Bhaldavin glanced once more at the men, then stepped away from the camp into the darkness of the surrounding trees. He lifted his voice and called Lil-el one last time. His fluting warble was filled with longing and his need to know that she was out there alive and listening.
The lonesome cry trembled on the air; then it was gone. He stood for a long time straining to hear an answer to his call, but all he heard was the soft crackle of the fire behind him.
Chapter 21
BHALDAVIN WOKE FROM FITFUL SLEEP AND ATE WHAT had been prepared for breakfast: hot mint tea, a handful of wild jinsa beans, and a pot of overripe kansa cooked down to thick stewlike consistency. Even so small a meal was better than nothing.
It was still dark while they ate, but by the time they had their camp things packed and the fire out, the sky was growing light.
Gringers took up the trail of the splayfooted creatures with an urgency they all shared, and they moved as quickly as they could. Before Ra-shun was a finger length into the sky, they discovered the place where their quarry had rested the night. A stand of close-growing pine had offered Lil-el’s captors a modicum of safety from night-wandering draak, and the small stream nearby had offered food. Fishbones and empty snail shells testified to the fact that the hunters were not herbivorous.
“No fire,” Theon noted. “They like their food raw.”
“Either that or they’re ignorant of fire,” Gringers said.
“Or,” Diak added, “they didn’t want to chance giving their location away.” He started to poke around under the trees. “Look around, everyone. Let’s see what other clues they’ve left behind.”
“We haven’t time, Diak,” Gringers said. “This place isn’t an hour away from the place we camped last night, which means that we’re close. We’ve got to keep moving.”
“I just thought we might learn something more about them, something that would help us to—”
“Gringers, here,” Bhaldavin cried. “I think Lil-el slept here. See! It looks like she tried to write something, but it’s not very clear.”
Gringers knelt beside Bhaldavin and pushed aside a scattering of pine needles. He studied the marks on the ground, but could only make out one or two letters.
“I can’t read it, Bhaldavin, but at least we know she’s alive. Come on, let’s keep moving.”
They had left the deep woods behind by midday. Streams and small ponds abounded in the lower valleys, and the rolling hills were alive with draak walks. They spotted several nida and a variety of eating birds, which reminded them all that it had been a long time since they’d stopped to have a good solid meal.
The steady pace began to tell on Diak, who wheezed and coughed as they walked along. Gringers finally called a halt to allow the old man to catch his breath. While Gringers pointed out Lil-el’s bootprint in the mud at the edge of a stream they had yet to cross, Theon ambled along the edge of the stream, his gaze on the mountains visible through the break in the trees.
“How far ahead are they?” Bhaldavin asked Gringers.
“Hard to tell. Maybe a half hour. We’ll catch up today.” Gringers looked up. “But if we don’t, we won’t give up, Bhaldavin.”
Hallon hunkered down near the stream and cupped a handful of water to his mouth. He wiped the dribble from his chin and glanced at Diak, who was sitting back, braced by his arms. “Do you think they know they’re being followed, Diak?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Diak responded.
“Then why don’t they try to cover their trail?”
“Maybe they want us to follow,” Gringers suggested.
“A trap?”
“It’s possible.”
Hallon looked skeptical. “If they planned a trap, they would have to—”
Hallon was cut off by a shout coming from downstream. Everyone turned and saw Theon running back along the other side of the stream. The small man put on a burst of speed and cleared a fallen log in a single leap. He was shouting something as he ran, but it made no sense.
“Draak?” Hallon asked, gathering up his pack.
Gringers helped Diak to his feet. “I don’t know. Better get ready to move.”
Gringers waded the shallow stream. The others followed. Theon reached them moments later, babbling something about Lil-el.
“What about Lil-el?” Gringers demanded, catching Theon by the arms.
“Heard her… singing,” Theon gasped. “Back there… it has to be her. No other draak singers in the…”
Bhaldavin didn’t wait to hear any more. He turned and started running, passing Hallon and Gringers before either man could stop him. He heard Gringers yell as he sprinted alongside the stream, but he ignored him and kept going, his thoughts focused on Lil-el. He cleared the same log Theon had hurtled and ran on.
