The Forgotten Stone, page 40
“Run.” Gabor smirked.
“Zegrath hunting is hardly a spectator sport, so we won’t all be going. We’ll be quieter if we take only as many as we need. Still, zegrath pups take some wrangling. Litters are usually one to three pups, and we may only take two if there is a third. Two men per pup is still a handful. Kilith, who do you want me to take?”
“Canukke, Gabor, and Oloren can go with you,” Kilith said.
“What? Why can’t I go?” Vadik demanded.
“You and Ruakh can focus on the ethanine plan,” Kilith answered, “and any other powder or plant related tricks you have in mind. Enouim and I will go over strategies for the river.”
“We are going to have to move quickly once the pups are in hand, if you are able to find any,” Ruakh reminded them. “Our horses are still exposed and could trigger an alarm if found.”
“So to review …” Kilith paused. “We have booby trapped bows and arrows to set up and trigger, ethanine to sneak into meals, and zegrath babies to catch and let loose in the camps. Two or three of us need to go into Gorgenbrild, either by foot or by horse, to start the revolt from inside. Enouim will be causing an uproar in the river through the camps, and several of us will accompany her there. Enouim, perhaps you can smuggle some of us further upriver so we can attack from the north as well, rather than just the south and southeast. The thinner we spread them, the better off we’ll be. They will not be expecting opposition from outside—much less from the north. On these bare bones we will make our final stand. For Gorgenbrild! Never to turn.”
“I haven’t had much time to practice,” Enouim said to Kilith, as they discussed what the battle might look like from the river. The two of them had climbed a tree to talk out of sight while Ruakh and Vadik went off in search of useful plants.
“You can do this,” Kilith reminded her. “It’s in your blood, so let your body take over when your mind doubts. And if you get hurt, you can’t stop. There is no giving up—giving up is death.”
A rustle down below was followed by an ear-splitting screech.
“We got them,” a voice called.
Enouim looked down through the branches to see Canukke with a dark, furry bundle slung over his shoulder, and Oloren grabbing at its talons to tie its feet together. The thing was writhing and hissing, and plunged its talons into Canukke’s back. Canukke cursed and slid it to the ground, lifting its two forelegs into the air to hold it steady in one hand, and plucking a quill from his shoulder with the other. The zegrath pup looked about two feet long, not including the tail. Serete and Gabor had a second pup peeking out of a saddle bag carried between them. Each had a hand on the top of the bag, struggling to keep the pup inside.
“Careful, the teeth are razor sharp,” Serete said to Gabor. “It could tear through that bag any minute.”
“Teeth,” Canukke exclaimed. “I think the teeth are the dullest part of the creature. The quills and claws are like knives.”
“Talons,” Oloren corrected.
“Claws, talons—what difference does it make? They are sharp, and somehow worse than an adult zegrath!”
Enouim and Kilith descended from their tree just as Vadik and Ruakh reappeared.
“Anything good?” Gabor asked.
Vadik shook his head. “Not what we were hoping to find. There isn’t much in the area that could make any helpful compounds.”
“We brought back tree sap though,” Ruakh said. “It’s flammable.”
“OW!” Gabor swore, wringing his hand and looking incredulously down at the saddle bag.
“We don’t have much time,” Serete reminded them. “The pups will whimper, and mom will come calling. We certainly don’t want her finding them with us instead of the Sumus.”
The eight of them set off toward the main Sumu camp, splitting up shortly before reaching it. Vadik, Canukke, Oloren, and Gabor set off eastward with a zegrath pup, bows, arrows, and supplies to rig up triggers for them. Enouim, Serete, Kilith, and Ruakh continued further north with the ethanine and the other pup, following the riverbank as closely as they could. As Kilith had explained, they would drop off the pup and the ethanine, and Enouim would escort them further north at the bottom of the river.
The four of them moved as silently as possible, Ruakh and Serete taking turns wrangling the zegrath pup. Serete had been carrying it in the saddle bag until the bottom of the bag slit open and gave way. He wrapped the quilled tail in as much leather from the bag as he could and draped it over his shoulders, careful to keep the soft underbelly against his skin and secure the taloned feet with both hands.
