Legends of the Riftwar (18 page)

The last Kingdom hunter came in with two marmots over his shoulder, both of them plump with early winter fat. The hunter was embarrassed with such paltry fare but the Tsurani cried aloud with delight, even as the disgusted hunter dumped the carcasses on the ground and apologized to his comrades.

There was a moment's hesitation as two Tsurani moved closer to the hunter.

‘Go on, take the damn things,' he finally growled. ‘I'll eat crow before I'd touch 'em. It's all I could find.'

His gesture of disdain was clear enough signal and the two Tsurani swept the marmots up and within seconds had them dangling from a tree limb. With expert cuts they sliced the skin around the necks, and then without making another cut they gradually pulled the skin off the bodies. The two seemed to be running a race and the conversations around the fires fell silent as the Kingdom troops watched what was being done.

Chattering amongst themselves, the Tsurani skinning the marmots finally had the skins completely pulled off and dangling from the rear legs of the giant rodents. Then with a quick jerk the skins were popped off and then with a snapping gesture turned from inside out, to right side in, so that each skin was now a bag with the fur again on the outside.

They now fell to carving the flesh and fat off the bones of the marmots and tossing them into the bags of fur. Next the bones were broken at the joints and stuffed in and finally all the guts as well. While the two laboured at their tasks other Tsurani had been gathering up small rocks and tossing them into the fires. Now they fished the red-hot rocks out of the flames and, laughing, tossed them bare-handed to the two butchers who grabbed the rocks and plopped them into the stuffed bags as well.

Finally a couple of pins, made from a Tsurani wood almost as
hard as metal, were fished out of haversacks and used to stitch the neck holes shut. Broken sticks were used to plug the arrow-holes in the hides and the two bags were tossed into the flames.

Every Kingdom soldier had gone quiet and a bit wide-eyed, while the Tsurani seemed to be in near-celebratory mood, chattering amongst themselves, pushing in around the butchers, and obviously exclaiming over the strange feast being prepared.

Gregory watched the show, grinning slightly. ‘I once slipped up on a Tsurani camp at night and saw this. Near as I can figure their lingo they got something like marmots on their world and they're considered a rare delicacy fit only for the nobility.'

The air was thick with the stench of fur burning off the carcasses. The two self-appointed cooks rolled the marmots back and forth in the flames and the marmots swelled up like balloons, reminding Dennis of nothing other than a dead body floating in the water, bloating up beneath a hot summer sun.

Finally it looked as if the marmots were ready to burst asunder when suddenly juice and steam started spraying out of holes in the bodies that nature had originally placed in the marmot and which had not been plugged shut. Loud shouts of laughter erupted from the Tsurani as the two marmots were rolled out of the flames. One of the cooks, hands now protected with gloves picked one of them up and with juice still squirting out approached Asayaga, who grinned and bowed ritualistically, then knelt down while the cook held the marmot over his head. A stream of juice shot into Asayaga's mouth. He licked his lips, and said something that caused a great burst of laughter.

The second cook held up his marmot and began to approach Asayaga, but the Tsurani commander said something and pointed towards Dennis. The laughter stopped and all looked over at Hartraft.

‘The first juice of the marmot,' Asayaga announced in the common tongue, ‘is reserved for nobles and leaders. You drink now.'

‘Like hell I will,' Dennis grumbled under his breath, his words drowned out by the crackling roar of the fire.

The second cook, approached Dennis, grinning.

‘Better do it,' Gregory whispered. ‘It's obviously considered a sign of respect.'

‘Damn it, I won't drink juice spraying out of a marmot's backside.'

‘Do it!' Gregory hissed, ‘or we might have a fight on our hands. This is the first sign they've given that they respect you as a leader; don't cock it up!'

Dennis spared a sidelong glance at his men. There was a mixture of reactions. Some were obviously disgusted with the entire affair, but more than one, especially the older hands, were grinning at the predicament Dennis was now in.

His angry glare killed most of the smiles. Then, cursing under his breath, he knelt down on one knee. The Tsurani cook held the marmot up, steam still spouting out of the marmot's rearend. The Tsurani squeezed the body and a stream of juice shot out.

