Chak lowered the bottle. "He's dead, Karl. It won't do him any good."
"Keep pouring." Gripping Rahff's arm tightly, Karl couldn't feel a pulse. He slipped a finger to the boy's throat.
Nothing.
Karl spread the fingers of his left hand across Rahff's chest, and pounded the back of that hand with his fist, all the while cursing himself for never having taken a CPR course.
Live, damn you, live. "I said to keep pouring. Drip some on his arm." He put his mouth over the boy's, pinched Rahff's nostrils with his left hand, and breathed in. And again, and again, and again . . .
* * *
He became aware that Ahira was shaking him. "Let him go, Karl. Let him go. He's dead." The dwarf gathered Karl's hands in his and pulled him away.
The boy's head fell back, limp. Glazed, vacant eyes stared blankly up at Karl. Slowly, Chak knelt down and closed Rahff's eyes.
A drop fell on Rahff's face, then another. Aeia wept soundlessly, her tears running down her cheeks and falling onto Rahff.
Karl rose and led Aeia away from the body. At Chak's low moan, he noticed for the first time that the little man was clutching the side of his waist. A bloodstain the size of a dinner plate spread out across Chak's sarong.
"Drink some," Karl said quietly, motioning toward the bottle. "Then give the rest to the wounded. And give them whatever Tennetty comes back with, if it's needed."
"Fine." Chak raised the bottle to his lips, then poured some of the healing draughts into his own wound.
The wound closed immediately. Visibly getting stronger, Chak gripped his falchion. "Can I kill Wohtansen, or do you want to?"
Karl jerked around. "What?"
"I'd better show you. Take that sword. You'll be wanting it."
Karl walked over to where the sword lay and stooped to pick it up. "Aeia, go find Tennetty."
"No. I want to stay with you." She clung to him, her tears wet against his side. "But what about Rahff?"
Ahira sighed. "I'll take care of him."
"There's . . . no rush, Aeia." He blinked back the tears. "It doesn't hurt him anymore." He turned to Chak. "Take me to Wohtansen."
Behind a hut, Wohtansen was ministering to a wounded woman, pouring healing draughts down her throat and into a deep gash in her belly.
"Tell me," Karl said.
Chak spat. "He found two bottles of the stuff, but he couldn't be bothered to bring one for Rahff. I had to pry it from his fingers."
Karl stood over Wohtansen and spoke quietly. "Stand up, you bastard."
Wohtansen didn't glance up. "I'll speak to you in a moment."
Karl reached out a hand and lifted Wohtansen by the hair, dropping the sword so that he could slap the Mel's face with his free hand.
In the back of his mind he realized that hitting a clan wizard and war leader might possibly trigger an attack by the remaining Mel; certainly it would make Karl persona non grata throughout Melawei.
But he didn't care.
"Why didn't you bring it over there? We could have saved him," he shouted, punctuating every word with a slap. "Why didn't you—" He caught himself, letting Wohtansen's limp form drop to the ground.
Chak felt at Wohtansen's neck. "He's still alive." Laying the edge of his blade against the Mel's neck, he looked up at Karl. "Should I fix that?"
"You leave him alone!" The Mel woman shrilled up at Karl. "That boy was a stranger. Not one of ours."
Aeia launched herself at the woman, pounding her little fists into the woman's face until Karl pulled her off. "Come on, Aeia, let's go."
* * *
They gathered on the beach, half a mile away from the sands where the bodies lay. Off in the distance, the Warthog still burned, sending sparks and cinders shooting hundreds of feet into the night sky.
A few yards from where they sat, Rahff's body lay, wrapped in a blanket.
I won't have him buried in Melawei soil. I won't have his body polluted that way. Rahff would be buried in the Cirric. Not here.
Karl looked from face to face. All were grim, although Tennetty's expression was a mix of satisfaction and frustration. Karl could understand the first; after all, she'd gotten her quota of slavers. But the frustration?
"Tennetty? What is it?"
She shook her head, her straight hair whipping around her face. "I can't find him. The one that killed Fialt. I've looked at all the bodies, but . . ." She pounded her fist on the sand. "He got away."
