‘If I even imagine anyone moves without my permission, the humans die,’ the warrior said curtly. He gestured to the warrior directly behind him. ‘Pick up Milgorry’s bow Jon. In fact, take all of his weapons.’ Jon moved forward very slowly, his eyes darting between Louisa, Araas and Timbul. He collected the weapons and moved away.
‘Good,’ said the warrior. ‘Guardians, you will disarm yourselves without standing up. You will lay your weapons on the snow and back away from them. Remain on your knees.’ Timbul and Araas did exactly as instructed, their eyes fastened on Immosey and Elena. The warrior looked shrewdly at Louisa. ‘Give me your weapon, guardian.’ Louisa slid her hand under her shirt and drew out a long knife. She dropped it onto the snow. The warrior turned to Kelian and waited expectantly. Kelian dropped his sword beside Louisa’s knife.
The warrior glanced at Jon once again and he moved forward and gathered up the discarded weapons and the swords Borgulnay and Gilgarry had dropped on the snow earlier. He distributed them amongst the silently watching warriors and then turned to the one who was still holding Immosey. ‘Do you want their hands tied, Rhyse?’
Rhyse nodded. ‘Bind each guardian to two humans. At the wrists, they need to be able to walk. Leave the big soldier. Then tie this one’s hands behind her back,’ he said pointing to Louisa. He gave Immosey a shove and she fell to her knees beside Araas. Rhyse held the knife at her throat and waited patiently as Jon slowly and deliberately completed his work. Good,’ said Rhyse as Jon finished. ‘That should slow them down a little. Get up,’ he added and he watched in satisfaction as they scrambled awkwardly to their feet. Elena and Immosey were now tied on either side of Araas, Gilgarry and Kelian either side of Timbul.
Rhyse turned to Borgulnay. ‘Pick him up,’ he ordered. Borgulnay easily picked up Milgorry and slung him over his shoulder. Louisa tried to see Milgorry’s face but Borgulnay swung around deliberately so she couldn’t see him properly. ‘Walk!’ Rhyse instructed and the group trudged dejectedly forward.
Elena managed not to jump as Louisa’s thoughts came to her. ‘Are you alright?’
‘Yes,’ she thought back. ‘It seems they don’t want to kill us yet.’
‘They must have orders to take us back to Nandul alive,’ Louisa thought.
‘Oh Lou, we’re so close to home!’ Elena felt prickly tears gather in her eyes once again as she gazed to where Milgorry hung over Borgulnay’s shoulder. Blood from his face was soaking the back of Borgulnay’s uniform tunic yet strangely his arm which Elena felt sure had been broken didn’t look that way any longer.
‘Don’t give up hope little Queen,’ Milgorry’s thoughts came faintly and Elena’s heart jumped for joy. She glanced at Louisa who was looking down to conceal the fact that her eyes were shining with relief. ‘We need to make them stop. We must find a way to slow them down.’ This time Elena sensed emptiness at the end of Milgorry’s thoughts and she wondered if he had lost consciousness again.
‘Araas? Tim?’ Elena thought hesitantly. Both guardians’ eyes flicked in her direction and she experienced a sudden feeling of acknowledgement. ‘Can you make each one of us hear the other’s thoughts without the fallen knowing? I mean so the humans can hear each other’s minds as well?’
‘Of course,’ Araas gave Elena an encouraging smile.
‘There are not many of them left,’ Timbul’s thoughts felt positive.
‘Tim, we have no weapons, and even were we could break these bonds without hurting someone, we can’t outrun the fallen if Milgorry is unconscious.’ Araas’ thoughts didn’t sound quite so optimistic.
‘I’m not quite unconscious,’ Milgorry’s thoughts felt clearer now. ‘But I’m definitely not at my best; you have to leave me here.’
‘No-one will be left here,’ Araas thought sharply. ‘We need to decide what to do.’
‘I still have a knife under my tunic and I’m sure Immy has one too,’ Elena thought quickly. ‘They never told me to drop my weapon. Maybe they thought human girls wouldn’t carry anything like that.’ Araas looked at Immosey questioningly and the girl nodded almost imperceptibly. Milgorry’s feelings were so forceful that for a moment Elena actually thought she heard him laugh. She glanced at the nearest warrior but he seemed to have noticed nothing.
There was a mental silence then Milgorry’s thoughts came once again. ‘Elena, find some way to get the knives into the hands of Araas and Timbul.’
