He waited. Let her ask, he thought.
“And?” Taline said petulantly.
“We could follow the slope down the valley. It should eventually level out enough for us to get the cart across.”
“Too much time,” Anarra barked.
“Possibly,” Falon agreed, pasting a good-natured smile on his face.
“The second choice?” Taline finally asked.
“The slope is steep, but fairly straight. A few boulders, perhaps, some loose rock. But it isn’t nearly as obstructed as the road ...”
He ran his fingers through his whiskers.
“What are you proposing?” Anarra said, growing angry with his game.
“One of us leads the uxan straight down the slope, running it as fast as it can go. And, if it doesn’t lose its footing and the cart holds together—we can have all the packs down to the valley in a matter of minutes. The rest of us can take a more leisurely pace.”
“You’re crazy!” Anarra said, bringing her brown furry face right up to him. She licked her lips as though she wanted to take a big bite of him. “Who’d be crazy enough to do that?”
“I would.” He almost surprised himself in his eagerness.
Taline said nothing. ‘
Anarra exploded. “Just another highlander fool! Why, the—”
“You’d do it?” Taline said quietly.
“Rather than spend two days working it down? Sure, of course I would. I’ve run whole herds down mountainsides just for fun.”
Taline was studying him carefully. With a new appreciation, he hoped. Perhaps, he thought, they need not be such mortal enemies on this adventure.
“It won’t work,” Anarra announced. “The beast will trip on its legs, the cart will smash into it. We’ll lose everything—”
“Perhaps.” He grinned. “Perhaps not.”
Taline turned away, another glance down the hill, then at the road.
“Do it, highlander. Let’s see if you’re as crazy as you sound.”
Now Falon looked at the slope more carefully. Had he been a bit too confident? Could the cart stand up to all that bouncing around?
Would the poor uxan’s heart burst as it galloped down the hill?
Questions soon to be resolved, thought Falon.
“Help me tie everything down as tightly as possible.” Anarra didn’t move, but Taline came over and tugged at the lines, making the web of ropes hold the assorted packs as tightly as possible.
“Good,” he said, favoring Taline with a smile. “Let’s check the undercarriage of the cart.”
They both crept down, and peered under the wooden cart.
They were close to each other, their fur almost touching as he pulled at the bolts and heavy metal pins that kept the wheels in place on the axle. He breathed deeply, and smelled a rich, musky odor.
He looked at Taline, but she turned away ... embarrassed by the telltale signs of her unplanned excitement.
The body doesn’t lie, he thought. And he purposely let himself press against her firm body.
“Oh, excuse me. Narrow working space and all that.” She turned to him, her eyes glowing, almost feverish. “It ... it looks fine,” she said, the tip of her tongue touching her lips.
“Yes, it does,” he said, grinning, not talking about the cart at all. “I’d better get started.”
He slid out from under the cart and walked over to the large Anarra, who was pouting off to the side.
“Is there anything I should know about the uxan?”
She looked at him, an ugly glance that let him know that while he might be making a new friend with Taline, he already had one good enemy.
“Yes,” she spit. “Her name is Daynia, and she hates to run. And if you kill her, I’ll kill you.”
“Thanks for the help,” he said.
Caissir was grooming himself near the back, well away from the ledge. Ashre, though, stood right on the precipice, jumping up and down, unable to contain himself.
“Are you ready?” Ashre called out. “Are you going to do it now?”
“Yes,” Falon said. “Stay up here near the others until I’m all the way down—if I get down.”
Finally he walked over to Daynia, whose strong odor belied such a dainty name. “Okay, honey, it’s you and me now. Just don’t decide to stop on the hill.” He patted the rough head of the beast. “All set?”
The uxan raised its head, and shook it.
Too bad, Falon thought.
He grabbed a strap of the harness.
He pulled the uxan forward, and it snorted and whipped its head left and right, snorting out its protest. Falon tugged harder.
“She’s no fool, highlander,” Anarra called out.
“Come on!” he yelled at it. Then, more soothingly. “Come on, Daynia, let’s get down the hill. That first step is the roughest....”
But the beast actually backed up, digging its heavy hooves into the sandy soil.
Falon dug his own feet into the sand, and threw his whole body weight into a massive tug over the precipice. But the only thing that gave way was his hands, as they started to slip along the sweat-coated strap.
Ashre came trotting over, and stood just behind Falon. “Get—away—Ash—This thing may start to move any—”
“No, it won’t,” Ashre said, almost chucking. “She’s not going anywhere,” Then, more quietly, “Unless I help.”
Falon looked down at the small kit. The tufts of gray fur above his eyes seemed to wrinkle and twitch. The uxan reared around and looked down at Ashre. It roared.
“She doesn’t want to do it,” Ashre said.
“Tell me something that I don’t know.”
The puffy milky eyes of the beast rolled around, even as the beast went from looking at Ashre, then the slope, then Ashre again.
“Get ready,” Ashre said. “I think she’s ready to try it.”
But without warning the uxan grunted and pulled forward. And suddenly Falon was holding onto the harness strap and being pulled down the hill. He lost his footing on the loose sand and stone, but quickly scrambled to his feet. The cart reached the edge and tumbled down, after the uxan.
