The Fallen (Book 1) (24 page)

The land became more vegetated as they moved west and the snowy rocks
gave way to hard rocky ground with clumps of thin spiky grass and clusters of scrawny trees. As he walked, Milgorry tried to imagine his father’s face when he came to understand that his son was behind the ruination of his plans, but his mind kept returning to the terror in the girls’ eyes when they realized he was Nandul’s son. He had felt their fear as clearly as they had felt it themselves and he marveled that they now walked peacefully beside him. He was aware that Elena and Immosey thought of him as a brother. He also thought of them as younger sisters and he knew he would sacrifice himself without hesitation to save them, should the need arise. He was astounded to know this was the case. If he’d been asked only weeks ago if this could possibly happen he would have laughed outright. A noise not far in front of them brought him to a sudden halt. He cursed himself for his inattentiveness and motioned towards some nearby bushes. As quietly as possible they pushed their way through the bushes and then lay down so they were hidden by the prickly grass. The noise came again and this time Milgorry recognized the sound.

‘
We’re being tracked,’ he whispered.

‘
Nandul?’ asked Elena, her eyes wide with fright.

‘
No. I don’t think so. We wouldn’t have heard him if it was Nandul. Whoever it is might think you’re my slaves. The fact that they’re following us means that most likely they will try to return me and take you for their own,’ he said as his eyes scanned the surrounding trees. ‘Stay here. Don’t move,’ he whispered. ‘And no matter what you hear, don’t lift your heads above the grass.
Don’t
watch,’ he added as he stood up and moved away from the bushes.

For several moments there was complete silence. Immosey turned her head to look in the direction Milgorry had gone. She could see him through the long stalks of grass. He was about thirty paces away with his back to a large tree and his sword still sheathed. He wa
s standing completely still with a nocked arrow drawn back in his bow. His head was slightly tilted as he listened carefully. There was a movement to Milgorry’s right and a figure darted out of the bushes towards him. A split second later another person came from Milgorry’s left and it was all Immosey could do not to shout a warning. Milgorry spun towards the first person as a knife shot from the man’s hand towards him. He ducked and the knife bounced off the tree. The man drew his sword and sprang forward but he was too slow and a second later an arrow pierced his throat. His sword fell and his hands went to his neck as he dropped with an odd gurgling sound. Blood oozed around the arrow. Milgorry twisted around to face the second man, dropping his bow and drawing his sword. This man proved to be as reckless as his companion and stepped forward hoping to return Milgorry before he gained his balance. To the man’s shock, Milgorry leapt forward with his sword swinging. The man snarled as Milgorry drove him towards the forest. As he backed past the first large tree he flung himself sideways, hoping to use the tree as a shield whilst lashing out wildly with his sword. Milgorry had been expecting this move and his left hand flew to the long knife at his side. Using his sword, he swept the attacker’s sword high forcing him to leave his body unprotected and he raked his knife across the man’s stomach. The man fell forward, screaming and clutching himself. Milgorry drove the knife up under the man’s ribs and blood gushed from his mouth. He fell writhing in agony, then Milgorry stood over him and with all his strength he swept his sword across, smashing the man’s skull and splattering his brains on the trunk of the tree.

He knelt beside the body for a moment, taking the man
’s sword and several knives he had hidden on his body. He was just considering where to hide the bodies when a retching sound made him turn and run back to the hidden girls. Immosey was bent over on her knees, vomiting. He knelt beside her and held her hair back as she vomited.

‘
Ahh…Immy, I told you not to look,’ he said, his voice a sad plea. ‘Why did you look?’ He opened his water bag and poured some water out for Immy to clean her mouth.

‘
Perhaps you should have
ordered
her to look. Then she would have refused to, I’m sure,’ said Elena, and Milgorry noticed her voice sounded shaky.

‘
You were watching too, weren’t you, little Queen?’ he asked accusingly. He turned to Louisa. ‘Are they always this disobedient-’ He broke off as he saw the expression on Louisa’s face. ‘Supreme Majesty! You too Louisa? You’ll all have nightmares,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Louisa, I know you are already having nightmares since you cut Orpel’s throat and smashed Amil on a tree.’ Louisa’s face went white. Immosey rinsed her mouth thoroughly and spat, then she wiped the water from her face using her dress.

