The Hunter (23 page)

“I do not know myself, but I must see it for myself for the life of my chief depends upon retrieving the box with the red
mark upon its lid.”

“Then your chief must die for there is no way to enter the cavern and live. Don’t you understand, it’s flooded! Surely the
box you speak of has been torn away by the waters, but even if it still remains, its contents will have been destroyed by
the water!”

Braldt looked into Batta Flor’s eyes and saw that the Madrelli was speaking the truth, or what he thought to be the truth,
and for the first time he felt his hope dwindle within him as he contemplated the thought of failure, tried to visualize a
life without the presence of Auslic. “Please,” he said quietly, “please just take us there so that I may see this place for
myself. I must know that I have done everything within my power.” The two men stared at each other, linked by their promises,
and seemed to see each other for the first time. Batta Flor nodded and some of the anger seemed to leave him.

He returned to the fire, poured the rest of the hot tea into a leather pouch that he slung over his shoulder, then kicked
stones and dust over the small blaze, extinguishing it instantly. It seemed colder and more lonely without the tiny blaze.
Picking up his spear and ignoring Carn completely, Batta Flor stepped onto the trail once more
without looking back to see if the rest of the party was following him.

Keri stepped into place behind him, striding along easily, seemingly untired by the morning’s work, adjusting the straps of
her pack and admonishing Beast who snapped at her heels with her every step.

Braldt grabbed Carn just as he was about to join Keri and swung him around with some force. “Just what is it that you are
trying to do?” he asked in an angry whisper. “This one is the only hope we have of reaching that cavern and finding a way
in. The only hope we have of saving Auslic. Why are you trying to start a fight. Do you really think that you could win such
a fight?”

“I would do better than you, brother,” Carn said with a sneer. “You fought like a child, kicking him in the privates and pinching
his ears. I’m surprised you didn’t try biting. Why didn’t you kill him and show these animals what fighting really is?”

“Carn,” Braldt said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself. “I did not want to kill him; I wanted him to live so
that he could take us to the cavern so we can find the box and bring it to Auslic.”

“You want to be chief and nothing more,” said Carn. “There was no water in our vision, the chamber was dry. This whole story
is nothing but a kark trick. This journey is but an excuse to kill us off one at a time; I cannot understand why you do not
see it. Or maybe you’re part of it. Maybe this is all some plan that you and that old kark brewed up during one of your little
fireside chats. Well, you may have fooled Keri, but not me, brother. I will be watching you, you and that kark, all of the
time. Remember that and remember too that I cannot be tricked by foul blows and childish tricks. When you fight me, you will
lose.”

Braldt listened to Carn’s words and heard the hatred in them. He wondered how long those feelings had been hidden. Had it always
been so? Where was the brother he had loved, what had become of the bond that had joined
them. And most of all, he wondered who would win, if ever they were forced to fight.

The last of the fog burned off by midday and Braldt almost wished that it had remained for it had hidden the great heights
to which they had climbed. The mountain they were ascending rose high above them, its peak concealed by a swirl of heavy clouds.
All around them were a multitude of lower peaks, barren and lifeless, shining in the cold, clear air.

The trail, if it could be called that, was a mere thread that picked its way from one narrow ledge to the next with nothing
but empty space awaiting the incautious step. Braldt found himself wondering what or who had made such a trail, for he had
seen no signs of life since beginning their climb. A cold wind blew across the mountain, plucking at their clothes and chilling
them to the bone.

They were clambering around a tricky bit of rock that was cracked and fissured, above, below, and through the trail itself,
with no other route available to them, when Braldt heard Beast’s high shrill bark of alarm, then Keri cried out in fright.
Batta Flor uttered a curse and scrambled forward, pressing Keri hard against the crumbling rock face with a hurried command
to stay and not move. Brandishing his spear before him, he lunged forward and disappeared from sight.

Braldt could not see what it was that had alarmed them so, nor could he pass Keri and Carn who stood on the trail before him.
But Keri was not one who took orders well, and ignoring Batta Flor’s command, she followed swiftly on his heels, drawing her
own blade as she ran. Carn, of course, was not one to be left behind and he drew his short sword and his dagger and joined
the fray that was now a mixed cacophony of hissing and high-pitched barks, as well as yells and loud cries. Leaping forward
over the last bit of crumbling rock, Braldt turned the corner and was confronted by such creatures as he had never before
seen or imagined in all his life.

They were lizards of a sort, but large, standing as high as his knee, their heads rising even higher, with powerful
tails, twice the length of their bodies and massive, high-domed heads. Their heads were long and slender as were their jaws,
which were filled with long, sharp teeth. There were three of them, the largest nearly as long as Braldt himself. The second
was a lighter shade of blue and Braldt guessed it to be a female. The third was a smaller version of the adults, but no less
dangerous from the look of its wildly thrashing tail and the deep, bellowing grunts that rose from its throat. They stood
on short, stocky bowed legs, tipped with six long, curved claws and a seventh claw located at the rear of each paw that served
as an anchor, holding them securely to the rock at near-vertical angles.

Beast did not seem to recognize his danger for he danced forward and back, nipping at the lizards’ legs, unmindful of their
powerful jaws that could easily sever his head from his neck. Batta Flor struck out with his spear at the smallest of the
lizards that stood nearest them and Beast seized his opportunity and darted forward, grabbing the lizard’s leg and yanking
hard. The lizard did not even move and his leg slid out of Beast’s mouth with a sound like two sword points clashing. Beast
tumbled back and would have fallen off the edge of the trail had he not rolled against Batta Flor’s leg. He shook his head
as though stunned and whined with distress. The lizard’s leg showed not the slightest mark of Beast’s teeth.

