Chasers of the Wind (24 page)

Midge and Bamut behaved as meek as lambs and little by little the atmosphere stopped being so tense. Offenses took a backseat to survival. We were all stuck with one another, so we had to pretend that nothing had really happened.

Toward nightfall on the fourth day, we stopped for the night in a sycamore grove. We’d covered a lot of ground over the course of the day, and we could allow ourselves to rest until morning with a clear conscience.

“Are you sure it’s safe here?” Midge asked me.

“Judge for yourself. We’ve been struggling through the wilderness at a trot for four days. We’ll head out for the road tomorrow. We’re going the right direction. If there was a pursuit, it’s turned back long ago. Otherwise they would have picked up our trail. I doubt a small fire would do much harm. Besides, eating partridges raw isn’t very good for you. Personally, I prefer my birds cooked.”

Midge listened sullenly, nodded to show that he was in agreement with the arguments I set forth, and he then poked Bamut in the side. He stood up, groaning discontentedly, and the two of them left to gather kindling for the fire. I followed them with my eyes until they disappeared behind the trees. Layen was dozing, leaning against a tree with her legs tucked under her. The journey had exhausted her. She still hadn’t recovered her strength after what had happened in the village.

I took my jacket off and carefully, so as not to wake her, covered my wife with it.

“Keep an eye out,” I asked of Shen in a whisper.

The healer was plucking the partridge I’d shot and he nodded without looking up from his work. Neither I nor Layen nor he had spoken about what happened in Dog Green. We assiduously avoided that topic, sheltering behind the lack of time. In part, that was the truth. The debilitating foot marches always ended with a halt for the night, where everyone had a hurried bite to eat and fell into exhausted sleep until morning. Sometimes we didn’t even have the strength to post a watch. Then we were traveling again, and we couldn’t talk. I did not want Midge and Bamut to overhear us.

Our “runaways” knew nothing about Shen’s strange talents. Perhaps that was for the best. The lad was evidently not at all eager to share his secret with those around him.

I grabbed my bow and walked off in the direction in which my “good friends” had headed not too long ago. I didn’t trust that pair before, and after their flight, there was no way. Without Whip to look after them, Midge had become a worrisome problem, a thorn in my side, especially since Bamut obeyed him unconditionally. Layen and I were lucky that Shen was on the outs with them. But the healer also required a careful eye, since he could not only heal but also cast incandescent fire. Any fool could see that the lad was quite dangerous and that he might have his own reasons for sending us to our eternal rest without any encouragement from my brothers in arms. I wanted to get rid of them all, but I wasn’t sure I could do it without real damage to my own hide.

Besides spying on our wood gatherers, I needed to walk a circuit around our camp for the night. There is little joy in getting cozy near a gove’s lair or a den of shpaguks. And waking up in their stomachs isn’t any fun, either.

Besides all that, I was worried about the last bit of ground we’d covered. I’ve been naturally suspicious since childhood. But recently my suspicious nature has been responding very sensitively to any oddity. As soon as we hit the forest, I sensed that someone was shadowing us. However, “sensing” will only get you so far. If we were being followed, they were doing it skillfully. Yesterday afternoon I’d fallen behind my companions and set up a small ambush. The sensation of being shadowed instantly disappeared. Either I really had imagined it all, or the unknown dodger had become more careful.

I didn’t tell anyone about my suspicions. Not even Layen. They didn’t need to be bothered for nothing.

The sky was still light, but here between the powerful trunks of the enormous sycamores, thick twilight reigned. The forest seemed gloomy and vacant as it prepared for sleep. There were no paths, not even animal trails. I had to walk randomly and to watch under my feet so that I did not tread on dry branches or trip over the black braids of the roots protruding from the ground.

Without false modesty, I can say that I know how to walk in a forest. I acquired the experience in my youth, when I’d been forced to wander around Sandon for a time. Even now that forest has no love for outsiders, and at that time humans were strictly forbidden from entering the kingdom of the Highborn. There was no peace treaty between the Empire and that race, and so anyone who entered that wilderness had to put all his hope in his own cunning and experience.