‘
Mil, we just watched you save all our lives, yet again. Is that a nightmare?’ She was trembling uncontrollably.

‘
What you saw is enough to cause you nightmares! And that’s what he wanted, do you know? My father wanted me to be a nightmare to his enemies.’ The girls said nothing as Milgorry’s face turned cold and hard. ‘So he trained me be as ruthless and efficient a killer as he possibly could, and to kill without remorse.’ Milgorry’s voice filled with sadness and disgust. ‘I trusted him. I believed in what he was doing.’

‘
It’s natural to trust your father,’ said Immosey. ‘Don’t we become what our parents teach us to be? And wouldn’t any parent want to make sure their child was the best they could be?’

‘
Nandul wanted to make me into the most dangerous warrior he could possibly train but it was for his own selfish plans. I can see that now. ‘Your enemy deserves pain. Track them relentlessly, kill those who oppose you, forgiveness is for the weak.’ He was wrong!’ Now Milgorry just sounded angry. ‘That’s what he made me into, and just like he wanted, I’m ruthless and unforgiving.
It is a nightmare!
’ He sighed. ‘None of you should have been watching.’ He stood up. ‘I have to deal with the bodies. Please, please stay here. Look after Immy. And definitely don’t come near me whilst I do this!’

He was gone for
a long time and when he returned there was no sign of the fight. Even the earth under the trees showed no evidence of anyone having been there as he led them away over hard rocky ground.

Chapter
25

Aithne

‘
I can take you no further, Prince Kelian,’ said Olwid, looking out over the lake before them. ‘Lake Khynol marks the border and I won’t cross over. May you fulfill your quest.’

Kelian gazed into Nyinaku
, studying the mountains and the lake sparkling through the trees. ‘Thank you,’ he said turning to Olwid, but to his surprise, the little tracker was gone.

Araas laughed.
‘He’s quick! He’s probably half way back to Tabul by now.’

Kelian shook his head in astonishment. There was no sign of Olwid in any direction.

‘We need to find food and a safe place to sleep tonight.’ Borgulnay pointed to the mountains encompassing the south western side of the lake.

It took the group the remainder of the afternoon to walk
through the forest around the southern perimeter of the lake. They easily avoided the houses along the lake’s edge but were pleased when they finally moved into thicker forest. The sky was darkening as they made their way up the mountain and the moon had risen when they finally stopped.

Kelian
looked around at the soldiers, wondering if they felt as hungry as he did. They were gathering wood for a fire and Alexander was systematically going through each soldier’s pack checking how much food, if any, they carried. Some dry rations remained, but not enough to sustain them for long. Alexander handed Kelian a piece of the remaining hardtack. He was famished having eaten nothing since the previous evening. Olwid and Araas had captured several small burrowing animals and roasted them, but that was just enough to keep hunger at bay that night.

Araas watched
for a moment and then turned to Timbul. In a flash the two men were gone. Kelian turned just in time to see the two brothers disappear from the clearing and he marveled at their speed. He wondered if they found the slow human pace a little frustrating. An hour later, Timbul and Arras appeared back at the campsite as silently as they had disappeared. Each of the guardians was holding several fish by their tails and they handed these to Gilgarry and David who were tending their small fire.

‘
You couldn’t have caught them, surely?’ said Kelian, looking at the guardians in disbelief.

Araas grinned.
‘Do you remember those fishing huts along the lake’s edge on our way up here? Tim figured a fishing hut should have fish and we weren’t disappointed. He slipped in the window.’

Borgulnay snorted.
‘So now as well as trespassing in Nyinaku we have descended to stealing someone’s dinner.’

‘
They’re fallen,’ said Timbul shortly. ‘They’ll survive a lot longer without the fish than you will, Borg.’

‘
That’s true,’ said Borgulnay, nodding and hoping it wasn’t food for the human slaves. Timbul gave him a glance both surprised and partly guilty and Borgulnay realized the guardians hadn’t considered this possibility. Timbul glanced awkwardly at Kelian, but Borgulnay shook his head slightly and the guardian sighed but said nothing.

‘
So, where from here?’ said David, looking up at Kelian from where he was scaling one of the fish.

‘
Keep the fish heads,’ interrupted Gilgarry. Maybe we can trap something for breakfast.’

