The Longsword Chronicles: Book 03 - Sight and Sound Page 4

  oOo

  3. Boar and Badger

  Lunch over, the two wiry guardsmen Rollaf and Terryn were deployed forward of the rest of the group, and given orders to proceed with caution lest any functioning Jurian or indeed Callodonian traps were lying in wait for the unwary. Captain Tyrane was of the opinion that any of the spiteful pit-traps laid by Jurian Foresters would be set close to the edge of the plains to the east, and once deeper into the woodland they should be able to move with greater freedom and less fear of the ground underfoot giving way. Nevertheless, they trod gingerly, leading the horses carefully around the stumps that stood like squat sentries between them and the tree line ahead.

  Gawain was concerned for Elayeen; she was wearing the same brown and green thalangard summer uniform she’d worn on the journey from Ferdan to Raheen, buckskin boots which ended an inch or two below the knee, and a buckskin skirt which ended mid-thigh. While her arms were protected by the long-sleeved brown shirt worn under a green leather tunic, there was still a fair amount of tender skin vulnerable to the brambles, needleweeds, nettles and sawgrass thriving in the light and shade near and beyond the tree line.

  He strode forward, drawing the longsword, and the sound of it swishing from the scabbard on his back sent a ripple of alarm through the group. “I’ll clear the path a little,” he muttered, only for Eldengaze to rasp:

  “Do not block my vision with your light!”

  Gawain froze, and felt a flush of anger and embarrassment rising within him as he stood poised to hack through a three-foot clump of wicked sawgrass sprouting between the two stumps Elayeen had been approaching.

  “My lord,” Jaxon announced, hurrying forward from behind Elayeen’s right shoulder and drawing his ancient Gorian blade, “I’ll be glad to help Kahla, and clear the way for the lady.”

  Gawain gave a curt nod, took a deep breath, and sheathed the longsword. Then he turned and brushed past Elayeen and the Gorians to stand beside Gwyn. “Advance,” he ordered, “I’ll take rearguard.”

  And there he stood, arms folded, one foot resting on a low stump, while the rest of the group threaded their way towards the trees. While his anger subsided and his breathing slowed, he decided that rearguard probably was the best position for him. With Eldengaze scanning ahead nothing dark could approach from that direction, and with the two excellent woodsmen Rollaf and Terryn serving as scouts, it was unlikely anything else would go unnoticed. At least from the rear Gawain could keep an eye on the horses, the group would feel secure with him there, and his light certainly wouldn’t block Eldengaze’s vision of their surroundings. For that, he thought grimly, his teeth would doubtless thank him; they’d been set on edge by her rasping voice often enough in the last two days.

  Progress was slower than any one of them might have hoped, until eventually the tangles and knots of stinging, cutting, scratching, pricking and stabbing vegetation at last thinned, the canopy high overhead thickening and increasing the shade on the forest floor. There were no traps, at least none that were detected or sprung, and slowly Tyrane’s prophecy of all having less fear of the ground giving way underfoot came to pass. Then, when even the ferns thinned to give way to mosses, fungi, and leaf litter, the pace quickened even more.

  There was no advantage to riding though, except for teaching Kahla and Jaxon how to guide their horses rather than simply sit as passengers, and Gawain was surprised when he caught a glimpse of Elayeen and the two Gorians mounted up ahead, for it seemed Elayeen was doing just that. Tyrane confirmed it when Gawain nipped forward to ask, before dropping back to rearguard again.

  “It also gives your lady a better view ahead, my lord, or so she told me,” the captain had said, and who was Gawain to gainsay the Sight?

  Though it was gloomy, their eyes adjusted and they became comfortable moving at a fast walk on ground that gave a little underfoot, like a firm sponge. The trees were spaced according to the spread of their boughs and branches overhead, leaving plenty of room for the group to pass, though they snaked their way slightly west of north, weaving around the trees with Rollaf and Terryn criss-crossing before them. The two scouts were being cautious, remaining in sight of everyone and by zigzagging as they were, avoiding the mistake of venturing too far one way or the other and losing touch with themselves and the rest of the party.

