This Battle Lord's Quest (14 page)

Fortune suddenly reappeared. The man moved so
silently, he almost alarmed them when he popped out of the bushes. “We’re
close. Damn close.” As the others gathered around him, he pointed in the
direction they’d been traveling. “I smell water coming from over there. How
far, I don’t know. The wind’s blowing toward us.”

“What about the coon?” Yulen insisted.

Once more, Fortune gave him that patient look he
was becoming well-acquainted with. “What do you know about coons and their
habits?”

“Not much,” the Battle Lord admitted. “I’ve only
seen one other in my lifetime, and it was nowhere near the size of the one
we’re tracking. The Battle Lord of New Derby kept it in a cage at his compound.
I was around fifteen at the time.”

Fortune nodded. “Well, let me give you a heads up.
It’s very possible the coon took Atty to the water source to feed on her. Now,
wait, Yulen. Before you say anything, remember what you’ve felt. Remember the
connection you two have. I’m not saying it ate her. I’m saying it may have
tried, and she managed to get away. But you still sense her, don’t you? You
still believe she’s alive, right?”

Pale, Yulen nodded silently, his hand clenching his
sword as he fought the image in his mind of the remains they might find.

Fortune continued after glancing at the same
frightened expression that reflected on the other two men’s faces.

“I’m told coons have a tendency to wash their food
before they eat it. It’s instinctive. All this time, I’ve seen just one set of
tracks. Coon tracks. I haven’t seen one print that I could swear was Atty’s. Of
course, she skilled to where she wouldn’t leave any.”

“Are you saying that creature carried Atty here?”
Yulen whispered.

The hunter nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking.”

The Battle Lord glanced at the setting sun. “Think
we can get to this water source by nightfall?”

“Only one way to find out,” Fortune replied. He
grabbed his horse’s reins and slipped into the brush. Yulen and the others
hurried to follow.

The pond lay less than a hundred yards away. They
were almost upon it when the woods suddenly opened up, revealing the small
oasis ringed by trees. A couple of red deer leaped away at their appearance.
Mastin was the first to spot the animal.

“Over there!”

At first glance, the coon was as huge as they’d
anticipated. Its hide bore numerous stab wounds, and there was evidence some
smaller animals had started feasting on the body before they were scared away.
Yulen could see Atty’s handiwork in the blinded eye, the punctured nose, and
several other arrows sticking from the matted hide.
 

Renken gave the carcass a kick. “It’s already
stiff.”

“It’s been dead a while,” Yulen noted.

The Second climbed on top of the body. He pulled
Renken’s sword from the coon’s neck, and let it slide over the fur to where the
ex-mercenary could retrieve it. Renken immediately went back to his horse to
pack Paxton’s sword behind the saddle before placing his own weapon in its
sheath.

Yulen swallowed his fear and, drawing his dirk,
stooped next to the muzzle to pry open the thing’s mouth, paying careful
attention to the coon’s tongue and teeth. Mastin hunched over his shoulder.

“I don’t see anything,” the Second said softly.

Neither did he. There were no traces of blood or
flesh. Bowing his head, Yulen breathed easier and gave a silent prayer of thanks.

“Bet you didn’t find anything!”

The men looked up to see Fortune standing on the
opposite side of the pond. The hunter pointed to the ground. “She crawled out
of the pond here.”

They rushed around to inspect the moist soil at the
water’s edge. Yulen got down on his knees and held out a hand to touch the
smooth mud that bore the distinctive pattern of a body. A body he knew
intimately. A body that would fit that size mold made at the rim of the pond.

Taking a deep breath, he slowly placed his hand on
top of the mud.

Nothing.

He was almost disappointed. “I don’t get anything.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Fortune told him. “You may
not every time.” He glanced at the sky. “It’ll be dark sooner than usual. The clouds
are quickly coming together, and I smell a change in the weather.”

“What do you suggest?” Yulen asked.

“We need to find shelter, build a fire, and settle
in for the night.”

“What about Atty?”

Fortune pointed. “She went that way. The fact that
I see footprints tells me she’s not thinking straight. Probably because she’s
injured, like you believe. If that’s the case, she’ll be easy to track.”

“Do you think she’s far ahead of us?” Renken
questioned.

Fortune shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so. Remember,
she’s on foot. She’s hurting, so she’s moving slower than usual. Whereas, we’re
on horseback.”

“Then why not keep going?” Mastin argued, voicing
exactly what Yulen was about to say.

The Mutah’s face hardened. “Look around you, Cole.
Do you want to go wandering through this forest after dark?” He pointed at the
dead animal lying across the pond. “Coons are nocturnal. Heaven knows what
other animals are around here that move about after dark. Creatures that could
be as large at that thing over there. And just as vicious. And hungry.”

“He’s right.” Yulen rose to his feet. “We need to
get away from here as far as we can before we have to stop to make camp. That
coon’s already attracted some small carnivores. More will be showing up the
riper it gets.”