“Bhaldavin, stop! Wait for us!”
He heard Gringers’s voice, but it wasn’t the one he was listening for, and he ran on.
Gringers shed his pack and was running full tilt as he closed on Bhaldavin. Hallon and the others were far behind.
Bhaldavin slowed so suddenly that Gringers almost overran him. He caught Bhaldavin around the waist as he collided with him.
Bhaldavin twisted out of Gringers’s hold as they came to a stop. “Something. Over there!” he cried, pointing.
“Where?” Gringers demanded, his glance flicking over the woods bordering the stream.
Bhaldavin was pointing to several clumps of bushes to their left. “There! Look!”
“I see it. Stand still, Bhaldavin. Don’t move,” Gringers said softly.
Bhaldavin dropped his arm and stared at the creature standing half-hidden near the bushes. The shadows under the trees made it difficult to see clearly, but he was sure he saw a head, a pair of eyes, a nose, and a large mouth with protruding teeth.
The creature moved around behind one of the bushes, dashed between two trees, and paused behind another bush.
Bhaldavin was sure he saw legs and arms, and the creature was either furred or it wore some type of furred clothing.
“It’s shaped like a man,” Gringers said softly. “Did you see it clearly, Bhaldavin?”
Hallon appeared, striding through the tall grass at the edge of the stream. When he saw Gringers and Bhaldavin, he turned and called to Theon and Diak, who were behind him. “I’ve found them.”
Gringers spun around, hissing to Hallon to be silent. Then he pointed toward the trees.
Hallon set Gringers’s pack down on the ground and approached quietly. He stopped when he saw the shadowy figure in the bushes. “What is it?” he whispered.
“It’s man-shaped,” Gringers answered, keeping his voice down. “And it’s curious.”
“Could it be someone from Barl-gan?” Hallon asked excitedly.
“What’s going on?” Theon called.
Gringers cursed as the shadowy figure ducked out of sight. He turned on Theon as he and Diak approached. “Quiet, you fool,” he hissed angrily.
“What did I—”
“There’s someone in the bushes. Quiet or you’ll frighten him away.”
“Someone? You mean…”
Gringers wasn’t listening. He moved up beside Bhaldavin and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Do you see him?”
Bhaldavin pointed to a bush just beyond the tree. Gringers took a few steps forward. The shadowy figure moved again.
“Hello,” Gringers called, carefully keeping his voice neutral. “You in the bushes, we mean you no harm. Please come out where we can see you.”
Gringers’s overture was met by silence.
He tried again, moving forward a few more steps. “Hello. Can you understand me?” He raised his hands and turned them palms up. “We come in peace. We won’t hurt you.”
A cackle of laughter erupted from the bushes, and the shadowy form stepped back, disappearing into the undergrowth.
Gringers lunged for his pack. “Come on! Let’s try to follow it.”
The others ran after Gringers as h
e plunged into the woods, weaving in and out between the trees and running a gauntlet of low branches that caught at their hair and clothing, slowing their progress.
Bhaldavin ran behind Theon. He heard Hallon and Diak behind him, but soon the snap of branches and Hallon’s curses grew fainter. He lost sight of Theon for a few moments, but followed the path of still-moving branches until he came upon Gringers and Theon standing in a relatively open spot under a large aban tree.
Gringers glanced at him as he approached. “Where are the others?”
“Behind me somewhere. What happened to the —the creature you were following?”
“I lost it.” Gringers looked past Bhaldavin and raised his voice, calling Hallon’s name.
Hallon heard and answered, and a few minutes later appeared, pushing his way through the bushes, Diak following close behind. The old man looked pale and he was coughing again.
Gringers went to Diak and told him to sit down.
“What now?” Theon asked as Gringers offered Diak a drink of water.
