The Betrayed Page 18

  As others piled in behind her, Elynna moved to the back of the cave and collapsed in exhaustion on the rock floor.

  Soon all of the company had entered. Nahoon, holding a pair of torches, had stayed near the entrance and hurried the others through. Most of them followed Elynna’s example. They found a place to lean against the wall or simply dropped onto the floor and let their heads fall. But Cane and Tienna remained on their feet. “We should rest only as long as necessary,” Cane said. “We made the mistake once before of underestimating our enemy—and overestimating our time.”

  Elynna groaned, and she was not the only one. She could sleep for two days, she thought. But she knew that Cane spoke wisely. She was about to voice her agreement, but Tienna beat her to it.

  “Cane is right,” the huntress said. “We should move long before this night is over. Eat what you need and get the rest you can.” She shook her head and said more softly. “I fear you have all had your last good night’s rest for many days to come.”

  These were not words Elynna wanted to hear. But she guessed that Tienna, like Cane, also spoke truthfully. Elynna was certainly ready for rest. At the mention of food, however, her stomach grumbled. She had not eaten anything since morning and had barely had enough time to drink. She was not sure whether her hunger or fatigue was stronger. She looked around the cave. Her companions did not look any better off. Some—Beth, Marti, and Falien—seemed to be in even worse shape. But a few showed no sign of the ordeal.

  Cane, Cathros, and Nahoon stood close to the cave entrance speaking in quiet voices. Tienna dug through her pack. Anchara knelt beside her doing the same. Alrew had lit a second torch and looked for a place in the wall where he could place it. He soon found a crack in the rock and stuck it in securely.

  Tienna and Anchara removed some food supplies from their pack—pieces of dried meat and some seeds mixed with nuts and roasted grains. Elynna mustered the energy to open her pack and remove the last pieces of flat bread. Others followed the example. Soon they were doling out food and discussing plans in soft voices. Despite Nahoon’s assurance that the Amanti would not fail, all agreed that they should post a sentry and take shifts.

  Alrew volunteered at once for the first shift, took a piece of meat and bread, and headed outside. While the others ate, they wondered aloud what they had left behind and what was ahead. None of them had ever traveled in the Undeani land. Not even Tienna.

  Toward the end of the meal Elynna overheard Theo asking Tienna how his cousin Thimeon was. Tienna’s eyes fell, and Elynna thought she might have blushed, though it was difficult to tell by torchlight. “I fear for him,” she replied after a moment. “He has taken a great danger upon himself. Perhaps as great as our own.”

  “A foolish danger,” Cane said from a few feet away. “What he hopes to find in books, I do not know. We have the power we need right here.”

  “When he guided us, you did not question his wisdom,” Tienna returned fiercely. More fiercely than Elynna might have imagined. Would she herself have defended him? She didn’t know. She wished she would have.

  Cane shrugged. “He was a good guide and a worthy companion—an acceptable warrior for one who was not trained. His courage, if nothing else, I do not doubt.”

  When all had finished eating, they set the rotation of sentries. Lluach would replace Alrew, who had yet to eat, followed by Cathros, Nahoon, Bandor, Pietr, and Noab—a representation of each of the peoples in the company. Each shift would be only thirty minutes. After that, they would rise and depart. Counting the meal, it would be a scant four hours of rest—not nearly as much time as Elynna wished for, but it was all they could afford. She would have to take what rest she could.

  A short time later Tienna extinguished one of the torches and moved the other behind a rock ledge in a little corner in the back of the cave. Only a hint of twilight filtered through the cave mouth and mingled with the flickering from the torch now out of sight. Elynna settled down on her sleeping mat, pulled a blanket over her, and closed her eyes. But despite her fatigue, she did not fall asleep right away. She heard soft voices around her.

  “And what of you, Nahoon?” Cathros asked into the darkness. “You did not intend to come with us. Yet here you are.”

