Lost Lands of Witch World (86 page)

Then we were running not over land but in the river's wash, and still east, away from our goal. With the water-covered gravel under them the Renthan slowed, though they kept a pace the fastest horse of Estcarp could not have bettered.
I dared not look behind again, for ever and anon something reached out at us, a kind of nibbling rather than a blow designed to bring us down. To me that insidious touch was worse that a sword cut. There was a tenacious spirit to it which meant that once it had set upon a chase nothing would turn it from the trail.

The Renthan could not be tireless, and what would happen if they must mend their pace or were forced to rest?

Our river travel ended as suddenly as it had begun, the renthan having crossed the stream at a long angle, to come out on the opposite shore, miles from the island. Now they faced about to run west again. But there were long shadows lying across our path and sunset could not be too long ahead—and night was the time of the Shadow. It could then summon to our undoing creatures who never dared face the light of day. We must, I was sure, find some stronghold we could defend during the dark hours. And I only hoped that those with whom we rode had enough knowledge of this land to do so.

When the Renthan came to a halt I was amazed, and could only believe that their energy had at last failed, to leave us in as great, or almost as great, a place of danger as we had fled. For we were now in the midst of open, level land, with dried grass brushing knee-high on our mounts. There was no sign of any outpost of the Light—no blue stones, not even such a memory of good as had hung in the orchard. We were in the open, naked to whatever attack our enemies might launch.

But the Green People slid down from the backs of their allies, and perforce we did the same. Then I saw the meeting of Kemoc and our parents. Kemoc stood as tall and straight as Simon, though he was more slender. And he looked my father eye to eye until he put forth both arms and my father caught them in the grip of the Borderer's greeting, drawing him close till their cheeks met, first right and then left. But to my mother Kemoc went down on one knee and bowed his head until she touched it, and he looked up, to have her make one of the signs upon his forehead in blessing.

“A good greeting at an ill time,” said my father. “This seems a place in which we have no defenses.” That was a half question.

“The moon is at full,” my brother answered. “In this night we need light, for that which follows can twist dark to its own purposes.”

But we had more than the moon to serve us. The Green People moved with the swift sureness which said that they had done this many times before, marking out a star upon the ground by laying the fire of their whips accurately, a star large enough to shelter our whole party. Upon its points they set fires which were first kindled from twists of grass and then had planted in the heart of each a cube of gum as big as a man's clenched fist. This took fire but did not blaze fiercely nor was it quickly consumed; from it instead pillared a tall shaft of blue radiance, making us safe against evil.

So sheltered we ate and drank, and then we talked and there was much to say. Thus I learned that Kemoc and Kyllan had been flung by the force of the avalanche
well to one side, and with them Valmund, but he had been sore injured. They had later found Raknar's crushed and broken body, but me they could not locate. And they had been forced away by a second avalanche which buried deeper that part they had frantically dug into. In the end they had returned to the Valley, but, as I had done, they clung to the hope that because of our bond they would have known of my death.

Thereafter, in the winter, matters grew more difficult for the Valley. Cold brought boldness to the evil things and they kept such a patrol about the borders of that part of the land the Green People and their allies had cleared, that each day saw some struggle or clash—as if the Shadow force planned to wear them down by such a constant keeping of alarms ringing them in. To my brothers this was the old way of Borderer life and they fell back easily into its pattern.

It appeared that those besieging them weakened with the coming of spring, however, and patrols from the Valley ventured farther and farther afield. Kemoc had been on one such mission when my mind touch reached him. And instantly he had ridden to seek us. We were well outside the influence of the Valley here and we must ride swift and hard to gain its shelter.

So had life been with him. Then we must add our own story, both separately and together, and this took time to tell, though we kept to the bare bones of fact. He was startled to hear of Hilarion and straightaway looked at me. I knew what moved in his mind, that he wondered if again we must arm ourselves against another Dinzil, and one perhaps ten times more powerful. And I could not say yes or no, for I had fear only, not proof.

