The Betrayed Page 5

  “Let me go anyway,” Alrew insisted.

  “No,” Thimeon repeated. “Though you now serve Gondisle more truly than ever before, in the eyes of Citadel—in the eyes of the king and his captains—you are a deserter. If you are caught, you will be put to death.”

  Alrew started to speak but stopped. He looked down, but he did not repeat his offer. Thimeon was right. Even Elynna knew it. A return to Citadel would be more dangerous for Alrew and Lluach than for any of the others, except the gifted. Most of the others also looked down, avoiding his eyes. Theo looked most at a loss, as though half of him wanted to volunteer to help his cousin, but the other half was terrified to return to the place he had been imprisoned and only narrowly escaped execution. Hadn’t Elynna felt the same thing herself so often before—afraid and also ashamed of that fear?

  Only Cathros and Tienna met Thimeon’s gaze.

  “I will come with you—” Tienna started.

  “No!” Cane, Cathros, and Elynna all shouted at once. Elynna did not want to lose Thimeon. She could not lose Tienna also.

  “—as far as the cliffs,” Tienna continued. “Even without the Daegmon, this land is not free of dangers. The tigers are not the only predators wandering the Plains. As you travel southward, you will find snakes whose bites will kill and bears nearly as big as the tigers.”

  “There are bears in the Andan Mountains,” Thimeon replied. “Though we have no snakes, there are wolves and other beasts. Whatever the company has come to think of me, I am not without some small skill. You will be needed here.”

  Tienna’s response was obstinate. “No. Not for several days. I can easily guide you as far as the cliffs and still catch up with the others before they reach the mountains of the Undeani. Their way will be easy. Your way will be harder. I would not advise returning by the same path we ascended. It is likely now guarded. Instead, I will lead you to a southern descent. It is one I have taken myself, and I know how to find it. It is also well hidden. From it you can easily reach the Aënport trade road and perhaps make your way back to Citadel with a band of merchants.”

  Thimeon opened his mouth as if to argue, then he shut it. “If you promise to turn back when we reach the edge of the Plains, I will gladly accept your help and company.”

  “That promise I will make,” Tienna agreed.

  A short time later, Thimeon had returned all but the few supplies he and Tienna would need. As the others departed toward the west, two separate figures disappeared into the tall wild wheat fields to the south. Both were dressed in the garb of the Plainsfolk, though Thimeon still wore his own boots and cloak. They disappeared quickly into the grasses. Elynna could see only the bright Andani cloak, and soon even that disappeared.

  Elynna watched them go. Her insides were suddenly in a tight knot of confusing emotions. She feared for her friend Tienna—afraid of losing her. Afraid she had been losing her ever since they left Citadel. Losing her to her task. Losing her to the Plains. Losing her, now, to Thimeon. That’s what she told herself. But—and the thought surprised her—she wondered even more deeply if she was losing Thimeon as well. Losing his leadership on this quest. Losing him to Tienna. She had never wanted his love, she told herself. He could not be the reason she was suddenly so tense. Or if he was, it was only his skills she depended on. So why was she suddenly jealous of Tienna?

  Shortly after nightfall, the remaining companions reached the southeastern shore of the great lake Umgog. They came over a low rise to see a vast expanse of water spread out before them to the north and west, reaching far beyond the horizon and what her eyes could see. Though they had been traveling for hours across open grasslands, the slope down to the shore was dotted with trees. Fields, lined with walls of stone, etched the landscape like the writing of some ancient script. Closer to the shore, a half mile or more away, a few houses dotted the land. Flickers of fire could be seen through windows, and chimneys puffed out streams of smoke and steam.

  “This is it,” Beth said with a sigh. “Only two lakes in all of Gondisle exceed it in size, I am told. None surpass it in beauty.”

  As Elynna looked out at the starlight reflecting on its glassy surface, she found the claim difficult to argue with. Though at the moment she would rather have seen the moon and stars reflecting off the seas off the coast of the Westwash, or even off the river outside her old home. She would have liked to have seen her father and brother pull their boat onto the shore by the summer fishing village and walk up the beach at suppertime with warm greetings for her.