  The question had crossed Elynna’s mind once during the ascent up the pass. But between her fatigue and her fear of pursuit, she had not thought about it again. Now the question troubled her. A pang of regret and sadness for Nahoon welled up. She lay as quiet as she could and listened for his answer.

  What seemed like several minutes passed, and Nahoon’s voice was soft as he replied. “I did not intend to join you. And I still do not. When you depart northward into the mountains, I will head back down the ravine and return to my people. And to my beloved.”

  “But you might be walking into a trap,” Cathros said.

  “With the Amanti there, I do not fear. It might be the safest place I could be in Gondisle.”

  There was no more conversation. The fatigue of a long day soon took over, and Elynna passed into sleep.

  17

  WHERE THE DAEGMON FLIES

  She awoke with a start sometime later . The cave was dark, but she didn’t need her vision to identify the familiar burning touch. The sense that only she had. The pain that others called her gift.

  The Daegmon was approaching.

  She was wide awake in an instant. Her heart beat rapidly. Was it coming to attack? Or returning from the mountains back to the Plains? Even knowing that the cave offered them safety from their huge enemy, she trembled with fear.

  “Cane,” she called out.

  She heard a movement nearby, and a groggy answer came out of the darkness. “What is it?”

  “The Daegmon,” she said. “I can sense it coming.”

  In the dim light of the hidden torch, Elynna could just make out Cane’s figure as he jumped to his feet. Others around the cave, awakened by her words, also stirred. A second later, Cane stumbled across the cave in the darkness, causing a few grunts as he tripped over people on the way. Then came the sound of striking flint. Another torch flickered to light. A few were already sitting up and rubbing their eyes.

  “Who’s on watch?” Cane asked.

  “Bandor,” Nahoon replied. “He replaced me some time ago. Unless he has already come in.”

  “No,” Pietr interspersed. “I am after Bandor, and he has not come for me.”

  “Go find him,” Cane commanded. “Warn him and see if he has seen anything.”

  Elynna watched as Nahoon nodded and disappeared out of the cave. A portion of her mind was there in the cave, watching her companions react. But the rest of her searched outward, listening for the thoughts of their enemy, feeling the pain of its approaching presence and trying to learn from it without being overwhelmed. It was the one thing she could do for them.

  Several others sat huddled as close to the mouth of the cave as they could, ready to either spring into battle or withdraw further for protection. Elynna made her way over to join them. With each passing moment, she could feel the Daegmon growing closer. But despite the pain, and despite the natural fear that came with knowledge of this enemy, there was none of the irrational and overwhelming terror that had always in the past come with the presence of their enemy. Was it Cane’s gift, or the stone about his neck, protecting her from fear?

  She looked outside. Nahoon had still not returned. It shouldn’t have taken that long for him to find Bandor. They had posted the sentry a short distance away.

  Elynna grew worried, yet she was still not overwhelmed by the Daegmon terror. She probed further, willing to endure the pain, trying to sense its thoughts. The Daegmon was very near now, almost on top of them. She could almost see it with her mind, through the rock walls of the mountain. Yet she sensed no threat of attack. Its thoughts were not focused on her. It was passing overhead.

  Relief washed over El
ynna. But with it came confusion. Where was it going? And guilt. Guilt that she felt relief. They were supposed to be pursuing it, she knew. Pursuing it as they had before their imprisonment. But she never felt ready to face it.

  A sudden loud commotion stirred near the entrance of the cave. Her thoughts were disrupted as Nahoon and Bandor jumped through the mouth, almost landing on top of her. Behind them, a third smaller figure also stepped out of the dark, but Elynna’s attention was focused on Bandor.

  “It’s out there,” Bandor shouted breathlessly. Even in the torchlight, the fear on his face was visible.

  “Did you see it?” Cane asked. “Is it attacking?”

  It took Bandor a few seconds before he could answer. “No. I . . . I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think it’s attacking. But I felt it.”

  Cane gripped Bandor’s shoulders and pressed him for more information. “Where were you? Where is the creature?”

