The Temple at Landfall

by Jane Fletcher

  “Well, Rozek is a lot more intelligent than some, but I’m not sure if she is any wiser.”

  “We’ll take it from you that there’s a distinction.”

  Kim grinned and continued studying the village. She felt under no pressure to commit the Rangers to any further action. Common sense said to wait until she was sure of Rozek’s intentions, and a rest would do everyone good. Although a sensible idea might be to have the family of heretics sent on to Westernfort and safely out of harm’s way. As long as the oldest one was in a fit state to travel. Finding out the condition of the elderly woman was Kim’s next priority. She left the hilltop with the promise to send more Rangers to relieve the lookouts in an hour, and headed back through the wooded hillside.

  The Rangers’ camp was pitched on the far side of the hill from the village. Kim got a fair degree of amusement from knowing that Rozek had no idea how close at hand they were. With the Guards’ total inexperience in the ways of the wild, the greatest danger of discovery lay in being stumbled on by accident, and Kim felt far safer knowing exactly where Rozek’s troops were and what they were doing.

  Back at the camp, high spirits from the success of the raid were in evidence, but the laughter and horseplay were not enough to compromise the defensive order. The sentries were all at their posts and alert, notwithstanding the broad smiles. Only in the corner by the heretics was the mood more somber. The faces were haunted by memories of the previous day. Yet they seemed resilient, strong-minded people. They would get over it eventually, and already the girl was starting to edge toward the Rangers in typical childish curiosity.

  Kim knelt by where the elderly heretic lay in healing sleep, induced by Carma, who was also there, sitting cross-legged by her patient.

  “How is she?” Kim asked.

  “As well as can be expected.” The normally light-hearted Ranger spoke in a voice that was uncharacteristically cold and grim.

  “Will she be fit to travel today?”

  “If we can rig a horse litter for her.”

  “Okay.” Kim patted Carma on the shoulder. “See to it. I want you to escort the family back to Westernfort. I’ll send someone else with you. Gina and Lieutenant Coppelli will appreciate the report if you get home before the rest of us.”

  Carma nodded and Kim rose, but as she was about to go, one of the other heretics moved in front of her.

  “You should have killed Rozek.” The woman’s voice was ragged with hatred; the raw depths of it brought Kim to a stop. She could find no words in answer. Any assertion about not sinking to Rozek’s level would have sounded trite and weak.

  Carma looked up from her position on the ground, with eyes that were as hard as her voice. “I don’t mean it as a criticism, ma’am, but I think she’s right.”

  Kim averted her face and looked down at the elderly woman lying wrapped in bandages. Once again, she relived the scene that had greeted her inside the hut and remembered Rozek’s arrogant self-justification. Despite her words to Lynn about the futility of revenge, Kim found herself worryingly close to agreeing.

  *

  In early afternoon, not long after Carma and the family had left, word came from the Rangers on lookout that things were happening in the village. Kim trotted back up through the trees to see for herself.

  “What’s the situation?” she asked as she reached the hilltop.

  “From what we could tell, most of them spent the morning in prayers. Then they broke for lunch. Now they seem to be a bit more focused in their activities. Nothing definite, but we thought you might like to see,” one of the Rangers answered.

  “Right. Thanks.”

  It was obvious that the lookouts were right. Rozek’s troops were moving with an objective in mind, and before long two distinct groups had formed. The Guards in the larger section were collecting their gear and as much in the way of provisions as was available, and starting to muster on the eastern side of the village. Kim hoped she was not being overly optimistic in thinking that they were preparing themselves for the long walk back to the Sisters’ Homelands.

  The intentions of the other group of Guards were harder to be sure of. They had also gathered their possessions and were now assembled close by the remaining horses. Clearly, they were the ones selected to ride. But where? An officer was haranguing them. Kim was fairly certain it was Rozek, and she was also fairly certain that retreat was not the subject of the talk. Rozek did not appear to have quite given up yet; maybe she could not. To return twice with nothing to report but defeat and dead Guards might be a permanent block on her career.

