The Way of Things: Upper Kingdom Boxed Set: Books 1, 2 and 3 in the Tails of the Upper Kingdom (122 page)

Above the wind, he heard the
whistling arrows, heard the squeal of the horse as they thudded into its body,
realized that with Setse’s fall, they had dropped the Shield and the horse was
paying the cost. His heart broke for in that instant he realized that he had
never, unlike the Major or the Seer, named his horse.

Spare her,
he prayed to
the Eyes.
Crush me.

He swung his other hand to grip
the reindeer cloak, forced his claws through the thick leather, began to drag
her – hand over fist – up to the edge of the bridge. The uneven
weight of her pulled him closer and he braced with his feet, cursing the
split-toed sandals that were standard fare for brothers in
Sha’Hadin
and
he willed his claws to push through for grip.

There was a snarl from his left.
He could feel their thoughts, knew an arrow was being leveled at his head. He
didn’t care. If this girl, this Oracle, this little slip of a dog, died, he
would as well. He knew that in his bones and so he hung on as more and more
arrows were being leveled at his head.

“Guij baina!”
he said,
not knowing their tongue but speaking anyway. “
Tuslaarai Jalair Naranseteg!”

Hand over fist, he continued to
pull until he could see her over the stone of the bridge, but he could also see
the clasp that held the cloak begin to twist and pull.

“
Guij baina, ahtai!”
he
pleaded.

“Jalair Naranseteg?”
he
heard a voice growl.
“Be Karan Uurt?”

Suddenly, there was shouting,
shoving and several stub-clawed hands reached over the edge, grabbing hold of
the cloak, her arms and finally dragging the unmoving form of Jalair
Naransetseg onto Ancestral stone.

The dagger-mind moved, releasing
her from its iron grip. He felt the weight of it fall across him like a stone.

Many dogs grabbed him, pulled
him to his feet and off the bridge but they brought the Oracle as well and for
that he was grateful. She had been spared. He would be crushed. It was a good
bargain.

He didn’t fight as they beat him
into the snow.

***

A wail went up from behind him
and Kirin turned to see the Alchemist, doubled over in her saddle. They were
very high up in the mountains, still following the Oracle’s trail and the dog
was far in the front. Kirin reined Shenan back.

“Sidala?”

She was breathing heavily, one
arm around her waist, one hand at her forehead.

“Sidala,
can I help?”

“An attack,
sidi.”
She
looked up at him, golden eyes wide. “Of the mind.”

“On you?”

“On all of us. The Khargan is
using a Necromancer.”

Kirin shuddered at the thought.
Darkest of the dark. He was certain Sherah al Shiva knew this well.

She turned her eyes to the dog
ahead of them on the road.

“But Setse has fallen.”

“The Oracle?” Kirin frowned.
“Are you certain?”

“I am not a Seer,
sidi.
But I felt this as surely as I felt the birth of our baby.”

“And the others? benAramis, Yahn
Nevye, my brother?”

“I cannot see,
sidi.
My
soul reels still.”

He sighed, cast his eyes out
over the mountains, the glimpses of
Tevd
between the peaks. There
appeared to be a gorge separating them and he wondered if there was a bridge
somewhere. This would be futile without a bridge.

The dog had paused on the road,
turned back to watch them and wait.

He spurred his horse toward the
gorge.

***

“Well well,” said the Seer out
loud. “They’ve made a Shield.”

“Oh? What?” Fallon looked over
at him from the back of her painted horse. She was riding without reins,
holding the baby in her arms. “Who’s made a Shield?”

“Yahn Nevye and Setse. Do you
feel that, Grey Coat?”

Kerris and Quiz were in the lead
and he turned only his head. “Nope, don’t feel a thing. I’m not a Seer,
remember? My problems are entirely more pleasant.”

 
“Don’t mind him,” Fallon grinned. “He’s just being a kitten.
Speaking of kittens…”

And she buried her face into the
baby’s belly, made happy mommy noises and Kylan cooed with delight.

Next to them, Ursa scowled and
lashed her tail.

Bo Fujihara laughed at them all
and put his pipe between his teeth.

