Prince Derri gazed up at the solid vertical wall of rock and tried to imagine someone dropping the bracelet. He shook his head and returned to examining it.
"This bracelet has not been here long," he announced, "and that bothers me."
"Bothers you in what way?" asked Sandar.
Unexpectedly the snap of a bowstring split the air. The warriors instantly rose to their feet and drew their weapons while looking around for the hidden archer. They did not see the archer, but they saw a man falling from the top of the cliff where the canyon emptied into the large circular area. The man had an arrow sticking in his chest. At the same time, a group of men came running into the canyon with their swords drawn.
"The Borundans!" shouted Sandar.
"Stay here," instructed Prince Derri as he handed the bracelet to Jared.
"Spread out," ordered Prince Antion. "It is time to end the lives of Captain Xero and his men."
The eight Borundan soldiers also spread out, and the two groups approached each other.
"Sandar," Prince Antion spoke softly, "move to the far left and concentrate on a single opponent. Monte, you go to the far right and do the same. That leaves six for the four of us. Any suggestions?"
"I say we kill them," quipped Prince Umal. "We can work out the details later."
The Borundans rushed forward, and the warriors met them with steel. Jared edged back against the wall, clutching the golden bracelet. He realized that he was gripping the delicate artwork and slipped it over his hand.
"Jared?" a melodious voice called from above. "Come to me, Jared."
Jared frowned and looked up just in time to jump out of the way of a rope that was thrown down. He moved away from the wall and stared up at a beautiful dark-haired maiden dressed from head to toe in white furs.
"Use the rope, Jared," sang the voice of the mysterious female. "Hurry, you must not be hurt."
Jared remained frozen as he stared at the beautiful woman.
"You do know how to climb, don't you, Jared?" smiled the woman. "Hurry. Your life is in danger."
"But my friends," Jared protested as he turned to see the battle begin.
"Your friends may die, Jared," the woman said in a musical voice, "but you cannot help them, can you? You can't. You mustn't. You cannot use the Talent for such a thing. Climb the rope before you get killed. Hurry!"
Jared hesitated just a moment as he wondered who the woman was, but he realized that her words were truthful. Not only did she speak the truth, but she also understood him. She knew that he could not use the Talent to kill. Jared grabbed the rope and quickly scaled the cliff.
Clashes of steel echoed off the canyon walls as the warriors met the Borundan charge. Prince Derri ducked under a swing and threw his body to the ground in front of Prince Antion. He rolled when he hit the ground and toppled two Borunda soldiers. The Arin prince was ready for the trick that they had practiced as boys. His long two-handed sword slashed left and then right, slicing into the two Borundans as they stumbled to the ground. Prince Derri leaped to his feet to meet a Borundan that had turned around to slay him, but the Arin prince caught the soldier from behind.
Talot met a Borundan's swing with a mighty swing of his axe. The man's sword went flying from his hand, and the Lomite giant followed through by shoving the shaft of the axe into the soldier's throat. Prince Umal danced lightly on his feet as his twin scimitars whirled in his hands. He met a Borundan's swing with one scimitar while he brought the other scimitar down on the soldier's extended arm. He whirled his body into the wounded soldier and turned to thrust a scimitar into the gut of another soldier.
Sandar was holding his own against his opponent, but neither could find an opening to make a killing strike. Talot's axe solved the problem as it crushed into the soldier's head from behind. Monte had managed to fend off the blows of his opponent, but the Borundan had constantly worked the Caroomite archer backwards until Monte had his back against the wall and had nowhere to retreat to. Prince Derri raced up behind the soldier and sliced into his neck. The fight was over quickly, and the only sounds were the cries of the soldier without his sword arm. Prince Umal ended the man's misery and silence fell over the canyon.
Prince Antion ran over to the body that had fallen from the cliff with the arrow in his gut. He stared at Captain Xero's dead body and then turned to see who had shot him. He saw the woman in white standing on top of the cliff above where Jared had been left. The Arin prince saw the gold bracelet on her wrist as she turned and walked away.