‘I still have another knife too,’ Gilgarry silently admitted. ‘They never actually checked if Tim and Araas had completely disarmed themselves so I thought it was worth a shot. How could they miss something so blindingly obvious?’
‘They don’t see you as a threat,’ Milgorry could sense Gilgarry’s indignation, ‘which is a very dangerous mistake - for them. Does anyone else have a weapon?’
‘I do,’ Borgulnay thought, and suddenly everyone’s thoughts were filled with hope. ‘How do you feel Mil?’
‘Absolutely rotten,’ Milgorry replied silently. ‘My head is pounding and just be pleased you can’t see my face!’ This thought was aimed at Louisa. ‘And I think someone broke my ribs.’
‘The leader was kicking you,’ Louisa thought grimly. ‘He was a horrible, horrible person.’
‘Was?’ Milgorry’s thoughts questioned but Louisa didn’t answer. ‘What happened to him?’ he tried again. The previous events flashed though Elena’s mind and she knew she was seeing what happened from Timbul’s point of view. She felt sickened as she watched his memories of Louisa breaking the warrior’s neck, but she could clearly sense Milgorry’s satisfaction. ‘Tarlin. He always was an evil bastard. Who’s in charge now?’
‘Rhyse,’ Gilgarry thought. ‘Someone called Jon tied our hands with leather straps.’
‘So you are saying we have four knives, a few tied hands and only these few guards?’ Milgorry’s thoughts sounded like he found this ludicrous.
‘Well, we only found out a minute ago we had any weapons at all,’ Timbul thought indignantly.
‘True,’ Milgorry agreed. ‘Borg, do you mind if I play dead a little longer? If I suddenly wake up, Rhyse will have me beaten to within an inch of my returning before I can be of any use at all. Don’t underestimate him. He’s far more intelligent than Tarlin and that makes him far more dangerous.’
‘Sure!’ Borgulnay thought agreeably. ‘Stay unconscious for as long as you need.’
‘And then what?’ Elena thought nervously.
‘Give me a moment…’ Milgorry’s thoughts trailed off.
Over an hour later the group was forced to halt. They had been moving along a wildly undulating stretch of ice and snow when they came to a place where the ice had cracked and moved apart leaving a very deep and wide chasm. The bottom of the chasm was a jumble of smashed, floating ice and the distance across the chasm was far enough to discourage the warriors from leaping across. Elena felt sure Timbul, Araas and Milgorry could have made the distance and probably Louisa, but none of the warriors seemed inclined to try. Rhyse cursed angrily and signaled for them to move along the side of the chasm towards the mountains. Elena was tired and Immosey was gasping from exertion. They had been forced to move very quickly with no rest. Once when Timbul and Araas had deliberately tried to slow the pace, Rhyse had casually walked over and slammed his fist into Milgorry’s broken ribs, and since then they had been moving so quickly that at times the girls were jogging to keep up. Elena was terribly thirsty and she wondered if she could stop for long enough to scoop some snow into her mouth. Her legs felt heavy and she forced herself to pump them up and down to keep moving. Her breathing came in shallow pants in time with the beating of her feet on the ice. She stumbled sideways several times and each time Araas raised his arm to prevent her from falling hard onto the ice. They were close to the mountains when Elena finally fell to her knees. Kelian glanced questioningly at Araas. Araas shrugged uneasily and Kelian frowned.
‘Rhyse!’ Kelian hadn’t meant to shout, but anger and worry came pouring out. ‘We need
to stop. The girls need to rest. They’re exhausted!’
Rhyse was beside him in seconds. He stared at Kelian with his eyes glittering angrily. ‘What if I solve the problem?’ he said drawing his knife.
‘Coward!’ Kelian was still shouting. ‘You would kill a girl like Ellie? Are you so gutless you can only bully girls?’
Rhyse’s face was livid and he raised his knife and held it close in front of Kelian’s eyes. ‘I’m not going to kill you Prince of Alkira because Nandul has claimed this pleasure, but I doubt he’ll care if you can see at the time.’ Kelian could feel the leather around his wrists tighten as Timbul tensed. There was a thud behind Rhyse and he spun around as Borgulnay dropped Milgorry’s body to the ground. ‘You can’t be serious!’ Rhyse said sneeringly as the big soldier reached inside his uniform shirt and drew his knife. Within seconds the other warriors had closed in around Borgulnay but Rhyse waved them back contemptuously. ‘If the idiot wishes to die, I’m not going to stop him,’ he snarled raising his knife.
