A Quick Sun Rises (32 page)

Tam flashed him a withering look but Dor just shrugged. “There is no reason to fear,” Tam said to the young boy as Thane reached up and started removing his
Dihne
.

“We are not Tjal-Dihn,” Thane said as he pulled the last of the cloth from around his head. “We are Chufa.”

Domis’ eyes widened as he took in the pointed ears that broke through Thane’s black hair. Dor tightened his grip on his arms while Tam rubbed a soothing hand down his arm.

* * *

Aleron’s southern wall soon loomed over them as they approached the cities only real defense. Made of tall, sturdy timbers with mortar packed seams, it was twice Thane’s height plus a little more making it impossible to overtake without hooks and ladders. In the past, such a wall may have served them well, but the war they now faced was something completely different. And should Bedler’s Keep fall and they fail in its defense, the safest place to hide would most likely prove to be on the wall’s southern side, in the cover of the Underwood’s forest.

Domis almost skipped along next to them, the smile on his face barely contained as his eyes darted back and forth between his companions. His reaction to Thane’s revelation had been a surprise to all of them. No screams of terror escaped his lips or struggling attempts to flee, but instead an overwhelming sense of awe had come over the young stable boy. In fact, it had taken them near one half of an hour to extricate themselves from the alleyway with all of the questions that had poured out through his lips. It was Thane’s final insistence they be on their way that finally stemmed the curious assault Domis lashed out at them. If anything, he seemed all the more content now that he knew that he kept company with three Chufa instead of three mere Tjal-Dihn warriors.

As they drew near, the guard that had been at the bridge the night before stepped from the small building that marked his post and moved silently toward the gate. Apparently, Commander Garet had not forgotten the guard’s blunder and as punishment was making him face the Tjal alone. Turning a wooden handle attached to a wheel next to the gate, he freed the mechanism that released the many gears and bolts holding the gate closed allowing the single large door to swing outward.

Standing a distance back, he motioned them through stating flatly, “I was left to open the gate for you and told to tell you that you should not try to return this way as the gate will be shut behind you and none will be left to attend it. The road into the woods is to the left about a quarter of a mile.”

Thane simply nodded and without hesitation, walked through the large gate moving to the left. The others followed quickly until Domis, the last of their group, passed through, suddenly not so carefree and full of excitement as he had been mere moments before. Immediately the large gateway was pulled shut and the locks reengaged into place giving a sense of finality and irrevocability. And though the guard had said that they could not return that way, the sound of the locks against the closed entry gave Domis the distinct feeling that they wouldn’t be returning at all.

A short fifty yards of dirt was the entire buffer offered between the wall and the forest whose trees looked dark and twisted. Those on the edge almost appeared tortured as if they yearned for the covering offered just beyond. Even the three Chufa, who were keepers of the woods, stayed almost pressed to the wall as they walked eastward seeking the road into the Underwoods. Thane kept his pace steady though he had the distinct feeling that they were not alone, that they were being matched in their strides by something just within the tree line.

All too quickly, a crack in the trees revealed itself as if made by a large wedge. Though not appearing as a normal road, or even a path, it was obvious that this was the entrance they searched for. Thane held them up shortly as he closed his eyes and sent himself forward, reaching out to the trees, trying to decipher what was just beyond that might threaten them. As his senses brushed past the first row of vegetation he immediately pulled back his eyes snapping open. He was surprised to find his swords in his hands and a look of shock on his friend’s faces as they reached for their own weapons.

“What is it?” Dor asked just barely bringing his own swords to bear.

“Pure evil,” Thane breathed, forcing himself to replace his weapons. “I have never felt anything like it before. This forest is tainted with hatred and malevolence.”

Tam and Dor looked at him dumbfounded while Domis just nodded his head in agreement. Never had the Chufa ever encountered anything in the natural plant world that would even come close to being considered evil; angry they had encountered, but never anything that was actually evil.

“What do we do?” Tam asked.

Wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, Thane looked at her and then turned and started walking toward the opening. “We go on,” he said.

Closing the distance quickly, Thane paused a brief moment before passing under the Underwood’s canopy. Immediately his eyes switched to night vision as the sun was almost completely shut out. The air suddenly felt thick and oppressive as if a wet cloth had been placed over his face making it difficult to breathe. The others followed him in, experiencing the same sensations then Domis cried out, “I can’t see!”

Reaching in his pack, Thane produced a rope that he tied around Domis’ waist and then attached it to Tam’s. “I will lead,” he said completing the last knot. “You will follow me with Domis attached to you and Dor will stay at the rear.”

Tam felt a sudden surge of protest at being stuck in the middle like a child to be protected but she quickly brushed it aside, seeing the wisdom in what Thane was doing. It wasn’t her that he was protecting, but Domis.

“Keep close,” he said, almost in a whisper. “If need be, we may have to tie the rope around all of us to keep us together. We don’t want to lose anyone in here. I’ve a feeling that only a few steps from the road would swallow any of us up in this darkness.”

Moving forward, the road almost immediately curved to the right and them back to the left as if with purpose to snuff out the tiny light that the entrance had afforded. Even the Chufa trio were hard pressed now to see in the dimness. To either side the trees grew so close together as to appear almost as one trunk creating the illusion that they walked through a corridor. The air was oppressive, not only in its weight but also in the dank, stale smell of compost created by the decaying undergrowth that got little to no sunlight. Neither was there any airflow or movement creating a humid mire of damp that pressed against the body and made breathing difficult.

