A Solitary Journey (26 page)

‘Tell the bastards to let me up!’ Dark snarled, still bent on his knees.

Meg concentrated. Can you hear me?

‘Why should I be concerned about your priest?’ Chas-chi challenged.

Yes, A Ahmud Ki responded.

Point at the grey bush ten paces ahead and to your right and say ‘Taas’ when I nod to you. That’s Shesskar for burn. Meg shrugged and said to Chas-chi, ‘I know your people don’t believe in gods or magic. My people do. Our Seers use the power given to them by our god to do magic.’

Chas-chi sneered. ‘Lies.’

Meg shrugged, turned and nodded to A Ahmud Ki as she willed the grey bush to ignite. A Ahmud Ki raised his arm and pointed, saying clumsily, ‘Taas!’ The bush burst into flame, startling everyone else.

Meg faced the astonished Chas-chi and said, ‘Still disbelieve?’

Argument erupted between the warriors, but as Dark rose to his feet Chas-chi lowered his spear menacingly and pressed it against the man’s chest.

‘If you leave in peace now, we will forget that this happened and leave your land immediately,’ Meg offered again, but with authority drawn from her charade with A Ahmud Ki. ‘You will not lose any respect and we will speak highly of you with others whom we meet.’

Chas-chi seemed intent on impaling Dark so Meg, fearing her bravado had worsened the situation, prepared a spell to save him, but then Chas-chi pulled his spear point away and motioned to his men to withdraw. He backed away in their wake, his dark eyes shifting from Meg to A Ahmud Ki and back to Dark until he slipped out of sight.

‘Bastards!’ Dark swore again. He looked at Carter who was leaning against a tree, blood caked along his right temple and down his cheek. ‘Stillwater’s body is still out there,’ he growled as he bent and tore up a tree root.

‘They’ll kill you if you go after them,’ Meg warned.

Dark whirled around, his face twisted with fury. ‘There will be more of them dead than me!’ He smacked the root against his other hand and turned to march after the Shesskar.

‘Wait for me,’ Mainhill called.

‘Don’t be so stupid!’ Carter barked as he lurched into their path. Talemaker joined him.

‘Get out of the way!’ Dark warned, squaring up to Carter.

Carter stood still. ‘You’re stronger and younger than me, and if it comes to that I can’t stop you,’ he said, ‘but I won’t let you walk out to die without knowing that I tried to stop you.’

Meg watched the moment of uneasy tension between the four men. Dark swore again, lowered the root and glared in A Ahmud Ki’s direction. ‘Why didn’t your magical friend stop them?’

‘He did,’ Meg said.

‘He burned a bush!’ Dark snapped and threw the root into the trees. ‘Stillwater’s dead and we’re doing nothing.’

‘We’re alive,’ Meg argued, ‘and we’ll stay alive if we get out of this place.’

‘Where to?’ Carter asked.

‘Back over the mountains,’ Meg said. ‘We can’t stay here. The Shesskar will hunt us.’

‘We were already being hunted down by the Kerwyn,’ Talemaker reminded her as he squatted on the ground.

‘Either way we lose,’ said a dejected Mainhill, who brushed his hand through his filthy fair hair and spat.

‘At least we know the land in Shess,’ Carter said, coming to Meg’s defence. ‘We know where to hide. We even know our enemy.’

‘West, then,’ Talemaker prompted, looking to Meg, ‘and quickly.’

T
here was nothing familiar to Meg as they climbed higher through the forest during the day. Her companions said little, their energy focussed on getting as far from the Shesskar villages as possible before nightfall, but they did stop to rest and eat in the middle of the day. ‘I’ll hunt for food,’ she offered when Carter suggested that they stop. Whisper scrambled down from her shoulder and trotted into the undergrowth.

‘We’ll set a trap for a bird,’ said Carter. ‘I need something with meat.’

‘Don’t catch any rats,’ Talemaker warned with a teasing grin.

‘What’s your friend’s problem?’ Dark asked when he noticed that A Ahmud Ki was staring at the group as if he was surprised they had stopped.

‘We need food,’ Meg explained to A Ahmud Ki as she approached him.

