The Redemption of Althalus (48 page)

“I suggested that he might want to have a look at a stretch of trenches a few miles off to the east,” Khalor replied. “I told him that the barricades looked a little weak along there. I know where he is, so we can step around him. Gebhel’s a good man, but he’s too stodgy to understand any of this.” He looked with a certain disapproval at the others trailing along behind Eliar. “This isn’t exactly the time or place for a sightseeing tour, Althalus,” he said.

“It wasn’t really my idea, Sergeant.”

“Try to keep them out from underfoot.” Then Khalor looked at Leitha, who was still garbed as a soothsayer. “You might want to keep your hood up,” he suggested. “Princess Andine looks like a page boy, so she won’t attract too much attention, but Gebhel’s troops might get excited if they catch a glimpse of you.”

“Whatever you think best, Sergeant,” she replied. “Just what is it that you want me to discover?”

“All I really need to know is exactly where Pekhal and Gelta have massed their troops. That’s
probably
where their main attack’s going to be.”

“If they’ve got doors the same as ours, they
could
hit us from someplace else, my Sergeant,” Eliar cautioned.

“I know. You’ll have to stay on your toes tomorrow, Eliar. Keep the hinges on the door to ‘someplace else’ well oiled, because you might have to move Gebhel’s men in a hurry. We’ll start out by putting the bulk of them in the trenches opposite from where the enemy forces are massed. If Pekhal and Gelta jump to someplace else, we’ll have to respond.”

“What I’m supposed to look for is a large number of soldiers, then?” Leitha asked.

“Twenty or thirty thousand anyway,” Khalor replied.

“That shouldn’t be too hard. That many people are certain to make a lot of noise.” Leitha frowned slightly. “Just to be safe, let’s start out in one-mile jumps, Eliar. I haven’t practiced much at long-range listening. If I can reach out farther, we can start taking longer jumps.”

“I just thought of something,” Gher said.

“Have we left something out?” Khalor asked him.

“Well, maybe.” Gher looked at Eliar. “You can put one of your doors anyplace you want it, can’t you?”

“To within a half inch, Gher. Why?”

Gher reached out and laid his hand on the ground just above the front of the trench. “How about right here?” he asked.

“Good God!” Chief Albron exclaimed. “We never thought of that, did we, Sergeant? They could just step over all our barricades and trip lines and be in our trenches before we even knew they were coming!”

“Maybe not, my Chief,” Eliar said. He put his hand on the hilt of the Knife, and his eyes narrowed. “I
think
I know of a way to keep that from happening, but I’ll need to talk with Emmy about it.”

“Don’t mumble, Eliar,” Khalor barked. “Spit it out.”

“It’s all going to depend on just how close
our
doors are to the ones in Nahgharash, Sergeant,” Eliar said. “If they come together exactly, all I’d have to do is open
our
door when they open
theirs.”

“Oh, that’s just fine, Eliar,” Andine said sarcastically. “Then, instead of invading Wekti, they invade the House.”

“I can take care of
that,
Andine,” he said. “They won’t know where they really are, any more than Captain Dreigon knows where
he
is. They’ll ride through
their
door over in Nahgharash, pass through
my
door into the House, and then ride through
another
one of my doors that opens back down at the bottom of the hill. If I can get those three doors close enough together, I can probably keep them charging up that hill for the rest of the summer.” Then he chuckled.

“What’s so funny, Eliar?” Khalor demanded.

“I don’t think they’ll even see that door, Sergeant, and if I juggle it just right, any arrows they shoot at
our
people will come out down there at the bottom of the hill, so they’ll be shooting their own reserves in the back every time one of them bends his bow.”

“What a neat idea!” Gher said enthusiastically. “Then our people wouldn’t have to do anything at all except stand here and watch while the bad people kill each other off.”

“I think we’re straying,” Khalor said. “Let’s stick to the business at hand here, shall we? Are you hearing anything over on the other side yet, Leitha?”

“You
did
know that there are several hundred Ansus about a quarter of a mile upriver, didn’t you, Sergeant?” she replied.

Khalor nodded. “I’ve had people watching them,” he said. “They’re building rafts. Just before dawn tomorrow they’ll probably come floating downriver. They won’t get past us, though. Gebhel’s made some preparations for a greeting.”

“There are also some mounted men ranging along through those hills over on the Ansu side.”