Thane’s skin seemed to prickle with the desire to be free from this cage of massive trees that should have given him a sense of home. Their type and breed were foreign to him in the way they twisted at the trunks and limbs. They were so tightly wrapped together that it was difficult to determine where one tree ended and another began. It was as if they were locked in a timeless battle for supremacy over the small spot of ground they occupied. No foliage could be seen at ground level, the leaves keeping to the highest reaches where they were used to shade the rest of the tree from the sun. Thane wondered if they all wouldn’t wither and die should the life-giving light be allowed to shine through the canopy high above. The road was no wider than what would be needed to pull a small cart though he couldn’t imagine a horse that would enter such a place.

The others followed without a word though their thoughts of gloom fairly scratched at the back of his head. He could almost sense the fear that gripped poor Domis whose desire for adventure had been suddenly quenched with the grim deluge of reality. Straining his ears, Thane was disturbed by the lack of sound that should fill a forest full of life. This one spoke only of death and its still echoes of silence were unsettling. The dirt on the road seemed to absorb the sound of their footfalls as well, making it unnecessary for them to use their skills of silent passing.

Even with his night vision, he couldn’t see that far in front of them. It was like walking in a cave with a lantern held before you, the passageway ahead revealing itself only as you continued to move deeper into its bowels. It was unnatural as if dark magic were at work. Thane did his best to brush away the uneasiness he felt as he pressed on deeper though his body remained tense and his mind shouted for him to turn and run back to the light. The feeling he’d had earlier of being followed continued but was now mixed with a sense of eyes all around tracking their every move. He tried to brush it off but it would not be denied a presence in his mind. He knew that something must be out there but resigned himself to the fact that until it revealed itself he was helpless to defend against it. He would not leave the road to seek it out. For the time being he must be content to be the hunted though it grated his nerves to feel he was at its mercy.

Time soon became a cadence of steps, one after the other, that passed into the sense of a never ending march that was void of purpose other than the placing of another foot forward. Though the road moved in gyrations from left to right, there was no way to determine the passage of time or distance as they continued on with a sensation of lacking destination. It dulled their minds and weakened their senses almost to the point of not registering their surroundings or the dangers they might pose; so much so, in fact, that Thane did not realize they were under attack until he felt the pain in his left arm from the needle-sharp tentacle that shot out like a whip, piercing him with its barb and then pulling back leaving the sack tip stinger in his flesh. The pain was like fire burning up his arm as the poison pumped into his body before he had his wits about him enough to pull it free. More tentacles lashed out, their stingers seeking like tiny daggers searching for openings to take down their victims. Thane felt his arm go numb as he called out while pulling free his sword with his good hand.

Tam reacted the quickest, cutting off one of their attacker’s arms just as its venomous stinger was about to hit Thane’s throat. They could all see it now, just at the edge of their sight, a large, black plantlike creature that consisted of a bulbous body with hundreds of thin arms that lashed out like whips at its prey. Dor quickly moved up next to Tam as best he could though there was little space with the trees closing in on either side. Thane was able to deflect more attacks with the sword in his right hand but his left arm was becoming alarmingly limp. Domis was pushed back behind Tam though he found himself relatively calm. He’d seen and faced battle situations before and was not afraid to fight, given the opportunity.

More whipping arms shot out at them and it was getting more difficult to deflect them as Tam and Thane pressed for the same position. “You’re hurt,” Tam shouted at Thane, “move back. You’re getting in my way.”

Thane cut another arm but knew that without his other sword he could not match the speed at which the creature attacked. She was right. Stepping back he gave way to Tam who instantly became a whirlwind of lethal steel as her swords spun, dipped and sliced through every arm the creature threw at her. By this time, Dor had given up his swords for the more comfortable and familiar bow. Loosing two arrows quickly in succession he buried both into what he thought must be their attacker’s head. He then shot two more as Tam deflected more arms that had abruptly slowed down in their offensive. Domis and Thane could only watch impotently as Dor shot two more arrows while he and Tam moved forward on their slowing assailant. A multitude of plantlike arms lay in the road twitching slightly as if in their final moments they were still trying to imbed their stingers.

Dor shot one final arrow that must have hit a vital organ as the arms suddenly went limp. Tam wasted no time in hacking at the creature with her swords until nothing but a pile of oozing gel seemed all that remained.

Returning to Thane, Dor tore the sleeve away from his friend’s arm and could immediately see where the venom had been injected. It was swollen, but only in the area next to the puncture. Dor gave Thane a worried look. “Are you faint or nauseated?”

“No,” he breathed, surprised. “It’s only right around where the stinger hit me that seems affected. It’s almost paralyzed.”

Tam came over, cleaning her blades as best she could before sheathing them behind her back. “Is it bad?” she asked, concerned.

“I don’t know yet,” Dor replied, “but one thing is for certain, we need to try and get the poison out.” He pulled his dagger but hesitated, waiting for Thane’s consent.

Thane nodded. “Do it.”

Pressing the dagger into his flesh, Dor cut right into the punctured skin. Almost immediately a dark gel oozed from the wound dripping into a pile on the ground at their feet. Thane could feel sensation quickly returning to his arm and was encourage to the point that he began to squeeze the flesh around the cut until he finally drew out some blood. Though it still hurt, it appeared that once the venom had been extracted, the paralysis left and his feeling returned. Tam cut a small piece of cloth she retrieved from her pack and wet it so she could bathe the wound and then tied a strip around Thane’s arm to stop the bleeding.

Thane nodded gratefully when she was done, and moved his arm about as if to test its strength. “It feels fine,” he declared.

All looked at what was left of the plant, realizing how lucky they were that only one of them had been stung and with only one venom pouch. It was easy to understand now how such an opponent could quickly render its victim powerless so that it might devour its prey at its leisure.

“We better continue on,” Thane said, motioning them forward, “until fatigue takes us. I don’t want to spend a moment longer in these woods than is necessary.”