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They reached the main road just after noon. Thinking only of their safety, Ailish went to the very edge to look out.
She had been on the road many times over the years, usually on state business for Morvene, but also for celebrations such as weddings. Four times the width of the path they’d been following, the road’s crushed rock surface, so heavily packed after years of harsh weather, feet, hooves, and wagons pressing upon its surface, the road had turned it as hard as stone. She looked from left to right, making sure it was empty before leaving the side road.
Stepping onto the road, she took two steps, and froze on the third, her mind sensing danger. She looked around, but there was no one. Still her senses screamed their warning. She didn’t know why; she didn’t care why ... she just knew.
She looked back at the pathway they’d been on, and then across the road to where the path continued as if this wider, smoother road was but a juncture. She had to make a decision. She heard her husband’s voice: ‘Step into danger, not away, for away is what is expected.’
“We cannot be on this road.”
Crossing over to the west side, she stepped onto the continuation of the path they’d just left, stopped after several yards, and shed the harness. Then she went to Jalil and knelt next to the old Master. “I know not what I sense, but it is of the darkness and it covers the road like a sleeping silk upon a feather pallet.”
Frowning, he twisted the upper part of his body, the only part he had any control of, and leaned over the side, the Staff of Afzal in his hands. He placed the tip of the Staff on the ground and closed his eyes.
Ailish watched, impatient at the sensations of darkness growing stronger with each breath, while her muscles tightened in readiness for whatever might happen.
When he finally lay back, he shook his head.
“What?” she half screamed.
“It is not what you think. The aura, it is strong yes, but old. Two days ago, or possibly three, did pass a black witch on that road. A powerful one, to a degree, but not Irret, another. I recognize not the traces of her aura.”
“If such travels the main road, it looks for us.”
He frowned. “No. Whoever it was went east, not west.”
“It matters not. We are better served off its surface. Yar,” she called aloud. The big cat’s head swiveled to look at her. A moment later it came over and sat at her feet.
She started to take out the map Nyrak had given her, when Jalil stopped her. “If you feel strongly about what you sensed here, take us into the woods, let the trees shield us from sight as you study the map.”
She blinked. “I wasn’t thinking. Of course we must move.” She shook her head at her foolishness. I must think first not react first!
Turning to Yar, she stared directly into his eyes. To the road. Find my scent. Roll on the ground wherever I walked.
The cat stared at her, as if trying to understand her strange request. Then, with one backward glance, the rantor went to the road, found Ailish’s scent, and rolled over on it. He did this a half dozen times, covering all the places her feet had trod, when he was done, he shook the road dust from his fur, stretched, and came back.
Thank you, my friend.
She strapped on the harness and started forward. Her shoulders ached from the hours of pulling, but she set aside her discomfort. She knew with dusk’s arrival they would find a place to make camp.
She stopped a thousand yards later, shed the harnesses, and took out some food for herself. “Have some water,” she advised Jalil. Without waiting for his response, she handed him the water skein. When her hand was free, she took out the map.
Looking it over, she sought a route on which the litter would not slow, yet far off the beaten path. A kraal is needed, came Jalil’s intruding thought.
She blocked him. “Let me study this, then we talk,” she snapped and quickly forgot he was there while she traced the different routes. There were several long, thin scratched in lines she realized were smaller roads added over the years.
The map showed the wastelands, and the badlands, stretched along the coast to the Northern Tar Fields. But staying next to the wastelands would be a mistake. Too many of the Dark Masters’ creatures were there. She placed her finger on the road-like path they were on, and saw it turned north again where it ran parallel to the main road. She also noted the road went slightly more west than did the other road.
While the narrow road would not be good because of its closeness to the main road, there was another road line crossing both the main road and this road, and not far distant. That road went to the river, where it met the old road Nyrak had suggested taking.
Hooking herself to the harness again, she explained her idea to Jalil as she walked. She followed the side road, which veered slightly west as it went, and at the same time increased the distance between the main road and themselves.
Her march to the next crossroad took them three-quarters of an hour. Another hour and a half of steady walking found them at the river, where the road they were on intersected with the older north-south road.
Before fully stepping onto the old road, she knelt and placed her hand palm down on the surface. There was nothing. The trees lining the road were wall-like in their denseness. Oaks, Pines, and tall cypresses filled the forest with majesty. An occasional gazebow tree filled in where there might have been sparseness.
