by Andre Norton
Yareth engaged the fourth, steel to steel, while Eirran watched with her heart in her throat. He hadn't handled a weapon in so long— The Hound pressed to the attack and Yareth was forced to give ground. The Hound lunged, certain of victory. Eirran cried out. But Yareth turned aside at the last moment. The Hound's sword blade slid past harmlessly, and the man impaled himself on Yareth's dagger. Yareth and Eirran exchanged glances and she began to breathe again.
Hirl rose grinning, the Hound's sword and dagger in his possession, and met Weldyn emerging triumphant from his own battle.
“Well done,” the Falconer said, and Hirl's grin widened at the unaccustomed praise.
“They've got a basket of bread and meat here, untouched,” Dunnis said. “I can eat and fight at the same time, and I'm not at all proud about accepting Hound leavings.”
“We haven't touched a bite since last night,” Weldyn said. “Go ahead. But hurry.”
They all began hastily digging into the basket, taking as much as their hands would hold.
“No!” Eirran cried. They all turned to stare at her. “The children,” she said. “They might be hungry.”
“You're right,” Dunnis said. He put his share back into the basket. “We'll take this to them.” He gave Eirran a shadow of his old merry smile. “Like a picnic.”
Quickly, Yareth distributed the captured weapons. Now, among them, they had four swords and five daggers. Eirran clutched the dagger he handed her. Then, with all due caution, they hurried out of the gatehouse. Newbold had disappeared.
Weldyn said something in falconsong to Sharpclaw, and the bird rose in the air, following Newbold.
“Wait!” Eirran said. “Call him back!” All heads turned in her direction. “I—I can hear Jenys.”
“That's impossible,” Weldyn said. Nevertheless, he whistled Sharpclaw back to his fist.
“Nevertheless, I hear her,” Eirran said stubbornly. “I know the way to go.”
“I believe you,” Yareth said. “Which way?”
“The building in the far corner. And high. Very high.”
They entered the first doorway they came to, only to run up against another group of Hounds. They seemed to run in packs of four within the castle walls, Eirran thought. She ducked under a Hound's guard and buried her dagger in his chest before he could react; Quickly and silently, the grim-faced band of Estcarpians dispatched the rest and added their weapons to the ones they had already captured. Eirran cleaned her dagger and tucked both it and her late opponent's into her belt. Then she picked up his sword. Even if the rest of the men had not been armed by now, nobody—not even Weldyn—would have disputed her right to the weapon. It felt good, solid and reassuring, in her hand.
“Let's go before more of them find us,” she said.
“Sssh,” Yareth said. “Listen.”
From somewhere far away, the fugitives could hear the faint sounds of screeches and thuds.
“Your Newbold is determined, isn't he?” Weldyn asked.
Eirran stared at him for a moment. It was the closest thing to a joke the man had ever made. “He loves Jenys,” she said. “He'd fight his way through a solid door to get to her.”
“Sounds like that's what he's doing.” Weldyn hefted his captured sword. “Come on.”
They met two more Hounds on the first flight of circular stairs.
“Escaped prisoners! Get help!” the closest one shouted. “I'll hold ‘em here!”
The other turned and ran. Weldyn, narrowly shoving past the rest to be first up the stairs, found himself hampered by the central post. The stairs had been designed so it would be in his way, while the defender had free play for his sword.
“Boost!” Yareth shouted.
Weldyn immediately flung himself down on the stairs against the outer wall. Yareth leaped onto Weldyn's shoulders just as the other Falconer rose again, hurling Yareth straight into the startled defender's face. The Hound went down, and Yareth scrambled over him to go after the other man. In a moment, both Hounds lay dead with Falconer steel in their hearts.
Grinning, Weldyn looked at Yareth. “Haven't forgotten everything, I see,” he said, panting a little. “In spite of—you know.”
Eirran brushed past him. She didn't see Newbold anywhere. Then she heard an angry falcon hissing and screeching, and talons scraping against wood. She ran toward the sounds. The corridor ended in two doorways—one, she surmised, leading to the outer wall and the sentry walk. The other opened on another short flight of circular stairs, even tighter and narrower than the first, leading to a barred door at the very top of the tower. Newbold was flying at the door, striking at it repeatedly. A pile of slivers on the floor of the small landing attested to the fury of his attacks.