  Within the hour, both groups of Guards had completed their preparations and made their departure from the village. Those on foot marched away due east in the direction of Landfall. The others with their horses set off southwest, but not all were riding. A few fanned out wide at the front and walked with their eyes fixed on the ground, leading their mounts behind them. These women were the ones that puzzled Kim for a few seconds before understanding hit her. The Guards were searching for the hoof marks of the stolen horses from the night before.

  The same conclusion had occurred to the other Rangers. “Oh, look at that. Bless their little woolly vests. They’re trying to track us, hoping we’ll lead them to Westernfort.”

  “Who says Guards have no imagination,” the other Ranger agreed, laughing.

  Kim also smiled. “Then we ought to give them a track to follow.” She paused for a moment, thinking. “But we’d better not make it too difficult.”

  *

  Three days later, the chase was still in progress, pulling Rozek and her Guards far away from the route to Westernfort. Not that it had been easy, even with the herd of stolen horses to make a clear trail. On the first night, Rozek had kept going well after the light had failed and had consequently gotten lost. On another occasion, a roving herd of fenbucks had obliterated the Rangers’ trail before the Guards reached it. Kim was reduced to more and more blatant tricks to keep the Guards tagging along. So far it had worked, but soon Rozek must realize she was being played with. Or was she too arrogant or too desperate to even consider the idea, and perhaps it was time to enlighten her?

  Noon was approaching as the Rangers drove the herd of horses along a gorge-like valley. After the long, dust-dry summer, only a thin trickle of water flowed at the bottom, but in a few weeks’ time, when the heavy autumn rains began, the gorge would hold a substantial torrent. As she rode along, Kim studied her surroundings. The seasonal floods meant the floor of the gully was devoid of trees and bore only the plants that had grown from seed during the summer months. These scarcely came to the hocks of the horses. The lower walls of the gorge on either side were sheer and unscaleable on horseback. Even a woman climbing would find them a challenge. The bare rock faces were washed clean of plants, but ten meters up, overhanging the top of the gorge, was a thick covering of bushy, shrub-like trees, ideal for shielding archers.

  Sergeant O’Neil was riding beside Kim and noticed the direction of her eyes. “You’re thinking it has potential for an ambush?”

  “I was actually one step on from that. I’d gotten as far as wondering whether Rozek would be stupid enough to ride down here, knowing that we’re ahead of her,” Kim replied thoughtfully.

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  O’Neil grinned. “My money says it wouldn’t even occur to her that there was a risk involved.”

  After another kilometer, the sides of the gorge crumbled away and they emerged into a far broader valley. Despite the drought, a respectable river was still flowing down the middle, although the water level was low and easy to ford.

  Kim turned around to take a last look down the gorge, then stood in her stirrups and shouted, “Okay! We’ll take an hour’s break for the horses. After that, we’re going to change the game a bit. So if you all gather round, I’ll tell you what we’re going to play next.”

  *

  Such gear as was necessary was made ready, and the Rangers set off again. A
t first, there was no change to the routine of the previous three days, but midway across the river, the Rangers divided. Three carried on, driving the riderless horses ahead of them while the rest followed Kim, riding upstream and keeping to shallow water. It would take vastly better trackers than the Guards to notice that fewer horses had left the river than entered, even if the planned ambush failed and Rozek’s troops managed to escape from the gorge.

  After a hundred meters, the Rangers returned to the bank and continued to ride along the valley until a bend took them out of sight of anyone following the trail of the stolen horses. They dismounted in the shelter of a straggling grove of young trees and secured their horses’ reins to prevent them from straying. Then the Rangers climbed the hillside on foot and began to double back through the dense undergrowth, taking a route that eventually brought them out above the gorge, half a kilometer from its end.

  Finally there was the long wait, a chance to find good locations among the trees, to check bowstrings and arrows, to finalize contingency plans, should things go wrong, and then to wonder whether Rozek had gotten lost again. But at last Kim heard the dull clopping of horses coming toward them down the barren gorge. In a second, all fidgeting and talking had ceased, the last few bows were strung, and quivers laid to hand.

