The Betrayed Read online

  The stranger spoke. “He asks for drink,” Nahoon translated.

  Beth stepped forward, offering water. He took a long drink from the skin, then asked for food. They fed him from the remains of the warm stew. He took a seat beside the fire and ate in silence. The others were also speechless as they watched him.

  How long they sat like that, Elynna did not know. No visible moon marked the passing of night. Yet none of the company slept—none except the young Keet. Elynna’s heart pounded too much to sleep even if she had wanted to. She was torn between fear of what this stranger would tell them and a need to hear his tale, however terrible.

  When he finally spoke, it was in the Uët tongue. His soft tenor voice surprised Elynna, as did the melodic language he spoke, which she had heard only a little of. But the softness of his voice and beauty of the language did not take away the fear she had of what he would say. He spoke but a few sentences and then stopped and looked at Nahoon, as though waiting for a translation.

  Elynna turned to Nahoon. He swallowed and began to translate. “His name is Namha Anh Amaug. He is one of the Uëtha. He is an Amanti warrior. He has come to join our quest to the destroy the Daegmon.”

  He paused and for a moment looked as though he would say no more. His stony visage made it clear that he would tell them what he would, and no amount of prompting would extract from him anymore. But a minute later he continued. Nahoon took a deep breath, and then began to relay his story to the others. “He was chosen twelve years ago and feathered five years ago. He was the youngest of the Amanti.”

  “Feathered?” somebody asked. “What does that mean?” Elynna didn’t see who had spoken. It sounded like a Northlander. But she had the same question. Nahoon paused to explain. “Feathering is the initiation in which the chosen warriors are given their name and become one of the Amanti. There are only fifteen of their number. Only when one of them grows old and gives up his name do they choose a replacement. Namha was trained by Aaron Anh Amaug and given his name and feather. Then he took Aaron’s place.”

  “Are the enemy soldiers coming upon us?” Cane interrupted.

  “Hush,” Tienna said. “This is an Amanti naming tale. You will be lucky if you ever hear such a thing again in your life. Be silent and listen. We will hear what we need to hear. If we had reason to flee now, he would already have told us.”

  Cane did not appear satisfied, but at Tienna’s rebuke he held his tongue. Namha had stopped speaking during the interruption. Elynna had begun to shiver from the tension. She took a long slow breath. When all were silent again, Namha continued. The fire popped and spit, but there was no other sound as he spoke. “At his feathering,” Nahoon translated, “when it was time for the prophecy of naming, the vision came upon a young girl. She told that in Namha’s time a great war would come upon all of Gondisle and no people would be left untouched. She told that it would be up to the Amanti to perform some great feat in this battle for the sake of all the land. And she prophesied as well that many of them would die. Then the vision left her.”

  Elynna sucked in a sharp breath. She could hear others around her gasp also. Though she did not feel the burning that preceded the coming of the Daegmon, a similar sense of doom hung over her.

  Nahoon paused a moment. He looked at his companions, and his eyes rested for a moment on Elynna. “It is told that Amanti feathering prophesies come from the Holy Mountain itself. Feathering happens only two or three times a decade. They are almost aways accompanied by a vision and a prophecy. No feathering prophecy has ever failed to come true.”

  Nahoon had no time to say any more. Namha began speaking again, and Nahoon resumed translating. “It has been thought since that time—because the prophecy was given during his feathering—that Namha Anh Amaug himself might be the one to accomplish the greatest of deeds. It was also thought, though the prophecy did not say so specifically, that if he failed in his task, then all the Plains and even all of Gondisle would be destroyed. Of course none of the Amanti were sure of this, nor were the Uët prophets.

  “Thus the Amanti—though they were not at war with any neighbor—have trained and prepared even more diligently than at anytime in the past. They kept a vigilant watch upon the land, even sending scouts beyond the Plains to gather news from other parts of Gondisle—something no previous generation had done. Three years passed. When the Daegmon first appeared in the Plains and the first small clan fell prey to its attack, then the Amanti knew their enemy—and knew also that their time was close upon them. When the army from Citadel entered the Plains seven days ago, the Amanti gathered from afar to offer aid to them. They assumed that the soldiers must have come to fight against the Daegmon since one of the Uët seers had told that a new ally had come into the land.”