“Newbold!” The falcon reluctantly returned to Yareth's fist. “Take the keys,” he said, handing Eirran the ring he had removed from the prison guard's belt. Awkwardly, he tried to push the bar up with his free hand and Eirran rushed to help him remove it from the door.
“Do you think any of the keys will work?” she said.
Dunnis was right behind Yareth. The landing was so tiny he couldn't wedge himself onto the landing but had to remain standing on the stairs. He grinned. “Why not?” he said. “There're just so many keys and locks anybody would want to keep track of. Try them.”
Eirran was already fumbling the first key into the lock. It didn't work. She tried the second, and the third.
The fourth key on the ring turned, with a little jiggling, and the lock mechanism reluctantly gave way. Eirran opened the door. A group of little gray ghost-children huddled on a makeshift pile of straw in the corner, terrified. Newbold darted into the room, screeching triumphantly. The ragged little gray creatures ducked and squealed, scattering like chickens. Newbold swooped overhead before landing on the back of a rickety chair and beginning to preen his feathers.
“What did I tell you?” one of the little ghosts said. “You're all so silly! You didn't believe me!”
Another grasped the one nearest her by the hands and began to dance around. “She told us, she told us,” she sang. Her song shifted. “We're sa-aved, we're sa-aved!”
Eirran's range of vision narrowed abruptly. Only one of the children registered clearly in her sight, the one who had first spoken. “Jenys!” she cried. She rushed across the room in a few strides, flung herself down on her knees, and snatched the child to her. “Oh, Jenys, what have they done to you? What have they done to you all? You are so dirty! And so thin!”
She hugged and kissed Jenys as if she could never stop. The other children, even the ones who had been dancing in joy, clustered around her then, each seeking to clasp an arm, her waist, anything. Their little hands were so urgent, Eirran felt as if they sought to draw life and sustenance from her. She sought to include as many as possible in her embrace. One of the girls clung to her leg with one arm while the other thumb remained firmly in her mouth.
“Oh, Mama,” Jenys said weakly. “I was afraid you'd never get here.”
“Well, I'm here now. And we're going to take you out of this terrible place.” She got up, took Jenys by the hand, pulled her to her feet, and started for the door. Jenys sagged and fell. “What's wrong?” she cried.
“She can't walk just yet,” one of the other children said. “Flame can't walk, either, not very fast.”
Eirran paused, looking at her daughter more closely. Only now did she see the terrible marks on her temples. “What did they do to you?”
Jenys's face crumpled and she seemed very near tears for the first time. “They hurt me, Mama,” she whispered.
“Who hurt you?”
“Men. Gray men.”
“They are Kolder,” said the child who had begun singing and dancing with her friend. “My name is Star. I can tell you what you want to know.”
By now the other Estcarpians had hurried up the stairs and into the relative shelter afforded by the room. Hirl stood guard by the door, in case someone came to investigate.
“Ar
e you hungry?” Eirran asked.
The chorus of “oohs” that greeted her words and the way all the children fell upon the food made her even more glad that she had saved back the guards’ meal.
“Meat,” Lisper said. The deep satisfaction in her voice told Eirran exactly how long it had been since the children had been decently fed.
Quickly, between bites, and with a presence of mind far beyond her years, Star told them all that had happened, from the time they had been kidnapped, their adventures going through Alizon Gap, what had befallen Flame and Mouse—
Mouse? Eirran thought in confusion. Oh. She must mean Jenys.
—what had befallen Flame and Mouse since they had been brought to Alizon Castle.
“They want to find a, way to bend all of the Old Race and make us into their slaves. They thought if they used us children, they could find a way to beat us. The Kolder, I mean, not the Alizonders.” Star made a face.
“We thought the Alizonders were going to try to use you children to attempt to open a new Gate to the Kolder world,” Loric said. “That's what Girvan told us.”