‘
South,’ said Kelian, ‘and I hope we’re right about Weema.’

‘
And if not?’ asked Borgulnay.

‘
I’ll search for as long as it takes to find them or until I know-’ he stopped, and Timbul and Araas felt his pain pierce their hearts. Everyone knew what Kelian was thinking but no-one wanted to admit that by now, there was a significant chance they were dead.

Kelian continued.
‘If we can’t find them at Weema you must return to Castle.’ There was silence for a quite a while.

‘
So,’ said Alexander eventually, ‘we’ll need a plan. If they’re not in Weema, we need to prepare for a systematic search.’

‘
We will. We have William’s map and it shows more of Nyinaku then I have ever seen on any map anywhere,’ said Borgulnay.

William
unrolled his precious map and smoothed it against his knees. ‘Weema is here,’ he said pointing. ‘We’re here.’ His finger slid over the map.

‘
It may not be as difficult as we think,’ said Gilgarry optimistically. ‘The longer they’re unaware of us, the better chance we have of covering more territory.’

‘
Yes. If they’re not in Weema, we could go through here,’ Alexander ran his finger over the map, ‘around the Mountains to Mirri, then maybe we could go across to Tarl, and if we have no luck there we could head south.’

‘
Through Larnuk and Morlee, and then maybe back through Larundel?’ said David, looking at the map.

‘No,’ said Kelian, shaking his head. ‘If they’re not in Weema, you return to Castle. I won’t allow you to take on any more danger. Araas and Timbul will come with me because they will see it as their duty and there’s little I can do to stop them.’

Borgulnay
frowned. ‘With all due respect sir, I would like to see you try to stop me.’

Kelian frowned.
‘You would disobey your Prince?’

‘
No sir!’ Borgulnay said hotly. ‘I would never disobey my Prince!’ His voice softened. ‘But I would follow my friend without permission if I thought it might save his life.’

‘
Sir, you’ve already given us the choice and we chose to come,’ said Alexander. ‘We volunteered, remember? It’s strange. I volunteered to come because it was my duty and you are my Prince. Now I continue because you’re my friend.’

‘
Alex is right. We need to finish this together, as brothers should,’ agreed David.

‘
Unless you hang me from the nearest tree, I’ll search for my sisters until I find them, or I die,’ said Gilgarry. ‘Do you know sir, that when you marry Ellie you’ll become my brother?’ He grinned at the Prince. ‘My
little
brother!’ he said emphatically and everyone laughed.

‘
I’m a free man. I’ll go where I choose. Right now, I choose Nyinaku,’ said William, shrugging casually. Kelian looked from one face to the other, then down at his map, feeling overwhelmed.

‘
I really do think we’ll find them in Weema, and if not, somewhere in the south eastern corner,’ said William optimistically.

‘We need information. I wonder if it’s possible to catch one of the fallen?’ said David, cleaning the knife he had used to fillet the fish.

‘
I doubt we’d get any information. The fallen have many obnoxious traits, but they’re not cowards,’ said Gilgarry.

‘
We could try. Maybe if we were to get close enough, well, you never know what they might let slip,’ said David hopefully. ‘How close would you have to be to hear their thoughts Araas?’

‘
It depends a lot on how familiar I am with the person I want to hear. To hear one of the fallen means their thoughts would need to be unguarded, which is very unlikely,’ Araas explained. ‘But not impossible,’ he added. ‘But to force their thoughts from them I need to be very close.’

Timbul took the first watch
as everyone else slept, including Araas, to everyone’s surprise. Araas woke in the early hours of the morning, and Timbul disappeared up into the mountains. Kelian woke just before the sun rose to find Timbul cooking several large birds over the fire.

‘
Woggan. Scrub turkey,’ said Timbul, as Kelian sat up and looked at him questioningly. ‘Not a lot of meat on them, but I caught four, so that will certainly be enough. I would have had some nuts, but I used most of them trying to catch the turkeys.’

‘
What nuts?’ Kelian asked curiously.

‘
Guwaa. If you crush them they’re good turkey bait. If you grind it up and cook it, it tastes a bit like bread. Actually these turkeys weren’t particularly impressed with them and unfortunately I ended up having to run them down. They’re quite fast,’ Timbul observed.