"No, he didn't." Karl waved a hand at the burning wreck. "The one who killed Fialt was the leader, right? Black hair, thin smile—"
In light from the burning ship, a smile flickered across her sweat-shiny face. "You killed him?"
"Yes. He and some of his friends trapped me in Ganness' cabin. So they thought."
She looked at him for a long moment, her face blank, unreadable. Then: "Thank you, Karl." She gripped his hand in both of hers for just a moment, then dropped his hand and turned away. She walked a few yards, then stopped, watching the burning wreck.
Aeia stared down at a spot in front of her, picking up sand and letting it dribble through her fingers. Soundlessly, she rose, walked over to the pile of driftwood where Carrot and Pirate stood hitched, and stroked Carrot's face. The horse snorted, then nuzzled her.
Karl walked over and stood beside her. "You're going to miss Carrot, eh?"
"No." Carrot lowered her head. Aeia put her cheek against the horse's neck. "I can't. I can't stay here."
He stroked her shoulder. "They didn't understand about Rahff. They didn't know he was your friend." His words sounded false, even in his own ears. But he couldn't try to push her into leaving home.
"No. They just didn't care. I . . ." her voice trailed off into sobs. Aeia turned and threw her arms around Karl, burying her face against him. Tears wet his side.
"Go talk it over with your parents, with your people. If you want to come with us, you can." He ran his fingers through her hair. "You know that."
"No. I won't talk with them. They let Rahff die. I want to go with you."
"Think it over."
"But—"
He pried her arms away. "Just think it over." He turned and walked back to the others.
Ganness sprawled on the sand, visibly relieved to be alive. In a while, he'd once again start regretting the loss of his ship. But it wouldn't hurt him as much as losing the Ganness' Pride had.
Chak had been through all this before. Just another day in the life of a soldier of fortune.
Sure.
"Ahira?"
The dwarf looked up at him, not saying a word.
"What the hell do we do?"
Ahira shrugged. "I think it's time we go home. At least for now."
"I know. It's just that I wish . . ."
"But you wish this victory had been bloodless, at least for our side. And you wish that Wohtansen had had as much concern for one of us as for one of his own. And you wish that the world were a fine and simple place, where every problem you can't solve with your head you can solve with one simple blow from your sword. Right?"
Ahira shook his head. "Doesn't work that way, Karl." Ahira pushed the hilt of his battleaxe into the sand and scooped up handfuls to scour the congealed blood from its head. "Just doesn't work that way. You're trying to start a revolution, one that will shake this whole damn world, turn it upside down. Didn't Thoreau say something about revolutions not being hatched in a soft-boiled egg?
"Before we're done, rivers of blood will flow. And not just the blood of slavers, either. A lot of good people are going to die, and die horribly. That's a fact, Karl. Yes?"
Karl nodded. "Yes."
Ahira sat silently for so long that Karl thought the dwarf was finished.
Just as Karl was about to speak, Ahira shook his head. "Karl, what it really comes down to is whether you think the end justifies the means." Ahira chuckled. "Sounds hideous, doesn't it?"
"It does, at that." Still, Ahira was right. The world was not full of nice, clean, easy choi
ces. And wishing that it was would never make it so.
The battleaxe now clean, the dwarf rose to his feet and strapped the axe to his chest.
He flexed his hands, then finger-combed his hair. "You asked where we go from here. I think we take off and walk back toward Clan Wohtan. Ganness says the slavers' ship is there, with only a skeleton guard. We'll take the ship, kill the slavers, and free the Mel and Ganness' crew. Then we can give Ganness the ship—"
"We do owe him a ship."
"Two, actually. We'll have him drop us off as close to the Pandathaway–Metreyll road as he can. We buy a few more horses, and ride back to the valley."
Chak joined them. "Except for losing Rahff, we haven't done too badly here. The wizards lost one of their own; maybe they won't be so eager to send guild members along on slaving raids into Melawei."
To hell with that. Who cares if—He caught himself. So the Mel weren't all nice people. Did that make it okay to clap collars around their necks?
