Caravan to Kittikin

by Brian S. Pratt

  Limbs cracked as Jaikus-beast raced away. Growls sounded in the night interposed with howls full of torment and sadness.

  Setting his mind to help Jaikus or die in the attempt, Reneeke followed. By the time dawn broke in the east, he had the beginnings of a plan.

  He came upon Jaikus-beast some distance up the mountain. It had paused at a stream. Reaching down, Reneeke picked up several stones. Needing to get its attention, he threw one. The stone struck Jaikus-beast dead center on the back.

  Coming to its feet faster than Reneeke would have thought possible, it turned and its red eyes locked onto him.

  “Come on, Jaik,” he murmured. “Attack me.”

  But as before, Jaikus-beast proved conflicted. Part of it tried to follow but from somewhere within, a remnant of what had been Jaikus fought the impulse.

  “Hey!” Reneeke yelled.

  Still, Jaikus-beast remained in one spot. It would take a step forward only to draw back with great effort.

  Reneeke placed a second stone in his right hand. “Come on!” he yelled then threw.

  A howl went up when the stone hit Jaikus-beast in the forehead.

  Knowing the surest way to get a predator to chase you was to run, Reneeke turned about and fled down the mountainside. Behind him came another roar, this time full of primal emotion followed immediately by the sound of it charging through the underbrush.

  Up ahead was an outcropping that overlooked a drop-off that went down quite a ways. Several trees grew right to the edge.

  Reneeke cast a quick glance behind him and saw the creature gaining rapidly. Gauging the distance to the outcropping versus the rate at which Jaikus-beast gained, he slowed ever so slightly. Then when the creature was almost upon him, he leapt for a branch hanging from one of the trees growing at the lip of the outcropping. As he grabbed the branch and swung up, he felt claws rake the back of his shirt, shredding it.

  Jaikus-beast failed to slow and continued at full speed right over the outcropping. Snarls and howls filled the air as it soared out over the hillside. It came to land some distance down the mountainside. Slamming into the upper part of a tree, it ripped out limbs as it thrashed its way to the ground.

  By that time, Reneeke had already come down out of the tree and raced away at an angle from it as he continued to descend the mountain.

  Once Jaikus-beast hit the ground it quickly recovered its balance and spun about to look back up. It spied Reneeke racing through the trees and sped off in pursuit.

  Reneeke fled as fast as his feet would allow. Coming to a trail, he turned to follow it as it followed the side of the mountain. When he saw the totem with the four skulls, he knew he was headed in the right direction.

  Behind him Jaikus-beast crashed through the trees and underbrush. When the sound of broken limbs and tearing out of bushes ceased, he knew it was on the trail.

  Passing another of the totems, he knew he was coming close. Then he spied the twin totems that stood before the entrance to the bandits’ lair. The door stood open. As he raced between them and turned to enter, he glanced back and saw how Jaikus-beast was coming fast. When their eyes met, it howled in triumph. Reneeke shot through the door and into the darkness beyond.

  He left the main door open and raced down the passage to the altar room. There he turned to the right and barely made out the doorway to the secret areas. He raced through it and slammed it shut. Setting his back to it, he shrugged off his pack and quickly pulled out his last three torches.

  When no banging sounded from the other side, he put his ear to the door to listen. A second of silence was followed by the sound of wood being smashed. He figured it to be the altar. “Just give me half a second, Jaik,” he mumbled to himself as he pulled out his flint.

  Sparks threw back the darkness as he struck the flint. Several landed upon the treated end of one torch; the other two he kept slightly apart. He softly blew upon them until the torch-head burst to life. As if that had been some signal, Jaikus-beast slammed against the other side of the door.

  Reneeke held the door a moment to ensure that the torch had fully ignited and would not easily go out. Then he put his pack back on and took up the other two torches. He held them with the burning one and they ignited in flame. Leaving the door in a sprint, he fled down the passage.

  Twice more Jaikus-beast struck the door before knocking it off its hinges. Another howl of triumph sounded when it saw Reneeke and the burning torches fleeing before it.

