The Hidden Fire (Book 2) (10 page)

Kyric
stood still, trying to think.  All around the central group of trees, the Ilven
had bedded down.  They were all going to the dream tree and the villages
below.  He wondered what they did there.  Did they live a separate life, with
their families all together, perhaps spending time with those who had passed
from this life?  Would the young woman who had just died be there?  He found
himself wishing to go with them.

Lerica
took a few steps back and kicked her boots off.  “I guess we go with my plan
then.”

Before
Kyric could say anything, she broke into a sprint, her pigtail whipping wildly
behind her.  She ran to the edge, springing off both feet, leaping high, and
arcing higher.  Kyric’s mouth fell open.

High
as she jumped, it looked that she would fall short, but she stretched with one
hand, catching the lip of the bridge with her fingers.  Impossibly, she swung
there for a moment, then reached up with her other hand, pulling herself up to
her armpits.  From there she somehow got one foot up and was able to stand. 
She crouched there, not even breathing hard.

“You
need to wait,” he called to her softly.  “I see lights at the huts — they’re
not all asleep yet.”

“No,”
she said.  “This is the best time.  The moon shadows are still long and easy to
hide in, and with the guards talking and making noise they’ll never hear me.”

“Lerica,”
he said, but she had already shimmied up the rope holding the bridge.

Across
the water he could see Aiyan sitting on the ground, leaning against the stump
with his head on his chest.  She crept carefully down the tree and dashed
across the open ground to him, ducking into the shadow of the stump, becoming
nearly invisible.

Aiyan
sat up, and they seemed to have a brief discussion.  Then she moved on toward
the huts, going tree to tree, slipping from one shadow to the next.  She
crouched so low as she went, that in the dark she could have been a jungle cat.

He
lost sight of her.  One of the lights at the huts went out.  That was good, he thought.

The
minutes became long.  The sounds of the night fell hushed all of a sudden. 
Then the clang of a bell.  A shout, then another.  A flash and the loud crack
of a gunshot.”

Aiyan
stood and shouted, “Jaguar!  There’s a jaguar in the camp!”

A
black streak ran past him in a blur, up the steep angle of the drawbridge
without slowing, and leapt from its height, legs churning as if she could run
upon the air.  She tucked and rolled as she landed, sliding to a halt in a
tangle of tall grass.

She
rolled onto her stomach and beat the ground with her fists.  “Dammit!  Dammit! 
Son of a whore’s dog.”

Kyric
knelt down next to her.  “Are you alright?  What happened?”

She
sat up.  “I stepped,” she said between breaths, “I stepped on something in the
tool shed that rang a bell.  I was careful.  I thought there might be a sentry,
so I was going slow and watching every shadow.  I just didn’t see it.”

“It
was dark, how could you?”

She
clawed the dirt in frustration.  “When the moon is up I can see in the dark
like it’s daylight.  I should have seen it.”

Low
voices drifted across the water.  Near the huts, men with lanterns wove among
the trees.  The lights flickered and danced like giant fireflies.

“I
should have gone the other way — I could have made it to Dorigano’s house and
back before sunrise.  I could have.  They wouldn’t have been the wiser.”  She
punched herself in the leg.

“That
could have easily gone wrong too.  Don’t forget that it was broad daylight when
you got caught the first time.  Bad consequences for us if it had happened
again.”

“Then
I should have waited like you said.  I might have got Aiyan’s locket if I had
waited for them to go to sleep.”  She clutched her head in both hands, rocking
back and forth.  “
Gods, why am I so stupid?
”

He
waited until she stopped.  “I don’t think you’re stupid.”

“Hey,”
she said, looking up, “I could wait now and go back in a few hours when they
really are asleep.”

He
shook his head.  “I just saw one of them climbing up to the sharpshooter’s
platform by the huts.  They’re going to keep watch the rest of the night —
jaguar in camp, you know.”  He tried to smile.

“Then
what are we to do?  I don’t think Aiyan can get us out of this.”

“They
might not keep watch tomorrow night.  Maybe you can try again.”