Like an ocean of dragons, the
Army of Blood was spread out behind them, growing narrower and tighter as the
road rose one last time into the mountains. The falcon had returned with the
promise of a flatter land, a vast plateau of high hills and yellow rocks. They
would make better time with such a land.

Sireth sighed, sat deep in the
saddle.

“I wonder why they’ve made a
Shield?”

“Well, think about it,” said
Fallon, her attention completely focused on the baby. “Why do
we
make
the Shield?”

“For dogs, stupid girl,” snorted
the Major. “To stop their arrows.”

“So that’s probably what they’re
doing then—
Oh.”
Fallon clutched the baby to her chest as she
realized what she was saying. “Oh mother…”

“Oh mother, indeed,” said Bo.
“They must be close to the Legion.”

And the Last Seer of
Sha’Hadin
closed his eyes.

“This is useless,” growled the
Major. “We should take the entire Army and run straight down their throats.

“In these mountains?” said Bo.
“Once this army begins a charge, there is no stopping it. We would kill more
horses than dogs with that tactic.

Her marbled tail lashed once
again.

“There is a bridge,” muttered
Sireth, eyes closed. “They are together and there is a Legion and they are on a
bridge—
Aiya!”

He hissed and doubled-over in
the saddle.

“What?” and the snow leopard
reached across horses to push his thigh. “What is it? Is the jaguar dead? Is
the dog?”

“Kerris,” called Fallon.

“An attack,” growled Sireth
through clenched teeth. “A very powerful mind…”

“Yahn Nevye?” asked Fallon.

“The Alchemist?” growled Ursa.

“A monster…”

“Fight back,” said Ursa. “You
are steel. Kill it.”

“I can’t…It is Necromancy. Dark,
dark magic.” He raised his head, eyes still closed. “Grey Coat, come here.”

“What?” said Kerris. “Me?”

“Over here, idiot,” snarled the
Major.

Kerris eased back on the little
mountain pony and soon was beside Dune the red desert horse and the mongrel on
his back.

“The Khan of Khans,” said
Sireth. “On the plains of
Shibeth
, ten thousand gathered and dark, dark
magic…”

“Lovely,” said Kerris.

“Move the earth.”

“What?”

“Move the earth under the Khan
of Khans, under the dark magic.”

“I…”

“Do it!” snapped the Major.

“I don’t know how!” snapped the
lion.

And with eyes still closed, the
Seer reached out a hand across the horses to grab a grey wrist. Kerris yelped
and Quiz bucked beneath him.

“Move…the earth…”

Their horses stopped as the Seer
slid from his, pulled the lion from the pony’s back. Fallon, Ursa and Bo halted
as well, creating a protective wall with their mounts as Bo waved the Army of
Blood around them. The Seer slipped his hands into Kerris’ hair as if crushing
his head with his palms and together they sank to their knees.

Fujihara pulled the pipe out
from between his teeth and stared.

“Amnishakra,”
grunted
Ursa to the
Chi’Chen
ambassador. “He is a powerful man.”

“Move the earth,” benAramis
repeated. “Move it.”

Clutching the baby, Fallon swung
off her horse to hover over her husband, watching with large emerald eyes as he
grimaced and groaned.

“Do you see it? Do you feel it?”

“Yes…”

“Do you feel the monster on top
of the earth? By the fire?”

“It’s like the bear,” and he
shuddered, eyes clenched tight. “The hairless bear in the Compound, only bigger…”

“Sink into the earth beneath the
monster, become one with the earth, become it.”

Kerris moaned, growled, lashed
his own grey tipped tail.

“Move the earth beneath the
monster or the girl will die. Move it now.”

“But that’s so far away.”

“Just feel it. Do you feel it?”

“I feel it.”

“Then move it.”

Kerris clenched his fists and a
small stone shot up from beneath the snow and they all stepped back. Soon, more
stones – pebbles and dust and sand and grit, like a grey-brown cloud
leapt from the road and began to circle around his hands. Soon, the earth
beneath their feet began to move.

***

The Eye of the Needle was
shrieking in its skin pocket and the Storm released a breath that sounded like
the rumble of thunder.

“The Magic falls like a star
from the heavens,”
they said, the Storm still a half beat behind his
hairless companion.
“One by one they fall to their deaths.”

