Talen thought of Da in the hands of the Mokaddian Council. The reports of what Prunes saw was not going to help him. Resentment began to build in Talen again. If only Legs and Sugar hadn"t shown up. Why couldn"t they have gone to some other member of this sleth nest? Why couldn"t Da have turned them away?
But, of course Da couldn"t because Da never turned anyone away. And even if he had, sooner or later something would have happened. You can"t sow deceit and not expect to eventually reap its bitter fruit. But a.s.signing blame wouldn"t get Talen out of this current mess. They had to get to the Creek Widow"s. They had to get there quick.
Talen counted to six hundred, the whole time his heart beating like a drum in his ears.
The squirrel they"d heard earlier chittered again in its tree.
Slowly, Talen turned around so he was facing the beech. Then he leaned ever so slowly until he could just peer around the side of the smooth trunk.
Both of the remaining two Shoka were in the woods on this side of the road. They were crouched over, slowly moving forward, bows at the ready, listening and watching the woods. The one closest to Talen carefully stepped over the fallen pine where the lead Shoka had been sitting earlier.
Talen pulled back.
By all that was holy! They must have caught something of his and Legs" last quick move to the beech. They obviously hadn"t seen the movement clearly enough, or they would have been focused on the beech. But that wouldn"t last long. If they continued forward, they would soon find Talen and Legs. The choice now was to run like idiots or wait and greet the Shoka with a pleasant h.e.l.lo when they found them.
Talen could try to shoot them with his bow. But there were trees and branches that could deflect his arrows. If the first shaft didn"t find its home, then it would be two against one.
Up ahead, a bunch of clumped short pines grew in a line. If he and Legs could get behind that greenery, it just might give him time to find better ground for this fight.
"We"re going to run," Talen said and took Leg"s hand. "Are you ready?"
"Ready," Legs said.
"Now!" Talen said and dashed out from behind the tree. Legs stumbled. Then he cried out and stumbled again. Talen gripped Legs" hand tighter and kept him on his feet.
The Shoka shouted and called for them to stop, but Talen kept moving until he and Legs skirted the end of the clump and were well behind the thick boughs. This small line of pines ran to the dry bed of a brook. And while the undergrowth on the short banks of the brook might be tall enough to give them some cover, there was no way he and Legs could outrun the two Shoka. They"d corner them soon enough.
"Show yourselves," one of the Shoka called.
Talen had a plan. He doubted it would work. But something at this point was better than nothing. The ground here was slightly rocky. He couldn"t imagine running on it blind, but that"s what had to happen-there was no time to dither. "Come on," he said. "Just a little farther."
Legs stumbled once more on the way to the dry brook bed, but he did not cry out and reveal their position.
"I want you to keep low and move down this dry brook bed. I need you to draw their attention."
"You"re leaving?"
He couldn"t squat here and jabber. "Just keep their attention." Then Talen rose and dashed back to the line of pines, bow in hand. He needed to get on the other side so he could circle around behind the two Shoka. Of course, this wouldn"t work if the Shoka had decided to split up.
Just before he got to the other side of the pines, Talen stopped. He looked down the edge of the line of trees. n.o.body was there. His hopes rose: maybe they ran back to the road for help. That would give him and Legs time. But in the next breath that hope was dashed.
"Stop and show yourself," one of the Shoka called. "We see you there in the brook."
"I"m n.o.body of any account," Legs shouted out.
"Then stand and show us who you are."
Good, Talen thought. They thought both he and Legs were there. He slipped to the far side of the line of trees and carefully made his way down the line.
"Promise you won"t hurt me," said Legs.
"We"ll promise you nothing."
Talen had his arrow nocked, a second shaft in his bow hand.
"I"m going to stand up," said Legs.
Talen took a few more steps and realized that his way was clear from this side of the pines. He could leave Legs and save himself. He could be across the road and into the woods on the other side before these Shoka realized their mistake. Later, he could claim he"d been entranced by the hatchlings, taken prisoner after their monster had attacked their farm.
"There were two of you," said a Shoka. "Where"s the other?"
"He won"t stand up," said Legs.
"Get up," the Shoka commanded. "Or we"ll shoot your friend. And then we"ll hunt you down and shoot you."
"Stand up," Legs pleaded. "They"re going to shoot me."
The little man was quite the actor, and all while being threatened with death.
Talen took a breath to brace himself, then continued down the line and turned the corner back towards Legs.
Both the Shoka were facing Legs. One Shoka stood only a few paces away from Talen. The other was moving up and to the right, probably trying to flank Legs and his imaginary friend. Legs stood a few yards from where Talen had left him, his whole torso rising above the banks of the brook bed "Stand up!" Legs said, flailing his arms at his imaginary friend as if Talen were hunkered down right next to him.
Talen took a careful step. Then another. He raised his bow. Took another step reaching out with his toes.
"This is your last warning!" said the Shoka. He pulled the arrow back the last few inches to his cheek.
Talen recognized the Shoka. He"d competed with him before in the practice musters. He was young, even if he did have the clan tattoo on his wrist.
"Put the bow down," said Talen.
The Shoka startled and twisted to look at Talen.
Talen took the last step and aimed the sharp tip of his iron arrow point at the young man"s chest.
The bowman"s eyes went wide with alarm. "You," he said. He glanced to the side looking for an escape.
"No," said Talen. "You"re not quick enough. Don"t even think about it."
The second bowman began to turn.
"You know who I am," said Talen. "I could have drilled both of you with an arrow while you were doing your sneaking. And I will if you don"t listen to me."
