| |
Sliding from the saddle at the entrance of the notch, Nomar looked inside. To all appearances, the trail seemed an extension of the one he’d taken to and from the valley. He stepped through the notch. The trail was just wide enough for a kraal and rider to fit. He tracked the twisting, almost circular pathway spiraling up within the mountain, wondering if it was natural or man-made.
He knelt and ran his fingers across the floor of the upward trail. While it looked smooth, the tips of his fingers felt the slight gouges that had created this. He knew as well, that through the centuries, water and wind had smoothed this trail. But he had his answer. It was not natural. He shook his head and laughed aloud; thankful they hadn’t tried to carve stairs into the rock.
He stepped out of the notch, caught Tarz’s reins, and returned, pulling the kraal behind him. When he was secure enough, he mounted Tarz. It took him two hours to reach and step onto what he thought was the mountain top. When he moved into the pale gray light that passed for daylight, he stood dead still; the view was staggering.
To the east, the northeast, and continuing until it was lost into the horizon, was an endless white sheet of ice. To the west, he saw only the mountain he stood upon, and the one across as he belatedly realized he was far below the mountain’s peak. He traced the rising of the mountain to the actual peak, which blocked the sight of anything to the west.
He had been right when he’d looked up and thought the two mountains leaned toward each other, for they did. Across from him, and separated by only fifteen feet, was the other side of the Frozen Mountains. The spot he stood on was level, and close to twenty-five feet wide. From where he’d come out of the notch, he estimated the distance to the split in the mountains was ten feet. As far as she could tell, this was the only place where the divided mountains came close to each other.
Turning, he looked behind, to where the mountain sloped gently upward. The slope itself was smooth and a natural ramp. He looked back at the open space between the mountains, which seemed like the only place where the divided mountains came close.
But the space was too far for him to jump it. The kraals might be able to, but he did not want to take a chance. They couldn’t afford to lose one and what would they do once they were there? Climb down ...
As his eyes finally adjusted to the dim daylight, he saw a dark oval shadow set back a dozen feet from the edge. He took several steps forward, then glanced back at the place from which he’d just emerged.
His gaze returned to the shadow across from him. It was not a shadow; rather, it was an opening in the mountain, a duplicate of the one behind him. He had no doubts the opening was a trail down. He exhaled sharply knowing that getting everyone across safely was his next challenge. No, he corrected himself, first Ailish must come back to them.
He shook his head ... and then there was Jalil ...
Knowing what he would have to do, and how little choice there was, he went to his kraal, and stroked his long snout before saying, “Tarz, this will not be easy.”
The kraal did not answer.
<><><>
The spinning wouldn’t stop. It confused her and made it impossible to think about what was happening. She willed her abilities to rise, but they refused. Slowly, she stopped concentrating on the mad spinning, understanding how, in the absolute absence of color, there was nothing to focus on to find a center of balance. With that realization, she closed her eyes and forced herself into calmness. A few moments later, the spinning stopped.
Breathe the past. The thought came out of nowhere, but she understood. Her father had trained her to be a warrior. He had always said, ‘Breathe the past. When in the midst of battle, and there is nothing but confusion, breathe in the calmness of a more peaceful day, so you will retain your ability to think, to fight, and to survive.’
A more peaceful day ... She took a long breath and remembered the day she had found Yar, had held him to her chest, and fed him for the first time. As he took the food, they’d bonded, and she’d discovered a warming peacefulness she’d not felt in years.
Drawing in the well-remembered sensations of calmness, her muscles reacted and the tensions straining them eased. With the relaxation of her body, her mind came alive. Where am I?
She opened her eyes, hoping to see something ... anything, but found only the same blackness. She closed them. It was more comfortable. Why cannot I raise my powers?
Because someone is stopping me! Who? How?
She struggled, and failed, but she did not give up.
<><><>
By the time Nomar reached the lower pathway, the day had turned dark. He looked above, at the cloudless sky filled with the white sparkling dots of distant stars.
