Dawnsinger (22 page)

A sheer graystone face bruised with purple shadows reared overhead. Mute, the canyon could not testify of the blood spilled in the peaceful meadow called Paiad Burein, the Place of Blood. Here Timraen, in times past, met garns invading from Triboan, their stronghold in the south. Here Seighardt, brother of Maeven, fell and died beside his father, Raemwold of Braeth.

Kai dismounted. None of his companions followed his action. He turned away from the look of dismay on their faces.
Would they now lose heart?
Even Flecht seemed to reproach him, tossing his head and refusing to sample the long grass.

All the wingabeasts needed a quieting hand. Fluttering wings, flaring nostrils, and stomping feet expressed their feelings with eloquence.

Guaron gave them a command, and with obvious reluctance, the wingabeasts stilled.

“Surely we should take the wingabeasts’ reaction as warning against this eldritch place.” Aerlic’s voice sounded small, as if swallowed by emptiness.

Kai had seen Aerlic face down a welke, climb an impassable cliff, and leap from a bluff into the waters of Weild Aenor. He saw no trace of that Aerlic in this fidgeting youth who cast uneasy glances about him and jumped at shadows. “Eldritch or no, we must stop here,” he snapped “A trail leads from this meadow through a narrow fissure in the graystone and into a canyon.
Syllid Mueric
and the ruins of Braeth wait beyond. Even if we would continue, the light already fades. Only a fool would venture across such terrain without full light. And let’s not forget the benefit of stopping here.”

“It’s hard to think of this stop as a benefit.” Shae slid to the ground and patted Ruescht’s neck. “But let us make the best of things.”

Kai swept a hand to indicate the meadow’s edge, where spreading keirkens brooded. “We’ll camp there but make no fire. Even if welke riders no longer pursue, other threats lurk within these canyons.”

Shae eyed him. “Other threats?”

“Flames from even a small campfire would light the sky, and garns hunt within these canyons. There’s also the chance that some of the Feiann
,
the smallfolk of Syllid Mueric
,
might slip through Braegmet Dorien out of curiosity and find us.” He did not mention that, beyond these creatures of flesh and blood, he knew not what walked Krei Doreinn by night.

Aerlic turned a white face toward him. “I have heard tales….”

“Let’s not dwell on tales, but keep ourselves in vigilance.”

Silence followed this pronouncement.

Guaron dismounted and, with a nod to Kai, gathered the wingabeast reins.

Aerlic followed. “I may not like where you bring me, but I will let you lead.”

Kai inclined his head. “Well said. You and Guaron may keep Whyst beside you in your watches this night.”

Guaron at last quieted the wingabeasts and even persuaded them to crop the green grass. He remained with them, for they lifted their heads and stirred whenever he tried to leave them.

Dorann uprooted several gentians, broke off the blue and white trumpet-shaped flowers, and presented them to Shae with a shy glance. She thanked him with a smile that wrenched Kai’s heart, and he turned away. An unseen dagger cut him deeper than the wound in his flesh. If only he could steel himself against such foolishness!

Dorann cut the gentian root into tiny pieces atop a flat stone, adding the fragments to a small vial of liquid he pulled from his pack. After it steeped, he removed Kai’s bandage and washed his wound, then applied the tingling mixture as a poultice beneath a fresh bandage.

Light leeched from the sky, draining color from the landscape about them. Roiling clouds moved to seal the dome of sky overhead. The wind, ever-present in the canyons, stiffened. The
wingabeasts
grew more restless with the advent of night. Guaron made an effort to settle them and laid his bedroll beneath a spreading keirken nearby.

Kai huddled with the others who shivered at the edge of Paiad Burein, jumping at small sounds as night devoured the last remnants of day.

Shae pressed into his side.
“What’s that?”

He caught her in his embrace, and she twined her arms about his neck. His senses filled with the scent and feel of holding her. But he hesitated only briefly before setting her from him. “The wind moans, Shae. It’s only the wind.” He hoped he spoke truth.

The hair on the back of his neck lifted, for it seemed the wind cried and the river muttered. Indeed, the tumble and thump of stones in the riverbeds became the “river voices” of legend. And even a stouthearted warrior might imagine moans in the wind. He was near enough to Shae to feel her tremble. He knew a desire to protect her—so fierce his voice strangled when he spoke. “We’re better served to try and sleep.”

