Atreus shook his head. "Things were too confused," he said.
"Yago told us to go," Rishi said, glancing up the channel. "I suggest we obey, beforethey recover their wits and realize what an advantage they have."
Atreus narrowed his eyes, far from certain that he believed the sly Mar. "Whatwere his words, exactly?"
Rishi frowned. "I cannot be sure I heard him right. It sounded like, "Both eyes,front and back!"
Atreus sighed in relief. "Okay, let"s go."
"You are not worried about your friend?" Despite his question, Rishi wasted no time starting up the channel.
" "Both eyes" is an old ogre saying. It means he"s whole," Atreus explained as hescooped a shard of broken ice out of the water and pressed it to his wound to stop thebleeding. "And I think "front and back" means he"s going to follow the patrol. If there"s trouble again, he"ll attack from behind." Rishi nodded. "Very sensible, but what happens when Naraka turns around?"
"That"s not going to happen. Not now," Atreus replied, glancing back. Naraka"spatrol was already lost in the willows. "Not until one of us is dead."
"You see?" asked Rishi. "Is that not what I told you back in Bharat"s wagon?"
The Mar looked forward again, leaving Atreus to tend to his wound. His shoulder felt stiff and throbbing, but there were no broken bones, and he could still move hisarm. As these things went, he had been lucky. Though he felt terribly weak andwould certainly suffer a fever later, he could keep traveling.
Of more immediate concern was his guide"s loyalty. "Rishi, you do know what will happen if you try to open that coffer without me?" Rishi twisted around. "Why would I ever try such a thing?" he asked. "Until wereach Langdarma, the gold is not even mine.""I"m glad to hear you have not forgotten," Atreus said. "You were in an awfulhurry to leave back there."
"Not at all! No, never!" said Rishi. "It was only that some-one had to untether the yaks if we were to make a swift escape, and you were doing so well. Did I notcome to your aid when you called?"
Though Atreus was not entirely sure the Mar"s knife had been meant for the man behind him, he reluctantly nodded. "You may have saved my life. Allow me to repayyou by mentioning that there are many traps on my coffer, the least of which is the one that blinded Bharat."
Rishi"s eyes grew unreadable. "It is very considerate of you to mention this, but.i.t hardly matters to me."
"Of course," said Atreus.
"The gold will be mine soon enough," Rishi added. "Now that Naraka is wounded, the patrol will certainly leave us to continue our journey in peace.""Certainly."
But Naraka did not turn back. Within minutes they heard the patrol splashingthrough the water behind them, though somewhat more slowly than before. Asthe sun neared its zenith, the ice finally vanished from the channels. Rishi doubled back, guiding them down a tunnel-like pa.s.sage so shallow that at times they were pa.s.sing over new growth, then struck off in a new direction.
The splashing of the patrol grew abruptly distant, and Atreus began to worryabout finding Yago again. The swamp was turning out to be vastly larger than itlooked from the other side of the gorge. If they were lucky enough to lose Naraka, itseemed all too possible that they would also lose Yago.
The pony began to nicker and snort more often, lamenting the growingseparation from its mates. Atreus cut the beast loose. There was every chance the poor creature would lose its way and freeze to death that night, but he couldnot afford to be compa.s.sionate. After the wounds the two sides had inflicted on each other during the last ambush, the chase had taken on a new intensity, andAtreus knew the next fight would be to the death.
They continued deeper into the swamp. The high willows blocked their view ofthe mighty peaks to the east, but every now and then the view opened up as theypa.s.sed an intersecting channel or an expanse of open water. It did not escape Atreus"s notice that in these places Rishi stopped to study the sky-sc.r.a.ping mountains for ever-increasing periods of time.High sun came and went, and still they saw no sign of the road. If anything, theswamp seemed to close in around them. Sightings of the mountains becameless frequent, and when they did occur, Rishi frowned and sometimes muttered tohimself. They began to hear Naraka"s patrol shouting in the distance. The hummocks grew uncommon, and the willows thickened to the point that the twofugitives had to plow through, leaving a furrow of broken and bent stalks in theirwake.