Not bad; Daynia, keep this up and we’ll be down the hill in no time.
Falon had to run to keep up with the uxan. Its short, stubby legs seemed surprisingly surefooted on the slope, and it charged down the hill as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
Just what, he wondered, had Ashre told it?
Then the first bit of trouble began. The slope was covered with a fine, almost silty dirt that slid away from him as soon as he stepped onto it. The animal was leaping down the hill, galloping almost, when its two front legs collapsed on it. The uxan crashed to its knees, pulling Falon down.
He tumbled right next to the great black belly of the beast.
But the creature just kept sliding.
Falon was sliding down now too, the rocks and sand digging through his kilt, shaving off his back fur. He was too stunned to notice the pain. The cart seemed okay, bouncing merrily down the hill, up into the air, and then plopping down onto the sand.
The uxan was sliding down, and Falon knew that its underside was being ripped up too. He twisted around, and kicked madly to get to his feet.
“Get up,” he screamed at the uxan. He ran alongside it, hearing it scream out its terror. “Get up, you stupid animal!”
Then, as if it realized that to continue grinding down the slope would kill it, the uxan pushed up with its front legs. The first time it just collapsed again. But then it got up on its front legs, then its back legs, and ran wildly, bellowing, all the way to the bottom.
Falon let go of the harness as soon as the ground leveled out. He rolled onto his stomach.
Daynia kept running, as if unsure that the hill had indeed end
ed.
Falon lay there alone, his nostrils pressed close to some pungent krarl grass. It felt rough and scratchy—even the herd-beasts wouldn’t eat it. But he didn’t move, and just lay there waiting for everyone else to come down the mountain.
•
Anarra was first down the hill and walked past Falon without saying a word. She went directly over to Daynia, and began washing the animal’s wounds.
But then Taline was down.
“Ashre is helping Caissir down. Are you badly hurt?” She knelt down and put her fingers to his open cuts and tears.
“Oww. I’d rather you didn’t touch me ... there.”
“I’ll get some ointment,” she said.
He looked up the hill. Caissir was having a worse time getting down the slope than the uxan. Every few feet, one of the wizard’s legs would buckle and he’d go tumbling down into the sand. Ashre was right beside him, though, pulling Caissir up after every fall.
Taline returned, a metal tin in her hands. She unscrewed the lid.
“This will clean out the wounds, and help them heal.” She scooped out a gob of the orange gel and brought it to his back. “Does it sting now?”
He turned his head slightly and grinned at her.
“Not at all. I didn’t expect that you were the nurse on our trip—”
“I’m not. Anarra is trained, but she is attending the uxan.”
He looked right in her golden eyes. “I’d rather have you anyway.”
That seemed to make her feel uncomfortable. She quickly coated the rest of his wounds, and then sealed the tin. “Keep them open to the air. I’ll have Anarra take a look at them, when we camp tonight.”
She hurried away.
Ashre came over to him, and crouched down very close.
“Did you get badly hurt?”
Falon stood up, his legs wobbily. “Not as badly as I could have been if that monster had fallen on me.” He ruffled the kit’s fur. “Nothing to worry about, Ash. Tell me ... what on earth did you tell the uxan to get it moving?”
An impish grin bloomed on the kit’s face. “You know I spoke to her?”
“I’ve been around herd-beasts for a long time.”
“Well, I just said that we were going to cut her up for dinner if she didn’t go down the hill.” Ashre laughed and then looked off into the distance. “They’re signaling us, Falon. I think they’re ready to move on.”
“Yes, I suppose they are.” He took a step, and he felt the cuts on his back stretch painfully. “Stay with me, Ashre. I may need a hand staying on my feet.”
He walked slowly, and listened to the kit describe how wonderful it had been to watch his great and wild run down the mountain slope.
TALINE CALLED a stop to the day’s journey just as the sky turned a deep blue and the first stars made an early appearance.
Caissir helped Falon gather some firewood, as instructed by Anarra.
“I thought they were going to keep us at it till the twin moons rose,” he complained to Falon.
“The more miles we travel each day, the sooner we’ll get back,” Falon said.
Caissir came close to him.
“I have news for you, Falon. I’m leaving our little group tomorrow. Right after lunch.”
Falon looked over at Ashre. Taline, while not overtly friendly to any of them, seemed to be taking an interest in the gray kit. She had him slicing up chunks of vegetable and meat for a soup. Anarra was, as usual, tending to her beloved Daynia.
“Don’t do it, Caissir. I need you with us,”
“Aye, that you do, Falon. But I have other places to spend my allotment of lives. I hate to say this, my friend, but I was better off before I met you.”
Falon laughed. “You’re probably right there. Though I imagine Rhow will reward us handsomely when we return with the book.”
“If, Falon, and I don’t want to be around to see whether you make good on that ‘if.’”
Falon reached out and patted the wizard’s shoulder. “I’ll miss you, Caissir. Do what you must.”
Caissir grinned at him, obviously pleased to be relieved of his burden.