Dennis managed to take a single gulp. The liquid was oily, thick, and scalding hot. He struggled to swallow and the cook turned away, shouting something. Laughter erupted from the Tsurani and was soon joined by the Kingdom troops, obviously delighted by the discomfort of their leader.

Asayaga approached Dennis, pulling a sac out from under his tunic and uncorking it. ‘Here, drink this, to wash it down.'

Dennis looked at him coldly and Asayaga, smiling, tilted his head back and squeezed the sac. A stream of white fluid shooting into his mouth. He pointed the sack at Dennis and squeezed.

The sour bitterness hit Dennis's palate and this time he did gag.

‘What in the name of all the devils is that?' he cried.

‘Aureg.'

‘What? It tastes like horse piss.'

‘Ha! The wrong end of a horse, if it came from a horse. It's fermented needra milk.' The needra were the six-legged beasts of burden the Tsurani had imported from their homeworld. They served as oxen and draft-horses for the Tsurani, who had no horses on their world. ‘Cools one in the summer heat and warms the stomach in winter.'

‘Oh damn,' Dennis said.

As he spat out the rest, the Tsurani erupted in gales of laughter. Dennis looked over at Asayaga, wondering what the hell he was doing and the Tsurani drew closer.

‘Respect forestalls the killing,' Asayaga said, his voice suddenly cool. ‘My men will be more receptive to your “suggestions” in the future.'

He looked back at his men who were gathered around the two marmots which had been split open. Eager hands were reaching in, pulling out the steaming hot meat. One of the men came up respectfully to Asayaga and held out his hand. Resting on the palm were two steaming pieces of meat.

‘The liver and heart,' Asayaga said, offering one of the curled up pieces of flesh to Dennis.

Dennis reluctantly took one and popped it into his mouth. In spite of his initial reaction he had to admit it tasted half-way good. He nodded.

A number of Kingdom troops, drawn by curiosity, were gathered into the crowd, several of them munching on bones and strings of meat, then turning back to their comrades, laughing and challenging them to join in.

‘Laughter also forestalls the killing,' Asayaga said. ‘From what I heard and what I sense, there will be fighting tomorrow. We must fight together, Hartraft: eating and drinking tonight will make that easier come dawn.'

Dennis found that he had to agree. He forced himself to take the sack of aureg and to drink. This time it didn't seem quite so bad, at least if he swallowed quickly, and though it wasn't brandy from Darkmoor, it did indeed bring a touch of warmth to his insides.

As they passed the sac back and forth, watching their men feast, Dennis suddenly felt a strange sadness. Stripped down as they were, laughing, gorging themselves, the moment struck him as tragic. He had long ago come to accept life as an unrelenting tragedy but somehow, this night it seemed more poignant than usual.

He was by no means falling into the maudlin thoughts that poets and ballad-makers spoke of–how enemies might share a moment of friendship. What he felt was sentimental foolishness: the war had done far too much to him. Looking over at Asayaga he knew he could kill him without hesitation and sensed that Asayaga felt the same.

And yet, if it wasn't for the dread closing in–the memory of what was occurring at this very moment but sixty miles to the south–he
felt as if he could almost enjoy this evening.
Perhaps we are fey
, he thought.
We know we're doomed and have lived with terror these last three days and the break is a final grasping at a moment of laughter
.

He had shared many a campfire with strangers, and got drunk around many a fire as well, pledging friendships and then, come dawn, they had all gone their separate ways. He knew enough to place little weight on such things. Perhaps that was the reason for the melancholy. Or perhaps it was the sudden loneliness he felt with Jurgen not being here.

What would Jurgen say of this moment? He most likely would have smiled and stepped forward to share the juice, then clapped Asayaga on the shoulder.

But they had killed Jurgen, the same way they had killed my father…and her.

‘Something troubling you?'

He looked down at Asayaga who was offering the sac of aureg and actually smiling.

‘No more,' he said coldly.

Asayaga nodded, and in an instant his features were again the blank expressionless gaze of a Tsurani officer.

‘Divide up your men. Once we are done eating, two sleep while one stands watch. I want the fires banked down. We'll keep them going but not the inferno we have now. Once past midnight, I want half on watch. We'll break camp the moment there is the first trace of dawn.'

‘I take that as a suggestion only, Hartraft,' Asayaga said coldly.

‘Take it any way you want, Tsurani.'

‘You are a hard man.'

