Valla woke on the plain north of the Igby. The sun had come out and melted the thin layer of snow. The sky was bright, and she felt like singing. Sauny was plucking at the gra.s.s nearby. Not far away, Kelsy, Remy, Itsa, and the foal, Teedo, were curled over and around each other, warm in spite of the frost. The ferryshaft rested or grazed. For the first time in sixteen years, they were not doing what cats had told them to do. And it feels good, thought Valla.
But... "Sauny?"
"Hmm?"
"Are we still going to find Storm...and Arcove"s creasia?"
"Of course."
Valla sat up and joined her friend in the search for food. "If they reached Kuwee-" she began.
"No if," said Sauny.
"Alright, when they reached Kuwee, Treace will have followed them."
"I know," said Sauny. "He"ll lay siege on the bank. They"ll need us to break it."
Valla was relieved to hear that Sauny had thought this through. "It would be easier if we could coordinate an attack with the creasia on the island."
"I think they"ll see us," said Sauny. "The entire ferryshaft herd attacking more than half of Leeshwood? That"ll be hard to miss. They"ll come out and join in."
It seemed reasonable.
"How many ferryshaft do you think we"ve lost in the last few days?" asked Valla.
Sauny stopped eating. She sighed. "I don"t know. I was thinking I should go around and take a count."
"Better start talking to them, too," said Valla. "I don"t think this is going to be easy."
"Leave the talking to me," said Sauny.
At that moment, Valla heard snarling from the direction of the river. She peered out towards the edge of the herd and saw curbs-big curbs-trying to avoid several ferryshaft. "Get out of here!" she heard one of the ferryshaft shout. "We"re done running from you! Go!"
"Eyal!" called Valla. She and Sauny ran towards the curbs.
"It"s alright," Sauny told the ferryshaft. "They"re highland curbs; they helped us. It"s alright."
When they reached the curbs, Valla searched for Eyal, but did not see him. The foremost was Eyal"s beta, a curb named Cohal. He looked considerably battered-one ear ripped so badly that there was barely anything left, bite wounds over his chest and shoulders. The rest of the pack looked no better. Sauny sniffed noses with him. "Thank you for what you did yesterday," she said. "Our herd is free because of you."
The curb inclined his head. "We owed a debt," he said. "It is paid."
Valla felt a chill. "Where is Eyal?"
Cohal"s soulful, brown eyes met hers. "He died last night in the fighting. He said to tell Storm Ela-curb that this year, borrowed from death, was the best of his years."
Oh, Eyal. Valla glanced at Sauny, who"d gone very still.
At last, Sauny said, "Will you howl for him?"
"Of course," said Cohal.
"Would you...would you wait for Storm?" asked Sauny. "I think he would like to howl with you."
This seemed to please the curbs. "We will wait for Storm," they agreed.
"We came to tell you something else," said Cohal. "The dead things-the lishties-are coming. The new four-legged ones are not so fast, but they are coming."
Sauny recoiled. "Those dead cats?"
"Those and others," said Cohal. "Every animal that fell in the fighting. This is strange to us. Lishty bites normally kill any animal other than a telshee. But the bites of these creasia lishties seem to infect four-legged animals, even those who are freshly dead."
"Now we really need to find out how many we lost," muttered Valla.
Arcove woke, disoriented, near noon. Someone was licking his ears and shoulders. The pleasure of being groomed created a strange counter-point to the pain in his belly and joints. Finally, he opened his eyes, "Roup?" He tried to lift his head. It felt much heavier than he remembered.
Roup came around in front of him. Arcove saw that he"d brought a dead rabbit. "Have you eaten since this started?" Roup asked. "Truly?"
"Yes." I threw up afterward, but I did eat.
"You look gaunt."
I feel gaunt. "The cubs will weaken the quickest without food," said Arcove. "I can wait."
"You mean, "Don"t waste food on me, because I"m dying,"" said Roup.
Arcove said nothing.
"What happened?" whispered Roup. Frustration and despair played tug-of-war with his voice. "Why won"t you tell me?"
"I think that curb trap may have been poisoned," offered Arcove.
Roup snorted. "You"re a terrible liar."
"I don"t have much practice," Arcove admitted.
Roup waited a moment, but Arcove said nothing. Finally, Roup spoke, his voice thick. "So that"s it, then? Everything we"ve been through, and now you"ve decided you"re going to die, and you won"t even tell me why?"
I can"t, thought Arcove, and that"s the worst part. Would it help if I said so? Probably not.
Chapter 21. A Shadow on the Past.
Arcove drifted in and out of delirium. He thought that Teek came to see him. The cub wasn"t really looking for Arcove. He was looking at the ancient human paintings, following their lines around the ruins. The wall of the room where Arcove was sleeping contained a large image. Arcove hadn"t paid any attention to it. Paintings were not creasia things.
However, as the cub walked back and forth in front of it, Arcove did look. The image included telshees and ferryshaft with odd, spindly beasts on their backs. He thought he saw curbs at their feet and ely-ary overhead.
"Where are we?" asked Teek. He sounded distressed. "I can"t find us. I can"t find us!"
Arcove thought that he might be dreaming. However, when the cub did not disappear, he scanned the wall and finally found the outline of trees and bushes in a bottom corner. A pair of eyes glared out from the forest. He saw the suggestion of claws and teeth. "There," he muttered.
Teek stared. "Is that supposed to be us?" He scanned the image again. "Why are we all alone?"
"Figure that out," muttered Arcove, "and you"ll understand everything you need to know about ferryshaft and creasia."
He shut his eyes again, but he thought he heard scratching-like a stone over stone. Scratch, scratch, scratch...
