by Andre Norton
“Good Sharpclaw,” he said. “Fine, brave bird. There'll never be another like you, for all that we found each other in the wild. The Mews may be gone, but the black falcons live on.” He glanced sideways at Dunnis. “That's how I got this fellow, you know. Some of the birds got away, when the mountains began to fall, and now they breed in the wild. When Fangfoot died, this beautiful fellow sought me out. Arid we've been together ever since, eh, Sharpclaw? You knew a proper Falconer when you saw one. Not one who's let himself get corrupted and go soft, and turn to consorting with a wo—”
“That'll do right there, Weldyn.” Papa stood up straight and tall. His face had gone pale and he frowned so fiercely Mouse would have been terribly afraid if he had looked at her like that.
“You're no true Falconer,” Weldyn said flatly. “Not any more. If I were you—and I thank the Great Falcon that I'm not—I wouldn't hold any hope a wild bird will find you.”
Papa took a step toward Weldyn. .The firelight flickered across his features. His falcon's eyes glittered dangerously. “I have had enough of you and your remarks. I have tried to hold my temper, tried to remember my mission meant nothing to you, because it was merely a search for my daughter and this was something you could not understand. I let you insult me, I let you insult my wife. I could rise above your words and, I thought, Eirran would never know. But now you have gone too far and I can swallow nothing more. Come outside, and we will settle this matter here and now, Falconer fashion.”
“No!” Mama jumped up and stepped between them, brandishing the spoon with which she had been stirring the stew. “All during the journey to Alizon I listened to you making your nasty insinuations to Yareth, and I wondered that he defended neither himself nor me. Now I understand. Yes, you have a quarrel. But—” she moved closer to Weldyn and shook the spoon under his nose “—you will wait until we are back in Alizon to settle it or you will both answer to me!”
Papa smiled and actually laughed out loud. He turned to the men who had watched this exchange, not daring to interfere. “Well, gentlemen, my wife has spoken and that is how it shall be,” he said. “It is a matter I'm sure you all understand—even if Weldyn never will!”
A wave of relief mixed with nervous laughter went through the men in the room. They could relax a little; the danger seemed, for the moment, to be allayed. Mouse and her sisters exchanged glances.
Mama turned. “Who's ready to eat?”
Six spoons came out of six mouths and the little girls squirmed excitedly. “We all are—” Lisper said. “Pleath, what thould we call you?”
“Oh, Eirran will do.”
“Thank you, Eirran.” Cricket held up her plate. “The quarrel isn't over between them, and they won't forget about it, you know,” she added so softly even Mouse barely heard her.
“Yes,” Mama said. She looked at Papa, worry in her eyes. “I do know.”
IV
That night the children slept on another bed of straw—this one even staler and worse-smelling than the one in the castle. And yet, for all the animal smells and the rustle of small creatures whose nests had been disturbed by the Estcarpians, Mouse and her sisters snuggled into it with even greater content than they had known their last night at Es City. But tired as they were, and drowsy from the good meal, they didn't go to sleep at once, but lay whispering quietly to each other for a while.
“Do you think we'll get home safely?” Bird shifted in the straw, raising a cloud of dust.
“We have to,” Flame said. “Oh, I feel so much better, now that I've finally had something to eat. How about you, Mouse?”
“Better than I thought I ever would.” Mouse hugged herself, happy to be feeling the warm lump in her middle where her supper was digesting. “Another day and I'll be back to normal.”
“Another day and we'll be back in Escarp, if we can keep up this pace,” Cricket said.
“Not quite.” Star stifled a sneeze. “But two more days, maybe.”
Mouse squirmed her way over close to Bird, and the children began whispering to each other. “Did you see the blue sparks around Mama and Papa today?”
“Of course. And the red ones, too. I see things like that all the time.”
“I never saw anything like that before. I only heard it.”
“I never knew other people didn't. I think I heard it this time, too.”
