them but no longer fleeing. Not a threat for the moment but certain to be one soon.
Returning to the bridge, they saw that the Abbot's men had reached the far side - small figures in the distance, looking out at the vast canyon and the single cable that crossed it. Within moments, they were seen. There was a flurry of activity; horsemen came and went. Large groups came up and stood staring at the great barrier beyond them. Lynella knew that one of them must be the Abbot himself and delighted in the frustration that this would be causing him.
Soon, they saw wooden structures appearing, poles fastened with vine ropes reaching out above the cable. Through the heat of the day men worked without stopping and the structure grew.
Evening came and, once again, the sun shone directly into the canyon. On the far side, the distant noise of the building of the structure continued; the constant sound of tools cutting wood interspersed with the shouts of the men using them. The construction now reached down to the cable and was starting to spread along it, hanging from it like an ever-growing birdcage. As it took shape, they could see that it formed a walkway leading down to the cable and then extending along beneath it.
During the day, the dragons had moved a short distance up the road towards them and were now just over a mile away.
‘Do it now!’ Angus said as they all stood looking at the bridge. Three days had passed, and the Abbot's structure now extended almost half way across. The men working on it could be heard as they struggled to hold on to the swaying poles as they built on and out. Once, they had seen one let his attention stray for a vital second and fall helpless into the gloom below, but another came to take his place.
Lynella could see how many of them were on it, but saw no other choice. Closing her mind to everything else, she focused on the cable and soon sensed the full extent of it. In the middle, the three complete rings, one with the harness on it, hung motionless, just beyond the reach of those on the structure. With one simple and uncontrolled burst of energy, she threw one of the rings towards the far canyon wall. By the time it crashed into the rock, it had cut through every piece of timber and rope that lay in its path.
Cut from its support, the complex assembly shook itself free. The effect of its release rippled along it. It snaked downwards, until it began to feel the effect of its remaining restraint at the canyon edge, describing a lazy arc, smashing against the wall and breaking up. Lynella watched spellbound as about thirty men were thrown clear and began to fall. Their deep brown clothing stood out in stark contrast to the pale rock sliding past behind them and finally showed large stains of red as their bodies broke up on outcrops.
Collapsing to her knees and looking at Angus, she asked in a faint voice, ‘What have I done to them?’
Without diverting his eyes from the unfolding scene, he spoke his reply to the void in front of him. ‘It had to be done,’ he said. ‘It was the only way to make sure they don't try again.’
Horsemen appeared on the far side and dismounted to look at the carnage below them. A solid rank of figures formed, all looking down.
Turning, Angus saw the dragons behind them. Always moving slowly forward. Now coming onto the narrow plateau. Two massive beasts at the front of the column reared up, lashing out. But they did not attack. Both had large ugly scars around their eyes. The human group backed away to one side. Seeing them go, the dragons moved right up to the bridge, stopping when they saw the people on the far side. But the whole column was advancing, filling the clearing.
Across the canyon a group of thirty archers stood in line. They raised their bows and shot arrows into the air and, as these arced out and began to fall, each one could be seen to have a crucifix attached to it. Then, all of the Abbot’s men turned away.
The dragons were hesitant. Many seemed to be about to return south but, seeing their prey falling back, a few formed a line.
‘Look at their eyes.’ Adam said. ‘These ones must be younger. They have never faced a mage. They are undamaged, they have no fear.’
Lynella held Maria for support. Focused her power on the eyes. From one to the next, in rapid succession. Trying to limit the damage. Trying not to kill them. They stopped, turned, charged back through the group behind them, climbing over all in their path, tearing into them. The whole column turned on itself with claws and teeth. Surging forward. Many were driven over the edge. Still lashing out, they fell into the void. Twenty raced onto the bridge. The others fled back to the South.
The twenty raced along the cable and met the last of the Abbot's men. The shouts and screams of men mixed with the roar of the dragons.
Then finally, for the first time in days, a total silence descended.
‘What's your guess about what happened over there?’ Lynella asked as they sat down to talk.
As usual, Angus replied for the rest of the group, ‘I think that the Abbot's men must have killed all that went across. Either that or made them flee into the forest. They don't seem to be coming back this way.’
‘What do you think the Abbot's doing?’
‘My guess is that he'll pack up and go home. He's lost a lot of men and he's probably worked out that he won't get you this way.’
Without thinking, Lynella replied, ‘Since he knows that I'll try and rescue Paul anyway, chasing after me was a waste of time to start with.’
‘Yes, I think he saw it as a pleasant hunting expedition. He never expected any battles.’
Maria grinned. ‘Well, now he's fought against a mage and learnt his lesson, those dragons must have almost finished him off.’
Angus smiled back, ‘I hope so,’ without any real conviction.
As the sun began to set, it shone directly into the canyon again. They all stood in silence, looking at the bodies below them.
