Part 9 (1/2)

Atreus looked away, but said, ”Part of the reason. I couldn't bear to think what Tarch had in store for you.”

”I see.”

Seema shoved the needle through a flap of skin, drawing a sharp hiss of pain fromAtreus. ”I, uh, can feel that,” he said. ”I think the numbing powder has worn off.””I know,” Seema said, pulling the thread through. Atreus's side felt like it was burning. ”I give you strength and tend your wounds, and you repay me with killing?”She shoved the needle in again, and this time Atreus managed not to hiss.

Chapter 9.

Atreus woke to the murmur of voices and to the roar of a nearby waterfall. When he opened his eyes he found himself lying on the bow deck, buried beneath anavalanche of yak-hair blankets, staring at a stony mountainside looming up behind thebarge's stern cabin. The slope was gra.s.sy, steep, and strewn with ma.s.sive crags offolded rock. Over the largest of these outcroppings hung the terminus of a glacier, adirty curtain of ice with a silver ribbon of melt-water arcing out from beneath it. Above the glacier, a low pall of snow clouds cloaked the mountain heights in a veil of gray vapor.

The voices continued to murmur, rippling out of the willow swamp alongside thebarge. Atreus stayed beneath his blankets, thinking it wiser not to draw attention tohimself until he gathered his groggy wits. He did not recall falling asleep, onlywrapping himself in a blanket and sitting down to sip another of Seema's potions. If the concoction had knocked him out, it had also rejuvenated him. He felt strongand rested, with no sign of fever. His wounds itched more than they ached, and whenhe ran his fingers over the lance puncture in his breast he was surprised to find italready closed. Seema's healing magic was more powerful than he had thought.

As Atreus's head cleared, he saw that he had been abandoned. Save for vacant slave chains snaking across the decks and two sets of oars still resting in theirlocks, the barge was empty, beached stern-first so everyone could sneak ash.o.r.ewithout disturbing him on the bow. A familiar cold hollowness arose inside Atreus. Thiswas hardly the first time someone had taken pains to avoid him, but it was certainly themost callous. Having saved the Mar from a life of bondage he had thought they might return his kindness by helping him find his way to Langdarma, but he should haveknown better than to think any act of kindness would blind people to his humped backand disfigured face.

The willows beside the barge shook briefly, and the nose of a dugout emerged togently b.u.mp the hull. A pair of slavers jumped aboard and rushed aft, not bothering to glance forward or even to tie their boat to an eye hook. Atreus frowned, but madeno move to attack. The two men carried swords instead of whips and padded clubs,and he heard more voices murmuring out in the swamp. Fighting seemed less wisethan simply trying to slip away once the slavers entered the barge's ramshacklecabin.

But the pair did not go to the cabin. Instead, they divided and circled around it fromboth sides.

”Tarch!” yelled one. ”Over here!”

”We've got her!”

A slender figure emerged from behind the cabin and began to flee up the mountainside, her black braids and dark tabard leaving no doubt that it was Seema.Atreus threw off his blankets and pulled on his frozen boots, then grabbed Sune's map from his belongings and ran aft. As the slavers disappeared around behindthe cabin, Ris.h.i.+ emerged from the front door, blurry-eyed and wrapped in blankets.

”What is all this noise?” Ris.h.i.+ asked. ”What has become of everyone?” ”They left us,” Atreus told him as he crossed the rear deck in two strides andpushed his way into the cabin. ”Are there any weapons in here?”

The interior was murky and rank, with no bed except a pallet of filthy straw. A cask offoul-smelling grog sat in one corner, and a tangled mound of shackles and chainslay heaped against the back wall There were no true weapons in sight, but several sets of smithy's tools sat by the door, ”The barge is ours?” Ris.h.i.+ gasped, still trying to comprehend what Atreus hadtold him. Then we can recover the gold!”

*I'm afraid not” Atreus went to the back wall and rummaged through the chain heap. Tarch is after Seema. There are a pair of slavers chasing her now.”

”All the better. While they are pursuing her, we can slip away.”

Atreus whirled on the Mar, pulling a six-foot length of chain from the heap.”How can you say such a thing? She saved our lives.” Ris.h.i.+ eyed the chain nervously, backing toward the door. ”I am only thinking ofthe good sir,” he lied.

