Illengond Page 21

  “We will find them when we get closer,” Thimeon answered.

  “I don’t know how much longer the horses will last,” Dhan said.

  “What would you have me do?” Thimeon replied sharply.

  Dhan didn’t answer at first. “The snow is thinner here,” he said after a minute. “Let me lead on foot.”

  “I will help,” Jhaban replied. He was surprised to hear himself speak. Before Thimeon could reply, he slid down to his feet and began moving his way to the front of the line. “Which way?” he called back to Thimeon.”

  “Follow the contour,” Thimeon replied, pointing the way perpendicular to the slope.

  Jhaban began to plow his way through knee deep snow, leading his horse behind him. The prince followed, along with Thimeon, both on foot. Jhonna came behind, still on horseback. Jhaban could hear the prince and Thimeon talking behind him. “We might be better off sending the horses away. In these mountains, with the condition of the animals, we won’t be any slower on foot. If we did it in the right spot where we could hide our footprints, it might confuse our pursuers—at least for a time.”

  Jhonna’s anguished voice called out from further back. “You won’t abandon Clover, will you?”

  Soon they were off the plateau, marching along the slope of the mountain, keeping at the same elevation. The summit of the mountain stayed hidden off to the right behind the closer false peak. Thimeon, Dhan, and Jhaban all took turns leading, letting their horses trudge along behind them. The smudge of sun led them on as it gradually sank.

  Jhaban kept expecting their course to curve around to the north as they circled the peak around to the west side. But it was a big mountain. The circle they were on was very large. They had curved around to the right, but after an hour they had curved back to the left around a big bowl. An hour from sunset and the sun was once again almost directly in front of them. They were traversing a steeper hillside now. Jhaban looked back to his left, across the wide bowl they had just circled. He could see their tracks far behind them at the same elevation.

  Jhaban was watching when the first black spot appeared moving along the slope. Just a blue dot on top of a larger brown dot. Before he could even say anything a second dot appeared. And then a third. A whole line of horses bearing blue uniforms streamed around the distant point.

  “Prince. Thimeon,” Jhaban called out urgently. “Look!”

  By the time Thimeon and Dhan stood beside Jhaban, the count of horses had surprised thirty. Jhaban knew then that it was not Terrid. His heart pounded. Then a light breeze unfurled a banner on the far slope. The banner was El-Phern’s. Jhaban’s groan was echoed by several others. And still horses kept coming. Before all of Dhan’s followers were mounted and trying to urge fresh energy from their tired horses, Jhaban had counted more than seventy horses come around the mountain in pursuit.

  23

  BANDOR’S IDEA

  Bandor stood between Tienna and Elynna on wet gravel near the edge of the river, his back to a smoldering fire. Canyon walls two-hundred-and-fifty to three-hundred feet high squeezed him in on the right and left. Straight ahead, a two-hundred-foot high cliff blocked their path upriver. On the left half of that cliff face—the north side if Bandor’s sense of direction was not altogether mistaken—a waterfall thundered down into a deep plunge pool. Clouds of vapor rose high in the air raining mist down on the floor of the canyon. Bandor barely noticed the chill, however. His heart raced as he gazed intently upward. For much of the morning he had stood in a cluster of his companions watching two shapes move slowly up the cliff face a few dozen yards to the right of the waterfall. Braga, in his white sheepskin, stood out more clearly of the two against the darker rock face. Theo, now attired in the garb of the Plainsfolk, followed two body length’s below Braga, connected to him by a rope that was now invisible in the mist from Bandor’s distant vantage point.

  After what seemed like an interminable climb, the pair approached the top. Theo disappeared over the edge. Braga reached the top and disappeared a minute later.

  A cheer rose from among the tight knot of onlookers who watched from below. Bandor took his eyes off the cliff and looked around at the strange assortment of men and women from across northern Gondisle who had somehow come to be his companions. He didn’t even remember the names of all the Undeani. He had become friends with their leader Braga, and with Braga’s nephew Amark. He knew the wood shaper Breanga. But though the others had been with him for several days, and had saved his life, he couldn’t even talk with them. He did not speak their tongue, and few of them spoke his. He couldn’t ask them if they had left behind families.

