Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders (42 page)

“This isn't a game, for heaven's sake!” she yelled, feeling Gallant flex his powerful muscles. “I don't want you racing! Just stay even with her, and show her the way to go.”

Gallant slowed down a little, and then speeded up again very gradually so she wouldn't notice. He was bucking a headwind, and the Beast was gaining on him, to his fury. He dove to get out of the wind and started flying along next to her. Making such powerful leaps, Sparrow almost seemed to be flying by his side.

Suddenly Tara felt a kind of shudder, as if someone was spying on her. It froze her blood. The last time she had experienced that, a Bloodgrave was tracking her. She had Gallant dive to the ground. He had barely landed when she made him lie down under the only grove of trees in sight. She absolutely did not want to use her magic. Sparrow, who hadn't noticed anything, was already far ahead of them.

Tara and Gallant had just taken cover when she felt a quivering of the air. A wavering image of a Bloodgrave appeared in the sky, studying the blue prairie. He seemed to be scrutinizing the terrain with terrible acuity. She held her breath, and Gallant didn't move a feather. The Bloodgrave seemed to stay forever. Having noticed nothing, he finally disappeared. Gallant was about to stand up, but Tara stopped him.

“No,” she whispered. “Wait.”

It was a wise decision, because the image appeared again. Apparently seeing that nothing had changed, it disappeared again, this time for good.

Tara waited for several long minutes more, just to be on the safe side.

Suddenly she screamed. A pair of huge jaws full of fangs had just appeared in front of her, ready to tear her to pieces.

“What's going on here?” asked Sparrow, who had come back to see.

“What's going on,” answered Tara, spitting out the grass she'd practically swallowed, “is that the Bloodgraves are searching for us, and they very nearly spotted us!”

“Yikes! So what do we do?”

“We get the heck out of here. Gallant and I are going to fly very low, so please don't bump into us.”

If Gallant was afraid, he didn't show it. And no sooner was Tara on his back than he resumed his race against Sparrow.

The pegasus and the Beast reached the cave within two minutes of each other, with the pegasus in the lead, to his great joy. He was so tired that he only ate a few handfuls of oats and fell asleep right where he was. Sparrow, equally exhausted from her efforts, promptly followed suit.

Cal, Robin, Fabrice, and Fafnir were all asleep too. Angelica was crankily standing watch and vaguely keeping an eye on Manitou. The dog was dozing and groaning.

Tara collapsed on the fine sand of the cave floor. The shelter they had found was perfect. The small stream that had carved the cave furnished them with clear water. Robin had dug a pit and lit a fire, which warmed them without being visible from afar. And they were protected from the rain, which started falling just after Sparrow came in. The Bloodgraves wouldn't find them here.

Tara forced herself to eat a little bread and cheese, then closed her eyes. Feeling cold, she huddled against Gallant, who wrapped a wing around her. Enveloped in the pegasus's warmth, she fell into a deep sleep.

She felt she had only slept a few minutes when Robin came to shake her. The feeling was obviously shared by her companions, because she could hear a lot of grumbling. They ate in silence, barely awake. Outside, the rain fell with a discouraging steadiness and the day remained dark. Only the dwarf, who could see her goal approaching with every step, was in a good mood.

“Thanks to your pegasus we've saved almost a day and a half of walking,” said Fafnir. “It's only a few more hours to the Swamps of Desolation. I suggest I go on ahead, because I can run for hours. Gallant is too tired to ferry us back and forth the way he did yesterday. If you leave right after me, you'll get there in about five hours, at your pace. That will leave me time to find the black roses and maybe even to extract the juice. Does that suit you?”

“It's fine with me,” said Tara. “Go ahead, but be careful. And if something attacks you, for pity's sake don't hesitate to use magic so we can immediately come help you. Okay?”

The dwarf hefted her axe and flashed an evil grin. “Anybody who attacks me will have to deal with Jewel. So don't worry.”

“Actually, I am worried. Promise me that if you're in trouble, you won't be stubborn. Call us. I'd rather get caught by the Bloodgraves than risk a friend's life.”

Fafnir wrinkled her beautiful eyes. “I promise,” she said huskily. “And you be careful too, my friend. See you later.”

