Against the Empire: The Dominion and Michian (13 page)

Pollux quickly rose to his knees and fired his arrow, then grabbed one off the ground next to him and fired it, then grabbed a third and fired it as well, as a new storm of arrows began to rise towards them. Pollux ducked back down and the sound of new arrow arrivals began to click and ping as their points were blunted against the stony protection Shaiss and Pollux relied on.

“As soon as this ends, we might as well leave,” Shaiss suggested. They’d been at their task for a long time now, and had successfully inflicted significant damage to the unusual supply train this invasion force relied on. “I’d like to take Nestor back with us, so we won’t be moving fast.”

There was another pause in the sound of the arriving arrows. Pollux nodded his agreement, and Shaiss led the way towards their escape. Moments later, they knelt by Nestor’s body. It was lifeless, as they had both suspected, but Pollux draped it over his shoulder, and then they began a slow pace of moving back along the game trail away from the frustrated invading army’s animal handlers.

The sun had passed the meridian by the time they were back within sight of their climbing rope. Rashrew, Imelda and Marina were waiting impatiently, and all called out when they first spotted movement on the trail below. They looked in dismay when they were able to see that Nestor was being carried back, and Marina gave a sob when his body was the first one they pulled up. Pollux rose up next, and Shaiss came last, then the two survivors quickly rehashed their adventure with the others.

“So you killed six of their animals all told?” Rashrew summarized as they moved along the trail back towards the top of the ridge.

“Yes,” Pollux agreed. “We don’t know how many they have available at the other end obviously, but they must have been worried about the lack of returns, because after the fourth kill, those last couple of animals were greatly delayed between each arrival, like they were hoping something would produce better results.”

“Any chance of going back to check on killing more?” Imelda asked.

“We can try,” Shaiss said reluctantly. “But if they’ve put more ladders up and occupied the trail, we won’t be able to force our way in to have a shot at their animals.”

“They’ll’ve put up the ladders,” Rashrew said abruptly.

“Probably,” Imelda agreed, “but we ought to find out.”

“We’ve already found out,” Rashrew told her. He pointed, “Look.”

A patrol of about a dozen soldiers were visible far down the trail.

Pollux put Nestor’s body down. “That trail’s too far below us to reach easily with arrows.”

“I can hit it,” Shaiss said. “I can probably set five of them afire with my energy.”

“Let them get closer, and lower me down the cliff on the rope, so I can get within range,” Pollux added.

Rashrew un-slung the rope draped over his shoulder, and he and Marina and Imelda began to lower the archer until he gave two sharp tugs on the rope. Looking down they saw him squatting on an isolated ledge above the trail. A minute later he tugged again, signaling that he thought the patrol was within his range, telling Shaiss to begin his lethal assault.

“Start with the ones on the back and work forward,” Rashrew suggested.

Shaiss took aim and unleashed his energy in that same tight beam that caused Imelda to shiver with fear every time she thought about how deadly it was. Shaiss hit the ground ten yards behind the last soldier, then began to sweep forward. All the faces on the trail looked upward at the appearance of the bright light. The furthest back man fell instantly, while a woman in front of him flailed at her head for seconds as Shaiss’s ray moved across her face and on to the next soldier ahead. Two more were rapidly hit, but the fifth one realized he needed to duck, and he fell to the ground rolling and only receiving a lancing burn across his legs. The intense drain on his energy was making Shaiss’s face turn white, but he attempted to keep it up, and hit a sixth man before the insubstantial weapon flickered and then went out, while Shaiss toppled to the ground unconscious.

The other members of the patrol had also ducked down, and waited until the death weapon was no longer aimed at them. Three of the untouched six survivors gathered around the wounded man while the other three spread out as lookouts.

Pollux waited until the small group tending the wounded man was busy, then began to let arrows fly towards them, hoping to judge the angle, the long downward fall, and the canyon breezes correctly. His first arrow overshot and continued to fly past the group to the canyon floor below, and he corrected as needed. His next arrow hit one of the patrol members, and as the others looked up, Pollux’s next arrow was released, and then another. One hit another soldier, and the third hit the wounded man, as the remaining soldier rolled away. Two of the lookouts shot arrows at Pollux’s location, but neither shaft made it to his perch.

Only four of the dozen in the patrol remained, and they swiftly began to retreat back along the trail. “Can we follow them?” Rashrew asked.

“There are just four of us, five if you think Shaiss will awaken,” Imelda answered. “By the time we get Pollux back up here and Shaiss awake, and backtrack far enough to find the switchback to descend to their trail, they’ll be far away, or reinforced.

“We’ve done what we came to do, hopefully, and disrupted their transport system. Let’s try to get back to our command group and organize the evacuation and retreat, if we can,” she concluded.

Rashrew looked at her for a moment, then looked down at Pollux. He looked back up at Imelda. “You’re right. Let’s head back.” He reached for the rope and gave three tugs as a signal to Pollux, then all three of them began slowly hauling the archer back up the cliffside.

