A sliver of a moon, cold and white, shedding no warmth, rose above the stony hills, allowing them to continue their journey that night. The tramp of many feet could be heard behind them as the gnolls and their foul companions trudged along, following in their still-warm footprints.
Mika dozed fitfully, his hands gripping the reins without feeling, his knees numbly clenching the big barreled chest of the grey, moving automatically in rhythm with its movements. The grey was too tired for tricks. Its head bobbed listlessly at the end of its long neck as it sought out and followed the easiest path.
Mika slipped in and out of slumber, his sluggish brain flickering back and forth between the happy illusion of dreams and the pain of wakefulness. Not surprisingly, his mind chose to rest in the warm pleasantness of the dream state more often than the physical and mental traumas of wakefulness.
Wrapped in his coc.o.o.n of illusion, Mika felt the whispery patter of tiny feet on his neck. To his exhausted mind, it seemed the soft caress of Julia"s tiny hand.
Some small corner of his mind which had not surrendered itself to sleep recognized it for what it was. A fly. A tiny black fly . . .
Annoyance flared briefly and Mika thought to raise his hand. To sweep it away. But exhaustion was greater than the effort required, and the moment pa.s.sed and was gone.
Mika fell into a deep sleep, an ongoing dream of Julia which was far more pleasant to contemplate than the fly.
So deeply immersed was he in the dream, that he barely even noticed when the fly bit him on the neck. His exhausted mind imagined it to be a love bite from Julia, a small hint of what was to come. Her way of showing grat.i.tude for his bravery in single-handedly saving her from the spell and the horrible army of monsters.
The black fly crouched low over the puncture it had made on Mika"s neck, tensing itself for the blow that might fall, readying its tattered black wings for flight, but it had chosen its moment well, and the man did not move.
Soon the fly began pumping a thick, black noxious fluid out of its mouth and down between its hooked mandibles. Directing the flow of the spittle, the fly channeled the awful stuff directly into the open wound.
The spittle entered the wound, thinning the blood on contact, and it quickly entered the man"s bloodstream, where it spread throughout his system until it pervaded every inch of his body, even the heart and mind, with its evil poison.
Mika slept on, dreamed on, unknowing. Satisfied, the fly left the site of the wound and flew off, abandoning the man to his fate.
The tenor of Mika"s dreams changed. He saw Julia in his arms, waiting for him with a sultry, knowing look in her eyes. This was no demure maid bestowing soft kisses, this was a woman using a woman"s body, taking greedily as well as giving freely of her favors. Mika felt her hot flesh roll beneath him, the scorch of breath on his chest and the rake of sharp nails down his back.
Then he wakened, cold and chilled, racked with more than fatigue, and as the grey stumbled up yet another hill, Mika knew with a fevered intensity that whatever the cost, he would have Julia for his own.
Julia controlled his every thought from that point on. The slender sleeping girl locked in Reckna.s.s"s arms had little or nothing to do with the woman he saw in his mind"s eye. They were the same, but somehow different.
He had changed. This was obvious to everyone from Hornsbuck to Reckna.s.s. He was quick to follow Hornsbuck"s every suggestion. He encouraged the men and rode point, scouting out the lay of the land ahead, pushing his tired mount and himself to the very limits of endurance.
The giant had little to complain about for it seemed that Mika had found fewer excuses to ride at his side, and he ceased offering to hold the princess should Reckna.s.s grow tired. Even Hary noticed the change and mentioned it to Hornsbuck.
"Aye, I have eyes. I can see what is happening," said Hornsbuck. "Sometimes it happens that way. Trouble can do that to a man, be the making of him. I"ve seen it happen before-a boy growing up before your eyes, becoming a man."
"More frequently it happens the other way," said Hary. "Trouble, hard times will reduce a man to jelly, make him useless. Frankly, that is the path I would have expected Mika to take. I did not figure him for leadership."
"I am surprised as well," said Hornsbuck, "but glad. I always knew he had it in him. Whether he chose to use it or not was the question."
"What bothers me," continued Hary, "is why the gnolls haven"t overtaken us yet. It almost seems as though they"re content to remain behind us. Sort of like they"re driving us forward, herding us."
"Don"t imagine things that are not there," replied Hornsbuck. "We"ve just been smarter than they, and we"ve chosen our course. They"re not herding us anywhere."
As though in reply, the gnolls began to chant. Their voices could be clearly heard even though they themselves were not in sight. The words were indistinguishable. Their tongue was not one spoken by man, but the meaning was obvious.