It didn't take her long to disappear.

“Ow! I'm sore all over!” said Cal, as he stretched.

“Me too,” said Angelica, agreeing with Cal for once. Then she added casually, “You could leave me in the cave, you know. I'm in no danger here. I'm out of the cold, and if you leave me some food I can hold out until you come back with help.”

“Listen Angelica, you don't know anything about chatrixes,” said Robin seriously. “It's daylight, so we're in no danger for the time being. But I don't for a second think we're safe here. Unless a Bloodgrave comes along to hold them back, they'd swallow you in one bite. So don't kid yourself. You're coming with us.”

Angelica glared at him in fury, then looked away.

Sparrow caught the tall girl's look and decided to keep a close eye on her.

In some ways, Sparrow was enjoying the situation. Her unexpected Beast body was a joy. It was so strong and powerful, and especially so warm! She had seen her friends shivering through their few hours of sleep in spite of the fire, whereas she had slept like a log. But Tara grinned when she saw Sparrow stretch and then grumble when she hit her head on the low roof of the cave.

Suddenly a distinguished, if slightly shaky voice was heard: “Ow, I feel as if a herd of buffalo ran over me. Can somebody explain what happened?”

Tara turned and to her delight there was Manitou, bright eyed and bushy tailed. He was standing up, cautiously trying out each of his legs.

“Great-grandfather, you're awake! How do you feel?”

“I have pins and needles in my legs, and since I have four of them, I hurt everywhere,” said the dog piteously. “Aside from that, I feel fine. It's strange, my last memory was of two jaws full of teeth, and then intense pain.”

“You were bitten by a chatrix, and Robin patched you up,” explained Cal. “You fought the poison all night long, and we're really happy to see that you won.”

“Ah, so that's what it was! I remember now. The dog in my mind was so frightened of the chatrix that he turned the controls over to me for the first time in thirty years. I can still feel him down there, but he doesn't want to come out. Yippee! I'm free at last!”

The black Lab started leaping for joy in every direction. Tara burst out laughing. It was so funny to see her great-grandfather playing the fool.

He padded over to Tara and looked at her with his big gentle Labrador eyes. “Well, I see you've got yourself in a peck of trouble! Reminds me of the time when you didn't know how to swim and you jumped into the deep end of the swimming pool!”

“So what happened?” asked Tara, who didn't remember the event.

“Well, you soon discovered that it's hard to breathe underwater. Luckily this dog swims very well, so he went and fished you out.”

“Hey, you guys must have tons of stories to tell each other!” exclaimed Cal.

“Yeah, but I hope they aren't all at my expense,” said Tara.

They left the cave and headed for the plain leading to the Swamps of Desolation. The way was easy and the rain had stopped, so they made good time, even though they were still tired and their feet hurt. Tara's great-grandfather couldn't stop talking, as if he wanted to make up for his years of silence. She finally had to tell him to be quiet, because his stories were keeping her from being on the alert for Bloodgraves.

On a couple of occasions, Sparrow, Gallant, and Sheeba, who were ranging ahead to scout, warned them about herds of an animal like a musk ox, which they had to circle around. They were enormous beasts with long wooly coats. They were grazing peacefully on the blue grass, but you didn't want to get too close, in case they charged.

The group suspected there might be cattle in the area because they'd had the disagreeable pleasure of making new friends a short time before.

Blood flies were flying around when they spotted the young spellbinders. “Oooh! A swarm of humans!” squealed one with delight. “It's dinnertime, girls!”

They dove toward the fragile skin in tight formation, only to smash their stingers against the spell that Robin had wisely cast around his friends. Bitterly disappointed, they tried to get through, above, below, and around the shield, before flying off in discouragement toward more accommodating victims.

After three hours of walking, the group stopped for a quick lunch.

Robin very cautiously began to replicate the bread, cheese, and meat.

And Sparrow almost got them all killed.

As Beast she had wandered off to see if she could find a bite to eat, and came nose to nose with a musk ox. She cautiously backed away so as not to bother the enormous animal . . . and bumped into her calf. The mother gave a terrible bellow and charged—followed by the entire herd.

