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Irret led the kraal to the edge of the small stream flowing inland from the Great Northern Lake. The animal was tired, thirsty, and hungry. She had started with three kraal, and had two left. She had driven them mercilessly since leaving the badlands, but knew if she did not give them food and rest, they would be of no use to her.
She sat on a broken tree as the kraals grazed on the lush grasses near the stream, when the image of Fasil glowed within her mind. Her first words to him were of the death of yet another of her minions.
She is of no importance. All that matters is the Staff! I have seen them cross the lake into Brumwall, and then to the furthest northern border of Welkold. They go to the mountains north of Welkold.
Irret frowned. The Frozen Mountains? No one can survive there.
Think not in totality. If they go there, they know something no one else knows. You must get there before them. You must stop them before they go deep into those mountains of ice, for if they do, we might lose them ... forever. That cannot happen!
He paused, then, I will send a ship to the coast of Kashold with ghazi warriors. Use them as you need.
Irret stared at her Master, then bowed her head. Thank you, my Master. I will do as you say.
When he disappeared, she withdrew several pieces of cloth from a pocket inside her tunic. After writing on them, she called down two craves, set the messages on their legs, and set them off.
Then she called down a danglore. The large carrion eater landed on the ground before her. She bent and stared into its black eyes for several seconds. Then she gave it instructions.
Sending the danglore on its way, she changed the saddle to the unridden kraal, mounted it, and started off.
But now, instead of ascending the mountain, she would go back to the southwest road and then west. “Soon,” she whispered.
<><><>
Aided by a strong west wind, the four-hundred-mile trip took two days, during which Ailish and Nomar worked with their swords. On midmorning of the second day, and not more than four hours from the Brumwall village of Macnak, they trained for the last time.
Knowing his captor far too well, Nomar explained—between the clashes of their blades—how he expected Irret to gather many of her Free Blade slaves and come after them.
Backstepping and lowering her blade, Ailish wiped sweat from her forehead with the back of her free hand. “She will not risk another of her sorceress minions to come after us. You are right. She will use her slaves. But,” Ailish added, “she will make certain she is close enough to direct all her powers on me.”
“And she will fail. Still, I cannot but wonder why she seeks to fight you, fight me, and a Dark Master as well.”
Instead of responding, she turned, and spun unexpectedly, swinging her blade at his neck.
He blocked the blade at the last second, raising a single eyebrow at her before laughing. “Not bad. I will say, you are among the best sword wielders I’ve known, but you gave away your intention.”
“And how did I do so?”
He smiled. “The muscles of your right shoulder bunched just before you turned to attack.”
Ailish lowered her sword and bowed her head to him. “I understand. Thank you, Nomar of Morvene. It was my father and Nevets who trained me so well. Now you make me even better.” After falling silent, she realized she’d not felt that old stab of sadness when mentioning Nevets’s name.
When they sheathed their swords, young Nevets came over to them with a skein of water. “Thank you,” Ailish said with a smile.
The boy’s eyes were wide, his face flushed. “I have never seen such before. Perhaps I will become a Free Blade.”
Ailish knelt next to him so their heads would be almost on the same level. “If a warrior’s life you would like, I will give you a note to hold until your sixteenth birthday. At that time, if you still think in this way, you will go to Troit, in Morvene, and seek out my son Leumas, who is King of Morvene.”
Nevets eyes widened, but he said nothing. “Writing cloth I will need,” she told him with a smile. “See to it I have some before we dock.”
Nevets, unable to speak, nodded vigorously.
As he sped away, Nomar gave a low laugh. “Well done, My Lady. He has some strength within him. I see it in his eyes.”
“As do I,” she agreed.
“He will receive good treatment as well, I am sure.”
Ailish eye’s narrowed. Then she gave him a strange half-smile. “Of that I shall not doubt, for if he does not, I shall come from wherever I am, whether from within the warm heart of Nevaeh, or from some frozen mountain grave.”
His brows did their strange little trick of trying to tie themselves together. “My Lady ... Ailish—”
“Say nothing more. We reach Macnak in a few hours. It is time we talked about what will happen from here on.” She paused to smile at his drawn features. “But for now, we need speak with Jalil about Irret.”
Jalil was at the bow, his litter set so he could watch the waters ahead. Ailish sat on one side, Nomar the other as he repeated what he’d told Ailish before.
“You think she will be at Macnak?” Jalil asked.
“There, or somewhere on the way to Lokinhold.”
Jalil frowned. “Then we must change our direction. Throw them off.”
“How?” Ailish asked.
“Get off before Macnak, go east for several days, stay somewhere safe for at least a week if not longer, and then go west as originally planned.”