‘They didn't deserve to have the dragons as well,’ Lynella said quietly. ‘This was enough, more than enough.’
‘They deserved all they got, I just feel sorry for the dragons,’ Maria replied.
‘But what did these men do?’
‘They would have been willing enough to make you attack the ship.’
‘All I want to do is to rescue Paul, so he can help his friends.’
16
The smoke from the fire rose vertically into the evening air. The last bones of the two birds, which had made their best meal for days, were still just visible in the ashes. The silence of the end of the battle had remained and was now so complete that the few words that they had exchanged had been whispered to avoid intruding into it. Even the unending native forest seemed to be standing in hushed respect for the power of this newly emerging mage who had come through her first testing.
The mage herself sat staring out across the canyon, trying to make sense of her strange new world. In her mind, she saw her room in the castle. The soft low-backed chair would be standing, as always, near the end of the bed. What would be happening there now? The embroidered sheets would not have been disturbed; nothing would have been moved. She had been running for almost a week. Would anybody have missed her? For the last several years, she had had little contact with anybody except the steward and the friends who were with her now. If the others knew that she had won a battle, would they care? Now she pictured the Great Hall where the evening meal would be in progress. If they knew that she was sitting on the thorny grass and preparing to sleep under a crude brush shelter, would they care about that? She had told them that she was a mage and would win great battles but now she had done it, she realised that they would show little interest. They would be far more concer
ned about the account the Abbot would give of the damage she had caused.
Her mind moved on to think of Paul. She pictured him in a cell in the monastery. From their brief meetings, she knew so little about him, but he would certainly care about what she had done.
Finally, her attention returned to those around her. They looked ragged and exhausted, sitting among the stones. She imagined that each one of them must be wondering if they could ever return to what they had left behind. Looking around the group, she found that she caught the eye of one of the soldiers. He looked away, but she felt as if she had to say something.
‘Was this what you expected when you decided to come with me?’
Everyone saw his smile and listened to his reply. ‘This was one of the greatest contests a mage has ever faced - I never expected to see anything like it. Now I have been part of it. I shall follow you wherever you go.’
Crossing back over the bridge on the following day, they found the huge carcasses of the dragons and, nearby, almost a hundred fresh graves of the men they had killed. It was clear that the Abbot had retreated straight down the ancient road back to the Southern Kingdom and the source.
‘The abbot is a master of oratory’. Adam said. ‘All the people of the kingdoms will hear what he says and understand what happened here. But they will not understand the truth.’
Angus was looking at the dense forest to either side of the clearing. ‘Are you sure you can make it through that?’ he asked Lynella.
‘I've got to. If I don't, I'll get caught and end up having to help destroy the ship.’
‘It's over a hundred miles and there aren't any roads the way we'll have to go’ he went on. ‘We could just hide near here and wait and see. The Abbot won't come back, will he?’
‘No. I must go and find Paul,’ she insisted. ‘I know I don't know much about him, but I trust him and, if we free him, he should be able to warn his friends in the ship.’
Angus did not reply but she could see that he thought that this was not the only reason she wished to see Paul. She looked down at the grass in front of her to avoid eye contact. ‘I know I'd like him to stay here, but he must warn his ship first.’
They went east, following the edge of the canyon, which was easier than travelling through than the thicker forest further back. They made good progress during the afternoon. Towards evening, however, they began to hear a roar of water from ahead and they soon came to a deep gorge with a fast-flowing river crossing their path. It poured over a high waterfall down to the base of the canyon, creating a spectacular rainbow as the setting sun shone on the spray.
Lynella felt as if she should know about this river. It was within the lands assigned to her father's kingdom, under the terms of the compact. She was sure that it would be shown on maps which were kept in the castle, but nobody would have looked at them for years. Looking up at Angus, she asked, ‘Where does it go?’
‘I don't know. I've heard rumours of a big river out here, but I've never met anybody who's actually been here.’
‘Just think of it! All those people just a week's journey from here and never even heard of it! No wonder they're impressed with the Abbot.’
Angus looked puzzled.
‘Don't you see?’ she went on. ‘He's the only one who's been doing anything apart from watching it all fall apart.’ She paused, noticing that, as always, the whole party was listening. ‘The trouble is, he's doing all the wrong things.’
Moving northeast, through the low scrub alongside the river, they found themselves climbing into the foothills of the Eastern Mountains. They were concerned that this was leading them too far east, away from the source but, even as they climbed, the forest to either side of them showed no sign of thinning. The men took turns to lead the way, cutting a path through the bushes, pushing the thorns away to one side.
For two days, they continued upwards, pausing only to rest and eat. Lynella felt herself weakening as her diet changed. There was no sign of any plants or game from earth in this area. She kept up the pace, driving herself forward to get to Paul. Finally, the ground began to level off. They could see a gap in the hills ahead. The river became wider and slower and the forest opened out.
