In the Caves of Exile (Tale of the Nedao Book 2)

by Ru Emerson

  There was a line of mountains to the east, an ominous, dark red line of cloud outlining them. “All right.” Galdan scowled at the guttering torch, ground it out in the sandy rock underfoot. “There's nothing here for us to see, unless Golsat's better than even I think him.”

  “Nothing,” Golsat said and turned to Ylia. “It's your search, now.”

  “Don't give it up,” she replied. “If they've been caught,” she lowered her voice, cast an anxious eye after Nold, who'd moved on down the ledge on his own, “then I've lost them, too. And I may alert them to our presence, be aware of that.” She sighed; so long on horse, she'd never ridden all night before. “It's not always the answer, Golsat, you know that.”

  “I know. But sometimes it is.” He held her horse steady as she closed her eyes, sent out yet another mind-search. Galdan eyed her briefly, decided she wasn't quite ready to topple from the saddle, turned to break his men into groups of two and three to search down the ledge and beyond it as soon as it grew light.

  The girls had to be ahead of them. The last sign had pointed this way. Ylia opened her eyes, scanned the terrain around them with the second level of sight. If they came up here, there were only two ways down. Unless they had doubled back. Doubled back. “Golsat! That cut—” She pointed. “Not the one we just came up, the one right behind it. Check that.” He nodded, hurried off. She dismounted, followed him and sent out another search. South of the ledge, unexpected. Therefore to be expected in these.

  And that was what they'd done. Even as Golsat waved an urgent hand, Ylia's touch closed around another thought: exhausted, shredded and riddled with terror and determination, equally mixed. Danila and Lennett, beyond doubt. The sight confirmed it.

  “I have them!” It was light enough for Galdan to catch her gesture as she remounted and he was back on his own horse and at her side, the rest of the men close behind. “They doubled back.”

  “You sense them? Mathkkra?”

  “No, the girls. Danila's safe, Nold,” she added as the boy caught up with her at the base of the cut. “A league or so. There's a cliff, green-stone like Aresada, pocked with small caves. The girls are just short of that. I can see them. We'll find them now.”

  They were backed into a water-hollowed hole in the rock, scarcely visible for the brush covering. As the rescue party came into sight, Danila scrambled out and waved them on. Ylia leaped down, caught at the girl, held her close; she clutched Ylia's shirt-front and shook. Golsat and Brelian had Lennett between them; the, young armswoman could barely stand.

  I won't tell you just now how foolish you were,” Ylia began sternly.

  Lennett's voice—a whisper unlike her usual sharp, strong voice—reached her. “You don't have to. I know.”

  Danila nodded from deep within Ylia's cloak. “I was so scared, even with Len to protect me. But we did what no one else could,” she added defiantly. She leaned back to meet Ylia's gaze squarely. Her face was dead white, exhausted, her eyes all pupil. “I found them, I said I would, if I had the chance, and I did.”

  “Yes. I saw that.”

  “We were careful to leave sign. Lennett did that, she knows how because her father taught her. I knew we'd be missed right away and you'd come after us.”

  “Great Mothers, you knew that, did you. Well,” Ylia gave her a little shake, “I may tell you, you weren't missed for nearly an hour!”

  “You might have got yourself killed,” Nold caught at Danila's shoulders and pulled her around. His face was as pale as hers. “Danna, every sheep in the valley isn't worth your life in trade!”

  “You're not listening, Nold, I found—”

  “You found them, I know that. But you're not listening,” Nold overrode her, and he punctuated his words with a hard shake. “You might have died. Danna, they could have turned back and caught you, and what then?” She shrugged. He closed his eyes, let his hands drop, turned and walked away. Danila gazed after him.

  “He was worried for you,” Galdan said. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “So, tell us about this finding, Danna, and we'll have another tale for Ber'Sordes's minstrel, to go with the one about the Tanea-a-Les, won't we?” The herder-girl smiled doubtfully. Lennett, her face still drawn but her eyes coming to life, laughed and clapped her hands together in delight. Ylia sighed.

  “You're encouraging them, Galdan. Don't do that!”

  “Why not? They succeeded, didn't they? Copying you, I'd wager, particularly in one case.” Lennett blushed. Somehow, the girl could never find the words to come back at Galdan, though she usually had a ready retort for anyone else who teased her. “Tell me.” He dropped down on a fallen log, pulled Danila down beside him. Lennett moved away from Brelian's supporting arm, dropped down on Galdan's other side. Ylia eyed them tiredly.

  “Well,” Danila said, “they ran fast, but I always could run.”

  “I couldn't but I've learned,” Lennett said. “Anyway, for a while, it wasn't too hard to keep up. And then later, we could still hear them even when we couldn't see them too well.

  “They stopped a few times, that was when Len set better markers. We knew you'd be close behind.”

  “You knew, did you?” Galdan eyed them in turn.

