Call of the Herald (20 page)

Catrin asked for one of the belt knives left
in the pile, and Benjin handed her one still in the sheath. She was
hesitant to discard her old knife and decided to wear both, not
wanting to abandon the old one with the broken tip.

Osbourne pulled the other soldier's knife
from its sheath; Catrin expected some sort of noise when he
unsheathed it, but it slid free without a sound. The wicked-looking
blade curved slightly before the tip. Its upper edge was serrated,
and it had a straight edge on the bottom. He pronounced it perfect
for him.

"The plan is simple," Benjin said. "We travel
north and go straight at the approaching army, but we stay high in
the mountains. Once we sneak past them, we will turn east, toward
the desert. Perhaps we'll get lucky and have foul weather to hide
us, perhaps not; either way, we'll need to be ready to take cover
at all times. Keep your eyes open for places to hide as you may
only get a moment's notice. We could go due east from here, but I
fear those passes are heavily guarded. As outrageous as it may
sound, sneaking past the army is probably our safest choice.

"I doubt the patrols will be this far out by
first light. We need to get to the next plateau soon if we are to
avoid them," Benjin said, and he set out at a breakneck pace.

When they crested a rise, Benjin paused and
strained to see into the distance. "We should be able to see the
falls from here, but I can't make them out," he said. Catrin and
the others squinted in the predawn light, but visibility was
low.

"I think they are still a long way off,"
Chase said.

Benjin nodded. "Let's go. We've no time to
waste," he said, heading off at a brisk walk.

As they drew closer, Catrin saw the falls.
They did not seem as grand as Benjin had described them, barely
visible in the distance. Perhaps they had been larger when Benjin
last saw them, but she wondered how that could be possible when
this was the rainiest spring any of them had ever seen.

They froze when Benjin hunched down and
signaled them to do the same. "I thought I saw something moving in
the trees," he said after a few moments. "I think it's clear, so
let's move."

As they neared the base of the falls, the
banks of the river came into view. "Above the falls there is no
eastern shore. The river runs along the rock face. We'll need to
stay on the west side for now," Benjin said.

As they came closer to the river, they were
surprised by what they saw: the water level was extremely low, the
flow muddy and sluggish. The water was well below the normal
watermarks, and they estimated it was less than half what it should
be.

By the time they reached the base of the
falls, the sun was high in the sky, and Benjin said he planned to
use the sun for cover. They would climb the jagged cliff wall while
the sun was high, which would make it harder for soldiers to spot
them with the sunlight in their eyes. He found a place far enough
away from the falls for them to remain dry, and there were many
irregularities in the rock face, which would make for an easier
climb.

Their ascent was slow and tenuous, irregular
rocks providing some handholds and footholds, but in many places
they were widely spaced. In some instances they had to scale the
nearly sheer face with little, if anything, to grab onto. When they
finally reached the plateau, they did not find the river they had
been expecting and instead saw a muddy lake that covered almost the
entire plateau. Chase spotted the cause of the flooding near the
top of the falls. The recent storms had downed a large number of
trees. At least a dozen had been swept away by the river and were
creating a dam just before the falls, where the river narrowed.
Only a fraction of the water flowed past the debris; the rest
continued to flood the plateau.

A narrow ribbon of land separated the newly
formed lake from the cliff, but it was clearly saturated. The
valley beyond the plateau was completely swamped by the backed-up
river, effectively cutting off their escape.

"Cripes," Benjin said, "we're going to need
to find a way around this. Stay alert." An enormous rock finger
jutted into the air above the valley. Skirting the lake, they
plodded through the mud, which threatened to remove their boots
with every step. At times they walked through ankle-deep water.
Around the rock finger, the soil border was less than a pace wide.
The promontory was slender and appeared fragile, warped and twisted
by eons of windborne sand.

"Stay back. I'm going out for a look," Benjin
said.

"You aren't really thinking of walking out on
that rock, are you?" Strom asked, incredulous. "That thing looks
like it could fall at any moment, even without your weight on
it."