Aeia clutched at his hand. "I'm coming with you. I won't stay here."
Tennetty pulled her away. "Nobody will make you stay here." She patted the hilt of her sword. "I swear it."
"But what do we do about Rahff?" Aeia shrilled.
There wasn't any answer to that. Killing Wohtansen wouldn't change it. Rahff was dead, and he'd stay dead. Like Jason Parker, like Fialt.
And probably like me, before this is all over. He stopped and picked up his own sword, belting it around his waist. He gripped the sharkskin hilt for a moment. It felt good, comfortable, familiar in his hand. "Ganness, you sure that the slavers don't have another wizard with them?"
"Yes." Ganness nodded. "But why do you care? You have the sword."
Karl didn't answer. He lifted the sword of Arta Myrdhyn, holding it with both hands. The bright steel caught the flicker of the Warthog's flames.
Once more, dark shapes moved across the blade, forming sharp letters. Keep me, they said.
No.
Karl walked to the edge of the beach, then into the Cirric until the water rose to his knees.
He held the sword over his head, the hilt clenched in both hands. Okay, Deighton, you've got me to do your dirty work for you. I'll probably die with my blood pouring out of me, as Rahff did.
"But not my son, Arta Myrdhyn. Not my son."
He swung the sword over his head three times, then threw it with every ounce of strength he had left.
It tumbled end over end through the air; Karl turned back toward the beach, not caring where the sword fell.
Ahira's eyes were wide. "Look at that."
Karl turned back. Ghostly fingers of light reached out of the water and caught the sword, then pulled it underwater. A quick glimmering, and the sword was gone.
For now.
It doesn't matter if you keep the sword here for him. Karl shook his head. Not my son. "Okay, people, let's get going. We've got some traveling to do before we reach Clan Wohtan."
Chak nodded. "A couple days' travel, a quick fight, a day or so getting the pirate ship ready for sea, a tenday at sea, and quite a few more tendays' ride, and then we're home."
Tennetty shrugged. "Sounds easy to me."
Part Five:
Home
Chapter Seventeen
Jason
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment . . .
—T. S. Eliot
Tennetty kicked Pirate into a canter, coming even with Karl, then slowing her horse down to a walk.
Carrot whinnied, lifting her feet a bit higher as Karl rode her through the tall grasses.
"Easy, Carrot." He patted her neck, then glared at Tennetty. "Don't do that—she likes to be out in front."
She shrugged. It was possible that Tennetty could have cared less about something than she did about what Carrot wanted or didn't want, but only barely. "How long?"
Fine. On this trip, I didn't have Slovotsky asking "Are we there yet?" all the damn time. Instead, I've got Tennetty asking "How long is it going to be?" Three times in the morning, four in the afternoon, twice when we're sitting around the campfire in the evening. I could set my watch by her. If I had a watch.
It had taken a couple of weeks on the newly named Ganness' Revenge to arrive at the little fishing village of Hindeyll, then weeks of travel on the Pandathaway–Metreyll road to get to the Waste, another month to skirt the Waste and cross into the outskirts of Therranj.
Of course, we could have cut out some time if we hadn't jumped those slavers near Wehnest. Backtracking to chase them down must have cost us a week. At least. Not a bad raid, though; it had added a sackful of coin, three horses, and another member to their party.
Peill was a nice addition to the group; Karl had never met anyone with such a talent for tracking as the elf.
He turned to see the tall elf riding next to Ahira's pony, Chak and Aeia on the dwarf's other side, while Ahira continued the English lesson.
Guess this stuff about elves and dwarves not getting along doesn't apply when the dwarf is the one who shatters the elf's chains.
Peill's skills with a longbow could come in handy, particularly if he could teach others to use it. The trouble with the crossbows was that their rate of fire was just too damn low, although they did have the advantage of greater accuracy.
But from ambush, a few good longbowmen might be able to finish off a group of slavers before they even knew that they were under attack.
Then again, it would be hard for a longbowman to conceal himself; a crossbowman could shoot while prone, or from a perch in a tree. . . .
