The Black Sword Trilogy: The Poacher (21 page)

              She felt almost as if she were lifting her feet and legs out of deep snow and she felt almost as if wheezing.  Her stomach felt sour and she felt a deep, burning thirst.  “Stop just for a moment,” her mind told her.  “Drink some water…sit for a moment.”  “Must keep going…must keep going…” 

              At one point, she felt she would collapse at any moment.  Sweat was beginning to pour over her face and each breath was a conscious effort.  She looked ahead and the forest seemed less than a mile away.  Seeing this gave her another burst of energy and her pace quickened.  “Almost there…almost there…”  She focused on a single tree jutting out into the field.  She ran as hard as she could force her legs to carry her.  The tree came closer and closer.  Almost within reach of it, she stretched out her hand to touch it.  When her hand finally found it, she stopped and nearly fell in a heap.  She leaned all of her weight against the tree trying desperately not to fall over.

It took all of her remaining strength, but she made herself stand and breathe.  She gasped for air tilting her head back.  Her throat burned and her chest felt as if her heart would jump out of it.  She tried to take deep breaths but could only manage shallow panting.  Soon her breaths became longer and easier.  She no longer felt like falling, but slowly set herself down.  Leaning back against the tree, she looked back on the open ground over which she had just run.  The smoldering fort looked only like a spot against the horizon.  Finally, she allowed herself to drink and took, first short, then deeper swallows of the cool water.  The first part of her journey was over.

Chapter Twenty Five

              Terri rested for as long as she thought necessary and then went deeper into the woods.  She tried to stay to the edge of the forest so as not to get lost, but soon found herself surrounded by trees and heavy brush with little hint of direction.  She began to feel frustrated, but soon found a trail leading through the forest.  It looked man made and she thought to herself that it had to lead somewhere.  She followed it deeper into the forest hoping it would lead to something resembling civilization.

              The forest was alive with sights and sounds.  Not only were there trees, there were shrubs and bushes, vines and the sounds of all kinds of animals.  Her mother had taught her when she was a child not to fear the noises of the forest as they were a sign of normality and safety.  It was only when the forest became silent that there was danger.

              She was still very tired from her long run and she felt that she needed to stop for the day.  However, she wanted to make as much progress on her route as possible.  Her legs felt heavy and her shoulders and back ached.  When she finally concluded that she could go no further, she started to look for a place to camp for the night.  But she had a bad feeling.

              She still remembered the voices she’d heard just a few hours before.  They had to be Wolfen, she reasoned.  Nothing else made sense.  She needed rest.  She needed food and she needed sleep.  But she didn’t want to be caught off guard by a pack of Wolfen on the ground.  She could hide in as dense of vegetation as she could find, but eventually they would find her by scent.  Suddenly she had an idea and although it didn’t seem logical, she thought it might work better than simply sleeping on the ground and hoping she wasn’t found and killed.

              She found a tree that she thought she could climb.  It wasn’t easy with her feeling nearly exhausted and not the climber she was as a child.  But she did clamber up the tree and then on to a branch that looked like it could support her.  She carefully sat on the branch to test its strength and it held her easily.  Then she hung her pack on a branch next to hers.  Next, moving carefully on the branch and guiding herself on the trunk, she took her rope and tried wrapping it around the trunk.  It took her several tries, but she eventually managed to throw the rope around the trunk and catch it with her other hand.  She then turned around carefully, sat in as comfortable of a position as she thought and tied the rope tightly around her chest.

              Although not completely comfortable or feeling safe, she did manage to eat a decent meal and drink a little ale that she’d put in an extra canteen in her pack.  She thought about smoking another cigar; but then decided against it.  The whole purpose of resting in the tree was to avoid being found and if a Wolfen picked up the scent of a cigar, she might be doomed.

              The day passed slowly and Terri found a position that she felt comfortable enough in.  She simply sat there as the hours went by and listened to the sound of her own breathing.  She had no desire to move and the rope seemed to be holding her tight enough to the tree that she didn’t feel that she would fall.

              Darkness came quickly in the forest.  Terri felt her body relax and her eyes start to become heavy.  She fell asleep and woke up several times during the night, but still felt relatively safe.  One time, she did feel like she was falling, but awoke to find herself still securely lashed to the tree.  Then, at one point, her keen ears heard something rustling on the forest floor.

              When she looked down, she saw several shapes moving around in the silvery light of the early morning.  It was a pack of Wolfen and about six of them that she could see.  They were on all fours smelling the ground directly beneath her.

“I know I can smell something.” One of them said.

“I’ve got it too,” another said.  “The scent is still strong and fresh; less than a day.”

              They sniffed around the area of her tree but didn’t look up.

“It’s strange.  It’s like she completely disappeared.”

“She?”

“Yes, you idiot!  It’s a woman.  Can’t you tell the difference between man and woman?”

“But we’re supposed to be looking for soldiers.”

“The General said there was a woman in the camp.  This must be her.”

             
They searched around the tree for what seemed an eternity to Terri who was trying to be as still and quiet as possible.

