Broken World Book Three - A Land Without Law (17 page)

As they
pitched the tents and built a campfire, only Chanter was aware of
the small brown-skinned people who crept through the forest to spy
on them. After a while, the timid people crept away again, leaving
the chosen to eat their food and settle down for the night. Just
after they retired to their tents, a mournful, wailing chant echoed
through the forest, underscored by distant drumming. Talsy thrust
her head out of her tent and looked at Chanter, who sat before the
fire. He answered her silent question without taking his gaze from
the flames.

"Forest
people, mourning the death of their world."

Talsy glanced
at Kieran and the Aggapae, all of whom had apparently been alarmed
by the distant singing, and they withdrew to their sleeping mats.
The distant tribesmen sang their dirge for most of the night,
making the chosen toss and turn in restless sleep, probably haunted
by wailing dreams of death and fire. Chanter spent the night gazing
into the fire as he tuned his senses to the sickened Dolana of the
dying land.

The next
morning, they rode on through a hushed, fearful forest towards the
distant Kingdom of Zare. By midday, the birds sang muted, hesitant
songs, as if afraid that something might hear them. Chanter caught
glimpses of furry hides and fearful, liquid eyes as shy animals
fled from their path. A flash of multi-hued skin and wings of
shimmering colour vanished into the trees ahead, fleeing their
presence like the Lowman beasts. They passed through many tracts of
sickened land that the wild creatures that had once dwelt there had
abandoned. In these places bulbous growths thrust through the soil,
their skins mottled with repulsive colours and a sickening stench
surrounding them. The horses crossed these areas with great
reluctance, snorting and shying from the unnatural plants.

By nightfall
everyone was gloomy and withdrawn, affected by the forest's mood. A
glimpse of mountains ahead promised a change of terrain, but
whether it would be easier or harder to traverse was unknown. The
Aggapae pitched camp in silence and sent their horses to find
grazing for the night.

As the sun
sank beyond the trees, turning the clouds to streamers of fire,
Chanter looked up from his plate of stew and froze. Talsy followed
his gaze, but could make out nothing in the gathering gloom except
tree trunks. The Mujar put aside his plate and rose to his feet
with such caution and alertness that she shivered with a cold touch
of foreboding. The others watched him with growing alarm, reaching
for their weapons. Kieran's hand caressed the hilt of the
Starsword, as the forest's night creatures fell silent.

Chanter
reached the trees' darkness and stopped, poised. He raised an arm,
and the gloom beyond him moved in a rush of brown fur.

"No!" His
shout was cut off as a claw-tipped arm smashed him to the ground
with a crunch of breaking bone.

Talsy leapt up
with a yell, drawing her knife, and the Starsword hissed from its
scabbard in Kieran's fist. Bedlam erupted as a horde of furry
monsters charged into the camp. The first creature to reach the
fire died when Kieran's sword severed its head. He leapt aside as
the monster fell and his sword found its next victim in a slashing
back stroke. The Aggapae stabbed and shouted, three of them
bringing down a second beast. Talsy hung back, stunned by the size
and ferocity of the creatures that boiled from the darkness. Some
scattered the fire with huge shaggy paws as they whirled in a
deadly battle with Kieran's flashing sword. He ducked slashing
claws and thrust the sword into a hairy breast, swinging away to
face another threat as his foe fell.

An Aggapae's
scream jerked Talsy's attention from Kieran's battle just as a huge
tusked beast bowled her over. She stabbed it, but its thick matted
fur turned her knife aside. Its rank smell clogged her nostrils as
she struggled to free herself from its deadly embrace. Claws raked
her shoulder, then the beast dropped her with a squeal as the
Starsword sliced into its back. The Prince jumped aside to avoid
its claws when the monster turned, and Talsy shouted a warning as a
dark shape loomed behind him. He spun, cutting the air in a circle
and disembowelling the creature behind him while lopping off the
other's paw. The Aggapae struggled in a seething brawl with two
monsters, stabbing them with their long fighting spears. A sweeping
paw lifted limp form off his feet and threw him clear, to land with
a sickening thud.

