by Shannah Jay
'I don't know about that, but I've got my cudgel to hand and my knives ready.'
'Keep alert.' Benjan strolled over to have a word with Quinna.
By late afternoon, they found themselves approaching a fairly large town.
'Oh, no!' said Jonner. 'What did they want to build a big place up here in the hills for? If there's one thing we could do without it's big towns. They always have shrines full of the nastiest Initiates.'
'Better if we stop and camp here,' decided Benjan. 'I don't want to be caught somewhere at dusk. Can you sense anything, Elder Sister?'
'No. I feel uneasy, but there are too many people in the town for me to sense individuals or even small groups.'
'Hmm. Let's turn off the road now, then, and make camp by that stream. That rocky outcrop should protect us from the wind. It looks like being a blowy night.'
The deleff seemed hesitant, but eventually they walked out of their harness. They didn’t go searching for forage, but stayed near the wagons.
'I think we'd better take it in turns to keep watch tonight,' said Benjan. 'Just in case.'
In the middle of the night, just as Jonner was waking Quinna up, to take her turn on watch, Herra joined them. 'There are people coming,' she said. 'A large group, I think. Wake Benjan and the others, Jonner.
Quickly!'
Davred came over to join them even as she was speaking. 'What's wrong? I woke up suddenly, feeling anxious.'
Even as he spoke, Herra shouted, 'Watch out!'
Dark figures flowed forward to encircle them and the deleff, trapped in the circle with them, began to scream shrilly. The figures stayed where they were.
'Brother, how many are there?' Jonner asked Cheral as he fumbled for his knives. 'The night seems full of darkness that moves.'
Quinna ran to poke a piece of wood into the embers of the fire, but its small flaring light was lost for a minute as Herra sent flashes of light zipping across the campground. What it showed made everyone gasp. It seemed as if a solid wall of men was standing around them, just hovering there and not attacking.
Katia found Erlic beside her. 'Where's Alaran?'
'With Father.'
'Stay near me, then.'
'Those men are evil.' Erlic's voice was a gasp of pain. 'Dark and evil.'
Katia stretched out her hand to clasp his. She could see no way of escaping from this trap. Bitterness welled in her. They had suffered so much already. Was it all for nothing? Were her beloved sons now to be wiped out by this creeping evil?
'Serpent, save your Servants!' a voice called suddenly, and the whole of the surrounding force took up the chant, so that it bounced from the rocks and cast blind echoes that cut across even Herra's ability to think out the situation.
Katia shook her head. 'It hurts,' she said stupidly. 'The chanting hurts.' She looked round for Davred, but could not see him.
'Move forward slowly!' called the same deep voice. 'Now!'
The wall of men moved one pace forward and stopped again.
'Now!'
Another pace forward.
Carryn clutched Benjan's leather jerkin. 'I'll kill myself rather than fall into their hands again,' she moaned.
'I can't bear it! Can't bear it! Can't bear it!'
'I'll kill you myself, little Sister,' he said, 'if it comes to that. But only as a last resort. Stay close to me, you and the child.'
Lerina pressed close to her mother, whimpering in sympathy, though she knew not why, and clutching her mother's arm.
The ground beneath them rumbled again, causing that harsh deep voice to falter in its cry of 'Now!'
'Brother look down!' muttered Cheral, taking a firmer grip on the frying pan. 'What now?'
Herra looked down at the rock beneath her feet. 'That feels like - it can't be - ' she began.
The ground shook so hard that the men in that dark mass yelled in fear and clutched their neighbours.
'Witches!'
'Whores!'
'What are those unnatural harridans doing now?'
'Keep your chant going!' yelled the voice that had controlled their attackers.
'Davred,' said Herra urgently, 'can you feel it?'
'I can feel something. I know not what.'
'It's Quequere.' She raised her voice and shouted, ' Quequere calls.'
The ground immediately rumbled again and the deleff trumpeted loudly, hurting the ears. Shapes flickered on their backs, a darkness that was visible and that cast out a strange glow. The wings were beating the air around them into turmoil.
'I'm glad to see the wings this time,' muttered Jonner. 'Can they save us, do you think, Cheral?'
'I know not. Brother look down!' she said, her voice sharp with fear. 'Narla, stay close to me.'
Narla was too frozen with terror to move, but as the ground shook beneath them again, she clutched Cheral's arm.
'Quequere, can you help us?' Herra's voice cut through the darkness, through the beating sound of the deleff's wings, even through the chanting of that dark circle around them. ' Quequere!'
Her voice seemed to echo to and fro, and for a moment there was silence even among their beseigers, then the voice bellowed, 'Rush them now! Before they try any more magic. Before the ground shakes again.'
The wave of blackness suddenly erupted towards them as the braver individuals began to run across the few remaining paces that separated them from the Kindred. Those who encountered the beat of the deleff's wings screamed and doubled up on the ground, rolling about in agony. Nim's great claws slashed at two who got close to Katia.
'Quequere!' called Herra again.
' Trust me, Herra!' called a voice that rumbled like the earth had rumbled a few seconds previously. ' Do you trust me, Herra?'
'We trust you, Quequere. Can you save us?'
' Use my portal.'
The crowd had backed away and hesitated, but the chant started up again. 'Serpent, save your servants.
Serpent, save your servants.' Another rush forward was obviously building up.
