Brothers in Arms; the re-awakening

Their respite was only brief, and far less than Ethan felt he needed; Targon also seemed exhausted, his chest heaving, his ragged gasps distressingly audible to all of them. But much too soon Jac was restless and urgent, hurrying and waving them to move on again, and Kitti seemed closer to panic with each minute they waited. Donal, by contrast, seemed completely calm and unflustered, quietly moving from horse to horse, systematically inspecting their legs and hooves. As last he looked up and nodded, appearing well satisfied.

“Riding blind is dangerous. In the darkness it is all too easy to lame any horse,” he explained to Ethan, “Particularly on a treacherous night like tonight. If our horses become lame, we really will have no hope of escape. But they all seem sound enough, though often an injury will not be evident at once, and only manifest itself after many hours, when the muscles have cooled down.”

“You don’t scare easily, do you,” said Ethan, impressed again by the big Irishman’s nerve, “I suppose you’ve been through this kind of thing before.”

“Many times,” said Donal, “Too many times, in truth; this is just another adventure for Parsifal and I.”

Jac had his ear to the ground and was listening intently.

“I cannot hear any sign of them,” he said, “We may have lost them, for the time at least.”

“What is the point of trying? We will not hear them till they have their knives at our throats. They take a vow of silence; only their leaders speak, and the others communicate by threat and by fear alone. Most people understand that language only too well,” said Kitti, shuddering as if haunted by unwanted memories. She took out a dagger and waved it in the air; “Better to meet them here,” she said, “Get it over with.”

“You misunderstand me,” said Jac soothingly, “I am not listening for their conversation, but for sounds of their passage; as their horses brush through the thorns and past the branches, and as their hooves strike any stones or rocks that might lie in their path. And if they have shrikes with them, the howls of those infernal creatures will carry a long way.”

Targon shook his head; “You are wrong, Jac,” he said, “They are near, and they know we are not far ahead. I can sense them much too strongly - they are searching.”

“So,” said Ethan, “Either they don’t have shrikes and may be close by, or they do have shrikes and are far behind; not sure which possibility I like the better.”

“We will never lose them while we carry the jewel; not now they are so close,” said Kitti.

They mounted up, and Jac again took the lead, heading to the north-west.

“We can ride for a time,” he warned them, “but after that we must go on foot again.”

“Man, I just knew you were about to say that; I love a nice walk before breakfast,” muttered Ethan.

They rode for the rest of the night, but their progress was slow as the terrain became ever steeper and stonier. The rain had stopped, but rivulets of water coursed all about them, and they were not travelling on anything that could be recognized as a path. Then Jac signalled them to dismount, and they trudged on through soaking fields of bracken underbrush till a grey dawn had fully risen, the horses constantly slipping and sliding, and the trees slowly giving way as towering walls of rock appeared on all sides.

After a time Kitti touched Jac on the shoulder.

“We will have to stop again soon. Targon is exhausted,” she said, her great fear of their pursuers now being tempered by her concern for her friend. Jac stopped and watched the hunchback come labouring up behind them. Even at a distance he was visibly fatigued, and Jac could see that he had no other choice but to agree to Kitti’s request. They took the opportunity to have a cold, hurried meal.

“No chance of coffee, I suppose,” grumbled Ethan, looking at the looming cliffs, massive and unforgiving, rearing away upwards out of their sight into the mists.

“Are we retracing our steps?” asked Donal, peering up towards where he thought the sun should be.

“We are travelling north now. Wherever you go, except west, there are mountains, and in that may lie our greatest hope; perhaps our only hope,” answered Jac, “Tell me, Kitti, could they track the jewel through solid rock?”

“I do not think so,” said Kitti uncertainly, hope beginning to dawn in her expression as she divined some of Jac’s intent, “When not in use it was said to have been kept in a great stone casket, so perhaps solid rock may shield us effectively. But they are so close now behind us,” she continued despairingly, “how could we ever shield ourselves on all sides?”

“If it’s so much trouble, why don’t we just get rid of the damned thing, drop it down a hole or something,” said Ethan, but the shock on the faces of Kitti, Targon, and even Jac made it clear that this course of action was not an acceptable alternative.

“How could you be expected to understand, Ethan,” said Kitti, “It is my own fault for not telling you the truth when I had the chance. The jewel can link directly with the Earthpower. It is not just a device for passing messages; it was through the power of the jewel that you and Donal were summoned here. It was a great gift, but it can be used for evil purposes just as easily as for good. The Inquisitors could wreak terrible harm if they possessed it. Giving it to us was a significant risk, although we never expected to be tracked so fiercely this far north; cast the jewel away without a fight - never!” she finished, and in spite of the rebuke Ethan was glad to see the spark of defiance returning to her eyes again.

“All right, all right, you guys are so touchy, must have got out of the wrong side of the bed or something, I’m sorry for even suggesting it; shoot me, why don’t you? So obviously we can’t just leave it lying at the side of the path, or pitch it over the edge somewhere. But what are we going to do with it then?” Ethan asked, turning to Jac, “You seem to be pretty smug; do you have something in mind, some kind of cunning plan, a hot-air balloon maybe?”

