Treva's Children (2 page)

“Soon, milady.  I sent Marek to the edge of the wood to watch.  If the Shahi come, he is to warn us.  If they do not come, he is to return when the sun crests the mountains.  It will not be long now.”

“After that last few days,” Talisa said, “this almost seems pleasant.  Still, I think we had best move on, and soon.”

Embron nodded. “The Schahi will come again.  Be certain of it.”

Talisa sighed. “They chase and we run.  We lose them, and they find us.  They chase and we run again.  What happens when we cannot run any more.”

“I do not know, Milady.  I suppose we die and the last of Aerioch dies with us.”

“Do you really think it’s come to that?”

Embron shrugged. “You heard Duchess Kaila, and that other knight.”

Talisa remembered.  Duchess Kaila and her companion had ridden into their holding.  Bertan, Talisa’s son, had accompanied them, proud of his new status as squire.  They had warned her of the Schahi army massing on the western border, larger than any the world had ever seen, and of the slaughter that army brought in its wake.  Before going on to Norveth to seek a means of stopping the Schahi, Kaila had urged Talisa to flee, to bring her people to Norveth to there stand against the Schahi.

Talisa shivered at the memory of the tale Duchess Kaila told.  The Schahi armies were not human.  Mages out of Chanakra summoned demons, lesser demons to be sure, but demons nonetheless, to inhabit the bodies of animals.  The possessed animals took on human form, possessed arms and weapons, but lacked any human compassion.  In their wake, they left horror.

But a Baron’s household was not moved in a day.  Before she completed preparations, Embron brought word of the Shahi army moving.  While they had not reached the manor, staying on the direct road toward Norveth, already they were between her husbands manor and Norveth.

Schahi raiding parties began to scour the land.  Talisa did not have time to complete preparations.  The road to Norveth was closed.  She took those of her household who would follow her and fled south, into the mountains.

And in the weeks that had followed she had watched her people die, some taken by cold, some by accidents, others by the great mountain cats.  She had watched them die until only these few remained.

With her husband and her son off fighting the Schahi, she had never been so alone.

“Perhaps,” Talisa said. “Or perhaps the Schahi will finally give up this pursuit.  Or perhaps we will find a safe haven somewhere beyond these mountains.”

“Nobody has ever passed these mountains in winter,” Embron said.

Talisa captured his eyes with her own. “Nobody has ever had such need before.”

Talisa dipped herself a cup of tea from a pot set close to the fire.  She frowned at the bitter taste but drank it.  By the time she finished, a series of whistles alerted her to Marek’s return.

Embron moved around the circle, shaking people awake.

“Milady?” Banev bowed in front of her. “Can we not linger here a while longer.  We have been running for so long.”

Talisa shook her head. “I wish we could.  As Embron said, the Schahi will not be deceived long.  The sooner we are away, the better.”

Embron bound the remains of the deer carcass into a bundle and lashed it to a pole.  He detailed Ranthar and Mo-an to carry it.

At least for a time they would not starve.

When they left the copse, Embron took the lead.  Talisa followed him.  The remainder of the group trailed behind them.  The sun in the clear sky created an illusion of warmth which the biting wind quickly dispelled.

They marched.  Embron, from his place in the lead, directed them toward a saddle between two peaks. Soon, Talisa forgot everything except putting one foot in front of the other, following in Embron’s wake.  Her eyes watered from the glare of sunlight on the snow.

They topped a low rise.

“Milady?” Talisa almost did not hear the quiet, but urgent call behind her. “Milady!”

Talisa stopped and turned.  Banev, clinging close behind her pointed backward.  Shago was running toward her alongside the line of people, his legs kicking up drifts as the plowed through the deep snow.  The dogs bounded alongside him.

“Embron, hold,” Talisa called.

Shago reached Talisa and pointed back the way they had come.  Talisa looked in the direction indicated by Shago’s pointing finger but saw nothing. “Embron, can you see?”

At her side, Embron held one hand above his eyes, to shade them from the sun and another below, shielding them from the glare.

After a moment, he lowered his hands. “The Schahi.  They are on our trail again.”

“Pireth take them,” Talisa swore.  She rubbed at her eyes. “Onward.  There’s nothing else we can do.” She put a hand on Shago’s shoulder. “Good work.”

Shago grinned.  He pointed toward the back of the line.

Talisa nodded. “Yes, Shago.  I want your eyes back there.  You did very well.  Only wait here.  Take your position again when we pass you.”

Shago thumped his chest and nodded.