"Wait!" shouted Prince Antion. "Come back."
The others looked up to see Prince Antion race to the wall and try to climb up it, but the cliff was a sheer vertical face, and he could find no purchase.
"Who was she?" asked Prince Umal.
"You saw her too?" asked Prince Antion. "I thought maybe she was just a vision."
"I have seen many mirages in my life," smiled the Odessian prince, "but never one so beautiful. Was she with the archer who killed Captain Xero?"
"What are you two talking about?" asked Prince Derri. "What woman?"
"Where is Jared?" asked Talot.
Everyone stopped talking and began looking around the circular area. Within moments it became clear that Jared was gone.
"She has him," scowled Prince Antion.
"How can you say that?" asked Prince Umal. "What did she do, fly down and pick him up?"
"How else do you explain his disappearance?" retorted the Arin prince. "Jared could not have gotten past us or the Borundans to leave this area of the canyon. Besides, she was wearing the golden bracelet that Derri found."
"My bracelet?" balked the Salacian prince. "Will one of you tell me who we are talking about? I saw no woman."
"Then you missed a most beautiful sight," declared the Odessian prince. "Her hair was as dark as the sky on a moonless night, and she was wrapped in white furs with the pureness of summer clouds."
"This is not the time to fall in love," berated the Arin prince. "We have to find a way to the top of this cliff."
"Perhaps we should discuss this somewhere else before we go chasing after damsels," suggested Talot.
"I am not after her," frowned Prince Antion. "She must have taken Jared somehow, and we must get him back."
"I understand your motives," the giant replied with a serious tone, "but we must discuss this before going after her. Something is not right here, and these walls might have ears."
"I agree," nodded Prince Derri. "Let us retreat from this area of the canyon."
Prince Antion nodded reluctantly, and the group retrieved their horses and rode out of the circular area. Prince Derri halted the group where the canyon was its widest and everyone dismounted.
"Why the need for such precautions?" asked Prince Antion.
"King Gharkin purposely led us here," stated Talot, "and we just happened to get ambushed by the Borundans. Don't you find that a wee bit peculiar?"
"That might be a coincidence," added Prince Derri, "but it is stranger still. Someone placed that bracelet for us to find. We find it just before we get ambushed, and we leave Jared at that very spot to remain safe, but he turns up missing along with the bracelet. I agree with Talot. We have been set up here."
"And our natural reaction is to immediately follow this raving beauty," Talot pointed out. "Someone is leading us around by the nose."
"And a Lomite knows how that game is played," chuckled Monte. "If anyone can spot a trap designed to lure people into deeper trouble, my gold is on Talot."
"All right," conceded Prince Antion. "You all make good points, but we cannot abandon Jared. He is the only hope the Land of the Nine Kingdoms has to defeat the dark prince. We have to go after him."
"I suspect that he is the dark king by now," commented Sandar.
"Whatever," shrugged Prince Antion. "If the woman took Jared by force, why didn't he cry out for help?"
"Maybe he didn't recognize the danger?" offered Sandar. "The woman's friends must have killed Ca
ptain Xero for us, and that alerted us to the ambush. If she wanted one of us dead, she could easily have targeted us instead."
"Captain Xero had a bow when he was shot," Prince Antion informed the others. "I found it not far from his body. It is possible that the kidnappers shot Captain Xero in self-defense and not to help us. I agree that the woman and her friends may be dangerous, and that we should be careful, but we must go after Jared regardless of the danger to ourselves."
"I agree," said Prince Derri. "As long as we are all aware of the potential danger, we must track Jared down."
"There are so many spurs in this canyon," frowned Prince Umal, "that if we try to investigate each one, we will spend the entire day trying to find a way to the top. We could split up and accomplish the task quicker."
"We could," agreed Prince Antion, "but we are not splitting up. We will follow Jared's track until we find him, but we are not going to rush into anything, and we are not going to separate so that the kidnappers can pick us off one by one. We stay together, and if it takes all day, then it takes all day. Lead on, Derri."