Well, it was something to think about, anyway. Maybe talk over with Chak.
But I can do that later. We're almost home, and we all deserve a vacation.
"I asked you, 'How long?' " Tennetty glared at him. "If you're going deaf, you can damn well count me out of the next trip."
Perhaps twenty miles across the plain, the ground sloped upward into an area of blackened, burned ground. Beyond that, the valley lay.
"I figure we'll get there sometime tomorrow."
It was almost over. For now. But only for now.
Karl sighed. I'm never going to be done with blood. Not until the day I die.
*Then again, if you don't learn to keep your eyes open while you're feeling sorry for yourself, that could be anytime now.*
"Ellegon!" He scanned the sky. Nothing but clouds, and a few birds to the east. Where are you?
*Try behind you.*
Karl turned in the saddle; above and behind him, a familiar shape dropped out of the blue sky.
*I usually come this way on the returning leg of my patrol,* the dragon said.
Both Carrot and Pirate snorted and held their ground as the dragon landed; the other horses galloped away in different directions, their riders vainly trying to control the animals' panic.
Tennetty swore as she struggled with Pirate's reins. "Easy, now. Easy, damn you. The idiot dragon's just trying to scare you, not eat you."
*Good to see you too, Tennetty.*
"Try giving a little warning next time."
"Cut the crap, both of you," Karl snapped. "Ellegon, how is Andy-Andy? And the baby?"
A gout of fire roared into the sky. *Took you long enough to ask.*
Don't play games with me, Ellegon.
*Both your wife and son are fine.*
My son. Karl shook his head. If ever anyone wished for a daughter . . . "You stay away from my son, Deighton," he whispered. "Just leave him alone."
Across the plain, Aeia and Chak had reined their horses down to a canter, while Ahira's and Peill's mounts still galloped away.
"Just as well," Tennetty said. "Might teach them all something about keeping their animals under control." She patted at Pirate's neck, then held out a hand to Karl. "Give me your reins."
"Huh?"
She
jerked a thumb at the dragon. "I think you might be able to persuade Ellegon to give you a ride the rest of the way home. I'll gather the others together and bring them all in sometime tomorrow."
It was tempting, but . . . "I'd better stay." The group was Karl's responsibility, until they got home. He could relax then.
*Idiot.*
"Idiot," Tennetty echoed. She rolled her eyes, looking toward heaven for reassurance. "Ellegon, explain to Karl how his wife would feel about his being gone a day longer than necessary."
*Well . . . I don't think Andrea would exactly appreciate it. She's been a bit worried; she was hoping you'd be back by now.*
"You sure things are safe around here?"
*I was just finishing my patrol, Karl.* The dragon pawed at the grass. *Though you could be right, come to think of it. I smell a nest of rabbits somewhere around here; maybe your whole party will get eaten if you're not here to protect them. If it will make you happy, I'll be willing to fly back and baby-sit Ahira and the rest after I drop you off at home.*
"The reins, please." Tennetty snapped her fingers. "Get moving."
He laughed. "You win." He jumped from Carrot's saddle, tossing the reins to Tennetty. "See you tomorrow," he said, climbing up to Ellegon's back.
The dragon's wings began to beat, moving faster and faster until they were only a blur, whipping so much grass and dust into the air that Karl had to close his eyes.
Ellegon leaped skyward. *I've got strict instructions about where to set you down,* he said, as the ground dropped away beneath them.
As they passed over Chak and Aeia, Karl returned their waves. Ellegon?
*Be quiet for a while; I'm going to put on some speed.* His wings began to work even faster, the wind drawing tears out of Karl's eyes.
Karl put his head to the dragon's rough hide and held on.
* * *
*Almost home.* The rush of wind slowed.
Karl raised his head. They were flying over what had been a burned rise leading to the valley. It had become even more green; soon, the evidence that a fire had once burned would be gone.
The valley spread out below. When Karl had left, the encampment had been one wooden wall, a stone fireplace, and two wagons.
The Sword and the Chain Page 20