‘That is how I stay alive, Tsurani.'

‘Is it?'

‘What do you mean?'

Asayaga shook his head and tucked the sac of aureg back under his tunic. ‘Two sleep, one on watch till midnight. Then half watch while the other half sleep. We break at first light. I'll stand the first watch, Hartraft: you sleep.'

Asayaga stalked away, joining the circle around the fire and within seconds he started to laugh again, accepting a handful of steaming
meat, but as he laughed he looked back at Dennis, eyes watchful and intent.

Dennis cursed softly. Picking up a stick, he speared a piece of venison out of the fire and walked into the woods to be alone.

The rising moon was blood-red.

Tinuva, all senses as taut as a bow-string took the colour of the large moon to be an omen, a warning from his ancestors, as it climbed over the forest behind him.

There was nothing direct to tell him of the danger, no sound of snow crunching, no scent on the frigid wind: the warning was deeper, coming from the core of what he was. He knew that humans, at times, could vaguely touch that sense, the feeling of being watched, or better yet the bond that twin brothers had, knowing what the other was thinking and feeling.

He felt hatred, an ancient hatred that stretched across centuries. He knew it as intimately as the presence of beloved friends, the memory of the sacred groves, the sight of the eternal heavens at night.

Bovai was close, very close. Stalking, reaching outward, trying to touch into his heart, and above all else calling to him.

He felt as if they were two serpents who had sighted each other at last, unblinking, staring, each trying to seek the first advantage before the lightning strike.

He was torn: the call of Bovai was like a deep longing, strangely almost like the whisper of a lover's voice that beckoned, seeking the release of passion, except that this was the passion of death.

Tinuva turned his head, gaze fixed, not seeing with his eyes, but with his soul, and the colour of the world shifted. It was no longer filled with the dark shadows of night, but instead was changing to a
pale glimmer of light which settled over the frozen woods, sparkling and flashing. All was bathed in a lovely blue sheen and there were no shadows, though to a mortal standing next to him the night would seem unchanged.

He could see Bovai, advancing alone, moving without stealth, into the open, but still distant far beyond bowshot range. He knew that walk well: disdainful, bold with arrogance, confident in his power. There was more familiar about the moredhel chieftain, but he chose to not dwell on those familiar qualities. He knew the resemblances were the heart of the blood debt between them.

Each was aware of the other's presence. This was not like Kavala, who, preoccupied with other thoughts had only yesterday ridden to his well deserved doom. No, Bovai would never be so foolish, even if he were two hundred miles away, in the safety of his own dwelling, still he was always alert, always watching, for he knew that Tinuva would always be hunting.

Bovai stopped and turned his head slightly, looking straight at Tinuva.

Let it be now.

The words, of course, were not spoken, but sensed and Tinuva felt drawn by the power of them, but even as he was drawn he knew that Bovai was using all of his skills to shape the thoughts, to wing them into his soul and that there was concealed beneath them another purpose. Tinuva dared to let his attention shift for the briefest of moments and looked past Bovai.

Behind the dark elf there were others, hundreds, who thought themselves concealed, believing that the light of seeing would not reveal their presence, that all would be focused on Bovai. Amongst those of Bovai's blood there was skill and cunning, more than one moredhel staying cloaked, thoughts stilled, heads bowed so that the light which Tinuva projected in his mind would not catch their thoughts. But the simpler, darker creatures–the men, the wood goblins and trolls–in their clumsiness milled about, impatient in the freezing cold, wondering what it was that their master was about, why he had commanded them to wait while he advanced alone.

Tinuva focused his thoughts, remaining still, wishing that Bovai would come forward just another hundred paces, yet knowing that
once in range their conflict would be joined and now was not yet the time. He had waited for hundreds of years: a few more days, when weighed against centuries, was nothing.

Tinuva's mind ranged out and he sensed more minds in the distance. It was expected that one day Tinuva would join the ranks of the Spellweavers, for his mind was showing more and more skill in using the native magic of his race. With bitter irony, he considered that Bovai would likely be his match in that ability, though he would never put aside the mantle of a chieftain for the ritual headdress of a shaman.

