Part 11 (1/2)

”You and Seema are free to go. You can take the gold with my blessings, if you can find it, but Yago and I will see our journey through to the end.”

Atreus and Yago began to work their way along the brink of the ice field, searching fora route down onto the glacier. Ris.h.i.+ looked hopefully in Seema's direction, but sheonly shook her head and started after the two westerners. The group moved quickly.Over the past few days, Seema had used her healing magic on her companions manytimes, and their wounds seldom troubled them now. They soon came to a blocky ravine where a wedge of ice had been squeezed out of the rim, creating a narrowcorridor that wind and day-melt had eroded into a steep but pa.s.sable gully.

Seema circled around to the sunny side and led the way down a drift of wind-packed snow. The bottom of the shadowed gully was as icy as it was steep, and they had to descend half walking and half sliding. By the time they emerged fromthe mouth of the ravine, they were all nervous, s.h.i.+vering, and glad for the relativesafety of the glacier's sun-softened surface.

Seema descended a few yards, kicking her heels into the wind-crusted snow tomake flat, safe steps. Abruptly she stopped and warily glanced across the glacier.Motioning for the others to stay where they were, she drew her knife and dropped to her knees, then began hacking blocks out of the snow pack. A foot down, the snowsuddenly grew soft and sugary. She put her knife away and continued to dig, eventually climbing into the hole and disappearing to her waist This is very bad.” Seema peered out of the hole. ”It is not safe.”Atreus rolled his eyes and started down the slope. ”You're only convincing me that you're trying to hide some-tiling.”

”No, come and look.” Seema waved him over and pointed at the icy layer in thebottom of the hole. ”Do you see how it is slick below and hard on top, with a layer ofsoft sugar in between?”

”Yes.” ”It is very dangerous on a steep slope like this,” Seema said. ”It is like a carpet overmarbles. The whole mountainside can break loose and slide down in a big avalanche.”

The thought occurred to Atreus that Seema was just finding another excuse to keephim away from the Sisters of Serenity, but he could see for himself that what shesaid was true. He pulled a handful of the sugary snow from the hole and let it run between his fingers, glancing over at Yago.

The ogre merely shrugged. ”I told you it was dangerous when we started.”

Atreus stood, facing Seema. ”What can we do to protect ourselves?” he asked her.

”We can turn around.”

”Aside from that,” Atreus replied.

Seema sighed, then led them back into the mouth of the gully. She instructed Yagoto start yelling across the valley, hoping to set off any impending avalanches with hisbooming voice. While the ogre bellowed, she took the supply bundle and began tounravel the long threads of a yak-hair blanket, knotting them together to create fourdark strands, each twenty or thirty paces long. By the time she finished, Yago hadmanaged to start a small slide on the opposite wall of the valley, but the snow on the glacier below remained ominously inert Seema tied one of the long strands around her own waist and had each of hercompanions do the same, leaving the ends to drag in the snow. If an avalancheburied someone, the dark cord would float to the top so the others could find thevictim*or so she said. They began to zigzag down the glacier, keeping themselves well s.p.a.ced and crossing dangerous areas one person at a time, so there wouldalways be three people to dig out a victim. Atreus found himself worrying less about avalanches than hidden creva.s.ses, but Seema seemed to have an uncanny sense foravoiding such pitfalls.

They were about a quarter of the way down when Yago, bringing up the rear of theline, plunged through the wind-crusted snow and sank to his chest Unable to feelanything beneath his feet, he could not tell whether he was buried in a particularlydeep snow-bank or hanging over a hidden creva.s.se, and he did not want to call out for fear of touching off an avalanche. He simply stretched his long arms across thesnow to spread his weight and waited. Eventually, the others noticed that he wasmissing and returned to pull him free. After that, Atreus brought up the end of the line.

As they descended, the snow grew more-unstable. Small slabs began to break off beneath their feet and slide down the wind crust The farther they descended, thelarger the slabs grew, and Atreus began to feel an avalanche was imminent Hesuggested having Yago yell again. Seema rejected the idea, saying the dangerwas no greater than before, as long as the slabs did not start coming fromabove. Atreus was not sure he believed her, especially when she grew even more cautious and insisted that they start crossing the entire glacier one person at a time.

They were about halfway down when Atreus heard a brief hissing noise above,then saw a raft-sized slab of snow shoot past and drop into the dark mouth of acreva.s.se. In the next instant, he was sprinting across the snow toward his friends,who stood waiting beneath the shelter of a rocky outcropping. There was no decision or thinking, he simply found himself running, hoping to reach safety before the avalanche swept him away.

But the roaring never came. No billowing clouds of snow swept down to swallow himup, nor did his world suddenly turn white and cold. He simply found himself standingat the outcropping with his companions, trembling and breathing hard.

”What's your hurry?” asked Yago. ”He ain't that close.”

”Close?” Atreus panted, hands braced on his knees. ”Who?”

Yago looked up toward the narrow gap through which they had descended ontothe glacier. A single dark figure was coming straight down the slope, taking longplunging steps that kicked loose huge slabs of wind-crusted snow.

Tarch!”