‘Uh oh!’ said Milgorry as he climbed to his knees. Louisa gasped as she saw his beaten and bloodied face.
‘Hold him!’ shouted Rhyse and five of the warriors landed on Milgorry and pinned him to the ground.
‘I wasn’t going to help him,’ Milgorry protested, trying to raise his head. ‘I just wanted to watch you die. After all, the last time I saw that knife, Borg had jammed it right through Jarli and it was sticking out the back of his neck.’ Rhyse’s eyes flicked sideways and Milgorry saw he no longer looked quite so arrogant. ‘He definitely didn’t need my help,’ Milgorry added. ‘Well, go ahead Rhyse. This should be interesting. I certainly wouldn’t want to face Borg with a knife in his hand.’ Rhyse now looked distinctly nervous.
Several things happened simultaneously. Borgulnay moved towards Rhyse with such speed the warrior leapt back in shock, not expecting such a bold move from the human soldier. He barely raised his own knife into a position to block the soldier’s knife as Borgulnay tried to drive it into his stomach. In the same instant Gilgarry drew his knife and sliced through Timbul’s bonds and a second later Araas was also free. Elena freed Louisa and then Louisa snatched the knife from her hand and flung it towards Araas who caught it deftly. Kelian and Gilgarry leapt towards Elena and Immosey and pushed them to the ground. Immosey brought out her hidden weapon and threw it towards Timbul who grabbed it with a quick nod of thanks. All but one of the soldiers who were pinning Milgorry to the ground leapt up and drew swords. Milgorry rolled away from his remaining captor who fell to the ground in horror as Milgorry relieved him of his sword. He slashed out towards Milgorry’s leg with a knife and was suddenly screaming at the sight of his own hand lying beside him in the snow, still clutching the knife. There was a flash from the sword in Milgorry’s hand and the warrior’s head rolled across the snow leaving a horrible red stain in its wake. Milgorry spun away from the body in time to see Borgulnay bury his knife into Rhyse’s abdomen. For a moment there was an expression of disbelief on Rhyse’s face before he fell backwards and Borgulnay slashed the knife across his throat. Kelian ducked as a sword swung in his direction. He kicked out hard at the warrior’s groin and was pleased to see that the fallen were as susceptible as humans in this area. He slammed his shoulder into the warrior who tried to get his hands around Kelian’s neck as he drove him backwards. Milgorry sidestepped the pair and then smashed the hilt of the sword against the warrior’s head. It made contact with a sickening crunch and Kelian knew the warrior would never get up again. Timbul and Araas turned back to back as the remaining warriors closed around them. The first warrior made the mistake of approaching Araas with the confidence of a man with a sword facing a man with a knife. Araas was moving fast as the warrior began to swing the sword. There was a split second where the man seemed to fall back lazily against his companions with his sword dangling by his side, and then it fell silently to the snow. It was only as the warrior’s body thudded to the ground that everyone saw that Timbul now had a sword. The remaining warriors leapt backwards. One found himself impaled on Gilgarry’s knife and another wasn’t quick enough to escape Timbul’s reach. He fell as the sword slashed into his side, striking him so hard the blade removed his arm and before burying itself into his body. The remaining three warriors turned and ran. Araas sprang after them and managed to catch the slowest within ten paces. He reached around the man’s head and efficiently cut his throat, and then he dropped the body onto the snow and sprinted after the other two warriors who had now put some distance between themselves and the guardian. Araas stopped in surprise as two arrows sped towards the warriors from somewhere ahead. One warrior fell as an arrow buried itself in his chest. The other crashed to the ground as an arrow sank into his leg. Araas was upon him in seconds and the man died when Araas broke his neck. Araas stood up and gazed across the terrain, searching for the bowman. Timbul appeared at his side and Milgorry arrived seconds later.
‘Ben?’ Milgorry called out cautiously. There was a movement against the snow covered side of the mountain and two people dropped lightly to the ground. They approached Milgorry slowly, both holding bows and wearing white cloaks over their clothing.
‘How did you know it was me?’ asked Ben curiously, pushing his hood back.
‘Not many of us like using the bow and even fewer can shoot like you Ben. Your brother is one exception.’ Milgorry waved towards the second man who stood more than two inches taller than Timbul and Araas. He waited as the remainder of their group reached them and then he gestured to the two men. ‘This is Ben and his brother, little Rezon.’
