A Handful Of Men - The Stricken Field Part 30

"Stop!" the Keeper shouted. "I say be still! You are willful! You disobey! You are sworn to obey me!"

Again Thaile smote the Place with fire. Thunder echoed back from the hills.

"Sworn? What choice did I ever have? When did I ever agree to serve you?" Smite! "Your evil infected my parents so that they would infect me, and I infect my own children in turn, slaves commanded to make slaves." Smite! "You have bred this iniquity from generation to generationa""

Bolt after bolt of sorcery struck boat and paddock, log pile and midden, everything. The ground was melting, but still the Keeper endured and held Thaile there, also. The graves were gone. The last glowing remains of the cottage whirled away in the blast. Storm roared through the forest Far off upstream at the Neeth Place, the two old folk were wakened in terror by the rumbling and shaking of the earth.

"Iniquity?" the Keeper screamed. "You would compare me with the Evil that waits Outside?"

Still Thaile hurled destruction, fighting against the power that pinned her. On both sides of the river, trees crashed down in flames. Wind howled, and the icy peaks of the Progistes reflected the fountains of fire spouting in the valley.

"I say you are a greater evil! You slaughter babies in the name of love!" Maddened beyond reason by her pain and anger, Thaile threw power at the Keeper herself.

The ground erupted, rocks flew, glowing like coals, and the Keeper recoiled before the outburst. "Fool! You will bring the usurper upon us!"

"Then let him come! How can he be worse?"

The river had begun to boil, the Progiste Ranges glowed red in the night. "Fool!" the Keeper cried again, and released her. Thaile rushed into the sky and hurtled away, up over Thume and the darkness, and was gone to the Outside.

Afterwards remember: Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.

a" C. G. Rossetti, Remember

NINE.

p.r.i.c.king thumbs

1.

The sun was still high, but it glowed red. The goblin army jogged steadily northward, while the smoke of their pa.s.sing drifted away to the west. Finding the unwooded country of South Pithmot not to his liking, Death Bird had changed direction at last, and turned east. Now he had come upon a river and was heading up it, seeking a place to cross. His horde filled the plain.

Kadie rode in a mindless daze, as she always did now. Often she felt as if she had never lived any other life except this dawn-to-dusk horseback existence and it would go on until the G.o.ds died. Poor Allena was worn away to bones, yet she was still willing, and Kadie could not bear to seek a replacement for her, because goblins ate horses. They were not eating many these days. The imps had stripped the countrysidea"gone themselves and taken their livestock with them. They had not torched the crops and buildings, leaving that pleasure for the invaders. She suspected the goblins thereby betrayed their whereabouts to the Imperial Army, but she had not mentioned that theory, even to Blood Beak. And where was the army? Why had the Impire let the barbarians ravage unmolested for three whole months? There must be a reason, but she could not imagine what it was.

"Kadie?" Blood Beak trotted alongside her stirrup as he always did, untiring. His bodyguard followed.

"Yes, Green One?"

"This river? Where does it go?"

"To the sea, of course."

"Which sea?"

"Home Water, or the Dragon Sea. I'm not sure. Ask someone before you burn his tongue out."

"Don't burn tongues out. Spoils the screaming. Do you still want to escape?"

She almost fell out of the saddle. He had offered to help her escape once, weeks ago, and then changed his mind. Was he serious now, or was this some sort of cruel joke? She glanced behind and noted that the bodyguard was farther back than usual. They were a new detachment, and none of them understood impish. Perhaps Blood Beak had thought of that.

"Yes, please!"

"I shall camp by the river tonight, then. In the dark, you could slip away and take a boat." He was not looking up at her, and she could see nothing of his face except a sweaty cheekbone. He was thick and meaty, but there was no fat on him at all.

"They use the boats for firewood."

"Then float on a log. It is too wide for wading. If you can come ash.o.r.e on the far bank, you will be free."

She had never thought of escape by water. She did not know how to swim. No one in Krasnegar knew how to swim, but she would not freeze here. Goblins avoided water whenever they coulda"they would not even cross the causeway at Krasnegara"and they would not think of a prisoner escaping that way. Yes, it might work! Allena could swim and would be even better than a log. How supremely obvious and simple!

"I will be very grateful," she said, and felt tears p.r.i.c.kle in her eyes. Just dust, surely? Dust would not cause the strange lump in her throat, though.

Not looking at her, Blood Beak said, "I shall come and visit you in Krasnegar one day."

"If you do, I shall make you welcome and send you away rich."

He did look up then, smiling. "You have taught me to dream impossible dreams, too, Little Princess. That is a bad habit for a goblin! I know really that none of us will return to the taiga, but I should like you to escape and remember me."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"Slow down a bit," he said. "If we camp near the rear you will have a better chance in the night."