“Maybe we'll be able to do it any time we want to, now.”
Mama's voice cut through their conversation. “Ssh. Quit that whispering. Go to sleep.”
“Yes, Mama.”
“Yes, Eirran,” the others said, all but Cricket, who echoed Mouse and said “Yes, Mama,” which sent everybody into the first real fit of giggles they'd had since leaving Es City. But, obediently, they settled down and fell into a sound slumber.
Before dawn had clearly outlined the land next morning, the fugitives were in the saddle and riding. Papa and Weldyn kept their peace; they moved very carefully around each other, speaking only when necessary, and then only about matters at hand.
“You continue on this road, and make as good time as you can,” Weldyn said. “Sharpclaw and I will backtrack and spy out the strength of our pursuit from a distance.”
“Use caution,” Papa said. “It will not go well with you if you are caught.”
Weldyn smiled, but Mouse couldn't see any humor in it. “You don't need to give me lessons in Falconer-craft,” he said. “I'll catch up with you soon.”
This day Mouse rode on Papa's saddlebow and Star shared Mama's mount. Mouse tangled her hands in Rangin's mane. He turned his head, looked at her as if to say, Oh, it's you. Then, with a toss of his head, he danced a little just like he used to when she did this back in Blagden. So long ago.
Now that the first rush of their escape was past, they settled into a steady pace calculated to eat up the leagues and bring them quickly to the Estcarp border, where the Hounds would, expectably, be loath to go. She didn't even want to think about how they were going to get back through the Alizon Gap. It had been so frightening before, with all the mists and the way the very land had risen against them, trying to push them into the Tor Marsh. Then, when they were in safe country once more, Mouse knew Papa and Weldyn would settle their differences, once and for all. She didn't want to think about that, either.
“Papa?”
“Yes?” He sounded distracted.
It could wait until later. “Nothing. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
Presently Weldyn caught up with the main body of escapees. “We have trouble,” he said to Papa.
“We knew that.”
“More than you thought.” Sharpclaw screeched and settled onto the Y-shaped saddle fork. “They've got good horseflesh under them. But there's more urgent news than that. The Hounds pursuing us have someone tied to his saddle they're forcing to ride ahead of them. It looks like our ‘friend’ Talgar. It was hard to tell, he was such bad shape. Every now and then, someone would ride up and lash him again. I think they were very annoyed when they discovered it was he who betrayed them.”
Papa's jaw twitched a little. “It's unpleasant news you bring, but not unexpected. We tried to warn him. Is that all you have to report?”
“Would that it were.” Weldyn wiped his forehead. “I've learned the reason they haven't ridden us down before now, even if they hadn't been amusing themselves along the way. They've sent a pack of Hounds ahead, by a way through the hedgerows we didn't know existed, to wait for us at the Gap.”
“They hope to take us between them, then.” Papa gazed southward, toward the smudgy line of the Alizon Ridge. “And leave our bones there, where our friends may find them, as a warning. Girvan seemed sincere enough about the dangers we would face, when he was warning us against going through the mountains. Now it's beginning to look as if that's our best way to avoid meeting the Hounds and the fate they have planned for us.”
“I wouldn't mind it,” Hirl said. “It's agreeable work, fighting Hounds.”
“I must agree with my brother Falconer,” Weldyn said. “But not for the same reasons. In other circumstances, we could take either pack of Hounds, even if the infant Witches had to run for cover while we six fight.”
“Seven,” Mama muttered, but Weldyn paid no attention to her.
“Together,” he went on, “they outnumber us at least four to one. And they are armed with dart-guns as well as steel. Even if those weapons aren't as well cared-for as the one I took from the guard, they're bound to be able to pick off a few of us before they're useless. Those are odds even I don't care to face. So I agree. It's the mountains.”
“Then we shall take Loric's suggestion, leave the road and start across country,” Papa said. “Now.”
