The Dragons of Argonath (11 page)

"How could they have known where to set the ambush?"

"They must have been informed soon after the planning of the Imperial Progress was completed."

"Treachery at such a high level? But who… ?" The emperor was plainly disturbed.

"Your Majesty, just as we strive ever to place spies within our enemy's councils, so do they try to do the same to us. Many men and women had some knowledge of the progress. It was inevitable. Questions had to be asked concerning shipping, and to arrange the meetings with local royalty and nobles. Your day-to-day business in Andiquant had to be put off. Special arrangements for swift communications between the Argonath cities and Andiquant had to be made. Enough partial reports, no matter how slight, could allow them to deduce many things."

The emperor nodded. "Yes, of course, I see." He had blinded himself to the risks, determined to make the progress.

"We must go south, then," said Thorn.

"And quickly," said Lessis.

They turned and hurried back down the trail, glad of the cover provided by the dwarf forest.

"What now?" said the emperor as they went. Thorn calculated distance, dropped back to talk to Relkin again.

"What lies off there to the southeast? Past the woods."

"That's Brennans, the biggest town around here. They'll have horses there."

"If we left the trail past the place where we left Blade, can we get down to those woods below?"

"Yes, there is a little trail, very steep in places. Goes down to the Kroy Woods and the Pike Pool. We get past there, and we'll soon be in Lurnow's fields. Brennans is just a mile or two farther than that."

"Good. But we must hurry. Can the dragon keep up?"

Relkin grinned. "Bazil is a legion dragon, I bet he can march just as fast as you can."

Thorn's eyes narrowed momentarily, then his hard face broke into a wintry grin. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Now they swung down the trail at a smart pace through the taller trees of the saddle, and came on the place where they'd left Blade. He lay as they'd left him, covered in his robe, although there were vultures circling over head by now. Lessis immediately cast a spell and banished all the carrion birds from the area, except for one that was ordered down to report to her on what had been seen in the vicinity lately.

The vultures streamed away to the south, where other corpses had been spotted. One only was left to spiral down to Lessis's arm, where it crouched for a minute or more. Lessis soon reported to Thorn that parties of imp on horseback had been seen on both sides of their position. Strange animals had been seen to the north, coming down the trail toward them. Thorn's face knotted with concern.

"We have to get out of these hills. We'll try for the town of Brennans."

"We could not approach it before."

"Because the riders were all strung across Capbern's Gap. It sounds as if they have moved up to cover the hills."

The emperor was ready to try it, so Lessis agreed. Indeed, what else was there for her to do? They left Blade's resting place and went down the main trail for a quarter mile. Relkin pointed off down to their left where a narrow trail, not much more than a goat track, went down through heather and bare rock to the woods below.

The trail was steep as well as narrow, and there were places that were difficult for a dragon to negotiate, but Bazil had rambled on these rocky hills all his youth, and he knew how to make his way through almost anything.

They surprised a family of deer browsing in a glade of hawthorns and wild rose. The deer bounded away through the tangle of vines and brush.

Now they pushed through deeper thickets, and progress slowed. There were bogs and hollows and then places of bare rock, but the trees of the Kroy Woods were a lot closer.

At last they were in the true woods, surrounded by aspen, birch, and pine. Thorn called them to a halt. Lessis sent out a crow to scout ahead, but before it had left their sight, they heard an uproar below. Hoarse shouts and uncanny wailing were followed by the sound of horses in motion. Then a dull sounding horn blared out.

"Imp horns!" Relkin muttered, who knew them all too well.

The imps were coming up slope, their horses crashing through the brush. And now, to complete their despair, hounds bayed in the woods below. It was almost as if the enemy had been lying in wait for them here. They had read Thorn's move, perhaps because it was one of such a small set of possibilities.

"What now?" said Lessis in a quiet voice, doing her utmost not to stir Thorn to defensiveness. She need not have worried.

"We go back. Have to try another way." Thorn wasted no time on ill feeling, and they turned to climb back up the steep, difficult trail that they'd just descended. Back through bogs and hollow, back over the bare rocky parts and into the tangles of vine they went.