"HUNhunhun! HUNhunhun! HUNhunhun!" they intoned over and over in deep ba.s.s tones, a shrill chorus of hyena and hyenadon wails providing an eerie contralto counterpoint. After a short time, the sound thrummed in the ears of the listener, striking over and over, maddening in its insistent repet.i.tion.
The horses and mules tossed their heads and hurried their pace unbidden, breaking out in nervous sweats. The wolves turned and faced the unhuman horde, whimpering softly, their dark eyes darting in all directions as though searching for an escape.
It was then that Mika made his move. Riding up alongside Hornsbuck, he spoke.
"You remember when you said that if I did not tell you what was happening, you would take the men and ride away?" he asked. Hornsbuck nodded.
"Well, I think that the time has come to do just that," said Mika. "I think it is our only chance."
"What do you mean?" asked Hornsbuck.
"Look ahead," said Mika, gesturing toward the series of peaks that rose before them.
"We are entering some sort of watershed, a place where the hills form a series of ridges like the spread fingers of a hand. I suggest that we split up into many different parties, each of us choosing one of the fingers to climb.
"The gnolls will be unable to decide what to do, which path to follow, or how to divide themselves. They will not likely fight among themselves while trying to come to some agreement.
"Eventually, of course, they will follow. But we are bound to gain some time through their confusion. Once over the top, we will regroup at some place that we decide in advance and then make our way to the city in safety."
Hornsbuck looked at Mika in admiration, while examining the plan for some flaw. He could not find anything wrong with Mika"s logic, although there was something odd, something he could not place, in the man"s att.i.tude.
"There should be no more than two or three of us to each group," said Mika. "I will go with Hary or some of the drivers."
"No," said Hornsbuck, convinced by Mika"s demeanor. "Go with the giant. He should have someone to protect his back since he has his hands full."
"If you insist," Mika said quietly, turning his head aside so that Hornsbuck could not see the smile of triumph that flitted across his face. As he wheeled his horse around, the grey nearly trampled on TamTur, who was inexplicably skulking behind.
Tam whined low in his throat and backed up a few steps. Hornsbuck stopped and looked at the wolf. RedTail touched noses with Tam and looked at Mika with uncertainty.
"What"s the matter with Tam?" asked Hornsbuck, recognizing the disturbed tone in the wolf"s voice.
"Nothing to be concerned about," Mika said smoothly. "He"s highstrung. Gets this way once in a while."
Hornsbuck stared at Tam with narrowed eyes. He had never thought Tam to be highstrung, but still, a man knew his own wolf better than anyone else, and it was considered a serious breach of nomad etiquette to meddle between another nomad and his wolf. Hornsbuck held his tongue.
A council was quickly called and instructions given. Mika listened intently to Hornsbuck as he carefully described the point where they should reconvene. For the first time since the gnolls appeared, a feeling of elation swept over the men as they grasped the possibility of escape.
Hary and Reckna.s.s looked as though they might choose to disagree with Hornsbuck"s directions, which paired Mika with Reckna.s.s and separated him from the company of the others. But as Hornsbuck spoke, delineating the reasons for the small parties, they remained silent, for his stature had risen among the men.
Mika conducted himself in a cool, detached manner, speaking politely to the giant and expressing concern for his imperiled mission. Reckna.s.s eyed him suspiciously but could find no fault with Mika"s words. Still, Mika knew by the way that the man watched him that he was far from being a trusted friend. But as he led the giant into the dark hills, he smiled to himself; friendship wasn"t what he was after.
TamTur trotted after the two men, then wagging his tail slowly, he looked back at Hary, Hornsbuck and the rapidly dispersing riders and whined unhappily. His dark eyes rested on Mika"s back as the man rode into the shadows, and he whined again. Then, head hanging dejectedly, knowing that something was terribly wrong, he hurried after the man who was his bond companion.
Chapter 14.
MIKA HAD CHOSEN HIS ROUTE carefully. He led the giant up the spine of the low ridge. Deeply eroded rock fell away steeply on either side and it was necessary to pick their footing with great caution.
After a time, the ridge flattened out and then disappeared completely as it merged with the flanks of the higher slopes. Here there were trees, and the heady scent of the short, wind-battered firs gladdened Mika"s heart. He increased their pace, feeling safer. Here, a man could do many things and not be seen. The forest was a good place for secrets.
Once he heard a noise, the rattling of a rock falling, and he turned swiftly but saw nothing. He began to suspect that they were being followed, but no matter how closely he watched, he saw nothing to confirm his suspicions. Even Reckna.s.s was uneasy, turning his big head from side to side as though antic.i.p.ating an ambush at every turn.
"Seek, Tam," whispered Mika, directing the wolf"s attention back down the trail. But Tam merely looked at him with sorrowful eyes and whined plaintively, refusing to obey.
