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“Green?”
Ailish looked at Jalil, who shrugged eloquently. “Yes, I’m afraid.”
Nomar shook his head. “What are the two of you talking about?”
Ailish stepped closer to him, placed a hand on his cheek, and said, “You asked if you had changed. The answer is yes. Because of the connections Jalil made when he freed you, and I made before, your mind has ... I ... I can’t find the word.”
“Evolved,” Jalil supplied.
“Yes, evolved. However—”
His eyes narrowed. “I like not the sound of that word—”
Ailish quickly placed two fingers across his lips. “Let me finish.” She lowered her hand to her side. “There was a physical change as well.”
Nomar stayed silent, while his arched eyebrows commanded her to continue.
“When we first met, I found your eyes to be an unusual color of blue—the color of the shallow part of a lake, not quite blue, and not quite green. Now ... however ... your right eye is the same beautiful color, but your left is ... green.”
Nomar stared at her with such intensity she took a half-step back. “Nomar?”
Nomar laughed. “Playing games with me you two are.”
When Ailish didn’t smile, he looked at Jalil, who shook his head once.
“What color is this green? That of a gazebow?”
Ailish started to speak, but it was Jalil who spoke first. “It is the exact shade of Ailish’s green eyes.”
Nomar took a double backstep, drew his sword quickly, and then held it horizontally. He looked down at the shinning blade and saw the change for himself. “How is this possible?”
When neither said anything, he sheathed the sword, looked from Ailish to Jalil, and back to Ailish again. “Well, if nothing else, it does make for an interesting look.”
“You are not bothered?” she asked.
“Can it be changed back?”
“I cannot imagine how,” she admitted, while Jalil said nothing.
Nomar looked at Jalil, then back at Ailish and shrugged. “Then it is as it is.”
<><><>
Irret was as still as death. The only way to tell if she was alive, was by the way the artery in her neck beat. From the eyes of a small danglore—one barely old enough to hold its altitude—she watched her Free Blades in the rocks, not two miles from where Ailish, Nomar, and the old Master stopped for the day.
The sun had just broken into the day, and the Free Blades were set for their attack. She did not see any way Ailish, the Master Jalil, or her former Free Blade could escape their deaths. Yet, the Master Fasil had taught her well, and because she had failed to heed his advice before, she had lost two of her most powerful underlings. She would not do so again, and had sent a message to Anit to return to her domain.
She was determined to heed her Master’s advice herself, and not run in to the heart of her enemies. Should the impossible happen, and her warriors defeated, she had a plan in reserve as her master instructed her to do.
<><><>
Nomar paced the area they had slept in. He’d stood guard duty for the first half of the night, refusing to let Ailish do so. Yar slept against his thigh. When he had grown sleepy, he’d scratched Yar’s head. The big cat lifted his head and looked at Nomar.
“I hope you understand me. I’m going to sleep, keep watch.”
The cat had lifted onto his feet, stretched, and took a half-dozen steps forward, before it stopped and sat. Nomar’s jaw dropped.
He’d looked at the two sleepers behind him, wondering if one had done this, and then he’d gone to his own silks. With only a passing thought about his new eye color, he’d fallen quickly asleep.
He woke shortly before dawn, saw Yar was on a large rock further up the hill, and went to a lower area to relieve himself. When he returned, Yar was standing in his way. The rantor pushed against him, then turned, and started upward. When Nomar did not follow, the rantor came back, took his hand, and tugged it.
Shrugging, Nomar stared at the giant cat. “You win. Lead on.”
Again, surprising him, Yar started up the hill. Nomar glanced over and saw Ailish laying still. He shrugged again and followed Yar. Five minutes later, Yar stopped and bent his head.
The sky showed the first band of light, which allowed him to see what Yar was worrying at with his nose. Caught between two rocks was a very small piece of a quilted kraagen skin tunic, one worn beneath chest armor. He pulled it free, lifted it and sniffed. Sweat.
A warning burst through him. He turned to Yar and held up the piece. “You scented this, didn’t you ... and it’s fresh, isn’t it?” He shook his head. He wished he had the ability to communicate with the animal, but he did not. “Let’s get back.”
<><><>
Waking with a start, Ailish turned to Jalil. Yar and Nomar found something, she told him. She threw off the silks, and then grabbed them to wrap around herself as the bitter cold of the morning air washed over her.
She saw Nomar and Yar walking toward her. Then Yar ran to her and brushed against her thigh. Nomar reached her a few moments later. “What did you find?”
He handed her the piece of quilted tunic. “Yar, not me. He scented it, which means it is fresh. I could smell the sweat myself.”
Ailish lifted it to her nose and sniffed. She set it into her palm, fisted her hand, and closed her eyes. The world fell away. All there was, was the piece of cloth in her hand. Abruptly, there was a shift and as the vision took her, she found herself in the higher foothills watching a small company of Free Blades moving quickly. Within moments they entered a deep ravine, which was the only way to reach the upper heights. They stopped, their leader looking around. He nodded approvingly, smiled, and declared, “Here it will be.”
The vision ended with those words. Ailish opened her eyes. “There are Free Blades ahead. Irret’s minions. They plan an ambush.”
