Hunters Unlucky Part 60

After looping downward for several moments, the trail came to a vertical drop. Storm strained his eyes and ears in the blackness. Somewhere far below, he could hear the rush of water. This is not the sort of place one would go if one were trying to avoid telshees.

Storm danced nervously back and forth along the lip of the hole. He found one spot that seemed to offer a bit of an incline, rather than a sheer drop. He took a deep breath and slithered down...and down...and down...

Storm splashed into a stream with a gasp. The water was icy and as high as his chest. He took a cautious lap and found it brackish. Somewhere ahead, he saw a faint greenish glow. Syriot. Arcove can't have been pleased about landing here.

Storm sniffed around the wall, looking for evidence that Arcove had tried to climb back up. He found nothing. So far, so strange.

In one direction, the underground stream dove beneath the airless rock. In the other direction, he could see the acriss light. Well, I'll guess that he didn't go underwater. Although it would make as much sense as anything else he's done since the avalanche.

Storm walked upstream, following the light. When he finally found a spot to climb out, the acriss was swarming brightly in the water, and Storm could see Arcove's enormous, wet tracks on the bank. Storm had never visited telshee caves south of the Garu Vell, closest to creasia territory. He knew, in theory, that they existed, and he remembered that Roup had noted an abundance in this area.

However, it wasn't until he'd gone well into the deep cave that he finally caught the scent of a telshee crossing Arcove's path. Storm followed with trepidation. He could tell that Arcove was running now. The trail became confused. Arcove circled several times. He took branching paths, but always returned to the main tunnel, always going deeper into the cave. Why?

Storm had a suspicion-a poorly-formed idea that loomed in the back of his mind. Then he heard splashing ahead, accompanied by low voices. Storm put on a burst of speed, came around a corner, and the cave broadened out. He could hear the distant sound of waves and thought that he must be almost on the far side of the cliffs.

He saw the silhouettes of a dozen or more telshees gathered in a circle around what looked like a pit. Acriss light glowed up from it. One of the silhouettes was enormous, as big around as the largest tree trunk in Leeshwood. Storm had last seen that form surrounded by coral, sleeping in the Dreaming Sea.

He wasn't sleeping now.

"Keesha!" Storm trotted up to him, panting.

Keesha turned, his great seal's face with its enormous blue eyes lit from beneath by the acriss glow. He looked down at Storm and smiled-an unnerving sight. "Storm! Well, this does complete the circle. I'm glad you're here."

Storm glanced around. He saw Shaw, looking at him with surprise and uncertainty. He saw Sauny and Valla, their faces expressionless in the eerie glow. He saw telshees that he didn't recognize, and he followed their gazes down into the hole. It was a tide pool-a deep one with smooth sides.

Arcove was treading water at the bottom. There was no place to get out or stand up, and he was moving with the deliberate slowness of an exhausted animal trying to conserve his strength. However, Storm was relieved to see that he didn't look injured.

He turned to Keesha. "I need him back. Do you know what happened on the mainland yesterday?"

"No," said Keesha without interest. He was watching Arcove's slow circuit of the pool.

"Treace attacked the herd. He's taken them away into Leeshwood. He wants to...to eat them." Storm still choked on the words.

Sauny and Valla looked up in alarm.

"Who is Treace?" asked Keesha in a bored voice.

"One of Arcove's officers," said Storm, "the youngest, born after the war."

"Then I have no quarrel with him," said Keesha.

"You should!" said Storm. "He is trying to destroy my herd, and he'd be no friend of yours if you met him."

"Creasia doings are none of my concern," said Keesha.

"What about ferryshaft doings?" Storm shoved his shoulder against the arc of Keesha's neck. Look at me! I know I remind you of your dead friend, and maybe it's wrong to play on that, but right now, I'll take whatever I can get.

Keesha's head whipped around, and he hissed. Storm sank down on his belly. "You told me once that you'd help me," he said softly. "Now, I'm asking you to do that."