  Occasionally there was a pause, usually for a call of nature or for Arramin to consult his compass, though he insisted on the archaic term ‘north-needle’ whenever he spoke of it; Gawain thought the wizard had spent so long entombed in libraries that language as well as time had passed him by. But about five hours after lunch, the group came to rest to eat. Packages rustled, sandwiches, meats and cheeses appeared, and Gawain stood to the rear by Gwyn and the packhorses, slightly aloof, for he’d eaten frak on the move and wasn’t hungry.

  He managed to catch Rollaf’s eye, and waved the two scouts to him.

  “Milord?” Rollaf asked quietly when they’d made their way over, self-consciously holding their unwrapped sandwiches.

  “Carry on eating,” Gawain replied softly, “I just wanted to compliment you both on your work this afternoon. It’s good to have men who know what they’re doing on a journey which holds a complete mystery at its other end.”

  The men smiled, and taking Gawain at his word, began munching happily.

  “I’ve not seen much by way of spoor, have you?”

  “Mmff,” Rollaf managed, shaking his head and swallowing. “Couple of deer, early on. Fox, early on. No boar though, which is odd.”

  “Aye,” Terryn agreed, “No boar. Odd.”

  “Plenty to the west and south of Jarn, though,” Rollaf added.

  “Aye. Plenty,” Terryn agreed enthusiastically, and took another bite of his sandwich.

  “Game birds a-plenty early on too, milord. Pheasant, partridge, quail, chookdove.”

  “Aye, plenty.”

  Gawain smiled. “I’d expect a poacher to notice the game birds. I expect the foxes noticed them too.”

  Rollaf grinned.

  “No wolf though,” Gawain frowned.

  “Aye, milord. None that I’ve seen. Odd.”

  “Aye. Odd,” Terryn agreed.

  Gawain nodded. The two men, Terryn in particular, might not be much for conversation, but Tyrane’s sergeant had been no fool. They were better than just ‘good woodsmen’.

  “Let me know if you find any spoor, wolf, boar or badger. I’ll try to keep one of you in sight, but that won’t be easy from back here, so pass the message via Captain Tyrane if needs be. The trouble with rearguard, the ground’s pretty much chewed up by the horses and everyone else by the time I get to see it.”

  “Aye, milord.”

  “Aye.”

  “You expecting trouble, milord?”

  “I was expecting wolf, boar and badger, and much else besides. The absence of something that should be here is usually a sign of something being here that shouldn’t.”

  “Aye.”

  Gawain glanced over Rollaf’s shoulder at the approach of Captain Tyrane.

  “Trouble, my lord?” Tyrane asked softly. The high canopy and gloom of the forest seemed to demand a reverent hush.

  “No, though there might be. We were discussing the lack of spoor from all the larger animals we’d expect to find in a forest such as this. It could be that the absence of tracks might be meaningful.”

  “I see. The wizard Allazar was complaining earlier at the apparent absence of rabbits. Might that be significant too?”

  Gawain smiled, and Rollaf and Terryn, still munching the remains of their dinner, shared a knowing look. “Tell him to learn what rabbits eat, and when he’s done doing that, to look around and see what rabbit food there is, this deep in the woods.”

  “Ah. Very good my lord, but begging your pardon, I think I’ll leave that pleasure to yourself when we stop for the night. Your lady had us all worried a couple of times once we’d entered the forest, I don’t know if you saw from your position here at the rear?”<
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  “No. Too many horses and trees in the way. What happened, did she say anything?”

  “She gazed high to the northeast and paused a moment or two, then carried on. About an hour later she paused and gazed likewise to the northwest.”

  “The same as before, at lunchtime?”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Hmm. But she said nothing?”

  “Nothing, my lord. And none of us asked.”

  “I understand. Well, if there were something to worry about I’m sure she’d tell us.”

  Tyrane was about to agree when a loud click of someone’s tongue drew their attention to the north, where Allazar was waving urgently. The four men exchanged worried glances and then as one hurried forward to join the two wizards standing slightly away from Elayeen and the Gorians.

  “Longsword, you lady has seen something.”

  “What?”

  “Something dark,” Eldengaze rasped. “Moving away. It is now beyond my sight.”