  Bandor had long ago lost track of how many days since he had left his own quiet home in the eastern Andani highlands, first on a journey to Citadel to seek help from the king, and then following Elynna on a quest to provide Gondisle with the help Citadel would not send. He was tired and cold, and trying hard to hold onto some shred of hope that their quest wouldn’t fail. He might have given up already, but with Thimeon gone Bandor represented the Andani people. He felt that burden keenly.

  He turned and tried vainly to warm his hands by the weak flames that licked the edges of the wet wood like a wild sheep licking minerals off rocks. A murmur of voices behind him caught his attention and he turned to follow the gazes of the others back toward the top of the cliff. Theo had reappeared and now stood looking down. He appeared to be trying to shout something, but not a shred of his voice could be heard over the thunder of the falls. A few seconds later, Braga appeared beside Theo and waved his arms dramatically.

  “Is he waving that it’s okay for us to climb up now?” Lluach wondered. “Or is he warning us to go away? He looks excited.”

  Bandor had not thought ahead to how they would signal one another when Theo and Braga made it to the top. He’d been too preoccupied worrying whether or not they would even make it. He turned to Tienna. “What do we do?” Tienna, however, was not looking up the cliffs. Her neck was bowed, and she was gripping her head in her hands as though in pain or distress. “Tienna!” Bandor cried out. Her eyes were closed and her face pale. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

  Tienna held up her right hand palm outward as though signaling Bandor to stop, but she kept her eyes closed and her left hand over one ear. “Quiet,” she warned. “She calls me.”

  “Who?” Bandor asked. “Who calls? What—?” Then he remembered the Ceadani girl named Cathwain—the one who spoke to Elynna. Was it her again?

  Several seconds passed. Tienna sighed deeply and opened her eyes. She looked straight at Elynna. “Cathwain spoke with me. She had a message from Thimeon.”

  “Where is she?” Elynna asked. “Where is Thimeon? Is he at Gale Enebe? Is their village still in trouble?”

  Tienna shook her head. Nearly everybody was looking at her now. “She said we are to meet Thimeon on the slope of Mount Illengond. He is already at the southeastern foot of the mountain.”

  “What?” several incredulous voices asked. “Are you sure? Why?”

  “He has come from Citadel,” Tienna replied. “He brings with him a weapon—a talisman of great power against the Daegmon.”

  “What kind of weapon?” Noab asked.

  Tienna’s eyes looked pained. “It is a weapon for Cane to use, one that will enhance his power.”

  “But Cane is dead,” Nahoon said.

  “I know,” Tienna replied, flatly. “But Thimeon doesn’t know that.”

  “Did you tell him?” Noab asked.

  Tienna shook her head. “No. Cathwain’s message was brief. And then her voice was gone. I didn’t have time to say anything. I didn’t even know how to speak to her.”

  Bandor almost laughed at the irony of the situation. There they were, fleeing up the slopes of Illengond, the very place they were supposed to be without even knowing it. Yet the reason to be there no longer mattered. If indeed Thimeon had a weapon
that only Cane could use, then Thimeon’s journey there was vain, and so was the journey of Bandor’s own company. “Except we had no choice but to come here,” he said aloud.

  The others looked at Bandor. He realized then that he had spoken aloud only the conclusion of his thoughts. His statement must have made no sense to the others. “We’re here anyway. It doesn’t matter that Cane is no longer alive—”

  “It matters to me,” Cathros said.

  A moment of awkward silence followed and Bandor realized how callous his words must have sounded to Cane’s brother. “I’m sorry friend. I only meant—”

  Cathros interrupted once again. “I know. You need say no more. My pain is still deep.”

  Bandor swallowed. “We’re so close already. Whether our journey was in vain or not—whether or not Tienna understood properly, and whether there is some weapon that will be of use or not—we are headed straight to where Thimeon would have us go. We had no choice but to come. We were driven here. We only need to continue on our path.”

