Ranger's Apprentice 1 & 2 Bindup (19 page)

Will came to his feet, moving carefully to avoid making any undue noise. His hands had automatically gone to his weapons but he relaxed as he realised there was no immediate threat. The other two were listening intently. Then Halt raised a hand and pointed to the north.

‘There it is again,' he said softly.

Then Will heard it, above the moaning of the Stone
Flutes and the soughing of the wind through the grass, and the blood froze in his veins. It was a high-pitched, bestial howl that ululated and climbed in pitch. An inhuman sound carried to them on the wind from the throat of a monster.

Seconds later, another howl answered the first. Slightly deeper in pitch, it seemed to come from a position a little to the left of the first. Without needing to be told, Will knew what the sounds meant.

‘It's the Kalkara,' Halt said grimly. ‘They have a new target and they're hunting.'

The three companions spent a sleepless night as the hunting cries of the Kalkara dwindled to the north. When they first heard the sounds, Gilan had moved to saddle Blaze, the bay horse snorting nervously at the fearsome howling of the two beasts. Halt, however, gestured for him to stop.

‘I'm not going after those things in the dark,' he said briefly. ‘We'll wait till first light, then look for their tracks.'

The tracks were easy enough to find, as the Kalkara obviously made no attempt to conceal their passing. The long grass had been crushed by the two heavy bodies, leaving a clear trail pointing east-north-east. Halt found the trail left by the first of the two monsters, then a few minutes later, Gilan found the second, about a quarter of a kilometre to the left and travelling parallel – close enough to provide support in case of an attack, but distant enough to avoid any trap set for its brother.

Halt considered the situation for a few moments, then came to a decision.

‘You stay with the second one,' he told Gilan. ‘Will and I will follow this one. I want to make sure they both keep heading in the same direction. I don't want one of them doubling back to come behind us.'

‘You think they know we're here?' Will asked, working hard to keep his voice sounding steady and disinterested.

‘They could. There's been time for that Plainsman we saw to have warned them. Or maybe it's just coincidence and they're heading out on their next mission.' He glanced at the trail of crushed grass, moving irrevocably in one constant direction. ‘They certainly seem to have a purpose.' He turned to Gilan again. ‘In any event, keep your eyes peeled and pay close attention to Blaze. The horses will sense these beasts before we will. We don't want to run into an ambush.'

Gilan nodded and swung Blaze away to return to the second trail. At a hand signal from Halt, the three Rangers began riding forward, following the direction the Kalkara had taken.

‘I'll watch the trail,' Halt told Will. ‘You keep an eye on Gilan, just in case.'

Will turned his attention to the tall Ranger, some two hundred metres away and keeping pace with them. Blaze was only visible from the shoulders up, his lower half masked by the long grass. From time to time, undulations in the intervening ground took both rider and horse out of sight and the first time this happened, Will reacted with a cry of alarm as Gilan simply seemed to disappear into the ground. Halt turned quickly, an arrow already at half draw, but
at that moment, Gilan and Blaze reappeared, seemingly unconscious of the moment of panic they'd caused.

‘Sorry,' Will muttered, annoyed that he'd allowed his nerves to get the better of him. Halt regarded him shrewdly.

‘That's all right,' he said steadily. ‘I'd rather you let me know any time you even think there's a problem.' Halt knew only too well that, having called a false alarm once, Will might be reluctant to react next time – and that could be fatal for all of them.

‘Tell me every time you lose sight of Gilan. And tell me again when he reappears,' he said. Will nodded, understanding his teacher's reasoning.

And so they rode on, the keening cry of the Flutes swelling in their ears again as they approached the stone circle. This time, they would pass much closer, Will realised, as the Kalkara seemed to be heading straight for the site. As they rode, their passage was marked by intermittent reports from Will.

‘He's gone … still gone … All right. I see him again.' The dips and rises in the ground were virtually invisible under the waving cover of tall grass. In fact, Will was never sure whether it was Gilan passing through a depression or he and Halt. Often it was a combination of both.