“Thank you. Now, why don’t you ...” The wizard’s voice trailed off.
Why don’t I leave too? thought Falon. A good question.
Except that my life doesn’t particularly have anything better to offer. If I leave I can add being an outcast from Tizare to my resume. I agreed to this task. If my word becomes worthless then my honor will truly be gone.
Besides, he thought with a smile, I’m curious. Whatever happens, it can’t help but be more intriguing than watching the herd-beasts chew their cud.
And there’s Taline ... perhaps a not totally hopeless situation.
“Don’t you have enough wood by now?” Taline shouted at them.
“Come, Caissir, it’s time to get dinner started.”
Taline prepared a delicious soup that had everyone huddled close to the fire long before it was ready. She tasted it, and she let Ashre take an experimental slurp, but everyone else had to wait until the moment she declared it ready.
Then, under a brilliant field of stars and the just-rising twin moons, she served the rich soup to a chorus of grateful lip-smacking sounds.
“This is,” Caissir proclaimed, “the best soup that I’ve ever had, anywhere.”
Taline laughed—the first time he’d seen that, thought Falon. “That’s just the hunger of marching on the trail. Anything would taste good now.”
Anarra, finally done with ministering to her beast, squatted right next to Falon. She dug out a loaf of brown bread from her pack, tore off a large chunk, and passed it to Falon.
Without so much as a look or a nod.
Ashre was curled against Falon, every day growing more like the sleepy-eyed kits he’d see at village meetings, all cozy and warm against their mothers.
Taline attacked her soup as eagerly as any of the rest.
But she looked very beautiful, Falon noticed, as the yellow and blue of the fire caught fine highlights in her fur. When the peace and quiet of well-fed stomachs settled over the group, she said quietly, “We’ll leave tomorrow, early. We should reach the border of the desert by nightfall. And,” she said, standing up, “if we’re lucky we’ll reach the ruins by the afternoon of the next day.”
“If the weevils don’t .get you ...” Caissir muttered.
“If the weevils come, we’ll be ready for them.” She stretched, reaching for the sky, her lean body becoming one long golden line pointing to the zenith. “Falon—Ashre —you’re on cleanup.”
While everyone retired to their private grooming, Falon and Ashre cleaned the bowls and plates with water brought by Anarra.
“You’ve been quiet today, Ash. Missing Fahl?”
The gray kit was sloshing water onto the soup bowls.
“Miss Fahl? Not at all. This ...” he looked around at the fire, the wagon, the other travelers, “is like being in a family. Not that I know what that’s really like. But this is something like it, isn’t it?”
Falon laughed. “Something. Sure it is.” Then he turned serious again. “Ash, there’s something I need to talk with you about.”
Ashre continued his sloshing and rubbing, but his body was rigid, alert.
“Yesterday, when we were in the dungeon, the keys moved—”
Ashre turned to him, a terrible fear filling his face. “You won’t tell the others, will you? I thought we should escape—I was trying—”
Falon went to him. “There’s nothing wrong with it, Ash. It’s a good thing, it’s—”
“No! I’ve heard the others, the thieves at Fahl talk about magic. It’s something only for the animals.”
Falon shook his head. “No. You are proof enough that that’s not true. Whatever powers you have are good. They are yours, and yo
u are supposed to have them. But you’re right—for now—to keep them secret.”
He let Ashre think about his words a moment. Then he added, “I want you to trust me, Ash. Trust, and tell me. No one else will know, unless you want them to.”
Ashre put down his bowls, letting them tumble into the big pot of water. “My mother talked to me about it ... but I was young....”
And what was he now? Falon thought. An old mrem?
“When she was gone, I just used it when I had to.”
Falon patted him. He looked around the camp, checking that they were, indeed, away from anyone’s hearing. “Tell me, Ash ... what can you do?”
The kit bit his lip. “I, can move things ... sometimes ... small things. But it hurts to do it. And I know what the animals are thinking”—he giggled—“when they think anything. And I can tell when something bad is going to happen—”
“That’s how you saved me at Fahl, when that dagger was coming right at me.”
Ashre smiled shyly. “Yes, I knew that was going to happen. Usually, I just get a feeling that something might happen. It’s like a tightening in my stomach,”
Ashre stopped, and reached into the now-cool water, digging out some more bowls to be scrubbed.
“That’s it?” Falon asked.
“As far as I know.” Ashre looked up at Falon. “Now, it’s our secret, right?”
“Right. Except, if you get any of those feelings, you’ll be sure to tell me.”
Ashre nodded.
•
Ashre watched Falon walk away.
He scuttled close to the fire, all alone, with just the stars and Daynia for company. A few large nightwigs flew near the fire, only to be quickly snatched from the air by a big-eyed kolow perched on a tree, finding its hunting made easy by the glow of the fire.
He hadn’t told Falon everything. That would have been too hard.
He didn’t tell him that there was danger ahead.
No. That wouldn’t have been possible ... not with it coming from so many different places.
What could he say? That there were bad things ahead? He knows that, Ashre told himself. And when the time comes, he’ll do what he has to do.
EXILED Wizard of Tizare Page 14