“Hold it, Mastin!” Fortune suddenly barked. The
Second froze, his uncorked water bottle poised above the pond’s surface.
“Don’t. That stuff’s not healthy to drink. Trust me. We’ll have to wait a
little while longer, but I promise I’ll find us a fresh source.”

As they got on their horses, something growled
across the way. The forest behind the carcass shook, followed by grunting
sounds.

Quickly, they left the pond as the other predators
closed in.

Chapter
Seventeen

Paas

Something cold and wet was pressed to the side of
her head. Bit by bit, she managed to open her eyes. The strange woman was kneeling
beside her, with her spear propped point up between them. Despite the
encroaching darkness, she could discern the stranger’s blue eyes intently
studying her.

“How’d you get so banged up? Who are you at war
with?”

“Nobody. I fought a coon.”

The blue eyes flashed and opened wide with
disbelief. “You survived a coon attack? Were you bitten?” She glanced over her
body, looking for marks, but it was difficult to tell, between the caked mud
and bloodstains and dim light.

“I don’t feel like I’ve been bitten,” she admitted.
“The pain’s mostly in my head and left arm.”

“That’s good. Coons sometimes carry the water
disease.” The woman patted her hip. “I put your knife back. Don’t tell me you
fought off the animal with
that
puny thing!”

Coon.

Arrows.

Blood.

A faint memory barely solidified. Something about a
fight in the dark. The air was awash with the scent of blood and the sound of
screaming. Human screams, as well as non-human. She shook her head, and the
debilitating throbbing started to rise again. The stranger laid a hand on her
hip.

“You’ve been badly injured. You need medical
attention, especially for that head wound. Do you feel strong enough to walk?”

She gasped, but didn’t dare nod. “To go where?”

“To my tribe.”

She squinted at the woman. “Where is your tribe?”

The woman gestured with her head at the edge of the
cliff. “Down there.”

Carefully turning her head, she looked again at the
verdant valley lying far away, now encased in shadow as the sun’s light no
longer reached it. “How do we get there?”
 

“We take the stairs.”

“Huh?”

“Come on.” Getting to her feet, the woman helped
her to stand, allowing her a moment to find her balance before draping her good
arm around her neck. “It’s getting colder. Might even snow. We need to be
inside once the weather turns.”

The warrior led her back into the forest, but
instead of going the way she’d come, the stranger took a different direction.

Within a few minutes, night had fallen. The woman
stopped, giving her a chance to drop wearily to the ground to rest.

“Would you happen to have some water on you?”

In answer, a gourd was handed to her. She drank
deeply of the sweet, cool liquid before returning it. “Thanks. My debt to you
is growing.”

“My name is Paas. I’m from the Lanta tribe. Where
are you from? Do you remember how you got here?”

“I came...” The pain threatened to swallow her
again, and she took a ragged breath. Her entire body trembled, and not because
of the evening air cooling rapidly around them. “I can’t remember.”

The woman frowned. “That’s a pretty bad head
injury. I’ve known other hunters who suffered similar wounds during a battle.
They had difficulty doing the smallest things after they healed.”

“Yeah?”

She blinked. The woman wore a necklace with a small
bottle hanging from the end. Inside the bottle, a bluish substance radiated a
glow. It wasn’t a strong brightness, but it was enough to cast their shadows
into the surrounding foliage.

“Yeah. One guy I knew couldn’t walk or feed
himself. His family had to do it for him.” Paas cocked her head. “We need to
keep moving. It’s not much further.”

“What’s not much further? The stairs?”

“The entrance to the stairs.”

This time, she could stand and walk without
assistance, although her bearing was shaky and slow. She followed Paas as the
woman led her through a rapidly thinning forest. The invisible trail they took
gradually grew rockier. She had no idea how long they tramped through the
sparse brush, or how far. By the time Paas stopped, she was exhausted.

“You need to duck,” the woman instructed, and
placed a hand on top of her head. She glanced around, unsure where to go. There
was a large bush in front of them. If there was an opening or break, she
couldn’t see it.

Paas used her spear to part the foliage, revealing
a narrow crack in a rock wall. The crack was wide enough to allow her to walk
facing forward, but the entrance was too low to stand upright. Careful not to
hit her head on the overhanging stone, she carefully stepped through the
opening. Paas was right behind her, and when the woman joined her, the blue
light revealed an larger interior than she’d first suspected.

“This way.”

She straightened up. They were inside some sort of
large cave. The air was cooler than outside, and moist, assailing her with
smells she couldn’t distinguish.

They meandered around tall formations that glowed
with a pale luminance. Pools of water reflecting black, unknown depths also
dotted the rock floor.

Suddenly, the ceiling that had been at arm’s length
above her disappeared, and they stepped into a cavern so vast, the blue glow
was eaten by the darkness. Paas paused to allow her a moment to take it all in.

“It’s big.” Her remark sounded stupid, but she was
too much in awe to think coherently.