Weldyn nodded. With a word of falconsong, he sent Sharpclaw into the air, to begin searching out the way they must go.
Thirteen
I
They discovered a side lane connecting to the main highway, and turned off at once in hopes that the Hounds would expect them to flee the country by the most direct route, and would follow the main road without question. This much smaller road angled off the main thoroughfare in an eastward direction, and then turned directly east. Neither Yareth nor Weldyn showed the least concern. Their goal, ultimately, was the Alizon Ridge; what did it matter at which point they entered it, as long as their present path had even a hope of shaking off the Hounds pursuing them?
As they rode, Eirran couldn't help sending puzzled glances at Mouse—Jenys—who traveled this day with her father. The Witch Jewel around her neck took on a milky glow in the morning light. She could scarcely believe the change that had come over her daughter. It wasn't just the clothing—for, tattered and dirty as it was, her garments and those of her friends were clearly recognizable as Witch garb in miniature—nor was it the wan and wounded condition in which she had found Mouse—
No, not “Mouse.” Jenys. It was the name she and Yareth had chosen together.
Still, it was incredibly easy for Eirran to call her Mouse, as the others did. Surely it would do no harm, at least until they got back home… .
She had thought Yareth and Weldyn were going to come to blows last night. And she feared for Yareth, if that happened. When. Yareth had issued the challenge. And, even if Weldyn was inclined to back off, she knew her husband never would. The older Falconer was both heavier and a little taller, and he had a hard edge that frightened Eirran when she thought about him and Yareth in mortal conflict, for such it was bound to be when Falconer pride was involved.
“You are worried, Eirran,” said Star, the child who rode on her saddlebow. “I can feel it in the way you move, the way you sit your horse.”
“Yes,” she said. “I am. I am afraid that I won't be able to keep them from fighting. He will kill Weldyn. Or worse, Weldyn will kill him. And then what will become of me?”
Star didn't have to ask who “he” was. “I can't tell you not to worry,” she said, “for you have a right to be troubled. But I can tell you that it does no good to worry beforehand. Much may happen to change things long before the Falconers come to blows with each other.”
Eirran turned the little girl so she could look into her face. “Another one who is six years old going on forty! Are you all like that?”
“Yes, Eirran. Except for Lisper sometimes,” Star added honestly. “In some ways she is still very immature.”
In spite of herself, Eirran laughed at hearing these words coming from such childish lips. “She is long past the age when she should have given up sucking her thumb, but surely—”
“There are other ways. Thumb-sucking isn't all of it. She was very weak on our journey to Alizon, when we were kidnapped. We feared for her if she went under the Kolder machine. Still, she is one of us. Our sister.”
An unexplained chill went over Eirran, making gooseflesh rise on her arms. To change the subject, she said, “Tell me about the Jewel.”
“Well, when we left you behind in the castle, we began to test it as fast as we could, to see if we could make it work.”
Though all of them had tried, Star explained, Mouse seemed to be the only one among them who could use it to channel her thoughts and untrained powers. They quickly discovered that they could use it to channel also, but only through her.
After a false start or two, and with the other five helping her, Lisper managed to turn the entire company invisible, though it was a shaky undertaking and the men in particular kept discovering they had an arm or a foot showing. It was a relief when they had met Talgar just as they were emerging from the tower building into the inner ward. On Star's order, Lisper relaxed her control, and everyone swam back into view. All at once, then, Lisper had to sit down.
It had been very funny, watching Talgar's reaction. When he had gotten over his shock at seeing four men and six little girls appear out of nowhere, he agreed to help them get clear of the castle and the town.
“After that, though, you are on your own,” he said.
“Oh, please.” Mouse was near tears. “My Mama and Papa and another man are still in here someplace. They've gone to fight the Kolder.”