The group methodically began searching the canyon and all of the spurs that led off of it. Within an hour they found the cave where Captain Xero's men had camped out and had left their horses. Prince Umal untied the horses and let them roam free.
"There is a bit of a footpath up the side here," Monte pointed out. "That must be how Captain Xero got to the top."
"Probably," nodded Prince Derri, "but that will not do for us. For one thing, it is on the wrong side of the canyon to follow Jared, and for another, we would have to leave the horses behind."
"Do you think we will need the horses to track Jared?" asked Prince Antion.
"Do you wish to get up there and find out that you need them?" asked Prince Derri. "Besides, without horses, we will die here come winter. There have already been too many strange things happening since we entered this canyon. I want to keep the horses with us."
"Agreed," nodded Prince Umal. "I doubt that the kidnappers live on the edge of this canyon. The horses will come in handy when we get to the top."
Prince Antion nodded, and the group continued to search the spurs of the canyon. They took their midday meal without stopping to rest and finally found a winding path leading upwards as the sun was heading below the horizon. By the time they reached the top of the canyon wall, the sky had grown dark, and they could not see the shape of the labyrinth below them.
"It is too dangerous to continue onward," declared the Salacian prince. "One misstep and someone will tumble over the edge. I suggest we spend the night here and start again in the morning."
"Tie the horses tonight," Prince Antion said to Prince Umal. "I don't want to lose any of them. Come morning I don't want anything to slow us down in our pursuit of Jared."
Chapter 54 - Winona
Winona
The dawn washed over the Roof of the World bringing light to a cloudless sky. The sun still lingered behind the endless mountain peaks, but the canyon was illuminated enough to show what appeared to be a never-ending warren of spurs and dead ends. Prince Derri studied the maze for several minutes to get his bearings before joining the rest of the group for the morning meal.
"What does it look like?" asked Prince Antion. "Can we reach the spot where we saw the woman?"
"We can," replied the Salacian prince, "and we will. She would have been behind that outcrop over there." He pointed. "Our path will be convoluted, but we should be there within an hour."
"As soon as you are ready then." Prince Antion nodded.
"I have little appetite," replied Prince Derri. "Let us get an early start."
"I think our Salacian prince is eager to find the woman in white furs," offered Prince Umal.
Prince Derri smiled as he shook his head defensively. "Finding the place where she stood will only be the beginning of our tracking. She is most likely far away by now, and tracking her in the mountains will not be an easy task."
"But track her we must," Prince Antion said seriously. "Let's get started."
Within minutes the group was mounted and underway. Prince Derri led at a slow pace as they followed a narrow ridge that twisted and turned around the perimeter of the endless canyon. Twenty minutes into the ride, Prince Derri halted and stared across several sections of the canyon. Off in the distance he could see the woman in white sitting on the ground staring at him. The others halted and followed the Salacian's gaze.
"She is waiting for us," Prince Umal said cautiously.
"So it would appear." Prince Derri frowned. "Does she seek to lure us into a trap?"
"Let's not get careless where this woman is concerned," warned Prince Antion. "I have little doubt that she aided the kidnappers. I also think she has already lured us once with her golden charm. Be wary."
Prince Derri nodded and started leading again. He kept his attention divided between the path along the winding ridge and the woman who gave every appearance of waiting for them to arrive. Another twenty minutes of riding finally brought the group to the area above where the battle had been the day before. The woman stood to greet them.
"You could have just climbed up the cliff," she sighed. "You made me wait a day for you to arrive."
"And leave our horses below?" Prince Derri responded. "My Odessian friend would never have spoken to me again."
"Where is Jared?" Prince Antion demanded.
The dark-haired beauty frowned at the Arin prince. "Jared is safe," she replied caustically. "There is no need to thank me for saving his life or eliminating the archer who was about to kill him."
