Night came cold and windy, accompanied by clouds rolling in from the southwest. As soon as the meetings and the talks were over, the leaders and their people returned to their own camps to spread the news and prepare for war. Lanterns were lit under the Tree, but because of the wind, campfires were kept to a minimum. Most suppers that evening were eaten cold. No one suggested a feast. Guards were posted around the Tree and by the picket lines, and almost everyone retired to their beds early that night.
Linsha was no exception. Varia was off hunting somewhere, and Linsha was still tired from the past days and weary of company. With an apology to Mariana, she moved her blanket out to the edge of their camp where she could see the sky through the fringe of the great tree’s canopy. A combination of leaves and sky seemed pleasant to her while she rolled up in her blanket and stretched out on the grass to sleep.
The problem was she couldn’t fall asleep. Despite the weariness that weighed down her body, her mind would not stop thinking. She lay on her back, her eyes wide open, and stared up at the Tree above her.
Perhaps it was the noise that disturbed her. It wasn’t a manmade noise. The camps under the canopy were quiet. If she turned her head, she could see the dark, motionless lumps of sleeping men and staked tents, a few glowing lamps, and the occasional movement of a sentry. No, it was the wind that provided its own racket. Without anything to really slow it down, the wind stampeded across the desert, roaring and howling and kicking up dust before it. It swept over the hill where the Tree grew, blowing through the grass and brush and pushing through the Tree’s canopy. The roots of the ancient tree went too deep for a mere blustery wind to disturb it. After all, it had survived the great storm of the early summer. But the Tree still moved and creaked and slowly swayed in the night wind. Its leaves rustled and shook; its branches rubbed and banged together; the trunk groaned like an old man in the impudent rush of the wind. It sounded to Linsha like an entire forest of vallenwoods rather than just one tree.
She looked up into the treetop at the dancing, swaying branches and tried to think about Danian’s words. What had he meant when he told her the tree sometimes granted visions? What sort of visions? Were they prophetic visions or visions given in response to some sort of prayer? The barbaric tribes of the Plains were very spiritual people, heavily dependent on their connection to the natural world around them. They believed everything had a lifeforce that was attached to everything else. It was little wonder they looked on this Tree with nothing short of adoration. But could it truly give answers? Would prayer help?
Linsha was not very good at prayer. She had grown up in a world that had lost its gods just before she was born, and while her parents raised her with the belief that someday the gods would return, she had not found much use in praying to deities who weren’t around to listen. If the rumors of this One God were true, maybe she would learn to pray, but until then she would have to make do with simple speech. She had told the story of Crucible to the gathering in the presence of the Tree. If it truly listened, then it already knew what she needed. There wasn’t much point in belaboring it.
Her hand slid up to her neck and found the gold chain with the dragon scales under her tunic. Her fingers closed around them, and she drew some comfort from their reminder of her friends. The wind roared and rushed around her. Her eyes slowly slid closed.
She wasn’t aware of sleeping, but after a while she became conscious of the fact that a light was shining red through her eyelids. Thinking it was dawn, she sat up in her blanket and stretched her neck and arms. She was still sore and stiff, and she didn’t feel rested at all. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes… and choked on a cry. Her eyes blinked with sudden tears. She crawled to her knees and knelt on the blanket, her heart pounding.
The light she’d thought was the sun actually emanated from a huge metallic dragon crouched on her belly only feet away from the edge of the Tree’s canopy and Linsha’s blanket. Her large expressive eyes gleamed down on Linsha with pleasure. Her sleek head and polished horns glowed with a pale translucent gold light of their own.
“Iyesta!” Linsha whispered in delight.
The dragon inclined her head to Linsha until her gleaming nose almost brushed Linsha’s head. Giving a slight nod, she lifted her neck and plunged her nose into the leaves of the Tree’s canopy. Gently the apparition snipped two leaves from the vallenwood and let them fall to Linsha’s side.
The bond formed between a dragon and a human is worth the effort to forge it, the dragon’s voice said inside her mind.