“There is danger in this as well,” Nomar said. “Do not forget her spies are everywhere.”
Jalil nodded solemnly. “Truth you speak, Nomar, but there is more. Blocked we will be, and more careful as well. This litter I lay in marks who we are. We must do something else.”
Ailish shook her head. “You must lay flat.”
“Why?”
You will do more damage to your spine.
There is another way.
How?
Nomar stared at them, their eyes so intensely locked on each other’s. “I am here,” he said.
Ailish’s head swiveled. She exhaled and smiled. “Apologies. He wants to be out of the litter.”
Nomar looked from her to Jalil. “The only other way is to walk or ride.”
“I am so aware.”
“How will you do this?”
“I will not, you will,” Jalil stated.
“Me?”
Jalil sent a mind picture to Ailish. To Nomar, he said, “Two things must happen: First, I must be bound tightly so my spine will not move; secondly, by tying myself to you, I will be unable to move about. More damage to my back, I see not in the future.”
“If you see in the future,” Nomar said, his brows drawing together, “How is it you did not see what would happen to your back?”
Jalil favored both of them with his strange laugh and smile. “It will take more time than we have on this lake to explain the peculiarities of a foreseeing. You both need to accept what I tell you. A few days of travel will do me no harm.”
Straightening her shoulders, Ailish’s eyes went from Jalil to Nomar. “Then change our plans we will. Nomar, will you explain to Ramo what must be done?”
<><><>
Two hours after nightfall, the three travelers were eight miles east of the lake, at a small clearing set off the trail. They had been fortunate earlier, in finding a farm where they were able to purchase basic supplies, another kraal, and a saddle for Ailish’s mount.
With Jalil strapped to Nomar, they were able to go faster than they had before. While they had to leave the litter, Nomar had taken the material used to support Jalil, cut a long strip from it, and under Ailish’s guidance, created a binding to hold his spine in place. Nomar had improved upon Jalil’s original idea by placing one of the slats from the litter on his back before the material was wound. Then he used a second strip of material to tie the old master to him. He was uncomfortably aware he would be unable to fight this way, but there was no choice.
“It will be your magic that protects us,” he told Ailish and Jalil as they sat by the fire and ate rabt. Jalil was propped against one of the saddles.
“Irret knows we left the boat before Macnak,” Nomar said.
Ailish tossed a rabt bone into the fire. “So sure are you?”
“Yes. I would bet my sword there were Free Blades waiting when Ramo docked.”
“To take us?”
Nomar shook his head. “No, to follow us until she reached them.”
“From where I sensed her earlier, she will reach Macnak by midnight.”
“And Ramo will be gone,” Nomar stated.
“If he believed us,” Ailish said.
“He will.”
Ailish looked at Jalil. Certain you are?
A ... suggestion I did set within his mind. Aloud, he said. “I agree with Nomar, he will leave.”
Nomar stood. “We need sleep. We rise before the sun tomorrow. She will be angry ... and she will be seeking us.”
Ailish shook her head. “First bathe Jalil I must. He is chafed and sore from being ... attached to you.”
Nomar laughed. “As am I.” He bent over Jalil, picked him up, and carried him to the pool Yar had discovered after they’d arrived.
Carved into the rocks at the base of the mountain, the pool was the shape of a sickle moon, and fed from a small waterfall created by the ice melting at the mountain’s peak. The water itself was crystalline and cool.
“Set him at the edge,” Ailish said, going there first and laying a silk over the rocks.
When Nomar placed the old master at the edge of the pool, he looked at Ailish. “Call to me when you are ready.”
Yar followed him, but stopped at the edge of the trees, where he sat and kept watch.
With the Free Blade gone, Ailish undressed and stepped into the water. The coolness sent chills along her skin. She went to Jalil and drew him gently into the water.
Cradling his head in the crook of her arm, she bathed him. He lay silent and stared at the stars. When she shifted him to wash the lower part of his body, he shivered.
Are you all right?
I am fine, he whispered into her mind. My skin but reacted to the water. Fear not, Ailish, I will reach our destination. If not, I will do my best to transfer my knowledge to you, for the Staff of Afzal must reach its hiding place whether I live or not.
Jalil—
Ailish, there is no choice. From here on becomes the most dangerous part of the journey, especially now—this detour will extend our journey.
I would laugh if I could find humor in your words. The longer it takes, the longer I am part of Nevaeh.
You will always be a part. But it becomes riskier now, staying in Nevaeh. Careful we must be to find somewhere safe.
I have been thinking on just that. I may know such a place. We will see.
Jalil looked up at her.
