Illengond Page 8

  “How many are coming?” Cathros asked as he scanned the slope below them.

  Elynna took a deep breath and gritted her teeth. She knew what she needed to do. She closed her eyes and let her awareness drift outward, allowing the pain to sear her as she opened her mind more fully to their enemy. She felt it at once. Tasted its thoughts. “Only one,” she answered after a moment. “It has come to spy on us. I don’t think it is attacking.”

  “Look!” Theo yelled, pointing excitedly down the slope. Elynna followed his gesture. The large white, orange, and black shape of the great tiger had reappeared from the woods a hundred yards down the slope. It growled twice, long and low. The sound carried up the hillside and caused Elynna’s hair to stand on end. Even at the distance, several of the Undeani took a step up the slope away from the animal.

  “He wants us to follow him,” Noaem said.

  Elynna strove to shut her mind off to the pain of her enemy’s presence. She felt a glimmer of hope at the great cat’s presence. “Follow it where?” she asked.

  “Where he goes,” was all Noaem replied.

  Elynna hesitated. Did the cat understand that their enemy was approaching? Had it come to help?

  A great shadow passed over her. Several companions threw their arms over their heads to shield themselves as the Daegmon flew high overhead.

  “We cannot stand here,” Cathros said. “Without Cane’s presence to dispel the fear, we will fall prey to the Daegmon terror.”

  Elynna knew that Cathros was right. They had to act. And she would have to lead them. She turned to Braga. “Tell your people. They need to follow us. We will follow the tiger.”

  She did not wait for a reply. She cast a quick sideward glance at Tienna, and then started down the slope at a jog.

  The snow was light and powdery, but rose halfway up Elynna’s thighs. She had gone only a fifty yards before she was panting. She turned to Cathros. “Take the lead,” she said. Cathros stepped around her and began to plow a path forward, with Bandor right on his heels and the powerful figure of Namha behind Bandor. Elynna followed in their tracks.

  A shadow passed along the ground just to her left, larger than last time. Even before seeing it, Elynna had already sensed the creature swooping down lower. But they had reached the edge of the wood now—a mix of tall scraggly pines and hardwoods barren of leaves. The trees offered some protection from both avalanche and direct assault. But they were still on a steep slope, and easily visible from above. The tiger spun around and loped down the hill in its own tracks. Cathros followed, then Bandor and Namha, Elynna, Tienna, and the others.

  A third time the Daegmon passed over head. Elynna glanced skyward and saw it gliding low over the treetops. She felt its thoughts. It was counting their numbers. Looking at their strengths and vulnerabilities.

  Several strides ahead of Elynna, Namha suddenly stopped and spun. A knife blade flashed in his hand. Before Elynna could warm him of the uselessness of the act, he hurled the blade upward, through the nearly leafless canopy. The blade flew with tremendous force, but in vain. The creature soared past. The knife disappeared. If it struck the Daegmon, it made no mark. Elynna sensed her enemy laughing.

  And she and her companions ran on, following the tiger through the snowy woods. Now Cathros and Namha took turns breaking the trail further, with all of their companions following in single file. The Undeani came last. They came to the edge of another large meadow. Elynna looked fearfully toward the skies. Though she saw no sign of the Daegmon, she felt it close and did not trust her eyes. They had little choice but to continue onward. “Go,” she said. Cathros nodded, and they continued on.

  Finally, they came to another heavy wood of thick firs and hemlocks on a much flatter slope. Inside the edge of the woods under the thick green canopy, Cathros halted. Elynna leaned over and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath. The rest of the company gathered round, many of them panting hard.

  “What now?” Cathros asked.

  Elynna lifted her head and realized he was looking directly at her as he spoke. He was waiting for her to make some sort of decision. A decision? The companions had not had the luxury of making many decisions for a long time. Run, she wanted to say. Run. Run. Run. Wasn’t that all they had been doing since almost they day they had left Citadel. They weren’t making choices. They were being carried along like a stick on the current of the Lienwash River. Yes. Like a stick on the river during the spring floods. How could one stick in the current lead a group of other sticks?