‘At dusk,’ he replied. ‘I can find forest food. Stopping now is not a good strategy.’

‘They haven’t eaten well for a long time,’ she argued. ‘Just for a short rest. You can help.’ He looked at her as if she had made a rude request, but seeing the expression she said, ‘You know what to
look for, don’t you?’ He snorted and walked into the forest.

‘What did you say to upset
him?’
Dark asked sarcastically.

‘He’s going to help,’ she answered. ‘We’ll bring back some food. Keep watch.’

She was glad for solitude while she hunted for edible plants because there had been no respite since the escape from Ha-chet-shu. Stumbling on Carter and the other men was a good sign, but now she knew from their tales that it was possible her children were still alive she was desperate to reach the ports along the Western Shess coastline. If the Kerwyn were selling children into slavery, not slaughtering them, then her children were alive. The problem was to find where they were. She stooped and wrenched a handful of lichen from a tree trunk and studied it. Nothing was familiar in this place—neither the plants nor the animals.
But how will I get to the ports?
she wondered.
And which port? And who do I ask? Who would even know my children?
She threw the lichen aside in disgust and fought back tears.
How will I find them?
She sighed and recommenced her search, but her mind flooded with returning memories of her lost family and her sorrow flowed softly.

Through her blurred vision she spied A Ahmud Ki standing in a tiny glade. He glanced in her direction, but feigning that she was searching for food and hadn’t seen him she continued heading away from him until she was certain that he couldn’t see her. Then she stealthily circled, watching and listening with all of her practised hunting skills until she reached a point from where she could observe her quarry through the trees.

He was staring at a pile of crumbled rocks, standing loose-limbed as if he was facing an opponent, his braided silver hair draped over his left shoulder,
his hands extended, fingers moving, flexing. She edged closer and could hear him whispering as his hands moved through the air before his face. His movements had the appearance of the spell-casting descriptions she recalled from old fairytales and ballads. Nothing changed, however, and he looked angry and bewildered. He straightened and wove a pattern around his body, his hands moving so quickly that they became a blur, and finished with a flourish. Again, nothing appeared to have changed. A Ahmud Ki remained rigid for several moments, and then his shoulders sagged and his head bent forward. She was about to go to him when he exploded in rage and kicked the earth with his bare feet, dropped to his knees and buried his head in his hands.

Held by her compassion for him, Meg waited to see if he would rise again, but he stayed hunched over, his back and shoulders bobbing, his hands pressed to his face. She felt compelled to offer him comfort, but her instinct warned her to leave him alone to deal with his despair. He had been a genuine user of powerful magic—of that there was no doubt any more—but clearly his magic was gone and he was devastated. To her surprise a black form trotted out of the bushes and ambled up to A Ahmud Ki. He dropped his hands and stared as Whisper sat on her haunches and waited for him to pick her up. Meg smiled at the rat’s uncanny sensitivity, sighed, and silently retreated.

At dusk they halted high above The Valley of Kings. The mountainside was treacherously saturated with rivulets from the snow melt and they navigated several rocky streams in the fading light before they reached a tiny valley that breached the mountain. ‘We came through there,’ Carter informed Meg. ‘It seemed to be the shortest way.’

Meg searched the dark mountains for features, but couldn’t identify the valley through which she’d travelled with Wombat and the others. ‘How long did it take you?’ she asked.

‘Three days,’ Carter replied.

‘Food?’

‘We had a little. We couldn’t catch anything while we were in the valley. Plenty of water.’

‘Over here!’ They turned to see Talemaker waving. Together with the others, and A Ahmud Ki trailing with Whisper on his shoulder, they approached and saw that the minstrel was pointing down the slope. ‘Something is moving in the trees. People.’

As they stared down the shadowed slope A Ahmud Ki murmured. ‘What did he say?’ Dark asked.

‘He says the dark ones are coming, bringing more of our people,’ Meg translated.

‘He can
see
that?’ Carter said.

‘Are they coming this way?’ asked Talemaker.

Meg put the question to A Ahmud Ki, and translated his answer. ‘Yes.’

‘We need to hide,’ said Dark.

‘Or get going into the pass,’ suggested Carter.