Another strange burst of laughter answered Theon’s question. All heads turned. The manlike creature stood watching them from the shelter of another tree. Only its head and one arm were visible as it peeked out of hiding. A thatch of short brown hair covered the top of its head.
Gringers stood up slowly. The creature laughed again and stepped back out of sight. Gringers drew his knife and advanced cautiously. Theon and Hallon flanked him, both moving out and away as they neared the tree.
Bhaldavin and Diak watched as the three moved in on their target. Gringers was the first around the tree. Hallon came around the other side to meet him; then Theon disappeared just as another burst of laughter filled the afternoon air.
Bhaldavin helped Diak to his feet and gave the old man the support of his arm as they went to see what Gringers and the others were doing. They found the three men studying two very clear footprints near the base of the tree.
Gringers looked up. “The footprints belong to the same kind of creature that took Lil-el.”
Theon stood up as something moved in the bushes. “There he is again,” he cried. “Look! I think it wants us to follow.”
Gringers looked in the direction Theon pointed. The creature laughed again and beckoned with one hand. They were close enough now to see that it was dressed in furred vest and leggings.
“Do we follow it?” Hallon asked.
“It’s that or go back and try to pick up the trail we were following before,” Gringers responded. He looked to Diak. “What do you think?”
“Let’s follow it. Go ahead; I’ll try to keep up.”
Gringers picked up his pack and helped Diak up. “Let’s go then. Hallon, stay with Diak, and don’t get too far behind.”
The man-creature darted away as soon as Gringers and the others headed in his direction. His laughter guided them through tangled undergrowth and up and down narrow river ravines. As the minutes passed, the wild scramble through the woods took on the semblance of a game.
Gringers quickly realized that Diak would not be able to keep up with the pace and deliberately stopped, testing the man-creature to see what it would do.
“Did you lose him again?” Hallon asked as he and Diak caught up.
“Yes and no,” Gringers replied. “I believe he’s off that way.”
Hallon frowned. “We aren’t going to go after him?”
“No. We’ll wait a few minutes. I want to see if he’ll circle back once he realizes we aren’t following him.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
Gringers slapped his cousin’s shoulder. “Then we’ll have to try to follow his trail. It will be slower, but—”
Theon dug Gringers in the side with an elbow. “He’s back!”
Gringers turned and called out. “You, ahead! We will follow you, but not at a run. Do you understand?”
A ripple of insane laughter was Gringers’s answer.
“I’m beginning to wonder if following this—man-thing is wise,” Theon muttered. “What if he’s just playing with us, leading us in the wrong direction?”
“We’ve come too far to turn back,” Gringers said. “Let’s go. We’ll keep to a walk and see if our guide stays with us. Diak, how is it with you?”
Diak nodded, saving his breath.
Hours passed. The creature they followed had ceased its strange laughter and now moved ahead of them silently, always carefully maintaining its distance.
As the afternoon waned and shadows began to lengthen, their guide led them out into the open to the edge of a lake. The distant shore was barely visible.
The man-creature walked eastward along the shore, looking back every once in a while as if to make sure Gringers and his band still followed.
Suddenly there was a movement at the edge of the forest. The man-creature was so intent upon those behind him that he failed to see the draak until it was upon him.
“Sing, Bhaldavin!” Gringers cried.
Bhaldavin wasn’t sure he was close enough to help, but the beginning notes of “Nar-donva” were in the air as he raced down the lakeshore behind Gringers.
The man-creature saw his danger and leaped aside, barely missing the draak’s teeth; then he was down and rolling. He pulled something from somewhere inside his furred clothing, and a second later, a flash of light shot from his hand toward the draak’s head.
The draak roared in anger as the light touched it. It threw itself backward, then circled and came at the man-creature again. Another flash of light caught the draak in the chest.
Bhaldavin’s song was drowned by the beast’s roar of pain.
The light struck once more, and this time the draak had had enough. It turned and dove for the forest, crashing back into the shelter of the trees before the light could strike again.