‘Mil, you need to get these people out of here,’ said Rezon, as if this was a new idea.
Milgorry snorted and raised his eyebrows. ‘Really? What a clever suggestion!’
‘I mean right now.’ Rezon calmly folded his arms across his massive chest. ‘We’ve been following you since you came down from the mountains.’
‘Where’s Nandul?’ asked Kelian.
Rezon glanced at Ben before answering. ‘I’m not entirely sure. He was at the western end of the Ice Coast when he woke up. And I can tell you, he was in an even more than usual foul mood.’
‘And then?’ Kelian prompted.
‘We followed him across the ice. He seemed to think you had gone north, but he refused to tell us why he still wanted to go east across the ice,’ said Ben.
‘He would normally tell you?’ asked Borgulnay.
‘Not necessarily,’ said Rezon, shaking his head. ‘He was apoplectic when he woke up and found out what the guardians had done to him. He sent Tarlin to tell Ben and me to find Rudi and tell him to go north. But since the pretty little guardian broke Tarlin’s neck I’m thinking Nandul will believe we never got that order.’ He grinned as Louisa blushed.
‘Do you think Nandul’s waiting at the border?’ asked Kelian.
‘He went east days ago moving faster than I’ve ever seen him move,’ replied Ben. ‘If he kept going…well, he could be anywhere by now. Rudi sent Eibhear to let us know you were coming over the mountains-’
‘There were other tracks leading up not far from where you came through Mil,’ Rezon interrupted. ‘Human tracks and I’m sure I saw Nandul’s tracks too.’
‘Governor Ringo and Lady Megan came looking for their son and their daughters,’ said Milgorry, gesturing to Gilgarry, Louisa, Elena and Immosey. ‘Kelian found them in one of the southern caves. Apparently they were so badly-’ He stopped abruptly. ‘They didn’t make it through.’
‘So Nandul saw their tracks as he moved across the ice and followed them up into the mountains. I’m guessing he-’ Ben also stopped talking suddenly and glanced towards Louisa as the girl put her arms around her sisters’ shoulders. Gilgarry stared sadly at his sisters.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Ben sincerely. ‘If we have anything to do with it, Nandul will soon be returned. But we need to get you out of here first.’
‘You need to get back to Alkira and try to stop him taking whatever abhorrent reven
ge he plans to take against you, Prince Kelian,’ said Rezon adamantly. ‘And before you attempt to start any more fights against people carrying swords when you have only knives.’ He glanced at Borgulnay. ‘Though it might be interesting to face you, soldier.’
‘Now that’s an intriguing challenge…’ Milgorry gazed between the two men thoughtfully until Kelian cleared his throat warningly.
Borgulnay considered Rezon appraisingly. ‘Some other time friend and with training knives.’
‘Agreed!’ Rezon seemed pleased with this proposition.
‘So why are we all still standing here?’ asked Ben pointedly.
‘Because we’re thirsty and completely exhausted,’ said Elena.
‘We’ll take you safely to the border,’ said Ben, holding out his water bag. ‘Mil can hunt once you’re out of Nyinaku.’
Surprisingly there was no sign of pursuit as they moved across the ice. Ben and Rezon turned back before entering Alkira and Kelian decided to go directly east to Naraloon. There was no sign of Nandul or any of his warriors as they moved across the border and into Alkira but this only made everyone wonder where he was and worry about what trouble he might be causing. The journey east was uneventful but the weather wasn’t kind and everyone was relieved when they came in sight of Naraloon. They stopped at the very first inn they saw and gave the innkeeper quite a shock when he saw who the tired, dirty, ragged people were. Kelian’s admission that they had no coins to pay for their rooms was immediately waived aside as the innkeeper rushed around doing his best to make them comfortable. He watched Milgorry suspiciously until he saw the rapport between the Prince and the warrior and he decided the warrior must be trustworthy. They were offered small but clean rooms. The innkeeper’s wife was embarrassed by the simple meal she presented to the group but was relieved and somewhat flattered when they hungrily ate everything placed before them whilst offering praise and many thanks for her trouble. As soon as they had eaten and bathed they returned to their rooms to find fresh nightclothes waiting on their beds. Louisa sat on the edge of her soft bed. She picked up the plain nightdress and felt a rush of gratitude towards the innkeeper and his wife. She smiled at Immosey and Elena.
The Fallen (Book 1) Page 47
