Part 17 (1/2)

”Please do not tell us this herder has a daughter,” said Ris.h.i.+.

Seema's face grew fearful. ”I am afraid he does,” she said. *Two of them.”

Yago studied his companions, then said, ”Can't be what you're thinking. Too much blood.”

”I don't think it's blood,” said Atreus, ”at least not the way you think.”

He pointed down the creek to where it was joined by a small rivulet from a sidegully. The red stain was spreading up the side gulch.

”Think we found Tarch?” Yago asked.

Atreus's only response was to start up the stream bank.

They crept through the rhododendrons, moving as quietly and rapidly as fourpeople could through such thick undergrowth. The water continued to grow redder and thicker until the stream took on the appearance of a vein filled with dark, clottyblood. A nauseating, copper-like stench began to hang in the air, and alarming little noises began to rise from Seema's throat. When they finally reached the terraces beneath the herder's shed, it grew apparent that there was no need forstealth. The gra.s.sy pastures were strewn with slaughtered yaks, and an old woman was up near the shed, wailing and cradling her husband's smashed head.

”Seema, you'd better go first,” said Atreus, recalling how Timin's delirious father had initially reacted to him and Yago. ”We'll follow after you cover her eyes.”

Seema nodded, then clambered over the terraces. She kneeled beside the old woman and spoke to her softly, covering her head with a shawl. By the time Atreusand his companions arrived, Seema had the story.

”She said a sharp-eared devil came for her daughters and killed her husband whenhe tried to save them. The beast left five minutes ago.” Seema's face was hard and angry, almost ugly. She pointed into the shed. There are axes and scythes inside.”

Ris.h.i.+'s jaw fell and he asked, ”Are you saying what I think you're saying?”Seema glanced at the destruction surrounding her and said, ”Do what you must Iwant him stopped.” Atreus raised his brow. ”We'll try,” he said, ”but it wouldn't hurt to call the Sannyasi.”

Seema nodded, and Ris.h.i.+ rushed off to fetch the weapons. Yago glanced atAtreus. Though the ogre had managed to force a smile onto his jaw, Atreus couldread the doubt in his friend's eyes. s.h.i.+eld-breaker or not, Yago was afraid. As far ashe was concerned, Tarch could not be stopped.

Atreus clamped the ogre on his huge forearm and said, ”We'll manage.”

”Don't we always?” Yago answered. ”But if I get*”

”I know . . . don't let the crows get your eyes,” said Atreus.

Yago's behest was a standard s.h.i.+eld-breaker request They believed crows to bespies of Skiggaret, the fear-loving G.o.d of their bugbear enemies. Though the reminder betrayed Yago's fear at facing Tarch again, Atreus said nothing to rea.s.sure his friend.Among ogres, acknowledging another's fear was the worst kind of insult.

”You have nothing to worry about, Yago,” said Seema. ”There are no crows in Langdarma.”

The ogre forced a smile and said, ”So this is paradise.”

Ris.h.i.+ returned with an armload of tools. He had a rope and the scythe for Yago, aniron kettle lid and a double-bladed tree axe for Atreus, and a pair of skinning knivesand a net for himself. As he accepted the kettle lid, Atreus frowned in confusion.

”For the flames,” Ris.h.i.+ explained, smiling. ”I am always thinking of the good sir's safety, am I not?”

”What you're thinking is that I'll go in first,” Atreus replied, ”and you're right.”

He started off at a trot and they had no trouble following Tarch's trail. The devil was tearing a broad swath through the rhododendrons, angling up the slope toward thecliffs at the mouth of the basin. The slave master appeared to be carrying onedaughter under each arm, as the stalkers never saw any tracks but his. Even so, he was moving so rapidly they never seemed to catch a glimpse of him.

After a quarter hour of running, they climbed out of the forest, emerging onto one ofthe talus fields that tumbled down from the basin walls. Tarch was nowhere in sight. Itwas impossible to follow his trail across the field of jumbled boulders, but there was noquestion about where he was going. A mile ahead loomed the Turquoise Cliff, itsface pocked by the dark mouths of the Caves of Blue.

