Raven Flight (15 page)

I made no argument, though it would have been more comfortable to walk in dry clothing. This was no place to strip off and change. Where one party of hunters had traveled, others might follow.

Tali led off at her usual brisk pace. We splashed across the ford and headed up the hill, where the same subtle signs as before marked the fey path.

“Tell me one thing,” I said.

“What?”

“Were you faking weakness back there, hoping to catch those men off guard? You looked on the point of collapse. You have a lump on your head as big as a man’s fist. It was streaming blood. I’d have expected you to slow down just a bit.”

For a little she did not answer. Then she said, “The pain
was real enough. I’ve taught myself to keep going unless an opponent actually knocks me out cold. That has happened once or twice, but only in practice.”

“Really? Who did it?” I could not imagine any of the Shadowfell warriors achieving such a feat.

“Regan,” she said. “My brother. Once each. A while back; they couldn’t do it now. Andra came close once. It wasn’t all pretense, Neryn. Those men caught me off guard, and I wasn’t quick enough in my defense. I saw the look you gave me, warning me that you were going to try something, and I did exaggerate a little in the hope that I’d get a chance to break free. That thing in the river … Whatever I expected, it surely wasn’t that. You called it, didn’t you?”

“It was the only thing I could do to save us.” We scrambled up a tricky section of path, and for a while all my breath was needed for the climb. When we reached a patch of level ground, I added, “When I told Regan I didn’t want to use my gift yet, it was the truth. I’m not used to killing. I probably never will get used to it, even though I know we’re fighting a war and it has to happen. And there’s another thing. Every time I use my gift, every time I harness the support of the Good Folk, there’s a risk that someone will see and take the story back to the Enforcers and to the king. I might draw them straight to us.”

“I did tell you to stay out of it if we got into a fight.”

I held back the obvious comment.

“But if you had,” Tali said it for me, “we’d both be dead. So I owe you.”

“The way I see it, we’re on the road together and we help each other.”

“Mm,” she grunted, and continued to climb, long legs steady and sure on the track. I hitched up my wet skirt and followed.

That night we roasted a skinny rabbit in the coals and ate better than we had for a while. We sat in a silence that, if not quite amicable, felt less strained than before. Our damp garments dripped and steamed on the bushes around the fire.

“You think we’re over Keenan’s border now we’ve passed the standing stones?” I asked her, more to fill the silence than anything else.

Tali spat a small bone into the fire. “As far as I can tell. Tomorrow we’ll be heading south, toward the lochs. More folk around; more need for caution. But you must know that already—you must have come over from Darkwater by the same track, or one very close.”

“Mm.”

She turned her perceptive gaze on me. In the firelight, her eyes were touched with points of gold light. “Still weighed down by conscience? Even though what you did saved both our lives? Neryn, the rebellion depends on your gift. Without you, there’s no chance we can do it in the time we have. You need to put these scruples behind you; if you can’t, they’ll become a burden too heavy for you to carry.”

“It would be bad enough if I were the one sticking the
knife in or drowning people. It’s even worse if I make one of the Good Folk do it for me. I know you’re a fighter and accustomed to killing. But wouldn’t you feel bad if you made an innocent person kill someone else?”

“Neryn, that thing at the river, that water creature—it certainly didn’t strike me as in any way reluctant to help you. Nor did your alarming friend Hollow. And didn’t you hear what the river creature said at the end?”

“
Go. Learn. Lead.
”

“Exactly. It knew who you were. It knew what your mission was. It wished you good luck with it. There was a moment earlier on when I wondered if we’d end up drowned too, purely by accident. Still, we could have swum to the bank and climbed out.”

I did not reply.

“Don’t tell me you can’t swim.”

“Not much.” After a moment I said, “Not at all, really. I’ll try not to fall out of the boat when we cross over to the isles.”

“Wonderful.” She wiped her greasy fingers on her skirt. “I’ll have to hope the sea beasties of the west are as favorably disposed toward you as the river creatures seem to be.”

Soon afterward we rolled into our blankets and lay down beside the dying fire. We were camped in woods, under the shelter of a stone outcrop. It was a still, clear night, winter-cold. Above us stars pricked out a brilliant pattern on the dark sky. The moon waxed pearly white.