  “Bandor is right,” Elynna said. “We were driven here, it seems. The flight to save our own lives brought us here. But though I may have thought so once, I will no longer say that we had no choice. Thimeon would have told us we always have a choice. We have made choices.”

  Bandor pondered Elynna’s words. What choices had they made? What choices might they have made differently? He didn’t have time to ponder long. “Now we have one more choice,” Elynna said. “Theo and Braga have done the hard work. We can sit down here and waste it, or we can go to the top. I’m going to top. Unless you want to stay here or turn around, grab your gear. Prepare for a climb and get into the boat.”

  Bandor looked at Elynna in surprise at the certainty in her voice. This was a different Elynna than the one who had led them company only a few weeks earlier, the one who had so depended on others—especially Thimeon and Cane—to lead the company.

  Elynna started to turn when Tienna reached forward and put a hand on her arm. Tienna spoke in a such a soft voice that even from two steps away Bandor only barely heard her. “Elynna, are you sure? Do you remember the climb up onto the Plains? You were terrified.”

  “I still am,” Elynna replied, and she turned away.

  The Undeani now spoke to one another in their own tongue. Bandor realized they didn’t have Braga to translate for them now. He wondered if they knew what Tienna had said. But then Amark approached Elynna. “We understand. Tienna has heard a voice. We are to go find your friend with weapon to fight Daegmons. And we must ready to climb.”

  Elynna nodded. “Yes. Make sure the other Undeani understand.”

  Bandor waited while the others stowed their weapons and loose gear in their packs and girded themselves for the climb. Braga had left some gear behind—clever devices made of metal rings that enabled a climber to hook into the rope hanging from the top. If they slipped or lost a hold, they wouldn’t fall more than a foot or two. The devices could even be used to climb in places with no holds. The Undeani were all familiar with the devices. Amark explained as best as he could in the trade tongue to the others.

  Then Bandor climbed into the boat with Cathros, and the rest followed one at a time, claiming seats on the few benches or huddling on the bottom. It would be the last time they climbed into the boat, Bandor thought. He felt sad to leave it behind after all their work to make it. Without it, they would surely have perished on the shores of Uustgond. Keet looked even more discouraged and sad.

  Yet he could not afford to be sentimental. Elynna had said they made choices. She was right. This was one of them. He dipped his oar into the water as Cathros did the same on the other side. The current on their side of the river was not swift, and soon they were in the eddy of the big pool. In a minute the boat rested against the rocks. Braga’s rope, on its path down through the rings, reached from the top of the cliff to within ten feet of the water. Noab took his own length of rope and anchored the boat to a sturdy outcropping of rock just upstream. Noaem climbed up quickly and secured another length of rope to the bottom of Noab’s so that it reached all the way into the boat.

  Elynna had fallen silent again. She was white and looked more like the old Elynna. So Bandor took charge establishing an order for the ascent. The four who were least confident in their own skills—Falien, Elynna, Beth, and Keet—were paired with strong climbers. Elynna would go tethered to the unshakable Namha. “He’s one of the Amanti,” Tienna said. “You have nothing to fear. But don’t look down.”

  Cane started up first, with Falien following behind attached by a short rope. Both had Undeani climbing rings along with loops of rope around their chests as harnesses. With the help of the rings, they ascended more quickly than Bandor expected—much faster than he could have climbed without the rope, and even faster than he would have climbed with the help of the rope if he hadn’t had the rings. While the two were climbing, a second rope slid down from above, about five yards downstream of the first. One of the Undeani went to the second rope which dangled just in front of the stern. Bandor thought he was named Arreg. He tethered Beth behind him, showed her how to use the rings one more time, and started up.