Snap. Enouim froze. The sound had come from the woods to her left. Serete ducked behind a tree and gestured their silence. He motioned beyond them, and held up two fingers. Enouim’s stomach lurched. She tried to focus on her breathing, but couldn’t help thinking instead about how ridiculous it would be to come all this way and die before even starting their plans. They were within earshot of main camp, and had seen several tribesmen already on the way in, but none so close.
Enouim glanced in the opposite direction—the river was fifty yards away as it wound down the mountains in the direction from which they’d come. Too far to be of any use. Enouim looked up at Serete and saw the zegrath pup struggling against his hold. He grimaced as the creature bit his hand. The frustrated pup began to thrash and let out an angry, piercing screech. Enouim’s eyes grew wide.
A beat of silence.
Thud. An arrow hit the tree trunk Kilith leaned against, missing him by an inch. Lurching forward, sword in hand, Kilith swung at the first tribesman, closing the twenty feet of distance in a flash. Ruakh spun his staff and engaged the second, and Serete reached for his sword before the pup dug into his neck.
“They’ve got it handled!” hissed Enouim. “We have to go!”
Serete looked longingly at Ruakh and Kilith, each engaged in battle with an adversary, but nodded. Serete and Enouim took off in a low run up the hill and over a ledge toward the main camp. Serete grunted and Enouim turned to see the pup had climbed up and over his shoulder, dangling off him. Serete sheathed his sword and used both hands to grip the hind legs of the pup and wrestle it back into his control.
Enouim saw the tents up ahead, and a swarm of Sumus milling to and fro. She ducked behind a thick tree and ushered Serete over. Enouim grasped at the pup, careful to avoid the quills on its hackles and tail, and carefully separated a talon stuck in Serete’s leather belt. Firmly placing the pup’s hind legs on the ground, Enouim and Serete each awkwardly held a taloned front paw so that it seemed to stand upright between them.
Enouim offered it a dried piece of meat from her pack, but the pup gnashed its teeth at her. Enouim drew back, holding her arm out so that its forelegs were too far extended for its short snout to reach. “What now?”
“We need to get further in before letting him go,” Serete said.
“Without getting caught.”
“Precisely.”
Behind them they heard another crunch, and Serete and Enouim whirled just in time to see Kilith and Ruakh pulling themselves up over the ledge, each wearing a Sumu mantle over their clothes.
Ruakh grinned. “What a beautiful family,” he laughed, taking in the sight.
Enouim blushed as she realized what he meant, the two of them holding the baby zegrath up like a toddler. The pup hissed and sputtered, clicking his teeth together as it tried to reach Serete’s hand.
Ruakh tossed the ethanine pouch up in the air. “You wake them up. I’ll put them to sleep.”
Serete nodded, eyes bright. “Let’s go.”
Enouim and Serete walked their waddling charge across to the next tree and paused. A cluster of tents stood not thirty feet from them, and a smoking cauldron was set in the open area beyond the tents.
“What now?” Enouim whispered.
Serete motioned to Kilith for his Sumu cloak, and Kilith took it off and tossed it. Serete set the shredded saddle bag aside and wrapped the pup in the cloak so that it was a wriggling bundle of cloth. He caught it up in his arms and nodded to Enouim. “Pull up the bottom of that first tent there, at the edge. We’ll sneak up to it and let him loose in there. Once the pup distracts everyone, Ruakh and Kilith will empty the ethanine into the cauldron.”
Enouim dipped her head and started forward. Ruakh and Kilith bore away to their left to wait for their distraction, drug the soup, and make for the river. Snaking their way among the trees, Enouim pulled her hood up over her face and ducked behind the tent. She heard voices inside.
“The rat killed four of them before they got to her,” said a voice. “Four! And she was in one of your miserable holding cages! Riddle me that. How does a caged woman kill four of your guards?”
A second voice muttered despondently in reply, but was cut off by the first. “And yet you ask for more responsibility. Well, friend, you are certainly responsible for your own neck. Remember that when Khoron-khelek has it sliced clean through.”
Enouim smiled. Chayan was a force to be reckoned with.
“She dies tonight, by my hand, in the sight of the people,” the other said, speaking up.