The sun lost its warmth and sank lower in the sky, and the same icy breeze Atreus had felt the evening before started to rise. His wound began to throb andburn, while the rest of him grew so cold he started to shiver. His feet ached with awet chill, and no amount of swinging seemed to warm them. Though the pain wa.s.safer, he longed for yesterday"s numbness.
A tiny shout went up in the distance behind them. It was quickly answered byseveral others, and the flurry of voices that followed left no doubt that one of Naraka"s men had stumbled across their trail. Atreus tried to console himself with the thought that Yago would not be far behind.
Rishi stopped his yak and stood, balancing himself precariously on its shoulderhump. He did not look back in the direction of the shouts, but eastward toward thehidden mountains.
"What a relief!" Despite his words, he did not sound relieved. "We are certainlyalmost there."
"Certainly?" Atreus scoffed. "You have no idea where we are, do you?"
"The good sir may certain*ah*he may have every faith in his guide," said Rishi."The road is very near. I have seen it."
Scowling, Atreus swung his numb feet up, then stood wobbling on the yak"s back and looked toward the ma.s.sive mountains in the distance. He saw nothingahead but a ribbon of open water.
"There"s no road out there!" he snapped. "There isn"t even a dry place to spend the night." Before Rishi could reply, a distant voice cried out behind them. Atreus looked backto see a tiny pony rider in the bend of a channel, pointing a lance in his direction.The man turned his mount toward Atreus and disappeared into the willows, and amoment later the whole thicket began to quiver.
Atreus cursed, then squatted down and swung his legs over the yak"s side. "The man is a bloodhound," he said. "Naraka and his patrol are about half a milebehind. They saw me."
"No matter. We can easily lose them again." Rishi turned his yak toward the ribbon of open water.
They had no choice except to plow straight through the willows, leaving an easytrail to follow. This did not concern Atreus nearly as much as the apparentimpossibility of finding a dry place to spend the night. Though he and Rishi had more or less dried out after their morning ambushes, they were both hungry andfar from warm. After the sun went down, the bitter cold would be a steady drainon their strength*strength that in Atreus"s case was already being tested by a throbbing wound.
Soon, the yak*s feet began to plunge deeper into the water. Small, arrow-shaped ripples appeared at the base of the willow stalks, and it grew clear they were approaching a river. Rishi continued to plow forward until the water rose above theyak*s knees. Finally, he turned upstream, ducking in and out of a network of narrow pa.s.sages that ran parallel to the main channel. Every now and then they crossed abroader clearing that opened into the river itself, framing a picture-like panorama ofwater, willows, and sky-sc.r.a.ping peaks.
Naraka"s patrol made good use of the pa.s.sages and the now obvious bearing of their quarry. It was not long before Atreus began to hear the occasional shoutedorder.
Even with Yago behind the patrol, Atreus did not want to risk a battle this close todark. Without a dry place to start a fire, the winners would escape death for only aslong as it took to freeze. "We"re going to have to cross," Atreus said.
Rishi shook his head. "The river is very deep."
"Yaks can"t swim?"
"Of course they can," Rishi replied. "And we will be soaked, with no place to camp.""We can"t camp on this side either." Rishi shrugged and said, "Who can say, but at least we will not be wet."They continued along the sh.o.r.e, and the sky grew steadily grayer. Naraka"s patrol closed the distance, until their voices became a steady murmur creeping upfrom behind. Atreus began to roll his shoulder and gently swing his arm back and forth, preparing his wound for a battle that now seemed inevitable.
The willows were just beginning to stripe the water with late afternoon shadowswhen more murmuring voices sounded ahead. Atreus"s first fear was that some of Naraka"s men had circled around to cut them off, but then he also noticed a faint, sporadic clanking. Rishi cursed quietly in Maran and peered back toward Naraka"s patrol.
"What"s wrong?" Even as he asked the question, Atreus fathomed the source of theclanking. "Have we reached the road?"
"Some time ago," Rishi whispered. "And now we must leave it."
"What?" Atreus peered through the willows and saw nothing but river. "Do you mean*"
"The good sir understands very well. And soon, so will Naraka." Rishi started toturn away from the river. "We must lead him away from the river before he seesthe boats."