As swiftly as
they had appeared, the pack quit the camp and vanished into the
night. Talsy crawled towards the fire's embers, and strong hands
lifted her and dumped her beside it. Kieran piled wood onto the
coals and fanned them into a blaze. The light revealed his pale
face, streaked with blood and dirt. He crouched beside her, scanned
the forest with fierce eyes and gripped the ebon blade as he waited
for the monsters to return, but the forest remained silent and
still. The Aggapae crouched over two sprawled forms, one of whom
groaned, the other lay still. Talsy clutched her shoulder, trying
to stem the blood that oozed between her fingers.

Kieran stood.
"They've gone, I think." He turned to her. "Are you hurt?"

She nodded,
gritting her teeth as pain replaced numbness. "Where's
Chanter?"

"I don't know.
Hold still."

The Prince
found a water skin and poured an icy trickle over her wounds,
making her gasp, then laid the Starsword against the gashes.
"Heal."

Talsy sagged
as the pain ebbed, closing her eyes to block out the horror of the
torn camp and sprawled victims. Kieran raised the blade and
examined her shoulder, then went over to the wounded Aggapae. Talsy
opened her eyes to look around for the Mujar, rising on shaking
legs to search the clearing.

"Don't go too
far," Kieran warned. "They might still be out there."

"I have to
find Chanter."

"He's all
right."

Talsy ignored
his assurance as she searched the darkness amongst the fallen
beasts.

Kieran
squatted beside Mita, who was propped against a tree trunk some
distance from the fire. Her stomach was torn open, coils of
entrails visible between Brin's hands as he strived to hold them
in. Brin raised a haggard face as the Prince gazed at the wound
with sick eyes. He looked down at the sword, wondering if he should
try to use it to heal such a mortal wound. Deciding against it, he
straightened.

"Make her lie
back."

Brin laid the
groaning woman on the ground, his bloody hands covering the wound.
Nearby, Taff knelt beside Shan, who lay still, blood oozing from a
wound on the side of his head. Kieran knelt and poured water over
the injury, then held the blade against it and commanded it. The
torn flesh closed, but the boy remained comatose. Cursing, the
Prince sheathed his sword, moved to the fire and scooped up a
burning brand to light his way to Talsy. She stumbled amongst the
hairy corpses, groping in the darkness for Chanter. He joined her,
holding the torch up as he hunted through the carnage towards the
edge of the camp. A huddled form lying next to a tree caught his
eye.

"Here he
is."

Talsy hurried
over as Kieran knelt beside the Mujar's still form, stifling her
cry of horror. The side of Chanter's scalp was laid open, and dark
blood oozed from torn flesh, revealing a gleam of pale bone. One
arm was bent under him, and a leg was twisted to the side. Kieran
upended the water skin over the Mujar's head, and Chanter
convulsed. His ripped scalp closed, but his eyes remained closed.
Talsy knelt at his head, lifted it into her lap and brushed the
skeins of silken hair from his face. Taking the water skin from
Kieran, she held it to the Mujar's lips and trickled water between
them. Chanter coughed and swallowed, writhing as his broken bones
knitted and his limbs straightened, then he relaxed, his head
lolling to the side.

Kieran
scowled. "Mita's badly hurt. I don't know if the sword can heal
her, and Shan's been knocked out. We have to try to bring him
around."

"How?" Talsy
demanded, glaring at him. "He's out cold."

"We need him
to heal Mita, or she'll die."

She glanced at
the Aggapae who knelt beside their fallen clansmen, her eyes filled
with pity. "You've already thrown water over him, what else do you
want to do?"

Kieran ran a
hand through his ragged hair, wincing as he touched the lacerations
on his scalp, and frowned at the unconscious Mujar. "I didn't think
Mujar could be knocked unconscious, I have to admit."

"He's flesh
and blood, same as us. He can be hurt."

"I know that,
damn it, I'm not an idiot!"

"Then stop
acting like one," she retorted. "We just have to wait for him to
wake up."

"They could
die."

"And he
can't."

"That's
right." Kieran glared at Chanter as if willing him to wake. "There
must be some way of bringing him round."

"Like sticking
knives in him?"

"I never said
-" Kieran broke off as blood-chilling screams ripped through the
forest, and the colour drained from his face. "The horses!"

Brin and Taff
leapt up, and Brin bellowed, "Task!"