  Elynna’s shivering finally stopped, but she was now as tense as a strung bow. It seemed as if the hope and future of all of Gondisle lay wrapped in this story somehow. She could see Nahoon tremble as he continued to translate. Yet Namha was as calm as stone as he continued. This time he spoke for a full minute before allowing Nahoon to translate.

  “The Amanti are patient,” Nahoon said. “Namha explains that before initiating contact, they kept in hiding and watched the soldiers from a distance, waiting to see who was the great chieftain among them. It was as they watched that the Daegmon came. They saw it high overhead in the night, and by early morning they knew it had attacked us. There was one other thing they saw. An Uët messenger came to the soldiers to warn them of the Daegmon. The Amanti watched in surprise as the soldiers sent him away like a punished child. The next day a second messenger brought a yet more urgent request for help. He was questioned and then also sent away. Then the Amanti guessed that the Citadel soldiers had not come to fight on the side of the Plainsfolk. Shortly afterward, another of the Uët seers had a vision and sent word to the Amanti: the warriors they were to help were indeed upon the Plains, but they were not the soldiers from Citadel. It was us.”

  Now Elynna understood why the Amanti had come to help them and had fought for them in the pass. How they had known to be there? The thought made her catch her breath. Even the Amanti had come to her aid? It was reason for great hope. And yet . . . and yet it made the burden on them even greater. Did all of Gondisle rest on the shoulders of her small company? And still Namha had not told all. He had not told what happened.

  The thoughts had barely circled through her mind before Namha continued. There was something in his voice. A slightly faster rhythm. A rising of emotion. Elynna knew that the story approached its end.

  “I cannot tell you in his words,” Nahoon said in apology. “He speaks too much. I must summarize his tale. From that day on, the Amanti continued to keep a vigilant eye upon the strangers—the war band from Citadel—but no longer to help them.” Nahoon shook his head. “As children we are told that news travels fast across the Plains—faster than the wind. And the Amanti have eagles to be their eyes and deer to be their ears. Before your battle with the Daegmon was yet an hour old, they knew it had been fought. They knew when we went to the south of the great lake and when we emerged to the north. They watched also when the soldiers—as if following some invisible path—veered northwestward. Thus before any others had arrived, the Amanti were waiting at the great gap for a battle to begin.”

  Nahoon closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Like the others, he looked afraid of what he would have to say next. But when Namha continued the story, Nahoon went on. “Unscathed, the Amanti held the gap against their enemy all day, with the aid of their brothers among the Uëtha. All of their number were there, and as expected their foe soon fell back, retreating from the gap and conceding the battle. The armies of Citadel had never faced such warriors. Many of the Golach’s men never arose from that battle. The survivors fled.”

  “Still, the Amanti did not depart. They held the way longer, suspecting that their enemy might return. True enough, the Uët scouts brought message that Golac
h’s force had withdrawn only three miles downriver into the hills at the edge of the Plains and waited there.”

  Namha suddenly stopped speaking. Clenching his hands in tight fists, he fell forward on his knees. Then, without warning, he plunged his hands into the midst of the fire and grabbed a burning branch. Elynna’s eyes were on Namha now. So intense was the tale that she was aware of nothing and no one else. She groaned with empathy while a grimacing Namha held the torch for a second before plunging it into the thin layer of snow beside him. His face was red, whether in pain from a burn or from some deeper anguish, he did not say. But the thought of his physical pain was not what bothered her most. Elynna had known what would happen from the moment the Daegmon had flown over them the night before. Yet still she had held some shred of hope that perhaps the noble Amanti warriors might have escaped. Now she saw it was not the case.