He rode Tarz carefully, keeping closer to the mountain than the edge. He was hungry, thirsty, and tired. But he was more concerned about Ailish’s needs than his own. When he finally reached the cavern-like valley, he was surprised to find he could see perfectly.
The light seemed to flow from the walls and the floor. It wasn’t bright, but it made everything visible. He looked up and back toward the opening of the chasm. Perhaps this was how the trees and plants and animals survived. This strange warm light.
Shrugging, he pushed on. Things of magic and science were not what he understood. When he reached the wagon, and found Jalil staring up at him, he went to the old Master. “Has there been any change?”
“Yes, and no. I sensed a change in her, but faint it was.”
“Anything is better than nothing.” He went to the wagon, looked in, and saw her face seemed less drawn. He thought that was what Jalil was referring to, but then realized the Master had not seen her face.
“Yar, I go to hunt.”
The cat looked at him, then at Ailish, and stayed where he was. The rantor was her aoutem. He would not willingly leave her side. “I understand.”
Nomar went to where the baar had fallen. He looked at it, wondering if its meat would be palatable. Then he picked up Ailish’s bow and quiver, slipped both over his head and went back to Jalil. “What know you of baars? Can we eat its meat?”
Jalil gazed at him for a moment. “Because it was controlled by Irret? That would not affect it.”
Nomar thought about it, then shook his head. “It has lain there for too many hours. A good hunter cleans the kill properly. It is too late for that. No, I will hunt.”
A half hour later, Nomar returned with three rabt, which he cleaned and then hung from a branch. He gathered wood, started a fire, and when it was burning properly, set two rabts above it. The third, he brought to the wagon.
“Yar, food,” he called, hoping that somehow the cat would understand. It took a few minutes, but then the huge cat stuck his head out of the wagon and looked down at the rabt on the ground. The rantor jumped, grabbed the rabt, and went into the woods. Yar returned ten minutes later, rubbed against Nomar’s left leg, and jumped back into the wagon. He laid down next to Ailish and again put his head on her chest.
Nomar found a stream of fresh water a few hundred feet from them. He tasted it and smiled at the clean and cold taste. He returned and took two empty water skeins and filled them.
Once the rabt was cooked, Nomar took a strip, sat next to Jalil, and while he ate, questioned the old Master about what they could do for Ailish. When Jalil covered every avenue, and came up with nothing, Nomar told him what he found, and how he believed they could get across.
Jalil’s hairless brows rose. “It will not be easy, and will not be quick.”
“I understand. Do you have a better suggestion?”
Nomar watched Jalil’s features. His strangely oval mouth tugged into a simile of a frown, his eyes reflected an unexpected depth of sadness, and then he said, “I do not. Magic is the only other way. Magic I cannot use, not in this time and place.”
The Free Blade warrior gave the old Master a hesitant smile. There was nothing he could say, except, “I know.” Then he stood. “I will use the kraals to pull the baar away. It will soon begin to rot. We want that not around us.”
<><><>
The creature she rode was not the strangest she had ever known, but close to it. Like a kraal, but bigger and faster, the Master’s creatures carried them at an astounding pace. In the week they had been traveling, they had covered an unbelievable distance.
This morning she had found the emptiness—the block where they hid within, but it was different, less powerful than the last time Irret had touched it.
Irret could not help the laugh that slipped out. Six ghazi heads turned to stare at her. She shook her head at them, and they returned to the dried meat they were eating. They stopped twice a day for just long enough to eat and relieve themselves. As Master Fasil had promised, his creatures needed no sustenance or rest. They simply sped over the pathway without the slightest of hesitation, no matter how icy or how narrow it became.
She tried to estimate how far away the block was. She thought it would be within a day or two. Her plan, for when she reached them, was simple. The ghazi would kill the Free Blade who had dared to defy her. Then, together, she and the ghazi would kill the old Master and secure the Staff of Afzal. Finally, when all was done, she would have the ghazi hold Ailish while her knife pressed at her enemy’s throat.
She would use the formula that would release her most hated enemy from the trap the Master had caught her in, and the instant her eyes opened, she would slice Ailish’s throat and watch her life’s blood flow out.