“Girvan,” Ranal said in disgust. “An Alizonder through and through. A spy for the Hounds. I don't know how he could ever have been allowed to join the guards.”
“His story was excellent,” Weldyn said. “He came to Estcarp wounded, telling us someone had tried to have him killed for a traitor and pointing to his hurt as proof.”
“And so he was a traitor, but not in the way we thought.” Loric scowled. “This is very bad news. Kolder still alive in our world. I thought they were all destroyed when Lord Simon laid waste to their Nest.”
“These must have been stationed here, coordinating the Alizonder invasion across the sea.”
“Where is this room you spoke of?” Yareth said.
Jenys and the child called Flame began describing the route they had taken. Between them, they provided sufficient detail that any of the rescue party could have been confident of finding the way.
“What do you have in mind?” Loric asked.
“I'm thinking,” Yareth replied.
“Well, first we have to get the children out of here,” Eirran said. She started to pick Jenys up.
“No, Eirran,” Dunnis said. “Let me.”
“She's my child!”
“Yes, but you said yourself we had to get them out of here and I can go faster carrying her than you can.”
Eirran bit her lip. “Very well,” she said. She surrendered Jenys to Dunnis. The little girl looked very frail and weak indeed, in the Guardsman's arms.
“I'll take the other one who's hurt,” Loric said. “We'll get them out of the castle, never fear.”
“Oh, we can help, too,” the little girl called Star said confidently. “We know some tricks to do.”
“Good,” Eirran said, not really listening.
Yareth and Weldyn exchanged glances, and nodded. “Hirl, you and Ranal go with them,” Yareth said.
“What? Aren't you coming?”
“In a while.”
“But—”
“Never mind about us. We'll catch up with you outside the city. Get the horses out also, if you can.”
Ranal turned a little pale; nevertheless, he saluted. “Count on me.” He started for the door.
The children set up a protest, pulling back and balking at leaving part of the company behind. “Oh, we must all go together!” Star cried. “If we don't, we can't—”
“We have to root out the evil here in Alizon Castle,” Yareth said. “Or it will rise again, somewhere else. It must be done, and we are thè ones who must do it.”
Eirran just stared at the Falconers, appalled. What could Yareth and Weldyn be thinking of? They had what they had come for. Now they should all leave, borne on the impetus of their very rashness, while they had even the slightest chance of escape. Hirl and Ranal had a child clinging to each hand, as they had clung to Eirran. Newbold launched himself from the chair back and floated through the door, as if he would go with Jenys. Eirran turned to go after them as well, but Yareth put his hand on her arm.
“These may be the last Kolder left in our world,” he said. “We have to destroy them and their machine.”
Eirran hesitated, torn. She wanted to stay with her husband, and she also longed to escape with her child. How could she choose? The Witch Jewel, nearly forgotten until this moment, burned against Eirran's skin. Of its own volition, her hand reached inside her clothing and took the Jewel out of its hiding place. She stared at it for what seemed to her to be a long time, seeking an answer in its cloudy gray surface. But though it spoke not to her, looking at it made her realize what had to be done.
Her decision made, she ran after Dunnis, and pressed the Jewel into Jenys's hands. “This may help you,” Eirran said. “We found it where—near the spot where you were taken.”
Jenys looked at it wonderingly. “It was Leafs,” she said.
Star glanced at the child who kept her thumb in her mouth. “Lisper?” she said. “Can you work with so many?”
“Yeth,” Lisper said. “I think I can do it. I'll try, anyway. You'll all have to help me, though.”
As if in answer, Mouse held up Leaf’s Witch Jewel. “We have this to help us,” she said. “And when we aren't using it, it's yours to try to see with, Bird.”
“Thanks.”
Bewildered and not understanding what they could be talking about, Eirran touched each of the other girls in turn, stroking one's cheek, ruffling another's unkempt hair, She kissed Jenys, her heart nearly breaking. “Run, those of you who can,” she said. “Stay with these men, and run as fast as you are able!”
“Don't worry about us,” Star said. “And don't worry about yourselves. We'll help a lot, we promise.”
