The Betrayed Read online

  As they threw on their packs, Cathros warned of the sound of hoof beats. Cane came to his brother’s side in an instant, sword drawn. Noaem, who had been tending to the bandages on his brother’s wounds, came also. He listened for a moment, then spoke in the trade tongue. “The horse is ridden hard but is not ill treated. There is oneness between horse and rider.”

  “Only one horse?” Elynna asked. Could it be Tienna?

  “I hear thoughts of only one,” Noaem answered. The rest of the company had joined him and gazed southward.

  “It could be Tienna,” Nahoon said, voicing the hope Elynna felt.

  “Or a scout from the Citadel host,” Cane countered. He still gripped his sword. Elynna’s anxiety mounted, as did her hopes. Through the tall grasses she could not see the rider until the horse was close upon them. Then a figure emerged from the grasses. It was a woman with dark hair streaming behind her. She rode hard, leaning forward with her face almost buried in mane. She was dressed in a light shift. Her arms and legs were adorned with and warmed only by fur cuffs. She had no saddle.

  “Tienna!” Elynna explained. Relief rushed over her. Her friend was safe. She had her guide again. A burden fell off her as though it were a physical thing.

  Elynna rushed over to the horse. Tienna looked more beautiful and more proud than ever. And more angry. She leapt to the ground while Noaem walked over and put his hand on her horse. “What are you doing here?” Tienna asked. “Are you fools? What is the cause of this delay? And this fire! I could smell it from five miles away. Are you trying to lead the enemy here?”

  Her companions stared at her speechless. “What do you mean?” Cane finally asked, finding his tongue. “Are there soldiers nearby?”

  “Have you forgotten already? Half the army of Citadel is after us. They have been for days.”

  “I thought—” Elynna began but didn’t finish. Her thoughts raced back over the past three days. Last they had heard, Golach’s company rode toward Tanengog and were still half a day away. Had he found a way across the lake with his horses? Had the people of Tanengog helped him? Then what hope did the company have? Had all their plans failed yet again?

  “How did they get across the lake?” Nahoon asked.

  Tienna looked surprised to see Nahoon. “Why are you—?” she said. But then she shook her head and stopped. “No matter. It’s too late now. Our enemy is no more than eight miles distance from here, across the river to the southeast. And they are approaching hard. If we do not move fast, and if some great power does not come to our aid, they will be upon us before we reach the mountains.”

  Cane’s eyes narrowed. His voice took an accusing tone. “How did they know? Who told them of our position and direction? Have your people betrayed us?”

  Tienna faced him, her own eyes flashing angrily to match his. “Perhaps I am to blame for underestimating the abilities of this Captain Golach. For that I take responsibility. But if you think that any of the Plainsfolk led them to us, don’t waste your thoughts. Never in history have our people been slaves to Citadel.”

  “Then who brought him here?”

  “Think. Where else would we go? South or east back toward Citadel? West to be trapped against the sea?”

  “And what of your promise that we would disappear into the Plains?”

  “I did not expect you to light fires and leave tracks that even a blind—”

  “Stop!” Elynna shouted as a sudden realization struck her—an understanding she should have had days ago. “Don’t you see? It’s the Daegmon. That’s who’s been leading Golach all along. Golach doesn’t need to guess. He doesn’t need tracks. That’s why I felt the touch of the Daegmon’s mind when we were crossing the lake, and again in Arnog. The creature wanted to know where we were so that it could lead the soldiers to us. It’s giving orders. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner.” With the revelation, a new wave of despair came over her. Their situation seemed more hopeless than ever. How could they hope to fight the Daegmon without interference from Citadel if the Daegmon told Golach where to go?

  For a long moment Elynna’s companions stared wide-eyed. Then Cane broke the silence. “Come. We must move quickly.”

  Girding their packs, the company was off and running at once. All except Noaem and Tienna. “Your horse is tired,” Noaem said quietly. Tienna met his eyes and nodded. Noaem went on. “He will consent to carry you farther. He understands your urgency, but do not press him too far.”