"Boats!" Atreus nearly shouted the word, and the willows fell silent as Naraka"s patrol stopped to listen. "We have no boats. How are we to use a river with no*"
"Ssssh!" Rishi held his finger to his lips, then hissed, "The Swamp Way is like anyroad. There are inns spread along its course, and at those inns boats can often bepurchased."
Atreus listened a moment, then groaned. The clanking and voices upstream were growing louder.
"We"re going the wrong direction."
Rishi scowled and glanced nervously upstream and down. "Certainly the good sirhas sound reason for claiming to know more than his guide?" he said. "Perhaps hehas been in this swamp before, or perhaps he has a divine map from his G.o.ddess such as the one that shows him how to reach the fabled valley, but not the mountainswhere it lies?"
"The boat is coming downstream," Atreus replied, "so, unless these river-men make a habit of running in the dark, the nearest inn is not far behind us ... on theother side of Naraka."
Rishi"s face fell, and Naraka"s voice began shouting orders. It did not soundnearly distant enough to please Atreus."He"s found our trail." Atreus turned his yak toward the river and urged it forward."Maybe we can catch a ride."
"No! Wait!" Rishi cried. "What about Yago? Surely you do not mean to leave him alonewith Naraka?" "Yago is behind Naraka," Atreus said, continuing toward the river. "That means he"sdownstream. We"ll pick him up on the way past."
Ponies began to splash through the water, moving fast and coming straighttoward them. The murmur on the boats was almost as loud as that of Naraka"s patrol, the clanking so sharp that Atreus could distinctly identify it as chains.
"You do not understand!" Rishi cried, riding after Atreus. "We must go to the inn. These boats are not for sale!" "Anything is for sale if you have enough gold," Atreus insisted, pointing to the rucksackhanging from Rishi"s yak. "And we have enough gold."
Atreus emerged from the willows and found himself staring upstream at asharp bend in the river. As he watched, a long wooden dugout floated around the corner, guided by a single man in the rear. In front of the pilot stood several burlyguards, looming over a dozen people*men, women, and children*chained to thebottom of the boat.
"Slaves?" Atreus gasped. He turned to Rishi, too stunned to be outraged. "I"m following a slaver?"
Chapter 7.
A second boat floated around the bend, also holding a dozen slaves The captives sat three abreast, with a single chain running through their wrist manaclesfrom one side of the boat to the other. They had the dark hair and golden skin ofthe Mar, but their faces were rounder and their eyes narrower. Their cheeks andblack eyes were bulging, most had a crust of dried blood beneath their nostrils, lipsso swollen they could barely close their mouths. Their clothes were filthy, ripped, and too flimsy for a journey through the cold swamp. Most were shivering. All were staringinto the water with hopeless, unseeing eyes.
At the rear of the boat stood a pair of guards, larger and of lighter complexion than their captives. They dressed in warm furs and held furled whips in their hands. At their sides hung long padded clubs, no doubt used to beat slaves senseless without damaging their market value. The two men were frowning and looking past Atreus and Rishi into the willows, where Naraka"s patrol was rustling toward sh.o.r.e.
A wave of revulsion rose in Atreus. The thought of buying help from slaverssickened him, but their boats seemed his only hope of survival. Whether or not hedefeated Naraka, he would need plenty of warm food and a dry place to sleep if hewanted to see the dawn. "Perhaps now the good sir sees why we may not ask for a ride," said Rishi. "It is deathto anyone who reveals the Swamp Road to the Queen"s Men. We must lead the patrolaway and circle back to the inn, or the river-men will kill us as surely as our pursuers."
Rishi turned away from the sh.o.r.e, suddenly crying out and pressing himself flatto his mount"s back. A pair of wooden lances flew out of the willows, one striking the gold-filled rucksack on his yak and the other sailing over his head into theriver.
A grunt sounded downstream from Atreus. He ducked, then heard a lance hiss past and splash into the water. He twisted toward his unseen attacker, automatically bringing his sword around in an inverted guard, and deflected a second lance corning at his ribs. He urged his mount deeper into the willows, not because he cared whether Naraka"s men saw the slave boats, but because it was death to be trapped against the river.