”I thought you were done with me,” Atreus replied. He stepped over to the pileof smithy tools. ”I recall something about what happens when a pretty slave girlsmiles at me.”

Ris.h.i.+'s face darkened. ”Many harsh words are spoken when people are tiredand cold, but there is no reason for us to be angry with each other. After werecover the gold, everything will be as before. We can resume our journey andfind Langdarma, certainly in a very short time.”

”Certainly?” Atreus scoffed. He picked up a heavy forge hammer and steppedtoward the door. ”You know where to find the gold if you want it I'm going after Seema.”

Outside, the swamp was filled with calling voices, but the two slavers were notanswering. The pair needed all their breath to keep pace with Seema. She wasracing up the mountainside toward the waterfall beneath the glacier, holding her long skirt with both hands, bounding from rocks to gra.s.s tufts as lightly as agazelle.

Atreus leaped off the barge and rushed across a gra.s.sy flat to the base of the mountain. After so much time in the swamp, the ground felt solid and good beneath his feet, but he found himself gasping for breath as soon as he started to climb. His legs grew weighty and slow, and they burned with fatigue. The chain and hammer became as heavy as boulders, and his wounds began to throb miserably. No matter how quickly he pumped his knees, he fell farther behind, and it took an effort of will to launch himself from each gra.s.s tuft up to the next one.

Seema continued to dance effortlessly up the slope, the two slavers clambering at her heels. Excited cries began to rise from below, and Atreus knew she hadclimbed high enough to be seen from the swamp. Tarch and his men would beswarming toward the barge now, but Atreus did not look back to see them. Withhis lungs burning and a ferocious headache pounding at his temples, it was allhe could do to keep running. Seema did not stray from her course until the mist of the waterfall began to spray her, and even then she turned only toward a driersection of cliff.

As shallow as the angle was, the two slavers made good use of it, closing towithin half a dozen steps of her. Atreus's knees began to tremble with exhaustion, and his aching chest filled with phlegm, but he forced himself to go on. What was a monster good for, if not to save beautiful damsels cornered by b.e.s.t.i.a.lslavers?

But Seema had other ideas. She hit the cliff at a run, leaping up to thrust herhands into a crevice so narrow it seemed a mere line. Pulling herself up with her arms, she swung her feet onto a pair of nubby toeholds and began to clamberup the rocks like a spider.

So astonished was Atreus that he almost stopped running, but the slavers were not surprised at all. Reaching the cliff only a few seconds behind Seema, they dropped their swords and began to jump, grabbing for her feet When this did not work, the heavier one cupped his hands and boosted the lighter one up. The man caught Seema by the ankle and began to tug.

”Come along ... girl,” he puffed. ”Don't bruise yourself. You don't want to do that, or Tarch'll start getting ideas about... keeping you.”Seema began to kick, trying to free her ankle. * ”Just pull her down!” urged the bottom man.”N-no!” Atreus gasped, now only five paces below.

Both slavers glanced down and their eyes grew wide. Leaving his partner to hang from Seema's ankle, the bottom man s.n.a.t.c.hed his sword and stepped down to attack. With the blow arcing down from above, Atreus had no choice but to twist out of the way and fling his chain up in a wild, backhand block. The steel links struck with a metallic clatter and wrapped themselves around the blade. Atreus jerked the sword from his attacker's grasp.

In the next instant, a booted heel crashed into Atreus's jaw. He saw stars, then his knees went limp, and he found himself rolling down the mountainside with no memory of having fallen. He rotated onto his back, swinging his feet around to kick his heels into a tuft of soft gra.s.s. He lurched to a stop and heard his foe clattering down the slope above. Atreus rolled over to find the slaver almost upon him, now holding the smithy's hammer he did not remember dropping.

Atreus staggered to his feet, head spinning and spent muscles trembling.

Somewhere along the way the sword came untangled from the chain and scattered itself down the slope in three broken pieces. Atreus whirled the chain above his head. The slaver slowed, circling around to approach from the side.

Head still spinning, Atreus lurched across the hill. The astonished slaver stumbled back, eyes darting toward the chain still whistling above his foe's head. Finally, he seemed to collect himself and stopped. He c.o.c.ked his arm and planted his forward foot, then hurled the heavy hammer.