Storm had expected a shouting match, but Keesha only turned and slid a coil into the tide pool. Arcove paddled away from it, but not quickly enough. Storm thought that Keesha was going to scoop Arcove out of the water. Instead, the coil whipped around him and shoved him under. The water roiled, but no part of Arcove broke the surface.

Keesha turned to Storm, his expression leisurely again. "You are telling me that Leeshwood is in the midst of one of its little power struggles, and you would like me to let Arcove return so that he can kill a rival whom you find distasteful?"

"Yes," said Storm with mixed relief and uncertainty. "Yes, and you're drowning him." Already, the stirring of the water had slowed.

"Oh, he won't drown," said Keesha. "He may suffocate, but he won't drown." He thought for a moment. "Shaw tells me that you have adopted a creasia cub. Did you listen to nothing we told you?"

"I listened!" exclaimed Storm, frustrated beyond words. "Can we talk about this later? I promise I will come back and let you shout at me all you like, but right now, let him go." The water of the pool had grown completely still, save for the muted lap of waves.

Keesha made a sound that was almost a giggle. "Oh, very well."

He jerked the loop of his body suddenly out of the pool and flung Arcove's limp form onto the cave floor. A murmur went up from the circling telshees. Storm understood then what Keesha had meant. He must have crushed the air from Arcove's lungs when he pushed him underwater. Arcove couldn't have drowned, even if he'd wanted to, because he couldn't get a breath. The cat's hollow sides lay still, his great jaws slack, eyes open and unfocused.

"You've killed him," said Storm miserably.

"Yes," said Keesha, "but I am willing to kill him again." And then he sang. It was the most distinctive song that Storm had ever heard, yet he could not remember a note of it a moment later. The song vibrated in the roots of his teeth and the joints of his bones. Storm felt as though he'd sliced himself open on a sharp rock-a mortal wound-and he was watching the blood well up, waiting for the pain, hovering in that moment between trauma and agony. But the agony never came. At least, not for Storm.

Arcove's body jerked and he sucked in a lungful of air. He convulsed briefly, kicking, struggling as though he were still drowning. He flipped onto his belly and grasped the stone with splayed claws, breathing in quick, panicked gulps.

"Arcove," murmured Keesha, and Arcove's whole body flattened at the sound of his name. He opened his eyes and glared up at Syra-lay. "Storm has some use for you. Do what he says, and I won't hunt down every one of your mates and cubs. That's generous, I think. More generous than you ever were. We'll meet again soon."

Arcove's muscles went taut. His bared teeth flashed in the dim light, and he looked as though he would spring.

Keesha hummed a single note. And again, Storm felt the hair rise along his spine. He had the peculiar certainty that someone had dealt him a terrible blow that he could not quite feel. He could tell that the telshees sensed it, too. Behind Keesha, Shaw dipped her head and turned to the side with a grimace.

Arcove made a low, guttural sound, the like of which Storm had never heard. He backed away, lay down, and tried to curl in on himself. Storm could hear him trying to pant through clenched teeth.

"That's better," said Keesha. "Keep that in mind next time your tiny, predator's brain prompts you to attack me."

"You're hurting him," said Storm, who'd grasped that much. "I need him to fight."

Keesha yawned. He'd stopped singing, although Arcove was still curled in a ball on the cave floor. "Storm, you do realize that it probably won't matter who wins this fight, don't you? Leeshwood has these b.l.o.o.d.y power shifts every few years. These cats will fight and fight, and that will help your herd more than anything. It's the one redeeming feature of creasia: they kill each other."

Storm felt angry, but he wasn't sure why or at whom. "Can I take him back to the surface now?"

"By all means," said Keesha. "I'm certainly not going to do it."

Storm looked around desperately, but the telshees were melting back into the shadows. Shaw was gone without speaking to him. He couldn't see Sauny or Valla. He felt utterly alone.

"Arcove?" he said. He was a little afraid to get near him. "Let's go."