‘Not without food,’ Talemaker argued. ‘We nearly starved coming here.’

‘If they’re our people, we should see what’s happening,’ Meg argued.

‘No prizes for guessing,’ said Dark sourly. ‘We’re not welcome, remember?’

‘We might be able to help these people,’ Meg suggested.

‘How?’ asked Dark, his anger rising. ‘Feed them? Offer them clothes? We haven’t even got enough for ourselves.’

‘Let’s hide and see what they do,’ Mainhill interrupted. ‘It was your idea, Dark.’

‘That’s as good a place as any,’ Talemaker suggested,
pointing to a dark clump of trees, boulders and bushes on the slope beside the entrance to the pass.

The party crossed a clearing and assembled in the temporary hide, except for A Ahmud Ki who waited where he could observe the people climbing through the forest. The deepening sky was rapidly filling with stars and a cold breeze whistled down the mountain. ‘We’d freeze in there tonight,’ Carter observed.

‘Can you see your friend?’ Dark asked irritably.

‘No,’ Meg replied, squinting into the darkness.
Unless I concentrate,
she considered. She focussed, her spine tingled and the world shifted as if there was a grey light washing over everything. A Ahmud Ki’s thin figure waited at the edge of the slope almost merged with a tree.
I can see in the dark,
she pondered.
Is this what he can do?
A Ahmud Ki came towards her at a steady pace.

‘They’re almost here,’ he said as he settled into position beside her.

‘Are they coming?’ Dark whispered.

‘Watch,’ Meg directed.

‘I can’t see,’ Carter complained.

‘Watch,’ Meg repeated, nudging him. Again, she concentrated and the eerie grey light filtered through the dusk as three Shesskar warriors appeared, head first, rising into the open ground before the pass. They checked that it was safe before they called down the slope. The leading man knelt and after a few fumbling efforts he lifted a burning torch. His companions produced torches and lit theirs from his flame.

‘That’s nice of them,’ Dark whispered, and grunted as Meg elbowed him sharply. The torchlight distorted her magical vision so she looked away, past the warriors, to see who else was coming up the slope. More Shesskar warriors appeared, surrounding a huddled, stumbling group of eight women and three men. Wombat’s big frame lurched into view. Meg’s heart raced. The big man
was securely bound in ropes. The Shesskar warriors herded their prisoners to the entrance of the pass and a warrior pointed sharply, yelling.

‘What’s he saying?’ Carter whispered.

‘He’s telling them to go and not to come back or they will die,’ Meg explained.

‘He’s still going on,’ said Talemaker.

‘Sh,’ Meg ordered. When the warrior was finished she said, ‘He’s told them that if any Shess come into Shesskar-sharel from now on they will be killed or driven back. They—we are not welcome.’ She watched the prisoners who did not seem to understand anything except the Shesskar warriors’ intent. The warriors prodded the women with their spears, driving them into the pass. Wombat, despite his ropes, waded between the spear points and the women protectively, while his Shesskar captors eyed him warily. She searched for Chi-hway and was disappointed not to find him among the men, leaving her to wonder how or why Wombat was there. She couldn’t see his wife, Ochre, or his children.

‘Bastards!’ Dark’s outburst snapped Meg from her reverie. A woman was down and a Shesskar warrior was beating her with his spear. ‘I can’t stay here!’ Dark declared and burst from cover, charging at the warriors. Mainhill ran after him.

Meg stared in horror as Dark leapt onto the warrior attacking the woman and brought him crashing to the ground. Caught by surprise, the Shesskar wheeled defensively as Mainhill arrived, and he was impaled on a thrusting spear. Meg rushed from the hiding place, closed her eyes and thrust her arms into the air. A white ball of light exploded above the captors and captives, radiating with blinding intensity that forced everyone to cover their eyes and crouch in shock. ‘Run, men of Shesskar!’ she yelled in the Shesskar tongue. ‘Run before I burn out your eyes!’

The warriors, cowering from the impossible vision, retreated, some hesitantly, as if they could not comprehend what was taking place and did not trust their instincts to run. ‘Go!’ Meg ordered with as much authority as she could muster. ‘Go to your homes!’ The warriors retreated down the slope into the dark forest.