”He is a fool to come down like that,” said Seema. ”He will bring the whole slopedown.” ”Then perhaps we should run,” Ris.h.i.+ offered, prodding Seema toward the glacier.”The time for caution is past”

Seema did not move. ”No,” she said. ”Now we must be more cautious than before.” She turned to look at them. ”Do not make the mistake of thinking Tarch isthe danger. The Yehimals have claimed a hundred times more lives than he has.”

”Yes, but the Yehimals are not hunting us,” said Atreus. ”Maybe we should hurrythings along.”

”You cannot hurry in these mountains. That is the fool's way.” Seema pointed at thedark line of a creva.s.se lying perpendicular across Tarch's path and said, The taileddevil is being careless, and a thousand hazards lie before him. We will do far better tolook to ourselves and let the mountain take care of our pursuer.”

”I suppose you're right,” said Atreus. ”Well have plenty of time to worry if he catches up.”

Seema nodded. ”Good,” she said. ”We will continue as before.”

She started across the glacier, choosing an angle much steeper than before.Atreus took the frozen chain from around his neck and tapped it against the rock wall, knocking the ice out of the links. Ris.h.i.+ quietly beseeched the G.o.ds to blind the”tailed devil” and send him plunging into a bottomless abyss and close it as promptly aspossible. The Mar's supplications went unheeded. Tarch descended the glacier at anear run, twisting and turning his way through the labyrinth of creva.s.ses, sometimesleaping narrow ones and other times trotting across snow bridges as thin as sails. His plunging steps sent a steady stream of snow slabs hissing down the slope. Severaltimes those speeding cakes seemed destined to sweep Seema off the mountain.

Atreus and his companions could only watch, afraid that a warning shout would bringthe whole slope cras.h.i.+ng down on her.

The nearer Tarch drew, the more nervous Ris.h.i.+ became. He began to complainbitterly about his forced promise not to kill the tailed devil, and he chastised Atreusseveral times for breaking his sword back in the couloir. Yago grew tired of Ris.h.i.+'sgriping and quietly noted that no one had promised Seema anything about his safety. This was enough to quiet the Mar.

Finally, Seema reached a rocky alcove on the opposite wall, perhaps one moretraverse from the bottom of the dangerous area. Even before she turned to signal,Ris.h.i.+ was bounding along in her footsteps, his dark avalanche cord trailing in hiswake.

Above, Tarch had descended nearly half the glacier's length. Unless he met withone of the hazards Seema had spoken of, he would catch the company long before they completed the final traverse. The thought of fighting him again sent a chill downAtreus's spine. He could not forget the fear he had experienced when Tarch touchedhim, nor the tongue of flame that had nearly engulfed Ris.h.i.+. Perhaps ”taileddevil” was not an exaggeration at all. The slave master certainly had the magic of a creature from the Thousand h.e.l.ls.

Atreus's thoughts were interrupted by Yago's deep voice. ”I suppose you meant what you told the girl?” The ogre's gaze was fixed on Tarch. ”About not killing that devil thing, I mean.”

”You know I did.”

”I was afraid of that” Yago glared down at Atreus with one big bloodshot eye, then shook his head, saying, ”You humans and your mating games. ltd be simpler for everyone if you just claimed her.”

Atreus felt the heat rise to his cheeks. ”What are you talking about?”

The girl,” Yago said, gesturing vaguely in Seema's direction. ”She looks a good prize, from what I've seen of how humans judge.”

”She is a good prize,” Atreus admitted, ”but you've been around people. You know we can't just wrestle a female down and expect her to start keeping the cave.”

Too bad,” said Yago. ”She'd let you win.”

Atreus rolled his eyes.

”You don't think so?” Yago asked. ”She don't want us killing that devil that's after her, and if she's just trying to outrun it, we sure ain't speeding her up any. So what'sshe doing here, if she ain't waiting for you to claim her?”

Yago's question was a good one, though Atreus suspected the answer had less to do with him than what lay beneath the Sisters of Serenity. Trust me, Seema isn't here because she wants to wrestle me. No woman would. I'm too ugly.”

Yago considered this a moment, then shrugged. ”You're a good enough fighter,”he said, as though that should account for more than appearance, ”but I don't seewhy you made her that promise.”

”You know why,” Atreus said. ”You were there.”

”Oh yeah, I forgot. So a woman who won't have you doesn't let herself get caught by a slaver she won't let us kill.” For an ogre, the irony in Yago's deep voice was a rare show of wit He shook his head, then added, ”If someone's missing something here, it ain't me.”

Yago glanced up the glacier. Three hundred paces above, Tarch was just leaping a creva.s.se, arms flailing and tail whipping. He landed in a billowing puff of snowand crashed through the wind crust, launching a s.h.i.+p-sized circle of broken slabsdown the slope. Why the whole mountainside did not break free and sweep himaway, Atreus did not know. Either the snow was more stable than Seema claimed, orthe slave master was the luckiest devil this side of the Abyss.

Ris.h.i.+ reached the far side of the glacier, and Seema waved.

Yago nudged Atreus forward and said, ”Go on.”

Atreus shook his head. ”If you break through again, you won't have a chance against Tarch..*

”But I'm the bodyguard.” When this did not work, Yago growled, ”Well go together,” ”And let him bury us both in an avalanche? We're better off spread out,” Atreussaid, shoving the ogre forward. ”Now stop wasting time and go.”