  The first of the riders came into view with Rozek in the lead. A double column followed her. Fifty-three Guards against a dozen Rangers. The corner of Kim’s mouth twitched in a wry smile; the odds were not bad at all. She certainly would not have been happy to change places with Rozek, and not just because the major was about to be on the receiving end of an ambush. The Guards’ morale was poor. They were obviously tired and dispirited. Many rode with their heads down. Maybe they suspected Rozek was leading them into danger. Only the most conceited could be unaware that they were totally outclassed against the Rangers in the wilderness. One or two were even looking anxiously at the overgrown top of the gorge, as if working out for themselves the opportunity it presented. One good prod and they’ll run, Kim told herself.

  Her eyes returned to Rozek, all previous qualms gone. The Guard major was unbound and armed, riding at the head of troops with hostile intent. Furthermore, a warning had been given, and she had chosen to ignore it. All of which, in Kim’s mind, made Rozek a very fair target.

  Chip’s partner, Katryn, stood ready by Kim’s side. She was far and away the best marksman in the squadron. Tempting though the thought was of being the one to kill Rozek, Kim did not want to risk letting the major get away. At her signal, Katryn pulled an arrow from her quiver and knocked it on the string of her bow. The line of Guards was getting closer, less than fifty meters from the ambush. Katryn pulled back, anchoring her hand under her chin and touching lips and nose to the string. She took time to set her aim straight for Rozek’s heart. When the major was less than twenty meters away, Katryn loosed the arrow. Kim watched it fly straight and true to its target.

  Rozek jolted back in the saddle, her arms flying wide, with the shaft of the arrow embedded in her chest. Then she pitched forward, slumping motionless over her horse’s neck. Shouts rose from the Guards behind, making the startled beast skitter to one side and then break into a canter. Rozek was still on its back, but as it ran below her, Kim could see streams of blood running down the withers of the horse.

  The shouts from the Guards became louder, spreading back along the column, and now they were joined by the sound of arrows whistling through the air as other Rangers began to shoot. For the space of a few seconds, the Guards appeared to be too surprised to know what to do, whether to go forward or back. A few reached for their own bows. The frantic, confused milling meant the Guards were no longer such clear targets, but arrows still found their mark. One officer made as if to set off after Rozek, but she spun about as she was hit in the shoulder, then another Guard took an arrow in the thigh. A third and fourth were injured, although they also managed to stay clinging to their saddles.

  At the back of the line, Guards were starting to turn around. A junior officer called the retreat, her voice shading into panic. Then another woman was hit more seriously, knocking her from the saddle, and the retreat became a rout. The Guards spurred their horses and raced back up the valley trying to outrun the arrows, but two who were braver than the rest went to their fallen comrade’s aid. They jumped to the ground, picked up the injured woman and literally tossed her over her horse, then scrambled back into their saddles and chased after the other soldiers in red and gold. However, the flight of arrows had already stopped. Regardless of how easy a target the two rescuers were, Kim had not shot at them, and neither had anyone else.

  After the last Guard had disappeared from view, the Rangers hurried back to their horses. Kim picked out O’Neil and another experienced, levelheaded woman and said, “Without Rozek to lead them, I’m pretty sure the Guards won’t stop running until they get back to Landfall, but I don’t want to be caught out. Follow them until you are absolutely certain they’re leaving the mountains. If anything unexpected happens in what’s left of today, you can report to me at tonight’s rendezvous. Otherwise send word straight to Westernfort.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Even before Kim had finished speaking, the selected Rangers were on their way to their horses and off after the fleeing Guards.

  Another four Rangers were dispatched to retrieve any spent arrows they could find. Kim turned to the rest. “Right. Once they get back from the gorge, we can catch up with the horses. While we’re waiting, I’ll go and collect Rozek’s horse and gear.”