Tinuva's left hand dropped, brushing the edge of his long cloak. He swirled the cloak up, breaking the spell which in his inner eye had illuminated the forest and turned, running lightly in the way that only an elf could run, drifting through the forest like the whisper of a morning breeze, dodging from tree to tree, leaping fallen giants, startling up a doe hidden in the hollow beneath an upturned stump so that for a dozen strides they ran side by side until the frightened creature turned and bolted off in the opposite direction.

He blanked his mind, cloaking his thoughts, and he knew that even the most sensitive among the moredhel would not see him. To Bovai it would be as if he had simply vanished from the mortal realm. No Spellweaver yet, Tinuva had still cultivated their company when time permitted and had gleaned a skill or two that one his age should not yet know. Let Bovai try to work out what happened. It would gain them minutes, when they needed hours, but every minute gained got the men of the Kingdom and the Tsurani another minute further away from Bovai and his murderers.

As he ran he whistled softly, the cry an owl made when startled in the night by something that was stalking the stalker.

Gregory stepped out from behind an ancient of the forest, a fir tree so huge in girth that three men could have hidden behind it. Raising his horn, the Natalese scout blew four short notes, his personal signal which was now the warning that the enemy had been sighted and that it was time to abandon camp. He fell in beside Tinuva, running to keep up.

‘He was there?' Gregory asked.

‘Yes.'

They ran another fifty paces, vaulting over a fallen log, pausing for a second to look back, bows half-raised.

‘Challenged you?'

‘Yes. But his army was too close.'

They heard the distant thunder, horses galloping across the clearing, as Bovai sent riders to discover where the elf had fled. They listened, then heard the noise diminish as the riders were forced to move slowly through the woods.

Gregory raised his horn again and blew. There was a distant, answering blast, echoing in the cold, still air.

‘Time to catch up,' Gregory said. He turned to run but Tinuva hissed softly, held up his hand, then pointed back.

The two of them slipped arrows out of their quivers, nocked them, and drew back the bowstrings.

Two riders, clearly visible in the moonlight, emerged, weaving though the trees, heads down as they dodged under the branches.

The two arrows sang out, speeding to their targets and one of the two tumbled backwards off his mount. The other cried out shrilly, his horse nearly rolling over as the dying rider tried to rein in and swing his mount around.

Within seconds Tinuva was up on the horse's haunches behind the rider, blade effortlessly drifting across the dying man's throat. He pushed him out of the saddle and scrambled to take his place.

Tinuva's whispered commands and gentle touch stilled the panicky animal, so that within seconds it was far more willing to obey the elf than it ever had been to heed the human he had replaced.

Tinuva looked over at Gregory who had gained the saddle of the second animal and was struggling to bring it under control, for both animals had been badly frightened by the scent of blood on the frigid air.

Tinuva trotted over to Gregory's side, as the animal finally obeyed the Ranger's firm hand.

‘Why walk when we can ride?' Tinuva said calmly.

‘Well, we better start riding and damn fast!' Gregory exclaimed, looking back over his shoulder.

Leading the way, Tinuva urged his mount to a measured gallop, weaving through the forest. Behind them they could hear the other
riders approaching. They reached a low ridge and rode up to the crest. To his left Tinuva saw the encampment site and breathed a sigh of relief. The fires were still smouldering, but the camp had been abandoned. He caught a glimpse of the column beating a hasty retreat, moving up the trail, the first of the men already up past the top of the rocky outcropping.

He felt something brush past his face, plucking at the collar of his cloak and his heart froze. A hand's width lower and the arrow shot by one of Dennis's men would have killed him. His mind raced for a moment, wondering on the irony of it all, that after so long, he might die by the hand of an ally.

Gregory blew his horn again–the four-note recognition signal–and Tinuva heard Dennis's angry curses, shouting for his men to hold their arrows.

The two slid their mounts down the slope, charging past the empty encampment and up the trail. As they rounded a bend Tinuva was startled by the sight of half a dozen Tsurani blocking the way with blades drawn and he reined in hard, wondering if Dennis's warning and Gregory's horn blast was understood by them.

Asayaga was in the middle of the group. He barked an order and the swords were lowered.

Tinuva, heart still thumping, nodded his thanks.

‘Tragic to kill a friend in battle by mistake when there are so many enemies to go around,' Asayaga announced in Tsurani.

The words were no sooner out of him than a startled expression clouded his face. Several of his men looked over at him in surprise.