  Bandor took a deep breath. “I don’t know where it is. I had heard something moving in the ravine. I wasn’t sure if it was an animal or a person. I was going to come into the cave and warn you, when Nahoon came out. So I left him to guard the entrance, and I snuck down to investigate. Just then a great shadow passed overhead, blotting out the stars, and for a moment I was overwhelmed by fear.”

  Elynna knew at once what Bandor had seen and felt, for she had known it herself. She closed her eyes, forcing her thoughts outward once more, reaching for their enemy.

  “I felt it too,” Nahoon added. “For a minute I couldn’t move. Then it passed by. A few seconds later, I heard Bandor call out. But before I could respond, I saw his shadow in the darkness, racing back.”

  Elynna’s eyes were closed in concentration. The enemy was still there. She could sense it, could feel the pain of its presence—the burning and the odor going straight into her skull. She could withdraw, she knew. It would not eliminate the pain altogether, but it would lessen. But she endured and kept probing. It was as she had thought. The creature was leaving—winging its way southward, back toward the Plains. It knew where she was, but it was ignoring them.

  “I don’t understand,” she said aloud.

  “What’s wrong?” several voices queried.

  Elynna opened her eyes. She met Cane’s gaze. “It’s going away again—moving past us, flying southward toward the Plains.”

  “Then it wasn’t after us?” Bandor asked, still panting.

  “If not us, then whom?” Cathros asked.

  Elynna shook her head. She did not have an answer—and that worried her even more than an attack. “I don’t know. I sense in its mind the thought of pursuit and destruction, but it is not coming for us.”

  The others pondered this only a moment before Nahoon’s eyes lit with a new and more terrible thought. “The Amanti!” he cried. “The Daegmon is after them.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth before Elynna knew he had spoken the truth. Why had she not understood earlier? The words and their implications felt like a blow to her chest. It was going to attack the Uët warriors defending the pass. It would attack the Amanti. How had she failed to understand that?

  “No,” came an anguished cry from a young male voice. Out from behind Bandor and Nahoon stepped a figure half a head shorter and less broad than either of them. His voice sounded both exhausted and terrified as he spoke in sobs. “Not the Amanti! It can’t be.”

  Elynna’s attention was diverted to the person. She had been so concerned with the Daegmon, she had not even paid attention to him. She had assumed he was one of her companions. But he was not. It took her a moment to recognize the familiar voice. Marti was already on his feet racing across the cave.

  “Keet,” Marti shouted. “You idiotic fool! What on earth are you doing? Does Mother know where you are? What kind of a wild idea is this? You could be killed.”

  Keet stood staring at his older brother for a long tense moment. Then his head sagged and swayed. An instant later he fell unconscious into his brother’s arms.

  By the time the young Plainsman had regained consciousness, the others had settled back down. The torches burned in a crack in the wall. Elynna had assured them that the Daegmon was no longer nearby. Though the danger was always present, and their sense of urgency had increased, the threat wasn’t imminent. They could take a few minutes to plan together, and listen to whatever news or story Keet may have brought.

  Marti gave his brother some food and drink as Keet told his tale. Keet and his friend had rowed only a mile out onto the lake, when they met another boat sailing up from the south. A messenger from Tanengog was bringing word that the pursuing army had veered north to cut them off. Their enemy would be after them much sooner than they expected.

  Keet then turned around to bring a warning message back to Marti, but by the time he reached Arnog, they had already departed. Fearing his brother was headed into a trap, he had set off after him with the warning. He almost caught them the first night where they camped by the river, but a huge tiger had risen up between him and the company, and he had spent the night hiding in a tree. The next day he struggled just to keep up. He didn’t have any food and had to get his water from the river. At evening he again saw fires ahead, but as he approached, the tiger had suddenly arisen from the grass in front of him and chased him away. The third day he followed them right into the notch and was caught in the middle of the battle. He had hidden under a bush and was almost killed when a Citadel soldier discovered him, but one of the Amanti had come to his rescue. After that he had no possibility of turning back. While the Amanti continued to fight, he had headed up the notch.