  “Should I come too?” a Ranger volunteered.

  “I think I’ll be okay. I trust Katryn’s aim. She sent the arrow through Rozek’s heart—”

  “Assuming she had one,” someone interjected.

  Kim grinned. “If I’m not back in an hour, you’ll know her ghost got me.”

  As she collected her own horse and rode off, Kim was well aware of why she did not want company when she found Rozek’s body. She had quite a few things that she wanted to say to the dead major, most of which she did not want overheard. The temptation to gloat in an unseemly fashion might be irresistible.

  A line of blood was splattered on the ground at the point where the gorge met the larger valley. Kim followed the trail downstream for another kilometer as it wound in an erratic route and eventually linked with a deer track, climbing the side of the valley. After a short but steep ascent, the path leveled out on a boulder-strewn plateau. On one side stood a crumbling outcrop of rock. On the other was a sharp drop down to the river. Rozek’s horse was standing close by the edge, but there was no sign of Rozek’s body. Presumably, she had finally slipped from her horse and tumbled over the side.

  Kim dismounted and went to peer down the steep, scree-covered slope. The red and gold of Rozek’s uniform should have shown up like a flag, but nothing caught her eye, and suddenly Kim’s trained instincts snapped in. The certainty that something was very wrong. She spun about, ready to run back to her horse and summon the rest of the Rangers, and found herself staring at a drawn bow with the arrowhead pointing straight at her.

  Rozek had been crouching well back from the edge, hidden between the cracked boulders of the outcrop when Kim arrived. Now the major stepped out into the open. Her face was pale, her eyes were slightly glazed, and the red of her uniform was stained a duller crimson with her blood, but she was most definitely alive.

  For the space of several heartbeats, they stood staring silently at each other, and then Rozek’s lips twisted into a sneer. “I know. You thought you’d killed me. And what did you say next? Oh, yes. An easy mistake to make.”

  Rozek was swaying, clearly light-headed from the loss of blood. Her aim would not be good, but it did not need to be. A scant five meters separated her from Kim.

  She continued speaking. “The words of the Goddess shall be as a shield to the faithful. Do you recognize the quote? They are good words, words every Guard should carry close to her heart.” Rozek smiled. “I do. I always have. I carr
y a little copy of the book in my breast pocket. That was what your faithless arrow hit. The words of the Goddess really were a shield to me, but of course you don’t believe the words, do you?”

  Kim met Rozek’s eyes and said, “I know that whatever truth there is in them is corrupted by your mouth.”

  “The corruption is only in you.” Rozek was breathing heavily. The thickness of the book had not protected her fully, but it had been enough to save her from death. The arrow wound was not a minor scratch, yet neither was it fatal.

  Luck pays no heed of justice, Kim told herself, but at least she would have her chance to address her words to the living woman. “No, Rozek. You are the corrupt one. You use your religion to justify your own evil. I’ll bet you went through the book of the Elder-Ones just to pick out suitable quotes—anything to make it sound as if you were following the will of the Goddess rather than your own sordid desire to inflict pain on others. You use divinity to excuse inhumanity, but I have not the slightest doubt if Celaeno were here to choose between us, that she would be as sickened by you as I am.”

  Rozek only smiled and said, “Well, I’m going to give you the chance in the very near future to stand before Celaeno and put it to the test. So take off your sword and throw it over here.”

  Staring into Rozek’s eyes, Kim knew herself to be a poor beginner when it came to gloating. Rozek intended to kill her but wanted to drag things out. Rozek did not have the faintest chance of holding Kim prisoner once the other Rangers discovered what had happened. Kim knew it and knew that Rozek knew it. Asking for her sword, rather than shooting her immediately, was part of the game. Its only possible purpose was to give Rozek the option of inflicting a slower death than an arrow through the heart, but it was not an option Kim was prepared to grant.

  “I said take off your sword,” Rozek snapped again, but her hands were shaking from the effort of holding the bow at full stretch. Soon she would be forced to loose the arrow.