And Ailish, you need explain to Nomar more thoroughly, and with more truth than you did on the boat; unless you do, he will not willingly leave us when the time comes.
Before he could say more, she placed him on the side of the pool, called to Nomar, and went into the deeper water. The warrior returned and scooped Jalil off the rocks. “I will be done soon,” she told him.
Ten minutes later she left the pool, dried herself with one of her silks, and dressed. Yar came to her, rubbing his side along her leg. She bent, took his head between her hands, and nuzzled him. Go, hunt, eat.
He was gone before her last thought ended.
<><><>
Jalil’s words burned in her mind. She did not want to tell Nomar of what was in store for her and the Master; but, Jalil was right. He had to know. If he didn’t, Nomar would stay with them, and to his death would go.
The conversation they’d had on the boat came back to her in full clarity. She’d explained where they were going. After he’d recovered enough from his shock to speak, he’d asked why.
“It would be best if I told you naught.”
“If it was nothing I wanted to hear, I would ask not. But, My Lady, committed my blade to you I have, or I would not be here.”
She’d stared into his eyes, their blue-green depths a slightly lighter duplicate of the lake they were upon. “And grateful I am for your commitment and your help; but, the danger of the knowledge ...”
“Is of my own choosing. Ailish, do not keep me half blind. Trust me to accept and understand.”
You must tell him all. You have not another choice. She had closed her eyes and blocked Jalil’s thoughts. “Nomar, I trust you with my life and I trust you to understand that I cannot tell you more.”
“You say you trust me, but I see such differently.” He had paused; his eyes seemed to turn a deeper blue as he’d said, “Trust, like love, should be unconditional.”
As if denying a pain twisting through her body, she’d closed her eyes and shook her head. “I cannot.”
Shaking away the thoughts of their earlier conversation, Ailish walked slowly back to where they had camped.
<><><>
Ailish smiled at Yar’s sudden burst of delight. He had found his food. Then she stopped at the edge of the clearing to look at the scene before her. Jalil was propped against a saddle, wrapped within a sleeping silk.
Nomar sat on a lightning-felled tree before the fire. Flickering shadows cast by the flames danced across his features. Once again, she thought of how his face and features so well fit the man. Strong, rugged, yet with a contained softness, was the only way she could describe him. She accepted as well, despite what he had been, he was a good man.
She sighed, knowing Jalil was right. She went over to him, sat, and looked at the fire and not at Nomar. “Once we are able to leave Kashold, Jalil and I will take the route he knows.”
“We take the route,” Nomar corrected her.
“No. You must leave at the edge of Nevaeh.”
“Again, I ask why.”
“And again, I tell you I cannot.”
He reached out, cupped her chin, and turned her face to him. “And yet again I ask for your trust. You go into the Frozen Mountains with the old Master. You do this not for pleasure, according to what you told me. You say you go to protect the symbol he carries ... the Staff he always clutches to himself. You go into the most dangerous part of Nevaeh, a part no man or woman to my knowledge has ever ventured within, and none have ever returned from to tell of the journey. It is for more than just a piece of wood you do this.”
She closed her eyes even as her powers subconsciously rose within her to cast some spell to stop him from asking—to stop him from thinking of it. She could not. She was not a dark sorceress to so disregard the sanctity of another. “Were I to tell you, and should Irret capture you again, she would learn and imperil all of Nevaeh. Nomar, you must believe I do this not for me, but for every free person living in Nevaeh.”
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes to find his eyes locked on her face.
“I need to know. I will die before I allow Irret to learn anything from me, but it need not be so. Besides, if I go with you, she cannot capture me.”
His words were spoken with truth, she knew so because of her gift. Her heart ached; she was afraid of what he would do when he learned. She already sensed how his emotions toward her had grown deeper.
Yar chose that moment to come over to her and place his head on her thigh. She looked down into his amber eyes, and received a rush of warmth. Within the warmth was something else, some sort of a mind picture of Nomar. It took her a moment to understand. When she did, she slid her hand into his fur and nodded to him.
After a moment of dead silence, she looked at Nomar. “We go to a place at the far end of the Frozen Mountains, to a mountain with twin peaks. There we will hide the Staff of Afzal so the Dark Masters, and their sorceresses will not find it.”
She paused, took his right hand into hers and covered both with her left. “I trust you with my life. I trust you will accept what I say, and I trust you will not argue with my decision. There, in this place in the Frozen Mountains, in a trance will Jalil and I be placed, and until the time comes for us to reawaken, there we will wait. Nomar, return we will not.”
His eyes were locked so tightly with hers they overpowered the crushing of his fingers around her hand. “Wait? You wait for ...?
“A woman who will be born two thousand years from now.”