  Danila met his gaze with a level one of her own. “Well, the Lady always comes like that, by her magic, when there's trouble, and you know the guard is always somewhere near, now. So I'd thought it out, back before Fest, that if I had a chance, I'd just follow them.”

  “Now, you'll notice,” Galdan said, gravely indeed, “that your Lady always has another sword with her. That's sense.”

  “Well, yes. I had Lennett. She's good.”

  “Not against a hoard of Mathkkra, though, do you think?” Galdan asked reasonably. Danila shook her head.

  “Of course not. We weren't intending to fight them, only track them. And if I'd asked Nold or someone, he'd just have stopped me.”

  “Well answered!” Galdan laughed. Ylia threw up her hands and went back to her horse. “So you came on, the two of you, because you had no choice.”

  “Well,” She eyed him doubtfully, suspicious that he was laughing at her, but his face reassured her. “Well—”

  “Well, look what we did,” Lennett urged him. She was sounding more and more like herself. “We found them. I'll wager you lost them way down the hill, didn't you?”

  “A little beside the point, considering your orders, wasn't that?” Galdan inquired gently, but there was steel under the ease of manner. Lennett flushed again, turned away. “Guard the herds, I think that was what you were to do. Wasn't it?”

  “I was doing that,” Lennett muttered. “And when Danila was going to go anyway, even without me—well, I was still guarding a herder, wasn't I?” But she no longer sounded as confident of herself. Galdan turned back to Danila.

  “It seemed forever, but the moon was barely down, when we came up to the top of that big bald ridge, and then we were just far enough behind we nearly lost them. We caught up again only because it was starting to get light.”

  “Where are they?”

  Lennett turned back to point farther on. “We saw them scrambling down into a hole in the ground. There's rock ledges on three sides, with trees in between and heavy woods behind, and so much rock on the ground, you wouldn't see the opening, only going by. When they'd all gone in, I looked hard and I could see it hardly at all.”

  “Well.” Galdan considered in silence for a few moments. “Brel. Golsat. I haven't your kind of experience with Mathkkra. Do we go on now and check? Is it safe? Or even worth the effort?”

  “Won't do us any good,” Golsat said. “This is Ylia's task.” He smiled faintly as she came back from her horse. “One I'll cheerfully leave to her.”

  “Good enough, Golsat,” Ylia Said. “I'll search first. Once the sun comes up, it'll be safe to approach. You can go look it over; take Brel and Galdan with you. See if you can estimate numbers, scout the ground carefully. We'll need to present a coherent picture to the council.” She su
ppressed a yawn. “Both of you girls, next time I'd suggest serious thought on the consequences before you attempt anything so rash. You had luck and skill to your side, but that doesn't always serve, and you know how Mathkkra treat prisoners.” The girls nodded in unison, both suddenly rather subdued. “And Lennett, I'm afraid there'll be repercussions for you. Eveya will have to hold an inquiry on your interpretation of your orders. That still doesn't lessen what you both did here. It was something none of the rest of us could. I'm pleased about that, but you did break orders.” Lennett inclined her head; Ylia couldn't decide if she was taking her censure seriously or not. Between them, Levren and Eveya would see she did.

  Galdan waived one of the armsmen forward. “You girls needn't stay. You're both tired. Lennett, you can ride with Peryan. Per, give her a hand up. And Nold, wipe that scowl from your face. Your girl's in one piece and if the rest of us can forgive her for such a night, you'd better not hold back! You can ride her double easier than the rest of us. You two start on back and we'll catch up to you. Now,” he added mildly but with real authority. The boy brought up a smile and held a hand down. Galdan boosted Danila up behind him.

  “Don't be so touchy, Lady Ylia,” he grinned at her as they started up the cleft. “You set the pattern yourself, after all. Lennett's out to be your mirror image. You should be proud of her.”

  “I refuse to argue with you,” Ylia said repressively, “and be quiet, can't you? I'm trying to search again.”

  I hated the fighting, all of it, always. Not swordplay, the real fighting. But for me, this time, it was far worse. To enter not only the tunnels, but the minds of the Mathkkra—for that was what I did, at any rate, when I came so near them. I doubt that Ylia felt anything like I did, for her sake I hope not. The man: who can say what a rogue might feel? Whatever it was, he never told either of us.

  30

  Two days and near sleepless nights of furious planning followed the discovery of the Mathkkra-hold. It was late afternoon of the tenth of Storm-Clouds before they were ready to ride out.

  There'd been the furious arguments, blown tempers—but this time with true cause, mostly over the number of armed who would ride, the number to be left behind. Scouts and spies left where they could keep an eye to the Mathkkra-hold were widely divided in their opinion as to how many were burrowed there: estimates ran from two hundred to more than seven. Against these, Erken had wanted to send out no more than two hundred armsmen, Marckl insisted upon five times that number, and every other member of the council had a strong opinion on some number between.