As Pollux scrambled back atop the ridge, Imelda bent low over Shaiss and examined him closely. She gently patted his cheeks and checked his vital signs. He was alive, but she could only sense some-thing was wrong, without any sense of what it was. She rocked back and felt the wind whip around her as she sat and thought.

Alec had obviously been hurt by using too much power in the wrong way in Bondell. Perhaps Shaiss had likewise strained himself with too much effort to use his powers. She looked up at Rashrew. “I can’t wake him. He may be like Alec was in Bondell, when he used too much energy, or back at the lacertii battleground. Alec laid and rested for days.” She paused as she thought of Alec for the first time in a long time.

“We can’t wait up here for days,” Rashrew answered. “Can we move him?” he asked as he looked over at Nestor’s body.

“I’d prefer not to move him, but I understand we have no choice,” Imelda answered.

“Let’s build a cairn over Nestor so the scavengers don’t disturb him, and then we can carry Shaiss,” Pollux said, making Imelda grateful. She had considered the same thought, but hadn’t felt comfortable suggesting they abandon the body of the Bondell fighter while carrying the Goldenfields ingenaire instead.

They spend considerable time gathering large stones and piling them in a crude shelter around and over Nestor, then giving Marina time to recite the prayer of mourning.

“Right then,” Rashrew said after a silent interval. “Let’s get moving.” He bent to pick up Shaiss, and hoisted him over his shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Shaiss asked groggily. “Put me down!”

Rashrew obliged him gently, and Imelda knelt over the light ingenaire to check his health. “How do you feel?” she asked, rubbing her fingertips on his temples to try to treat the headache she sensed. Her spirits lurched upward at his recovery; they’d been companions on the battlefield through many experiences now, and she appreciated Shaiss’s indomitable optimism, although his lack of true military discipline still aggravated her.

“I’ve got a splitting, oh it’s better now,” he responded. “Thank you. It’s almost gone.”

“That’s as much as I can do for you. Get up, and let’s get moving,” she told him, standing.

Shaiss followed her lead. “What happened and where are we going?” he asked as they started walking again.

“We’re heading back to our horses to get back to the village,” Imelda told him. “We’ve done all we can and now it’s time to organize and make the best of the situation.” With those words she understood that they had done a great deal, although it was probably not enough. They would face a very uneven battle ahead.

Chapter 12 – Reunion with Friends

Alec led Walnut across the river, to where the three riders sat on their horses watching him. Delle Locksfort sat furthest to the left as they faced him, wearing a grin on his face. In the center, Kinsey has a look of compassion and concern. And on the right a thundercloud sat on the face of Armilla. Alec would have expected nothing less if he had thought about it, and now he knew he would pay in double for having slipped away from his bodyguard once again.

Kinsey slipped off her horse first and ran into the river’s shallow edge, wrapping her arms around him fiercely in a hug that conveyed nothing but love for him and joy at seeing him alive. He returned the hug, closing his eyes and letting Kinsey’s affection fill him.

Suddenly another body was also present in the splashing water, with arms around both he and the Spirit ingenaire, and Alec opened his eyes to see that Delle had joined them. On the bank, gathering up the discarded reins of the others horses, Armilla was now watching the three of them. “Don’t think I’m coming out there getting my boots wet to give you love for running away again,” she rumbled.

“You’re going to break this bad habit before it kills you. If we have to seal the shackles around your ankles we will,” she threatened, but already, Alec could see the corner of her mouth beginning to rise in a smile.

He pulled away from the two in the river and walked forward to Armilla. “Now your boots don’t have to get wet,” he laughed, and he held out his arms to exchange a hug that made both their cheeks wet with tears.

“I am so glad to see all of you,” he said. “I had to do it, Armilla. John Mark told me this was the way to recover my powers. I know I ran away from a lot of responsibility, but finally I decided it meant more to me to be a healer than anything else.”

“Well,” Armilla said with a pause as the other two arrived, “we shouldn’t be standing around here when there’s a long ride ahead of us. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“I’m going back to John Mark’s cave,” he told them. “That’s where I got my powers the first time. They will be restored to me there.”

Kinsey gasped, but the other two were unmoved until she explained the lore of the cave.

“You’ve been out here in the Pale Mountains before?” Delle asked in astonishment.

“With Noranda,” Alec confirmed. “It was terrifying when the lacertii attacked, but we won’t have to worry about that now, and they’ve made a trail through the forest that will make it easier for us to travel up river.

“So let’s get going; it’s going to be several days to get to the cave,” he said, and with that they all mounted their horses.

Chapter 13 – Abandoned in the Mountains

Nearly three weeks later, Alec pulled on the reins of Walnut, and his companions came to stop around him. “What is it Alec?” Kinsey asked.

“I think we’re very near to Walnut Creek,” Alec said. “Right here. This is where Leah and I hid behind that log while lacertii went running by,” he said in a softer voice. “That was two years ago,” thinking about how much had happened in those two years, and remembering meeting Leah in the forest.

They began moving again, following the wide path that dipped downward to ford the creek. All sat at the edge of the water, looking across at the ruins of the small town that had seen so many lives lost. They were in the shadows of the mountains to the west, as the sun was setting on the other side of the great river.