Enouim’s smile faded. Her eyes hardened, and she pulled a knife from her belt. Enouim knelt at the base of the tent, slit the fabric, and swiftly lifted it as Serete tossed the bundle of fur into the tent. A horrendous screech mingled with a cry from the men, and Enouim heard the sound of steel unsheathed right before a small gray streak escaped out of the opposite side of the tent and into the heart of the camp.
Serete gripped her arm and motioned her to follow him toward the river. Enouim glanced back long enough to see the camp in an uproar, as the Sumus scrambled to catch the zegrath pup. In the middle of the chaos, one man with a Sumu mantle and a staff nonchalantly passed by the cauldron. Enouim turned and ran after Serete.
Enouim and Serete leaped over low bushes and brambles, around trees and through the woods to the river. Enouim waded in while Serete stood a few yards off to keep watch for their friends, shifting his weight impatiently. Presently Kilith and Ruakh came sprinting toward them, the sound of crashing and yelling drifting past them to the river.
“Time to go!” called Ruakh.
An unearthly shriek shattered the air, and Enouim shuddered. “Mama zegrath came not a moment too soon,” Kilith explained, panting. “Get us out of here. To the north!”
Enouim closed her eyes and felt the river rise around her, surging at her request. She stepped further in until she was completely submerged, and sent the river like branches to wrap around each of her companions. Careful to trap some air around them in bubbles, Enouim extended one hand ahead of her northeast, and with the other hand she reached back, closing her fist to bring her three friends behind her as the river caught them up and thrust them forward against its natural current.
Her heart pounded in her ears against the woosh of the water. The fuse was lit, and there was no going back now. In this moment Enouim began to imagine all the ways she could die. Perhaps she would be shot by an archer she had not seen, or sliced in pieces. She might be captured and beheaded in front of her mother and brother. What was the use? Eight fools against so many!
Enouim wished Vadik were with her. She would ask him if he saw the white heron, and he could assure her that Eh’yeh had not abandoned them. It was Eh’yeh who sent them, after all, wasn’t it? At first they sent themselves, but now they had been sent by someone greater. Surely that counted for something. Eh’yeh, I am not gifted in combat, and I am the least qualified person for miles. I can’t do this alone. I’m afraid.
As she sent out those words in her mind, she felt an ethereal tranquility cover her like a blanket. Enouim’s thoughts had been in disarray, but now a courage she did not know lay claim to her soul. She closed her eyes again, allowing her feel of the river to guide her course, delighting in the peacefulness of that moment and the glorious experience of rushing through the river. It was for this that she was born.
Enouim glanced behind her and saw Kilith, Ruakh, and Serete being pulled along by her currents, smooth as butter. They traveled undisturbed until the river grew shallower and Enouim was forced closer to the surface.
A muffled yell behind her caused Enouim to twist. An arrow parted the waters inches from Ruakh’s head. Alarmed, Enouim turned and sent a tower of water up out of the river to knock the archer off his feet.
Turning again, she saw she had inadvertently released her friends from their air bubbles and they were spinning off in the river. Enouim’s eyes widened, and Kilith motioned for her to bring them up. The game was up. Ready or not, the time was now.
44
“Three, two, one!”
At Canukke’s signal Gabor pulled a thin rope, releasing a volley of arrows from their bow and arrow rigs in the woods. On the other side of the camp, Oloren and Vadik followed up with shots of their own, and four tribesmen fell. The woods were alive with panic, as the zegrath pup had been released only shortly before and the Sumus were still chasing it. Now in response to this new threat, they took defensive positions throughout the camp.
“They have us surrounded!” shouted one.
“Idiot!” hissed another, as Oloren picked off the first speaker from her position in a tree.
Canukke nodded at Gabor and gestured toward six horses tied nearby. Gabor dipped his head and darted toward them. Canukke, Oloren, and Vadik provided cover fire and drew numerous blind shots from their enemies in retaliation.
Gabor untied the horses and swung up on one with Canukke close behind. Kicking the horses, they tore through the camp, slashing as they went. Vadik lit the tip of his arrow on fire and shot a supply wagon.