“Kolder, eh?” Talgar looked thoughtful. “It was the Kolder who have been behind all of Alizon's ills these many years past, or at least so I think.” He smiled suddenly. “And what I think is what matters now, since I am the one the fickle Lady of Chance has chosen to help you. I have no love for the Kolder. Very well. If your Mama and Papa live through the fighting in the Kolder hole, we will take them out of the castle with us.”
Quickly, with greater efficiency than Lisper , had shown, Cricket had transformed everyone into Hounds and white dogs, and, with Talgar to lead them, they had gone searching for the three who stayed behind. For speed's sake, and to stay out of sight as long as possible, Talgar had led them through the wall passage.
“And the rest you know,” Star said matter-of-factly.
“That still doesn't explain how you children could use the Jewel. I thought each Jewel belonged to but one Witch.”
“We believe Leaf willed the Jewel to Mouse before she died,” Star said. “She called her by name and tried to say something. Baron Esguir threw the Jewel away. We think Leaf wanted her to go find it and use it to get us all back to Estcarp. We weren't allowed to go and look for it. So, we had forgotten about it until you gave it to Mouse.”
“I see.” They rode in silence for a while. Eirran thought about the impulse that had made her tuck the artifact into her shirt, where it had stayed, forgotten by her as well, until it made its presence known and found its way into the hands of the one who could use it, even without clear knowledge of how to do so.
A muffled cry came floating back from the rider in front of the little band of escapees. “Here! A way through the hedgerows!”
Eirran nudged her horse into a brisker pace. Ahead, just around a turn in the narrow lane, Ranal had discovered a place where two hedgerows offset each other, leaving a space where one person could go—or one horse, provided it carried no weight, either of rider or extra flesh. It was very cleverly constructed. One part of the fence divided into arms that wrapped around and enclosed the other section, forming a U-shaped passageway. At the base of the U, a hinged gate, now rotting from lack of use, closed the path. A cow or sheep—or even a horse—might blunder partway in, decide it had gone the wrong way, and retreat without ever knowing it was just a few paces short of freedom. A tangle of weeds and thistles—integral parts of the hedgerows themselves—grew around the stone foundations; overhead, the “vermin” vegetation snarled into a solid canopy above the stones, and the entrance was all but obliterated. Ranal and Yareth were already hard at work,
hacking away the worst of the overgrowth. Mouse and Bird, who had been riding with Ranal, were trying their best to help but were succeeding only in getting in the way.
“The brush growing atop the wall covers the entrance and makes it look all of a piece, from above,” Ranal told Weldyn. “That's why your falcon couldn't see anything but a spot where the hedgerow looked a little thicker than usual.”
The Falconer nodded and spoke to Sharpclaw in falconsong. “Now he knows what to look for,” he said. The bird went soaring into the sky, searching for the next break ahead in the impenetrable barriers between the Estcarpians and the mountains that were, now, their sole refuge from the pursuing Hounds of Alizon.
Even though the Torgians they rode were as fined-down as their long journey had made the men, woman and children, each of the riders had to dismount and lead their horses, coaxing them to scrape their way through the opening. The height of the passage, even if it had been wider, was such that everyone would have had to crouch as low as possible and still stay mounted. “This is going to slow us down,” Loric muttered to himself. He loosened his blade in its scabbard. “I agree with Hirl. I'd rather turn and meet the Hounds head-on.”
“It may come to that,” Hirl said, grinning. “They may yet catch sight of us crossing the open ground.”
“Providing they ever find out we didn't take the main road after all and finally come looking for us down this one.”
Eirran looked out over the field they would have to cross. It was bigger than the usual area fenced off by these impassable hedgerows, and the land sloped upward without any dips she could see, so that they would, indeed, be exposed to full view of anyone pursuing them. Once across, they were that much closer to the Alizon Ridge that lowered, greenish-purple, on the horizon. But was there another passageway through the inevitable hedgerow on the other side?
When everyone was through the wall, Yareth and Weldyn went back to brush away the marks of their passage and pull some of the weeds back in place over the opening before rejoining the others.