Jac pointed ahead; “As we go further north, the mountains become more and more riddled with caves and passages. I’ve been through them once or twice when I was younger, and I’m sure I can still remember the way. Once we are in the labyrinth of caves, the Inquisitors will never find us, if the legends are correct and solid rock does in truth shield the jewel, of course; the caves lead right through the mountains and out the other side.”

“That’s very reassuring,” said Ethan, “Legends are always more reliable than truth, aren’t they?”

“However, there is one significant drawback with this plan,” Jac continued more hesitantly, looking at Donal and Ethan, “To get to the caves in the first place we will need to do a lot of climbing, and once inside the caves it will be even worse; we will not be able to bring the horses with us. We will have no choice; they will have to be left behind.”

Donal simply shook his head; he patted the neck of the huge stallion and it whinnied softly in pleasure.

“Whatever the danger, I will not leave Parsifal behind. I would rather face the Inquisitors here,” he said quietly, his expression impassive.

“Me too,” said Ethan, “This old hoss and I have come too far together for me to dump him at the first sign of danger. I’ll be staying here with Donal.”

“In that case you will die here,” replied Jac, with a resigned shrug, “If what Kitti says is right, and the crystal can be traced, then we will never be able to get far enough ahead of them, and sooner or later we will be run down. You may be a mighty warrior, Donal, and Ethan’s spear may be a fell and deadly weapon, but there may be at least thirty Inquisitors right behind us, as well as we don’t know how many shrikes - but for sure there will be too many for even you, too many for all of us. You will condemn yourself, and not only that; you will condemn me as well, for you must know that I will not leave you and Ethan to fight them alone.”

“If you will not be persuaded, you also hold our lives in your hands, for neither will Targon and I leave you. But it is not only us you will be condemning,” said Kitti, “There is far more than just our own fate at stake here. I understand how you love your horses, and they are indeed noble beasts, but we truly have no choice. If we do not survive and complete our mission, the struggle will be lost; the Mfecane will certainly prevail, the Free Nations will inevitably be crushed, slavery and mutilation will follow and the Inquisitors will have dominion over all.”

“Well, I’m real sorry about all that,” said Ethan, “but it doesn’t change a thing. This old hoss of mine may only amount to a hill of beans in the great scheme of things you’re talking about, but just because something is small doesn’t mean it’s not important. We’re here and now and I know what’s right; I ain’t leaving him to the mercy of no shrikes.”

The impasse seemed complete and without any possible resolution, and they stood for a while in helpless silence, the gloom of the mist-shrouded early morning surrounding them, conscious that they had very little time left and that the pursuit would be coming closer and closer behind them; their journey seemed to have come to it’s end. Donal unsheathed his sword and began to inspect it’s edge.

Then Targon spoke up; he had been sitting at the back of the company, listening to the dispute while trying to regain his strength.

“There may be another way,” he wheezed slowly, his breath still not fully returned after his exertions. He turned to Jac.

“If you know where the caves exit on the other side of the mountain, and how to reach there by overland paths, and you can describe it well enough to me,” Jac nodded thoughtfully in response, “I may be able to translate it to the horses by the mind-meld. Animals they may be, but they are intelligent creatures and their sense of direction is far more powerful than ours, and they will be surely able to find their way. They will also make much better speed without us to hold them back and weigh them down. Indeed, they may well get there before us, wherever it is we are going.”

“Yes,” agreed Kitti enthusiastically, seizing on the idea, “And there will be no jewel to betray them - even if the Inquisitors wished to trail them they would find it very difficult. Anyway, it’s not the horses they want, it’s us.”

“Are you really sure you can do this, Targon?” said Ethan, uncertain whether he could rely on what seemed to him a fey and unreliable magic, even though he remembered that he himself had experienced it’s potency at first hand.

“You must me on this, Ethan,” replied the hunchback, “I am very fond of my own horse too, remember. He has carried this crippled body too far and on too many journeys just to be cast aside and left as carrion for shrikes. Donal’s stallion is wise and brave; the rest of the horses will follow him, and he will lead them to safety once we let them go.”

When Donal had also nodded his agreement Targon then had Jac explain to him as carefully and clearly as he could about the path the horses should follow, where the exit from the caves was, and what it looked like. Once satisfied, he turned to the horses and employed the mind-meld with each of them in turn. Afterwards he seem

relieved.

“They are more clever and astute than we believe. They understand very clearly what they have to do,” he said, “And they think they will reach there many hours before us.”

At that moment, from far away down the valley and from the direction they had come, they heard a series of feral howls of a kind that Ethan remembered only too well.

“Shrikes,” shouted Jac, springing up in readiness, “No more talking! We must be on our way at once. It will only take us a day to traverse the caves, so we don’t need to bring many supplies - the terrain will be very rugged, and there will be a lot of climbing to do so we’ll need to travel as light as we can; the less we have to carry the better. Leave as much as you can in the horse’s packs. But bring plenty of water; any streams we find inside will probably be fouled,” he added.

The company were in too much of a hurry to wonder at this last remark. Donal whispered a brief farewell in Parsifal’s ear, and then smacked him firmly on the quarters. The great stallion raced off down the track, the other horses following behind obediently, trying gallantly to keep up with the fierce pace set by their leader. Donal watched them until they disappeared around a shoulder of bare rock, then turned to follow the rest of the company who were already scrambling along a narrow trail which almost at once began to slope steeply upward.