Hand of Fire (The Master of the Tane) (80 page)

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              Jack was at first startled when he didn’t find Dor in his bed. In fact, it looked as if he had not even slept in it. Then he heard the snores at the foot of the bed. Turning his candle, he found Dor sleeping soundly on the floor.
What’s he doing down there
? Jack quickly dressed and then slipped out quietly to use the one bathroom all the guests shared. He couldn’t complain, at least it was inside. Most places made you go outside and around back. When he returned, Dor was dressed and ready to go. “Oh, good. I thought I was going to have to throw a bucket of water on you.”

             
“Hah!” Dor snorted. “How could anybody sleep with you rumbling around the room like a pack of trolls?”

             
Jack just smiled. “What were you doing on the floor?”

             
Dor frowned and pointed to his bed. “That thing is like trying to sleep in quicksand. I don’t see how you HuMans can sleep on something so soft.”

             
Jack shook his head. “Well, we’ll be back on the hard packed earth in no time. Are you ready?”

             
Dor nodded with a determined look.

             
The sweet smells of cooking greeted the pair as they descended the stairs and entered the main room of the Gilded Monk. Rumbles and clanks emerged from the kitchen as the innkeeper’s wife and two young daughters patted out pastries and spice cakes for the soon to be awakening guests. Jack had settled up the night before and neither was very hungry after their previous meal, so they quietly made their exit into the cool morning air.

The sleeping city was
bare, a refreshing change for Dor, so Jack quickly took them back down the street from which they had originally come. The raucous market from the day before was as silent as death now awaiting the rise of a new day and the resurrection of the marketers who would clamor about their wares.

             
The first person they saw was the sleepy-eyed stable boy whom they aroused from bed to retrieve the horses the colonel had promised them. After checking the order Jack presented, the drowsy youngster disappeared into the stables and soon returned with two saddled, jet-black stallions. “These be the colonel’s own,” the boy yawned as he pressed the reins into Jack’s hand. “Oh, and there be no charge for the other three you brought in yester eve.”

             
“Well then,” Jack smiled at the disheveled youth and then tossed him a coin. “I guess that means you get this then.”

             
The boy came full awake in an instant as he snatched the silver coin from the air. “Thank you, sirs!” he bowed. “If you ever need anything again, and I mean anything, you just come to me.”

             
“What’s your name, boy?” Jack asked as he and Dor mounted up.

             
“Domis, sir.”

             
“Well, Domis, we may just do that some day.”

             
“It would be my pleasure, sir,” Domis replied calling after the two as they turned their horses towards the east gate. To the surprise of both, Colonel Braxton was there to meet them.

             
“Getting a late start I see,” the colonel called out to Jack as they pulled up their horses at the tightly shut gate.

             
Jack grinned and jerked his thumb towards Dor. “You’ve never had to wake a Tjal-Dihn. It’s a very delicate process.”

             
Dor frowned at the sudden attention but made no move.

             
Glancing in Dor’s direction, the colonel retorted, “I can see by the look on his face that he wasn’t all that pleased.” Both men shared a quiet laugh.

             
Feeling he was the butt of some joke, Dor turned to Jack and cut off their laughter. “Are we leaving or are you two going to sit here all day braying like a couple of mules?”

             
Jack’s smiled wilted only slightly as he looked quickly to Dor and then returned his remarks to the colonel. “How about letting us out a little early this morning?”

             
The colonel shook his head. “Are you sure I can’t talk you out of this, Jack? You’ll be easy pickin’s in the mountains. These aren’t like the Shadows.”

             
Jack’s face almost looked melancholy for an instant before it became hard as the mountains he intended invading. “I told you my friend, it’s blood debt. Nothing could keep us out.”

             
The colonel just shook his head and then smiled a smile that only touched his lips. His eyes told a different story. “I knew you were going to say something like that, but I had to try anyway. I’m only sorry I can’t help you anymore than I have. If I could, you know I would ride out of here with you.”

             
Jack leaned over and grasped his friend’s hand. “Until night calls the raven then.”

             
Colonel Braxton’s smile suddenly washed into his eyes as well. “Until night calls the raven, my friend.” Turning to the guard he barked out orders and in no time the portcullis was raised and the gates swung open.

             
Without another word, Jack and Dor shot out of Haykon and quickly turned their mounts up the city’s east wall heading north. A quick left turn at the northeastern corner and they were headed in full gallop towards the Mogolth Mountains beyond. The cold, fresh air felt good against Dor’s face reviving him after being shut in the city all night. A north wind was building bringing with it the faint scent of salt reminding the Chufa boy of his home. It also brought along a thick mass of dark clouds that gathered ominously over the northern peaks. Dor suppressed a shiver thankful for the first time for the strange, HuMan clothes Jack had insisted he wear. Even the cumbersome
Dihne
he wore to cover his ears felt less of a bother since it protected his head from the cold. Jack had told him once they were safely in the pass he could remove it, but if the weather proved to turn out as he expected, he felt it might be worth it just to leave it on. It wasn’t the rain that he minded. All MarGua Tane loved the water, be it on the ground or falling from the sky. It was the cold that he was not accustomed to.