  “It did not take our enemy long to find us,” Aram said in a sober voice.

  Of course not, Elynna thought. Because I am with you. And Cathros. And Tienna. And Noab and Noaem. And now Breanga also.

  “No,” Tienna said. “It did not. And now that the Daegmon knows where we are, we can be sure that Golach and his men will soon know also.”

  Elynna knew that Tienna was right. Their journey underground had bought them only a short reprieve. Too short. Now the chase was on. How long could it continue?

  “We must turn east,” Bandor warned. “If we do not, we will get trapped against the lake.”

  “Yes,” Braga agreed. “Soon, but not now. The lake is still more than a day’s journey.”

  “We must follow the tiger,” Noab said. “My brother tells me it is calling us. It will bring us to safety.”

  Safety? Elynna thought. What kind of safety could it bring them to? She did not know. But what other chance did they have? They had to trust something. “We will follow the tiger,” she said.

  Cathros nodded. He turned, and as soon as he had taken two steps toward the tiger, the cat spun and started loping off into the woods with a line of humans spread out behind it like a long tail. It soon disappeared from site, but its trail was easy to follow. Under the thick evergreens, there was less snow and the forest floor had little undergrowth. Travel was quick. Ten minutes later, the companions came to a low ridge. Coming around a point, they almost ran into the tiger. It stood at the mouth of a cave, about five feet high.

  The tiger growled again.

  “In there,” Noaem said.

  A cave? Elynna thought. Her heart sank. This was not what they needed. They couldn’t simply hide in a cave. It might keep them safe from the Daegmon for a few hours. But not forever. And not from Golach. They need a better choice.

  “Cathros,” she said, turning around. But the tall Northlander was already ducking into the mouth of the cave. Others were following him.

  “Tienna,” Elynna said, spinning around again and looking for her friend.

  Tienna stepped up beside her. “I am here.”

  “The tiger was trying to help, but—” Elynna paused, not sure how to continue. “We can’t stay here. It will find us. Golach’s men. We need a better plan.”

  “I know,” Tienna replied. “I had the same thought. But maybe this is good for now. We have traveled all day. We have no food. We need to rest and take some time for council. Maybe the tiger knows better than we do just what we need. We can’t run forever.”

  No, Elynna thought. They couldn’t run forever. But what would happen when they stopped running?

  She left the question unanswered. Turning and joining the line of her companions, she stepped through the mouth of the cave and into cavern about fifty feet deep and half that wide.

  “Didn’t think I’d want to be underground again for the rest of my life,” Theo mumbled.

  Nobody replied. Elynna stepped back toward the mouth of the cave. The burning sensation of being probed had ceased, but she could still feel the creature somewhere near. She opened her mind, hoping to hear its thoughts. She wished she hadn’t. The clarity with which she understood her enemy startled her. She fell backward as if struck. A minute passed before she could speak. “It’s not here to attack,” she said, with new understanding of her enemy. “It was merely scouting for us.”
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  “What?” Cathros asked. “How do you know?”

  Elynna did not answer. “It is alone. It will not attack us again without the help of its kin. It returns to get them now. They will come.”

  Yes, the thought came to her mind. We will come. My brothers will all be together soon. Then you will be destroyed.

  And the creature was departing. Elynna felt it leave, lifting its wings and flying westward back toward its kin. Soon her sense of its presence was gone altogether. But the emotions—the aftershock of its appearance—was just settling in.

  The companions remained in the cave for nearly an hour. Elynna’s experience—the voice of the Daegmon speaking to her so clearly—had left her shaken. But after it left, and the terror of its presence had faded, their hunger overtook them. They had not eaten anything since the raw eel. How long ago was that? Elynna wondered. Two days? It felt like a lifetime.