  “Dwarfspit. Something big? Another Kraal-beast?”

  “I do not know.”

  “Which direction was it moving in?”

  Elayeen simply pointed, west of north, away from them, and a good deal further to the west than their own path guided by Arramin’s compass.

  “How big was it?”

  “I do not know.”

  “I don’t think your lady can tell us any more than she already has, Longsword. The wizard Arramin and I have already asked these questions.”

  “Do we at least have an idea how far away it was?”

  Allazar shook his head, leaning on his staff. “It’s a miracle she can see anything at all, given the light of life in this forest.”

  “That’s just the point we were discussing earlier. There doesn’t seem to be much life in this forest, at least not as much as we’d expect on the ground. And she saw that Kraal clearly enough.”

  “Yet the Kraal was also in company with a dark wizard and his Jardember, and the beast was bound by aquamire chains and collar. It was also immense. Whatever it is moving away from us may be something considerably smaller, like the Grimmand, for example.”

  Gawain wasn’t convinced. “How far, Eldengaze?”

  “I do not know. Perhaps a mile. I cannot say.”

  “We’ve made good time, my lord,” Arramin suddenly announced, his nasal voice low, “According to my calculations, we are some twenty miles from the point at which we crossed the tree line. If I am correct, I believe we’ll cut across the ancient south road tomorrow, near noon if we maintain our current rate of progress. We are, however, only five miles or thereabouts from the plains of Juria to the east, should you wish abandon Calhaneth.”

  Gawain nodded, and stared off to the northwest, chewing his lip.

  “Longsword, we have your lady, two wizards, your sword and good men.”

  “I know, Allazar. And Brock’s message said it was urgent we reach Shiyanath.”

  “Yes.”

  Gawain folded his arms and looked at the faces gazing back at him. It was startling how much resolve and confidence he saw in them. “A mile isn’t very far.”

  “Far enough for you to hunt down that Kraal and destroy it, my lord,” Tyrane quietly. “And everybody here saw you do it.”

  Again, Gawain noted the confidence and resolve all about him, except of course from Elayeen, her back to him, her gaze fixed to the northwest watching for whatever darkness it was she had seen.

  “Very well. Finish eating, and we’ll continue to advance. Eldengaze, call a halt the moment you see something. As long as this thing keeps moving away from us, we’ll keep moving forward, but we need to do so quietly. A mile isn’t very far for sound to carry, even in a forest. Scouts, as before. Wizards, keep your sticks to hand and stay close to my lady’s back. Tyrane, you’re with me at the rear, you take the left flank, I’ll have the right, we need to keep the horses tighter together now we know there’s something out there. Jaxon, Kahla, on foot now with my lady if you please, if we’re attacked and the horses shy away you’re not skilled enough to control them.”

  Nods, from all save Elayeen.

  “Scouts, I’d still like to know, wolf, boar and badger.”

  “Aye, milord.”

  Allazar’s eyebrows shot up. “Wolf, boar and badger?”

  “Yes, wizard,” Gawain replied, “We haven’t seen sign of anything bigger than birds for some time now.”

  “Ah.”

  It was surprising how quickly appetites faded and how soon they continued their advance after that. Gwyn led the horses, and with Tyrane and Gawain flanking the small herd of mounts and pack animals, they kept together well. Gwyn of course sensed Gawain’s tension, and perhaps she found a way to transmit that heightened sense of caution to her kind. In any event, in the gloom of the forest and with their riders walking ahead of them, the horses seemed glad to remain close to each other.

  From time to time Gawain caught a glimpse of either Rollaf or Terryn, depending on their criss-cross scouting pattern, and on the occasions where they also caught sight of him too, he received a brief negative hand-signal. No spoor had been discovered yet. Now that he himself was moving much more to flank of the group, the soft forest floor before him was for the most part undisturbed, except for the tracks left by the scouts and occasional signs of smaller creatures like shrews, mice, and voles. And the more occasional pellets of hawk and owl.