  But her father she would not see again. And her brother? His greetings for her were no longer warm. For he held her to blame for the destruction of their village. And maybe he was right. She knew she would not ever again experience the scene she dreamed of. Yet she could not help dreaming of it.

  At Beth’s urging they continued on. She led them around the south side of the lake following a low ridge about a half mile away from the shoreline. An hour later Elynna saw distant torchlights of a large village. The largest of the Plains settlements, Tanengog was home to two tribes: the Tana and the Eana. Beth’s clan, the Tana—or eaters of grass, as their name meant, though they harvested wild grains and not true grasses—was the largest of the Plains tribes. And Beth pointed out that her tribe was not nomadic, though their gatherers did move from place to place following the wild harvests.

  Sharing the village were Marti’s tribe—the Eana or fisher people. They were the boat builders and fishermen of the Plains. Though many of their people still roamed and hunted the land to the south, they had become dependent on the lake for their livelihoods. How those two tribes had come to inhabit the same village, neither Beth nor Marti knew for sure. Stories told that it had happened long ago because of a marriage between the families of two clan chieftains. The tribes—or clans, as they called themselves—still maintained distinctions between them. They lived on opposite sides of the river, used different family names, and held to their own unique customs. Yet over the years, through further intermarrying, they had become largely intermingled and now spoke the same dialect. As Marti pointed out, it would be difficult to find anybody in the village who didn’t have some blood from both clans—or “both sides of the river,” as they liked to say.

  Of the rest of the village’s history, most was lost to Elynna, for she was too tired to pay close attention. By the time they had come down the hill and walked through the outlying houses, the pale-phase moon shone high overhead. Beth led them to the center of the village. Elynna could hear the rapids where the west branch of the Glögg River flowed out of the lake and descended toward the Southland. They entered the village from the east, the Tana side. A stone bridge crossed the river to the Eana side, but they would not be going there.

  The inhabitants of the village had already received word about the approaching company, and they knew something of its mission. Several of the villagers appeared and after a short welcome led the strangers down the main lane to an inn and guesthouse near the center of the village.

  The inn was not large, for few traders passed through the Plains. The main hall had thick straw beds for only six sleepers, laid out a safe distance from the fire. But there was plenty of room on the floor for as many of the company as wanted to sleep there, and several villagers had brought extra blankets and bedrolls. Over the weeks of their traveling together, through wilderness and city, and even in the dungeons of Citadel, Elynna had learned to sleep almost anywhere when she was tired. And she was most certainly tired. It had been a long day. They had barely rested except for very quick meals. Her companions expressed a similar sentiment and settled themselves quickly and thankfully.

  After they had eaten a small late meal together and talked briefly about their plans for going north, and about Tienna and Thimeon and where they might be that evening, Beth took Anchara, Hruach, and Hrevia with her and went to the home of her parents on the Tana side. Marti also disappeared to see to the outfi
tting of the boats. He was one of the dark-skinned Plainsfolk from the Eana side of the river—the only tribe among the Plains given to fishing and a love of boats. He assured Elynna that all would be taken care of by morning. The others stayed at the inn. Though the floor on which they slept was hard, the fire was warm, and the air was dry. Elynna slept soundly.

  Nahoon woke Elynna the following morning. It took her a moment to remember where she was. She sat up and looked around through sleepy eyes, trying to regain her bearings. Most of her companions still lay asleep on mats, though a few were sitting up and rubbing their eyes. She thought at once about Tienna and Thimeon, the two she had relied upon the most of all her companions. They had wandered through her dreams all night. But they were gone now. She hoped Tienna would rejoin the company in a day or two. But Thimeon? She might never see him again.

  “Elynna!” Nahoon shook her again. His voice was quiet but urgent. “Messengers just arrived.”

  Elynna’s brain was still in a fog. Still replaying her dreams. “Thimeon?” she asked.