When Arcove opened his eyes again, Teek was gone. He told himself that the despair he felt was an effect of the peculiar torture that Keesha had inflicted on him. I had a plan. It was a good plan. It will work. Stick to it.
Keesha came in the afternoon. When Arcove tried to stand, he staggered gracelessly sideways and fell over. I can"t feel my feet. His body felt three times heavier than normal.
Keesha regarded him coldly from the entrance to the room. Arcove caught sight of Storm, looking anxiously in behind him. "Well," growled Keesha. "I hope you"re pleased with yourself."
Not yet. "I want to talk to you alone," said Arcove.
"Are you really so afraid that anyone will hear you beg?" asked Keesha. "I certainly listened to enough begging in these caves, although mostly, it was for water. You have no right to take refuge here."
"Alone," repeated Arcove.
Storm"s head disappeared from the entrance. Arcove hoped no one else was outside. Keesha glided into the room, most of his body trailing out the door. Arcove tried to get away from him and then gave up. Keesha didn"t try to touch him, though. His great head hung over Arcove like a shark hovering over a smaller fish. "Well...?"
Arcove swallowed. "Put Roup in charge of Leeshwood," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "You won"t have to coerce him to stop the raids or to work with the ferryshaft. He"ll want to. He"s always wanted to. He"ll be good at it."
Keesha looked unimpressed. "You are really bad at begging."
Arcove plunged on. "He will give you the kind of peace you want, but you can"t tell him what happened to me. He won"t work with you if you do. Let him think you tried to save me and failed. Or make up a better story. Anything. Just don"t tell him."
Keesha looked incredulous. "Please tell me you"re not about to ask me to help you win this war."
"Not me," said Arcove. "Roup...and Storm...and cats who will listen to you when this is over because they"ll be in your debt. But you can"t tell them about-"
"I heard you the first time," snapped Keesha.
Arcove sank back down. The intense purpose of delivering his message began to dissipate. "When future generations are born, you can tell them I was responsible for the war," he whispered. "Blame me for the raids, make Coden their hero. Let them hate me or forget me. Let me be a shadow on their past." Every group needs a monster to hate, he thought. Claws in the forest. Teeth in the dark. "You and Storm and Charder will have your peace and your revenge, and Roup and Nadine and the rest will survive."
Arcove waited for Keesha to say something, but for once, he didn"t. Arcove felt too heavy to move. "And you"re right," he said at last. His voice sounded small in his own ears. "I"m not very good at begging."
Keesha was silent and still for so long that Arcove finally decided to try raising his head. Keesha"s face didn"t tell him much. Arcove had never been good at distinguishing telshee expressions. Keesha was not snarling, and that was all he knew for certain. At last, Keesha said, "Do you want me to sing to you?"
"No," said Arcove. "If you come in here, and I"m alive and then you leave and I"m dead? No, that will never work. Maybe you can tell their cub"s cubs about your song, but right now-"
"I don"t mean to sing the end of the song," interrupted Keesha.
Arcove finally lost his temper. "No, I don"t want you to keep taking me apart and putting me back together until you grow bored! No."
"You"ll die," said Keesha. "Soon."
"Good."
"It will hurt."
"So does your singing."
Keesha was silent again. "Very well," he said at last and Arcove thought he heard grudging respect in that sonorous voice. Although that"s probably just the delirium.
Roup felt as though he could have ripped off Storm"s head without a shred of remorse. "I told you I wanted to speak to him!" he snarled.
"You"ll get to," said Storm desperately. "Calm down."
"Arcove is trapped up there with his worst enemy!" thundered Roup. "Do not tell me to calm down!"
"Keesha can help him," said Storm.
"Oh, I"m sure he can," said Roup, "but I doubt that he will. I doubt that very much."
They were standing in a large room a level down from the top. This one had a ceiling. Shaw was blocking the only entrance to the steep path that lead to the final level.
Roup had been on the far side of the island when he"d heard the news that telshees had come ash.o.r.e. By the time he"d reached the cave, they"d already entered. The creasia on watch were pacing back and forth in a nervous quandary. No one really wanted to tackle Shaw and Syra-lay. Storm kept insisting that they were not here to cause trouble.
For once, Roup wished Halvery had been present with his quick temper and strike-first-ask-questions-later mentality. But, Halvery had been sleeping-a reasonable activity, since he"d been fighting all morning. Sharmel had hardly moved since dragging himself into the cave the night before.
They"d both roused themselves, though, when they"d heard about the telshees, and now all three officers were growling and pacing in front of Shaw"s immovable glare. Even Charder had come up the steep, winding corridors to see what all the fuss was about. He sat in the back of the cave and watched.
After what seemed an eternity, Keesha came gliding back down the pa.s.sage. Roup took advantage of Shaw"s momentary distraction to wriggle past her. He met Keesha head on. "You and I need to talk," he snarled.
"Oh, we"ll be doing plenty of that, I expect."
Roup felt ill as he struggled around the telshee, cursing and tripping on his coils. No blood? Keesha"s coat looked as white as new-fallen snow. Roup raced up the pa.s.sage to the room and confirmed that it was not smeared with the gore and entrails of his friend. In fact, Arcove didn"t look as though he"d moved from the last time Roup had visited. Roup stayed just long enough to see him take a breath and then whipped around and charged back down the pa.s.sage.
Halvery was standing at the bottom, looking up. "He"s fine," said Roup quickly. Keesha was talking to Shaw and Storm. As he turned to go, Roup blocked his path.
"Oh, no," he said. "We are going to spend some time here."