Canukke bore down on a tribesman aiming at Vadik, pulling at his horse at just the last moment for a quick turn into his adversary—except his horse turned swiftly in the opposite direction. He swore and tried again, pulling the horse in a circle, and looked up in time to see Oloren’s knife sink itself into the Sumu’s neck.
“What’s your problem?” she demanded. “Never been on a horse before?”
Gabor yelled from his horse as he careened through a tent. “They’re trained all wrong! I can’t get him to stop!”
Two tribesmen mounted and pursued Gabor at top speed. Vadik threw his spear into one of them, who fell from his horse. Gabor clung to his steed and pulled right to avoid a wagon, but his horse peeled off left in response. He swore. The sound of steel on steel rang out behind him, as several more Sumus gave chase.
As Gabor galloped off into the distance, Canukke brought his horse in a tight circle and experimented with directing his mount. He swung at another Sumu, but the man jumped back just out of range. Just then a tribesman fifty feet off came out of a tent holding the zegrath pup triumphantly in the air, leather armor scratched in every conceivable place. His jaw dropped and so did the zegrath, taking off and darting under Canukke’s horse. The horse reared and shied to the side, and the pup shrieked an ear-splitting call. An answering call shattered the air, starting in a high scream and plunging into a guttural snarl that rattled the bones.
“The mother’s here,” Vadik yelled, as he thrust his sword through his opponent. “Go, go!”
“What about you?” Oloren demanded, fighting back-to-back with him. “I’m staying until you’re out!”
Meanwhile, Gabor crashed through the trees on his horse. At the sound of the zegrath, his horse had bolted with a new fervor that Gabor could not reign in. He tugged at her head, but to no avail. The animal careened through the forest, a thousand arrows whizzing by Gabor’s head.
A great many tribesman rose from their places, shouting, but then he was gone, galloping into a new clearing. A tribesman still chased him, but Gabor’s mount was faster. An arrow slit the sleeve of Gabor’s mantle and he grimaced as the sting of the arrow’s edge bit his flesh.
In the new clearing he saw nearly a dozen horses clustered together. There were many men, but despite the racket around them most were asleep. Those that retained consciousness lay about as if in a stupor. Gabor glanced beyond the clearing and caught sight of a great cauldron. Ethanine! Ruakh had done his part.
Gabor reached above him to a branch and pulled himself up, letting his horse fly by without him and narrowly evading the scimitar of his pursuer. Gabor dropped to the ground and beckoned to the tribesman. The man took in the mysterious scene around him and his eyes narrowed as he fixed his eyes on Gabor.
The tribesman felt for his next arrow and found his quiver empty; Gabor whirled his sword in a flourish and grinned. The tribesman lifted his scimitar in the air and drew his tongue across its edge.
“Let me show you the taste of a real blade, scum!” Gabor taunted.
The tribesman snarled and slid from his horse.
In the other part of camp, the zegrath still rampaged against the Sumus. The pup bit the boot of a tribesman, and as the man tried to shake off the pest, the zegrath mother bore down on him and slashed through his throat. She took him by the neck and shook him, tossing him aside like garbage and snarling, her quilled hackles raised, dark eyes flashing.
Oloren and Vadik made a break for the other side of the clearing to join Canukke as the mother attacked another Sumu. Canukke straightened on his horse and freed his sword from the chest of his foe.
“We need more horses,” he said. “Ours are too far away.”
“I see the heron.” Vadik pointed. “Go that way.”
Enouim dug her hands deep into the river surrounding her and gathered the waters around Kilith, Serete, and Ruakh, driving them up out of the river so that they landed squarely on their feet on the bank. In a flash they were fighting, blades and staff moving with the grace and speed of a hummingbird’s wings. Twenty, thirty, fifty tribesmen ran toward them en masse. As skilled as they were, three men couldn’t fight off the whole camp.
Enouim raised a great tower of water and sent it barreling down on ten of the men near the bank, knocking them off balance and landing three in the river. The men running toward them froze for a moment, eyes wide to take in this impossible sight. Enouim sent one of the three in the river flying downstream, and with water wrapping around their ankles like fingers she plucked the other two out of the river and flung them into their companions.
