Dawnsinger (28 page)

Shae’s shrieks raised the hair on his arms. He watched, helpless, as the garn pulled her closer to its fangs. Blood ran across its hairy hand from scratch marks she made. A cold sweat broke over Kai as blood ran down her leg. He staggered toward Shae, feeling somehow weightless.

The garn moaned and its fingers relaxed in death.

Kai remembered to breathe.

Dorann reached Shae and pried her leg from the garn’s death grip.

Kai sank to his knees before her.

She lifted herself to kneel with him, and he saw that she wept.
“You live!”

“
I
live?” He pulled her into his arms. “I thought I’d lost you when that garn crushed you beneath it, and then again when you charged our friend here like Lof Yuel’s revenge, and once more when he tried to take you with him in death.” He drew away to scold her. “You must stop putting yourself at risk.”

A strong-minded look came over her face, but, as darkness took him, he didn’t hear her answer.

****

“We’re at risk here, but we should remain another day to recover.” Dorann straightened from crouching over Kai. He touched her with a glance. “And to bury Aerlic.”

Shae leaned against a Draetenn
trunk. Her bandaged leg stretched before her. “And if we stay, won’t other garns find us?”

“I doubt they will if we’re careful. As a precaution I’ve hidden the corpses.”

The memory of Dorann dragging the dead garns into the syllid made her shudder. “Time grows short.” But her protest sounded weak.

“Travel will overtax Kai,” Dorann reminded her. “And you can little tolerate it yourself. Besides, I don’t like the thought of leaving Aerlic to the wolves and garns.”

She shuddered again. “I can’t abide the thought!”

“We will give him a proper burial—somehow.” As it met hers, his amber gaze softened. “I’ve tended Kai. Watch over him while I gather a few herbs. Call if you need help.”

She took his meaning. Leisht weighted her hand as she peered into the green shadows. Apart from the nodding of a gnarlwood bow when a flitling flew from it, nothing moved. She glanced at Kai’s white face and bending over him, touched his clammy brow.
“Live!”

At her whisper, his eyes opened and his silvered gaze sought hers. She couldn’t deny the curious pull that bound her to him.
How came this?
She forced her thoughts to calm. Right now she needed her wits about her. There would be time enough for such trouble should they return from Lohen Keil.

Dorann returned with his hands full of greens. He dipped his head to Kai. “I’m glad to see you awake. I’ll make a draught to soothe your ills, but I think we should move into the draetenns upstream for the night. Already
pyreks
circle.”

The thought of the small, fierce carrion fowl roused Shae. The glint of wings overhead confirmed Dorann’s words. She shivered, for night’s chill already drew near.

Dorann supported Kai’s weight as they transferred upstream to a place where the banks of the brook broadened in a wide arc. Although the blue sky faded to shades of gray, soft light filtered through the draetenns and gleamed from the brook’s surface.

Shae sat on a boulder while Dorann settled Kai on a fallen log. Dorann rummaged through his pack, and then tossed her a round of waybread. She caught the bread but, as pain shot through her, winced. She ate the meager fare, although she had no appetite, and then took the steaming cup Dorann offered her. It tasted of sweet herbs. The medicinal infusion unfurled tendrils of warmth inside her, and she pushed her hair back to cool her forehead.

Kai, propped against a fallen log, looked up from his food and met her glance. He offered an encouraging smile, despite the sadness on his face, and bent again to eat. She swallowed against the lump that rose to her throat, grateful Kai would recover.

A sudden thought struck her. “Aerlic saw himself in death.”

“He did.” Kai leaned back against the log. “At
Paiad Burein.’

“Did he see his future?” Shae set aside her empty cup. “Or did something in that place mark him for death?”

Dorann shook his head. “I don’t understand such dark matters.”

Night crept upon them in stages, so gradual as to catch them off guard. Dorann stood. “Sleep and I’ll stand watch.”

Kai growled low in his throat. “I am much improved.”

“You must rest!”
Dorann flushed. “At least tonight.” He said in a gentler tone.

Shae hid a smile. How odd to hear Dorann order Kai about. While Kai embraced leadership, Dorann kept to himself.

“All right.” Kai relented. “I’ll surrender to your care.”

Shae lay down with a yawn. Sleep caught her up at once.

She woke to birdsong and morning light. Kai sat on the log, looking much improved. Dorann knelt below him and dug in his pack.