By his side sat Orsya, also watching me. I flinched from her eyes remembering only too well how, tainted by Dinzil's teaching, I had once wished her so much ill. Could I ever be sure that she, too, could look at me and not see the past rise as a wall between us?

But when we would sleep at last, she came to me and in her hand she had a small flask, no longer than the smallest of her fingers. She unstoppered it with great care and held it close so that a delicate fragrance reached my nostrils.

“Sleep well, sister, and be sure that such dreams as may come will have nothing of the Dark rooted in them.” I knew she was giving me of her own magic. And now she put fingertip to the vial and moistened it. With that moisture she wet my forehead, eyelids and, at last, my lips.

I thanked her and she smiled and shook her head, restoppering the vial with the same care. Then she gestured to Ayllia, who sat staring at nothing with unseeing eyes.

“This one needs a safe world for a while,” Orsya commented. “She is not of our breed and what she has seen rests too heavy a burden on her. Once in the Valley Dahaun can bring her better healing than we can offer.” She lifted her head higher and turned her face to meet a breeze out of the night.

There was no effluvia of evil in it, though it was chill. But in it was the hint of
renewing life. Breathing deeply of that air, and doubtless helped by Orsya's cordial, I felt as one from whose shoulders a weight of burden was loosened.

I saw that most of our party was already at rest, the Renthans kneeling to chew their cuds and think their thoughts, which are not those of my kind, but as meaningful. Orsya still sat between me and Ayllia, and now her hand came and we clasped fingers.

She looked at me searchingly. “It is better with you, my sister.”

As if she had meant that as a question, I answered her with perhaps more firmness than I was inwardly sure was the truth. “It is well. My Powers have well nigh returned.”

“Your Powers,” she repeated. “If you have regained or found what you treasure, cherish it well, Kaththea.”

I did not understand what she truly meant by that but, bidding her then good sleep in turn, I rolled in my cloak and sought that state myself.

If there was virtue in Orsya's fragrant liquid, it did not seem to work for me. For straightaway when I closed my eyes I was back on that ridge where we wrought in mud to raise our small army. Once more my finger touched that last ball and I uttered the name I did not want to say.

But this time those other small balls remained earth only, and he whom I so summoned arose—not as I had seen him last in his deserted and time-worn citadel, but rather as I had viewed him in that other dream, when he had sat upon his chair and looked at the gate he had opened.

He turned to look at me with something in his eyes that made me wish to turn away and quickly, only I could not.

“You have named me in the field of death.” He did not speak those words but I read them mind to mind. “Do you then hold me in such fear—or dislike?”

I brought all the boldness I had into my answer, giving him the full truth. “I fear you, yes, for what you may do, being who and what you are. Your day is past in Escore; seek not to raise your banner here again.”

As if my very thought conjured up what I feared the most, I saw then a banner form in the sky behind him. It was as yellow as the sunlight across gold sand, and on it were the wand and sword crossed.

“Raise not my banner,” he repeated thoughtfully. “For you think my day done, do you, Kaththea, sorceress and witch maid? I lay no geas on you, for between us there must never be ruler or ruled. But this I foresee, that you shall wish for this banner, call for it in your need.”

I marshaled my thoughts to drown out his, lest he influence me. “I wish only that you keep your own place, Hilarion, and come not into ours. No ill will do I call upon you, for I think you are not one who has ever marched with the Shadow. Only let us go!”

Now he shook his head slowly. “I have no army, naught but myself. And you
owe me a boon, since you death-named me. The balance will be equaled when the time comes.”

Then I remembered no more, and the rest of the night I did sleep. I awoke with a vague foreboding that this day, new come to use, would be full of trial and danger. For the first hour or two after our leaving the star camp, though, it would seem I was wrong.

