by CC Hogan
rocks!” The woman grabbed Beva and the other two young children and pulled them towards a small formation of rocks that rose out from the river bank, but Beva struggled from her grasp and ran back and grabbed Eldola’s head.
“Beva, go with her!” Yona said in shock.
“No! He will protect me!” she shouted back. “I will protect him.”
Before Yona had a chance to argue further, Beak started firing arrows telling the others to wait till the horsemen were closer. The Keffra spread out in a long line and drew evil looking swords and started shouting in high-pitched wails as they bore down on their quarry.
“What do they want?” Phoran shouted as he pulled out a long staff that one of the nomads had given him.
“Slaves,” Beak shouted. “They want to take us as slaves.”
“How do you know?” Yona shouted up as Beak told the others to start firing.
“Because I have fought them before,” he growled.
“Within seconds the horsemen were upon them, and Eldola backed away in fright, whimpering as the former slaves started fighting the experienced Keffra warriors. Beak and the others jumped down from the calliston’s back and charged into the battle, trying to beat back the horsemen. Beva, trying to hold onto the calliston suddenly tripped and fell on her face, leaving her exposed. One of the horsemen stood up in his stirrups, aiming his bow down at the little girl as Yona shrieked in fear and charged at his horse.
Then, from behind them came a huge roar, and the powerful calliston leapt forward, his great, clawed front feet landing either side of the small girl protectively. The horseman tried to slash at the calliston, but Eldola smashed his head into the man, sending him flying and broken from his horse.
Yona was desperately trying to unseat another horseman when she felt a slice across her arm. She jumped back in agony, crashing into Phoran as the blood flowed from a vicious wound. Beak saw she was wounded and his eyes darkened. Standing right in the middle of the fight, he grabbed his bow again and at point-blank range, killed two horsemen immediately. The remaining Keffra, realising they had lost the fight, pulled back, turned their horses and charged east as two of the other archers, taking Beaks cue, killed two more of their number. As the Keffra rode into the distance, Eldola rose up high onto his hind legs and bellowed across the plain in defiance and fear.
Beak looked up at him. “Got you!” he said in understanding, and he leant back and loosed two more arrows high and fast, one after the other, and felled the last two horsemen.
Yona turned to look for Beva and for the moment could not see her. And then she looked up and realised the calliston, still raised up high, was cradling her in his arms. He slowly lowered the girl to her feet and stroked her face. She was shaking and quivering and the tears were flowing down her dirty cheeks. Yona wrapped her in her arms. She looked up at the big, beautiful head of the calliston, not bowed down as he normally was, but raised up proudly.
“Thank you,” she said. “Thank you for protecting her.” To her amazement, the massive creature looked down at her and bowed his head, just a little, and blinked at her. He had understood.
They lit a large fire that night and cooked a stew from the meat the Pharsil-Hin had supplied them. The nomads had not just given them hides and bows, but two pots, large spoons and a couple of large knives for cooking. It was such a generous gift, but as Yona realised as she sorted through the bag of bits which included tools to work the ground, it was so much more than it looked. With these few carefully chosen items, the nomads had given them the chance to survive.
Beak seemed almost angry as he stitched and bandaged Yona’s arm properly after they had eaten. All of them involved in the fight had injuries, but hers was the worst and she had left it till everyone else was tended.
“You are their leader,” he snapped at her. “You are not meant to get killed.”
“I am not the leader!” she protested.
“Yes, you are. Who else is there?”
“Phoran? Hekon? Daintine? You even!”
“Not me!” he growled angrily. “And not the others, either. Why do you think they are all here? I heard you and Phoran talking and he is right. They are your people now.”
Yona fell quiet for a moment and then looked up at the old man. “You are not going to stay, are you.”
“I will for a bit, but after that, I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Does it matter?”
He had asked her that before when she had asked his age. She wasn’t going to back down this time. “Yes it does!” she barked.
“Why?” His eyes were cold and his voice hard. “Why is it so important, girl?”