"d.a.m.n wolf!" cursed Mika, and striking out with his booted foot, kicked Tam squarely in the ribs. "Seek, Tam! Seek!" he commanded, and Tam slunk off into the brush with his tail curled beneath his belly, ears flattened against his skull.
Reckna.s.s looked at Mika with a curious, calculating gaze. His arms tightened around the princess protectively, as though any lingering doubts had just been erased, and he steered the roan stallion several paces farther to one side, widening the gap between Mika and himself.
Mika sneered at the giant and began planning just how he would separate him from the princess.
Tam slunk along behind him, his mind numb. Nothing in his world had prepared him for the change in the man who was half his being, half his reason for existence. He could not understand why Mika was angry with him.
It was Mika; of that he was certain. At least the body was Mika"s. It looked and smelled the same, but everything else was different.
Tam had bonded with Mika at an early age. It was a bond that would take them through life and, if necessary, death. For it was not uncommon for a wolf or a nomad to give up his life to protect his companion. But the unhappy and confused wolf did not understand why his bond companion was acting so strangely.
There it was again! The faint sc.r.a.ping, the soft sibilance of foliage whispering across clothing. Mika stopped, listened, held up a hand gesturing for Reckna.s.s to wait. The giant obeyed, pulling up the roan and halting under the shelter of a large pine.
Mika slipped back down the trail, creeping from one tree to the next, crouching in the darkest of shadows, searching for signs of gnolls. How could they be so close? There was nothing to be seen other than a swaying tree branch. Funny. There was no breeze . . .
Mika was perplexed. Gnolls were not clever creatures, nor were they given to slinking and hiding; straightforward bashing and battering was more their style. Perhaps he was just paranoid, suspecting entrapment where there was none. If only that d.a.m.n wolf had done something besides stare at him with stricken eyes!
Mika crouched in the shadow of a large spruce tree, watching the trail until he became convinced that no one was following them.
So intent was he on looking down the slope, that he failed to notice the figure standing behind him until it was too late. A heavy branch lashed out. Sensing the movement at the last second, Mika turned his head and so received a glancing blow on the thick of his braid rather than a direct hit on his temple, but he crumpled wordlessly in a silent heap at the foot of the tree.
Tam was crouched some distance away where a scornful Mika had left him, commanding him to stay. His ears p.r.i.c.ked forward at the sound of the blow and the soft grunt that followed. He hesitated for a brief moment and then went to investigate.
That brief moment was all that was needed for the attacker to escape from sight. Tam saw only Mika lying at the base of the tree, slumped and unconscious. Tam sank down beside him and began licking the blood that welled up through his Master"s hair. Tam would not leave Mika"s side until the man either recovered or died.
This was what Hary had hoped for, if he even spared a thought for the nomad who stood between him and all that he desired.
Hary had labored loyally in the service of his king, first admiring and then adoring the beautiful child who was his daughter. As she grew into young maidenhood, his adoration had turned to love and then to longing as he yearned for that which could never be his. He had sought out the most dangerous of missions, hoping to subdue his rising obsession. Then, when that failed, he had hoped to gain the princess"s admiration through his daring exploits. She barely noticed.
When the princess first fell into the magic-induced coma, Hary had viewed the journey to barter her recovery as his last chance. He would find the person responsible and force him to remove the spell. It was Hary"s hope that the princess would then see him for the person he truly was and appreciate the skill and effort that had freed her. Her appreciation might then grow into love and she would accept him as her mate. Such dreams had driven Hary on, and as Eru-Tovar drew closer, allowed him to believe that he might succeed. Until Mika appeared.
As the nomad showed more and more interest in the princess"s wagon and ultimately discovered her presence, Hary came to fear that it would be Mika she would come to appreciate once she wakened.
Mika was tall, handsome, and full of life. He projected a carefree, reckless att.i.tude that promised laughter and good times and more. Hary felt dull and boring in comparison. He was afraid, no, he was certain, that Mika"s dashing personality would appeal to his beloved princess. Hary would cease to exist in her eyes.
The more Hairy thought about it, the more obvious it became that he would have to do away with Mika before they reached Eru-Tovar.
But the storm and the army of gnolls had set his plans awry, forcing him to depend on the nomad rather than kill him. Now, at last, his opportunity had come.
Even if the nomad were still alive, the gnolls would soon take care of that. Hary and the princess would be gone long before they arrived. He hurried up the ridge, anxious to be with the princess once again.
But as he burst out of the trees and entered the little clearing, Reckna.s.s the giant looked at him with surprise, his arms tightening around the princess as though he suspected that something was wrong.