  Nahoon gave her a strange look. “My tribesmen. They rode through the night to bring a message: a large mounted army from Citadel crossed into the Plains late yesterday.”

  Now Elynna was awake. “Soldiers? Where?”

  “They came down through the pass from Hilt and rode through the night. I think they are riding through the pass from Hilt.”

  Elynna rose quickly. She had learned about the outpost from Beth and Nahoon just the previous day. Though the armies of Gondisle had never had any garrison on the Plains, a few years earlier Citadel had established a post a short day’s journey southwest of Hilt, in addition to the fort at Hilt. It was on the eastern side of a low pass that connected the Plains to the Andani highlands not far from the upper end of the Fertile Valley. Emissaries from Citadel had told the Plainsfolk the outpost would protect the valley and the Southland from Undeani raiders. The Plainsfolk had complained to the throne, and in response the king had decreased the size of the outpost. Or so he had claimed.

  Cane’s voice in her ear made Elynna jump. “They couldn’t have gotten that far from Citadel in the time since we escaped.”

  He must have overheard Nahoon’s message. Elynna nodded her agreement, but she wasn’t as confident as he was. Though she had looked at maps during her visit to Citadel, she did not have as clear a sense of geography as Cane or Thimeon. She had relied on them, especially Thimeon, for that sort of information. Regarding their pursuers, she knew only what Tienna and the others had told her. They had expected at least two days’ lead after escaping up the bluffs.

  Nahoon could only shrug. “Where they came from, I don’t know. The company is too large to have all been garrisoned at the outpost. Some must have come upriver from Citadel, or perhaps there were more stationed up at Hilt than we previous thought. But wherever they came from, they traveled much of the night and are well into the Plains. A few Uët warriors attempted to waylay them without engaging in open battle, but they did not delay the enemy long. Our pursuers rested only an hour during the early morning and are on the move again.”

  Elynna’s heart pounded. That the soldiers were coming toward Tanengog did not surprise her. That had been the plan—to lure them to the southern end of the lake. That they were coming so soon, however, disturbed her. If it was Golach, how had he ridden all the way north from Citadel to Hilt and down into the Plains in so short a time? Even on horseback the journey should have taken a few days. If it was another of the captains, then how had he known? And how had he gathered such a large army so quickly? The company’s plan depended on being able to escape Citadel and fight the Daegmon. They could not fight them both at once.

  She also feared what the soldiers might do to the people of Tanengog when they arrived. Beth had not been afraid. “They have no reason to harm us,” she had said. “We are not enemies of Citadel.”

  Tienna had also been confident, though for a different reason. “They are after us, our company, not the people of Citadel. Golach, or even the king himself, would be foolish to start a war against the people of the Plains. It would only delay them in acquiring what they are really after.”

  But Elynna wasn’t so sure. They had before been afraid of leading the Daegmon into a village. Maybe the armies of Citadel were just as bad. “How long do we have?” she finally asked. But her heart was asking, How long do the people of Tanengog have?

  “I do not know,” Nahoon answered. “The messenger who arrived with the news said the war band was riding toward the location where we fought our battle yesterday. They were not following our tracks. It is as though they knew the location of the battle by some other means. If their mounts do not tire, they will reach Tanengog by the middle of the afternoon.”

  5

  DESCENT

  Thimeon approached the bottom of the cliff shortly before nightfall. In every detail the descent was just as Tienna had described it. Nonetheless, not far from the bottom, his faith in her was tested twice. The trail led to the top of a narrow crevice, the bottom of which was invisible in a dark shadow below. As she had told him, there was no other way around. The shaft he had followed closed ahead to a narrow crack that he couldn’t have squeezed through if he was half his size. To the left was a drop over a ledge through a hole about four feet in diameter. To continue—at least according to Tienna—he had to lower himself over that ledge and drop into the unknown. The drop was about sixteen feet, she claimed. Hanging by his hands, his feet would only drop eight feet before they touched ground.