Sparrow's friends were stunned to suddenly see the Beast running toward them, followed by a half-dozen enormous animals weighing a ton and a half each and whose horns looked as if they had been carefully sharpened that very morning. Everyone ran like crazy. The lone stunted tree growing in the middle of the plain was very surprised to suddenly find so many people in its branches.

“Hey, where are your manners! Would you mind putting your feet somewhere else!”

Tara almost fell off her branch onto the ground. The tree was talking!

“Please forgive us for intruding,” said Sparrow, “but we're being chased by a herd of—”

A thunderous rumble interrupted her as the herd roared past the tree. Only after the oxen were satisfied that the enemy was gone did they resume peacefully grazing.

“What's that to me?” asked the tree irritably. “Not only isn't there enough water around here, but now you're breaking my nicest branches.”

An embarrassed Cal tried to put back the twig that he had snapped off, but without success. Whistling and trying to look casual, he discreetly let it fall to the ground.

“We're terribly sorry we hurt you,” Sparrow continued cautiously, “but we're going to leave very soon.”

“You got that right, because I'm dropping you right now.”

“Wait, wait!” said Tara quickly, clinging desperately to a branch. “Let's make a deal.”

“A deal? What kind of deal?”

“You let us stay in your branches until the herd moves away and in exchange, we . . . we'll give you water!”

“Water?” asked the tree suspiciously. “It rains enough for the grasslands around here, but not enough for me. I've been slowly dying of thirst for dozens of years. Where are you going to find water here? The nearest standing water is in the Swamps of Desolation.”

“I think I may have a solution,” said Robin. “Leave it to me.”

The half-elf carefully wedged himself between two branches and went into a deep trance, sending his mind into the bowels of the earth. After a few minutes, he saw that a layer of granite lay over the aquifer, preventing water from rising to the tree's level. He slipped his mind into a fault, and generated enough pressure to enlarge it. The water rose through the granite, an impermeable clay layer, and finally the topsoil, to emerge on the surface as a small, clear spring.

The tree's shout was so loud, it almost knocked them off its branches.

“Water! I feel water!”

“We're very happy for you and all, but please take it easy,” said Manitou, who was feeling ill at ease. “Otherwise we'll be shish kebabs on those animals' horns.”

Robin came out of his trance. “Just a few more minutes and it should be all set.”

“Thank you! Thank you!” said the tree. “You saved my life. You can come climb my branches whenever you like. In fact, I want to give you something to thank you for finding water for me. A little gift.”

A branch bent down toward Robin and dropped a small twig with a green bud into his hand.

“That's one of my twigs,” said the tree. “All you have to do is point it at whatever you want to have grow, and say, ‘By the tree that is alive, I want that plant to grow and thrive.' You'll see, it might be useful.”

Perched in the branches, Robin wasn't quite able to bow, but he did his best.

“I'm very grateful to you,” he said. “And now we're going to leave. The spring won't run dry, and it also won't be so strong as to rot your roots. We're the ones who are thankful to you.”

“Go ahead. Goodbye!”

They very gingerly climbed down from the tree and tiptoed away. When they were a safe distance from the herd of oxen, Cal wheeled on Sparrow. “Were you out of your mind? Do you realize what you did?”

“I'm really sorry,” said Sparrow, bowing her big head. “I was hunting and I bumped into this mommy cow who thought I was after her calf. She charged instantly!”

“I've worked hard enough this morning,” he said, “so let's get a few things straight. From now on, no hunting. You stay with us and you eat what we have. Got that?”

“All right,” agreed Sparrow, with a grumpy shrug.

“I approve,” said Manitou, who hadn't much enjoyed the tree climbing. “And now I need some sustenance. What do we have to eat?”

“Same as yesterday,” said Tara, pointing at the bag. “Bread, cheese, and dried meat.”

“I would really like it, if from time to time during this adventure we could have meals worthy of the name,” complained her greatgrandfather in his distinguished voice. “Look at this stuff! It's pathetic! Where are the blinis, the caviar, the crème fraíche? Talk to me about a nice salmon in white butter with a gratin Dauphinois, a savory cassoulet with duck confit, and wonderful sausages. Talk to me about crystal glasses, fine silverware, and comfortable chairs. But not about bread and cheese, for pity's sake!”