He grabbed his
spear and vanished into the forest, pursued by Taff. Mita groaned
and cursed, gazing after them.

Talsy hugged
Chanter, tears stinging her eyes, and Kieran stood up, his hand on
the hilt of the Starsword. For a moment she thought that he would
go after them, but he glanced at her and sank down on his haunches
again, staring into the darkness. The screams came again, further
away, making them wince and Mita cry out in despair. The tension
grew as they waited, afraid to contemplate the outcome of the
desperate fight for life going on in the darkness. Kieran fed the
fire to keep the flames high as he sat vigil beside her. He looked
ready to spring up and slay anything that emerged from the
gloom.

The moon's
golden orb had risen high above them and the woodpile had dwindled
to the last few sticks when ghostly forms emerged from the trees.
Brin came first, his horse close behind him, then Taff, followed by
tall shapes that stayed out of the light. Mita gave a glad cry as
her big chestnut came to nuzzle her. The black colt went over to
Shan's still form and nudged him, whickering. Kieran tossed the
last of the wood on the fire and approached the Aggapae. Brin
looked downcast, and several deep scratches crossed his chest. Task
had oozing puncture wounds in his neck and shoulder. Taff nursed a
mauled thigh swaddled in rough bandages, and his horse limped from
a nasty slash on his leg.

"What
happened?" Kieran demanded.

"The beasts
attacked the horses," Brin replied. "We killed one, and the rest
ran off. We lost two." He hung his head.

"Dead?"

Brin nodded,
moved closer to the fire and sank down, his face drawn with
exhaustion. "Why didn't you help us?"

"I had to stay
here. It might have been a diversion. They could have come back and
killed everyone."

The Aggapae
warrior stared into the fire with blind eyes, undoubtedly reliving
the horror of the two slain horses. "We couldn't save them."

"You did the
best you could. Those creatures were lethal. At least you saved
most of them."

"They were
lost without their riders," Brin mourned. "Now they are reunited.
Only one of the bereft ones still lives. The one you ride."

Kieran picked
up a water skin and used the sword to heal the horses' wounds, and
those of their riders. He returned to sit with Talsy, and when the
fire died down, fetched more wood and stoked the blaze. Mita
coughed and groaned, and Taff sat with her through the night. Talsy
eased the Mujar's head onto a rolled-up blanket and lay down beside
him, dozing fitfully.

Chanter woke
as the rising sun sent probing shafts of warm radiance through the
trees. First he became aware of the intense stiffness in his limbs,
then Dolana's icy claws lodged deep within him. Opening his eyes,
he tried to rise, but his limbs were too weak, and he turned his
head. Kieran was slumped beside him, his chin resting on his
chest.

"Kieran."

The Prince
jerked awake with a snort, glancing around. Brin sagged near the
fire's embers, and Taff lay next to Mita. Kieran helped Chanter to
sit up, alarmed by the Mujar's chilly skin. The movement roused the
chosen, who all experienced the shock awakening of the nervously
dozing. Talsy looked worried and chafed Chanter's hands, but warmth
soon seeped back into him when he lost contact with the ground. He
rose and went to Mita, followed by Kieran.

"I was afraid
to use the sword on her, it's so bad," the Prince explained.

Chanter nodded
and poured water on the Aggapae woman's wound. Invoking Shissar, he
pulled aside the flaps of torn skin and tucked her entrails back
into her belly before easing the skin over them again. Mita watched
without flinching, for he used the healing power to deaden her
pain. When he had arranged the wound to his satisfaction, Chanter
laid his hands on it, and the tears closed and sealed together.
Mita sat up and fingered the pink scars with wonder. Next the Mujar
knelt beside Shan, his slender fingers cradling the boy's head.
Using his thumbs to open Shan's eyes, he stared into them as if
plumbing the depths of the boy's soul.

"Shan, come
back."

The boy
groaned as Chanter drew him back from beyond the black curtain.
When he sighed and blinked, Chanter released him and settled back
on his haunches.

"He'll be all
right now. He'll sleep for a while."

Brin shot the
Mujar a grateful look as he tucked the blanket more firmly around
the boy. Mita was already on her feet, crooning to her horse. Talsy
gazed at Chanter, yawning. Taff put a pot of water on the fire to
make tea, coaxing the coals to burn new wood.