“How?” Linsha begged. “How do I help him?”
The Tree of Life will guide your hand.
“Will you stay and help me?” Linsha cried.
There was no answer. The wind roared and the light vanished, leaving Linsha rubbing her eyes and crying in the darkness. She groped frantically for the leaves, found them, and held them tightly in her hands. With tears running down her cheeks, she leaped to her feet and limped out from under the tree into the open where the chill wind tore at her clothes and whipped her hair around her face. She turned around and around to search for any sign of the big brass dragon and saw what she expected. Nothing. The night hung densely dark under the clouds. There was no hint of a golden light, no sign that Iyesta had truly been there. The sentries still paced on their rounds, the horses dozed in their picket lines, the men and women of the gathering continued to sleep undisturbed. The vision of Iyesta had been hers alone.
Her face still wet with tears, Linsha took the leaves and crawled back under her blanket. She wasn’t certain what Iyesta meant for her to do with these leaves, but they had been granted to her for a reason, and until she understood more, she was not going to let the leaves off her person. She curled around them and lay still, listening to the voices of the wind and the Tree.
The next thing she knew it was dawn and Varia was waking her.
22
Solamnic Justice
“Are you going to make a habit of this?” Linsha said to the owl sitting on her chest.
Varia trilled a bit and clicked her beak. She peered into Linsha’s face, so close the woman could see the tiny feathers on her eyelids. “You didn’t sleep well?”
Linsha pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders and closed her eyes again. “No. I had the oddest dreams.”
“I have news that is not a dream. Sir Remmik and his Knights did not go far. They are camped in a small ravine only an hour’s ride away.”
Linsha’s eyes creaked open. “What? They left yesterday afternoon. They should be miles away by now. If they were returning to the Tarmaks.” She sat up to think. “Did they look all right? Was something wrong?”
“They looked much the same to me… but-” The owl broke off. She looked down at Linsha’s lap. “What are those? Are those leaves? You’re not supposed to pull things off the Tree!”
A big grin lightened the worry lines on Linsha’s face. She picked up the leaves and held them up to the cold light of dawn. “Zivilyn be thanked. It was not a dream! These were a gift from the Tree!”
“The Tree?”
Linsha lifted the leaves in the palm of her hand. They were still as green and fresh. “Iyesta said I could use them to help Crucible.”
“Iyesta…” the owl said in disbelief.
“Well, a vision of her. It must have been. She picked the leaves from the Tree and gave them to me.”
The owl’s eyes widened to dark circles. “What are you supposed to do with them?”
“I don’t know.”
Varia looked relieved. “As long as you did not pick them.” Then her demeanor changed again, and she fluffed her feathers and shifted her weight from one foot to another. “Linsha, there is a Knight waiting out there at the farthest guard post. He wants to talk to you.”
“So why doesn’t he come into the camp?”
“Because he only wants to talk to you. I overheard him talking to the sentry who would not leave his post to bring a message until his relief came. So th
e Knight is just sitting out there waiting for someone to get you. I thought I’d better warn you.”
“Who is it?”
“Sir Korbell.”
Linsha cast a quick glance to the east where the clouds had rolled away during the night. The sun’s rim already warmed the distant horizon and cast its level light under the skirt of the Grandfather Tree. People were stirring in the camps and smoke was beginning to rise from cooking fires.
“When do the guards usually change?”
“Around now.”
Linsha nodded, her mind already made up. “Then let’s go see what he wants.”
“Linsha, don’t go alone,” Varia said. “I don’t like this. Sir Korbell is one of Sir Remmik’s bootlickers. Take Sir Hugh with you.”
“He has guard duty,” Linsha replied while she rolled the leaves carefully in a scrap of fabric and tucked them under her shirt. “I don’t need an escort. I’m only going to talk to one Knight.”
“What Knight?” Mariana’s voice said behind her. The half- elf came, stretching her long limbs, and joined her friend in the growing sunlight.
Linsha quickly told her about the Solamnic Knight waiting to see her out by the guard posts.