  And on they walked, briskly but cautiously, and as quietly as nine people and twelve horses could move through a forest. Gawain’s neck began to chafe with the constant swivelling of his head, and he adjusted the longsword on his back to relieve the pressure of its weight. He was determined to maintain his own watch, and not allow himself to succumb to the simpler luxury of relying on Eldengaze. For all he knew, Elayeen could see perfectly well even if the forest were pitch black to the rest of them, but one thing he did know: She didn’t look back. Not once in all the hours since they’d crossed the tree line had she so much as glanced back at him.

  Perhaps he really did block her ‘vision’ of their surroundings, as she had complained a number of times now. He remembered, casting his mind back to their time at the foot of Raheen, when first the eldengaze had begun to manifest itself through Elayeen’s blindness…

  “Perhaps you were right, G’wain, perhaps my sight is returning. Or perhaps not. There are patterns of light and dark, shapes in the gloom, and people seem bright to a greater or lesser degree. You blaze like the sun, the Captain… well he shimmers more than burns.”

  “He shimmers.”

  “Yes. But you blaze, so don’t complain.”

  “Do I keep you awake at night?”

  “Yes, miheth, but that has nothing to do with your brightness or my eyes.”

  And still they walked, briskly but cautiously, until the gloom increased to the point where it was unsafe to continue, and still Eldengaze reported seeing nothing dark again. Horses were unsaddled, watered at a crystal-clear stream and later fed with oats from the packs, bedrolls were laid out, and the entire camp seemed to be as compressed as propriety allowed. Elayeen, he noted, had obviously instructed Kahla to position her bedding so that her saddle, acting as a pillow, was closer to the centre of the camp. She could then simply tilt her head up or lean up on her elbows and be facing northwest. Gawain also noted that it was on the opposite side of the camp to his own saddle, where he’d simply placed it on the ground to attend to Gwyn.

  You blaze like the sun…

  Gawain sighed. Perhaps he did. He didn’t know. He did know that here in the forest of the Old Kingdom, seeking a ruin that no-one ever travelled to, something dark wizard-made lurked. And that was a far more pressing concern than Elayeen’s choice of ground for her bedroll.

  Sleep, he knew, would be difficult for all of them this night.

  oOo

  4. Gok

  Gawain’s was the last watch, and at dawn he made the briefest of remembrances before waking Tyrane and the scouts. By the time e
veryone else was up and attending to their morning necessities, Gwyn was already saddled and Gawain was helping Terryn and Rollaf with the packhorses. Everyone except Arramin, who had slept throughout the night, seemed wearier than they’d been before lying down to rest the night before; particularly Kahla and Jaxon, muscles aching and stiff from their short but entirely unaccustomed stints on horseback. Still, when Elayeen returned to the group with Kahla, there was a crumb of comfort to be had from her rasping assertion that ‘nothing dark’ was within range of her sight.

  It was chilly in the forest, and damp, and with the sun so low to the east the gloom was deep, and made their cautious progress through the woodland all the more eerie. From time to time Arramin consulted his north-needle, and made slight corrections to their course according to the memory of a map read in an ancient book in some musty lowland library. Gawain shuddered, though whether at the chill of the forest or the fact that he was obliged to place his trust in an old wizard’s memory he couldn’t say.

  With the passing of hours and miles though, the sun rising a little higher with each quiet step they took, it became a little warmer, until, a little after noon, it became humid, and lighter. Gawain glanced up at the shards of sunlight glistening through the canopy, and thought the canopy a little thinner than it had been earlier in the day. A sudden clicking of tongues brought the group to a halt, and Gawain left his position on the right rear flank and moved swiftly forward.

  “Behold the ancient southern road,” Arramin announced softly, beaming happily, pointing first at the leaf litter under foot, and then swinging his bony arm up, pointing due north give or take a few degrees of his compass needle.

  Of course, no road was to be seen at all. Nature may not move swiftly to reclaim its domain but move it does, and after a thousand years of wind and weather all trace of the road Arramin had described lay buried deep below the leaf litter and humus where they stood. But the kindred races of Man leave their mark too, and the broad path that Elves had made through the forest to guide men to the stone city of Calhaneth was still clearly visible. It was a little lighter here, for here the mighty trees had once been carefully managed, felled or planted with care and knowledge, and evenly spaced to form a natural vaulted avenue which even now remained.