There was an eager edge in the calls of the hounds, for they had smelled the dragon and were aroused to fever-pitch by this unknown scent. If there'd been time, Lessis would have composed a confusion spell that would have kept the hounds busy, but the enemy were too close for that.

Emperor, Great Witch, ambassador, and the rest all redoubled their efforts so that they trotted on the flatter stretches of the trail. They scrambled up the muddy slide and pulled themselves up with roots and stems to climb the rocky breaks. A trace of desperation had added itself to their flight. The pursuit did not gain, in fact, they lost a minute or so when they had to leave their horses behind and continue on foot, but the imp horn kept calling, which would inform the other enemy groups that were roaming the hills that the quarry had been seen. The emperor was in flight.

At last they reached the top of the small trail to Brennans. Once more they were on the hunters' path that ran along the north side of Beggars Hill. They headed west along the trail, moving as quickly as they could manage.

"We could try the dingle," said Relkin. "It's real steep, but the dragon can climb down pretty fast. That comes out in Brumble Woods. We go west, and we'll be in Quosh village in no time."

"Quosh?" said Thron.

"Quosh is an old dragon village. Macumber is the trainer; he has two leather backs and a brass there. And there's older dragons too. Of course, most of them are females, so not used to fighting."

"You foresee a fight, then?" Thorn studied the dragonboy carefully.

"We know what they hope to do. We've seen a lot of imps. Then there's those critters up the hill. With all that force at their disposal, why wouldn't the enemy press to the very last?"

Thorn nodded. "I'm afraid it makes sense."

The emperor pursed his lips, listening.

"Are all dragonboys so versed in warfare?"

"Probably not, Your Majesty," said Lessis quietly. The emperor met her gaze with thoughtful eyes. She knew this lad, knew him well. He turned back to look again at Relkin.

"Quosh is where me and the dragon grew up," said the dragonboy, seeing the questions in their eyes.

"Ah!" said Thorn, enlightened at last.

Then came the sound of a horn close by and the baying of hounds.

"Hurry!" shouted Thorn. "They are upon us!"

Bazil gave his big head a shake as he caught up to Relkin.

"Hurry? We haven't done anything, but hurry since we met them."

Relkin had to agree. The day, which had begun so splendidly, had become an expanse of hidden danger. There were literally hounds on their trail, and they'd had to give their lunch to the emperor himself.

Whenever the trail allowed, they ran or stumbled over the shale and bare rock. The heather and dwarf pine trees surrounded them, a welcome source of cover that hid them from the pursuit. The calls of the hounds grew fainter.

Now the dark clouds from the south slid overhead and obliterated the sun. Soon after that a gentle rain began. When they emerged into the open heathland that covered the western side of Beggars Hill, the sky was heavy and black, and they saw lightning strike spectacularly three times in a row in the distance on Pawlers Hill. The rain started falling harder, and the wind picked up as they skidded and slithered down the sloping trail beneath the grassy bank overlooking the entrance to the rocky dingle.

Thunder cracked across the sky, and lightning flashed stark and purple-white nearby. Even the dragon winced as the thunder broke again. It felt so close as to be almost a physical blow. They scuttled along under the rain, which was driving down hard and fierce now. Again lightning struck on Pawlers away to the south and west, and for a moment they could see the wide valley light up, to show woods and fields and a distant tower, the temple at Quosh.

The footing was less than ideal on the trail, and more than once Lessis slipped and fell. She was up at once, unharmed, but she had to admit that her lovely old Cunfshon boots were not adequate for this sort of wear. Across smooth, wet rock and through dark puddles and rivulets they stumbled. The entrance to the dingle was close now, like a dark maw surrounded by misshapen rocky teeth.

"There!" shouted Ambassador Koring, pointing to the south. They looked up and saw a party of imp on horseback with men at their head, pressing up the track toward them in a cloud of spray and mud. They would intersect just above the dingle.

"Come on," cried the emperor, setting off at top speed for the clash.

"No, Your Majesty!" Lessis cried weakly, too late.