"It's been here for thousands of years, and
I'm betting it'll be here for thousands more; its frailty is only
an illusion."

Benjin crept onto the rock; the winds whipped
around him, and he was nearly blown off. He caught himself, but the
movement sent rocks bouncing into the valley below.

"I think we've been spotted," he said. "There
are soldiers below, and they are climbing toward us. We need to
retreat as fast as we can; we must go back the way we came. I don't
think we'll be able to get through the flooded valley without
ruining our food supply or drowning."

Catrin sat to one side, absorbed in her
thoughts, and with every moment her anger grew. The Zjhon
threatened everything she held dear. Struggling to think of a way
to stop the approaching army, or at least hamper its progress, she
stewed, biting her lip. Benjin interrupted her thoughts.

"C'mon, li'l miss, we need to get out of
here."

Catrin wondered if she was making a mistake;
then she recalled the words Nat had written: "Embrace your role as
the Herald. I implore you to use the divine gift you have been
given." She considered those words, and they urged her to act.

"No," she said in a firm voice. "I will not
run from this challenge, and I will no longer tolerate these
invaders of my homeland."

"What would you have us do, Catrin? I am
yours to command," Benjin said, shocking everyone. He knelt in the
sodden soil and bowed to her. Chase, Strom, and Osbourne stood
silently.

Catrin considered her next words carefully,
not knowing what she was going to say or do. She looked around her,
and the muddy water brought back a part of Nat's message, one line
in particular, and she said, "The water shapes the land."

"I want you to dig. From here," she said,
pointing to the soil around the base of the finger of rock, "to
here. We need a trough from the dry to the wet, and it should be as
deep as possible."

"What are you talking about, Cat? We don't
have time for this; we need to get out of here," Chase said.

"We cannot run anymore, Chase; there is
nowhere safe to hide. I choose to fight," she said, and she began
to dig with her bare hands as Benjin loosened the soil with his
sword. All but Chase began to dig, but he soon crouched down along
with the rest. The trench grew quickly, the sodden soil making
their work easier.

"Stay on the north side of the trench,"
Catrin warned.

"But we need to go south to escape," Chase
argued, looking at a massive fist of rock that blocked their path
and would not budge.

"Just dig around it," Catrin said, following
Chase's gaze. "The trench need not be straight." As they dug their
way closer to the water, the ditch began to flood, and they
continued to dig from higher ground. As water began pouring over
the cliff's edge, Catrin and Benjin looked over to see what was
happening below.

A few soldiers watched from the valley floor,
but most were scaling the cliff face in an effort to reach them.
Catrin and the others watched the water move through the ditch,
eroding the soil around it. Deeper and wider the trough grew,
gradually sending larger amounts of water into the valley, but it
was not enough; it was happening far too slowly to make any
difference. It mocked their meager effort, and helplessness washed
over Catrin.

She watched the flow intently, seeing
tremendous potential energy latent in the calm water, and she knew
there must be a way to unleash it. Without realizing it, she opened
her mind to Istra's energy and attempted to ply it with her will.
She started by trying to push the water over the edge, hoping to
make it go faster, but the water repelled her.

Any force she exerted on the water became
fragmented, scattered in a hundred directions, and her efforts had
no visible effect. Her frustration flared into anger, and she
turned to the rest of the group. "Go north. I'll catch up with you
soon."

"But, Cat--" Chase began, but she cut him
short.

"If you value your lives, go north. Now!" she
said in a commanding voice, despite her fear. Her legs trembled;
her face flushed and nostrils flared; her heart pounded in her
ears. Chase and the others headed north, frequently looking over
their shoulders. A strange feeling came over her as she watched
Chase walk away. So many times she had followed him on his
adventures, but now she knew she must stand alone. As she embraced
the energy around her, she prayed she would not unwittingly create
another disaster. The lives of her friends now rested in her hands,
and she was determined to save them.

