by A J Park
They were very limited.
She could walk a little. But where? It would soon be dark, and she didn’t know her way even in the light. She was reasonably sure she could retrace her steps back to the battlefield and the remains of the village. A few of the buildings were still standing, and she might seek shelter in one of them. But that seemed dangerous. Who would be there? Even if the horsemen had ridden away, there must be Almorians somewhere near.
No. She couldn’t go to her own people for help. They had tried to kill her. And why should the horsemen help her? She was Almorian, an enemy. Kalleck might already have ordered them to kill her if they found her.
Slowly, the last of the light faded and it began to rain.
A light appeared in her limited field of view, down at the bottom of the draw. It was a lantern. Then another and another. They were Almorian soldiers and they appeared to be searching. She could see only a narrow view out of the crack in the rock.
The rain came down thicker. Even back in her crevice, some cold drips fell on her and the air was chill. She began to shiver and pulled the cloak closer around herself.
Eventually, she heard voices and close footsteps among the rocks. She barely breathed.
“…don’t see anything, Governor,” a man said.
“Keep looking!” Galenor ordered. “Calreth said she came this way. We have to find her.”
It was Galenor. He was right there. If she called for help they would find her. She drew in a breath.
But who was it that wanted to kill her? Galenor was their governor. Had he known?
“…fear the horsemen have already killed her…”
“If we didn’t find her, they must have taken her.”
“…can’t get away with this…”
She couldn’t call them. Not until she knew who was trying to kill her. She couldn’t trust them.
After a while, their voices faded and it was quiet again. The night was getting colder fast and she was already shivering uncontrollably. It was too cold. She couldn’t survive the night like this. She realized that she had made a deadly mistake in hiding from Galenor. She should have called to him when he was right there. If she stayed where she was, she would die of the cold before morning. And her strength to do anything at all was fading fast. She had to get out.
Out.
Slowly, she slid her stiff limbs toward the opening. It took a long time for her to reach the edge of the rock. But how could she go out there? It was still raining and being wet would kill her even more quickly.
“Find some help, Shalyrie,” she told herself. Even if they killed her later, any chance to survive was better than dying here tonight.
She crept out of her hiding place and onto the rocks. Where had all those soldiers gone? She should have given up and called to them when they were near.
The chill rain quickly soaked through her clothes. She had to keep moving. It was the only thing that might warm her a little. But she was so tired—so tired. Finally, she heard a voice. Almorian.
“I see something over there. Is it her?”
But that was all she heard. The voice didn’t speak again. There was no sound, except the rain falling. Suddenly, a hand touched her and she gasped, startled. She looked into a black mask. Horseman.
“Please, please don’t kill me!” she gasped. “Let me talk to Kalleck. Please?” His expressionless face stared back silently. He had a long curving knife in his hand. “Please don’t kill me,” she repeated looking at the knife. She realized she still had the assassin’s knife in her hand. Slowly, she held it out to him, hilt first. He took it. And he didn’t attack her—he only looked at her silently. Then he put his own knife away and gestured that she should go with him. “Kalleck?” she asked.
He nodded. “Kalleck.”
He would take her to Kalleck. Then, at least she could try to explain before they killed her. She took a few steps forward, but her limbs felt frozen. The horseman turned back and then returned to help her. They picked their way slowly down through the rocks, eventually reaching the clear ground at the bottom. They seemed to be going back the way she had come, though she wasn’t entirely sure in the dark. She went with him, barely able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
The horseman supported her more as they went along, but even so, she moved steadily slower until she sank to her knees. He appeared to realize that she couldn’t walk any farther. Without a hint of protest, he picked her up and carried her. She wasn’t aware of anything for a while, except that the cold rain was still falling on her.
Lord Olthorin Almorin
Olthorin saw Shalyrie fall when the man wearing black clothes and a mask attacked her. Instinctively, he leapt toward her, but she was too far away.
“Attack! Stop them!” Galenor yelled beside him. “It was all a trick. They’ve killed Lady Shalyrie.”
“No!” Olthorin shouted. “Stop! Do not attack them!” But his voice was lost in the confusion of shouts. The Almorians were already surging forward to meet the horsemen and the air filled with the clash of weapons. Why had Galenor ordered them forward?
There were horses coming. A horseman was right in front of him. Olthorin dropped to the ground, ducking under a spear thrust. The horse passed in a flash and Olthorin was unhurt. He stayed still, hoping not to attract their attention. He wasn’t armed and he didn’t want to fight. He had to find Shalyrie.
The battle raged around him. Slowly, he moved toward where Shalyrie had been. Was she dead? He could see a black figure lying on the ground, but he couldn’t see her. Even if she was dead, wouldn’t she still have been lying here? Where was she? He looked in all directions. There was a flash of movement a long way off, at the edge of a line of trees. Had he seen a bit of her pale green skirt?
She must still be alive. Why would she have gone that way? Why not go to the Almorians? They all wanted to protect her. They would help her.
Olthorin was behind the line of battle now and no one was very close. He stayed low, using what cover he could find, and followed her.
