The Commanding Stone Part 10

10.

G.o.ds, look at all the smoke!" said Laysa.

"b.l.o.o.d.y Pelklanders," said Therain. He spoke softly, but there was an edge of rage in his voice. That imbecile Daqoros! His father's body is barely cold in its grave and he decides to toss the treaty to the winds.

"Therain, your sister..."

"She's fine," he said tightly. "I'd know if something happened to her."

He felt a coldness inside him as he watched smoke rising from the countryside ahead of him. They were hidden behind a line of trees on the blind side of a slope that occluded their view, but Therain had caught a glimpse of the castle and countryside around it before they pulled back.

It's Agdenor all over again, and I'll be d.a.m.ned to Shayphim's darkest pits if I'm going to stand by and let it happen.

He was deeply worried for Claressa. Despite his words to Laysa, he feared the worst. He could only hope Baris had the foresight and ability to get her out of the castle before it fell. They'd pa.s.sed refugees on the road who told them of the invasion, but no one had any news of his sister or the Toresh family.

A soldier Rundgar had sent to reconnoiter the situation returned. "My lord, the Pelklanders have landed many ships in the harbor and along the coast. They've taken the town and castle."

"How many men?"

"Difficult to say, my lord. Several thousand at least. More ships are arriving. They're obviously planning to entrench themselves against a counterattack."

"My lord, we should leave at once," said Rundgar. "I don't have the men to protect you if we're discovered. As the king's brother, you must be kept safe."

"Duly noted, Captain, but I'm not going anywhere until I find out what's happened to Claressa."

The large captain made a very uncharacteristic sigh of exasperation. "My lord, please be reasonable. We have no way of getting closer."

"Oh, but I do. You're forgetting what I've been practicing."

Rundgar looked momentarily confused. "My lord, you don't mean your...thing...with the animals?"

"I mean exactly that."

"Are you sure that's wise?" asked Laysa. "You don't really understand how your power works."

"I've been practicing over the past few days. I'll be fine." He turned to the captain. "I'll find out what I can, and then we'll retreat to a more secure location."

Rundgar did not look happy about Therain's decision but did not argue further.

Therain got off his horse and folded his legs beneath him. Kelpa sat beside him, his haunches against Therain's thigh. He found the dog's presence comforting.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked Laysa.

"No, but thank you. I'm on my own with this one."

Therain had been experimenting with his ability to sense the location of animals and his apparent ability to call to them with his thoughts. He'd had several more vivid dreams in which he was able to see through the eyes of animals. It was strange to experience the world in such a radically different way. Soaring through the air, scurrying along the ground, or scampering up a tree. The dreams were too real for him to ignore. He felt that, like his earlier dreams of animals, which seemed to presage his power, there was some truth in them.

He decided to test it.

While riding, he closed his eyes and reached out with his mind toward Kelpa, who was padding along beside him. Let me see through your eyes, he thought, trying to project his will, his vision, to the animal. Let me see as you see.

Nothing happened for several days, though he could feel something stirring within him, growing stronger each time he reached out to a different animal.

One morning he was sitting with Kelpa and almost offhandedly tried to see through the dog's eyes. He closed his own eyes and willed his vision toward the animal.

He jumped as he felt something break inside of him, as if some inner wall or barrier had collapsed.

And suddenly he was looking at himself through Kelpa's eyes. His view was slightly distorted, like looking through one of Master Aslon's lenses, and all of the color seemed to have been leeched from the world. He had never seen himself from this vantage point-it was not at all like looking in a mirror-and found the view disorienting.

He snapped back into his own body with a gasp. Laysa noticed and asked if he was all right.

"Yes. At least I think I am." He explained to her and Rundgar what had just happened, then tried it again.

It worked a second time. Now that the barrier within him had fallen, he could readily enter an animal's point of view. Perhaps the barrier is something to protect my soul, to keep it from leaving my body while I'm alive. He decided against telling Laysa about that particular line of reasoning.

He saw a hawk and entered it easily. How far he could see! And despite his own strong fear of heights, he felt no fear at all at being so high above the ground when looking through the bird's eyes.

He continued to test his power and found he could jump from animal to animal. His sight leaped from bird to squirrel to fox to chicken. He tried to leap from the chicken to a spider lurking in the center of a nearby web, but found he could not. When he tried to make the leap, it was as if a new wall sprang up to thwart him. After some more experimentation he seemed certain that, for whatever reason, he could not enter the minds of insects. Maybe they're too small, or too different from me. Another question for the wizards, but for now he would put it aside and hone his technique with animals.