"You"re going to have to kill me, half breed," said the one in front of him. His voice was full of fear and determination.
"No," said Legs. "We"ve got something else that will do that for us."
The bowman"s eyes widened.
"He can squish up both of you like rags," said Legs.
Hu, Talen thought. It was one thing to threaten a Mokaddian. It was quite another to claim they had some sleth monster on a leash. This mire was just getting deeper and deeper.
"n.o.body needs to get hurt," Talen said. "Just toss your weapons."
Neither Shoka moved.
"Should we call it?" Legs said.
The second Shoka looked about, then tossed his bow down. "Don"t hurt us," he said.
The first Shoka looked at his companion in dismay.
"Put your bow down," Talen said.
For one brief moment Talen thought he was going to have to kill the Shoka. He didn"t want to. He had nothing against him, and it would do their cause no good to add another Mokaddian death to it, but he would shoot him if he had to. Talen drew his arrow just a tad father back.
The Shoka licked his lips in calculation and then released his draw and dropped the bow and arrow onto the pine needles at his feet.
"Knives too," said Talen.
Both Shoka unlooped the knives at their waists and cast them aside.
"On your bellies over there," Talen said and pointed to a flat spot of ground.
Legs decided that was the time to step out of the brook bed. When he got to the top of the short bank, he walked, both hands in front of him, one high, one low.
"He"s the blind one," the bowman said.
"Indeed, he is," said Talen. "On your faces."
The two Shoka knelt and then stretched out face down on the needles. Talen kicked the two bows together. "Legs," he called. "Unstring this bow at my feet. We"re going to tie them up."
They didn"t have much time. The third Shoka could be returning this very moment to the road with the others and their dogs.
Fifteen minutes later Talen and Legs were making their way towards moving water. At least one river and two creeks stood between them and the Widow"s, and they"d have to use all three now that dogs might be involved.
The bow strings hadn"t been long enough to bind both Shoka to different trees. So Legs had cut two strips off his tunic to use as rope and two more to use as gags.
"Do you think they will stay put?" asked Legs.
"Oh, I think your little eye show gave them quite a scare." That and the fact that he"d married his freaky eye-rolling with odd gaggings and contortions. It was quite an effective method to cow the two so they didn"t try anything stupid while Talen tied them up. It had almost put Talen himself on the run.
And when the one Shoka had asked what was happening, Talen had played up the story Legs told. And why not? How could the story get any worse? His family had already been caught harboring the hatchlings. They"d already been connected to the monster. And, despite the usefulness of claiming the hatchlings had enchanted them to do their bidding, there was no one else in the family who might be tempted to say such a thing. And, truth be told, even he wasn"t going to give into that. Besides, they needed time. An hour"s head start might not even be enough if the dogs came.
"You know full well what he"s doing," he had said.
The Shoka had taken it, as intended, for slethery. And then the bright idea had come to Talen to say he believed Legs was calling the monster to watch them, to make sure they didn"t run.
Oh, yes. Talen was in this up to his neck.
Now the question was not if he was going to die. It was only when? And would it include a lot of torture?
He thought of Da in Whitecliff. He hoped Uncle Argoth would protect him. Surely, Uncle Argoth would be able to convince Lord Shim. Because Talen certainly wasn"t helping him any.
Talen stopped in front of a clump of poison ivy. They needed to get to the first creek and wash their trail away. Then they needed to get to the river. Maybe float a bit.
"We need to move faster," Talen said.
"My feet," Legs said.
Talen looked down. The boy"s feet were b.l.o.o.d.y in three places.
"Too bad you can"t call that monster for real," Talen said and unstrung his bow. He put the string in an oiled leather pouch that hung from his quiver and told Legs to hold the bow staff. "Raise your arm, brother sleth."
Legs raised one arm.
Talen took it by the wrist, bent low, grabbed Leg"s ankle with his other hand, and stood up straight, laying Legs across his shoulders.
"Right," Talen said. It was like lugging a sack of beets. That"s all this was. He adjusted Legs to more evenly distribute his weight. Then he plodded forward, around the clump of ivy, over a flat of rock, and then onto a game trail no wider than his foot.
38.
Traps THE SKIR MASTER Rubaloth stood on the deck of the ship watching the sun rise, the stiff morning breeze at his back. On the main deck half-a-dozen sailors guided the last pallet of barrels that contained seafire down into the main hold. "Report," he said to Uram.
"Argoth and his escort are eating a fine breakfast at the Shark"s Tooth."
"Did he give you trouble?"
"None, Great One. But I did find something odd."
"Oh?"
"His son"s neck, Great One. In the early morning I caught the clansman locking the door of a room. His boy was inside, lying on a bed. The Clansman told me the boy had fallen ill. And the pungent odor of a healing salve did fill the hallway, but underneath it all I thought I smelled the faintest trace of wizardsmeet. It was there one moment and then gone. Still, when my men had everyone outside, I went back in and quietly forced the door. They"d wrapped the boy"s neck with fresh linen and plastered it as if for a sore throat. But when I pulled the bandaging back, the skin on the boy"s neck had all the markings of a hasty and large harvest."
Rubaloth nodded. He"d been right. These cursed Clansmen. Another scion from a vanquished line no doubt wielding old magicks. This Argoth could be the one who had wrested Lumen from the Glory. If so, this could be tricky, but Rubaloth savored the challenge.
"When we"re a few miles from sh.o.r.e," he said, "you will quietly search all his belongings."