  “Thank you,” Tienna said. Then, seeing where the others were headed, she leapt astride her horse and shouted. “Stop. You will not make it that way. The river bends back southward in a wide loop, and there are no fords for several miles. You’ve trapped yourself.”

  It took a moment for Elynna to grasp what Tienna had said. Then the words sank in. Several companions glanced at Nahoon, who had turned pale at the realization of this mistake. But Tienna was concerned with correcting their course and not with scolding. “Angle to the southwest. Follow my path,” she called out. “I will return soon and meet you further up the slope.” Without waiting for a response, she spun the horse around, and with a light jab of her heels sent it flying, leaving only a trail of beaten grass behind her.

  Elynna looked after her. She wanted to call her friend back. She needed her. She needed Thimeon. Everything was falling apart. But her companions were already on the move. Bandor and Theo took the lead, following Tienna’s track. The others trailed behind. Elynna started near the front but slowly fell back as the weight of her small pack dragged on her. Fortunately they had to go only about a half mile before they found Tienna waiting in a clearing. “That way,” she said, pointing, as her companions paused for a breath. “When you get to the stand of trees atop the hill, turn back northward. Now is the time for all the haste you can muster. Do not slow or turn aside until you are in the mountains. And keep your distance from the river. The soldiers will make straight for the notch, but their horses will not be able to go far up. If we are lucky, we still may beat them.” Then she spun around and rode off, this time in a southeastward direction.

  “Where are you going?” Marti called out. But Tienna was already too far away to hear him over the drumming of her horse’s feet as they flew over the grasses. Or if she did hear, any answer she gave was lost in the wind before it reached Elynna’s ears. Cane and Cathros were already urging the others on.

  Elynna stayed still for just a moment, breathing hard, her arms braced against her legs, already winded from the opening dash. Fear told her she needed to keep moving. But for a moment it was not fatigue but guilt that paralyzed her. She had failed to understand what the Daegmon was doing soon enough to help the company. Just as she had failed to respond to the danger many months ago to warn her own village of Lienford. To warn her father. Maybe her brother Lyn was right. Maybe it was Elynna’s fault. She had been given the gift. And she had failed to use it.

  Elynna jumped as a strong handgrip closed on her left arm. She turned and looked right into the eyes of Anchara. Eyes, Elynna realized, that were full of compassion. That was the mystery behind them. “The fault,” Anchara said in her halting use of the trade language. “It is not yours. You must not carry blame. This evil. It wants us feel guilt.” She waited a moment longer, then added. “Now come.”

  Tears came to Elynna’s eyes, but somehow she held back the full flood. With Anchara’s hand resting gently on her arm, she shifted her pack on her shoulders and began to move.

  Cane and Cathros were several strides ahead, setting the pace. For a time Elynna was able to keep up, with Anchara jogging alongside her, offering encouragement by her mere presence. Yet by the time they reached the trees three miles or more to the west, they were spread out over half a mile. Elynna straggled in, exhausted, just behind Anchara. Only Noaem and Noab were behind her. She turned and saw the brothers back at the base of the hill. Anchara looked at them also. “Noab still with injur
y,” she blurted out. “He cannot run.”

  “He will have to,” Cane answered. “We cannot wait.”

  “None of us can run all day,” Elynna argued. She was thinking as much of her own condition as Noab’s. Yet she also knew that Cane was right.

  Whether Cane heard her or not, he made no move to depart until the final two companions had struggled up the hill. Elynna bit her lip waiting for what he would say to them. But to her surprise, Noab spoke first. “Go on. My wound is not yet healed, and I cannot keep up. Either I will slow you down, or I will die trying not to.” He made a weak attempt to smile. “I don’t like either option.”

  “I will stay with my brother,” Noaem said.

