Soldier Saved

by D. K. Holmberg

  If that were the case, maybe they wouldn’t come for him.

  Endric crept forward, wanting to check on the merahl. As he approached, the female lifted her head and looked at him, staring with that bright-eyed intelligence that was a feature of their kind. The male merahl remained resting, not looking up as Endric approached.

  “Are you any better?” he asked. His voice came out as a croak, his mouth dry. How long had it been since he had anything to drink? They hadn’t camped near a stream, so there was no supply of water other than what had been in his saddlebags, and those were now missing, gone with the horse that had run off.

  The merahl’s ears perked and swiveled toward him. She watched, making no sound.

  That troubled him.

  Had he harmed her so badly that she couldn’t make any sound? That had not been his intent. He hadn’t wanted to hurt the merahl. He wanted only to save her, to rescue her from whatever darkness consumed her, but had he cut into her mouth and gums too deeply?

  He continued to scoot toward her.

  A particularly loud peal of thunder crashed and Endric jerked his head around with a start. It seemed to come from across the sea, rolling in with it, moving on the waves as they crashed against the rocks. Lightning streaked across the sky, a bright burst of light that seemed nearly as vibrant as daylight. When it passed, when the lightning finally faded and the echoes of thunder eased back to nothingness, Endric looked over at the merahl.

  They still watched him. Her ears swiveled, an alertness to them that hadn’t been there before. Was there less hatred and violence in her eyes than there had been?

  It was too much to hope for. He couldn’t believe that she had been cured of whatever had tainted her simply because he’d sliced through the markings with his sword and pushed on them as if they were teralin whose polarity had needed to be reversed.

  No, this was likely a ploy by the merahl, another way of convincing him to release them. Endric wanted to. In spite of himself, despite of knowing that he should not, he wanted to release the merahl from the strips of cloth wrapped around their legs and mouth. It pained him seeing the creatures confined in such a way.

  “Why did you have to attack?” He sat up on his knees, leaning forward. It caused pain to shoot down his leg, but less than he expected. Maybe it wasn’t fractured as he had feared. “What happened to you? Where are the Antrilii?” The merahl made no sound, only watching him with her intense stare. “You are supposed to hunt the groeliin.”

  At the mention of the groeliin, the merahl started growling.

  “Groeliin?”

  The merahl growled again, this time a deep, rumbling sound that seemed as if she intended to compete with the thunder rolling from the distance.

  “That’s the response I expected. Merahl hunt the groeliin. The Antrilii hunt the groeliin. And I am descended from the Antrilii.” He scooted forward, watching the merahl’s response, but there didn’t seem to be any. She watched him, her ears twisting as they had since she’d awoken, but she made no other sound. “Do you remember attacking me?”

  The merahl snorted. Was that a shake of her head, or was that his imagination?

  “You attacked and forced me to subdue you. I couldn’t kill you. I probably should have, considering you were trying so hard to kill me, but… you are merahl. I’ve hunted alongside your kind.”

  Endric moved forward, staying on his knees. One hand remained close to his sword, ready to swing it around if necessary, but the merahl didn’t attempt to claw him as she had before. She did nothing other than watch him.

  Could he have restored her?

  That seemed too much to hope for, but whatever had happened no longer seemed to be influencing her in quite the same way. Maybe she had been healed. The only way to know with certainty would be to remove the wrappings from her mouth and legs, but doing that exposed him to the potential of attack. Was he ready to do that?

  Could he do anything otherwise?

  If he left her this way, he would be forced to find a way to feed her and get her water or he would need to simply bring an end to her. He couldn’t keep her confined indefinitely. Doing that was cruel, and Endric had no interest in cruelty.

  “I’m going to remove the wrapping around your mouth so that I can look at the marks inside it.”

  The merahl made no sound. Endric crawled closer and reached her head. He was ready for her to spin and snap at him, but she did not. He leaned on her neck the same way he had before and carefully began unwrapping the binding around her snout. When that was done, he lifted her lip.

  The marking had healed.

  There remained a hint of a scar, little more than raised flesh, and it was discolored, but it was not the same marking that had been there before.

  He twisted her jaw, looking at the other side. It was the same. When he spread her mouth open, he found that the lining of her mouth was discolored and slightly raised with a scar, but there was no evidence of the marking that had been there.

  Endric left the wrapping off her mouth and scooted back, watching her.

  She eyed him the way that she had before and ran her tongue along her lips, but made no other sound. She made no effort to try chewing at the bindings on her legs, though if he left her like this for much longer, he suspected she would. She would be too smart to not think of it. It was a matter of time before she attempted to escape in that way.

  Endric stopped at the male merahl and examined his mouth. The markings had healed equally well on him. The male remained asleep and barely stirred as Endric lifted his lips, looking first at one side, and then at the other.

  He left the wrapping off his mouth as well.

  Endric sat back, watching the two merahl. The female did nothing at first, and then, gradually, she started sliding toward the male. When she neared him, she started licking his fur and then moved around to lick at his mouth. Slowly, the male stirred and began licking at the female’s mouth.