  Sometime later Namha continued. He withdrew his hand from the snow. Elynna strained her eyes to see if it was burned, but she could not see his hand in the fading light. Did he have some power even over fire and cold? Or had he wanted to feel the pain? To wound himself out of some sort of guilt? For a moment she pondered plunging her own hand into the fire. Would it assuage her own guilt for not having saved her village? For so many companions who had died following her? Even her own brother had blamed her, and then turned against her. But she had neither the strength to endure such pain nor the hope that such pain would help.

  A moment later Namha’s voice, just a little lower, a little softer, continued. And Nahoon, his visage pale white and his face streaked with tears, translated as quickly as he could as Namha spoke. “The Daegmon came. The gap grew quiet. The animals ceased their sounds. The wind grew still. In the middle of the night the beast fell upon us. And in our pride we sought to fight it. We stood our ground. We gathered spears from fallen foes and vainly stood our ground and hurled them, while the Uët warriors, after spending their arrows in vain, hid in caves. Seven of us fell. Three more were injured, perhaps to death. Yet no perceivable wound did we inflict upon our enemy. Finally we took refuge in the caves and beneath rocks, and the Daegmon retreated. We, the Amanti, had been defeated. We, who in four fours of generations had never known defeat, were decimated and put to shame.”

  Elynna sat in numb silence, too overcome by pain and sorrow even to cry. It could not get any worse, she thought. And yet still Namha spoke.

  “Then we learned again who our enemy was. Even as we four survivors lay there, tired from our fight, the Citadel army returned. Had it not been for our Uët brothers, and for many of Golach’s men perishing the previous day, the remaining Amanti would have fallen that hour. But in their greater wisdom, the Uët warriors had hidden from the Daegmon. They came out then and held off the attack until the remaining Amanti could gather and dress their wounds. Of them all, I alone was unscathed. How I had remained so I do not know, for I had not shrunk from the fight. But the prophecy was recalled, and it was decided that I was to be sent to your aid while my brothers, shamed at their defeat, would return to the battle. Though we usually travel with only a knife, I was armed as you see me now and sent to help you. The others vowed to do their task and defend us while they could so that I might reach you—so that you would succeed.”

  “So we are not pursued?” Cane blurted out.

  Namha looked at him, but he did not answer until Nahoon had translated Cane’s question. Then Namha spoke again. His words were crisp. In the midst of sorrow, his voice held also a tone of pride. Elynna could hear it even without Nahoon’s translation. But after several moments had passed, Nahoon gathered his voice and spoke. “Namha says that many of his people had already fallen, and those who remained were sorely wounded. He does not know how long you will have. Perhaps the Daegmon will return. Perhaps more soldiers will come from Citadel. Or perhaps others from the Plains will arrive in time to the aid of the Uëtha. But whatever happens, the Amanti will defend that gap. No soldiers from Citadel will get past them while they have breath and strength to stand in defense. Even now, it may be that all are dead. All but him.”

  Such was Elynna’s despair that the words left her mouth before she realized it. “Then the Amanti are no more.”

  At this, Nahoon jumped to his feet and rushed away from the fire into the surrounding darkness. Beth and Marti fell upon one another weeping. Even Tienna’s face was covered with tears. Namha did nothing. He spoke no more words that evening but sat where he was, as still as stone, staring blankly into the fire. The warrior’s tale was finished. The knowledge he had shared had brought no comfort to Elynna. And she saw no comfort in the faces of her companions.

  Silence filled their little shelter for many minutes before Cane spoke. “With the remaining Amanti warriors still guarding the gap behind us, we should have at least one more day’s head start on our pursuers. That is good. We will make sure their sacrifice does not go for naught.”

  Perhaps Cane was right, but it did not lighten the load. To Elynna, the price for that extra day was far too high. Her heart was burdened with this new knowledge as she found her way under the makeshift shelter and unrolled her bed. Was she to blame for this also? As the fire faded into embers several hours later, she drifted off to sleep with Namha still seated by the fire.