He was too late. There were two riders lurking in the willows ahead. On the otherside of Rishi, another pair*these still armed with lances*were easing through thethicket upstream. Naraka and four more men were coming from downstream, ready to sweep in from behind the instant Atreus and Rishi engaged either pair ofriders.
"Yago!" Atreus called. "Need help! Where are you?"
Yago did not answer, and Atreus"s heart fell. He could only guess at Naraka"s casualties in their last clash, but it seemed to him the patrol should have beenlarger by three or four riders. Whether Naraka had lost those men slaying Yago orsimply left them behind to delay the ogre Atreus had no way to know. But had Yago been in earshot, he would have answered.
A cold fury rose inside Atreus, and he turned his yak downstream toward Naraka. Whatever had happened to Yago, the patrol leader"s prejudice was toblame*the patrol leader"s and that of his queen.
"This way, Rishi!"Hoping to make good use of the yak*s size, Atreus eased his mount into deeper water. Ten paces ahead, Naraka and his group mirrored the movement, two menholding lances and two holding swords.
Rishi came up from the rear, stationing himself a pace back and just insh.o.r.e ofAtreus. Behind them, the other four riders began to splash through the water, slowly tightening the noose.
"Will the good sir have any objection to killing?" Rishi asked quietly.
"The choice is no longer ours," said Atreus. "Take the two with the lances."
No sooner had Atreus spoken than a silver blade hissed past his head, flashingtoward Naraka"s. The lancer on the end cried out and tried to duck away, but theknife caught him at the base of the skull. He went limp instantly and splashed into the water.
As the other lancer raised his weapon Rishi suddenly cursed and cried out inpain. Atreus glanced back to see the Mar leaning down, groaning and tugging at alance lodged in the calf of his leg. The rider who had thrown it was moving up frombehind with his three companions, their ponies half swimming in the deep water.
A grunt sounded from Naraka"s group, and Atreus looked forward to see thesecond lancer hurling a wooden shaft in Rishi"s direction. He flicked his sword up,hitting the weapon in mid flight and sending it arcing out into the river. Oblivious,Rishi was still tugging at the lance lodged in his calf.
"Leave that for later!" Atreus yelled.
"Later?" Rishi gasped. "It is stuck through my leg!"
"Forget it," Atreus said as he urged his yak forward. "Stop the men behind us.I"ll clear the way."He angled toward the river as if he were trying to squeeze past his foes. Narakamoved to cut him off, guiding his mount into water so deep that it began to lap at his saddle. On the patrol leader"s arm was a red stain where Rishi"s knife had found its mark earlier, and he held his elbow close to his ribs. His eyes were filledwith doubt, and his face was pale with the fear any man would feel when riding out tobattle a devil, but his gaze never faltered.
The other two riders swung around toward Atreus"s flank, their legs splashing as they frantically kicked at their mounts. The ponies snorted and whinnied, but theywere moving as fast as they could in the deep water. The whole battle seemed to betaking shape in slow motion.
There was a startled cry behind Atreus, then a splash. Three more splashesquickly followed. He looked back to see a wounded rider flailing about in the water,clasping at the shiny hilt protruding from just under his collarbone. One of his fellows was beside him, trying to keep the wounded man"s head above the surface. The other two were swimming alongside their ponies, ready to dive theinstant Rishi raised another throwing dagger.
Curious voices began to roll across the water from the slave boats, and the rattleof chains grew louder and more agitated. The first two dugouts had already pa.s.sed well downstream, and three more were floating around the bend. The pa.s.sengers*captives and guards alike*were staring at the sh.o.r.e in bewilderment.
The sound of rippling water drew Atreus"s gaze back to his foes. Naraka and hismen were only two paces away now, almost within reach of a wild thrust. "I am sorry for what has pa.s.sed between us," Atreus said, "and for what is aboutto."