Kadie eased back her game little pony and began whispering a prayer. She had prayed a lot in the last few months. She prayed especially to the G.o.d of Rescues, if there was one.

A wonderful hour of antic.i.p.ation followed.

It ended in disaster. Perhaps she should have prayed a little harder. Perhaps she had prayed to a nonexistent G.o.d and summoned the G.o.d of Dashed Hopes instead, if there was one. After so many weeks, it seemed very cruel of the G.o.ds to offer this wonderful chance and then s.n.a.t.c.h it away so soon.

Suddenly there were goblins standing across her path. She rose in the stirrups to see as far as she could across the plain. The horde had come to a halt. By the time she reined in, there were goblins everywhere, standing around panting, shouting questions to and fro. The sun was a red ball in the smoke, not close enough to setting yet to explain this unexpected stop.

She slid from the saddle and stood on her own weary legs. Blood Beak shot her a warning glancea"meaning there were too many ears too close for the two of them to talk. She could guess what he was thinking, though. Her hopes of escape had just disappeared again.

Blood Beak went in search of the chiefs. His bodyguard went with him, and so of course must Kadie. It took him an hour or so even to find the house, and a lot of arguing thereafter, but he eventually bullied his way into the conference. His guards remained behind, at the bottom of the stairs. He grabbed Kadie's wrist and towed her along as he went running up. That was the first time he had ever touched her. He had a crushing grip.

In the last few months, she had seen many great mansions and even palaces, but almost always they had been already burning, and she had never been allowed to look inside. She had made a very brief trip through Kinvale, but she had been too shocked that day to notice much of it. This house wasn't as big as Kinvale, just a large country dwelling. It had been very beautiful, but already it stank of goblin and there was mud all over the rich carpets. She caught glimpses of chests left open and drawers tipped out and beds unmade, signs of a panicky departure. In the romances she had read as a child, princesses lived in sumptuous palaces, but she had always imagined something like the castle at Krasnegar, only warmer. This was no palace, and yet it surpa.s.sed her wildest fancies. She wanted to stay and admire the furniture and pictures, to touch the draperies, but she was given no chance.

The big upstairs drawing room was full of smelly goblins, naked savages, all standing around arguing at the tops of their voices. Blood Beak, having won entry to the council with lies and threats, had no authority to join in the discussion. He would very likely be thrown out at once if his father saw him. He released Kadie's wrist and left her standing by the door, while he went squirming off in the direction of the windows, which were the reason the chiefs had come indoors at all.

Kadie had a much better idea. She stepped up on a chair, muddy boots and all. Then she could see over the chiefs, and one glance was enough to show her the extent of their problem.

A tributary joined the river just a league or so ahead. There was a small walled town at the junction. More important, legions stood across the path. They were too far off to make out individual soldiers, but the sun shone on their shields and helmets. A glittering fence stretched from river to rivera"many, many legions. The Impire had reacted at last.

She stepped down to the floor again to be less conspicuous, and struggled to make sense of the guttural dialect as the chiefs argued. The sun was in the goblins' eyes, said some. It would set before battle could be joined, said others. Goblins fought better by moonlight than imps did. The men were tired. In the morning the sun would hamper the legions. The imps were trapped in the fork of the river. So were the goblins, because they could not use their greater speed to outflank their opponents . . . Talk flowed to and fro. No one seemed to be pointing out that Death Bird had strayed into a very bad position. He had a hostile army in front, rivers on both flanks, and a wasteland behind.

A loud crash of splintering chair was the signal for silence. "Am deciding!" the king shouted. "Fight at dawn. Kill imps then!"

There was a brief, halfhearted cheer. Chiefs moved rapidly out of the way as their leader headed for the door. He came face to face with Kadie before she had a chance to take cover. His angular eyes widened in shock at the sight of her and his hand flashed to his sword. The room went silent. Apparently he had forgotten about his hostage.

She had not seen him in many weeks. He looked older, and certainly thinner. The barrel chest was streaked with sweat and dust, there were lines in his face and gray in his rope of hair. He was probably doomed now, he and his horde, but he would live on in memory as the worst butcher ever to humiliate the Impire.

"Princess!" He grinned his big teeth at her, looking her over shrewdly. "Are not hot in so many clothes?"

Of course she was hot, because she always wore a coat to hide her sword. He had remembered that, too.

She bowed and tried not to look frightened. "No, Sire."

"Where son?" Death Bird looked around. Wearing a surly expression, Blood Beak emerged from the onlookers. His father regarded him mockingly. "Are growing! Ready for wedding soon?"