There was one bad time Gilan and Blaze sank from sight and didn't reappear within the customary few seconds.

‘I can't see him …' Will reported. Then: ‘Still gone … still gone … no sign of him …' His voice began to rise in pitch as the tension grew within him. ‘No sign of them …
still
no sign …'

Halt brought Abelard to a stop, his bow ready once again, his eyes searching the ground to their left as they waited for Gilan to reappear. He let go a piercing whistle, three ascending notes. There was a pause, then an answering whistle, this time the same three notes in descending order, came clearly to them. Will heaved a sigh of relief and just at that moment Gilan reappeared, large as life. He faced them and made a large gesture with both arms raised in an obvious question:
What's the problem?

Halt made a negative gesture and they moved on.

As they approached the Stone Flutes, Halt became more and more watchful. The Kalkara that he and Will were trailing was heading straight towards the circle. He reined in Abelard and shaded his eyes, studying the dismal grey rocks intently, looking for movement or any sign that the Kalkara might be lying in wait to ambush them.

‘It's the only decent cover for miles around,' he said. ‘Let's not take the chance that the damn thing could be lurking in there waiting for us. We'll go a little carefully, I think.'

He signalled for Gilan to join them and explained the situation. Then they split up to form a wide perimeter around the Stones, riding in slowly from three different directions, checking their horses for any possible sign of reaction as they came closer. But the site was empty, although close in, the jangling moan of the wind through the flute holes was close to unbearable. Halt chewed his lip reflectively, staring out across the sea of grass at the two undeviating trails left by the Kalkara.

‘This is taking us too long,' he said finally. ‘As long as we can see their trails for a couple of hundred metres ahead,
we'll move faster. Slow down when you come to a rise or any time when the trail isn't visible for more than fifty metres.'

Gilan nodded his understanding and resumed his wide position. They urged their horses on now in a canter, the easy lope of the Ranger horse that would eat the kilometres ahead of them. Will maintained his watch on Gilan and whenever the visible trail diminished, either Halt or Gilan would whistle and they would slow to a walk until the ground opened up again before them.

As night fell, they camped once again. Halt still refused to follow the two killers in the dark, even though the moon meant their trail was easily visible.

‘Too easy for them to double back in the dark,' he said. ‘I want plenty of warning when they finally come at us.'

‘You think they will?' asked Will, noticing that Halt had said
when
, not
if
. The Ranger glanced at his young pupil.

‘Always assume an enemy knows you're there and that he will attack you,' he said. ‘That way, you tend to avoid unpleasant surprises.' He dropped a hand on Will's shoulder to reassure the boy. ‘It can still be unpleasant but at least it's not a surprise.'

In the morning, they resumed the trail once more, moving at the same brisk pace, slowing only when they had no clear sight of the lie of the land ahead of them. By early afternoon, they had reached the edge of the Plain and rode once again into the wooded country to the north of the Mountains of Rain and Night.

Here, they found, the two Kalkara had joined company, no longer keeping the wide separation they had maintained on the open ground of the Plain. But their chosen path remained the same, just east of north. The
three Rangers followed this course for another hour before Halt reined in Abelard, and signalled the others to dismount for a conference. They grouped around a map of the Kingdom that he rolled out on the grass, using arrows as weights to stop the edges re-rolling.

‘Judging from their tracks, we've made up some time on them,' he said. ‘But they're still a good half day ahead of us. Now, this is the direction they're following …'

He took another arrow and laid it on the map, orientating it so that it pointed to the direction the Kalkara had been following for the past two days and nights.

‘As you can see, if they keep going in this direction, there are only two places of any significance that they could be heading for.' He pointed to a place on the map. ‘Here – the Ruins of Gorlan. Or further north, Castle Araluen itself.'

Gilan drew in breath sharply. ‘Castle Araluen?' he said. ‘You don't think they'd dare try for King Duncan?'

Halt looked at him and shook his head. ‘I simply don't know,' he replied. ‘We don't know nearly enough about these beasts and half of what we think we know is probably myth and legend. But you've got to admit, it would be a bold stroke – a masterstroke – and Morgarath has never been averse to that sort of thing.'