Yona raised her hand and slapped him round the face hard. “Because I need you, you selfish bastard. I need a father!” Yona opened her eyes wide, shocked at what she had just said, then grabbed the cloth from him and stalked into the dark, finishing the dressing herself. Phoran came and sat down next to the stunned old man.
“We both lost our families. Well, I didn’t have many to lose, but she lost her father and her uncle and her mother in the same boat when she was ten, the same age as Beva. I have been her brother, her friend, her lover and every member of her family I could think of being, but there was one person I have never managed to replace, her father.”
“Not her mother?”
“Her mother was a bitter, uncaring woman. She was never cruel and never hurt Yona, but I am not sure she loved her that much either. Yona’s father doted on her. He taught her to tie nets, plane wood, grow vegetables, learn about horses and other animals, all when she was very young. After he died, neighbours took her in and they were very kind to her. They fed her and loved her and the woman taught her to read and write, but they were not like her father.”
“I am not like her father either.”
“Oh, yes you are. Very like him. Or you would be if you were not insisting on living in the past.” Phoran stood and followed after Yona. He really liked Beak and he knew what Yona saw in him and knew she needed him, but at that moment, he could easily have punched him.
Eldola was all but dancing from foot to foot the following morning, but between him and the Kelaine hills lay the river Al-ne-Kelaine, and Yona could see it was troubling him. Although it looked shallower than the river Cor-En, it was still a briskly moving obstacle that was going to be difficult for the humans to cross at this spot without the help of the Calliston. It would be safer if they could cross without riding him in case he panicked again. Phoran had suggested that they scout upstream for a league or two with the horses, looking for a shallower stretch where at least the humans could cross separately, but Yona was worried the big animal would refuse to head west, away from the hills.
“He will follow you,” Beak said as he walked up to her, wiping down his bow.
“You talking to me this morning?” Yona asked. She had felt guilty for hitting him the previous evening, but she was still a little angry at him too.
Beak ignored her question. “I think you will have to walk with him, but he will follow. Take Beva with you as well. He is very protective of her.”
“I know he understands more than we think he should, but I am not sure whether that makes a huge difference.”
“Protecting Beva like he did? That was more than the action of a mother bear or Oothen. He knew I had to stop them.”
Yona turned to the old man. “Why did you kill the last two? They were running away.”
“We can’t risk them coming back. That was the only reason. They will be missed, I have no doubt, and four of their horses ran towards the Plains, but if they come looking for them, they won’t know what happened.”
“Are you going on the scout?”
“Yes. I am taking Daintine as she is the only person other than you, Phoran and Beva who can ride. You need to stay here with the others. There is no way Beva is going and Phoran is still in too much pain to ride properly.”
“That fight took it out of him,”
Yona commented. “He is not showing it, but he was hit round the back and two of his cuts opened again. I must find some more of the fillenton herb that Golla used to keep the infection away. I might send a couple out searching while you scout; we are going to need it to help with the next batch of scratches and cuts.”
Beak smiled. “You never stop thinking about people, do you.”
“Isn’t that what everyone does?”
“In my experience, not really.” Beak walked back to where they had tethered their four new horses, and he and Daintine galloped off west up the river, Eldola watching them go.
The place they had found was only a league away, but it wasn’t a huge improvement over where they had started. It was a little wider and shallower for most of the way across, and using a rope that they had been given by the nomads, they managed to get everyone to the south bank, the three children carried by Hekon and Beak. Now it was up to Yona to get the calliston across, and he was already upset.
“Come on Eldola,” Yona said pleadingly, standing in front of his big head. “You are going to have to carry me, dear friend. Will you cross without me guiding you?” They still had no idea how Tekkinmod’s men had guided the calliston, but they suspected that it was sometimes cruel. Beva had noticed scarring on the rear of the beast when they had removed his hide back at the nomad’s camp.
Eldola grumbled and ducked his head down and up