  He fled past doorways until coming to the room with the two busts sitting in wall niches. Not even pausing, he ran into the still-opened secret passage. Extending some forty feet, it ended at the room with six floor slabs set in three rows of two. The left-hand one of the second row was no longer there as Jaikus had earlier triggered the trap.

  Reneeke stepped on the left-hand one of the first pair, then continued diagonal to the right-hand of the second set. The right-hand of the third set had been the safe one earlier so he continued onto it. Once he reached the other secret passage leading from the slab room, he turned to see Jaikus-beast at the entrance to the room.

  He shouted and waved the torches. His bravado gave the creature pause. In that instant of indecision, he tossed the three burning torches evenly across the right-hand slab of the second row, then drew his sword. Everything would hinge of whether the beast had an aversion to fire as most creatures did.

  Jaikus-beast glared at him over the flames and he could hear its growls.

  “Hyah!” he yelled, then turned to run.

  Giving out with a howl, Jaikus-beast stepped upon the left-hand slab of the first row, then paused momentarily as it considered the hole before it and the burning brands to his right. As Reneeke hoped it would, Jaikus-beast leapt across the hole to avoid the flames and landed on the third row’s left-hand slab.

  Reneeke came to a halt when he heard the slab break away and Jaikus-beast’s howls of rage as it plummeted to the pit below. He returned to stand on the third row’s right-hand slab. From below came snarls and howls, but there was something different about them. Taking up one of the torches, he held it over the pit but it was too deep and the light failed to reach the bottom.

  “Sorry about this, Jaik,” he said. Then he knelt before the pit, brought the torch to rest against the pit’s inner side and let go. It fell for nearly fifty feet before landing in a burst of sparks.

  Protruding from the floor was a myriad of long, wicked spikes. Jaikus-beast had been impaled by three; one through the shoulder, another through an arm and the last through its thigh. It fought against the spikes but could not free itself.

  “Now comes the fun part,” Reneeke mumbled. A little louder he said, “Be right back, Jaik.” The only response was more snarls and growls.

  He took up a second torch and rolled the third against the floor until it went out. He left it there to smoke while he made his way from the bandits’ lair to their camp.

  The fire had burnt out by this time. The horses remained picketed where he had left them. He first went to the chest and closed it. Then he gathered the smaller rope from Jaikus’ pack as well as the heavier rope that Peter had given them when they first embarked on the mission to retrieve the chest. With the ropes in hand, he returned to slab room.

  Jaikus-beast still snarled and snapped upon his return. He had been afraid that he would find his friend dead. “Give me a moment, Jaik and I’ll get you out of there.”

  Proceeding with the heavier rope to the room beyond the slab room, he secured an end around one of the two chests. He then returned to the slab room and pulled mightily several times to see if the chest would hold. It did. He tossed the rest of the rope into the pit as well as the other two lighter ropes, his and Jaikus.’

  Sitting on the edge of the pit, he took hold of the rope and with a prayer that the rope and chest would hold, pushed himself off the edge and began to descend.

  The growls grew in intensity as he made his way to the bottom. The rope nearly didn’t reach but it came t
o within three feet.

  Jaikus-beast laid impaled by the trio of spikes several feet from where he came to land. Its one arm not impaled tried to swipe at him but couldn’t reach him. The spikes were spaced roughly two feet apart and though they boasted deadly barbs protruding from their tops, were easy to avoid.

  “Now, Jaik. How are we going to do this?”

  A snarl was his only answer. Jaikus-beast sought to reach him but the barbs topping the spikes kept him in place.

  Reneeke collected one of the lighter ropes from where it lay on the bottom of the pit. He made a loop at one end and then approached his best-friend-turned-beast.

  Blood pooled at the base of each impaling spike. He felt sorry for his friend, cursed Arno for his greed that had caused this, then steeled himself for what was to come.

  Jaikus-beast’s free arm swiped at him but he kept his distance. He dangled the rope just within reach and it took some doing, but he managed to ensnare the flailing arm with the loop. A quick tug cinched it tight around the wrist.