I was still pondering the extraordinary events of the day. “What was it made you want to stay clear of Wedderburn?”
I asked. “When Hollow asked about it, you said something about old history.”

“It’s complicated.” Tali’s face was somber in the firelight. “There are several reasons for steering clear, even though Wedderburn is strategically placed. Regan made the right choice when he went south instead.”

“What reasons?”

“Nothing that need concern you.” She rolled over, her back to me. “Go to sleep. Long walk tomorrow.”

We moved on. Closer to the lochs, the hillsides were more densely forested. With every passing day, oak, beech, and ash put on fresh leaves, welcoming the new season. Here the snow was only a memory. Flowers lifted bright heads above a rich carpet of last autumn’s fallen leaves. Birds chirped, busying themselves with nest building.

Spring rain fell often, swelling the streams and slowing our progress, though we pressed on in all weathers. The waybread was finished. But with the season advancing, mushrooms, wild greens, and roots could be found in the woods. We caught fish in the lochans and set snares for rabbits.

There came a morning when we climbed to a vantage point and saw the shining expanse of a broad loch to the southeast, nestled among forested hills. Hollow’s wee path had allowed us to bypass Deepwater altogether.

“We’ll be close to the road by nightfall,” Tali said. “And walking on it in the morning. It’ll be busy. Keldec will have substantial forces back at Summerfort by now. They’ll be
moving to and fro, and so will ordinary folk. For us, ordinary folk are almost worse than Enforcers.”

“They can hardly be worse.” When a settlement or household incurred the king’s wrath, the Enforcers acted without mercy. They had no regard for human life or human dignity. I had seen what they could do.

“They’re harder to read. An Enforcer makes no secret of his loyalty. He acts as you’d expect a king’s man to act. A farmer or fisherman might be anything. Friend or enemy. Helpful or treacherous. Terrified or prepared to take a risk. We’d best practice our story before we go down there.”

“Don’t forget to wear your kerchief, and keep your sleeves rolled down. Those men at the river noticed your tattoos.”

Tali ran her hands through her dark locks, which were cropped to finger-length, making her stand out from a crowd even without the body markings and proud carriage. “And hide my weapons again, yes? Just as well a fighting staff can double as a walking stick or I’d have to disobey Regan’s orders.”

This remark made me curious. “So you usually obey them?” I asked. “You seem so strong in your own opinions, I thought …”

“I’m a fighter. Regan’s a leader.” She turned and headed down the hill. I scrambled after her. “In a war, you obey your leader,” she said, still striding ahead. “If you don’t, everything falls apart.”

There was a reservation in her voice. I took a risk. “But?”

“It can be hard to set aside the past. You must know that as well as any of us. I’ve done it. Fingal’s done it. Flint’s
done it. Regan … He struggles with it sometimes. If he has any weak spot, it’s that.”

“I know something happened to Regan. Or to his family. Flint told me once that it gave him good reason for what he’s doing now.”

Tali looked over her shoulder. Her expression was somber. “More than enough reason, Neryn. But that story’s his to tell.”

“I understand.”

“Another man might have taken vengeance in blood and fire, or made an end of himself. Regan is stronger than that. There’s a light shining in him, moving him forward: the light of freedom. That’s what draws all of us to follow, to take risks, to keep on fighting when we see our comrades fall beside us. But there’s no light without shadow.”

Our path came out at the edge of the woods; we looked down on the road linking Deepwater to Hiddenwater, the smallest in the chain of lochs. For a while we stayed in the shelter of the trees, assessing what movement there was: carts, riders, people on foot herding stock. A group of Enforcers swept along the way. Folk scattered before the drumming of their horses’ hooves. The Cull was not until autumn, but that would not stop the king’s men from breaking down doors and putting the disloyal or the canny to the sword. Out of sheer terror, ordinary folk would lie about their neighbors. To protect his own skin or that of a wife or child, brother would denounce brother. I wondered if Keldec had kept Flint close by him this spring,
perhaps ordering him to stay at Winterfort until the court moved west in time for the midsummer Gathering. For more nights than I could count, I had not dreamed of him. Wherever he was, I hoped he was safe.