She
clutched at the empty air.  “I won’t be able to make the leap tomorrow,” she
hissed through clenched teeth.  “It has to be tonight.”

“Then
I’ll go tomorrow.  With a running start I can jump halfway across the moat,
then it’s three strokes to the other side.  I’ll only be in the water a few
seconds.”

She
made a face.  “And we all know that people are much more agile in the water
than crocodiles.  Just ask the Ilven.”

The
moon had climbed halfway up the eastern sky, and a night breeze rustled the
grass.  Her gaze softened.  “You really are brave, aren’t you?” she said.

“No,
you are.  You risked your life making that jump.”

“I’m
not brave,” she said seriously.  “I’m simply not afraid of anything.  I can’t
help it; I was born that way.  That’s stupidity, not bravery.”

He
touched her lightly on the hand.  “I think you’re amazing.”

She
leaned forward, the moon in her eyes.  Then suddenly she was kissing him on the
lips and the neck.  He kissed her behind the ear and found her lips again.  Her
tongue gently searched for his.  She pulled him down into the grass, rolling to
lay on top of him.

She
pressed against him more urgently, biting him on the neck as she lifted her
hips, fumbling with his belt.

A
passing thought warned him that this was strange, that she was not herself this
night.  “Are you sure?” he gasped, “I mean, I want to and everything, but — “

“Shut
up,” she whispered, trying to pull down his breeches and hers at the same time.

He
locked lips with her again, her tongue so warm and wet and sweet that all
rational thought bled away and he fell headlong into the promise of her flesh. 

“Hey!”
came a shout from across the moat.  “Get up and show yourselves!”  It was
Thurlun, with Harlon and Guppy.  Kyric and Lerica lay still in the grass.

“Come
on kids, I know you’re not asleep and I’m not fooling.  Get over here.”

They
heard the squeal of the drawbridge being lowered.  “We had better do as he
says,” Kyric said.

They
pulled up their trousers, rising from the grass.  Kyric tucked his shirt in and
Lerica fetched her boots.  The bridge thudded down, but none of the Ilven even
stirred.  They were still in the dream. 

Thurlun
beckoned to them.  “Come across, and be quick.”

He
raised a lantern high as they crossed the bridge.  Harlon circled them with
another lantern, patting them on the legs, feeling their clothes and hair.

“They’re
as dry as I am, Colonel,” he said.  “Neither one has been in the water
tonight.”

Thurlun
held his lantern low, staring at the ground.  “We’ll look for more tracks when
it’s light,” he mumbled.  “Was probably just a jaguar.  Send them back.”  He
started to walk away, then turned back to Guppy.  “And start raising that
bridge higher at night.  We don’t want anything to leap across and get at the
slaves.”

An
hour passed before the camp was quiet again, one of the guards on watch in the
tree above the huts.  Lerica paced restlessly in the moon shadow of a cypress,
occasionally glancing at the drawbridge, now several feet higher.  At length,
Kyric went to her and said, “I’m going to try to get some rest.  You should do
the same.  If we let ourselves get worn down we won’t have the strength to
escape.”

She
stopped, and a dapple of moonlight fell across her face.  He saw something
behind her eye, the reflection of another eye looking out through it.  He
blinked and it was gone.

“I’ll
be alright,” she said.

He
went back to the grass and lay down, but he couldn’t sleep.  He watched the
moon rise high and swing towards the west, passing behind a cloud.  Then Lerica
came tiptoeing silently, curling up next to him, and at last he slept.

She
wasn’t there when he woke.  The sun was up and the Ilven were already queuing
for the bridge.  He hadn’t heard the bell.

He
caught up with Lerica at the end of the line.  “I let you sleep,” she said,
handing him cold fish in a folded leaf.  “Here’s your breakfast.”

He
held on to her hand as he took the fish.  “Lerica,” he said.

She
pulled her hand away.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

As
before, they were brought to Aiyan’s stump where Thurlun waited with an older,
weaker Ilven man.  “My bargain still stands, Candy,” Thurlun said.  “Kill this
man and you all go free.”