With that, the children followed Loric and Dunnis out of the tower room, gone except for the sound of their footsteps pattering down the stairs.
Eirran faced her husband. “I let you leave me behind once before, and we both suffered for it. Now we have to destroy the and I won't have you tell me no,” she said fiercely. “We'll do it. You and me.”
“And me,” Weldyn said. He frowned at Eirran. “Two Falconers can fight an army of Hounds, let alone three Kolder with one of them locked into’ their controlling machine. But this woman—”
“This woman,” she said clearly, “is the mother of one of the children these unspeakable monsters have hurt. They hurt another woman's child, and would have hurt more before they were through with their foul work. Nothing is more important than that I punish them with my own hands for what they have done.”
Weldyn raised his brows sharply. “Well,” he said to Yareth, “I have Sharpclaw. And you have Newbold. But if she insists on going along with us in this venture, this, this woman must not expect me to come to her aid.”
“You don't need to worry about Eirran,” Yareth said. “She can take care of herself when she needs to.” He whistled. Newbold flew back through the door and settled on his fist.
Then the three of them, swords drawn and ready, descended the narrow stairway and began making their way through the maze of corridors, seeking the gray door behind which the Kolder would be found.
Ten
I
Mouse opened her eyes. “Mama is here!” she said, surprised.
“You're dreaming, silly,” Star said. “We all want our Mamas. But we haven't got them. What happened? You look terrible. Here, drink this.” She held a bottle of something to Mouse's lips.
Mouse swallowed automatically, expecting to taste water. Fire suffused her entire body. She coughed and sputtered, and her eyes filled with tears, but when the burning died down a little she realized the raw, evil-tasting liquid had made her feel a little better.
“Was that the spirits?” she asked.
“Yes. Good thing the Alizonders gave it to us. It's the only thing that's pulled you and Flame through the first hour or so. I wish I had something to give you to eat, but they haven't brought us anythi
ng yet.”
“I couldn't eat anyway. I heard the Baron give orders that we were to get table scraps tonight.”
“Ooh,” Lisper said. “That would tathte so good. It'th been tho long thinth we had any real food.”
“And I'll bet the Baron eats well,” Cricket said. She made a face. “I never thought I'd look forward to getting table scraps, but I am. And I'll eat them, every one.”
“Could I have some water now?” Mouse said.
“Yes. All you want. We've saved it back for you. Can you tell us what happened?” Star said.
“I think so.” Mouse shifted on the bed of straw, trying to sit up. But her head throbbed so and she was so sick she had to lie down again. She licked her dry lips. Star held the cup so she could drink a few drops. Mouse had never tasted anything so good in her life. She could feel the water soaking into her parched body. She took another sip, and Star patiently held the cup until she had drunk all she wanted. “They nearly beat me down, Star. They nearly made me give up. I was ready to do what they wanted me to do. The sound, and the voices—”
“What sound?” Flame said. “I didn't hear any sound. Or any voices.”
“What did you feel?” Cricket said.
“There was something all around me, something I couldn't see. It was a kind of pressure, I guess you'd call it. Like something squeezing me, really hard, and never letting go. It hurt me dreadfully. I thought it was going to squeeze my insides out.”
Lisper took her thumb out of her mouth. “And you didn't know why?”
“No.”
“Well, I did,” Mouse said. “It was all around me, too, hurting just like you said. And I couldn't see what it was. But I heard it, all right. Maybe we were feeling the same thing, only we're talking about it in different ways. Did you feel it in your ears?”
“I thought they were going to pop.”
“Me, too. That's what made me think it was sound. But I really did hear a voice. Two voices. I think it might have been because of the other wire.”
“What other wire?”
Mouse lifted her dress and showed the others the blackened place on her abdomen. “Here. They fastened the wire here. I heard them say they were going to put it over the heart on the next one.” She swallowed hard, thinking, considering whether to tell them the rest or not. Well, there was no use in keeping secrets; better to let her sisters know what lay in store for them, so they could prepare as best they could. It would be no favor to hide from them exactly what they could expect. “They said, if the one over the heart didn't work they were going to stick the wires right in us next time.”