             
Not long after leaving Haykon, they were joined by Erl who caused the horses no small start. Had they been less well bred and trained, there would have been no telling where they might have taken their riders with the wolg’s sudden appearance. But, taking their cues from their riders, they quickly returned to calm acceptance of their new companion when Jack, and even Dor, showed no alarm or nervous concern.

             
It was fast approaching midday when the wolg and two riders finally reached the base of the mountains and the entrance to the pass. By now the sky was completely darkened by the saturated clouds and the distant sounds of thunder announced the coming of what promised to be a terrible downpour. They slowed their sweat-lathered horses to a leisurely trot just as they approached the well guarded pass. Erl lopped along beside them seeming to enjoy himself as he nipped playfully at Jack’s foot.

             
A small fort just north of the pass was quickly being erected by close to fifty men while fifty more set barriers in the pass itself. It was obvious they intended to maintain their newfound advantage. Scanning the area, Dor was surprised to find only four horses corralled east of the fortification. Catching Erl’s scent, they were now announcing their presence with bucking and neighing. Jack and Dor brought their own mounts to a stop as a formation of guards was dispatched to intercept the new arrivals.

             
“Why only four?” Dor asked Jack while watching some men unsuccessfully try to calm the horses.

             
Jack watched the approaching guard intently, not taking his eyes from them as he answered. “If there’s trouble, a rider is sent right away to warn Haykon and call for any necessary reinforcements. The other three leave at different intervals after to relay any other pertinent messages.”

Jack suddenly moved his horse forward and turned its flank as a shield between the soldiers and Dor and Erl. “Hold up there boys,” he called to the approaching group. “Those won’t be necessary.”

              Dor looked in horror finally noticing the crossbows a couple of the men had trained on them. Were those meant for him?

             
Erl let out a low, threatening growl, striking Dor with the realization that it was the wolg they were pointed at and not him.

             
“He’s not going to hurt you any,” Jack soothed. “He’s with me.”

             
Just then, a man rode up on one of the horses, which was much calmer now that it was no longer corralled. “You heard the man,” he shouted bringing his mount to a halt in front of the soldiers. “Put those blasted things away before you hurt yourselves.” Both men complied immediately but not without obvious disappointment.

             
“Captain Dainz, I presume?” Jack said turning his gaze to the newcomer.

             
“At your service,” he answered bowing his head slightly. “I apologize for my men. Colonel Braxton informed us last night by dispatch that you would be coming. We’re just all a little bit excited still over what happened with the trolls.”

             
Jack smiled. “Understandable captain. I get this quite a bit. It’s something you quickly become accustomed to when you keep company with a wolg.”

             
The captain smiled back. “A Tjal-Dihn too, I imagine.”

             
Jack’s smile faded only slightly. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Now, if you would be so kind as to show us to the pass, we will be out of your porridge and on our way.”

             
The captain fidgeted slightly. “May we offer you refreshment before you go?”

             
Jack stared into the man’s eyes for a moment before answering. “You can tell Colonel Braxton that if he wanted to slip something into our food, he should have done it last night when he had the chance himself.”

             
The captain’s face flashed shock before he replaced it with a half-hearted attempt at offense. “Sir, you shame us and our offer of hospitality, I was only suggesting...”

             
Jack cut him off with a kind smile. “I know what you were suggesting captain and I don’t begrudge you for trying or for following orders, but let’s not pretend those orders were other than what they really were. Now, if you would be so kind as to show us to the pass, we would be most grateful.”

             
The captain sighed heavily and shook his head. “He warned me that you would probably not fall for it.”

             
Jack laughed. “Only because I have before, Captain Dainz.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

              Thane jumped to his feet, tangling himself in fabric and landing on something so soft it buckled his legs and made him to fall back again. Fighting with the attacking material, he twisted himself around to his knees and strained against the darkness for any clues that might aid him with knowledge of his situation. A slight chill traveled from his skull, like a distant memory, to his shoulders where it quickly changed into a dull ache as memory of what happened swept over him.

Twisting his head about, he searched for the humongous creature that jerked him from his horse with its large, needle tipped claws but was greeted instead by only walls and furniture. Trying to calm his racing heart, he took in his surroundings and quickly realized he was in a bedroom, at least he thought it was a bedroom. Five Chufa huts could easily fit inside the room with space left over for a small garden. The softness beneath him, he discovered, was a bed that was big enough for two whole families. The softness of the mattress sucked at his knees as if trying to draw them into its belly.
No wonder my back hurts
. Each corner was supported by a massive, gold leafed post that reached twice his height and held its share of the canopy that draped the oversized bed.