Meg lowered her arms, reduced the light’s intensity in her mind to a soft orange glow and opened her eyes. The former captives were milling around bodies on the ground. Saltsack Carter and Talemaker crept out of the bushes. ‘How did you do
that?’
Talemaker asked hoarsely.

‘Get everyone into the pass,’ Meg ordered. ‘Now.’

‘We’ll freeze,’ Carter argued.

‘No we won’t,’ she told him abruptly. ‘Get everyone moving.’ Carter and Talemaker headed for the party of refugees where a big man was staring in amazement towards Meg.

‘You are a Dragonlord,’ A Ahmud Ki muttered from the darkness behind her. ‘I know what I have seen.’

Meg waited for Wombat to take a seat, while Whisper sat beside her sniffing the air expectantly. The big man was carrying a chunk of warm meat on a stick. ‘We think it’s some kind of mountain possum,’ he said, offering it to Meg. ‘It tastes good. Dark is a clever hunter.’

Meg bit into it, savouring the juices that dribbled onto her chin. ‘Thought you’d like it, Lady Amber,’ Wombat said and grinned.

‘I’m Meg Kushel,’ she retorted through a mouthful of food.

‘Not any more,’ Wombat told her. ‘Everyone in this sorry little party knows the truth. They’ve seen it. They all call you Lady Amber now. Get used to it.’

Meg stared across the space at the refugees gathered around a small cooking fire, sharing food and talking
quietly. The sun was sitting on the mountain’s shoulder and the late afternoon shadows were lengthening rapidly. The trek through the pass was almost over. Carter said that they would be in Shess again the following day, above the Whispering Forest but further south of the point where Meg and Wombat first crossed into Shesskar-sharel. The survivors owed their life to her magic. She had not only saved them from the Shesskar but kept them warm through the chilly evenings in the pass by creating warming stones and casting warming spells onto their clothing. They knew who she was. ‘I’d prefer it if they’d just call me Meg.’

Wombat chuckled. ‘Of course. But you’ve given them hope again.’

‘I’ve kept them warm,’ she replied. ‘That’s all.’

‘In this place, warmth and food
are
hope,’ Wombat stated plainly. ‘Tell me more about your strange friend who keeps to himself.’

Meg glanced at A Ahmud Ki who was sitting away from the rest, clutching a warming stone. She’d already told Wombat what she told everyone—that she’d found A Ahmud Ki injured and ill outside Chi-hway’s village the evening before they escaped. ‘I don’t know much about him at all,’ she said. ‘I don’t even know where he’s from, but I’m guessing it’s somewhere east.’

‘But you can speak with him.’

Meg met Wombat’s gaze, then looked away. ‘It’s part of what I can do as the Conduit,’ she said. ‘I can read and speak and understand any language.’

‘Is he a Seer? Or a shaman?’

Meg shrugged. ‘He might have been. I really don’t know much about him at all. He just wants to get away from the Shesskar like us.’

‘But why doesn’t he go back east?’

Meg had no answer for his question so she let it pass and asked, ‘Will you go back for Ochre?’

Wombat’s smile faded. He dropped his head, picked up a stick and began scratching the earth. ‘If I were a stronger man I would go back. But where would I find her or my little ones now?’

Meg’s heart sank for her friend. He’d already explained to Meg why he was with the refugee party being expelled from Shesskar-sharel. Angry with Wombat’s rebellious nature, his keeper, Ka-sa-tem, had immediately sold Ochre and the children to someone in another village to punish him. Wombat went berserk, and escaped on his second attempt to pursue his family, only to be captured by the warriors of another village who were intent on driving the refugees from their land. ‘When the time is right,’ Wombat said quietly. ‘But it is not right yet, eh?’ He pushed to his feet with a grunt. ‘I have to keep this lot on their jobs,’ he said and forced a grin before he waddled towards the fire.

What jobs?
Meg thought, smiling, as she gave a morsel of meat to Whisper. Then she headed for A Ahmud Ki who looked up as she reached him. ‘Are you eating?’ she inquired and sat on a rock beside him.