  “No,” Noab argued. “Your gift is too valuable. I will stay alone. As long as I don’t have to run any farther, I’ll be fine. I can hide and then find my way back to the lake. Our enemy is across the river, and they will follow the rest of you. I will be safe enough. Maybe I will rejoin you later.” Noaem started to object again, but Noab spoke to him in the Ceadani tongue and whatever he said proved convincing. Noaem gave his brother a big hug. Then Anchara came and kissed him on both cheeks.

  You will be safe, Elynna wanted to tell him. But she couldn’t bring herself to utter words she did not believe. None of them were safe. She turned toward Cane, who was already moving, and forced her own legs into motion after him. Leaving Noab atop the small hill leaning against a tree, she fled northward with the rest.

  Before long the land in front of them dropped away toward the river again. For a moment Elynna feared they had not gone far enough westward and would have to detour once more, but Tienna had guided them well. What Elynna saw was the bend where the river turned back toward the north. Their march took them a long stone’s throw from the bank. From there they kept a line due north, maintaining a few hundred yards’ distance between themselves and the shore. The pace had slowed to a fast walk, but the company was together. She could see the base of the notch where the river poured down from the mountains, and the ground gradually rose and grew more rugged. Nonetheless they had several miles to go before they reached terrain where enemy horses could not easily follow. And where was Tienna?

  When they crested the top of a low hill, Theo turned around and gave a low cry. Elynna and the others spun to see what he had seen. Southeastward, across the river a few miles downstream, came the dark moving mass of a small army on horseback.

  13

  AN AMBUSH

  Since Tienna’s appearance at dawn, Elynna had known the enemy followed close behind. But seeing them for the first time brought a new rush of fear. Their danger and the near hopelessness of the situation became even more real. She didn’t know if she could continue.

  “Come on,” Cane yelled. Something about his voice and presence—was it the working of his gift?—brought a new strength to her that transcended both her fear and her fatigue. Elynna willed herself onward, for a time keeping pace with the brothers from Anghatte. Down the north side of the slope, they ran. “Could you see how many they were?” Cane asked as they went.

  “Two hundred or more,” answered Cathros, who had been watching with Theo.

  “Two hundred?” Elynna gasped. She made no effort to hide her dismay. It was a much bigger company than had taken them captive so many days earlier at Gale Ceathu. Except she was sure this time that Golach, or whoever it was, had not come to take them captive.

  Cane did not slow down, but as he jogged down the hill he turned his head to his brother. Despite his heavy breathing, Elynna heard his question clearly. “Shall we stop and look for a place to fight?”

  Cathros did not hesitate. “No. Not yet. As long as the river separates us, we have a chance.”

  Young Theo had pulled a few strides in front of the brothers. He had a long graceful stride and was the only one who did not appeared winded. “We are running parallel to our enemy. We could turn westward. Make them cross the river to catch us.”

  “And look for another pass?” Cane questioned. “Or just stay in the Plains?”

  Theo didn’t answer. But Elynna knew the answer. As long as they stayed in the Plains, they could not escape soldiers on horseback. They had to get to the pass. “We must trust Tienna,” she managed to say between pants. “She said to go north.”

  “She also said we might not make it,” Cane replied. “Theo has a good plan. We have followed the river for miles without seeing any sort of ford. If we turn westward, Golach will have to circle around far—”

  Cathros cut him short. “No. Elynna is right. Tienna knows the Plains. Let us trust her.”

  “But where is she?” Cane asked. The question ran through Elynna’s mind also. “What help can she give now?”

  Nobody had an answer. Tienna was nowhere to be seen and had given no indication of where she was going—only that she would return and meet them further up the pass. Yet Cane did not press his point. The company continued on its path. But between the fatigue and the rougher ground, their pace slowed. And even with the slower pace, Elynna was falling behind.

  A hundred yards ahead, she saw Cane stop and turn. He grabbed Noaem’s arm as the others jogged past. He asked something with urgency, but Elynna could not hear the conversation until she drew much closer.

  “But their horses,” Cane asked. “You said you could sense them. What condition are they in?”