They had begun the day with high hopes. They would be back among their people, on their way home. Shalyrie would have all the help and care she needed until she was completely recovered. Galenor would pull his men back. With Shalyrie rescued, he would have no further quarrel with the horsemen. They would go back to Newport.
How differently it had actually turned out. One of the horsemen had been hidden in the rocks, waiting to kill her. Why? Kalleck had seemed so sincere. Olthorin had been a fool to trust him.
Where was Shalyrie?
He searched for hours, desperate to find her, unwilling to stop until he succeeded. The sun went down and the sky clouded over. It was getting dark fast and cold. Where could she have gone? Why would she leave? Of course, she had wanted to get away from the battle, but why wouldn’t she come back to him or to Galenor? She needed help. She was still injured, and she had no supplies with her to help her survive a night out here. He had to find her, soon.
Before long, it began to rain.
He couldn’t give up, he wouldn’t. He had to find her.
Something moved in the dark. Horsemen. By the time he saw one, blending into the night, he realized there were several of them—at least six. Olthorin held up his open hands. He had no weapon. The horsemen held swords or spears. They raised their weapons.
“Kalleck!” Olthorin said. They hesitated for a moment. “Please! Take me to Kalleck.” Even if they killed him, Olthorin wanted to know why Kalleck had done it, and maybe he knew were Shalyrie was.
One of the horsemen raised his blade to strike anyway, but another nudged him and said something to him. The man put his sword down, but one of the others kept a spear pointed at him. Did they recognize him? He couldn’t tell.
They marched him away through the dark. Hopefully, they would take him to Kalleck and not just kill him.
Hopefully, Kalleck wouldn’t kill him. Before today, he thought they had begun to trust each other.
They came to the ruins of the horsemen’s village, where only a few of the buildings were still standing. They took him into one of the little houses, which was crowded with men. He could tell at a glance that most of them were injured. A fire burned in the fireplace and a man stood up to face them. Was it Kalleck? His stance was tense and angry, but he hadn’t taken out a weapon yet.
“You said you would tell them not to fight!” He recognized Kalleck’s voice, though it was cold and furious.
“I told them!” Olthorin protested. “But they attacked when one of your men tried to kill Shalyrie!”
Kalleck took three steps and closed the distance between them. “Not my man!” His voice was tight with barely controlled fury.
“But I saw him—a man in a black mask came out of the rocks with one of your curved daggers and tried to kill her.”
“Did you see him? Did you see his face? He looked like you. And he would have killed her if I hadn’t killed him first. Would I kill one of my own men? It was all a trick. A trap set by your people!”
Olthorin stopped dead. The anger he had felt was fading into cold dread. Maybe he hadn’t seen what he thought he saw.
“There is a dead man back there,” Kalleck said. “His hair was pale, like yours. His clothes were black, but not Yalkur clothes. He carried a Yalkur weapon taken from one of our fallen men.”
“But why would any of our people want to kill her?”
“They wanted to lure me into battle with them. It was their plan all along. I agreed to release her, but that’s not what they wanted. They wanted me to kill her. They wanted their men to think I had killed her.”
Olthorin felt sick. It couldn’t be true, could it? Did Shalyrie have a reason not to go back to the Almorians? How badly did they want their war against the horsemen? There was no better way to make sure every Almorian soldier hated the horsemen than to let them watch her be attacked just as she was about to reach safety. Every one of them would fight to defend her, and every one of them would seek to avenge her murder.
“Where is she?” Olthorin asked desperately. “I’ve been searching since the battle, but I can’t find her.”
“We are searching,” Kalleck said. “She is the only one who saw the truth. Why else would she run away from your people and not toward them? Do you think she wanted to die lost and alone in the hills? She knew!”
Olthorin took a deep breath. “Forgive me, Kalleck,” he said. “I thought you had betrayed us.”
“Haven’t you seen what I have already done to keep her alive?” Kalleck exclaimed. “I could have killed her at any moment since the bridge or done nothing to help her and she would have died. Have I not done everything in my power to keep her alive? Why would I order someone to kill her? Now she’s out there in the rain. It’s getting colder. If we don’t find her, she’ll be dead by morning, no matter what we do.”
“I want to look for her!”
“No,” Kalleck said flatly. “Many of my men are already searching. If they see you out there, they will kill you. Stay here. Don’t try to harm anyone.” He looked around at the hurt men. “Enough damage has been done today.”
“But… Shalyrie,” Olthorin protested. He would have protested more, but the look in Kalleck’s eyes silenced him. Some of Kalleck’s men took him outside. He didn’t resist them as they led him to another building. They entered what might have been a stable. Three walls and a roof. They were out of the rain, at least. The horsemen were watching him suspiciously and kept their weapons in their hands.
Where was Shalyrie?
CHAPTER 8
Kalleck, Son of Gallidack, First Guardian of the Yalkur
Kalleck threw a cloak around his shoulders and went out into the rainy night. His men had already been searching for the girl for a long time. It was getting late and the temperature was still dropping. They needed to find her quickly. She was already weakened by her injury and, if she was wet from the rain, she would freeze to death.