There was no time to duck or dodge. Atreus sprang into a charge, snapping his arm up to protect his head. The hammer glanced off his wrist and tumbled away.Then Atreus was on the slaver, swinging the heavy chain into the man's head.

The fellow's eyes went dull and gray, but somehow he kept his feet and came upwith a belt dagger. He attacked low, shooting the knife in toward Atreus's groin.

Atreus skipped backward and slapped the weapon down, bringing his blocking hand up in a vicious back-fisted strike. The slaver's jaw clacked shut He spit out thetip of his tongue and stumbled back, blind with pain and slas.h.i.+ng his dagger aboutmadly. Atreus whirled the chain down across his attacker's wrist, entangling the fellow's arm and knocking his knife loose. The slaver howled and tried to jerk free but succeeded only in drawing Atreus closer.

Atreus grabbed him behind the neck and pulled, at the same time slamming aknee to his foe's chest. There were two m.u.f.fled cracks, and the man groaned anddropped to the ground, wheezing and clutching at his side.

Atreus kicked the slaver down the slope and saw Ris.h.i.+ scrambling up themountainside, moving quickly despite his limp and the large bundle slung over his shoulder. Farther below, Tarch and a dozen men were just starting across thenarrow flat that separated the mountains from the swamp. Staggering along in frontof them, covering six feet a step despite a numb-footed limp, was Yago.

The ogre's face and cloak were caked with ice and mud, and a veritable copse of broken willow stalks jutted up from inside his belt and collar. He looked as if he had pa.s.sed the night wallowing in the swamp, but Atreus knew better. Yago understood the value of concealment as well as any good hunter, and his camouflage suggested he had spent the night trailing Tarch and his slavers. They had probably not even realized he was there until he broke from the willows and started across the flat.

Too breathless to call out to his friend, Atreus merely waved, then scrambled up the mountainside, his lungs burning so badly he feared he had bruised them tumbling down the hill. On the cliff above, the slaver finally released Seema's ankle and dropped to the ground. She started to climb higher, looked down at Atreus, and stopped where she was.

The slaver retrieved his sword and met Atreus five paces below the cliff, usinghis uphill advantage to attack with a vicious overhand strike. Too exhausted to dodge or feint, Atreus simply dropped to the ground and swung his chain aroundin an overhand strike.

The surprised slaver stumbled forward off-balance, and the chain caught himacross the wrist, twining itself around his forearm. Atreus spun downhill, whippinghis foe overhead like a stone in a sling. The chain reached the end of its length and untwined, hurtling the fellow down the slope like a catapult The slaver hit a dozenpaces below, cras.h.i.+ng headlong into a boulder and tumbling down the mountainside in a limp heap: Atreus retrieved his dropped sword and rushed up the slope toSeema.

”are you...” he started to say, but was too out of breath to finish.

1 am fine,” Seema replied, sounding rather aloof. ”Have you injured yourself again?””I don't think so. Unless you count. . . being out of breath.”Atreus turned to see Ris.h.i.+ taking the dagger from the second slaver's weapon belt Instead of slitting the man's throat, he surprised Atreus by simply adding the knife to his bundle of goods. Fifty paces below, Yago was climbing up the slope,steadily opening the distance between himself and the rest of the slavers.

”I'm sorry for the trouble waiting with us caused you,” Atreus said, motioning tothe barge.

”Yes, so am I,” Seema said, glancing toward the two slavers lying motionlessbelow. ”Be quiet now and rest. When your friend gets here we will have to move quickly, or there will be more bloodshed.”

Atreus braced his hands on his knees and struggled to catch his breath between fits of coughing. His wounds were throbbing, but the pain was nothingcompared to the agony in his pounding head and burning chest. He silently thanked Vaprak, G.o.d of the ogres, for looking after his bodyguard. Without Yago, he could not imagine where he would find the strength to defeat Tarch andhis men.

Ris.h.i.+ arrived gasping and trembling, hardly able to hold the blanket bundled overhis shoulder.

”So you decided to forget about the gold after all,” Atreus observed.

”It was... decided for me,” Ris.h.i.+ wheezed. ”But perhaps ... the G.o.ds will see fitto... leave it there until we return.” ”Which will not be until your next life, if we do not leave before Tarch's giant catches us,” said Seema. ”Tarch's giant?” Atreus turned toward Yago, who was only twenty paces below. ”That's no giant, that's Yago ... my bodyguard.”