It soon became apparent to Braldt that Batta Flor was not making any real attempt to strike the lizard, but merely brandished
his spear in its face and yelled loudly. The lizards swung their heavy heads from side to side, hissing and grunting out their
deep bellows. But they did not move.

Then, the largest of the three creatures advanced on them, pacing slowly and deliberately forward, its head bobbing and weaving,
its long forked tongue, an even deeper shade of blue, flicking back and forth as though tasting the air. The lizard’s eyes
were quite small and were located high up on either side of its head. It could not see them straight on and was forced to
turn its head to one side in order to keep them in sight.

Batta Flor backed up slowly, the others forced in turn to step back as well, but retreat was not to be one of their options
for as Braldt’s heel came down upon the fault-riven ledge, it broke beneath his weight with a loud crack and the entire shelf
plunged into the cold abyss.

They were trapped. The lizards were advancing on them with a slow, calm sense of assurance, the slope of the mountain was
far too steep for them to ascend, and there was nothing behind or beside them but empty air. Batta Flor stood his ground and
struck out with his spear, but to little avail. The lead lizard looked up and, almost as an afterthought, hooked the spear
with one of its claws and sent it clattering over the edge.

Braldt thought rapidly as the others picked up rocks and threw them at the lizards. It was only an act of futile desperation
and the rocks merely bounced off the tough skin with no effect. Batta Flor fumbled with the pouch that he had slung over his
shoulder and pulled the stopper out, sending a jet of hot, steaming tea arcing into the lizard’s gaping maw. The hot liquid
struck the soft tissue that lined the lizard’s mouth and it bellowed and jerked back, swinging its head from side to side
in obvious pain.

Encouraged by his success, Batta turned the odd weapon on the other two, scalding the smaller creature’s eyes and missing
the third completely as the last bit of the hot fluid fell short of its target. But Batta Flor’s effort had given Braldt an
idea, and rummaging in his pouch, his fingers closed on a handful of the wax-impregnated pellets. Striving for the necessary
calm, he struck his fire-starting stones together and ignited the pellets. Closing his mind to the pain of the flames, he
picked them up and tossed them into the open mouths of the lizards.

His plan, devised in haste, succeeded far better than he could have imagined. Two of the pellets missed their mark entirely,
but the third landed in the maw of the male and the tiny flames, fanned by the rush of air, leaped high, curling around the
lizard’s jaws, burning the soft tissue that lined its throat and incinerating its tongue. The melting wax aided the spread
of the flames and the furious thrashing of the
creature’s head and its agonized bellows served only to increase the conflagration. Soon, the entire body of the lizard was
wrapped in flames and its eyes had been seared by the heat. The air was filled with the stink of roasting flesh, and with
a final convolution of pain, the lizard’s struggles brought it to the edge of the path and it fell over the edge still screaming
in agony.

The remaining lizards seemed confused by the peculiar turn of events and stood on the path with their heads and tails thrashing
back and forth in indecision. Of the remaining pellets, two had rolled over the edge, harming nothing, but the last lay on
the trail between the hideous creatures and themselves, the tiny flame flickering uncertainly. Then, fanned by a vagrant breeze,
it caught hold and flared up brightly, the wax burning with an intense heat. This was all the incentive that the lizards needed
and they backed away from the fire, their booming voices echoing distress as they scuttled across the face of the cliff and
disappeared from sight.

The four of them stood and watched as the lizards vanished, praying that they would not return. Keri seemed to have frozen
in place, still clutching her sword, eyes wide with terror. Braldt, knowing of her childhood fear of lizards and snakes and
other such creatures, could only imagine how terrified she must have been. He squeezed her shoulder to comfort her, feeling
his own heart beating hard within his chest. He suffered from no such fears, but the lizard things were unlike anything he
had ever known before and he counted himself lucky to have escaped with nothing more than a bad fright.

Strangely enough, Carn had nothing to say, nor had he made any attempt to attack the beasts even though he had stood second
behind Batta Flor. His face was beaded with sweat and he was still staring at the charred spot where the lizard had fallen
from the trail. When he looked up, he did not seem to recognize Braldt and his eyes were glazed and full of fear. It seemed
for a moment that he was going to run, but then Braldt put his hand on his shoulder and the touch seemed to break the spell.
Carn shot Braldt a look of
panic that settled into the now-familiar hatred. And Braldt knew that Carn would find it hard to forget that his fear had been
seen.

“Hurry,” whispered Batta Flor, taking Keri by the arm and urging her forward. “Where there are three there will surely be
more. We must get to a place of safety where we can defend ourselves for they will be upon us soon!”

“More of them?” Keri asked, her eyes growing large in
her pale face. “But what will we do?”

“Come,” Batta Flor said persuasively, “let us get off this ledge and find a more sheltered spot and I will tell you about
them. Please.”

Keri looked about nervously, as if she expected the lizards to return at any moment, and even Braldt found himself resisting
an urge to do the same. Carn was definitely spooked and, taking Keri’s arm, hurried her forward, nearly pushing her in his
haste to be gone. Keri looked back as though intending to upbraid him, but one look at his face convinced her to hold her
tongue.

They found what they sought a short time later, a wide place in the trail where the mountain folded in upon itself, with a
small bit of grassy ground lying between. The sun was shining full on the rock walls, and protected from the bite of the wind,
it offered them a safe respite. Gladly they shrugged the heavy packs from their shoulders and sank down on the warm grass.