“How did they get ahead of us?” Nomar asked.
Ailish shook her head. “Such matters not. More important is it to know how Irret knew we would be going this way?”
“It was a foreseeing ... A Master’s foreseeing,” Jalil said from his cushions.
Ailish and Nomar went to him. “Then he knows where we go?”
Jalil looked at Ailish. “No, only of how we travel to the mountains. He cannot know the rest.”
“And why is that?” Nomar asked. “No more games, Jalil. Speak plainly.”
“I play no games, Nomar. Fasil created a forced foreseeing. Such gives one a glimpse into the future, but not enough to know purpose. This was done after we were on the water of the Northern Lake, or I would have sensed it. He knows not where we go, only the direction we go in.”
The Free Blade laughed. “There is but one direction, north; there is but one place, the Frozen Mountains.”
Jalil speared him with a stare that silenced him. “North is a direction. There are other routes to travel north, many others. Only two are by foot. Let us not waste any more time. Irret, with Fasil’s help, has blocked these Free Blades, and shielded them from my perception.”
This is not good, Ailish told him silently.
It matters not. “Nomar, how stand you against fifteen Free Blades?”
“The same as if I were facing one. The numbers matter little if what Ailish saw is right. I pick a defense with my back to a wall. No more than two or three can attack at the same time. But I am vulnerable to arrows.”
“Those will be dealt with.”
“By Ailish?”
Jalil shook his head. “By me.”
“I fight by your side.”
Nomar looked at her. “I cannot fight them and protect you.”
Ailish’s face stiffed. She glared at him. “Think you I am some timid child? Forget you have fought with the guard and with me?”
“I forget nothing, not any longer. I may have been a new fighter then, but I remember well when you fought the ghazi, but this ... this fight is different. You have a purpose in the Frozen Mountains. My purpose, My Lady, is to make sure you are able to finish yours.”
“Stop!” Jalil said, his voice barely a whisper, but loud enough to make them pause. “You bicker like children.”
“Nomar, whatever Ailish decides, it will be the right decision. Of that you must accept. Now. Here is my ‘suggestion’...”
<><><>
Two hours later, with the sun obscured within a sudden cloud filled and stormy sky, the cold winds dropped from the higher mountains, to wrap icy fingers around the three travelers.
Several leafless and twisted trees rose on the rocky ground ahead. Nomar looked higher along the mountainside and saw more of the dead trees peppered throughout. “Firewood,” he said.
They went inexorably onward to what they knew awaited them. Yar roamed only a few yards ahead, his eyes the sharpest among them. And joined with him, seeing through his eyes, and with his sharpness of scent, Ailish saw a small level area past the next rise. “The ravine is close. Irret darkens the sky. She believes we will fight less efficiently in the dark.”
They crested the rise and stopped. The ravine was a hundred yards ahead, a division between two halves of a large hill leading toward the first of the Frozen Mountains. He scanned the entrance. Its sight made him uneasy. The entrance was thirty or so feet wide, but there wasn’t enough light to see into it.
He raised his eyes to follow the contour of the hills and estimated the end of the ravine was at least three hundred feet after the entry.
On the far side was a clearing, but he could make out little of it in the settling darkness. “The black bitch has picked her ambush well. I like the look of it not.”
“The choice is not ours. Do you see anything?”
He shook his head. “No.”
Calling to Yar, she asked the rantor to move closer to the ravine. He raced ahead, then slowed ten yards before the opening. He stopped suddenly, every muscle in his body tightened. His scenting of the bodies was unmistakable to Ailish, as Yar drew in the freezing winds flowing down from the mountains.
“The ravine stinks of unwashed bodies.” She drew a deep breath, and called up all her abilities. Her abdomen came alive with the heat of her powers, which rose quickly to fill her entire being.
Nomar’s hand went to his sword. “Jalil, we move to the ravine.” He turned to look at the kraal pulling the driverless wagon and knew it was under Ailish’s control.
“I am ready,” the renegade Master said, his voice just loud enough for Nomar and Ailish to hear.
Ailish drew three arrows from her quiver, and set the first in the bow. She set her sword across the tops of her thighs in readiness.
“We go now.” As they had planned, following Jalil’s suggestions, Nomar led the trio into the ravine, while Ailish followed Nomar, and Jalil brought up the rear.
Yar, split off to the side, did not enter; rather, he waited for Ailish’s command to act.
Once past the entrance, the walls grew higher on each side. The clouds allowed just enough light to filter through for them to see. Ailish pushed her senses outward to touch the block Irret had placed around the waiting Free Blades. They were a hundred or so feet in front of them.
Halfway through, their muscles taunt, their eyes watchful, they stopped. “Close,” Ailish’s low whisper reached Nomar.
“Hold,” Nomar called loudly. Dismounting, he went to the front of his kraal, where he knelt, lifted one foot, and inspected its bottom. When he released the foot, he turned to Ailish. “A splinter of rock has lodged. I’ll need to remove it when we get out of here.”
As soon as Nomar uttered the words, Ailish sent a thought to Yar.