“Mounted patrols.” Khalor dismissed them. “They aren’t important.”

“Let’s go a mile to the east, Eliar,” Leitha said then.

The transition was so brief that Althalus received only a fleeting impression of the House, and they were in the trench again.

Leitha frowned, concentrating. “I’m touching the same people,” she said. “Let’s try five miles, Eliar.”

“Right,” he said, and then led them through a door that evidently only he could see.

“I’m still getting the same ones,” Leitha fretted. “They’re fainter, but they’re still the same men. Let’s go to ten miles, Eliar. I seem to be able to reach much farther than I’d thought.”

“Are you sure you aren’t missing anybody?” Khalor asked her.

“I’d hear them if they were anywhere near us, Sergeant,” she assured him.

They covered perhaps seventy miles in fairly short order, and Leitha encountered nothing more significant than a few more mounted patrols.

It was about midnight when she stopped and said, “Here!” in a triumphant voice. Then she frowned again. “No,” she said. “I don’t think that’s the main body you were talking about, Sergeant. There are three or four hundred of them, and they seem to be having some kind of party.”

“An old Ansu custom,” Khalor told her. “I don’t believe any Ansu army in the history of the world has ever mounted a charge stone-cold sober. They’re usually roaring drunk when they attack.”

“If it’s only four hundred or so, this obviously is going to be one of the diversions you mentioned, Khalor,” Chief Albron suggested.

“Probably so,” Khalor agreed. “Let’s move on.”

“Wait!” Leitha said sharply.

“What?” Althalus asked her.

“I just touched Pekhal!” she hissed. “And Gelta as well!”

“Where?” Khalor demanded.

“I can’t be sure. Just a moment.” She raised her face and looked up at the stars.

“I don’t think they’d be there, Leitha,” Andine said.

“Hush,” she said absently. “I’m trying to step over all that drunken babble just to the front. But I’m afraid I’ve lost them.” She frowned, concentrating intensely. Then she smiled. “Oh,
that’s
clever,” she said almost admiringly.

“What?” Althalus asked her.

“There’s a huge cave—acres and acres—about a half mile back in those hills,” she replied, “and there are thousands of men and horses in that cave. I’m catching the sense that their main attack
will
come from right here—but not until well after sunrise. The ones who are drinking themselves into a stupor closer to these trenches don’t even know about the force in that cave. They think that they’re only going to be one of the diversionary attacks you mentioned, Sergeant Khalor. I’d guess that Koman’s behind this.”

“Who’s Koman?” Chief Albron asked her.

“He’s one of Ghend’s associates, and he shares this ‘gift’ of mine. It has to be somebody who knows how the gift works. He’s put a lot of noise and drunken singing between me and that main force, and the rocks enclosing the cave are muffling the sounds of all those men and horses inside. I might have missed that force entirely if Koman and that defrocked priest, Argan, hadn’t come out of the cave for a bit of private conversation. They’ve got some opinions about Pekhal and Gelta that aren’t very flattering, and I get the impression that they rather frequently go off to someplace private to give vent to their feelings. But that’s beside the point. This is definitely the place, Sergeant. There’ll be a diversionary attack by those rowdies across the way at first light. They’ll mill around just out of bowshot, making noise and waving torches and eventually ride off. Then there’ll be other diversions in other places after that. Then an hour or so after sunrise, the ones hiding in the cave will—” She broke off suddenly. “Wait!” she hissed. “Something isn’t right!” She suddenly gave a startled gasp. “Look out!” she shouted. “They’re using their doors!”

Althalus looked around wildly and saw a momentary flicker at the back of the trench. Then Khnom was there, swinging a door open wide. Behind Ghend’s little henchman, Althalus caught a brief glimpse of a city made of fire, but then Gelta shouldered Khnom out of her way and rushed into the trench, brandishing her archaic stone ax.

“Eliar!” Althalus shouted. “Behind you!”

But Gelta’s crude weapon was already descending toward the back of the young Arum’s head.

Eliar half turned in response to Althalus’ shouted warning, and Gelta’s ax struck the back of his head with a glancing blow. He pitched forward to fall facedown into the dirt at the bottom of the trench.

Gelta shrieked triumphantly even as Khnom rushed forward to drag her back to that hideous portal.