‘
But not fast enough,’ said Kelian and Timbul smiled in agreement as he handed him a piece of meat. ‘Thank you,’ said Kelian eating hungrily. The soldiers were now all eating pieces of the tough stringy meat.

‘
It’s…interesting.’ If Kelian hadn’t been so hungry he wondered if he’d have continued to eat the meat, which was far from tasty.

Timbul grinned.
‘You know what they say. Cook it on a stick, then throw away the woggan and eat the stick. It’s a pity, I had some fruit, but I crushed it when I landed on the first turkey.’

‘
Fruit?’ Borgulnay eyed him hopefully.

‘
Quandongs.’

‘
Were there more?

‘
None ripe enough to eat,’ Timbul replied. ‘Another month and they’ll be properly ripe.’

Kelian
considered their options. ‘Perhaps we should move directly south and then turn south east when we come back in sight of the Wasteland.’

Borgulnay
brushed a large spider from his shirt. ‘Then as straight a line as we can make through Weema Forest-’ He stared into the nearby bushes, and then he raised his finger to his lips and slipped noiselessly into the trees. A minute later there was a shriek and a little girl dashed out of the trees with Borgulnay right behind her. Timbul flashed forward and caught the girl by the arm. He picked her up off the ground as she began kicking and punching with all of her strength. She struggled in his arms and then sank her teeth hard into Timbul’s forearm. Her black eyes stared down at his undamaged arm, then all the fight seemed to drain from her and her screams turned into terrified sobs.

Timbul gently sat her on the ground and she fell back onto her elbows
, crying in fear. He knelt beside her and brushed her tangled, black, curly hair away from her face but when she continued to sob he stepped away from the scared little girl. Her tear stained face was a mixture of terror and confusion. Her eyes darted towards a gap in the surrounding bushes, then back to Timbul. Timbul stood without moving.

‘
You’re not free,’ she whispered.

‘
How do you know that?’

‘
You let me go.’

‘
I can capture you again as quickly as I wish to.’

‘
No. If you were free, you would have punished me for biting you,’ the girl explained, sitting up and rolling onto her knees.

‘
Free?’ asked Kelian, looking at Araas.

Araas
looked sadly at the little girl. ‘We call them fallen, but they call themselves free.’ He glanced at Kelian. ‘And they
are
free. This little one is half human but can still hide her thoughts entirely.’

‘
Yes,’ the little girl agreed, standing up. ‘They are free but I am a slave.’

‘
No!’ Araas’ voice rose in anger. ‘You are the children! There were to be no slaves!’

‘
Who are you then? You’re not human,’ she said, fear returning to her voice.

‘
I’m a guardian,’ said Timbul, sounding surprised that she didn’t know.

‘
They were looking for a guardian! I didn’t believe you were real.’ She looked at him silently for a moment. ‘Who do you guard?’ she asked eventually.

Timbul smiled.
‘The guardians were sent to watch over the humans.’

She stared at him in open amazement, her eyes wide with wonder.
‘You are one of the Daoine Maithe? I thought you were just…well, not real.’

‘
Little girl, where is your mother?’ asked Timbul, and then his face whitened as she looked sadly up into his eyes. ‘I’m sorry. Where do you live now?’

‘
At the lake. I have to find fruit for my new master. Already I have taken too long and now I have no fruit,’ she said crossly, frowning at Timbul. ‘Because you took all the ripe ones and then ruined them!’

‘
Sorry,’ said Timbul guiltily.

‘
I have to go.’

‘
No,’ said Timbul. ‘You cannot return to your Master. We need to get you out of Nyinaku. You don’t belong here.’

‘
It’s impossible!’ the girl cried. ‘They always find me, and then they beat me and I have to sleep outside for so many nights!’

‘
But you are also a child of the free, are you not?’ Timbul frowned.

‘
Yes. But they didn’t want a girl child. And they said I’m more human than free. So I have to be a slave.’

‘
More human than free?’ Kelian looked from the little girl to Araas.

Araas frowned angrily.
‘Children of humans and fallen take on characteristics of each race. Children who show stronger human traits are more often killed. Sometimes they are simply abandoned to die.’

‘
Don’t you see? I can’t let you stay here. If I let you go back I’ve failed in my duty.’ Timbul looked across at the group of soldiers. ‘And I cannot go, or I’ve failed my friends.’