Changing Fate [Fate series] (9 page)

She landed in front of a line of caves and changed to wolf-shape—no matter how promising the place looked, it wouldn't help unless they could get themselves and the horses there. She scrambled over rocks, waded along the stream, climbed down through still more rocks along the side of a cliff, and slogged through the marsh until she reached the river. The water was fast moving, but it didn't look too deep.

Bracing herself to change shape in a hurry, she angled her body upriver and stepped in. The water came up along shoulders, belly, and hips, but as long as she kept her nose up, she could breathe and see. But ohhh, was it ever cold! Resolving that her next crossing would be made on horseback, she pushed her way across. She scrambled out onto the other bank and shook herself thoroughly. Well, at least it was fordable, and it would break their trail if anyone else got ideas about pursuing them. She gave herself one final shake, then started running up the path to rejoin Briam. With any luck, the run would dry her off.

The sun was high when she got to the clearing, changed back to human form, and got dressed. Briam handed her a hunk of bread and cheese. “Did you find a place? Are we going now?"

Akila nodded, swallowing a mouthful of food. “Yes, and,” she glanced at the sun, “yes. But we had better start right away, we've got some distance to go, and there's a river to ford, which we want to do while there's still sun to dry us afterward."

"All right.” Briam finished the last of his food and began to load the packs onto the horses. “This is really an adventure, isn't it?"

"Considering that I've been dividing my time between being wet and cold and being scared out of my mind, yes, I'd say that this definitely qualifies as an adventure,” Akila replied dryly. “Are you planning to turn it into a ballad?"

"Of course."

"Why did I even bother to ask?” She gulped the last of her food, and mounted one of the spare horses.

They made good time to the river and forded it without much difficulty—the horses were a good deal taller than Akila's wolf-form. But the horses didn't care for the footing in the marsh, and Akila didn't blame them. She had hopped from rock to rock herself.

Briam had other concerns. “What,” he wrinkled his nose distastefully, “is that awful smell?"

Akila had noticed it on the way through before and had hoped that it would not be as noticeable when she was in human form. It was still quite noticeable, but compared to the way it had smelled before it didn't bother her at all.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I believe it's called skunk cabbage."

"I can well believe it—but I don't think I am ever going to be used to it enough to eat it!"

Akila laughed for the first time since she had heard about Lord Ranulf's army. “Relax, I don't think it's supposed to be edible."

"Good!” Briam's response was heartfelt and emphatic.

It was twilight when they reached the end of the marsh. Briam looked at the overhanging cliff and said, “Where do we go now?"

"Over there,” Akila gestured to their left. “There's a sort of stairway."

Briam looked at it in disbelief. Coming down the cliff side on a fairly steep slope was a mess of large rocks. “'Sort of’ is right—it looks as though a giant's child had a temper tantrum and threw his building stones around. How are we ever going to get the horses up there?"

"Force of personality, I guess; and quickly—we don't want to be caught there in the dark. Don't worry, I tested the stones on the way down, they're stable and won't tilt under us.” Akila moved her horse to the edge of the bottom rock and dismounted. “Tether the third horse; we'll have to take them one at a time. It's not impossible, but it's not going to be easy."

It wasn't easy, and it was full dark by the time they persuaded the third horse up to the top of the cliff and got all of them to the caves. The moon hadn't risen yet, but the night was clear and the stars were bright. Akila could see pretty well, although she wasn't sure whether this was natural or whether she was shifting her eyes into something else without knowing it.

Briam looked around uneasily. “Is this it? It looks scary, all dark grey with black holes in the rocks. And the ground is awfully hard and rocky.” He fumbled along the horse's flank to the saddlebags. “At least we don't have to worry too much about having our campfire spread out of control. Is there anything here to build a fire with?"

"No!” Akila said quickly. “We took longer to get here than I expected, and even if we did find the makings of a fire, I don't want to advertise our presence here."

"But there can't be anybody within miles of here!"