After some time, I could hear the disgruntled grumbling of Bamut. “It’s so dark, it’s as if my eyes have been plucked out!”

“If you keep horsing around out here, you’re going to have to feel your way back by touch,” replied Midge. Immediately after these words, the sound of a branch snapping rang out.

“Come on, you, damn.… You just try and teach me how to gather wood.”

“You need to move more quickly. We’ll lose our way in an hour or so. I’ve heard of men wandering through the pines and dying of hunger, and all the while, there was the path. Right next to them.”

“It’s only like that when there’s magic, damn it,” drawled Bamut petulantly. Another branch snapped.

“And who told you there isn’t any here? This spot looks like it’s cursed. I wouldn’t be surprised if something nasty happened to us.”

Bamut laughed nervously and, judging by the rustling of the leaves, began to hurry up. Trying not to make a sound, I crept closer and watched them from behind a tree. They’d stopped a bit farther off. There was kindling nearer to the camp, but for some reason they decided to wander farther into the thicket.

“Hey, tell me this, you, damn.… Why should we be out here doing everything while they’re resting?”

“Shut up.”

“No! Why am I always on the bottom? I’m sick to death of it.”

“Are you suggesting we bleed them dry?” asked Midge sneeringly.

“Yeah. I think about those ten thousand sorens all the time.”

“Don’t you even think about that! It’s not worth it!”

“But what could be better than money?”

“Well, for example, a proper grave.”

“Ha!”

“I realize that it’s not as nice as sorens, but you’re more likely to get that than Joch’s reward.”

“Damn.… What do you mean?”

“What are you? Completely stupid?” Midge suddenly bristled. “You’re constantly forgetting about Layen. Were you sleeping when she turned half that village into rubble?”

Bamut got down on his knees and began collecting kindling. For a short while the crossbowman grumbled angrily, trying to think up a suitable reply.

“Good steel will stop any lousy magic if you go about it right. Wasn’t it you who slit the necromancer’s throat?”

“Of course it was me. The sorcerer didn’t know our worth. But Layen knows what you and I are capable of. I don’t want to go near her, even when she’s asleep. There’s also Gray. He’s quite good at setting people’s souls free when he’s backed against a wall. It’s too risky.”

“There are three of us and two of them.”

“Those two could stand against five. Besides, do you really think Shen is on our side?”

“Yes.”

“Why would you think that?”

“I talked to him.”

“When?”

“I managed it when we stopped yesterday.”

“Well, now. I’m not very sure of him.”

“Damn.… It doesn’t mean a thing that you don’t like the lad. Whip got along with him just fine.”

“And where is Whip? He’s rotting with a crushed skull in some dung pit. Melot forgive me for such words. I tell you again; I don’t trust Shen. Besides, it makes a lot of difference if you divide ten thousand between two or three people.”

“So you’ve decided to do this after all?” Bamut was clearly thrilled.

“Deciding does not mean acting. We’ll wait for the right moment. If one presents itself. But right now it’s too early to make a move. Gray is guiding us. If we pick him off, we’ll never get out of this forest.”

“And what if your moment doesn’t happen before we get to Al’sgara?”

“Then you’ll have to forget about the money. Let’s go. It’s almost dark.”

Midge and Bamut picked up the gathered firewood and walked off in the direction of camp.

Well, well, well.

My suspicions about those alley cats were completely justified.

I restrained myself from going after them. In spite of the perils of coexistence, the lads could come in handy. Spare hands are never really spare in the wilderness. But if we should happen to chance upon a gove, I’d send the three of them down its gullet without any remorse.

While Layen was beside me, there was no point in worrying overmuch that they would send us to the Blessed Gardens. I don’t think they’ll strike until we get out onto the highway. We’ll just have to get rid of them when we leave the forest.

I began to make my way toward the footpath we’d walked along all day. It was located about three hundred yards to the right of where Midge and Bamut had been hanging about. The sky had taken on a deep violet color and the first stars were shining forth. The Serpent was perfectly visible, and the Blue Flame on its tail was shining brightly, pointing to the south. I took my bearings and moved on.