“We’ll need a light to find our way, but a small one.” Dorann rummaged in his bag. He bent and stone scraped. When he stood again, a small light wavered in a cup between his hands.

Shae made a pleased sound. “I sometimes forget you are a tracker.”

Dorann laughed. “I learned this trick at my
mahm’s
knee. Sometimes it comes in handy when I hunt. I should have thought to light it before, but darkness came on quick. ”

Shae pulled away from Kai to look at the small light Dorann held. “How do you make it?”

“You use oil and a bit of cloth tied around a button placed in a bowl or cup.”

“Your grandmother - does she live with you at Torindan?”

“Nay,
Mahm’s
passed on, but not before she taught me the old ways.”

“Did she teach you of herbs, then?”

“Aye.”

The small light moved away toward camp and their voices faded. Kai followed their retreating figures, fighting his discomfort at sight of Dorann bending toward Shae in solicitude.

He slept badly, but lay as still as possible so as not to disturb the others. He caught the glow of Dorann’s cup flame lighting the blackness and was glad he had relented enough to allow the night watch a small light. He wished, yet again, that he and Dorann could lighten the load for the other two, but they must first recover their strength. With that thought, Kai forced his mind to quiet and gave himself to sleep.

Aerlic’s cry dragged him awake.

****

A shriek wrenched Shae from the mists of sleep to the thud of running feet. With heart pounding, she opened her eyes to blackness.

Someone wept nearby.

The hair on Shae’s arms stood on end. She struggled to rise but her bedroll tangled in her legs. Fighting free, she lurched to her feet. “Kai?”

He did not respond.

“Dorann?”

No response. Where could they be? Surely, if her companions were near, they would answer.

A blue light flared in the meadow. The dark figures gathered around it must belong to her companions.

Grass wet the bottom of her tunics as she stumbled toward them. Not certain she wished to reach the source of the weeping, she was even more loath to remain alone in the darkness.

The sobbing grew louder as she approached the light, which resolved into Whyst, its blade aflame in the hand of Aerlic, who stood with bent head.

A dry wind lifted her hair as something brushed past her. The weeping sounded close to her ear, and then ceased. She strained, but could see nothing in the darkness. Chills ran up her spine.
What had just touched her?

She stumbled forward to reach the others, grouped around Aerlic. His head jerked up at her approach, his eyes wild until recognition dawned.
Who—or what had he thought approached?

“Are you well?” She joined her question to those of her companions.

“I saw myself—” Aerlic heaved a breath. “I saw myself in death. A specter came to me—my own.”

“How can that be?” Her light voice carried above the deeper masculine tones. “You live.”

“I wish I knew.” He shook his head. “Perhaps I saw only what may be rather than what will be, but the specter had my face.”

“I hope you will not take harm from a deceiving spirit.” Dorann’s voice came out of the darkness.

“I should not have made you stop here,” Kai said. “I should not have asked it.”

“I’ll take the watch now.” Guaron pried Whyst
’s
hilt from Aerlic’s fingers. “You’ve done enough.”

“I-I dropped the button light,” Aerlic said.

“Never mind; it’s here.” Dorann’s voice came at the edge of the circle of light.

Kai put an arm around Aerlic’s shoulders. “Look, Whyst’s light dims. Whatever spirit troubled the night leaves us now. Come and take your rest.”

“Who can rest after such a sight? And in such a place?” Aerlic’s voice sounded raw.

“At least try.” Kai offered Shae his arm and led her back toward camp. “Are you well?”

She shrugged, not sure how to answer. “Something happened to me as I crossed the meadow. I heard weeping, and then felt —" A shiver crawled up her spine. “Something uncanny touched me.”

He pulled her into his arms. “I should not have left you alone in camp, even for so short a time. I will not do so again.”

She placed a hand on his chest. “My welfare is just one of the many burdens you carry now.”

He put a hand over hers. “I don’t think of you as a burden, Shae.”

She stepped out of his embrace. “I’ll be glad when we are quit of this place. It brings confusion to us.”