  Bandor, Theo, Krag, and Jama agreed to venture out hunting. They had just gathered their gear and stepped out of the cave when the tiger returned. It had beaten them to the hunt and was half carrying and half dragging a small deer, freshly killed. At the sight of the hunters with their bows, the tiger gave a shake of its head and tossed the fifty-pound animal five feet into the cave like a house cat might toss a mouse. Then it leaned back its head and gave a low growl. Whether a warning or a laugh. Elynna did not know. If Noaem knew, he did not say. Leaving the gift at the mouth of the cave, the tiger turned and disappeared back into the wood.

  The hunters, relieved of their duties, laid their bows aside and pulled out their knives. While Bandor and Theo dressed and butchered the deer, others gathered wood and built a fire at the mouth of the cave, and some found a small stream in which to fill their depleted water skins. Little more than an hour after the tiger had brought in the deer, they had a nice meal of roasted venison—close to thirty pounds of tender meat.

  Elynna and her companions ate ravenously, leaving nothing but the bones. “I could eat another one,” Bandor said.

  Theo reached behind him, grabbed a bow, and handed it to Bandor.

  “Is the creature still gone?” Bandor asked.

  Elynna nodded. Though there could be no doubt that it would return, she didn’t feel the least sense of her enemy’s presence now. “But don’t leave,” she added, when Bandor reached out as though to take the bow. “It is time we take council together. Braga has led us through the mountain as he promised. We are safe for a time. A few hours. A day. But we need a plan.”

  As soon as she said this, Elynna thought about Cathwain’s recent attempt to communicate with her. The sudden appearance of the Daegmon had made her forget about it for a time. What had Cathwain said? Something about Illengond and the stone. She had mentioned Thimeon also. Was she trying to call for his help also? What did it all mean? Of course any message Cathwain might have had about the stone meant nothing now that the stone was destroyed. Unless Cathwain tried to speak with her again—unless Elynna understood more—she would not bring it up with the others.

  While these thoughts crossed her mind, others began to gather around her—all of those who had come up with her from the Plains, including even Namha, and most of Braga’s men as well though Elynna knew that many of them did not speak the trade tongue. Some sat around the embers of the fire. A few, like Namha and Aram and Braga, stood behind those seated.

  “Who knows where we are?” Cathros asked.

  Bandor gave him a strange look. “You could see Illengond as clear as day when we came out of the mountain.”

  “That tells me nothing,” Cathros replied tersely. “You can see Illengond from half of Gondisle.”

  “We are not far from the shores of Uustgond,” Braga said. “The great lake of the highlands. If we continue north, we will reach its shores in less than a day. Beyond that knowledge, however, I confess I do not know this region well. There are a few in my clan who come here in the summer for fish. They have told me stories. But I have not come with them.”

  “Judging by Illengond,” Bandor said, “I would guess we are four days from the Andani town of Aeti. Maybe three from Swage. But I don’t know what good it would do us to go to a town.”

  “Our people—my family and Thimeon’s people in Aeti—would offer us aid,” Theo said. “Whatever we asked. Supplies, and maybe others to join our cause.”

  Nahoon shook his head. “The risk is too great. Maybe we’d find help, but we would also certainly encounter more soldiers there.”

  Falien nodded in agreement. “Nahoon is right. Though maybe—” he paused. “Maybe some of the soldiers would join our side.”

  “No,” Elynna said, with all the resolve she could muster. “We will not bring the Daegmon down on more innocent people.”

  “Still,” Bandor said, “it might serve us well to travel around the slopes of Illengond and go into Andani land. If nothing else, all the old stories speak of help coming from Illengond.”

  “What kind of help?” Aram asked.

  “I don’t know. Help help. That’s what the stories say.”

  Aram shook his head. “The only thing we would gain from traveling to Andani land is if we continued right through and out the other side. We’d come down the pass into Anghatte. The road brings us right to the capital city of Anghata. There are Anghare castles that a hundred men could defend against five thousand.”

  “Could they stand against the Daegmon?” Tienna asked quietly. “Or against three of them?”

  Aram opened his mouth, and then shut it. Nobody else spoke.