However, the warrior woman didn’t seem to think it
was a stupid remark. “Yeah, it is. In fact, every time I come this way, I still
stare up at it. You should see it when it’s lit up by a lot of torches.”

“Are we underground?”

“We’re in a cavern of some kind. It’s been here for
eons. Dahyah says our tribe first discovered it after the moon burst.”

“Moon burst?” She looked at the woman. “You mean
after the Great Concussion?”

Paas grinned. In the light coming from the
necklace, the white markings on her face and neck shone eerily. It was then she
noticed the tiny silver ring in the woman’s nose.

“I’ve never met anyone like you,” Paas admitted.
“I’d love to learn more about you and your tribe, but we need to get below the
shelf first. We can talk after we settle for the night. Come. The stairs are
just around that column.” She gestured toward another tall, cylindrical
formation within the perimeter of the blue glow.

They had been descending at an almost unnoticeable
angle. As they came around the column, Paas reached out and tapped something
with her spear. A metallic sound rang out, and echoed repeatedly through the
vast chamber.

“Hold onto the railing. The stairs can sometimes be
steep, and you’ll have to watch your step. Try not to slip where there’s
wetness. We’re just going to descend a little ways.”

The railing was made of metal rods adhered
horizontally to more metal rods, which had been drilled or somehow embedded
vertically into the stone floor.
A metal banister,
she mentally
observed. Inside the cavern, the railing was nearly freezing to the touch, but
she grasped it with her good hand to keep from stumbling.

“Do you know how far overhead the ceiling goes?”
she asked.

“Nope. No one’s ever been able to climb up high
enough with a light to see it.”

Traveling downward was a slow process. She had to
watch where she placed her feet on every roughly carved stone step. The light
around Paas’ neck shone just enough to give her a glimpse of some of the
surrounding formations as they passed them.

“This place is incredible. Did your tribe make
these steps?”

“Some, but not these. These were already here when
we discovered the caves, but we had to clear away a lot of debris that had
fallen and was blocking them. That’s how we found out the stairs led up to the
top of the cliff.”

It wasn’t long before they reached a wide area.
Several benches also made of rock circled the outer lip, the metal handrail
ringing everything like a protective barrier.

“Here we are,” Paas announced.

She managed to snort in amusement. “Where is here?”
She approached the handrail to try and peer over it, when the warrior woman
stopped her.

“Stay away from the edge. Some of the railings have
come loose, you might accidentally fall over the side. And, trust me, the fall
may not kill you, but what you might land on certainly will.”

She backed away and returned to where Paas had
started a fire. She stared at the flames dancing on top of what looked like
rocks. “What are you using for fuel?”
 

“I don’t know what they’re called. We just refer to
them as fire stones. They light easily.”

“Where did you find them?”

The woman pointed to a bag she’d apparently been
carrying. She hadn’t noticed it before, as it was the same dull brown color as
the woman’s clothing, and blended perfectly in the dim light.

“How did you manage to start the fire?”

“With these.” Paas showed her a piece of flint and
her own knife. She noticed the craftsmanship of the blade and the handle made
from part of an antler, and made an appreciative face.

“That’s a beautiful piece.”

“So is yours. What’s the handle made of? It looks
like some kind of wood I’ve never seen before.”

“It’s made of burled...” She stopped. She knew the
answer. She’d almost gotten it out, but the wall of pain came down again right before
she could say it. She raised a hand to her face, wincing, and realized there
was something binding her head.

Paas reached over and patted her knee. “That’s all
right. Don’t push yourself. Maybe you’ll think of it later. Look, are you
hungry? When was the last time you ate?”

“It’s been a while. I had a snake.”

Paas gave her another incredulous stare. “I think
we have a lot more in common that I first thought. How did you cook it? Or did
you eat it raw?”

“Raw.”

The warrior woman shook her head as she softly
laughed, and pulled the carcasses of two small animals from her mysterious bag.
The creatures were already gutted and skinned, and wrapped in leaves to
preserve the meat. Paas skewered them on the end of her spear and, using a rock
as a prop, placed them over the fire.

“What are those?”

“Voles.”

“They look like mice.”

Paas nodded. “They’re similar. Tasty, too.” The
woman stretched her legs beside the fire. “Well, it’s obvious you can’t tell me
a whole lot about yourself, but you’re probably curious as hell about me.”

She nodded, mutely encouraging Paas to continue.

“I’m the nineteenth generation of warriors with my
tribe. My mother is our commander, and my father is a metalsmith.” She proudly
grinned. “He made my knife and spear.”

“Do you have siblings?”

“I have two other sisters, but they chose not to
follow the warrior path. Fee has a husband and a bakery, and Aggee works for
our father.”

Aggee.

Why did it sound familiar?

Her head hurt.

Paas turned onto her side. “Are you all right?”

“You said your sister’s name was Aggee?”

“Yeah.”

She pressed a hand to her forehead. “Aggee,” she
repeated, more to herself.

“Do you know someone named Aggee?” Paas questioned.

“I think...I think... Yeah. I think my name is
Aggee.”