We camped one last night in the woods, without a fire. When morning came, we packed up, rehearsing our story in whispers. Tali was Luda, I was Calla, the name I had used before when on the run. Not sisters; with one of us tall, dark, and athletic and the other slight and fair, that seemed likely to give rise to questions. We were friends and neighbors from a settlement called Stonyrigg, in the western isles, and we were returning home after a visit to Luda’s sister, who had wed a man from the north. The distances involved were farther than most ordinary people would dream of traveling for such a purpose, but the story should be good enough to get us to Pentishead and, with luck, over to the isles. That was if folk did not notice how ill Tali’s upright carriage, authoritative manner, and snapping dark eyes sat with her drab working-woman’s clothing.

For me, it was easier to go unnoticed, provided I did not betray my canny gift. I was neither exceptionally tall nor unusually short. As far as I knew, I was neither strikingly beautiful nor startlingly ugly. In my ordinary attire, with my walking staff and small pack, I could be any traveler. I had a knife, yes, but so did most folk. A person had to be able to make fire. She had to have some means of defending herself on the road. As for my footwear, my old shoes with their delicate stitchery had been left at Shadowfell. Now I wore a pair of sturdy walking boots. My hair, which
when newly washed was honey-colored, was tightly plaited and pinned up under a kerchief similar to Tali’s. A bracing dip in a stream was the closest we’d come to bathing since we left Shadowfell; if folk noticed anything, it would probably be the way I smelled. “What are you smiling at?”

“Not at you, I promise. I was thinking about how filthy I am and wondering how long it’ll be before I next have a hot bath. I doubt the Hag of the Isles lives in a place with such luxuries.”

“There’s always the sea,” Tali said. “A nice cold bath. You could play with the seals. That’s if I succeed in teaching you to swim.”

“Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it. Shall we move on?”

There was a series of difficult firsts: the first day’s walking down on the road; the first time we exchanged wary nods with other travelers; the first night spent at a wayside inn, where a few coppers bought us a bowl of watery porridge and a flea-ridden pallet. We’d wanted to avoid such places, which were collecting points for gossip and rumor, but sudden heavy rain cut our day’s walk short and gave us no other option for shelter. We spoke as little as possible and headed for bed soon after our meager supper. Over the meal we heard talk of new arrivals at Summerfort, a troop of Enforcers, maybe two troops. There was speculation as to when they would ride out and which direction they would take. Last autumn’s Cull had been thorough; only the western isles had been entirely spared. That did not make folk safe from unexpected visits, from fists pounding
on doors and masked men asking hard questions. If the king’s men didn’t like the answers they got, people were apt to find themselves strung up or worse.

We left the inn soon after dawn, heading west toward Hiddenwater.

Early-morning light touched the guard tower at Summerfort, where Owen Swift-Sword stood alone. To the south lay the expanse of Deepwater, lustrous as a dark pearl. Close at hand the Rush branched as it flowed into the loch. Behind him, to the north, lay the mist-shrouded peaks of the Three Hags. Beyond was the way to Shadowfell.

The creak of footsteps on the ladder. “Owen? You up there?”

He reached out, grasped his comrade’s hand, hauled him up to the platform. The two stood side by side awhile, looking out, not talking. To the west, wooded hills, the lakeshore winding away, the road to the isles. To the east, below the tower, the practice area, where already twelve men of Stag Troop were engaged in an early-morning drill. Beyond, the way to Winterfort and Keldec’s court.

Rohan Death-Blade cleared his throat. Glanced toward the ladder. Down in the practice area, the men had set up targets for archery. “They’re ready,” he said. “We can be on the road as soon as you give the word.”

“Mm.” His troop leader’s gaze did not move from the practice area.

“Some advantage in moving before Bull Troop gets here. You saw how the fellows clashed at Winterfort.”

Owen nodded, but made no comment.

“About the target in the isles,” Rohan said, dropping his voice to a murmur. He moved to the ladder, took a look down, returned to the parapet once more. “You know that job’s best covered by a man on his own. Two at most. Sail over with more than that and the quarry will have gone to ground before anyone sets foot on shore.”

Things unspoken lay heavy between them.