  Thunder rumbled in the distance. A flash of lightning followed, leaving a sizzling energy in the air.

  Endric suspected he imagined it more than anything else, but the merahl moved closer, and that energy seemed to build.

  Rain no longer threatened and began drizzling down on him.

  Endric slid back toward the tree, getting near the cover of the overhanging branches, and watched as the merahl continued running their tongues along each other. After a while, they reached the wrappings along their legs. The female looked up and caught Endric’s eyes, and in a flurry of sharp fangs, she tore the wrappings off the male, and he did the same to her.

  Endric sat ready, watching to see what would happen.

  The female got to her feet and made a slow circle of the clearing. She sniffed at the air and then nuzzled at the male until he got up.

  If it came to a fight, Endric would fail.

  He stood, ready to climb the tree, doubting that he would have much protection. He hoped the destruction of the markings on the merahl had been enough and that they no longer were tainted in the way that they had been.

  Was that even possible?

  The merahl turned and crouched, turning their attention to him so that they could watch him. The female made a strange sound and there seemed to be a message buried within it, but Endric didn’t know what it would be. The male seemed to understand and repeated it, making a similar sound.

  They didn’t attack.

  Endric considered that progress.

  “You don’t have to stay with me,” he said. “It might be better if you didn’t. I don’t know if you’re healed, so I don’t know if it’s safe for me to stay this close to you.” He set his sword across his legs and watched the merahl.

  Neither of them moved.

  Thunder rumbled again. The rain began to pelt down, slicing through his cloak, and he shivered. The cloak had been damaged in the fight with the merahl, leaving it in tatters. There was only so much protection it could offer now, and a chill began to run through him.

  His
stomach rumbled and he tipped his head back, catching some of the rain in his mouth, moistening his dry lips and throat.

  When he looked back, the merahl had crawled closer to him.

  All he wanted was to find Urik and Tresten and see what the Mage had planned. Tresten had been chasing something, unless it had all been a part of a growing confusion on his part. Endric didn’t want to think that was the case. He wanted to believe that Tresten still had his full faculties and that he had not begun to slip, but after everything he’d seen—and the fact that he hadn’t come back for Endric—he wondered if that were the case.

  The rain began to sleet down.

  After days spent with the thunder chasing them, the steady rumbling a constant threat, it wasn’t surprising that it finally came. It was unfortunate that Endric was so unprepared for it, and unfortunate that his cloak had been shredded. Even more unfortunate was that he had no fire to provide warmth and nothing for shelter from the rain.

  The merahl crawled closer.

  They were near enough that they could attack. One single lunge—one quick snap—and they could reach him.

  Had they been healed?

  All he had done was damage markings that had been placed inside their mouths. It made no sense that that alone would be enough to taint them, that that alone would be enough to twist them so that they would attack him rather than continue their hunt for the groeliin.

  Teralin required intent. It was likely that whatever had happened to the merahl had an intent, but whose intent? Who was responsible for this?

  Could the groeliin have been responsible?

  He’d seen the way they had placed similar markings, so that certainly was possible. Could it have been the Deshmahne? They used markings that had a similar quality, but those were dark and inky, nothing like what had been placed on the merahl.

  Thunder rumbled again and the rain sheeted down.

  The merahl pressed against him. Neither made any noise, and neither made any attempt to harm him. They pressed their bodies against him, warmth radiating off them, pushing away the chill.

  “Thank you,” Endric said.

  The female merahl made a soft sound, something like a whistle mixed with a howl.

  Endric almost understood that. It was an acknowledgment, a recognition that they could help him, and could there have been an apology buried within it?

  He suspected that was only his imagination.

  Endric brought his arms around and rested them on top of the merahl. His hands entwined in the thick fur and he sat like that, staring out at the night, listening to the sound of the storm and the waves crashing, thankful that he was still alive, and thankful that the merahl seemed to have been restored.

  32

  The storm lasted most of the night, during which the merahl remained next to him, providing their warmth and a sense of comfort. Endric wondered how much of their presence was for his comfort and how much of it was for theirs. It was possible that both of them got something out of it.

  As dawn broke, Endric stood. His body was stiff and he still had a pain in his leg that matched the throbbing in his head. He didn’t recall hitting his head, but didn’t recall many of the injuries he’d sustained while trying to subdue the merahl.

  With the passing of the storm, the humidity in the air lessened, leaving it cool, practically cold with the wind that whipped off the sea. There was an earthy scent to the air, and it mixed with something almost floral, a pleasant aroma.

  He’d left his sword unsheathed, and now that he stood, he slipped it back into its sheath and started toward the ledge looking out over the ocean. The merahl shook themselves and joined him.

  As he stared out across the sea, Endric contemplated what he needed to do next.

  Finding Tresten, discovering what had happened to him, had to be a part of it. In addition, he needed to ensure that Urik hadn’t attacked the Mage. And then there was discovering what happened with the merahl and seeing why they had been tainted.