He tried commanding the animals when he was looking through their eyes and found that they obeyed him, at least to a certain degree. They were easily distracted in their never-ending quests for food or avoidance of predators, so it took all of his concentration to bend them to his will.

So this is why Gerin is so enamored of magic. It really is an incredible thing. He wondered if even his mighty brother could do what he was doing. He did not remember any discussion or examples of Gerin exerting control over animals, let alone seeing through their eyes. Ha! I would love to be able to work magic that he can't! Won't that just stick in his craw!

Sitting on the gra.s.s with Kelpa at his side, he concentrated on sensing nearby animals. He found a raven flying toward Castle Hurien and entered it.

He was a hundred feet in the air, wings outstretched to catch the wind and warm updrafts, searching for something to eat. Therain instantly felt hungry and was drawn into the hunt for food with the bird, something that often happened when he first leaped-the mind of the animal overpowered him for an instant until he could rea.s.sert his humanness. This was another thing he had not shared with Laysa. He did not want her worrying that he would become lost in the animal minds he entered.

He wondered suddenly what would happen if an animal died while he was seeing through its eyes. Would he return to his own body, shoved unceremoniously from something no longer capable of hosting him? Could he die with it, or would his consciousness become lost, cut off from his own mortal flesh?

Best to make sure that doesn't happen. It was not an experiment he was eager to undertake.

He exerted his will and tried to turn the raven's course toward the castle, but it did not like the smell of smoke, and Therain was using all of his strength to fight it. He would rapidly weaken at this rate and soon have to return to his own body. He had a wide view of the castle and town below it, and took note of the many Pelklander soldiers stationed at the castle entrances, on the walls, and throughout the town; but he was too far away to discern any detail, and knew he would never be able to see Claressa from there.

Just before he was about to leap out of the raven, he saw a group of prisoners being led from the main castle gate. He knew they were prisoners because they were bound together with a length of rope and surrounded by Pelklander soldiers. He made one last effort to force the raven closer, but it stubbornly refused to obey.

He leaped into a robin perched on a branch near the castle gate. The quick darting movements of the bird's head disoriented him, and again he had to exert his will to keep it as still as possible. He hopped along the branch to gain a better view of the pa.s.sing prisoners.

Claressa was in the middle of the line, shoulders hunched, her head bowed. She was dirty and disheveled, and that alone was a shock. He had never seen his sister in such a state.

Where were they taking them? There were about a dozen prisoners in the line, but she was the only one he recognized. He did not see Baris or any of the other Toreshes.

He could only think of two possibilities, neither of which he liked.

He returned to his body and opened his eyes.

"I found her," he said.

"Is she all right?" asked Laysa.

"So far. But they're marching her and some other prisoners out of the castle. I'm worried they're going to take them back to the islands as hostages, or execute them as examples. I don't know if they're aware of who she is."

"What is your command, my lord?" asked Rundgar.

"Get your men ready. We have to get her now." Rundgar vehemently protested, but Therain would have none of it. "She's my sister and I'm going to rescue her. This is our best chance, and we're going to take it. I've noted your objections, Captain. Now you can either obey me, or I'll find someone to take your place who will." They were the harshest words he'd ever said to his fiercely loyal captain of the guard, but he was in a foul mood after seeing Claressa in such a state, and filled with dread that, even moving as quickly as they were, they would not be able to rescue her in time.

It was growing dark, which Therain hoped to use in their favor. He sent Laysa away with an escort of five soldiers. She wanted to stay with him, but he explained that it would be more dangerous for them all if he had to worry about keeping her safe while trying to rescue his sister. "Please, trust me in this," he said to her. "Go back to Mileon. Once we have Claressa, we'll meet you there."

"You'd better take care of yourself," she said before leaving. "You've never seen me angry yet, and if you get hurt I'm going to be very angry."

Despite the heaviness in his heart, he smiled. "I'll do my best."

"You'd better." She kissed him, and then left with her escort.

Therain had used his power to track Claressa as best he could. The Pelklanders had taken her and the other prisoners to the harbor town and locked them in a small warehouse near the waterfront.

Fortunately, the town was not surrounded by a wall or other defensive fortification. A road wound down from the castle and entered the town from the northwest; another road coming from the farming fields farther inland joined the castle road just outside the town.