He let the others digest the thought for a few moments, then traced a line from their current position to the north-west. ‘Now I've been thinking. Look, here's Castle Redmont. Perhaps a day's ride away – and then another day to here.'

From Redmont, he traced a line north-east, to the Ruins of Gorlan marked on the map.

‘One person, riding hard, and using two horses, could make it in less than a day to Redmont, and then lead the Baron and Sir Rodney here, to the Ruins. If the Kalkara keep moving at the pace they are, we might just be able to intercept them there. It'll be close, but it's possible. And with two warriors like Arald and Rodney on hand, we'll stand a far better chance of stopping the damn things once and for all.'

‘One moment, Halt,' Gilan interrupted. ‘You said
one
person, riding
two
horses?'

Halt met Gilan's gaze with his own. He could see that the young Ranger had already divined what he had in mind.

‘That's right, Gilan,' he said. ‘And the lightest one among us will travel fastest. I want you to turn Blaze over to Will. If he alternates between Tug and your horse, he can do it in the time.'

He saw the reluctance on Gilan's face and understood it perfectly. No Ranger would like the idea of handing his horse over to someone else – even another Ranger. But at the same time Gilan understood the logic behind the suggestion. Halt waited for the younger man to break the silence, while Will watched the two of them, eyes wide with alarm at the thought of the responsibility that was about to be loaded onto him.

Finally, reluctantly, Gilan broke the silence.

‘I suppose it makes sense,' he said. ‘So what do you want me to do?'

‘Follow behind me on foot,' Halt said briskly, rolling the chart up and replacing it in his saddlebag. ‘If you can get hold of a horse anywhere, do so and catch up with me. Otherwise, we'll rendezvous at Gorlan. If we miss the
Kalkara there, Will can wait for you – with Blaze. I'll keep following the Kalkara until you all catch up with me.'

Gilan nodded his acquiescence and Halt felt a surge of fondness for him as he did. Once Gilan saw the sense of his proposal, he wasn't the kind to raise arguments or objections. He did say, rather ruefully:

‘I thought you said my sword might come in handy?'

‘I did,' replied Halt, ‘but this gives me a chance to bring in a force of fully armoured knights, with axes and lances. And you know that's the best way to fight the Kalkara.'

‘True,' said Gilan, then, taking Blaze's bridle, he knotted the reins together and threw them over the bay's neck. ‘You may as well start out on Tug,' he said to Will. ‘That'll give Blaze a chance to rest. He'll follow behind you without a lead rein and so will Tug when you're riding Blaze. Tie the reins up like this on Tug's neck so they don't dangle down and snag anything.'

He began to turn back to Halt, then remembered something. ‘Oh yes, before you mount him the first time, remember to say “Brown Eyes”.'

‘Brown eyes,' Will repeated and Gilan couldn't help grinning.

‘Not to me. To the horse.' It was an old Ranger joke and they all smiled. Then Halt brought them back to the business at hand.

‘Will? You're confident you can find your way to Redmont?'

Will nodded. He touched the pocket where he kept his own copy of the chart, and glanced at the sun for direction.

‘North-west,' he said tightly, indicating the direction he had chosen. Halt nodded, satisfied.

‘You'll strike the Salmon River before dusk, that will give you a good reference point. And the main highway is just a little way west of the river. Keep to a steady canter all the way. Don't try to race the horses – you'll just tire them out that way and you'll be slower in the long run. Travel safely now.'

Halt swung up into Abelard's saddle and Will mounted Tug. Gilan pointed to Will and spoke in Blaze's ear.

‘Follow, Blaze. Follow.' The bay horse, intelligent as all Ranger horses were, tossed its head as if in acknowledgement of the order. Before they parted, Will had one more question that had been bothering him.

‘Halt,' he said, ‘the Ruins of Gorlan … what exactly are they?'

‘It's ironic, isn't it?' Halt replied. ‘They're the ruins of Castle Gorlan, Morgarath's former fiefdom.'