Into the Stone Land (21 page)

Remembering the blue water in his pocket, he drank it as he ran. The effect was immediate, his world torn from him as the other world filled him. He saw now and it was as he'd never seen before. A delicate weave of threads and colors. Ray was where Avea said he was. Deanna was out there too.

A tent was before him. It was not the tent Avea had pointed out earlier, but he was inside pulling Deanna behind him before he realized this. Then he was in another tent, the one where Ray was being held, striking out at the lone guard with his staff and shouting at Deanna to free Ray's bindings.

He struck the guard again and again. He didn't think, he just acted. The guard went down. He rammed the side of the head with the end of his staff.

No moment wasted, he cut his way through the back of the tent using the guard's sword. The look he gave Ray said all there was to say. He pushed through the opening, staff ready, waved Deanna and Ray through.

A dead sprint from the camp, up into the hills. Tall didn't look back, but he heard enough to know what was happening.

“It is time, come,” Tall reached out and told his brood. The connections were as strong as ever. But there was absence as well. Playful Big Tooth and mischievous Snub Nose were no more.

The loss cut through him more than the harsh discord of clashing steel shouts, and pain-filled screams.

Chapter 18: The Meeting Place

The plan, the plan, Tall told himself as he tried to focus on their escape. Deanna and Ray broached no questions. He was dizzy, somewhat wobbly on his feet, but he managed to run. He touched a hand to the left side of his face. It came away bloody. When he topped the first hill, he reached out to Lady and Lucky. “To me, to me,” he told them. Within moments, they were galloping into view.

A voice coming out of the darkness froze Tall where he stood. “Death to seers,” it said.

Suddenly, a figure was barreling out of the shadows, his muscular arms out. Tall only had time to turn and duck before the figure was on him, but he wasn't the intended target. Ray was.

Ray wasted not a moment. He pulled Tall's staff away, used it to meet the other's onrush. Tall watched the blows unfold in rapid succession. One to the either side. One to the throat. It was efficient, deadly, and over even before Tall fully realized what he saw.

Tall pushed Deanna and Ray onto Lady's back. He mounted Lucky. “Away, away,” he told Lady and Lucky. “North and then west. Hazard and the others will follow soon, I've told them where we will go. Big Feet and Horn Eyes do not want to leave the bearded ones to fend for themselves, but I've told them they must.”

Tall saw in two worlds as he rode. The strands of the other world guided him away from dangers. It took great effort to look to the path ahead. He wanted so to reach back, to see what was happening, to know who lived and who died.

His head throbbed. The meeting place was what he tried to concentrate on. Easy enough to find, for it was the place Grandin nursed him to health.

“Lady, Lucky, you are well?” he asked, knowing it was a question he should have asked before setting off. But the urgency of the moment had overwhelmed him. He was overwhelmed still by all that had happened. He was no great warrior, and yet when the moment of need came, he acted. He struck without hesitation, and only now thought about the consequences. The guard he felled was dead. His final blow crushed bone; he felt it and knew, just as he knew the man who tried to attack Ray was dead.

It made him angry, this thought of death at his hand. It left him feeling empty inside. He thought of Big Tooth and Snub Nose. They'd play and make mischief no more. They were gone. Others likely were as well. Grandin maybe, Avea, or Alkin. Surely not Rhyliath, but wivres could be killed like any other being.

The rough path pulled Tall back. He worked to sooth Lucky and Lady, realizing only then he'd been feeding them his dark thoughts.

He glanced right, looked to Deanna and Ray. Deanna's arms were wrapped around Lady's neck. Ray's arms were wrapped around Deanna. Both held on for dear life. They were terrified, he realized.

Recalling how unsettling his first ride had been, he guided Lady and Lucky to a slower pace. Less jostling brought more clarity, but did little for the ringing in his left ear or the throbbing of his head. “We're well away from the soldiers now,” he told Lady and Lucky. To Ray and Deanna, he said, “You don't know how good it is to see you.”

Ray called back, “I could say the same to you. Wherever did you come from? Was it Avea and Grandin leading the attack?”

Tall didn't get to answer. Deanna cut in. “What's happening? One moment calm, the next everything's upside down.”

Rocky terrain took Tall's attention. He concentrated on the path, while reaching out into two worlds. The other world was alive with intersecting threads of crimson, but it was white fire and ice blue that he paid special attention to.

Tall guided Lucky closer and closer to Lady. Soon the two horses were running abreast, no more than an arm length apart. Ray leaned around and took a long look at Deanna. “Is it or isn't it?” he asked. “You never really answered one way or the other?”

Deanna said, “It is. I tried to tell you before, but I couldn't speak freely.”

Tall realized something had passed between the two earlier. “Do you know each other?” He asked.

“She—”

“He is the seer—the reason the Prefect was sent into the desert to hunt rebels. Lady Hravic gave up the hunt for you to join Equite Andros. The Equite was holding him captive. The Prefect joined us not long before the attack began.”

Ray turned to Tall. “You know each other?”

“Don't you?” Tall asked.

“I—”

“He doesn't remember all that's happened to him,” Deanna said.

“Though he remembers me, I know he does.”

“I do but there's something…” Ray said. “Something I'm trying to remember, but I can't.” To Tall he said, “Do you trust her? The wizard plays—”

“No trick of the wizard,” Deanna said sharply. “I assure you.”

Ray pulled away from Deanna so abruptly he fell off Lady. Fortunately, Lady was already slowing her gait, as they had reached Grandin's camp. Lying on his back, looking up from the ground, Ray accused Deanna of something with his eyes, but did not say aloud what it was.