He raised his sword and kissed the blade, then drew the locks of hair he had collected from his belt and cast them into the river. The eyes of the Mar widened.Then his soldiers hurled themselves into the battle with wild abandon. Naraka came in from the front, standing in his stirrups to lean between the yak"s horns and thrust at Atreus"s ribs. Atreus twisted away, at the same time leaning back to escape the second rider"s wildhead slash. When the third attacker came in with a low thrust, he blocked with his weapon"s cutting edge, then circled over the top and brought the blade down on his foe"s wrist. The hand came free with a sickening pop and sank into the river still holding its sword.
As the man screamed, Atreus twisted back toward Naraka and slashed at the second rider"s mid-section. The man managed an awkward inverted block that left hishead utterly exposed, and Atreus switched attacks smoothly, smashing his sword pommel into the fellow"s face. The rider"s nose shattered, and he tumbled out of hissaddle.
Naraka"s sword caught Atreus in the flank, pa.s.sing entirely through that little rollof flesh just above the belt. Atreus yelled and lashed out with his sore arm, grabbingthe patrol leader by the wrist and jerking him forward onto the yak"s head.
Naraka"s other hand arced around, a shiny dagger flashing in his grasp. Atreus released his foe and jerked back and the blade came down on the fleshy humpbetween the yak"s shoulders. The beast bellowed and whipped its head sideways,flinging the patrol leader into the willows.
Naraka"s sword tore free with a ghastly slurping sound, as Atreus"s waist eruptedinto molten anguish. He heard himself scream in pain, then felt himself touching a huge flap of skin without quite realizing that he had reached down to probe thesticky mess above his belt.
A roar went up from the slave boats, which had come closer to watch the battle.The guards were facing him as they drifted past, grinning and shaking their fistsin approval. The slaves were staring in wide-eyed horror.
"Help!"
The cry came from Rishi and was followed by an unintelligible scream.Atreus spun around to find three riders swimming up behind them. One grabbed thelance in Rishi"s leg and was trying to drag the Mar off his yak. The other two were circling out to approach from the sides. All three had blue lips and chattering teeth, and they were shaking so hard they could barely hold their weapons.
Atreus grabbed Rishi"s yak by the horn and pulled the beast alongside his, dragging along the man holding the lance. The Mar screamed and flung himselfflat on the beast"s back, his fingers digging deep into its s.h.a.ggy fur.
"Lift your leg!" Atreus ordered. "Lift it?" There were tears streaming from Rishi"s eyes as he said, "It is not possible.They have me by... lance....""Lift it!" Atreus shouted, then raised his sword and leaned around behind his guide. "Lift it or lose it."
Rishi buried his face in his mount"s fur and tried to obey. The lance came out of thewater just enough to see, and Atreus brought his sword down. The blow severed the shaft a foot behind the Mar"s calf, leaving the man at the other end to fall back intothe water.
The other two riders continued forward, wading through water up to their chests.Rishi kept his face buried and screamed as though Atreus had struck his leginstead of the lance. Naraka began to work his way back through the willows, barking orders and pulling along the rider with the smashed nose. Atreus grabbed the lead ofRishi"s yak and turned away from sh.o.r.e.
"You cannot do this!" Rishi yelled. The water was already lapping at his thighs. "Theriver-men will kill us."
"So will Naraka," Atreus said, nodding back toward the willows where the patrol"ssurvivors were gathering their ponies. "And if they don"t, the cold will. We can"t let these boats past."Rishi raised his voice to protest but lost his breath to the cold when the yaks steppedinto deep water and began to swim. Atreus"s muscles stiffened, and the strength began to seep from his body. He glanced back and saw Naraka leading four ridersinto the river. The one who had lost his hand to Atreus was in no condition to fight,but the fellow with the smashed nose had found the strength to continue, and ofcourse Naraka would not stop until he was dead.
The guards on the slave boats began to call back and forth, and the dugoutsstarted to angle toward Atreus and Rishi.
"You see? Does that look like they mean to kill us?"
When Rishi did not make the expected disparaging reply, Atreus glanced backand saw the Mar"s poor yak swimming along with little more than its nose abovewater. Even that slipped beneath the surface sporadically, only to pop back up spewing water and mucus.
"Rishi, what"s wrong with you?"
"Me? It is my yak that is too dumb to swim."