He was gone, Thorn and Trooper Loder behind him. Relkin and the dragon were in motion too, the ambassador passed her, and she ran at last, drawing her long knife and holding it ready. She tried not to think of the consequences if the emperor were to die here. How they could ever have risked this progress, once they knew the identity of the new enemy in Padmasa, she would never understand.

They closed on the open space around the dingle entrance, a flat plane of limestone, pocked here and there by erosion. The imps charged, pressing their tired horses into a semblance of speed.

Relkin had his bow ready, and sent an arrow into the leading rider. Bazil drew Ecator and stepped forward to meet the horses. The imps lowered their spears and ran at him as if they were going to stick a bull. Bazil had no shield, but he had trained for this situation for many years. He waited until the imps were almost upon him, and then he blurred into action. Ecator came up and whirled through spears, horses, and imps in a lightning-fast forehand and backhand riposte. Horses and imps crashed to the ground on either side of him; the others spurred past and onto the waiting swords of Thorn and the others. Relkin's bow hummed again, and he shot a second imp from the saddle. Lessis had placed herself at the emperor's side and was trying to persuade him to come into the dingle, before anything could happen to him.

Pascal had his sword out and his eye on the nearest imps. He had no intention of running from the fight. He too had trained all his life for this moment, but unlike Bazil, he had never been allowed to wield the sword in combat. An emperor was too precious for that, but part of him had always desired to see battle for himself.

The imps came on straight into them. Thorn knocked up the lunging spear of the first and ran it through. Ambassador Koring tried to do the same with the next, but missed and came within a hairbreadth of being spitted; luckily the spear took an upward wobble and passed over his shoulder. He was knocked aside by the charging horse a moment later and sent to his knees.

The spear passed through where the emperor had stood, but Pascal had already shifted, and now he hewed the imp from the saddle. The horse ran on riderless. His stroke was efficient and well executed. His trainers had done their work well, and he had lived up to their expectations.

Screams followed the mighty swings of Ecator as Bazil dodged spears and chopped down imps. They watched him cleanly cut an imp from its horse with a smooth forehand stroke. A moment later the lightning struck Beggars Hill and lit up the dragon, a frowning colossus, with Ecator raised high.

"Back!" said Thorn. "Back into the rocks."

Some of the imps were dismounting, running up with swords and spears. A horseman in the black uniform of Padmasa rode among them, cracking his whip to drive them on. Trooper Loder engaged a pair, drove them back, knocked one of them over, but then had to retreat as several more came in around him.

Bazil shifted position, swung, returned with the backhand, and took down another spear-wielding rider. Then he danced sideways, and his tail whipped around to surprise the black-clad Padmasan and knock him off his horse.

Ecator whipped through an imp and came back in a spray of scarlet and then flashed high and came down on the Padmasan mercenary before he could evade. Relkin saw the emperor's eyes pop at the sight.

Suddenly there was an empty space around them. The imp troupe fell back, disheartened by the casualties and the ferocity of the dragon. It was hard, even for imps crazed with the black drink, to throw oneself within the range of that dragonsword, that shining ribbon of lethal steel. With the leader dead, there was no one to terrify them and urge them on. They grew passive.

Relkin was familiar with the pattern.

"Now would be the best time to start down the dingle. They've lost heart. They won't follow for a few minutes."

Thorn nodded. The dragon boy knew more about actual combat than he did.

"A good idea."

They began the descent. The rain had lessened temporarily, but the rocks were wet and somewhat treacherous. More difficult was the darkness, which made finding the safe places to put your feet very hard. Relkin led the way down, showing them the easiest route through the huge blocks of stone and the narrow cracks between them.

Bazil and Thorn came last. Bazil moved quickly once he was on the rocks. He knew the way as well as the boy. There were a couple of tight spots though, and one had to remember carefully the series of movements that were required to thread a two-ton body through the narrow crack.

They went down, and the minutes ticked away until at last they heard the imps above roaring together to get up their courage. By then they were halfway down the steep staircase of boulders. Another couple of minutes, and they would be safe.