I hate walking through the nighttime forest. It’s not a business for humans. Even though I’d known experienced trackers in my youth who could move through the darkness of the dense wilderness as if they were walking down a city street, I did not possess such skills. I had to practically push my eyes out of their sockets so I wouldn’t crash into some tree trunk. It didn’t help very much. The moon, as luck would have it, was still not out.

I stopped and, holding my bow at the ready, stood behind a tree. My eyes were of no use whatsoever so I had to listen, hoping to catch a suspicious rustle. But the minutes dragged on and nothing happened. Everything was the same as usual in a nighttime forest. The wind sighed through the treetops, and somewhere a roused bird gave a shriek.

Well then. I’d have to hope that there really wasn’t anyone chasing us. I crossed the path, once again delved into the thicket, and made my way back to where I’d found Midge and Bamut. Ahead of me the warm light of the fire twinkled. I smelled roast fowl and my stomach rumbled urgently. I was already dreaming of my share of partridge when a twig crunched softly to my left, very close by.

My arrow sped off into the darkness before I had a chance to think about what I was doing. The sound that followed a moment later let me know that I had missed and hit a tree. I shouted loudly, alerting those sitting by the fire about the danger, and sent a second arrow at the rustling, which was moving away from me. I had no idea if it hit or not.

Damn it! I was nearly taken unawares! If the person lying in wait had not stumbled over that miraculous twig, who knows how it all would have played out.

“What happened?” Layen ran up to me first.

Midge and Shen hurried after her with burning branches instead of torches. Bamut was armed with his crossbow.

“There was someone here,” I said, not taking my eyes off the direction where my arrow had fled.

“Who?” asked Shen, scowling.

“How should I know? You have a light. Check the ground. Maybe some tracks were left behind. Over there. And over there.”

We found the first arrow fairly quickly; it was lodged in a sycamore. Not far from it we found the broken twig that had saved my life.

“That means nothing.” The healer didn’t believe me. “It could have been like that for a year.”

“I suppose I just heard it crack in my head,” I responded sourly.

“I shouldn’t wonder,” he snapped. “There’s too little light to see anything.”

A glowing ball of turquoise light appeared in Layen’s hands. It was bright enough to light up the forest around us for a distance of two yards. I noticed that when my sun cast the spell, Midge winced. Excellent. That would make him be careful and not act recklessly.

“Is that enough?” she asked, holding out the glowing ball to Shen.

The healer took it in his palm without flinching. Then he looked at me questioningly.

“I shot twice.”

“Where?”

Once they’d received the direction they began to search.

“Here it is!” Bamut shouted back to us after a minute.

We hurried over to him and saw that he was twirling an arrow in his hands. Midge took it and raised it up to his eyes.

“You nicked someone after all. There’s blood on it.” The small assassin cautiously tasted the bloody arrowhead with the tip of his tongue. “Human.”

“You don’t say? Have you tried any other kinds?” asked Shen spitefully.

“Screw you!” roared Midge instantly.

“Cut it out,” ordered Layen. “Whether it’s human or not, one thing is clear—there really was something here. I think we need to post a watch at night. Otherwise we might not wake up the next day.”

Her suggestion was met with an approving silence.

*   *   *

I finally got a chance to speak with Layen in private during our halt the following day. The important conversation had been delayed by five days, but there was nothing I could do about that now. She had answered all my mental appeals with obstinate silence.

While the threesome imposed on us by Mols were taking off their boots and sprawling out to rest under the tall golden pines, we walked away to a small glade teeming with raspberries. Before we could get to a good place to speak without witnesses we had to scramble through the brush. Along the way, my wife took the opportunity to gather an entire handful of the large, fragrant berries and now, leaning against a tree trunk warmed by the sun, she was chewing on them thoughtfully.

After her communion with the necromancer’s staff, she was still pale, but the sickly, anemic gleam had disappeared from her skin and her hair was no longer lackluster. Enough of her weakness had disappeared that I couldn’t help but rejoice.

“How are you?”

“Huh?” Distracted by her weighty thoughts, she looked at me for a moment without comprehending what I was talking about. “Better. Much better. Thank you. What do you think? Who’s following us?”