  After that came more waiting. Bandor grew cold. He rubbed his hands together to keep them warm. Then he stuck them in his cloak. He did not want to climb with numb hands. Finally, the first two pairs made it to the top. Aram followed on the front rope, helping Keet. Elynna followed Namha to the back of the boat. A rope about ten feet long tethered them together, and it soon went taut as Namha ascended the rock face with apparent ease. Elynna took a deep breath, clipped into the rope, grabbed a grip on the rock face, and stepped off the boat. Bandor had memories of the disaster many days earlier—Elynna’s fall that had nearly cost Cane his life, and had alerted their enemy to their presence. The cold mist from the icy falls couldn’t have made this climb any easier. But whether her own skills had grown from days in the wilderness, or the firmness of the rope connecting her to the Amanti and the certainty of his strength steadied her, she started up looking as sure and strong as Bandor himself felt.

  Once the four tethered pairs were at the top, all the climbing rings were gone. Somebody at the top pulled the second rope up again, tied the rings on, and lowered them down. The going was faster after that. The Undeani used the tools like extensions of their hands, and climbed with ease. Aram and Hrevia, the two remaining Anghare, also looked natural. Noab and Noaem were slower, but steady. Every eighth climber they lowered the tools back down.

  Eventually only Tienna and Bandor sat in the boat. It had taken all morning, and a little into the afternoon, to get twenty-two of them to the top. Bandor sat looking at the two ropes, the one that Braga and Theo had used to climb that ran through the metal loops pinned in the rock, and the other that dangled freely. He wondered which one Tienna would prefer. He knew her well enough know that she would not take one because she thought it easier.

  Then for a last time he glanced at the beautiful boat Breanga and Keet had made, now roped to the rock. It would sit there for days or weeks or maybe months until some flood tore it loose. Or maybe mist and rain would slowly fill it and it would sink.

  Bandor looked again at the loose rope dangling from the cliff face, and then at the rope tying the front of the boat to the rock. Then the idea came to him. “Tienna!” he cried. “We could haul the boat to the top!”

  “Are you crazy?” Tienna asked. “It’s much too heavy.”

  “Not for this rope,” Bandor said. “The boat doesn’t weigh any more than two of us, and we’d have twenty-four hands at the top to haul it up.”

  Tienna looked at Bandor. “You’re serious.”

  “Certainly.”

  She looked at the boat, then the rope, and then the cliff. “I think you’re right,” she said. “Won’t the others be surprised!”

  The two of them spent the next several minutes tying the loose rope to heavy cross stave
near the front of the boat, and for extra security lashing it through the heavy loops Breanga had made as oar locks. Then Bandor instructed Tienna. “Start up the other rope. Once you’re hooked in, I’ll release the boat from the rock, let it drift back down the current, and I’ll start climbing the other rope after you.”

  Tienna agreed. She stepped out, clipped herself into the rope, and started up the cliff. Bandor untied the boat from the boulder and let it drift back. He used that rope to lash the oars into the bottom of the boat. When he looked up, he realized one flaw in his plan. The swirling current had carried the boat several yards downstream. The rope now went up the cliff at an angle. He looked at Tienna. She had already climbed fifty feet up. Not much Bandor could do. He clipped into the rope as Amark had taught him and started up the rope.

  The moment his weight was on it, it began to straighten out. He sank down into the current, dragging the boat upstream with him. With his feet dangling down into the icy river to his knees, he cursed his stupidly and started to climb.

  It took him many minutes, and his hands were raw before he reached the top. Several times the current caught the boat below him and tugged it. If it hadn’t been for the climbing rings, he would have fallen. But then there he was, being pulled over the edge by Theo.

  Bandor’s fellow Andani congratulated him with an embrace. Bandor was drenched and cold from the mist of the falls, but he was safe. The plan had worked. He looked around. The first thing he saw was that somebody had built a fire. The last few climbers stood beside it drying out. Bandor went to it at once, and only as he stood warming his hands did he take more detailed note of his surroundings. The gorge was still some fifty or sixty feet deep here with sheer rock walls—not nearly as deep as below, but still deep enough that climbing out would not be trivial. It was also wider. On the near side a space of dry rocky ground wide enough for a half dozen horses to ride abreast separated the cliffs from the water’s edge. A few trees grew scattered along the shore. Bushes and smaller trees clung tenaciously to the sides of the cliffs. They would have no trouble traveling alongside the river.