Blood Beak hesitated, glanced at Kadie, and then puffed out his chesta"which was quite large enough already. "Soon. Thinks carries baby."

Kadie felt herself blush scarlet at this outright falsehood. The spectators guffawed, the king pursed his big lips. He did not look very convinced. "Told you not to lie with her!"

The boy shrugged. "Begged me to. Get no sleep else." There was more cruel laughter, but Kadie minded less now. She stared at the carpet, knowing that in some strange way Blood Beak was trying to protect her.

Death Bird thumped his son on the shoulder. "Guard woman well tonight. Camp at my fire." He glanced at Kadie again, eyeing that suspicious coat. "Don't get fancy ideas, Princess," he said in impish. "The legions won't save you." He leered disbelievingly. "And look after my grandson."

Then he strode forward and out the door.

Kadie relaxed with a gasp and a weak shiver. Blood Beak summoned her with a nod, and she followed him as he went after his father, leaving the chiefs to their jabbering talk.

There would be no escape tonight.

2.

"This is dull!" Jalon complained. "Dull, dull, dull! You never used to travel like this. Where is the flying spume, the bare poles burning cold fire in the tempest? I want a lee sh.o.r.e, waves higher than the crosstrees, and all hands to the pumps!"

"Take my share, too," Rap said, easing the wheel around. "Rock this tub and she'd fall apart." The leaky, bedraggled old coaster had probably not ridden out a storm in fifty years. At the slightest hint of one, she would slip away into safe haven.

The sea was a lazy silver mirror, whose only claim to excitement was the crimson wound burned across it by the setting sun. A sickly wind barely gave Dreadnaught steerage way, let alone blew spume, but Rap was enjoying the challenge of keeping the sails filled. He was standing first watch while the minstrel kept him company, sprawled on the dry boards of the deck nearby, leaning on his elbows. "Besides, it beats scrambling around in jungle."

"You have a point there." Jalon rolled his head around to grin up at Rap with dreamy eyes of cornflower blue. "But then I wouldn't! Darad is stupid enough to like doing that sort of thing. He finds hardship a challenge to his manhood. The rest of us are more than happy to humor him."

Jalon was the only one of the sequential five whose company Rap honestly enjoyed. He was short for a jotunn, but otherwise his appearance was unremarkable. With his silver-gold hair and fair skina"already peeling for the second timea"he seemed barely more than a youth. His behavior, though, was anything but typical. Artist, minstrel, dreamer, hopelessly impractical, and unfailingly good-humored, he was a most unlikely jotunn.

But then Rap was a most unlikely faun, and for the same reason. Jalon was a hybrid, also, and the elvish blood in his veins might explain why he seemed no older than he had on the day Rap first met him, twenty years ago. He must have added about four years to his tally in those twenty, but not a single day showed.

It was enough to make a man nostalgic.

So was the low shadow to the north, for that was the island of Kith, which also brought back memories of youth and adventure, and another quest, which at times had seemed just as hopeless as this one.

a.s.sorted anthropophagi sat around the deck, taking life easy. The multicolored tattoos on their walnut skins shone like flowers in beds of rich loam. The trolls were happier out of the sun, off by themselves. If a man opened any door on Dreadnaught, he would find a skulking troll. Larder or galley, cabin or pump room or chain lockera"it made no difference, a toothy monster would be huddled in there, grinning sheepishly at being discovered. They were quite willing to be sociable if asked; they just could not keep it up for very long at a stretch.

"You're brooding," Jalon said softly.

Rap concentrated his attention on the sails.

"No."

"You're brooding," Jalon said again, in exactly the same tone. "Tell me what's wrong, sonny."

"Sonny! What way is that to address a reigning monarch?"

"I am a hundred and ten years older than you are." The minstrel flashed a grin that made him seem barely more than adolescent. "Now, tell Grandpapa what's the matter. Not the Imperial Navy, obviously."

"No." There were no other sails in sight. Dreadnaught's crew might not even have reported the theft of their ship yet. They had been set ash.o.r.e with a plentiful supply of gold. Being jotnar, they probably would not sober up until all the gold was gone.

"Information," Rap said. "I wish I knew how Shandie and Raspnex are doing."

"They're doing fine," Jalon said, rolling over on his back and putting his hands behind his head.

"You don't know that!"

"Grunth says so. She says Zinixo must know roughly where her lair was. He's had the Covin hunting her, off and on, but not much lately. If either of your playmates had been captured, the dwarf would have been after Grunth, too, like flies round carrion."

Rap had heard that theory before and found it unconvincing. Losing his magic scrolls was about the stupidest thing he'd ever done in his life.