  As much for her own need of rest as to hear what Cane had to say, Elynna came to a halt beside them. Noaem’s eyes were closed. She understood what he was doing; she could see it in his expression. He was searching with his mind the way she had searched at times for the thoughts of their enemies. “Tired,” he finally replied, as he opened his eyes again. “As we are. Their pace is slow over this ground.”

  “Can you speak with the horses over the distance? Can you ask them to help us?”

  Noaem raised his eyes as though the thought had not occurred to him. The suggestion also gave Elynna a glimmer of hope—the first she had known since Tienna had brought news of their enemy.

  “I do not know if I am able,” Noaem answered. “I will try.” He closed his eyes and grew still. Cane stood beside him, one hand on Noaem’s shoulder and the other holding the stone about his neck as if the talisman’s power might give the Ceadani some aid in his task—some extra strength for the use of his peculiar gift. A minute passed. All was silent. The rest of the company had disappeared into the grass beyond the rise. Noaem’s lips moved, but no sound came out. Then he opened his eyes and looked up at Cane and Elynna. “No good.”

  Elynna’s heart fell. “You cannot speak with them?”

  “I speak, and they hear.” His voice revealed a new anger as he spoke. “The horses fear whips of bad men.”

  Cane’s shoulders fell. He turned and started down the slope, cursing as he ran. Elynna followed, struggling to keep up and wondering what foolish impulse had prompted her to stay back; Cane and Noaem soon picked up their own pace in order to catch up with the others, and once more she fell behind. The thought of giving up and returning to rejoin Noab crossed her mind. Then she heard Cane’s voice ahead of her. “What of other animals?”

  Noaem slowed to a quick walk, allowing Elynna to catch up. “I do not understand what you are asking.”

  “Wild animals. Predators. Tigers. Bears. Anything that could come to our aid and slow the soldiers.”

  “You mean to fight the soldiers?” Noaem asked.

  Elynna’s hope renewed. She had seen the tiger in the battle against the Daegmon. Such a powerful animal would bring panic to horses and soldiers alike. “Yes,” she replied excitedly, an instant before the same word came out of Cane’s mouth.

  “No,” Noaem replied at once. “I will not.”

  What? Had Elynna heard him correctly? What other hope did they have?

  “The animals could do nothing,” Noaem went on. “Not against soldiers with bows and spears.
They would get slaughtered and yet gain us nothing—”

  “Try,” Cane ordered.

  Please, Elynna thought. And yet . . . and yet after a moment’s consideration she feared he was right. Would even a great tiger of the Plains provide more than a momentary delay against two hundred soldiers with bows and spears?

  “No,” Noaem answered again. Cane gritted his teeth, but he said no more. They caught up with the others at the top of the next rise. Elynna’s hopes were fading but not altogether gone. She knew they were at the northern edge of the Plains. These were the real foothills to the great mountains. Ahead they could see where the steep slope began. A heavy waterfall tumbled off a low bluff. And behind? Elynna looked back and gasped in horror. The soldiers were in plain sight now, only a mile away to the east, on the opposite side of the river. They had caught up with the fleeing company and were keeping pace or gaining on them in the race northward.

  “We can’t do it,” Elynna cried. “They’ll beat us. We must turn aside.”

  “No,” Cathros said. “The soldiers still must cross the river before they can attack. And our hope is in the mountains. That also is where the Daegmon is. That is our task: to pursue it until it turns to fight, as it has done in the past, or at least to keep it fleeing so it does not continue to attack our people. In any case, if we turn west now and give up reaching the pass, the soldiers will pursue us across the Plains. And if you are right, that the Daegmon is helping these soldiers, we cannot hope to escape them. We must at least attempt to reach the mountains. To keep ahead of the soldiers. We may yet slip past them. If not, then our fight against them is inevitable anyway.”

  Elynna nodded. One thing at least she now understood about their enemies. As long as the Daegmon lived and could sense her, she had little or no hope of hiding from the soldiers. And what hope did she have now? Any? Not if she stopped running. And so onward she pushed her legs.