  The next step was to secure the flailing limb by tying the rope around Jaikus-beast’s chest. It took him nearly ten minutes of wrangling before he accomplished that. With three spikes pinning his friend to the ground, it had nearly proved impossible. But after much struggle the arm became immobile. After that it was fairly easy to bind the rest of him up tight.

  The first part to come off the spikes was the leg. After securing the other leg to it from ankle to knee, then from just where it was impaled to the crotch, he gripped the leg on both sides. “I’m truly sorry for this,” he said to his friend. Then he pulled the leg off the barbed spike leaving some flesh behind.

  Jaikus-beast howled.

  Reneeke then pulled the healing scroll from his pouch, set it upon the wound and spoke the activation word. The scroll flashed as the power it held blazed forth. In short order, the flesh had knitted over and blood stopped flowing.

  “There,” he said to his friend. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  Teeth gnashing and growls were his only reply.

  Next came the arm which had been bound when he bound the flailing one. He pulled it off, then the shoulder. As soon as the barbed spikes cleared the wounds, Jaikus-beast was a flurry of motion.

  This was the moment Reneeke feared the most. Though secured tightly nearly neck to ankle, would the ropes hold?

  It twisted, thrashed and even though tied, tried to get at Reneeke. But the ropes held. Blood went everywhere as the thrashing sent the blood oozing from the two open wounds everywhere. Reneeke pulled out his potion of Major Healing, then set his foot against his friend’s chest to still the thrashing. Once he had him somewhat stable, he dribbled the potion into the wounds and a little in its mouth. He used only half before stoppering it back up and putting it back into his pack.

  Reneeke stepped back for a moment to allow the potion to run its course. When the wounds looked like they had healed over and the thrashing no longer sent droplets sailing, he figured it was time to get out of the pit.

  First he gagged and secured Jaikus-beast’s mouth. Then he lifted him up and carried him to where the rope dangled from above. He tied the rope to the one binding the arms around the chest. After that he turned Jaikus-beast to face the side of the pit, reached for the rope, and started to climb.

  The climb up was stressful for there was now added weight pulling on the rope and if it or the chest to which it was secured should fail, they would never get out. Foot by foot he pulled himself up until finally coming to the top. He climbed out of the pit, rolled onto his back and rested a few moments.

  Once rested, he got to his feet, took hold of the rope and pulled Jaikus-beast out of the pit. Then after removing the rope from where it had been secured to the chest, he coiled it around his chest except for the section attached to Jaikus-beast.

  “Let’s go, Jaik,” he said.

  Pulling on the rope, he dragged his friend along the floor through the secret passages, the altar room then outside. Once at the camp he secured Jaikus-beast to the back of one of the horses; the horse was less than pleased. A few moments were spent stowing their equipment onto the horses including Oriu’s chest. That he wrapped in a blanket and secured behind his saddle.

  He considered taking the pony, but finally decided to let it go. Should speed be a necessity, it wouldn’t be able to keep up. Mounting, he glanced back to where his friend struggled to break free. Seeing his efforts were ineffective, he nudged his horse into motion and led the horses along the path back to the trail that led off the mountain.

  Late afternoon found them where they had camped when initially attacked by the Halfling’s illusionary beasts. Not wishing to waste even one moment of daylight, he continued on. It wasn’t until the sun had set and night had fallen did he decide to pull off the road and make camp.

  First thing he did was removed Jaikus-beast from the horse and secure him to a tree. Then he gathered some nearby twigs and branches together to get a fire going. Once it was blazing away, he widened his search and brought in enough wood to last through the night.

  Jaikus-beast had grown silent during this, its red eyes followed his every movement.

  Sitting against a tree near the fire, Reneeke took some rations out of his pack and commenced to eat. “I’d offer you some, Jaik. But I think removing your gag might be a mistake. You’d as soon bite off my hand than take the food I offered.” Tearing off a bit of jerky, he chewed in silent contemplation.