Shae sat up and worked a kink from her neck. Her leg pained her, despite Dorann’s poultice.

Dorann glanced her way. “How do you fare?”

“Much improved.” She kept her aching muscles to herself.

Kai cocked a brow at her. “As am I.”

She gave him a doubtful look.

“That’s well, then.” Dorann, speaking around a bit of waybread, sat beside Kai. “We need to leave this place soon.”

Shae studied Kai’s pale face. “Can you travel?”

His eyes gleamed. “I can and will. We’ve dwelt too long here.”

Shae stretched, and then wished she hadn’t. Every part of her hurt. “What lies before us?”

“A climb.” Kai smiled. “But in forest shade and by daylight.”

Dorann frowned at Kai. “We’ll go slowly this day, I think. But first, we have a matter to attend.”

****

Light and shadow sifted across Aerlic’s cairn—a wall of rocks piled across the opening in the side of a hollow draetenn. Aerlic rested within. As she waited between Kai and Dorann, the stone Shae had taken from the banks of the brook chilled her hands.

Dorann laid his stone on top of the others there. “I did not know you well until the last, Aerlic, but I’ll not forget you.”

A small breeze lifted the leaves overhead. The voice of the brook surged and ebbed.

Kai stepped forward, shoulders squared. “I’ll return for you if I can.” His voice caught, and he paused. “I’ll return you to your home in Glendenn raven.”

Shae placed her rock among the others. “I’ll not let you die for nothing.”
As she stepped back, Kai placed his hand on her shoulder, and she let herself lean into his strength. They stood for a time, brief of necessity, and then turned away from the makeshift tomb.

Emerging from the stand of draetenns, they kept to the path as it entered deep shade beneath towering gnarlwoods. Here and there, sunlight broke through weaving branches, fracturing into shafts.

Shae trudged behind Dorann and beside Kai up long hillsides where grassy meadows yielded to tumbled rocks. When downed trees blocked the way, they clambered over or found a detour. Kai couldn’t endure such rigors long, and Shae’s leg pained her more than she admitted. They halted early to shelter beneath a rock overhang, which was just as well, for rain came before night fell.

Dampness seeping from the edge of her cloak woke Shae before dawn. Chilled, she lay awake until dawn. When they set off again pain shot up her injured leg, but she clenched her teeth and gave no protest. Rain drove into her eyes and soaked her garments, but she pressed on, regardless.

Now that the ground angled at a steeper grade, she stopped to catch her breath more often. The path narrowed, and Kai motioned her forward to walk between Dorann and him. At times they stopped to hack away the undergrowth so they could pass. Time spun out. Shadows lengthened.

“Here!”

At Dorann’s call, Shae halted but didn’t look up until Kai took her hand. He gave her a bracing smile and led her into the dim shelter of a hollow gnarlwood. She sank onto the bed of dry hummus at its center, thankful for the warmth it gave.

Dorann turned in a slow circle. “I don’t see any openings but the one we came in by. That will make the night watch easier.”

“I’m stronger now,” Kai told Dorann. “I can stand part of the watch.”

Dorann gave him a doubtful glance. “You’ll only exhaust yourself. I’ll do it.”

“I insist.” The edge to Kai’s voice reminded Shae of the tone he’d taken after rescuing her from a precarious perch in one of Whellein Hold’s gnarlwoods back in her early days.

Dorann, who didn’t have the benefit of her experience of Kai, snorted. “Stop trying to be a hero.”

“Come now. It’s obvious you’re the one trying to be a hero. Don’t think I haven’t noticed why.”

Alarm shot through Shae. “Kai—”

He looked down at her, pain in his eyes.

Dorann’s jaw tightened. “Stand the watch then.”

As the two turned their backs on one another, Shae blew out her breath. The long trek took its toll on them all. Sleep caught her unawares.

She woke to murmurs and pulled her cloak more snugly about her, ready to drift back to sleep.

Kai’s voice roused her, and she picked out his words. “Our supplies are low. Besides the fact that we could carry only so much on foot, we’ve suffered delays and had less time to hunt and gather than we hoped. At this rate, by the time we enter Laesh Ebain, our stores will run out.”

“We’ll have to tighten our belts.” Dorann answered.

“We may be able to reach our destination, but we won’t have supplies for the return journey.”

“I’ll hunt and gather.”