“I’ve never known a scent to just disappear,” said the largest one.  “Come on!” He then ordered the rest.  “She must be further down the trail.”  They took off down the trail ahead of her.  Terri sat in the tree for a while longer before feeling safe enough to return to the ground.  Sleeping in the tree hadn’t been the more restful sleep she’d ever known, but it seemed to have worked, she thought.

             
She followed the trail for most of the day, wary of what or who might be ahead of her.  She kept her bow in her left hand and an arrow in her right; just in case.  The forest was just as noisy as it had been the day and night before and that comforted her a little.  However, she remained cautious.  At any moment, she reminded herself, the Wolfen could literally jump out of the forest.

              Following the trail, she found the trees starting to become larger and taller.  The space between the trees became wider as well.  She also noticed the color of some of the trees was becoming darker than the others.  Were these the famous Blackwood trees she’d heard so many legends about?

              The Blackwood trees were believed to be more than other trees in other forests.  Their wood was famously hard and strong.  The famous “Iron Gates” of Kallesh were made from Blackwood and even a gigantic stone battering ram hadn’t been able to breach them.  Shields made from Blackwood were also known to be as strong as metal and weapons were supposed to be just as effective as steel.  But no one had seen Blackwood weapons in centuries.  The people of the Blackwoods had become famously reclusive; rarely venturing out of their forest for trade or to communicate with the other kingdoms.  Little was known of their customs or culture.  But it was the trees that were the most mythical.  It was said that they were alive; in a way not unlike men and women.  It was said that they could whisper to each other in a language only they knew.  Some were believed to even be able to move.

              The trail eventually opened up to a steep hill and Terri felt she could either climb the hill or climb a tree for the night.  She chose the tree.  She selected one that closely resembled the tree she had spent the night in the day before; except that it was taller.  It was more difficult to climb as well as the space between branches was greater.  She found one branch that she thought she could rest on for the night and was able to wrap her rope around the trunk again.  She tied herself to the tree tightly, but not uncomfortably and tried to settle in for another difficult night.

              This night, she felt as if she had slept longer, but still waking several times during the night.  She heard crickets chirping, owls and other birds calling to each other and other animals moving around on the forest floor.  The sound of their movement woke her from her light sleep and she couldn’t see them in the blackness of the forest.  It was only four days past the new moon and the crescent moon’s light would not penetrate such dense forest.  One of the times she awoke during the night, she saw the silvery light of dawn beginning to pierce the darkness and tried to sleep further.  She was almost asleep when she heard a noise of something directly under the tree.  She looked down and saw a single Wolfen smelling around her tree.  She sat quietly, trying even not to breathe.  The animal looked around seeming confused and then looked up.  Its eyes met Terri’s and then it let out a loud howl.

              The rest of the pack caught up with him and then they all saw her.  She tried to reach for her bow, but couldn’t feel it.  Looking down, she saw it on the ground, just beneath one of the Wolfen’s feet.

“Well, well, well,” the leader said with a sinister grin on his wolf like face.  “What have we here?  A bird in a tree?”

Their laughter was a sickening sound, somewhere between a hog’s grunt and horses neigh.

“This must be why we didn’t find her last night, sir.” Another one answered.

“Clever girl, you are.” The leader laughed and sneered.

“I bet she be tasty,” one of them grunted.

“Master said we must not eat.”

“Master not here, is he?”

             
One of them tried to jump onto one of the lower branches, but fell as the branch gave way.  The next branch up was too high and the Wolfen proved to be poor climbers.  As they jumped and clawed at the tree, they barked and snarled.

“Come on down here, bitch!” One of them barked.  “We’ll make it quick and painless.”

“Tempting offer,” she answered.  “But I think I’ll stay up here.”

They continued to jump and claw, but then their leader shouted out, “Enough of this!”

He pulled a large axe off of his back.

“This is the only way to deal with trees,” he growled.  Then Terri saw something out of the corner of her eye.

             
At the top of the steep hill, she caught a glimpse of a large stag.  She felt the Wolfen’s axe strike the wood of the tree, and then she saw more movement at the top of the hill.  There were more huge stags; almost a dozen of them.  She heard and felt the axe strike again.  Then she heard a rumbling, not unlike the rumbling of the Wolfen when they charged the fort.  The stags charged down the hill with their antlers lowered towards the Wolfen.  The beasts didn’t see them until it was too late and the stags charged right through them.  Howling and barking, the Wolfen ran, but two of them had been killed by the stampede.  Moments later, one of the stags came back as if to check on Terri.  It looked directly at her and appeared to even nod at her.  Feeling amazed and relieved, Terri simply waved in response.

Chapter Twenty Six

              Terri did not feel particularly rested.  Her back and shoulders ached and her legs and head both felt heavy as she carefully climbed down from the tree.  The hill looked steeper than it had before and climbing it seemed almost as if climbing one of the tallest mountains in the Blue Mountain range.  Thinking this, she was reminded of Kenner and his difficult path.  Where was he, she wondered?  After three days, he would likely be high up into the steepest and most difficult parts of the mountain pass.  Where was he sleeping, she wondered?  Was he also being pursued by Wolfen?  She thought of Captain Krall again as well.  Was there any way he could survive his journey?