She was the key—his only proof of the sea-folk’s treachery—and he needed to find her alive. His men were systematically checking every draw and hollow. They knew the land, even in the dark, but they didn’t know how far she had gone, and it would be hard to find her if she was hiding. He impatiently went out to meet the men who’d been searching. He grew more anxious as the first few to report had found no sign of her. At last, one of them had news.
“Tammal found something,” one of them said.
“Did he find the girl?”
“No. A few sea-folk.”
“Where?”
The man pointed, and Kalleck headed in that direction to find Tammal. When he found him, Tammal was carrying the girl in his arms.
“Is she alive?” Kalleck asked.
“She was, First Guardian.”
“Were the sea-folk searching for her too?”
Tammal nodded. “I killed two. There may still be more out there.”
“I will take her back to the village. I need you to gather Sinnar and the others. Tell them you found her. No more need to fight with the sea-folk tonight. Tell Sinnar to report back to me.”
“As you command, First Guardian.” Tammal handed the girl to Kalleck and disappeared into the dark.
She didn’t respond at all to the motion. Her skin was as cold as ice. He put his ear near her nose and mouth. It was slow and faint, but she was breathing. She was alive! There was still a chance of resolving the conflict with the sea-folk.
He hurried back toward the ruins of the village.
As he passed one of the stables, someone yelled his name. “Kalleck!” It was her brother, Olthorin. His voice was desperate. Kalleck came around the corner to see him struggling with his guards.
“Stop!” he ordered in Almorian. Olthorin paused. Kalleck spoke to the guards. “He only wants to know if she lives.” They took a step back and allowed Olthorin to run to Kalleck and bend down over the still form in his arms.
“You found her! Please tell me she isn’t dead.” He touched her face and put his ear near her lips.
“She lives,” Kalleck said.
Olthorin listened to her breathe with obvious relief, and the look of the tension on his face eased.
“She won’t last long unless we can warm her. I need to get her out of the rain.” Kalleck moved toward one of the few buildings still intact.
Olthorin moved to follow and the guards seized his arms. “Please let me stay with her. Please!”
Kalleck looked at the guards. “He will come with me.”
They nodded and released Olthorin.
Kalleck took her into the cottage. It was crowded with wounded men and he could see them looking darkly at the Almorian. Olthorin followed and didn’t say a word. Kalleck set the girl down near the hearth where it was warmest. If he hadn’t already heard her breathing, he would have assumed she was dead. Her skin was white and cold, and her lips were blue. And there was so much blood. The whole front of her body was soaked with it, staining the pale fabric of her dress. But she was still breathing.
“How is she still alive?” Olthorin gasped, staring in horror. He bent over her, looking for injuries. There was a stab wound on her chest, just at her neckline. It was still bleeding, and there was no way to know how deep it was. Kalleck took a piece of cloth and applied pressure to it.
Olthorin was beside him, rubbing her arms and hands, trying to warm them. “Her skin feels like ice.” His voice was tense and worried.
Kalleck put a few more pieces of wood on the fire, while Olthorin pulled some blankets over her.
For a long time, they sat on the floor beside her and watched her, willing her to wake up. She didn’t respond. Olthorin touched her cheek. “Shalyrie! Please! Can you hear me?”
Finally, she opened her
eyes, clutching at his hand. “Olthorin!” Her eyes looked panicked. “They tried to kill me,” she gasped. “I ran…” She had begun to shiver violently. “Where is Kalleck? Ask him not to kill us! Please. We didn’t know what they were planning. We would not betray him. Where is Kalleck?”
“I’m here,” Kalleck said. “You are safe for now. Are you hurt anywhere else?”
“Here,” she said weakly, touching her chest.
“That’s all?” Olthorin asked urgently.
“Yes.”
Olthorin looked down at her intently. “Shalyrie,” he said. “I have to know. The man who tried to kill you, was he an Almorian?”
“Yes! What am I going to do? I can’t go back. They’ll kill me!”
He put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry now. You’re safe for tonight. Just rest now.”
She took a deep, shuddering breath. Her eyes closed again.
“Rest,” Olthorin repeated. He turned back to Kalleck. “You were right,” he said. “I misjudged you, and your people.”
“I told you they wouldn’t give up easily,” Kalleck said grimly.
“But to try to kill Shalyrie? How could they do that?”
“Are all your people so treacherous?”
“No, King Telthan would never tolerate anything like this if he knew of it, nor would I!”
Kalleck looked up as Sinnar came in. He bent to one knee and leaned close to Kalleck. “I think you should see this,” he said quietly.
“What is it?”
“We were finishing our patrol and killed some of them. They were out in groups—I assume searching for her. We watched them for a long time and most of them had gone back. Then we saw one man alone. No one else was near. I was going to kill him, but when I got close, he spoke to me in Yalkur. He asked me not to kill him. He asked to see the First Guardian.”
“Did he ask to see the leader of the horsemen?” Kalleck asked.