We rode steadily westward. The Renthan did not race as they had the day before, but they covered ground at an awesome pace, seeming not to feel the burden of their riders. Before long, however, we knew that if Sarn Riders and Gray Ones did not sniff behind us, that flickering thing did. And we also knew that it was more than matching our speed, though it labored to overtake us.

I saw the two Green Riders who formed our rear guard look now and then behind. When I did likewise I believed there was the flickering to be sighted far off. It also cast some influence ahead, slowing our thought, clouding our minds, and affecting even our bodies so that each gesture became a thing of effort. And under that drain the Renthan, too, began to give way.

The sunshine which had seemed so bright was now a pale thing; there might have been a thin cloud between it and us. Cold gathered about our shivering bodies as if the Ice Dragon breathed, months after he had been driven to his den.

Our run became a trot, then a walk in which the Renthan fought with great effort to achieve some of their former speed. Finally their leader, whom Kemoc rode, gave a loud bellow and they came to a halt as his thought reached us.

“We can do no more until this spell is lifted.”

“Spell!” My mother's reply came quickly. “This is beyond my skill. It is born of another kind of knowledge than I have dealt with.”

Hearing this, the cold of my body was matched by the chill of inner fear. For she was one I believed stood ready to challenge and fight aught which walked this tormented land.

“Water magic I do have,” Orsya said. “But it is no match for what hunts us now. Kemoc?”

He shook his head. “I have named great names and have been answered. But I know not what name can deal with this—”

And at that moment there came into my mind that I alone knew what—who—might face our pursuer. I had named him to death on that ridge, not understanding why. If I called him now it was to death—for the breath of that lay on us, and whoever faced it in battle must be mightier than any I had thought on. Even the Wise Women of Estcarp must work in concert for their great bespelling.

I could call. He would answer—and death would be the end. So did my fear tell me. To summon one to his death—what manner of woman could do that, knowing before that she did so?

Yet it was not my life I bargained for if I did this thing; it was the lives of
those about me, together with what might well be the future of this land. So I slipped from the back of the Renthan and I ran out from them, facing that thing we could not see.

As I went I called for help as one might who was lost: “Your banner—I summon—”

Why I framed my plea thus I could not tell. But I was answered by a flash of gold across the sky, seeming to bring with it a measure of the sun's warmth, which had so strangely gone from us. Under it Hilarion stood, not looking back to me, but facing the thing, with no bared sword but a wand in his hand.

He raised the wand as a warrior salutes with his blade before he gives the first stroke in a measured bout. Formal and exact was that salute, and also was it a challenge to that which came behind us.

But of the rest of that battle I saw nothing, for there was an increase of that flickering, vastly hurting to the eyes so I had to shield my sight or go blind. Only, though I could not look upon what chanced there, there was one thing I might do: what Hilarion had demanded of me as Zandur's prisoner, now did I give freely, and not for his asking. I allowed to flow to him all that was in my Power, emptying myself as I had not wanted to do since I regained what I had lost.

I think I fell to my knees, my hands pressed to my breast, but I was not really aware of anything but that draining and the need for giving. So did time pass without reckoning.

Then there was an end! I was empty with an emptiness which was deeper than the wound Dinzil had left in me. And I thought feebly that this was death, what death must be. But I had no fear, only the wish to be at peace forever.

But suddenly there was the warmth of hands on my shoulders and I was drawn up from where I crouched. Through that touch there flowed back into me life, though I did not want it now, knowing what I had done with my summons.

“Not so!”

Thus I was forced to open my eyes, not on the terrible blinding chaos I had thought, but to see who stood by me. And I knew that this was not one of Dinzil's breed, those who do not give, only take. Rather it was true that between
us
there was neither ruler nor ruled, only sharing. There was no need for words, or even thoughts—save a single small wonder quickly gone as to how I could have been so blind as to open the door to needless fear.

We walked together to those who had watched and waited. And the opener of gates so became a defender of life, while I had an ending to my part in the saga of Escore.