“Well spoken. Tomorrow we enter
Braegmet Doreinn
—the Chasm of Confusion.”

19

Ruins of Braeth

Rock walls rose about Shae, shutting her in with the musty odor of dampness. The narrowness of the twisting canyon precluded flying, and tumbled stones underfoot made riding treacherous. They might have flown above the canyons altogether but for the risk of being sighted by welke riders following Freaer’s armies in the east. She led Ruescht with care through narrow places so close as to appear impassable, pausing often as Aerlic, Dorann, and Kai cleared the way of fallen rocks. When they emerged at midday, relief at passing from the canyon’s bright heat into the green shadow of Syllid Mueric left her a little light-headed.

At sight of rolling hills clothed in draetenn and keirken trees and threaded by gleaming brooks, Shae halted in wonder. But as she recalled whispers she’d heard about soft places in time that swallowed wayfarers, a shiver ran up her spine. Indeed, some who had gone into Syllid Mueric
never returned. Others spent but a day in the Smallwood and spoke of having passed there a lifetime.

They paused to rest in a meadow beside a rill that wended through rocks skirted with ferns. She bent and caught handfuls of cold water in her cupped hands. When its sweet effervescence burst against her tongue, she sighed with pleasure. In truth, she longed to submerge herself in water—to bathe. What would it be like to wash away the dust and grime of travel in water such as this? She repressed a sudden longing to find out.

She shouldn’t linger.

But daydreams tantalized her. She could see herself beside the sparkling rill, counting the petals of early flowers at her leisure. The urgency of their quest evaporated like summer mist.

No! She had to stop letting her mind wander.

Syllid Mueric had seemed in her imaginings a place of murk and gloom, rife with the growls and howlings of darksome creatures. But this place of burgeoning life permeated with the smell of wild mint was both wonderful and terrible in its beauty.

The ground rose at a gentle grade as birds sang from sweetberry brambles and water splashed and played. Although storm clouds threatened, the rain held. She knew a deep yearning to linger beneath the dainty
weilo
trees dripping moss into the water and to lose herself in the dappled shade that spread over green hills and valleys.

She lagged behind and, lured by the ruby glow of sweetberries, turned into a meadow at the edge of the path. Dorann, just behind her, stopped too. She slid down from Ruescht’s back and crammed her mouth until her cheeks bulged and juice ran down her chin to stain her clothing.

When she thought of Dorann again, she found him sleeping in the shade of a draetenn. Nearby,
Ruescht and Sharten cropped the meadow grass. Shae called to Dorann, but he didn’t wake until she prodded his shoulder.

When he opened glazed eyes, a silly expression of glee covered his face. “I could idle away my days gazing upon your beauty.”

Her face heated. “You speak amiss.”

He stood and took her hand. “Let’s stay here, Shae.”

She pulled away. What was wrong with him? What had happened to them both? The pull to remain in Syllid Mueric gripped her almost beyond endurance, but caution whispered within her.

She pulled on Dorann’s arm. “Come on! We need to catch up to the others.”

“Shae!”
Relief flooded her at the sound of Kai’s voice. He waited with the others at the edge of the meadow.

She ran toward Ruescht, but paused when Dorann lagged. “Come
on!
”

Dorann followed with slow steps.

A chill ran over her. “Are you well?”

“Syllid Mueric holds him captive, and I see its spell on your face.” Kai called. “You must resist, Shae, and let Dorann come away on his own.”

“With a little help from me, of course.” Aerlic leaped from Argalent and hoisted Dorann onto Sharten.

Kai waited for Aerlic to return to his wingabeast. “Let us quit this place as soon as we may.”

They set off with Kai in the lead and Aerlic stationed as rear guard behind Dorann, not pausing until they reached a channel of Wield Rivenn that trended from the northeast. She found it hard to reconcile this lazy waterway fed by rivulets and cascades with the torrent she’d seen at Kei Doreinn.

She devoured what she could of the dry, cold rations enlivened by a few delicate mushrooms Dorann gathered. Afterwards, she lay on her stomach on a flat boulder and drank from a stream that cascaded over rounded stones.

The back of her neck prickled.

She sat up. Where had the others gone? A feeling of comfort edged with a curious discomfort assailed her. She didn’t trust it.