Hary slowed his pace. He had forgotten Reckna.s.s. Now he searched for the words that would rea.s.sure the immense brute.
Reckna.s.s was not one of Hary"s minions. The princess herself, as a small child, had chosen the giant, pointing prettily with one tiny finger at the hulking brute as he paraded past the throne with a hundred other brutes of similar size and qualifications. The fellow had been her creature and obeyed her every wish with blind devotion since that day Hary knew that Reckna.s.s had always viewed him with suspicion, but then, Reckna.s.s viewed all men that way, all men who dared to even look at his young charge.
Not content to glower, the giant had killed several men who had ventured too close to the princess after being warned away. Patience was not his long suit. One fellow had had his head wrenched off his shoulders. Two others had merely had their backs broken over the giant"s huge thigh. Hary knew that he had to be very careful.
Reckna.s.s took a step toward Hary, peering behind him into the dense cover of trees.
"Mika thought he heard some gnolls following," Hary explained. "He wants us to go on. Hornsbuck changed his mind and told me to join you in case you needed help with the princess."
The excuse sounded logical to Hary, but Reckna.s.s seemed to doubt him, staring out of his one good eye with disbelief.
Shouldering Hary aside, Reckna.s.s dismounted from the roan and, still holding the princess, began walking down the slope in the direction that Mika lay.
The blood rushed to Hary"s head and throbbed in his temples. A red veil fell before his eyes and his breath grew strangled and harsh.
It was not fair! Even the giant, a huge stupid brute whom the princess treated like a large dumb dog, chose to doubt his word in favor of the nomad, a man who had injured him cruelly while openly plotting to steal the princess!
A blind fury rose up in Hary"s mind, a mindless madness fed by long years of frustration and unhappiness. Seizing a fallen branch from the ground, he struck the giant a mighty blow on the back of his head. Reckna.s.s staggered. Hary struck again and again and at last the giant fell, toppling to the ground like some ma.s.sive, lightning-struck tree, burying the princess beneath him.
Hary dropped the branch and steadied himself against a tree, his breath rasping in his throat. Slowly, his mind cleared and he looked down at his handiwork.
Reckna.s.s lay sprawled on the stony ground at the base of a small tree on the steep slope. He lay face downward, the back of his head a soggy ma.s.s of blood and purpling skin. Here and there, bits of white bone poked through the skin. Yet still, he clutched the princess safely in his arms.
Closing his mind to the unspeakable act, the violation of all the codes he had lived by, Hary bent down and tried to turn the man over so that he might free the princess from his grasp. Then, as he touched the giant"s arm, he felt a faint pulse beating beneath his fingers, and he realized with a shock that the man was still alive!
Hary was overcome with a terrible irrational fear that Reckna.s.s might revive at any moment, reach up and grab him around the throat and strangle him!
He began to tug at the giant, pulling and pushing, struggling to turn him over, terrified of the stentorian breathing sounds the giant made. At last the princess came free, and Hary sprawled in the dirt holding her in his arms.
Time seemed to come to a halt as he gazed down on the face of the woman he worshipped. He tenderly brushed a wayward curl aside from her brow and then noticed a smear of the giant"s blood staining her bodice. It seemed sacrilege.
He ripped his scarf from his neck, and daubed at the blood. As he did so, he felt something move under the soft silk. It was a hard object. Bewildered, he noticed a thin gold chain and drew it forth from between the cleft of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Dangling at the end of the chain was a crystal bead which he recognized as belonging to Mika!
Hary sat back, shaken to the marrow of his being. He felt his heart break within him and he was overcome with grief. The wolfman had been there before him. The princess was no longer the pure innocent he had adored.
It seemed apparent that somehow the nomad had persuaded the giant to let him have his way with her, although such a thing seemed unlikely, for the giant loved her too and would never have let another man touch her, unless . . .! No! It all seemed too terrible to consider. Mika AND the giant?
Hary"s mind whirled. Yet think as he might, his thoughts kept returning to the same conclusion. To his jealousy-ridden mind, there seemed no other explanation.
He sat there for a long time, cradling the princess in his arms, grieving for what had been and what would never be. In his bitter and lonely misery, Hary now admitted to himself the folly of his love and realized that the princess would never love him. It had all been but a foolish dream. She would never be his.
Then a strange coldness came over him and he looked at the sleeping princess in a different manner. Why not? Who would ever know? Not Reckna.s.s.
Not Mika. It was only fair. They had had her and so would he.
Some time later, some thirty yards down the slope, Mika wakened with a terrible, pounding headache. TamTur was pawing at him, whining and licking him full in the face as he dragged himself to a seated position.