The captain agreed with Varia. “Don’t go alone. I’ll go with you. And just to be on the safe side, Varia, why don’t you keep a watch for us but stay out of sight?”
Pleased for the company, Linsha picked up her walking stick and went to get her weapons and the bridles for the horses. The two women decided not to bother with saddles and retrieved their horses from the lines. By the time they were mounted bareback and ready to leave, the relieved guard from the outpost found them and reported the Knight’s message. Varia fluttered up into the Tree where she could watch them ride out to meet the Knight.
About two miles away from the Grandfather Tree they found the guard outpost where the Solamnic Knight was waiting. He stood by his horse, his arms crossed and his face sour while the new centaur sentry watched him like a vulture hoping for a meal.
“Sir Korbell,” Linsha said, her voice deliberately even and inoffensive.
The Knight saluted her as a Knight of superior rank, although he did not look pleased to do so. “Lady, Knight Commander Sir Jamis uth Remmik requests your presence for a meeting at our campsite.”
Linsha looked down at him and frowned. She was in no mood for games. “Pull the other one, Korbell. It has bells on.”
“This is a legitimate request. He would like to talk to you before we return to the Tarmaks.”
“Why?” Mariana snapped.
Sir Korbell did not look pleased to see the captain either. “I requested that the Rose Knight come alone.”
“Well, I guess that bit got lost in the passing,” Mariana said coldly. “If she goes, I am going with her. So tell us why Sir Remmik wants to talk, or we’ll turn around now and leave you with this fine centaur who would rather spit you on his spear than look at you.” A ferocious glare twisted Sir Korbell’s face before he fought it off and tried to look reassuring. “As you choose. The Knight Commander has information about the Tarmaks he wants to pass on-and a message from the Legionnaire, Lanther.”
Linsha did not move a muscle. “Why didn’t he give it to me at the Grandfather Tree?”
“The gathering was too crowded, too busy. Sir Remmik wants only to talk to you, and quickly. We must get back to the others.”
“Uh-uh. I seem to remember the last time I saw Sir Remmik face to face he accused me of aiding the enemy and breaking my oath to the Knighthood. I can’t imagine why he would want to see me alone except to try to arrest me again.”
“Sir Remmik told me to tell you he gives his word he will not arrest you.”
Linsha and Mariana exchanged a long, thoughtful look. “It’s a risk,” Mariana said under her breath.
“I know,” Linsha replied in a like manner. “It smells to Palanthas like a trap.”
“You know him better than I do. Would he betray you?”
“Before the war? No. Sir Remmik was a man of his word. His honor meant much to him. Now? I don’t know. He has suffered much.”
“So have you. So have we all!”
Sir Korbell cleared his throat with a forceful rasp. “There is little time,” he reminded them.
The half-elf turned her back to him and said to Linsha, “What will you do?”
“He says Sir Remmik has a message from Lanther.” She sighed, knowing her mind was made up. “Perhaps he has information worth listening to.”
“We must go with care.”
“Agreed.” Linsha turned to Sir Korbell. “How far is your camp?”
“About four miles east of here,” Korbell replied with bad grace.
“All right,” she said, hoping this would be worth the ride. “We’ll come.”
Without further speech, Sir Korbell kicked his horse into a trot and rode into the sunrise, obviously expecting the women to follow him. He rode fast in a straight line back the way he had come, with no effort to lose his tracks or mislead anyone who might be following them.
Linsha and Mariana followed side by side. The strong winds of the night before had dropped to a mere breeze in the light of the new day, and the sky shone a brilliant cloudless blue. It would have been a pleasant ride, if it not for the person who awaited them.
As Sir Korbell had said, the ride to the Knights’ camp was only a few miles away. In less than an hour they rode into a shallow ravine worn away by wind and rain and found Sir Remmik standing by a small fire waiting for them. He smiled a steely smile when he saw them, and his gray eyes were cold as deep winter ice. The two women slowed their horses to a walk and approached cautiously. Walls of weathered rock rose about ten feet on either side of a floor just wide enough for the two riders to pass through. About fifteen feet away from Sir Remmik, they stopped their horses and studied their surroundings. The camp sat in a widened curve of the wash, still dimmed in morning shadow by the eroded walls. They could see Sir Remmik standing by a small fire and Sir Korbell dismounting by several horses tied nearby. There was no sign of the other two Knights.