  Elynna could feel eyes watching her, but she stared into the embers and avoided their gazes. She did not want to run any more. But she no longer had any illusion of trying to face their enemy. She had seen what that had cost. She had seen the result of that pride. She should have argued against Cane, and prevented them from running right into the ambush. Now Cane was dead. And Alrew. And Kayle. And Hruach. And Pietr. She could barely look at Cathros or Hrevia or Keet without think of their brothers who now lay dead. She should have known better.

  And where was Thimeon? She wondered. Was he still alive? Would he bring help? Had he found any reason for hope?

  “We will head east,” she suddenly announced. “There is one thing we know, and that is that Golach pursues us and he is coming from the west. We will go east along the southern slopes of Illengond. Maybe help will come from there after all. But if not, we will continue on from there into Andani land.” She thought of Aeti, where Thimeon was from. Had he simply gone back home and abandoned the war? “We will avoid bringing trouble upon Aeti, but if we survive that far, then perhaps a few can go down into the town and bring word of our plight.”

  “And after that?” Cathros asked.

  “Continue on,” Elynna said. “All the way to Anghatte if we have to. Until help comes.”

  9

  DAEGMON’S THREAT

  A short time later, they gathered their gear and departed from the cave. Elynna had no burning sense of the presence of the Daegmons. She reached out tentatively with her thoughts, but felt nothing. It was late afternoon. The sky had turned cloudy, and the temperature had risen several degrees. Snow was melting off the thick green bows overhead and dropping down on them.

  They spent the rest of afternoon hiking in an eastward direction. Namha and Braga led them, and Nahoon went with them to translate. The rest of the company spread out behind. Elynna walked next to Tienna, eager for the company of her friend, but neither of them spoke much. Whenever Elynna turned to look back, she saw young Keet trudging behind her, his face sullen and downcast. Beth walked beside him, sometimes with her hand on his shoulder. It pained Elynna to see, and to think about him watching his brother die. She stopped turning around.

  Though Namha and Braga led them well, the way proved difficult. The woods were thick and offered nothing resembling a path. They also learned quickly that the streams and valleys i
n that part of the land ran north toward the lake, forcing the eastbound travelers to cross dozens of creeks and small rivers. Some of the rivers had carved small ravines over the centuries. The company constantly shifted directions in search of crossings.

  As the sun dropped toward the horizon, the sky cleared. Ahead and to the north, the distant peak of Mount Illengond reappeared through the trees, towering white against a blue sky. Elynna gazed at it. She wondered if the All-Maker really dwelt there. She wondered if he even existed. She thought of Thimeon. He would tell her that the All-Maker was real, and that he dwelt everywhere, but that he had hallowed that mountain. She did not know where he got that confidence. The All-Maker was just a story told to children—a fable, like the old tales that the Westwash had been formed and shaped when a great six-armed sea creature hurtled out of the ocean and crashed upon the shore, flattening the hills and forming the six great rivers with its long tentacles.

  Of course the Daegmons themselves were only old tales, nearly forgotten and certainly no longer believed. And yet they were real. Wasn’t it possible the All-Maker was also real? That Thimeon’s hope was not misplaced? Couldn’t Elynna herself practice that hope?

  She wondered all this as they walked, and as her thoughts turned again to Thimeon, she wondered again where he was and whether he had succeeded. As these thoughts drifted across her tired mind, they came upon a river larger than any they had yet encountered. It was too wide to cross on a log, and looked too deep and swift to wade. Staring at the ice along the banks, Anchara suggested looking for a pool that was frozen solid enough to cross. Neither Bandor nor Braga thought that was likely so early in the winter despite the cold they had experienced. Nahoon asked Namha, but he gave no reply. They were arguing about whether to travel upstream or downstream in search of a ford when Noaem silenced them. High overhead, two winged creatures could be seen against the sky.

  Several of the Undeani shrank to the ground. Elynna felt the momentary start of panic until she realized that she had no sense of the presence of even a single Daegmon. She looked again. Though the creatures certainly had vast wingspans for birds, they were either much smaller than Daegmons or much higher than they appeared.