  He risked himself standing this close to the ledge with the merahl that had attempted to kill him only a day before. If they attacked, lunging at him, they could toss him over the edge, down onto the sharp rocks below where the sea would claim him quickly.

  Endric looked over his shoulder. The merahl watched him. The female in particular sat back on her haunches, her eyes blazing brightly. The male sat behind her, no less intensity in his gaze.

  “I can’t walk, not well.”

  The female stood and rubbed up against his side.

  Endric grunted. “I need to find Mage Tresten. He’s left me here.”

  Why was he sharing with the merahl in this way? It was unlikely that they would understand what he was saying or what he needed, but for some reason, he felt compelled to speak.

  The female nudged him again. She pushed him away from the ledge and toward the trees.

  “My leg,” Endric said, looking down at his shredded boot. He wasn’t angry about what had happened, especially if the merahl had not been in control. What good would it do for him to be angry with them, especially when he had seen others who had been similarly affected?

  The female nudged him again.

  “I can’t walk any significant distances.” His leg had begun feeling better, but it still throbbed. Even walking to the trees left his leg aching.

  The female dropped her head and pushed on him.

  What was she trying to do? Where was she trying to get him to go? He wouldn’t be able to get very far, not injured as he was, and if that was going to anger the merahl, it would be better for them to head out on their own.

  “You can return to hunt the groeliin,” he said. “You don’t need to remain here with me.”

  The female nudged him again, this time with enough force that he was lifted and tossed onto her back. He started to slide off, but she shifted, forcing him back atop her. She started running, streaking into the trees with Endric atop her. The male raced alongside.

  Endric gripped her fur, fearing another injury were he to let go.

  Was this her intent? He’d never heard of any of the Antrilii riding atop the merahl, but then, how many of the Antrilii had been injured by them? Endric wanted Nahrsin to answer questions. After what he’d been through, he had dozens of questions about the merahl and about the Antrilii that he hadn’t thought to ask when he had been in the Antrilii lands before.

  The merahl ran quickly, their strides fluid and not jarring as Endric would have expected. Had he been sitting atop his horse, each step would have sent pain shooting through him. With the merahl, there was barely any pressure when her steps touched the ground before she leaped off again. Each step carried them quickly into the trees, racing away from the shore that he’d been following for the last week while traveling with Tresten.

  Was this even the right direction?

  “I need to find Mage Tresten,” Endric said.

  Wind from the speed of their running tore the words from him, and he wasn’t even certain whether the merahl heard—or understood. They continued racing through the forest, running long enough that Endric began to lose track of time. The trees blocked out the sunlight but also blocked out most of the wind, other than that which whistled past him from the speed of their travels.

  They emerged from the trees and appeared on a massive rolling plain. Grasses stretched in front of them. They had to be too far south for this to be Saeline, though it had much of the same appearance. The merahl turned, heading westerly. Every so often, the female would slow and sniff the air before she streaked off, moving quickly again.

  Once free of the forest, they veered slightly south.

  Where was she taking him? She smelled something, though whether it was a Mage or whether it was something else, he did not know.

  By late in the day, they began to slow.

  The landscape had changed, leaving it hillier, less of the flat lands they had been crossing. The tall grasses of the open plains had shifted, becoming drier. The merahl no longer
raced as they had before. It surprised Endric that they would slow here, rather than through the trees. They had moved more swiftly through the forest than they did along the grasslands. Could they be tired? Certainly, the female would be. She’d carried Endric on her back, his fists gripping her fur so that he wasn’t thrown off, but he had a sense that they slowed for a reason not related to fatigue.

  A tall hill rose in front of him.

  As they reached the summit, the female stopped. She lowered her head and let Endric climb off. He patted her side and whispered a soft thanks.

  When he was free of her, she lowered herself, crawling toward the peak of the hill, where she remained low to the ground. The male followed her and Endric decided to see what it was that they detected.

  He shimmied along the ground until he reached the space between the two merahl. His leg didn’t throb as badly as it had when they first started. His head no longer pounded. Strangely, he felt refreshed. Only his forearms throbbed, and that was from maintaining his grip as long as he had while riding in this direction.

  When he poked his head up, his breath caught.

  Far below, he counted a half dozen other merahl.

  They sat in a circle, their attention focused toward a dozen men in the middle. Tresten and Urik were among them, but who were the others? From the distance, it was difficult to tell.

  “This is what you wanted me to see?” Endric asked.

  The merahl whimpered softly.

  “What is it you expect me to be able to do? There are too many of them.”

  The female flashed her teeth at him. No—not her teeth, but the injured part of her mouth.

  “You want me to heal them.”

  She nuzzled up against him.

  Endric knew how to help the merahl now, but in order to do so, he would need to separate them. Six merahl were too many for him to attempt to contain at one time. Even two had been almost more than he could handle.

  “Can you draw them off?”