The rumble of thunder was
growing louder.

“They have seen us, we are
known to him. He will not look away unscathed.”

The fire began to pop and spit
as the rumble of thunder shook the ground beneath them all.

“Geomancer! Geomancer
sharpens his claws on the Khan’s Ten Thousand!”

Those closest began to back away
from the feast fire but the Khargan rose to his feet.

“Hold your ground!” he commanded,
his voice booming over the roaring of the earth.

“Lord,” cried Long-Swift. “It is
Geomancery. The Oracle is calling Dark Forces!”

“No coward will stand in the Ten
Thousand of the Khan!” he shouted. “Hold your ground or die by my sword!”

The Oracles were wailing now and
the ground was shaking when suddenly, in the center of the feast fire, the
earth began to rise.

Even the Khargan staggered back
now as rock and black earth heaved from the ground, followed by huge clouds of
dust. Next, stones as large as men burst from the pit, flew high into the air
before crashing like rain onto the army. But no one moved, even as those beside
and before and behind them were crushed, even as the gars of Jia’Khan collapsed
in on themselves and the poles cracked and splintered, the army held its
ground. The Storm was thrown from his place by the fire, crushing two other men
beneath his weight and even the Bear was sent to his knees.

The earth coughed rocks and spat
stones and it seemed to last hours but finally, the rumbling faded until all
that was left was the choking black dust, settling like mist to the ground and
the shrieking of the Needle in his pocket of flesh.

Long-Swift rose to his feet,
swept his eyes around at the devastation, the village of Jia’Khan flattened,
the many dead beneath huge stones. He looked as the Bear peered into the pit
where the feast fire had been and raised his hands to the sky.

In a sound as disturbing as the
voice of the Oracles, the Khan of Khans began to laugh.

***

Sireth opened his eyes just in
time to catch the grey lion before he hit the ground.

***

Abruptly, Setse came awake.

She was under a lean-to, a
makeshift gar fashioned from fallen trees and blankets and an old woman stared
at her as she rolled to her knees.

“Is that a blue eye, child?”
asked the woman.

“Where is Shar Ma’uul?”

“Who?”

“The yellow cat.”

The old woman spat pine tar into
a snowdrift and turned her face outside the gar.

“Tell the lieutenant the girl’s
awake and she’s an Oracle.”

It was like a ripple on a lake
how the word carried through the villagers of Lon’Gaar and Setse peered out
from under the blanket to see people moving, fires burning, weapons being
sharpened. Children darted close, hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious
girl who rode horses with the Enemy and but they quickly disappeared once they
caught her eye. Soon, there was the crunching of boots as men approached and
Setse rose to her feet.

It was a troop of ten moving
like an arrow and at the point was a slim man with shaved head, cropped ears and
sharp features. He had a scar along his jaw, carried a curved dagger and he
scowled at her.

“I am Temujiin Altan, Lieutenant
and Alpha of the 110
^th
Legion of Khan Baitsukhan.”

“Jalair Naransetseg,
Granddaughter of the Blue Wolf.”

“The Oracle of Karan Uurt. We’ve
been searching for you, little rabbit. You are a long way from home.”

“Where is Shar Ma’uul?”

“We have skinned him. The tanner
is making me a spotted coat.”

The men snickered and the
lieutenant stepped forward, running his eyes over her slight frame.

“I have commissioned spotted
boots as well. My betas have cooked the rest. Would you like to taste him? Or
have you already?”

The snickering grew and the men
pressed into her from all sides. She raised her chin so that her blue eye
caught the light.

“You lie to an Oracle?” She
looked at all the faces of the men around her. “Shall I tell you how the wife
and children of Temujiin Altan have died?”

“They are not dead,” Altan
growled.

“They are. Hacked to pieces in
their beds or burned as they fled. Karan Uurt is no more, razed to the ground
by the 2
^nd
Legion of Khan Baitsukhan because of the failure of the
110
^th
.”

Murmurs were heard throughout
the camp as even the villagers pressed in to hear.

“The Khanmaker is coming,” she
said. “The Khanmaker and the Army of Blood. Help me or I will tell you in
detail how you and your men will die.”