He
laid his arm across the slave’s shoulders.  “This one isn’t going to make it. 
He’s going downhill fast.  He’s going to slip soon, and he’ll be croc food when
he does.  You would be doing him a favor.”

Aiyan
met Thurlun’s eye.  “Then you should let him rest.”  To the man he signed, ‘
Be
well
.’

“If
that’s the way you want to play it,” Thurlun growled, “then I’ll up the bet.” 
He turned to Guppy, nodding toward Kyric and Lerica.  “Shackle them.  And make
them the foremost haulers.”

Lerica’s
eyes widened and she made a start.  For a moment Kyric thought she would bolt
for the jungle.  Thurlun drew a pistol and pointed to the marksmen in the
trees.  “Bad idea, girl.”

Guppy
fetched the makeshift anvil and the others held them while he finished with the
rivets. As Ral led them to the river, Kyric heard Aiyan say to Thurlun, “Have
you managed to get my locket open yet?”

Ral
placed them at the head of the line, and they pulled the nets in all morning
without a word.  Kyric soon learned that ankle irons were more than an inconvenience. 
He couldn’t take a wide enough stance to use his full strength and it made the
fishing all the harder.  When a big lakka got loose on the bank and flopped
near him, jaws snapping, he tried to leap away and tripped on the chain, Ral’s
quick thrust with his spear saving him from a vicious bite.  And the shackles
hurt.  They dug into his ankle bones, and the pain got worse as the day went on
until it was a quiet little torture that never let up.

When
Guppy came down with a keg to water them, Lerica said, “So much for jumping the
moat tonight.”

“Not
at all,” Kyric returned.  “I might not get a running start, but I’m sure I can
still swim in these irons.  But first we have to think of a way to run the
crocodiles off.”  He wiped his forehead on his sleeve.  “I need to speak with
Aiyan.  He must have some sort of plan.  He must.”

“What
do you expect him to do,” she hissed at him, “break his chain and kill all of
these men?  He can no more do that than we can.  These bastards are
professional slavers and they’re good at it.  There’s something about his
history with Thurlun that’s making him join in this contest of will.  And he
will lose.”

She
leaned in close to him, speaking in a harsh whisper.  “You don’t know what this
man did in Aleria.  If Aiyan doesn’t give in, he will kill us all.”

She
pulled back and looked him in the eye.  “Tell me, what was your father like?”

“I
never knew him.  I never had a father.”

She
made a grim face.  “That’s why you don’t see it.  The way Thurlun and Aiyan act
with each other.  We need to speak to the Ilven and see if they’re really
unwilling to fight.”

A
distant shout from upstream echoed down the river, followed by an answering
call from Pacey in his treetop post.  A wide four-oared boat, bigger than a
whaleboat, rounded the bend.  A handful of Terrulans huddled in the middle while
a few more pulled at the oars.  A tall, broad-shouldered man stood over them in
the stern, a heavy falchion in one hand, a weapon that was as much cleaver as
sword. 

Thurlun
came striding out of his hut.  “It’s about time,” he shouted.  He called to Pacey,
“How many do they have?”

“Uh,
nine I think.  Yes, I count nine.”

Thurlun
went stiff.  “What?  Only nine?  I’ve lost seven since they set out.  We’re
barely breaking even on slaves.”  He shook clenched fists at the sky.  “Goddess
damn it to hell!”

They
beached the boat near the huts and unloaded the newly-capture slaves.  They
appeared to be Ilven except for a skinny teenage boy who had swirling designs
painted on his chest.  Besides the big guy there were three other guards.

Thurlun
marched up to them.  “This will never do, Breed,” he said to the man, who
looked part Baskillian and part Alerian.  “Are these all you could find?”

Breed
was extraordinarily composed.  “We found a new hamlet, but it was nearly
empty,” he said with a slight dialect.  “The Ilven are getting better at
hiding.”  His face was like stone.  He hardly showed any expression when he
spoke.