Even as the two of them passed through the open doorway, the voice of Ghend echoed into the trench from the fiery vaults of Nahgharash. “And
that
puts you out of business, doesn’t it, Althalus?” Ghend chortled.

And then the portal at the back of the trench vanished, leaving behind only the mocking echo of Ghend’s laughter.

C H A P T E R     T W E N T Y - F I V E

N
o!”
Andine shrieked. She rushed to Eliar, fell to her knees beside his limp body, and clasped him to her, weeping uncontrollably.

Get her away from him, Althalus!
Dweia’s voice crackled inside his mind.
She’ll only make it worse!

He’s still alive?
Althalus demanded silently.

Of course he is! Move, Althalus!

Althalus firmly pulled the hysterical young woman away from Eliar. “Stop it, Andine,” he told her, forcing himself to speak calmly. “He’s not dead, but he’s badly hurt, so don’t shake him around like that.”

Move aside, Althalus,
Dweia told him.
I have to talk with Leitha.
He felt her push him out of the way. “Leitha,” she said, “it’s me. I want you to do exactly as I tell you.”

“It was all a trick!” Leitha wailed. “I should have known it was too easy!”

“We don’t have time for that now. I need to know how badly Eliar’s been hurt.”

“I’ve failed, Dweia!” Leitha sobbed. “Everything connected with that cave was nothing more than a trap, and I fell right into it.”

“Stop that!” Dweia said sharply. “You’ll have to go inside Eliar’s physical brain. I have to know exactly what’s happening in there.”

Leitha’s eyes grew distant. “There’s nothing, Dweia,” she reported in a helpless voice. “His mind’s totally blank.”

“I said ‘brain,’ Leitha, not ‘mind.’ Go in deeper. Get past thoughts and go all the way in. Here, like this.” A number of incomprehensible images flickered in Althalus’ mind.

“Is that possible?” Leitha asked in astonishment.

“Do it. Don’t stand there arguing with me. I
must
know how badly he’s been injured.”

Leitha’s pale face twisted with the intensity of her effort.

“Not that way,” Althalus heard his voice say. More images flashed through his awareness.

“Oh,” Leitha said, “now I see. I’ve never done that before.” Her face relaxed, and her eyes grew distant. “Blood,” she reported. “It’s very dark, but he’s bleeding at the back of his brain.”

“How much? Is it spurting?”

“Not exactly, but it’s not just oozing.”

“I was afraid of that. We’ll need to move him, Sergeant Khalor. Let’s get him out of this ditch and into someplace that’s warm and well lighted.”

“You’re not Althalus anymore, are you?” Khalor said, staring at his friend’s face.

“It’s me, Khalor. I have to go through Althalus. I don’t have time to come there myself. Get some men to carry Eliar. Order them not to jostle him around.”

“Can you cure him, ma’am? That ugly hag really slammed his head a good one.”

“It wasn’t quite good enough. He turned his head just as she hit him. We have to move fast, though. Let’s get him to someplace where we can work on him.”

“Gebhel’s got a tent on that hill behind the trench, Sergeant,” Albron suggested. “He used it as a command post while his men were digging this stretch of trenches.”

“It’ll have to do, I guess,” Khalor said. “There’s no place else nearby. I’ll round up some men.”

“There are quite a few things going on here that I don’t quite understand,” Chief Albron said, looking quizzically at Althalus.

“Dweia’s speaking to us through Althalus, Chief Albron,” Bheid explained. “She’s in the House, and we’re here. There are probably other ways she could do this, but it’s quicker—and much less disturbing for the men around us—if she does it this way. A thundering voice coming from nowhere might attract a lot of attention. She’s been talking to us through Althalus ever since we first came to know them.”

“She
can
cure Eliar, can’t she?” Albron asked with a worried frown. “Without those doors of his, we don’t have much of a chance here.” Then he looked sharply at Althalus. “That’s what this was all about from the beginning, wasn’t it? All that business with the drunken Ansus across the valley and the cave filled with men and horses was just a trick to lure us to this part of the trenches so that they could kill Eliar. Without Eliar and the doors, we can’t
possibly defend ourselves.”

“That’ll change just as soon as we get Eliar back on his feet,” Althalus assured him.

“What if we can’t?”

“Please don’t start with the what-ifs, Chief Albron,” Althalus said wearily. “We’ve got enough to worry about without all those what-ifs muddying the waters.”