Another hour on the road, and Ailish sensed others nearby. She asked Yar to scout ahead. Then she concentrated on the block and shield she had set around them, making certain it was solid.
After checking the block, she joined with Yar, who was moving faster than any person possibly could. She watched ahead as he wove through the forest, happily stretching his muscles after hours of slow walking.
When he was a half mile west of the road, and close to the river, he stopped suddenly to show Ailish the first signs of a village. Slow, careful. She cautioned, sending him to circle it so she could see what she might be facing.
Yar stopped at the edge of the forest. Her first sight was of long boats pulled onto the bank of the river, telling her it was a fishing village. She sent Yar on. A moment later, the rantor stopped before a tilled kairn field. The tall green stalks were heavy with the long nodules of green leaf-wrapped yellow kairn, ready for harvest.
Following her urging, he skirted the field and went to the far edge of the village. It was like most villages of Nevaeh, populated with the wood and stone huts of the villagers. She called Yar back.
“There is a village between the road and the river. Best it will be to avoid it.”
“If that is your opinion, then avoid it. I sense nothing off here.”
Nodding absently to Jalil, she asked Yar to find a camping site north of the village. She started forward again, her senses alert, the block strong.
<><><>
The sun touched the horizon as Ailish lifted the renegade Dark Master from the litter and carried him to the river’s soft embankment. She stepped into the water, cool and fresh as it flowed around her feet, and laid Jalil down. She glanced at Yar, who watched from a ledge above, and sent him to hunt for real food for her.
After she undressed and bathed Jalil in the river, she started to lift him. He grasped her wrist. Give me a few minutes. The coolness of the water is good for me.
Ailish went downstream where she bathed with a bit of privacy. When she dressed and returned, he was in the same position. “Are you ready?”
He said nothing. A moment later, his eyes snapped open. “A man will we meet on this road. I could not see when.”
“This means ...?”
“I know not. I saw an image of the man, but sensed nothing.”
She shook her head slowly. “Then eventually we will meet a man on the road.” She tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
Jalil stared at her. “Possible danger there is, but I saw not from where.”
She lifted him, slipping his arm over her shoulders, and walked him ashore, his feet dragging along the ground. When once he might have been a larger man, he was now shorter than Ailish, and barely two-thirds her weight.
Laying him in the litter, she took in his emaciated body. His ribs were clearly defined beneath almost translucent grey brown skin. She wrapped him in a sleeping silk, and stood. Yar returned at that moment to drop a rabt at her feet before running back into the woods.
He returned five minutes later with a second rabt. Thank you, my brother. Go, hunt, feed!
<><><>
An hour before dawn, Yar came fully awake. He lifted his head, his eyes alert. His head swiveled left then right. He looked at Ailish and rose. He padded to her, and sat at her side, his head never staying still.
In his litter, Jalil sensed something the same instant as Yar. When the rantor went to Ailish, he tested the shield and block. Ailish’s powers held solid. He stared at the rantor, trying to communicate, but could not. No Master had ever been able to communicate with the animals of Nevaeh; rather, the black witches did so for them. He pushed a thought to Ailish, and waited.
A heartbeat later, she awoke. What?
Something is not right.
Ailish looked at Yar, who was staring intently into the brush. She joined with him and sensed the darkness he was scenting. Seek, she commanded.
Half-walking and half-belly crawling, Yar went to the edge of the brush. Ailish stood slowly, drawing the sword lying next to her. With the moon set, and only a few stars remaining above, she let herself see through Yar’s eyes.
Yar stopped suddenly. His muscles knotted with tension. His head swiveled to the left. Ailish saw an outline of something too small to be anything but an animal.
Yar leapt into the brush. There was a muffled screech and the sensation of darkness disappeared.
Yar returned with a small sqerl in his mouth. He dropped the dead animal at Ailish’s feet.
Kneeling, she put her hand on it. A flash of something familiar touched her, fading as quickly as it had come.
“One of the black witch’s creatures,” Jalil said. “Good it is, Yar killed it. A rantor to do so is natural. Such will leave no trace of us for the witch to track.”
Jalil stared at the sqerl, then shook his head. “Have Yar take it deep into the woods. No hint of us should be found.”