  22

  HUNTER’S INSTINCTS

  Elynna awoke early the following morning. In the dim light she could see a few of her companions still asleep on the ground nearby, but many had already risen. With the news Namha brought, they had allowed themselves a full night’s sleep. But they could not sit idle any longer.

  She pulled on her boots and crawled out from under the shelter. A four-inch layer of fresh white powder had fallen the previous evening atop the thin crust of old snow. She stamped her feet as she looked around. Though she could see the magnificent peak of Illengond in the distant northeast, the land around her was bleak. The realm seemed smaller without the Amanti. She turned back toward her companions. A few clouds remained in the east, but the sky above was clear. Cathros, Hruach, and Kayle sat beside the glowing embers from the night’s fire, burning a few sticks to warm their hands. Cane, Tienna, Aram, Noab, Alrew, and Theo stood a few feet away talking in low voices as Elynna approached.

  “Perhaps he has changed his mind and returned to his people,” Cane was saying. “He seemed to regret—”

  “No,” Tienna interrupted. “Whatever regrets he may have, he has promised us his aid. He is an Amanti, even if he is the last. He will follow their vows.” She turned and looked at Elynna. “Say not that the Amanti are no more. I know they exist not as individuals but as a community. They are incomplete unless there are fifteen. Yet while Namha lives and carries the tradition and teaching, there is hope the Amanti will one day walk again on the Plains.”

  Elynna nodded, but she wasn’t sure how much hope she had. She looked around for sight of their new companion. Namha was nowhere to be seen. She realized then why Cane and Tienna were having the conversation.

  “Wait,” Theo said excitedly. He was looking back toward the shelter where they had slept. “Bandor is gone too.”

  At once everybody was on their feet, looking to see if anybody else was missing. Noab returned a few seconds later with more news. “Anchara is missing too. She is not in the shelter, and her pack and weapons are nowhere in sight. Everybody else is here.”

  “How long has Anchara been gone?” Cane asked.

  “I cannot tell you. I did not see her depart. Perhaps they are all together?”

  Nobody answered. It was an odd combination to have disappeared together. Theo and Anchara could communicate with each other only in the trade tongue at the most elementary level. And Namha not at all. Elynna’s mind raced for explanations, but she had none. Or none that were good. She fought the growing anxiety, hoping for some good answer. “Do you think anything is wrong?”

  Despite the impenetrable silence surrounding Anchara, Elynna had grown to like he
r. As to Namha, she was already sure he would be invaluable to the company.

  Cane shrugged in answer, but Theo was looking around. Within seconds he pointed to the snow on the far side of their little encampment. The night’s snowfall had covered their own tracks from the previous evening, but a fresh set of prints led southward toward the ridge of mountains. Aram was soon examining them with Theo. Though not as skilled at tracking game in snow as the missing Bandor, he had long studied the tricks used by men for evading pursuit. “Only one set of tracks here,” he said, “but I would guess two or three people. The stride is not long, but the prints are big. It looks as though somebody with large feet followed in the footsteps of at least one other smaller person. Maybe two other people. Why would they try to hide their numbers from us?”

  Keet approached as though about to say something. Marti silenced him with a stern look. Elynna looked around at the others. She did not need new mysteries. She was glad when Tienna answered. “Habit. Whether he was followed or not, Namha would not do otherwise. It is the Amanti discipline. He is used to stealth. It is in his blood.”

  “Bandor too,” Theo added. “Though for different reasons. When you walk frequently in the snow, you learn to step in another’s tracks. It is less work.”

  Aram shrugged. “Maybe. I cannot tell for sure how many they are without more careful work. Shall I follow them?”

  “No,” Tienna answered. “Namha will not desert us, nor will he allow the other two to come to any harm while they are with him. They will find us. Let us continue on.”

  “Where?” Cane asked.

  Everybody turned and looked at Elynna. Away from Golach, Elynna thought. She looked back the way they had come the previous night—where their pursuers would be coming from. But it wasn’t enough just to flee from him. She knew that. They still had a task. And in any case, as long as the Daegmon still lived, she could not hide.