Prince Antion's eyes narrowed as he surveyed the woman. The only weapon he could see was a belt knife. "You killed Captain Xero?" he questioned.
"Do you find that impossible to believe, oh mighty warrior?" she retorted sarcastically. "Your gratitude is most warming."
"There are no women warriors in our lands," Prince Derri interjected. "Have you friends nearby?"
"None that should concern you," the woman replied cautiously. "Jared is safe inside the cave behind me. I will get him for you."
Prince Antion dismounted and moved as if he were about to enter the cave. The woman glared at him and then quickly disappeared into a small hollow in the cliff wall. Prince Antion drew his sword, causing Monte, Talot, and Sandar to dismount and draw their weapons.
"Easy, my friend," Prince Umal said softly as he and Prince Derri dismounted. "She has made no move to be offensive, and there is a chance that her words are truthful."
A moment later, Jared crawled out of the cave. He appeared to be unharmed and smiled at his friends.
"I knew that you would not leave me," Jared smiled.
The Arin prince sheathed his sword and embraced Jared. The woman crawled out of the cave carrying a bow, quiver, and a sheathed two-handed sword. Prince Derri's eyes widened as the woman strapped on her weapons.
"Do you know how to use that sword?" he asked skeptically.
"It intimidates strangers that I meet," the woman retorted humorlessly. "I am called Winona, and I will guide you to Harangar."
"Harangar?" asked Talot.
Prince Antion released Jared and turned to face the woman. "I apologize for my suspicions," he said sincerely, "but I am sworn to protect Jared with my life. I get anxious when he is not at my side."
"Understandable," Winona replied with grudging acceptance.
"You seem to be knowledgeable about these mountains," the Arin prince continued. "What we seek is a pass through the Roof of the World. Do you know of such a pass?"
Winona did not immediately reply. She stared at the Arin prince for several moments before saying, "I was told that you were in search of Orro. Is that not the case?"
"It is Orro that we seek," Prince Antion replied with widened eyes. "Do you know of him?"
"I would not be here if I could not help you in your quest," frowned the woman.
"You were told about us?" Talot asked suspiciously. "Who told you about us?"
>
Winona appeared confused and stepped backwards to put space between her and the group. "You must identify yourselves to me," she demanded. "I will say no more until you do."
Most of the group tensed, as they had grown accustomed to hiding their identities and were suspicious of anyone seeking to learn more about them, but the Salacian prince spoke.
"I am Derri," he offered. "My friends are Talot, Monte, Umal, Sandar, and Antion. You already met Jared yesterday. Why do our identities trouble you?"
Winona relaxed somewhat and nodded as she exhaled her pent up tenseness. "I understand now," she said. "King Gharkin did not tell you that I would be waiting for you?"
"He did not mention anything," confirmed Prince Antion. "Should he have?"
"I guess not," Winona replied. "He has long been forbidden to mention the existence of Orro, but he came here recently to ask if you might be sent on to us. He was given permission, and I assumed that you knew that I was waiting to guide you. How is it that you just happened to appear here at the appointed place?"
"I think King Gharkin correctly guessed what we would do upon leaving his camp," offered Prince Umal. "We suspected that he knew more than he was letting on, and we decided to track where he had gone while we were kept in his camp."
"Very clever of both you and King Gharkin," the woman nodded with appreciation. "He has not broken his vow, and yet he has fulfilled your request."
"What about Captain Xero and his men?" asked Prince Antion. "Were they supposed to part of our welcome, too?"
"No." Winona shook her head. "They arrived three days ago and took up residence in a cave in the canyon. One of them would always be up on the ridge watching over the plains. There is an excellent view from up there. One can see for many miles. They appeared to be searching for someone. I guess it was you that they were looking for. I did not realize the danger until the one on the ridge signaled the others to ambush you. When he aimed his bow at Jared, I struck first. I am under orders to protect you and see you to Harangar."
"What is this Harangar?" questioned the Arin prince. "Is it a place or a person?"
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