Talisa thought for a moment. “Embron, drop back.  Let someone else break trail.” She looked back at the group, her eyes taking in each of the remaining people. “Take Ranthar’s place on the carry pole.  Ranthar, you take the lead.”

“Milady?” Embron said.

“I’ll follow behind, with Shago and the dogs,” Talisa said.

As the little column of people started moving again, Talisa chewed on her lower lip and thought.  No cover in which to hide.  No storm to conceal them.  She looked up at the cloudless sky.  If another storm did come, it would kill them as surely as the Schahi.

Their only hope was simple flight, to somehow hope that the Schahi would not catch them before something,
anything
gave them another chance.

They struggled through the snow the rest of the day.  After the sun set, Talisa called a brief halt until the larger moon rose.  Then, by the light of that moon, she urged the group forward again.

When the sun once again broke over the mountains Talisa took up the second position in their march, once more behind Embron.  Embron had pulled away from the rest of the group, leaving Talisa to lead the others about two hundred paces behind him.

The rest in the copse was barely a memory when Embron crested the ridge in the saddle between the two peaks.  He stopped.  His pack fell from his shoulders.  He turned and waved at her. “Milady!”

Blinking frost away from her eyelashes, Talisa dredged up the energy to break into a trot.  She caught up to Embron, her chest heaving with her labored breathing.

Embron pointed down the slope before them.  Talisa looked.  Her jaw dropped open.  She wiped her eyes and stared again.

White.  White, broken by an occasional bit of gray was the only color she had seen for days.  The greens and browns below her almost seemed to burn her eyes in their brilliance.  Trees in full leaf.  Grass, just coming into seed.  A brook that ran clear, not frozen.  A vision of spring, of summer.

“Sorcery, Milady.  It must be.”

“Sorcery,” Talisa agreed. “Or the Gods.  But to our salvation or our doom?” She looked back.  Even her eyes could now see the cluster of dots moving in the distance, the Schahi on their trail. “We have no choice.  Onward.”

Embron cast a fearful glance into the valley below.  He wiped his hand across his mouth, then looked back.  He picked up his pack and looked back again.

Talisa placed a hand on Embron’s shoulder. “If it scares you, if it scares me, how much more will it scare the Schahi?  Perhaps they won’t dare it.”

Embron just looked at her.

“No, I don’t believe it either.” Talisa shrugged. “But what choice have we?”

Embron shook his head. “None.”

Talisa nodded. “Go.  I will wait here for the others and send them down after you.”

Talisa reached out a hand for Shago as he climbed the last slope before the crest of the ridge.  Two of the dogs bounded up the slope and sat beside Talisa, the third followed close on Shago's heels.  Shago stumbled in the snow churned up by the rest of the group.  He fell.  The snow started to slide, carrying Shago and the dog with it.  The dog yipped in pain and fear.  The other dogs, at Talisa's side, set up a frightened barking.

"No!" Talisa lunged after Shago, trying to catch hold of his cloak, to stop his slide downward.  More snow joined the downward slide.  Something, or someone, caught Talisa's own cloak, jerking the cloak pin back hard against Talisa's throat.  Her lunge stopped short with her fingers a mere handspan away from the hem of Shago's cloak.  She fell, face down in the snow.  A loud roar echoed across the ridge as the sliding snow grew into an avalanche, the noise shaking loose more snow.

Talisa pushed herself up out of the snow.  Shago was nowhere to be seen.  Behind Talisa, Banev sat, her legs spread, the hem of Talisa's cloak clutched tight in her hands, her eyes wide.

The dogs ceased their barking, lowered their heads, and whined.

Another one, Talisa thought.  Another of her people she had failed to protect.

She threw back her head and screamed.

Eventually, voices penetrated her anguish.

"Milady?  Please, milady."

Talisa wiped at her eyes.  Banev clutched at her shoulder, her eyes wide this time not with fear, but with concern.  Talisa placed her hand over Banev's, smiling slightly in reassurance.  She shielded her eyes, one hand above and one below as she had seen Embron do, to survey the results of the avalanche.

"At least that will stop the Schahi," she said, half to herself. "Or slow them.  It only cost the life of a good man, a loyal man."

She turned away from the scene of the avalanche to face the green valley on the other side.  Embron was scrambling up the slope toward her, as were Ranthar and two others.  Talisa waved down at them. She took Banev's hand and started down the slope.  Pausing a moment, she whistled in the way she had seen Shago whistle.  The two remaining dogs thumped their tails once each and slowly came after her.