Part 14 (1/2)

”I was afraid!” Yago moaned. ”You needed me, and I couldn't move.”

*Not your fault.*

The words echoed emptily inside Atreus's head. He could not make his lips work.

He did the same thing to me.

”Iamso... sor-ry!”Yagohadtroubleformingthislastword,whichwasasforeigntothe ogre tongue as the term for children won in a game of knucklebones was tohumans. ”What happened to me?”

The ogre smashed his fist into the side of his own face. The blow struck so sharply that Ris.h.i.+ gave a start and nearly plummeted into the creva.s.se.

Yago spit an orange tooth out onto the ice, shouting, ”Coward!”

Atreus fought through his pain and managed to grasp the ogre's arm. He shook his head. Yago's eyes grew gla.s.sy. ”Am so!” the ogre insisted. ”You saw me... just standing there!”

”Atreus does not blame you, my friend,” said Ris.h.i.+. the Mar backed away from thecreva.s.se and came up to join them, grimacing at Atreus's condition. ”The samething happened to him on the slave boat. It is the devil's touch.”

”It don't matter,” growled Yago. ”I made the Vow. s.h.i.+eld-breakers aren't scared of nothing!”

”That is an impossible vow to keep. Every man fears something.” Ris.h.i.+ graspedthe ogre's elbow and urged him up the hill, saying, ”And now let us go. What became of Tarch I cannot tell, but it is too much to hope that a fall of only a fewhundred feet would kill him.”

Yago started to rise, then caught himself and sat back down. ”Let him come,” hesaid. ”I'm not running.”

Atreus squeezed Yago's forearm and tried to nod. The effort sent waves of agony surging through his body, but he was terrified that the stubborn ogre would let hispride get them all killed. He could feel his own strength oozing out through hisscalded pores, but just as importantly, he could tell by the nervous edge in his friend's voice that Yago was not ready to face Tarch again.

”There, do you see?” Ris.h.i.+ asked, motioning to Atreus's nodding head. ”The good sir wants us to go. He needs Seema's help.”

Yago scowled in thought, then reluctantly nodded. ”Well go,” he said ”but not because I'm scared.”

”Oh no, there has never been any question of that,” agreed Ris.h.i.+. ”I am frightened enough for us all. You are thinking only of the good sir's welfare.”

Still scowling, Yago started up the hill. Atreus's burns began to ache in earnest. He could not keep from moaning as the ogre's clothes rubbed against his raw flesh. His broken leg became a distant throbbing, and he slipped into a murky world of pain and delirium. He grew desperately thirsty and started to s.h.i.+ver. Yago's voice became a nightmarish roar, alternately trying to comfort Atreus and cursing himself for a coward.

Amazingly enough, Ris.h.i.+ proved the staunch one, continually rea.s.suring Atreus that he really looked no worse than before, perhaps even better. It was a terrible lie, of course, but exactly what Atreus needed to hear.

Sometime later * it seemed hours, but could not have been more than three or four minutes-Seema came bounding and sliding down the slope. *How bad?* she demanded, dropping the supply bundle at Yago*s feet. *Put him down where I can seehim. Get those rags off him. Pack him in snow. Ris.h.i.+, talk to him ! Keep talking ___*

Atreus's companions rushed to obey the healer's orders. His body roared with pain. When the tattered remnants of his clothes were pulled free, he could not helpscreaming. As much as it hurt to be touched, the cold slush had a numbing effecton his burns, and his anguish dulled to a raw ache.

Soon, he felt Seema's hands on him, rubbing his wounds with some minty-smelling potion. The sting faded completely, leaving him to a deeper anguish inside hisseared muscles. Seema uttered a spell in the exotic language of her magic, thenpressed her lips to Atreus's. He remembered the kiss of the day before and tried tosteal another, but she only wet his lips with one of her potions, using her own tongueto dribble it into his mouth.

A languid fog rose up to engulf him, and he prayed he would fall into insensiblesleep. Instead, he slipped into a terrible waking dream, aware of his anguish but apartfrom it conscious of what was happening but unable to do anything about it.

”What's wrong with him?” demanded Yago. ”He's going to live, ain't he?”

”I have taken away his pain,” answered Seema. ”The rest is not for me to control.”

”Don't you say that! You're a healer. Heal!”

”I have done what I can, but my magic is weak,” Seema said. ”What happened toTarch? Was there killing?””There will be if you don't do something... and fast!”Don't threaten her! Atreus wanted to shout the command, but he could not even whisper it, could not even shake his head. He was a spectator in his own body.”I am sure Seema is certainly doing her best,” said Ris.h.i.+. ”She is as fond of Atreus inher way as you are in yours.””She has a bad way of showing it,” snapped Yago. ”If she would have let us killTarch in the first place...”

”I could not have done even this much for Atreus,” said Seema. ”Now tell me what happened. If you did not kill Tarch*” ”He is most certainly alive!” said Ris.h.i.+. ”I saw him moving in the bottom of the creva.s.se.” This was not what the Mar had told Yago, but Atreus was hardly in a position tocorrect him.

”I will try another time.”

Again, Seema uttered one of her spells, then pressed her lips to Atreus's and dribbled more of her potion into his mouth. He slipped further into his dream-world, so that events alternately rushed by in a blur or crept past in excruciating slowness. He did not feel any stronger.

”Wellllll?” Yago's voice was deep and torpid.

”I don't know,” Seema replied.

”You mean it isn't working!” Yago was silent for a moment, then asked, ”Whathappens to your precious magic if Atreus dies? You might as well have flamed himyourself, for all your high talk about not killing.”

Seema recoiled from the anger in the ogre's voice.

”That is hardly fair.”

”Is too!” growled Yago. ”He should've never made you that promise. But how could the boy think straight, with you batting them pretty eyes and flas.h.i.+ng them white teeth? If he dies, it's on your head, not mine.”

The conversation came to Atreus as though he were listening to a trio of ghosts.Seema fell silent. Some dim part of him realized he should be speaking in herdefense, that he should be telling Yago he knew exactly what he was doing, but Atreus could barely gather his thoughts, much less make them known.

After a moment, Ris.h.i.+ said, ”n.o.body is to blame for what happened to Atreus exceptTarch. Perhaps my friend Yago, feeling that he may have in some way failed his master, is putting the blame he feels * ”

”What blame?” Yago snarled.

”Then again, perhaps not,” said Ris.h.i.+.

But Yago was not done yet ”If not for Seema and her promise, we'd have been rid of Tarch a long time ago. He wouldn't never have touched me!” the ogre bellowed, shaking his head angrily. ”Theblame here don't belong to me. You can't go fighting devils unless you mean to kill them.”

”You are right, of course,” interrupted Seema. ”This is all my fault.”

”You bet it is!” said Yago. ”What are you going to do about it?”

Seema was silent for several moments, then said, ”I have caused many deaths andmuch pain, and that is why my magic has grown weak.” She laid a cloak over Atreus,and be could not help groaning at even its light touch. ”We have no choice but to takehim to my valley.”

”I doubt he can survive such a long journey,” said Ris.h.i.+. ”Surely, it would be betterto let him rest and take our chances that he will recover.”

”what about Tarch? If he is alive, as you told me, he will come after us.”Seema stood and started up the icefall. ”Besides,” she said, ”my home is closer thanyou think, and we will be safe there.”

Yago scooped Atreus up, but made no move to follow the healer.

”Where you going? I didn't see nothing but snow up there.”

”Of course not,” Seema answered, pausing to look over her shoulder. ”It is not soeasy to see Langdarma.”

Chapter 13.