Arcove stirred at the sound of his name, but he did not raise his head. Keesha's nose darted out and gave him a shove that sent him head-over-heels. Arcove came up hissing. "There you go!" said Keesha. "Back to normal."

Storm had to disagree. Arcove staggered side-ways, as though his legs weren't working properly. Storm wondered how long he'd been treading water. He was bristling, but his tail was tucked under him. Storm had never expected to see Arcove tuck his tail.

Keesha turned away. "He might take a bit to get his legs sorted out, but he should be mostly functional by this evening. I make no promises after that."

"Come on," whispered Storm desperately. Before he changes his mind.

Arcove's eyes were so dilated that Storm could hardly see any green. They seemed to look right through him. Storm gathered his courage and came to within a length of Arcove's face. "Arcove," he tried to keep his voice even. "Get up. We have to go."

Arcove's eyes seemed to focus. "Coden?" he said, in a voice so small that it could have been Teek's.

Storm swore to himself, then and there, that he was going to hear the creasia side of this story. "No, it's Storm. Can you follow me?"

Arcove shook himself as though to clear his head. "I don't know." He was slurring a little. "You're hard to follow."

"Not today. Today, I promise to be easy. Come on."

Storm was relieved when Arcove finally got up and staggered after him.

Chapter 9. Arcove Delirious.

Keesha was right about Arcove's ability to walk straight, although Arcove kept ignoring the fact. He tripped. He slipped in puddles. He walked into walls. You'll never win a fight like this, thought Storm.

At last, Storm said, "Stop."

Arcove kept walking until Storm got right in front of him. "You need to rest," he said. "We'll have to climb at the end; you'll never make it like this."

Arcove squinted at him. "Roup?"

Storm sighed. "No, it's Storm. Why don't you lie down?"

"Confused." Arcove's voice sounded plaintive. "I'm...I'm not making sense. I know I'm not making sense."

"I think it will get better," said Storm. I certainly hope so.

Arcove squinted at him. "Why are you here?"

"Lie down, and I'll tell you."

Arcove hobbled over to the cave wall and collapsed. He arranged his head on his paws with effort.

Storm hesitated a moment, then came to within a length of his shoulders.

"I came because I think you're better for the ferryshaft than Treace, but I want you to promise me you'll stop the raids if we get out of this alive."

"I won't," said Arcove, his eyes barely open to slits.

Storm felt frustrated. "You won't stop the raids after-"

"No, I won't get out of this alive."

Storm felt a chill. "Like you said, you're not thinking clearly."

Arcove's voice seemed steadier, now that he didn't have to walk and talk at the same time. "Where's Roup?"

"Probably waiting for you," said Storm. "You wandered off into a cave after the avalanche. Why did you go in there?"

"Avalanche..." repeated Arcove. "I remember that. And then...then I woke up in my nightmare."

"Keesha called him." Storm looked up as Sauny drifted like a shadow out of the boulders. "Keesha woke up and left the Dreaming Sea. Then he sat in this cave for a day and a night and sang. And, oh, Storm... I'm glad he's stopped."

"Sauny!" Storm felt a wave of relief.

Arcove c.o.c.ked his head at her. "Sauny Ela-ferry?"

Sauny looked at him warily.

"You're the one who acts like him," said Arcove.

"Acts like who?"

"Coden. Storm looks like him...but you act like him."

Sauny glanced at Storm uncertainly. "He's confused," said Storm. "He keeps thinking I'm other animals."

Arcove did not dispute this.

Sauny sat down in front of him. "You hurt me. You killed my friends."

"I've killed a lot of friends," agreed Arcove.

That isn't exactly what she said, thought Storm.

"Keesha's going to kill you," said Sauny.

"He was always going to do that," said Arcove. He squinted at her. "Didn't I kill you?"

"No, you just..."

And then Storm remembered the way she'd walked out of the rocks. "Sauny, you're-"

She grinned at him. "You were right. I was getting better last spring. Shaw kept saying it was too early to tell if the damage was permanent."