With confidence born of every lesson her
father and Benjin and Chase had ever taught her, Catrin moved to
the finger of rock. Its base had been exposed by the modest flow of
water that rushed by, but she strode to the end of the finger,
seemingly oblivious to the winds tearing at her. Doing her best to
keep from trembling, she spoke in a voice that carried across the
Pinook Valley.

"Armies of the Zjhon! You are not welcome
here," she began. In the next moment, though, she panicked. No more
words would come; her throat was closing. She was no hero; she felt
like just a little girl. Old fears constricted her heart, and she
nearly fled, but then, in her mind, she saw the faces of Benjin and
Chase and her friends. With a fire burning in her belly, she
renewed her commitment and tried to find words befitting a great
hero. "I am the keeper of this land, and I forbid you passage.
Retreat now, or feel the weight of my wrath!" she said, and her
statement carried on the air to the soldiers below.

They laughed at such threats coming from a
girl, and Catrin turned without another word. She strode back to
the edge of the widening trough, gazing at it a moment more before
moving north. Some fifty paces away, she stopped, hoping Chase
wasn't right. Maybe she had lost her senses, but it was far too
late to turn back. She would have to endure the consequences of her
decisions and actions.

Facing the cliff, she felt the heat of her
anger toward the invaders, and it purged her fears. Her body
quivered with energy as she gathered it and pulled it to her,
reveling in its glory. She could smell its fragrance and taste its
sweetness, but a searing pain in her left thigh distracted her for
a moment, feeling as if her limb were on fire. She ignored it and
drew in a deep breath, letting the soldiers' laughter feed her
rage.

"You bear witness to the Call of the Herald,"
she announced. "I have warned you, and you have mocked me, and you
will suffer for that." She clasped her hands high above her head,
energy swirling through her fingers and dancing over her palms. It
pulsed around her. She brought her hands down in a powerful arc as
she shouted, "You will not pass!"

When her fists struck the soil, a huge
shockwave sent ripples of power through the plateau with a massive,
echoing boom, and the land pulsed as if it were liquid. Waves of
energy rolled away from her. The floodwaters transferred the energy
as waves crashed against the irregularity of the far cliffs and
returned to punish the saturated shoreline. Unable to withstand the
power of the water, large sections of rock and soil were dislodged
and pushed into the Pinook Valley.

As tremors shook the ground beneath her feet,
Catrin ran toward her companions. The massive chain reaction gained
momentum, and the thunderous roar became nearly unbearable, but
even in her retreat, Catrin was compelled to witness what she had
wrought. Water crashed around the finger of rock, carrying gobbets
of dirt and rock away with it, and with an ear-shattering crack,
the rock slumped forward and leaned into the valley. Water rushed
in eagerly to fill the gap, and a tremendous roar reverberated
through the valley; Catrin watched in disbelief as the finger of
rock tumbled away in the deluge.

In a massive release of potential energy,
water assailed rock and soil, and the cliffs parted. Gravity pulled
the water into the valley, and the din of a massive rockslide
accompanied the rush of the fall.

Rock and debris clogged the valley, and a
towering wall of water rushed to greet the main body of the
advancing army. Cries of man and horse rose above the din, but
Catrin had no time to consider what her senses told her as more of
the plateau began to collapse. She fled the devastation and tried
to catch up to the rest of the group, already moving swiftly north.
The Upper Chinawpa Valley, which lay ahead, drained quickly, and
muddy shores rose from the depths; there Catrin's friends stopped
to wait for her.

Unsure of what to say, she approached them
tentatively, half expecting them to tell her she was crazy or leave
her behind, but they welcomed her silently.

Chase grabbed her in a bear hug. "I'm sorry I
doubted you," he whispered.

Benjin held up his hand to speak. "You have
followed me, but I can no longer lead you," he said. "I've heard
the Call of the Herald, and I will go wherever she leads me, I will
do what she asks of me, and I will lay down my life to save hers,"
he finished, bowing to Catrin.