Linsha felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. She and Mariana glanced at each other, both conveying the same sense of alarm.
Sir Remmik held out his hands to show he held no weapons. “Please dismount, Majere.”
Linsha’s hand slid closer to her sword. She suddenly wished she hadn’t left her saddle behind. If they had to make a run for it, she was going to want a sturdier, less slippery seat. “I don’t think I will, Sir Remmik. Just tell me what you want.”
“Very well. Is it true that you have been passing information to the Tarmaks for a year and a half? Is it true you helped in their invasion and with the battle for the city? Is it also true that you gave away vital secrets about the Scorpion Wadi and its defenses that led to the slaughter of the militia?”
Linsha’s mouth fell open in shock. Her face burned a fiery red. She was so taken aback by his sudden and vehement accusations she could not make a sound.
Mariana had no such trouble. “How dare you!” she shouted. “Where did you hear that dung heap of lies? How could you possibly believe it of one your own Knights?”
A loud, insistent alarm started going off in Linsha’s head. Sir Remmik would not have lured her out here just to shout vile accusations at her. He had to he planning something. “Mariana,” she whispered out of the side of her mouth. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
The half-elf was in complete agreement. She hacked her horse out of Linsha’s way and was about to wheel it around when Sir Remmik raised his hands to stop her.
“No! Wait! You misunderstand. I had to ask.”
The two women were so surprised they pulled their restive horses to a stop and stared at the older man. His words had been clipped as if he loathed saying them, but his tone had been almost conciliatory.
“Where are the others?” Linsha demanded.
“On guard duty, of course,” Sir Remmik said. “This is a
Solamnic Camp.”
Linsha made no effort to move her hand away from her sword or lessen the look of distrust on her fair face. She only lifted her chin and asked, “What do you want, Sir Remmik? I know where those accusations come from, and how badly you’d like to believe them. But I will not sit here and be insulted.”
The Knight commander lowered his hands. An expression crossed his face as if he had just tasted bitter gall. “I know. I have had much time to think during the ride through the desert. I am no fool. The Akkad-Ur is treacherous and ambitious. He betrayed Thunder, the mercenaries, and the gods know who else to take our city. You have given me reason to doubt your loyalties in the past, but the more I thought about it, the more the Akkad-Ur’s interest in you raised my suspicions. His tale rings true: there is a spy in our midst. And I believe that spy helped murder Sir Morrec. But I am guessing his words hide a poison that has been working against us for months.” He stepped away from the fire and pointed a finger at Linsha. “Tell me now, Majere,”
he said forcefully, “give me one reason to believe you now. Just one.”
Linsha felt the silence ring in her ears, for she hardly knew what to say. Only two words came to her mind and they were enough for her.
“The dragons,” she said in a loud, clear voice.
She was about to add more when something thin snaked down from above, looped around her chest, and pulled tight, pinning her arms to her sides. She saw a similar rope catch Mariana before she was yanked off her mount and dropped heavily on the rocky ground. Their horses squealed in fright and bolted out of the ravine.
Remmik shouted something to Sir Korbell and drew his sword, then Linsha heard an odd whining noise and a thunk. Something heavy fell to the ground. She twisted her neck and saw Sir Korbel flat on the dirt with a long Tarmak arrow in his chest.
Winded and angry, Linsha struggled to escape from the ropes and climb to her feet, but two blue-skinned Brutes dropped down from the top of the ravine and closed in on her before she could stand upright. Linsha got in one well-placed kick before a Tarmak fist landed on her jaw and knocked her almost senseless. She knew Mariana was struggling just as hard, but neither she nor Mariana could fight efficiently when they were lying on their backs with their arms roped to their sides.
Flight of the Fallen l-2 Page 20