Therain and his men were in a long, narrow forest that looked out onto the crossroads. His bowmen had killed five Pelklanders who were watching the edge of the woods, and so far their disappearance had not been noted. But Therain did not count on their luck holding. They had to move quickly.

"Captain, are your men ready?"

"Yes, my lord. They await your command."

"Move as soon as I create the diversion. I don't think you'll have much time, so move fast."

Rundgar signaled his men. Therain sat down and leaned his back against a tree. He cleared his mind, then reached out in a way he never had before. Not to find one animal, or to leap from one to the next, but rather to reach as many as he could find at one time, and issue a single command.

Go to the town! Now! Food there! All the food you will ever need! Go now! Go now!

He tried to include an impression of satiated hunger, of contentedness, to coerce them into going. He needed as many of them to obey as possible, and this seemed the best way to achieve that. By now he well knew that animals were constantly hungry, continually searching for food. He hoped this would overcome their natural aversion to going near humans.

He'd leashed Kelpa to the tree he was propped against. As soon as his command went out, the dog yelped and tried to dash for the town. Therain did not want to lose him, and had not known of any way to exclude the dog from his command, so he'd bound him to the tree. Kelpa yelped again when the rope went taut and struggled against it fiercely but could not get away.

Rundgar and the men around him gasped. Therain opened his eyes.

Hundreds of animals were rushing out of the trees toward the town. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, even a few bears. And many smaller animals whose trails could be seen in the deepening darkness.

A moment later the air was filled with the screeching of thousands of birds, all swooping toward the town like a cloud. The sound of their screeching and the flutter of their wings was amazingly loud, and sent an instinctive wave of panic through Therain. He saw his men hesitate, overcome by the same fear, and shouted, "Go, d.a.m.n you, go!"

His soldiers dashed out of the trees and across the open ground toward the town. They were surrounded by the charging animals racing past them in a mad frenzy. Therain had never seen anything like it.

He issued the command again, reinforced it so the animals would not themselves panic and try to flee. Not just yet. Not until Claressa was free.

The Pelklanders on guard had no idea what was happening. The streets were suddenly overrun with animals darting every which way, scrambling up walls and across roofs and into open doors and windows.

They never saw the Khedeshians race into town. Therain had told his men exactly where to find the warehouse. They carried crossbows and killed a dozen Pelklanders before the invaders had even registered that an attack was under way. Several Khedeshians lit torches and hurled them onto thatched roofs that had not burned in the initial a.s.sault. Fires blossomed in the growing darkness.

Therain tried to see through some of the animals to determine how well his men who were now out of his direct line of sight were doing. But he was too weakened from the exertion of the command and could not remain in any animal for more than a second or two. He finally gave up trying. He would just have to trust his men.

He issued one last command, this one directed at the birds, who seemed to be causing the most confusion. Fly low. Into the streets. The men with painted faces are your enemy! Peck out their eyes! Claw their faces!

Columns of birds darted through the streets, screeching and cawing. People in the town were screaming and shouting, but their cries were almost completely lost in the clamor created by the birds.

A few minutes later the animals began to retreat. He tried to hold them in place, but his efforts had taken so much of his energy that he could not overcome their natural fears. Exhaustion dragged at his limbs; he could barely keep his eyes open. The birds still covered the town like a swirling black cloud, but even they were beginning to disperse.

"My lord, the men are returning," said Rundgar. He pointed toward a section of town where flames blazed across several roofs.

Therain saw a number of his men, silhouetted by the fires, running out of the town. With an effort, he got to his feet. Kelpa still strained at his leash, but not as madly as before, and more now from annoyance at being bound than from Therain's command.

"Have the archers provide cover if any Pelklanders appear," said Therain to one of his men.

"Already done, my lord. They are positioned at the edge of the forest."

The soldiers and women fleeing the town crossed the open stretch of ground and entered the trees. Though it had grown quite dark, Therain was able to see that one of the women was indeed Claressa. He shrugged off his fatigue and ran to her. When she saw him, she threw her arms around his neck.

He hugged her back. "You got yourself into quite a mess," he said.

She squeezed even harder, as if afraid to let him go. He felt tears against his neck.

"Thank you for coming for me," she said. She pulled away and wiped at her eyes.

"Always."

"Do you know-have you had any word of Baris?"

"None. I'm sorry. We need to leave now. It won't take them long to realize you're gone. We need to be as far from here as we can."

"How did you get the animals to go into the town? I've never seen anything like it. And the birds-"

"I'll tell you when we're away from here. It's a long story."

11.