”Got to catch him before he gets into them caves again,” huffed Yago.

The ogre bounded up the talus field at an ungainly sprint, quickly drawing away fromhis companions. Atreus followed as best he could. His weak leg began to ache from theexertion, but he clenched his teeth and hobbled up the mountain, inspired by hisfriend's example. Yago soon vanished behind a jumbled crest of stone. Tarch's silhouette appeared farther up the hill, running along a flat boulder with a beautifulLangdarma girl tucked under each arm.

For the next few minutes, the chase continued with Yago and Tarch vanis.h.i.+ng andreappearing at odd intervals, the ogre steadily closing the distance as the devil drew nearer to the Caves of Blue. Ris.h.i.+ hung back for a while, then finally cursedLangdarma for rubbing off on him and danced up the hill ahead of Atreus. Atreustried to match the Mar's pace, but found it impossible and resigned himself towatching the first part of the battle from below.

Yago was still twenty paces behind when Tarch reached the Turquoise Cliff and, tucking both girls under one arm, began to scurry up the rocky face as easily as aspider. Yago grabbed a melon-sized rock and hurled it on the run.

The stone caught Tarch square between the shoulder blades. The devil gruntedloudly, let his captives tumble free, and pushed off the cliff. He spun around in mid-airand landed facing his attacker. The battle was on, with Atreus still a hundred pacesdown the slope.

The fury of Yago's a.s.sault belied his dread of facing Tarch again. The ogrestepped in swinging, bringing the scythe around in a two-handed sweep that caughtthe devil in his midsection and launched him across the slope. Tarch landed a halfdozen paces away, clattered down between the boulders, and disappeared. For one long moment, Atreus dared to hope Yago had ended the battle with a singleb.l.o.o.d.y stroke.

As the ogre stomped over to finish what he had started, a goat-sized boulder cameflying up at him. He raised his scythe to block. The rock smashed through thewooden handle and caught him full in the chest, bowling him over backward. He camedown hard, a sharp crack echoing off the cliff as his head struck the flat of a stone. Tarch clambered into view and staggered toward his groaning foe, a flap of scalyhide dangling from the gruesome wound in his side. Ris.h.i.+ was a dozen paces behindthe devil, creeping across the boulder pile as silently as a cloud. Atreus wanted toshout at him to hurry but did not dare. The Mar's only advantage was surprise.

Tarch stopped a pace shy of the groaning ogre and lifted a hand, preparing to incinerate him. Atreus opened his * mouth to shout. In the same instant Ris.h.i.+ braced himself and flung his net, wrapping the devil's arm in a mesh of coa.r.s.e rope.

Ris.h.i.+ gave the draw line a terrific jerk and leaped down behind a boulder. Tarchwas spun around, his hand spraying a crescent of flame across the talus field. ”Filthy Mar!” The devil shook his arm free of the net's charred remains, then started toward Ris.h.i.+'s hiding place. ”That's the last time you skrag me!””Then it's ...” Yago paused, drawing in a breath so deep Atreus heard it fifteenpaces away,”... my turn!”

The ogre sat up, heaving the boulder on his chest toward Tarch. The devilbrought his arm up and spun around, but the stone's momentum blasted through the block and sent him tumbling headfirst down into the talus.

Yago was up in an instant, flinging himself across the jumbled stones withscythe in hand. A scaly hand emerged from between the boulders. The ogrestopped short, twisting aside just as a long gout of orange flame shot past.

Then Atreus was there, climbing over the talus from the opposite side, holding the kettle lid in front of him like a s.h.i.+eld. Tarch lay down in a hollow between threeboulders, one leg trapped under the heavy stone he and Yago had been hurlingback and forth, struggling to twist around so he could bring his crackling flames...o...b..ar on the ogre. Though his side lay flayed open from sternum to spine, hisscaly face betrayed nothing but anger. Atreus leaped down, turning the iron lid flatand lowering it over the devil's hand.

The flame stream reversed itself and roared back into the hollow and billowed upin a huge, orange halo. The acrid smell of scorched leather filled the air. Tarch howled in anguish. Atreus dropped the lid and leaped away, one arm raised toprotect his face from the searing heat.