Tinuva, equally surprised, took several seconds to respond. ‘Old enemies must be friends when a greater evil looms.'

Asayaga grunted, not replying.

‘Move quickly: their mounted warriors are closing. They aren't quite sure where we are but will figure it out soon enough,' Tinuva said quickly. He snapped the reins and rode forward up the trail, reaching the next turn on top of the rocky outcropping.

‘Damn it. You could have been killed riding a horse like that!' Dennis cried, and then there was yet another surprise for Tinuva as Hartraft reached up and, as if to reassure himself, grabbed the elf by the forearm, squeezed tightly, then let his hand drop.

Dennis started to turn. ‘I'm personally going to flay the idiot who shot that arrow.'

‘No time,' Tinuva announced, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole affair. ‘An honest mistake. I left on foot, you expected me to return that way. We'd better move. Gregory and I will ride ahead to make sure they don't have an advance unit up on the trail. I doubt it though. Bovai was out front with the mounted riders looking for you. The rest of his forces he ordered to follow. My little game worked: it gave us the warning we needed.'

Dennis nodded in agreement.

‘You men dry, your stomachs full and your backsides warm?' Gregory asked.

There was a ripple of laughter.

He looked to the east. The large moon was two hand-spans above the horizon, a crescent, still blood red. Beneath it there was the first faint glow of approaching dawn.

‘We've got a long run and a tough fight,' Dennis interjected, again assuming his usual role. ‘They'll be on us soon enough. Now move!'

Tinuva urged his mount forward, up the long, sloping, ice-covered trail. ‘And I think a storm is coming, so we need to be over the crest before it is full on, else we will die in the pass.'

Dennis and Asayaga gave commands and the men hurried ahead, following the trailbreakers' marks. The two scouts should already be into the pass itself, heading up into the high mountains. By late afternoon, they should be at the crest, then once over, let the storm fill the pass with snow. Then all thoughts of Bovai could be put aside for another time.

As the men moved out, Tinuva considered: within the space of half a dozen minutes death had whispered close three times, twice at the hands of friends, once from a foe that was closer to him than any who were mortal could ever guess.

He knew it was a portent and he breathed deeply, savouring the taste of this world.

‘Come on, move your lazy asses, move it!'

Dennis Hartraft, gasping for breath, staggered to the top of the
trail. Leaning over, he struggled against the urge to vomit, gulping down deep breaths of freezing air.

He stood up, and pushed back his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow. Looking down the trail, he saw his men staggering forward, feet churning through the powdery snow.

‘Archers to the flanks! Mark your targets carefully: don't waste your arrows on the goblins and men! Kill the trolls first, then the dark elves!'

More than one man had an empty quiver; they were running short.

He looked up at the sky. The noonday sun was riding low on the southern horizon. If it wasn't for the terror of the moment, he could have almost paused to take in the spectacular view. They had climbed several thousand feet throughout the cold morning and now the vast plain of the Broad River was spread out below them and he could easily trace out the distant road crossing up over the Yabonese Hills which they had traversed the day before. The air up here was pure and crystalline but unfortunately far too thin and it was affecting his men. Fortunately it was affecting their pursuers as well.

It had been a bitter running fight. Within a half hour of their fleeing the camp the first attack had swept up behind them and repeated assaults had hit throughout the day. There would be a break in the fighting, his men pulling back a few hundred more yards, weaving their way up the switchbacking trail, then another attack would come, there would be a pause, followed by a another pull back. Bovai's forces had paid a terrible price to press the fleeing humans. All of their human mercenaries were either dead or wounded, and the moredhel were now without any cavalry support.

Now that the switchbacks were behind them, all that was saving them was the fact that the path they were on was little more than a goat-track climbing straight up, reaching up past the tree-line. It was impossible for the enemy to flank or get ahead in such terrain as long as he slowly kept retreating: the trick was to disengage from the battle at the right moment and he could see that it was almost time to do it again.

He looked around. The mountain continued to soar upwards behind him for another half a thousand feet or more; the problem
now was what he had feared for the last hour. The trail was giving out. It was all bare rock above–the thick tangle of stunted trees and bushes which had helped to secure their flanks had all but disappeared. With their backs to the top of the mountain the only tactic left was to deploy up into the boulders and make a final stand.