  Thimeon stared down for several minutes, straining without success for some glimpse of the landing as he reviewed the instructions. Even if he had understood correctly and had reached the place Tienna had described, wasn’t it possible it had changed since she had last come? He wished for a torch he could drop over the edge. Better yet, he wished he had a rope. But he hadn’t thought about either until he had stood at the top with Tienna listening to her instructions. By then, of course, it was too late—unless he was willing to endure another delay of several days. In any case, there wasn’t any place to attach a rope without climbing tools. He had no option except to do as Tienna had told him, or to return back up the slope. And he did not want to face Cane again.

  So, with his pack still on, he turned around and inched himself backward over the edge until he hung by his fingers. Still, he held on for a long moment before he could bring himself to let go.

  He felt an instant of fear as he fell. Then his feet landed with a jolt on soft ground. The blow jarred his knees, but he was unhurt. He saw the circle of light above him, but several seconds passed before he could make out the dim form of the rock walls around him. He was in a cave about four or five times wider than the space through which he had dropped. He paused long enough for his heart to stop pounding, then felt his way along the left wall following a tunnel.

  The second trial, which came about half an hour later, was even worse. The tunnel ended in another cave slightly wider than the one he had landed in. And this one was a dead end. Just enough light came through a crack above to see the glimmering surface of the small underground river that ran through the cave from left to right. He took a sharp breath. This time he didn’t even have the choice of going back, for he could not have ascended the chute through which he had dropped. The one way out was forward.

  It took Thimeon nearly a quarter of an hour to gather the nerve to follow Tienna’s final instruction. Had she not proven herself trustworthy so often before, he might not have been able to continue. He thought of her one more time, imagining her calm demeanor, her grace, her skill and knowledge as a huntress—thinking, just for a moment, about her beauty also—and then took a deep breath and stepped into the cold water with his pack.

  The current flowed swiftly and his feet slipped on the smooth rocks. It was too late to turn back. Instead of resisting, he lay down on his back and let the water close over him. Then he was gone, hol
ding his breath in the dark as the swift current carried him along.

  For the first few seconds his only sensation was a general awareness of the cold and motion, and the conscious effort to hold his breath. Soon, however, he was skimming along the rock bottom of the underground waterway. Tienna had warned that the journey would take almost a minute. Thimeon counted the passing seconds. When he reached thirty, his brain warned him to breathe. Forty. The water was cold—almost numbing. The urge to breathe became more urgent. Forty-five. Forty-six. Forty-seven. His lungs ached. He lifted his hand once to feel for air but touched only rock above him.

  Fifty-five. Sixty. It was more than a minute. Had Tienna been wrong? Had something changed? Or was he just counting fast?

  Without warning, the rock disappeared beneath him. He fell plunging over a low waterfall. Before his eyes could adjust to the light, or he could even catch a breath, he splashed into a pool at the bottom of the cliff. His feet touched the bottom of the pool about twelve feet down. One hard kick propelled him back to the surface, where he floated for several seconds gulping air, then turned and swam to the shore twenty feet away.

  Thimeon emerged from the chilly water and stood dripping on the shore in warm afternoon sunlight for several seconds as he took in his surroundings. His vantage point afforded him a good view. The pool from which he had emerged was atop a hill about four hundred feet above the surrounding land. A brook spilled out of the pool over the lip of the hill and wandered south into a wood stretching for miles across hills dotted with small ledges and low bluffs. Nearby the trees were mostly conifers, dark green and thick. But as the hill fell away, these gave way to deciduous hardwoods whose branches had already given up their leaves for the winter. In the distance, he could see pieces of a long ribbon he took to be the trade road cutting across the country. Farther to the southeast, on the other side of this ribbon, he caught glimpses of distant rectangular farm fields divided by narrow rows of either trees or hedges. But they were a long way off. About fifteen miles to the southwest, a large farmhouse stood in a clearing atop a hill. On the near side of the road, however, he saw no sign of habitation in either direction.