The roar died as abruptly as it had begun, as Tarch started to rise from his fiery grave.

Atreus jumped down to meet him, wielding his axe with both hands. Tarch, now awithered and blackened thing that seemed nothing but scorched claw and charred fang, lashed out with both claws. Atreus slipped the first attack and caught thesecond on his axe head, then brought the sharp blade around and buried it deep inthe devil's shoulder.

Tarch bellowed and brought his uninjured arm up to unleash another of his conflagrations. Yago's scythe arced down from above, severing the scaly hand at the wrist. A gummy syrup of fire oozed from the stump, rolling back down the devil's armand engulfing it in flame.

Tarch's blazing arm went limp and fell back toward his scorched chest. Atreus andYago were on him with their flas.h.i.+ng blades, hewing and chopping and slicing untilthe battered devil finally stopped struggling and lay in his hole charred and bleeding,barely conscious and clinging to life only by the thinnest strand of wicked will.

Atreus stepped over next to Tarch's mangled head and raised his axe, preparingto finish the battle. The devil glared up at him out of one blood-shot eye, his viciousstare expressing the hatred his tongue was too weak to speak. Atreus bent hisknees, gathering the strength he would need to chop through the tough sinews and thick bone of Tarch's neck. Then a pair of small voices gasped from the edge of the hollow. He looked up to see Tarch's kidnap victims standing on a boulder above him, staringdown at him with two pairs of horrified brown eyes. They were as beautiful as allthe children of Langdarma, and in their puzzled expressions he saw both theinnocence and the peaceful repose that had first attracted him to Seema.

Ris.h.i.+ rushed up from behind the two girls. ”What are you doing?” he said. ”This is notfor the eyes of little girls.”The Mar pulled the girls back from the edge of the hollow, but Atreus could notbring the axe down. Instead, he motioned Yago to his side. ”The Sannyasi should be here soon.” Atreus handed the axe to the ogre. ”Until then, you're in charge.”The ogre frowned, then glanced in the direction of the retreating girls and seemedto understand. He hefted the axe over Tarch's throat, sneering down at his prisoner.”I doubt you can move,” he said. ”But just so you know, I'd enjoy taking your head off if you try.”

Chapter 15.

By the time Seema arrived at the Turquoise Cliffs, all the streams in the basin had turned the color of blood. The stain was creeping down into the main valley, lacing itsway through the trees as though some huge spider was spinning a scarlet web overLangdarma itself. Atreus could see by the alarm in Seema's eyes that such a thing hadnever before happened, and that she blamed herself for this horror. Had she knownwhat would come of bringing strangers into paradise, he wondered if she would still have saved his life.

As Seema came up beside him, Atreus gestured down into the hollow, where Yagostill held the axe over Tarch's neck. ”He's pretty beaten up, but we didn't kill him,” Atreus said, glancing out over thered-laced basin. ”I don't know if that will mean anything for Langdarma.” ”Who can say?” Seema sounded drained and numb. ”It is good you spared him. Asecond murder does not undo the first. What of the girls? Are they injured?”

Atreus shook his head, then pointed toward the base of the cliff and said, ”Ris.h.i.+ hasthem up in a cave. They're not hurt physically, but they're not saying much.” He looked down at Tarch's mangled form. ”They saw a pretty b.l.o.o.d.y fight”

When Seema glanced at the devil, her eyes grew hard and surprisingly ugly. ”At least they did not see a vengeance murder,” she said. ”They will heal better for it, but I am not sure I will. I wanted him dead. I still do.” Atreus looked away, not knowing what to say. Had she expressed such sentiments inRivens.h.i.+eld he would have handed her Yago's axe and told her to take as manyswings as she liked. But they were not in Rivens.h.i.+eld, and Atreus was as lost with hisemotions as she was with hers. He had spared Tarch's life only because he did not want to corrupt the innocence of the two girls watching. Now that Seema had losthers, he had no idea how to give it back.

Instead, he said, ”Maybe you should check the girls. You'll be more comfort to them than Ris.h.i.+.”