  Throughout Keet’s story, Marti sat and listened. His face was pale, and periodically he closed his eyes, lowered his head, and shook it slowly from side to side. When the story was done, Marti let several moments pass before speaking. “I don’t know whether to curse you as a fool or praise your bravery. Mother will never forgive me. Especially if anything happens to you.”

  And I will never forgive myself, Elynna thought. But she said nothing aloud. Marti could do nothing now. Nor could she. They could not send him back.

  Others continued to talk, but Elynna fell silent. The thought of the Amanti facing the Daegmon weighed heavily on her heart. As heavily as the presence of young Keet. As heavily as her own danger—the danger all the company faced and would continue to face. It weighed on them all, she knew. She could feel it in the darkness.

  It grew greater when Tienna spoke. “They will not flee. They have never before faced anything they have needed to fear. And so I fear for them.” Her voice trembled just slightly as she spoke. “Even if all are destroyed—even if they learn there is something they must fear—still they will not flee. That much I know.”

  “No. They will not,” Nahoon said. “Though they stood alone against two hundred soldiers from Citadel, I had no fears for them. Nor for us, while they guarded us. They have never before fled any foe. Indeed, they cannot. They are the Amanti.”

  “Then they will be destroyed,” Bandor said. The words hit Elynna like a slap in the face. But only because they spoke aloud the fear she already harbored and had been trying to ignore.

  “I had thought,” Beth said in a barely audible whisper, “that it was amazing for so many of them to come together in one place. Never before have I heard of more than two or three together at a time—though perhaps it happens. Tales of the Amanti reach us only as legend.”

  “To see so many come together was indeed a thing of wonder,” Nahoon said. “It was not only for the Uët that they did this but for all those in the Plains. For all of Gondisle. I am sure of that. They know of our company and what our task is, and they came to fight for us. To make our enemy their enemy. And not only two or three of them—all fifteen. And so my heart leapt with excitement and hope.” He paused, and his voice shook with suppressed weeping. “Now I fear it was for their doom. I will not return that
way for fear of what I will see.”

  18

  IMPROVISATION AND ALARM

  Thimeon looked through the grate in the cell door. A man stood a few paces back, looking back out toward him. He was of medium height and build with sea-green eyes, several days’ worth of scruff on his face, and curly dark hair—which was somewhat matted and covered with dust—falling to his shoulders. He was dressed in an officer’s uniform, but the uniform was disheveled and dirty. Though the last time Thimeon had seen him he had been clean-shaven and meticulously dressed, Thimeon nonetheless recognized his face—especially the nose and eyes. His heart pounded with relief and excitement as he unbolted the door and pushed it open, releasing the prince of Gondisle from his cell.

  “You’re a welcome sight,” Dhan said as he stepped out of his cell and greeted Thimeon with a hug. “One I didn’t expect ever to see again. I’ll save the questions until later. Where to?”

  Thimeon was eager to get out as quickly as possible, but he had a thought. “Is there anybody else we should set free? The cells on this side are all empty, but there are two more hallways.”

  Dhan’s eyes lit up. “Probably, but I don’t even know who’s in here.” Then he cracked a smile. “Though I suppose anybody Koranth wants imprisoned is somebody I want freed.”

  Thimeon agreed. They went out into the outer room where Siyen and Kayam were busy binding up the unconscious guard. The other guard lay on his side, his hands and feet tied and a strip of cloth from his own uniform in his mouth, staring with wide eyes at the escaped prisoner.

  “Found him,” Thimeon announced as he and Dhan hustled past them. “We’re going to look for others also.” Kayam only grunted a brief acknowledgment, but he was clearly pleased. Thimeon followed Dhan down the other two hallways. They found prisoners in seven of the twelve cells, and Dhan released them all. Soon they stood together in the outer room with Kayam and Siyen, who looked as fearful as Thimeon felt.