"If we light a fire out here on this hillside, it will show for miles and miles.”
And I'm not even going to discuss the possibility that Lord Ranulf will decide to stretch his wings a bit before turning in for the night
. “Tomorrow we'll gather wood and find a good place inside one of the caves for a fire pit. Tonight we eat a cold supper and wrap up warmly."

"What about water?"

"Is there something wrong with your ears?” Akila wavered between annoyance and concern. “There's a stream right over there."

"Oh.” He listened for a minute. “I still don't hear it."

Akila frowned. True, the stream wasn't that loud, but she could hear it perfectly well. Maybe he was getting a cold. “You dig out some supper and hobble the horses—not that I think they're stupid enough to try to go anywhere. I'll get water and find a sheltered corner for us to sleep in tonight. Tomorrow we can set up a proper camp in the caves."

"All right.” Briam began removing saddlebags and tack from the horses. “I certainly don't want to try exploring the caves in the dark. There could be bears in them, or even wolves!"

Akila laughed. “Just don't snore loud enough to wake anything up!"

Briam slept like a log and didn't snore a bit. Akila, dozing restlessly beside him, felt thoroughly resentful.
It must be wonderful to be placid and not worry about things and trust the rest of the world to take care of you. If I hadn't been so clever about getting us both out of the castle, I could still be home in my own bed, not freezing out here in the hills wondering what to do next.

Yes
, her internal voice shot back,
I'm sure that Lord Ranulf would be happy to help keep your bed warm! And I'm sure he'd make sympathetic noises about Briam's unfortunate death.

Tears flowed down Akila's cheeks, but she forced her body to remain still; she didn't want Briam to wake up and ask why she was crying.
It's not that I want Briam dead or Lord Ranulf as a husband, but this isn't fair! It's all too much. I don't know where to go or what to do, and now I'm responsible for Briam and three horses, and I don't have anybody to help me. Am I going to have to spend the rest of my life looking after my brother?

Not necessarily. He could die long before you do—or he could get married. And isn't lumping him in with the horses just a little bit extreme? After all, he is smarter than they are.

Not that much. And the way my luck's been running lately, he'll marry some pretty little idiot and I'll have yet another person to look after.

Well, he can't marry anyone while you're hiding out in the woods—unless you expect some princess in distress to come wandering through here.

Of course not! What do you think this is—a fairy tale?

Try to relax and go to sleep. It's nearly dawn, and you have to set up a proper camp today. You'll have plenty of time to be angry at the world and brood over your fate after that's done—if you really want to follow such an unproductive course of action.

Some help you are!
Akila mopped her face with the end of her sleeve, closed her eyes, and concentrated on slowing her breathing until she fell asleep.

"Wake up! Are you planning to spend the whole day sleeping?” Briam sounded obnoxiously cheerful.

Akila cautiously opened one eye, then closed it again. The sun was high, the clearing was warm and Briam had obviously been up for some time. She felt as if she never wanted to get up again. Her restless night had left her feeling drugged and heavy-eyed, and all she wanted to do was sleep for the rest of her life, even if she did keep hearing the Goddess calling her every time she fell asleep.

"I don't know why you were worried about my snoring,” Briam teased. “You sound just like a frog."

"Thanks,” Akila snarled, pulling herself unwillingly to a sitting position.

"I checked the caves,” he went on. “No bears, and the middle one has a couple of side rooms toward the back. One of them is big enough for the horses. The cave nearest the stream isn't really big enough to hold both of us, let alone the horses, and the rest are just large holes, not really proper caves."

"All right,” Akila said, dragging herself to her feet. “Let me splash some water on my face and pry my eyes open. Then I'll see about setting up our stuff and making a fire—I assume you want breakfast."

"Of course. I'm starved!"