“Let’s hope the Lost Plains offer something worth the effort.”

Their murmuring stopped, and Shae lost her hold on wakefulness. Morning came too soon, and she woke with a groan. As she combed and replaited her hair, Kai watched with grave interest. What had he meant about Dorann wanting to prove himself a hero? Did it have anything to do with the look of admiration she sometimes surprised on his face? She hoped for all their sakes that it did not.

The trail narrowed further that day, steepening as it wended through tall gnarlwoods and lush undergrowth. But, when they neared the second bench, the ground leveled and the forest thinned. Late in the day they followed a stream through a high meadow where the sun’s warmth soothed Shae. Gazing with longing at the waving meadow grass and cooling waters of a small stream, she opened her mouth to suggest they stop. Before she could speak a welke’s screech rent the air.

She searched the sky. All at once, the sweetgrass meadow seemed too exposed.

Kai’s long eyes gleamed. Although he didn’t speak, she read his message clearly. Dorann gave a tight nod. As one, they sought cover in the serviceberry thicket beside them.

No sooner had they hidden than a great shadow swept across the meadow. Shae pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. Did the creature not hear her ragged breathing? The bushes were sparse and Kai had to crouch so they covered his head. If the welke flew over the serviceberry thicket, surely it would find them.

24

The Lost Plains

“Don’t move.” Kai’s whisper stirred the air near Shae’s ear.

She pressed against him, glad for the reminder that welkes needed movement to see. A shadow rippled across the ground. Feathers rustled overhead. She held her breath. Time stretched to snapping point. And still the welke did not return.

“Safe!”
Dorann exhaled on a breath.

Shae loosed her death grip on Kai’s forearm, but he made a sound in his throat and pulled her into his arms. She leaned her head on his chest until the long shivers that racked her subsided.

His voice thrummed beneath her ear. “We must take special care from here on out. We draw near the welke’s roosting places.”

They started off again. Another time, and she might have taken more thought for the rugged beauty of her surroundings. The deep, dank forests and forsaken landscapes they traveled became to her now only torments to endure. From the viewpoint of Torindan’s ramparts, these rises had seemed moderate. Of course, at the outset of their venture, everything had seemed much easier than it had proven.

The climb, which had started, if not jauntily, at least with energy, wore her down. Shae could not prevent herself from slowing. She grabbed at the plentiful
ederbaer
—tiny berries that grew in abundance on bushes along the wayside. The moist fruit eased her dry mouth, its tartness tingling against her tongue. Her leg throbbed, but still she said nothing. She huddled within herself, disregarding suffering, cold, and discomfort. Nothing mattered but reaching Caerric Daeft.

How did Elcon fare? She had not tried the shil shael
again, for it called for a stamina she did not now possess. Its use must drain Freaer’s reserves as well. How had he kept up such a constant barrage against Elcon? But then, Freaer’s ability did not match her own. Something eldritch overlaid his “touch”—a dry breath of magic. Of course, the son of Meriwen of Old would learn fell arts at his mother’s knee. She had by these arts ensnared shraens and extended her own life—and her sons’—far beyond their mortal limits. What other privileges might such powers bring?

Shae would never win against Freaer on that level. The thought, somehow, made her glad. She pushed forward with renewed energy but soon gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. Each step jarred her leg.

Kai must have guessed her discomfort, for he pressed a walking staff into her hand and paused often.

Dark clouds gathered overhead and hurled icy water upon them. They slogged on, although the trail slicked into mud at once. Rain drove into Shae’s eyes and her feet stuck in the mud. Even when she slid and fell onto her injured leg, she did not call a halt.

Too much depended on reaching the second bench. They’d glimpsed its naked stone surface gleaming in the distance throughout the day. By the time they drew near, the rain had ceased and the sun touched the horizon. Shae reached the bench and the brink of exhaustion together. Kai turned a pale face toward her, and even Dorann’s step lacked vigor.

She sighed and leaned against the natural wall of dark stone that leveled just above her head. From this viewpoint above the stunted draetenns that persisted almost to this altitude, she thought she saw the cliffs surrounding Torindan. In the space between, the canyons of Doreinn Ravein twisted in shades of mauve and pink and gray, the tossing green and gold canopy of Syllid Braechnen stretched to Pilaer, and the ruins of Braeth hunched over mysteries. She sighed. They had already journeyed far and paid dearly to reach this lonely place.