The deleff's wings flickered abruptly out of existence and they moved into their harness more quickly than Herra would have thought possible. There was a great rending sound and the wagons started rolling forward towards a cleft that had yawned open in the rocky outcrop.
'Is that a portal?' called Jonner.
'Serpent save your servants!' beat out around them and the mass of men started creeping forward again one pace at a time.
Cheral jumped into the back of the nearest wagon and pulled the trembling Narla up beside her. Jonner scrambled up into the driving seat, though there was no need to urge the deleff onwards. Their shrill sounds of distress were still hurting the ears, even though the wings had vanished.
A man rushed forward and tried to climb on to the wagon. Jonner thumped him over the head with the club he kept handy, whirling in his seat to jab at another man and knock him off the side of the wagon. The man clung tightly, in spite of the blows Jonner was raining on him, then screamed suddenly and fell off. The air around the wagon seemed to turn into thick choking moisture and Jonner cried out in panic. As he groaned and slumped down on his seat, he heard Cheral and Narla moaning in the back of the wagon. 'Not -
like the others portals,' he managed. 'Hurts.' Then he seemed to fall fathoms deep into darkness.
Cheral heard her frying pan thump against the floor of the wagon as her trembling fingers lost their hold on it. She tried to stretch out her hand towards Narla, who was sobbing in terror beside her, but the hand wouldn’t move, nothing would move. Her body seemed frozen in a darkness that was like nothing she’d ever felt before. The darkness was so solid that she could hardly breathe, could - hardly -
Katia and Quinna ran for shelter between the two wagons, pulling Erlic with them, Nim whining at their heels. Erlic was shuddering so violently he couldn’t move unaided. Quinna swung round to fend off a couple of men who lurched towards them, but the attackers fell away before she even touched them.
'What'
s happening?' she yelled at Katia.
'I don't know. I've never seen anything like this. But it's our only chance to escape the Serpent.'
They flung themselves into the cleft in the rocks after the wagon and fell into a sticky darkness that twisted their bodies and whirled the breath out of them. Quinna grabbed at both Katia and Erlic with the last of her failing strength. Nim used her last moment of consciousness to leap towards them.
No one was riding on the driving seat of the second wagon, but in the rear, Benjan was crouching in front of Carryn and Lerina, whom he’d tossed up in front of him. He chopped at the hands that stretched out to grab at the two women and kicked one man away.
When the hands and bodies suddenly fell away from the wagon of their own accord, Benjan sat stupidly staring for a moment. Something seemed to be pressing down on him. Something was stopping him from breathing properly. He turned and reached out for Carryn and she flung herself into his arms as they both lost consciousness.
Herra and Davred fought a rearguard action and for the first time, Davred found his strength surging up in an unexpected augmentation as he took a full share of stilling those who chased after them.
'They've all gone ahead of us!' Herra panted. 'Get into the portal, Davred.'
Alaran was lying in a heap on the ground, moaning, and holding his head in his hands. He seemed only half aware of what was happening.
'Not without you, Herra.' Davred grabbed his son's arm and threw a last surge of energy towards three men who were crawling over the stilled bodies of their companions. They were calling upon the Serpent to aid them and brandishing curved knives whose blades were stained with old dried blood.
Herra stilled another rank of attackers. 'Now!' she grunted, panting. 'Run back together.'
The two of them turned, each grabbing one of Alaran's arms and dragging him along between them.
'Brother watch over us!' Herra shouted as she fell into a swirling darkness, tumbling head over heels as slowly as a feather falls in a capricious breeze.
'Hold tight!' yelled Davred. 'Don't let go!'
But as the darkness tossed them wildly around, they couldn’t keep hold of each other and cried out in dismay.
* * *
When Herra regained consciousness, she found herself lying wedged between two rocks. It was dark and a storm was beating rain against her chilled body.
' Herra!' The sound seemed to be coming from the ground beneath her.
'Who calls?' she murmured, trying to clear her aching head.
' Quequere calls. '
She pulled herself up into a sitting position, gasping as the world spun about her. Taking a deep breath, she cast a quick look around. She could see nothing, but could sense Davred and Alaran some distance away, limbs entangled, breathing but unconscious. There was no sign of the wagons or the other Kindred, and no sign at all of their erstwhile attackers.
'Where are we?'
' S-safe. ' The voice seemed to be having difficulty forming the words.
'Did you save us, Quequere?'
There was a surge of humming sound and the deep voice said urgently, ' Portals are difficult to form - hard to hold in place. Herra, your companions are s-scattered across the Twelve Claims. And I - ' The voice broke off.
'Quequere!' Herra called.
The voice was faint. ' No energy. Cannot hold contact. '
The humming sound faded away.
'But are they all safe?' she shouted. 'Quequere, answer me!'
The voice was faint. ' Yes. S-safe. '
Then there was silence.
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About the Author:
Shannah Jay, who also writes as Anna Jacobs was born in Lancashire and now lives in Australia and Wiltshire.
Discover other titles by Shannah Jay at Smashwords.com:
The Chronicles of Tenebrak
Book 1. Quest http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=18
Book 3. Shadow of the Serpent http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=19
Book 4. The Price of Wisdom http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=21
Also
Envoy http://www.annajacobs.com/book.asp?pageID=22