In front, Nomar took the kraal’s reins and started forward again. His kraal, which he’d had from a pup, was battle-trained and battle-hardened. The kraal had always been a strong fighting companion, and obeyed verbal, hand, and knee commands. This time he would be hard tested to survive. A fighting kraal was a dangerous foe, and most warriors and Free Blades knew to disable a trained kraal as soon as possible.
He went forward, one hand on the reins, the other held his sword. He walked smoothly, neither fast nor slow. When he was within twenty feet of the waiting ambush, a sudden blood curdling scream echoed from above.
Ailish slipped from the saddle, the bow ready, her fingers holding the gut and first arrow in readiness. An instant later, three dark figures raced forward, two with their swords raised, the third holding a battle axe high.
Nomar dropped the reins and gave a quick hand signal to the kraal. The kraal backed up three paces.
Ailish released the first arrow and, by the time it struck the axe wielder, the second arrow was launched. The first warrior reached Nomar, who ducked at his wild swing, rose, and sliced his neck open.
Ailish’s second arrow penetrated an eye of the third attacker. From a boulder above the ravine, Yar watched everything. Eight feet below him, two archers knelt at the edge of the ravine, their arrows notched, drawn, and ready. Seeing through Yar’s eyes, Ailish saw not only the archers, but the other Free Blades who had gathered to rush forward in a massive charge.
Now! she ordered Yar. “They come all at once,” she warned aloud.
Yar jumped, not into the ravine but onto the two Free Blade archers waiting to fire their arrows. His long claws ripped through one of the Free Blade’s armor, sending him crashing to the floor below. The other rolled on the ground, freed his knife, and almost reached his feet before Yar was on him, his fangs ripping out the warrior’s throat before he could use his knife.
Emitting a loud cry, Nomar’s kraal rose, kicking the empty air before him as two of the Free Blades went for him. The first died the instant Ailish’s arrow pieced his throat; the second was too late. The kraal’s right foreleg crushed his skull.
Three more Free Blades charged Nomar, who put his back to the wall and fended them off. Ailish rushed forward, her powers flowing fast, the bow forgotten as she charged the three attacking Nomar.
A wave of dark power rushed through the ravine, pushing the Free Blades in their charge, and striking hard against Nomar and Ailish. The force of the dark power hit Ailish, brutishly knocking her backwards. She fought it, holding tight, and reacted with her own powers.
While Ailish fought back, Jalil lifted the Staff of Afzal. The dark power stopped as suddenly as it had struck. Then a low reddish light rose within the ravine, allowing Nomar and Ailish to see clearly. The light pulsed. Jalil’s body rose from the wagon, his Staff in one hand, and his other arm stretched forward. There was a sudden thump as a wave of air struck the charging Free Blades slowing them to a bare walk.
Now! Jalil told Ailish.
Go! Ailish sent to Yar.
From the lower shelf of the ravine, and with an ear-shattering roar, Yar launched himself at the Free Blades. Ailish waded into the battle at the same instant and struck down the Free Blade before her. She reached Nomar and, standing back to back, they fought the Free Blades as if they had been fighting together for years.
Suddenly, there were only a half-dozen left. Yar charged one, while three attacked Nomar. Seeing what was happening, Ailish took on a Free Blade to help Nomar. Another Free Blade came out of the shadows at Ailish. Her hand glowed blue for an instant before a rush of power hit the attacker and flung him against a wall. A Free Blade who had been hiding in the shadows stepped forward and released his knife at Ailish.
Jalil swung the Staff toward them. Before the blade reached Ailish, he released a bolt of power. The knife stopped an inch from Ailish’s eye and fell to the floor. The Free Blade wasn’t that lucky, his body arced backward, hit the wall, and when it fell on the floor, it crumpled in upon itself and disappeared, leaving an oily residue on the ground.
Without thinking, Ailish charged into the remaining Free Blades attacking Nomar. She fought one, while Nomar battled the others. Yar, roaring from atop his latest kill, leapt at the warriors fighting Nomar.
The rantor landed on the closest Free Blade’s back. The man died seconds later.
Ailish, ducking beneath a wild swing of the Free Blade, spun and deflected the man’s next blow. He was a big man, tall, muscular, and powerful. His next stroke hit her blade and sent her falling backward.
He stepped above her and raised his sword. Lifting her hand, she released a stream of blue-white fire that sent him flying backwards into the rock wall. Yar charged at him at the same time, but the Free Blade was dead before he hit the wall.
She rolled on the floor, got to her feet, and as the last two Free Blades attacked Nomar, she screamed “No!” and using both hands, let go a stream of power that crushed the first man.
While the man’s dying scream echoed through the ravine, Nomar stepped forward, deflected the last Free Blade’s stroke, spun, and struck hard enough to push his blade through the joining of the metal and leather of the warrior’s armor.
<><><>
Blocked as she had never before been, and powerless to help, Irret screamed her rage as she watched her Free Blades die beneath the blades, arrows, and powers of the three. In the small cave where she had been waiting, she turned to the huge baar she had awoken from its winter sleep.
“Wise are your teachings, My Master,” she whispered. She knew there was not another creature alive who could survive the Frozen Mountains.
Her time would still come.
