Part 11 (1/2)
They managed to avoid the Pelklanders and reach Mileon without another fight. The invaders were tightly concentrated in and around the castle and town. They'd heard that two or three smaller sea fortresses had fallen or were besieged, but even those were relatively close to Castle Hurien. Once Therain and the others slipped past the thinly spread outer picket of the Pelklanders, they had no more fears of encountering the enemy ahead of them. So far they had seen no sign of pursuit.
Therain's tale of his newfound magical abilities stunned Claressa. Was everyone in her family a creature of magic except her? She'd once told Balandrick that she had no desire for magic, that the jealousy she felt when Gerin learned he could become an amber wizard was a fleeting thing, a fancy she rejected after learning that a wizard's very long life could not be shared. But that was not true. Deep in her heart she still yearned for both the ability of wielding such might and the long life it granted.
Gerin, then Reshel, and now Therain. ”How did this happen?” she asked when he told her about his abilities. ”What caused it?”
”Haven't the foggiest,” he said. ”I just started having dreams about it, then it happened for real.”
She'd managed to get Trene and Verdel out with her, along with most of the other prisoners. Verdel was still a wreck, sobbing almost every waking moment, but Trene possessed a resilience and resolve that seemed to grow with each pa.s.sing day.
They encountered a number of refugees on the road, but no one had any word of Baris or the rest of the Toreshes. Several nights Claressa cried herself to sleep worrying about him. She hated herself for being so weak, but she could not help it. Her emotions had overwhelmed her. She felt powerless and useless. She did not know whether to grieve for her husband or hold out hope that he was still alive.
”What are we going to do about them?” she asked Therain one night around the campfire. ”How are we going to drive them out?”
”I don't know. Our resources are stretched dangerously thin. Daqoros knows this. He knows he can't take and hold onto a large piece of land. He doesn't have the men for it even if he emptied the isles. He's taken a small area and is working feverishly to make it his own before we can even consider mounting a counterstrike. I admit, it's clever, using our own weaknesses to his advantage.”
”Then we have to move faster. He can't be allowed to keep what he's taken.”
Therain sighed. She did not like the sound if it. ”There are pressing problems to the north, Claressa. I don't know that we can get rid of them.”
”Don't even think such a thing. What about Baris and his mother and father?”
”Until we know what's happened to them, it's hard to say what we can do. But let's change the subject. I don't want to upset you, and it will be up to Gerin to decide how the kingdom responds.”
How could he talk of defeat, of surrendering to the b.l.o.o.d.y Pelklander savages? Tears of frustration sprang to her eyes. Day and night she was filled with a consuming hatred toward the invaders so intense that at times she felt that's all there was to her: hate, and a desire for revenge. To do to them what they had done to her.
”Does it hurt?” she said, gesturing to his stump. She was still not used to seeing it.
”Sometimes. I still reach for things with it before I realize my hand's not there anymore. It's like the memory of it keeps it real in my mind.”
Laysa shouted with joy when she saw Therain, and ran to meet him. She hugged him and wept, then kissed him hard on the mouth.
”I'm happy to see you, too,” he said.
They remained in the town for a day before setting off for the port city of Edonia. From there, Therain planned to catch a s.h.i.+p back to Almaris. It would be faster than traveling overland, and he felt the need for haste.
One drizzling morning two days after leaving Mileon, Therain sensed something he hadn't experienced before. As his powers grew stronger and more refined, he found he could tell one type of animal from another. If he closed his eyes, they appeared in his mind as different points of light of various sizes, shapes, and colors. He could now easily identify a large number of animals with great accuracy.
But this latest sensation was unlike any other. He closed his eyes and saw a deep bluish light that swirled chaotically. He was having trouble sensing exactly where it was, but sensed that it was close.
Then he realized there was more than one.
”Captain, have your men set a perimeter. Something's out there. I don't know what they are, but I don't like them much.”
”Yes, my lord.”
”Therain?” said Laysa. ”What is it?”
”I don't know. I'm going to see what I can find.” He held out his hand; she knotted her fingers through his.
He tried to see through the eyes of one of the creatures, and was shocked when he was rebuffed. It felt like he'd slammed his head into a stone wall. Pain shot through his temples. He drew a hissing breath of air through clenched teeth. If he hadn't been sitting, he would have fallen to the ground.
”By the G.o.ds, are you all right?”
He opened his eyes and found himself on his back. Laysa was leaning over him, her face drawn with worry.
He sat up. ”I'm fine. Whatever's out there doesn't want me to see what it is.”
”But Therain, it's an animal. How could it do that?”
”I'm not sure it is just an animal.”
”I didn't think your power worked on people.”
”It doesn't. I don't think this is a person, either.”
The Khedes.h.i.+ans had formed a circle around their camp. ”My lord, what are we looking for?” asked Rundgar.
”I don't know.” He tried to sense where they were, but the d.a.m.ned things were somehow masking their presence. He could still sense them out there somewhere, but could not discern in what direction. It was maddening.
Then they disappeared.
”Captain, I've lost them. I want to get moving. Keep your men on alert. I can't tell if they've gone beyond my range or are somehow hiding themselves from me.”
He did not sense them the rest of that day. He slept fitfully that night, worried that the things would try to enter the camp when he was asleep. But the night pa.s.sed without incident. He kept his men on alert the next day as well, but the things, whatever they were, did not reappear.
Therain was almost asleep the next night when he sensed them. They were very close; it was as if their dark light had erupted from nowhere.
He jumped to his feet. ”Be ready! Something's out there in the dark!”
It's like they can mask their presence until they get too close to hide any longer, he thought. But what in Shayphim's b.l.o.o.d.y name are they?
One of the soldiers on the perimeter screamed. Therain instinctively stepped in front of Laysa and Claressa.
Three quatans-the same b.l.o.o.d.y things that had bitten off his hand-were charging the camp from different directions.
Two of his men held firm as a quatan lunged at them with its four arms, the halo of tentacles darting forward from the back of its head, the tiny mouths at the end of each open and hungry. The creature was blindingly fast and avoided the first sword-thrust aimed at one of its claws. Its lower set of arms were long enough to catch the ankles of both soldiers. Before the men could react, the quatan heaved up and knocked them on their backs. It slashed open the throat of one man, then fell upon the other, its tentacles latching onto his face, where they began to feed.
Laysa and Claressa were both screaming. Kelpa stood by Therain, legs splayed, hackles on end, ears flat against his head, growling fiercely. The other quatans were darting about the perimeter, trying to find an opening, but Therain's archers were keeping them at bay. One of the creatures let out a howl of rage as an arrow sank deep into its shoulder.
”Enough of this b.l.o.o.d.y nonsense,” said Therain.
He reached out toward the creatures with his powers. Now that he knew what they were, he had no hesitation. He battered against their defenses with such brutal force that they immediately opened to him.
The next instant, he was inside their minds.
He lost his balance and fell into Claressa, knocking them both over. The view through the quatan's eyes was disorienting. Everything was tinted red, and fractured as if he were looking through a piece of shattered gla.s.s.