  Turning to Jaikus-beast again, he asked, “So, how do you like adventuring so far?”

  A muffled snarl was his only reply.

  “That’s what I thought.” Taking another bite, he continued. “I hope to keep a fast pace tomorrow and reach Split Oak. If the priests there can’t lift this curse, I don’t know what I’ll tell your mother?” After he ate he laid out his bedroll, set the chest next to it and stretched out.

  “Let me know if anyone approaches.”

  Snarl…snap…growl.

  Reneeke leaned his sword against the chest so it would be in easy reach should he require it. Closing his eyes, he prayed that the ropes binding his friend would hold and that he wouldn’t wake up dead in the morning. It took him some time but sleep finally found him only to deliver dreams fraught with beasts, curses and bandits.

  Chapter 17

  Sunrise found him still alive and Jaikus-beast secured to the tree. An overcast sky promised rain later. Reneeke hoped it held off for as long as possible. He glanced over to his friend and found red eyes locked on him.

  “How’d you sleep?”

  Growl…snap.

  “I don’t think I did much better.”

  Getting to his feet, he went to his friend and started untying him from the tree. When Jaikus-beast tried to bite him even through the gag and having its snout securely bound, Reneeke said, “I know this isn’t pleasant. It isn’t pleasant for either one of us, Jaik. We just need to make the best of it.”

  Once the rope binding it to the tree came free, Reneeke picked up his friend and carried him to a horse. There he secured Jaikus-beast belly-down and tied feet and hands together beneath the horse’s underside. After testing the ropes to make sure they would hold during the trip, and that his friend wouldn’t slip to either side, he got the rest of his equipment stowed. Then he mounted.

  “Ready?”

  Growl…

  “That’s the spirit.”

  Kicking his horse into motion, he returned to the road and headed for the Pass. Alternating between periods of galloping, trotting and walking, the leagues fell quickly away.

  Mid-morning they reached where the bandits had attacked Master Tuppin. The remnants of the burned tree still blocked part of the road. Off to the side, carrion birds congregated over the bodies of the dead bandits. Reneeke didn’t even slow. He navigated through the section of tree he and Jaikus had cut and then left the grisly scene behind.

  Not long after that a stream appeared where it ran alongside the road for a spell.
He stopped where it formed a small pool to allow the horses to drink. After dismounting he knelt by the pool to quench his own thirst.

  A quick check on Jaikus-beast showed it to still be firmly secured by the rope. The section used to secure its mouth closed showed a little wear but shouldn’t become a problem anytime soon.

  Mounting again, he headed deeper into the Pass.

  Throughout the afternoon he set a vigorous pace. When the sun hung low on the horizon, he came to the summit. A suitably large enough area had been cleared to accommodate several large caravans. From the numerous campfire rings and wagon wheel tracks, it was clear this place was used often. Currently it was empty.

  “We’re getting closer, Jaik.” He glanced back to his friend and received a muffled growl for his trouble. “I bet Master Tuppin stopped here either last night or the night before last. What do you think?”

  Growl…

  “If last night, we stand a chance of catching him before Split oak. If the night before, he’s probably already there.”

  Continuing past the caravansary area, he came to where the road began its descent. The view opened up and he could see the road where it wound its way down the mountainside along a river flowing out of the upper elevations. Several leagues down three riders were making their way up.

  “Come on,” he said as he nudged his horse into greater speed. “Let’s see if they can tell us anything about Master Tuppin.”

  Leaving the summit behind, he hurried down the road. A half hour later the riders he’d seen from the summit came into view. Two were men wearing leather armor and carried swords. The third was a blond woman dressed in regular travel clothes including a hooded cloak whose hood was back. She was quite striking.

  As the two groups drew near. Reneeke kept to the right side of the road, the trio to the left. He held up his hand indicating a request to parley and the woman spoke to the two men and they came to a stop. She came forward, eyeing the horses he led. Her gaze lingered upon the back side of Jaikus-beast for its head was on the opposite side of the horse from her.