The man-creature was just getting to his feet as Gringers and Bhaldavin ran up. He raised a small silver-colored box and pointed it at them. With his other hand he made a halting gesture.
Neither Gringers nor Bhaldavin could have named the object in the man-creature’s hand, but the meaning of his stance was unmistakable! If threatened, he would retaliate with his strange light weapon.
When Theon and the other two arrived, Gringers ordered them to stand quietly, never once taking his glance from the ragged-looking being standing before them.
The man-creature slowly lowered the box in his hand.
“Give him a bath and cut his hair and he looks just like us,” Theon said softly.
“Except for his feet,” Hallon added.
The man-creature shifted uneasily under the scrutiny of the men, his splayed feet and long toenails creating the same strange footprints they had been following for the last two days.
“Are you all right?” Gringers asked, carefully spacing the words.
The man-creature looked at Gringers, then finally nodded.
“He understands!” Gringers took a deep breath, trying to keep the excitement from his voice.
“Who are you?” he asked. “Where do you come from?”
There was no response.
“Where are you taking us?”
The man-creature pointed east, then made a gesture with his free hand.
Gringers shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”
The sign was repeated, but still no one understood.
Bhaldavin stepped forward. Ignoring the weapon that the man-creature raised, he held out his hands. “Please, we look for another who is like me. She has green hair and crystal eyes and she sings to draak. Have you seen her?”
The man-creature took a moment or two to respond; then he nodded.
“Do you know where she is? Can you take us to her?”
There was no response.
Gringers pointed to the box in the man-creature’s hand. “What is that?”
The man-creature glanced at a dead branch lying a short distance away. He pointed the box at the branch, and a stream of light shot out to engulf the branc
h. There was a small crackle of sound, and the branch burst into flame.
“Damn!” Theon stepped back a pace or two.
“Gringers,” Diak cried softly. “It’s another magic box. It means we’ve found the men of Barl-gan!”
Gringers was still staring at the branch as if stunned.
Hallon laid a hand on Gringers’s shoulder. “He’s leaving. Do we follow him?”
Looking up, Gringers saw that the man-creature was already several hundred paces away. For the first time Bhaldavin could remember, Gringers looked indecisive. Bhaldavin adjusted his pack, and without a word to anyone, he started out. If there was even one chance in fifty that Birdfoot knew where to find Lil-el, he was going to follow him.
“Wait, Bhaldavin,” Gringers called. “We’re coming.”
Chapter 22
TRAVELING AFTER DARK WAS UNWISE BECAUSE THAT WAS the time when both draak and gensvolf left lair and den to hunt. But their guide showed no inclination to stop, continuing on to turn from the lakeshore and lead them back into the forest. When it grew too dark to see, he lighted their way with his strange box. Awed by the light weapon Birdfoot carried, Bhaldavin was careful to keep his distance.
They walked for some time in darkness, wading shallow streams and winding their way down barely perceptible pathways. The land began to rise gradually.
“Gringers!” Hallon cried suddenly. “Diak is down!”
“Damn!” Gringers hissed softly. “You,” he called. “You, ahead of us. We have to stop.”
Their guide turned at the sound of Gringers’s voice.
“He’s coming back,” Bhaldavin announced. He moved aside as Birdfoot approached with his light.
Diak was clutching his chest, and his face was twisted in agony. The attack lasted only a few seconds; then Diak began to breathe easier. Slowly he opened his eyes. “Gringers?”
“I’m right here, Diak. Don’t try to talk. Just relax. Where do you hurt?”
“Chest. Felt like something tore loose.”
“Does it still hurt?”
“No. The pain is going.”
Bhaldavin looked at Birdfoot while Gringers checked Diak over. It was the closest any of them had been to their guide. A backwash of light from the small box touched Birdfoot’s face. His nose was thin, his eyes deeply sunken. The protruding upper teeth made the face appear long. Heavy bushy eyebrows almost connected over the nose. An unpleasant sour smell emanated from him.
Beyond the Draak’s Teeth Page 20