Tall dismounted, helped Deanna do the same. When Ray got back on his feet, Tall wrapped his arms around both of them. “So good to see you,” he said. There were tears in his eyes as he turned to Ray. “I never thought I'd see you again. It has been such a long journey. There's so much I have to tell you.”

“And I, you,” Ray said. “I can hardly believe it. You are the last person I expected to see in the Outland.”

Ray was to Tall's right, Deanna to his left. Deanna stepped back. She was shaking. Her cheeks were wet. “Lady Hravic made me do it,” she said, her voice scarcely a whisper. “I didn't want to, but I didn't have—”

“I know—I know,” Tall said. “You could have turned me in before, but you did not. You are a true friend.”

Ray pointed, wagged his finger at Deanna, his expression suddenly stern. “No, you misunderstand. She's apologizing for what she did to me. Aren't you? I'm starting to remember now.”

Deanna started to say something, then her eyes went wide. She waved away Ray's finger. “Tall, you're bleeding. You're hurt.”

Ray suddenly seemed to see this as well. He helped Tall sit, knelt beside him as Deanna did the same. Tall didn't like how they were fussing over him, turning his head to check his wound. Deanna's touch brought a groan of pain. He couldn't hold it in.

“How ever did you run or ride with this?” Deanna said. She was holding something in her hand, pressing it into his head.

Tall winced, cried out. He wanted to pull away, but thought Ray was holding him so he couldn't. Except that wasn't quite right. Ray wasn't holding him, the ground was. He was lying on his back, looking up at the night sky. He started to speak; Deanna stopped him. “You're back with us,” she said. “Be still. A few more applications and you'll be past the worst of it.”

Tall didn't know what she meant. The quiet around him was odd.

Deanna held a water bag to his lips. “Drink,” she said. “You need food, but we've none. This will have to do for now.”

Tall had to sit up to drink some water. Ray helped him. “How long was I out?” He asked.

“Not long,” Ray said, eyeing Deanna warily.

“You have to trust me,” Deanna said heatedly. “I didn't want to. The truth will become clearer soon.”

“Why?” Ray asked. “Why did you do it? We trusted you.”

A cold breeze was blowing. Tall shivered, realized he was freezing.

“Not now. We have to get him warm,” Deanna said, curling herself around Tall. “Get the fire going. Set the tent. The supports are there. I saw them.”

Ray didn't back down. “You're a traitor. If Tall didn't need you, I'd show you how traitors are dealt with.”

Tall gritted his teeth and shivered. “Whatever happened, let it go. No one can be held to account for what they are coerced into.”

“Except… She wasn't coerced. I see it now. When she betrayed us, she had a choice.”

“You are wrong!” Deanna shouted. “Remember when Lady Hravic had me turn this on you? I know you do.” Deanna held out her hand. In it, was a pulsating orb, the match for the one that had been in Tall's pocket, but was now in his hand. The two orbs blinked in opposition. First one, and then the other. “Thrall spheres, they are rightly called. They have many uses. They harm as well as they heal. You'd be dead if not for me. I took your memories to save you. You have to believe me.”

The question in Ray's expression said he was trying to understand. Tall's eyes closed. Not that he wanted them to, he just couldn't keep them open any longer.

“The fire!” Deanna shouted. “If you must have your revenge, do it when Tall is out of danger.”

Tall wanted to intercede, wanted to say he trusted Deanna. Nothing came out. Somehow, he drifted off to sleep. He must have, because when he next opened his eyes a fire was blazing and the chill was gone.

Ray gave Deanna a quizzical glance. She was saying, “I can help, more than you realize. I've learned much on the road with Lady Hravic. Much about their power. You don't have to tell him.”

“Don't have to tell who what?” Tall asked.

Deanna walked over to Tall, squatted down beside him, and touched his cheek with the back of her hand. “Much better,” she said. “He'll recover fully.”

“Thanks to you or in spite of you,” Ray shot back.

“I'm telling you the truth,” Deanna said. “You have to believe me. I wanted none of this.”

Ray stalked around Deanna, sat next to Tall. “Then give me back my memories?”

“I can't. I've already told you that. It's not how it works.”

“So you say.” Ray offered Tall water. Tall drank. The cool water was invigorating.

Deanna touched the spheres to the side of Tall's head. “The final treatment,” she said. “You may do with me as you will now.”

Tall put his hands out to both Ray and Deanna. “Ray, Deanna, please. Enough has happened this night already.”

“Indeed,” Avea said, coming out of the darkness to sit beside the fire.

Tall looked up at her wide-eyed. “I didn't hear you coming.”

“With those two going at it, it's no wonder,” Avea said.

Tall tried to stand. He wanted so to throw his arms around Avea. Avea saw this and moved to him. She must have seen the blood dried on his face and hair as she did so. “What's this?” she asked. “Are you well?”

“Well enough,” Tall said.

Deanna said, “He will be. I've healed what I could.” She poured water onto a cloth, rubbed at the side of Tall's head.

“And you, Avea,” Tall said. “Are you well?”

“A little wear,” Avea said, turning to reveal a back wound.

Deanna tended to this immediately, without saying a word.

Tall thought Ray was being strangely distant from Avea. Perhaps it was his concern for the others. Perhaps it was something else.

Ray asked, “Alkin, Grandin, Kyitin, the others?”

Avea didn't respond, though whether because she was wincing from Deanna's attempts to see how extensive her wound was or because she didn't want to, Tall didn't know. He only knew that in the next moment Ray surprised him by giving Avea a hug that nearly swept her off her feet. Deanna scolded Ray for this, but it didn't make him let Avea go.

“They were on us before I could do anything,” Ray said. “I never saw them coming. They were cloaked from the sight like riders. Grandin and his gave as well as they took but there were so many of them.” He paused, looked up at Avea. “Grandin and his,” he said. “How many survived?”