‘There are farms.’ Adam said, running back from where he had been scouting ahead. ‘People live here’.
‘Who are they?’ Lynella asked. ‘We're still within the lands of my family's kingdom but these are not my family's subjects.’
‘They're certainly not that,’ Angus replied. ‘I've no idea who they are’
‘Are they outlaws?’ Maria asked nervously
‘They are settled,’ Adam reassured her.
Moving onwards, they came to a road. At first, they hid and watched but they soon saw people on it, wearing simple clothes, similar to their own, so they decided to risk walking along it. Quite soon, they came to a town, clustered on a hillside rising up ahead of them. The river could be seen flowing down to one side, white water tumbling down the rocky slope towards them.
There were no walls or palisades, so they simply walked on through the town. The fields ended quite abruptly as if the houses had been packed together for protection, despite the lack of a wall. There were short narrow winding streets which looked barely wide enough for the passage of a horse and cart. The buildings were wooden but looked well-kept except that everything looked dirty, with a thin film of black dust over it. In the town there were more people, but they took little notice of the newcomers. Turning a corner, Angus noticed a flag which could be seen across the roof of the building in front of him.
‘That explains a lot,’ he said pointing it out to the others. ‘Look whose flag that is.’ They all looked up and, as the wind caught it, saw the new broken chain insignia of the Eastern Kingdom.
‘These are my father's lands. How have they come here?’ Lynella asked.
‘Looks like they just came,’ Angus replied. ‘No idea why, this land's not much good for farming. There’s much better near the castles.’
‘Nor have I,’ James looked worried. ‘They fly the flag of my kingdom, but I never knew anybody lived this far away from the city, and I don't think many other people know about it.’
Just then, they emerged from the end of the street into an open town square. On the far side was a lake. It was the largest expanse of water that any of them had seen. The far shore was beyond the horizon.
The flag could now be seen to be flying from the mast of a large sailing ship which was rounding the end of the harbour wall. In the total calm, it was being towed by two cutters with a dozen oarsmen in each. Lynella stood spellbound, watching the scene until, finally, the ship came alongside the wharf. Almost as soon as it was secure, a line of carts appeared along a road which followed the lake shore. Each one contained quantities of crumbling black rock.
‘Come on. We can't stand here all day.’ Angus said and turned and led the way into an inn on the far side of the square.
The inn looked adequate from the outside and on the inside, it was clean and warm. They were able to find a table for all seven of them and ordered food and drink.
‘They were looking at us.’ Angus said. ‘We’re ok here but out there we were the only ones without a job to do.’
‘What was that they were going to load onto the ship?’ Lynella asked.
‘Ore for smelting into metal I think,’ Angus replied.
‘But there's masses of that everywhere around the source. Why come all the way up here for it?’ Lynella asked.
‘No idea, seems daft to me,’ Angus replied.
They sat in silence as the landlord served the drinks. ‘Have you come in on the ship?’ he asked, trying to make some conversation.
‘No, we just came around by land and just happened to arrive when it did,’ Angus replied.
‘That's a bad journey. You'll be needing a good meal then,’ the landlord replied with a smile, leaving them with their drinks.
‘I hope there is a road.’ Angus observed. ‘I had to say somethi
ng.’
The answer to their question about the ore came soon. As darkness fell, they saw powerful lights come on outside the window. Lighting spheres were hanging from the lower spars of the ship. Lynella said in a nervous whisper; ‘They're from the monastery.’
They stared at the lights. The crew of the boat were climbing along the rigging, securing them in place while, below them, men were already at work, shovelling the ore down the hatches. The crew finished working and walked down the gangplank to the wharf. Once again, Angus had to get Lynella and the others to look away, to avoid drawing attention to themselves. Most of the party were just confused so Lynella quietly explained what the lights meant, ‘Do you remember when I was young, and the monk came to visit, he had a thing with him that gave him his aura? That's the only way to make lighting globes glow unless you're a mage. And so,’ she continued, ‘Since I'm the only mage, they must be monks. That means the Abbot sent them.’
Adam suddenly started to stand. They could see his hand on the hilt of his knife. He stopped. They all watched him. ‘This is the ore to build the ships for the Crusade from the monastery’. Very slowly, he sat down again. ‘These will be my people from the North. The flag is a token intended to mislead. An evil deception.’
At that point, the landlord returned with the food. The lights on the ship were so powerful; they shone through the window, illuminating the table. ‘We like the lights when the ship comes,’ he said. ‘Mind, we're not used to them out here. If you've come around from Port Jerusalem, you must have seen hundreds of them.’ He hurried off to serve the crew from the ship who had just entered.
‘What and where is Port Jerusalem?’ Lynella asked.
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