They spent the rest of the day settling in. Fortunately there was a spot towards the back of the cave where they could put a fire. The smoke from it drifted up and out a fissure in the ceiling. Akila insisted on checking to find out where it went before lighting the fire; she didn't want either a forest fire or a highly visible plume of smoke to give their location away. The task was not easy. The hole was too small for her eagle shape to fit through, and any smaller bird shape wouldn't be able to fly. She could always go outside and try to find the hole from above, but there seemed to be some sort of vegetation around it and she didn't think it would be readily visible.

Finally she sent Briam back to the front of the cave with orders to move the saddle bags in. Then she concentrated, remembering Lord Ranulf as he had left her room, and shifted to spider shape. It was a strange feeling, as if she were pulling all of herself into the center and stretching out in rays all at once. It was horribly disorienting, but when the flowing stopped, she was a large spider with very sticky feet.

She moved carefully over to the wall, testing to see how this body performed, then slowly climbed up it. That part wasn't too bad; she'd done a little rock climbing even in human form. But crossing the ceiling was another matter. She hated being upside down, and only the sternest of self-scoldings kept her moving across the ceiling.

I'm going to fall straight down and land splat! on my back.

No, you're not. Come now—have you ever seen a spider fall on its back? Now, move your, uh, right center front foot, that's right. Now the left center front foot...

She made it across the ceiling and maneuvered through the hole, one leg at a time. She turned back to human shape very thankfully, not even caring that she was standing naked near the top of a windy hill. The trees and bushes around her broke the force of the wind, so she wasn't as cold as she might otherwise have been. They would also serve to break up and hide the smoke from the fire, and the ceiling of the cave was high enough that the heat from the fire wouldn't harm them. It was also too far for the sparks to jump, unless she was stupid enough to build too large a fire. It would do nicely.

Reluctantly, she changed back into a spider. The transformation was easier this time, and she didn't seem to have quite as many legs to maneuver through the hole this time.
Just goes to show you can get used to anything
. She was heading across the ceiling when Briam screamed.

She lost her grip and started to fall, but was pulled up short by some sort of sticky rope exuded from her stomach. It stretched to lower her to the floor, where she changed back as she hit.

Briam stood there, sword in hand, staring at her in horror. “Akila! You scared me half to death!"

"Likewise!” she snapped. “You idiot, you could have gotten me killed! You ought to know better than to make sudden loud noises when I'm learning a new shape!"

"I didn't know it was you."

"You thought four-foot spiders were native to these parts?"

She was shaking from the adrenaline pouring through her body, and she hoped she wasn't going to throw up. “Put away the sword, for pity's sake!"

Briam looked at it as if he'd never seen it before, then sheathed it. “How did you learn to turn into a spider?"

If you're lucky, brother dear, you'll never know
. “I needed something that could crawl up to that hole—it's too small for me to fly through.”
Change the subject
. “We're in luck; there are bushes above that will break up and hide smoke, so we can put a fire here."

"Great!” Briam seemed to be recovered from the shock. “I'll go get some wood.” He looked around the cave approvingly. “This should be a good place to live.” He turned and went out.

Akila dressed with trembling hands, dug a fruit bar out of the saddlebag Briam had dropped, and ate it, shaking all the while.

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They had been there about six weeks when the wolves arrived. There were three of them: two males and a pregnant female, and they came loping up alongside the stream at mid-morning, while Akila and Briam sat in front of their cave, cleaning their swords.

Briam leaped to his feet at once, raising his sword. The larger of the male wolves stopped and stood his ground, teeth bared in a growl. The other male and the female, also growling, stood just behind him. For a long moment none of them moved, and Akila had the odd idea that one could do a painting of the scene and title it ‘Confrontation.'

"Akila,” Briam spoke through clenched teeth, “what are you just sitting there for? Why do you think I've been teaching you to use a sword?"

Akila rose to her feet, transferred her sword to her right hand, and used it to sweep the point of Briam's sword down. “Not, I trust, so that I could kill innocent wolves returning to their den."

"What?"

"The cave nearest the stream—didn't you notice the shed fur in it?"