  On only one thing had Marckl, Marhan, and Erken been able to agree—that none of the women should ride with them. Ylia had argued that with them long and hard. With her own backers—Galdan, Golsat, Brelian, and Eveya, the captain of her women—the others were overruled. In the interest of peace with Erken and Marhan, Ylia had compromised, leaving most of her women with the border guard, taking only these—like Eveya—who had skill, who had fought Mathkkra before and who would not give in sooner than any of Marhan's green boys did.

  There'd been no argument over whether Ylia was riding with them; at least, she thought grimly, she'd heard the last of that! She and Nisana were necessary anyway, for they were to set Baelfyr within the tunnels and drive the Mathkkra from their safety.

  They finally compromised on the number of riders: five hundred to go, the rest to keep close watch around the valley, lest the Mathkkra descend in their absence on the helpless—or in case those who thought the hold to be one of several were right.

  Late afternoon, tenth of Storm-Clouds. It was blazingly hot, the sky a dark shimmering bowl overhead. The merest edge of black cloud hovered behind the northern peaks, promising relief from the heat and himidity, but also warning of storm that would likely hit just as they reached the ridges. Ylia stood on the top step before the Tower, near dizzy with pride as Nedao's army rode through a cheering crowd: There, at its head, Erken, Duke of Anasela, clad in dark blue and silver, fifty men at his back and his standard—a stag at gaze on a field of green—fluttering limply over his head. Just behind him, with another one hundred men, rode Corlin, Lord of Teshmor. Lossana had stitched his banner, finishing it moments before he took to his horse; Or, a wyvern vert. His men, like Erken's—like the rest of the armsmen—were clad as best they could manage, for none of the lords could yet afford proper colors for those who served them. Levren rode at Corlin's side with twenty additional bowmen.

  Marhan rode after, at Ifney's side and with his men—many of these were still green indeed, and he felt their need for his presence greatest. Marckl followed close behind. Lastly came her own household: Galdan, Brelian, Golsat. Eveya and twenty handpicked women. Five men of Galdan's choosing. Nold rode at their head, the Queen's colors fastened to the tall pole and that to his saddle. Galdan dismounted, held her stirrup and fell into his place behind her. The crowd mated out a great cheer as she touched the horse's flanks and spurred to the head of the line. She raised her sword on high to acknowledge the cheer. The shield caught on her belt as they moved at the brisk canter across the bridge. She shifted it, but it wasn't much better. Awkward.

  “You're committed to this.” Erken came up behind her. “I wish you wouldn't, you know.”

  She sighed. “We can't have it out again at this point, Erken! You know the alternative.”

  “We've volunteers enough—”

  “Also known as dead men,” she interrupted crisply. “I've been in a Mathkkra hold, remember? I know what they're like. No. There's no danger this way, not to me, to Nisana, to any of ours. You're an experienced armsman. You know damned well you use what works. If you doubt that it works—well, don't.”

  He rubbed his chin. “I don't like it. That's all. That we depend on—such things.”

  “Magic. I know, Erken. You and Marhan,” she couldn't help adding. “It can't be helped, not without unnecessary loss of life. Foolish exchange.”

  “Perhaps.” He shrugged, but dropped back.

  “What was all that?” Galdan came up on her other side. “Is Father still grumbling?”

  “When doesn't he? He and Marhan, I'll swear—!”

  “I can't think why they worry, after all, I'm here to protect you. Well, they can look at it so, can't they?” he added with a grin as she cast him a dark look.

  “I see. And they needn't know it's the other way around,” she said dryly. He laughed.

  “Hah. You said yourself we fight well together.”

  “When did I say anything so foolish?”

  “I think you did—you meant to,” he added with another grin.

  “The odds are more ours this time, too.” He dropped back as she shifted her weight so the grey mare could start the steep climb up the first ravine.

  They rode rapidly where they could, hoping to beat the storm. The entire northern sky was black and a wind was rising, moaning through the trees, hissing across bare rock. They reached the saddle without interference. Most of their number—Erken, Marckl, Ifney, Corlin and their men—went on by foot, taking a wide circle around the rotting cliff and rubble. The horses were picketed, and a guard left with them.

  Nisana bridged from the Tower as Ylia and her picked guard started down the ledge, the last of the fighters to work into position. Eveya and the women under her branched off a few paces to the fight, Brelian, Golsat and the others moved way to the left a little farther on. Galdan Stayed at her side. Unlike Erken, she hadn't been able to dissuade him; at the moment she rather welcomed his solid presence. Mathkkra—hundreds of them. And we’ re provoking them to attack. She wiped damp palms on her breeches.

  She stared at the rough-faced rock, the clutter of boulders and brush, and across them to heavy forest. Five hundred men hidden there and how many would return? Nisana leaped to her shoulder, turned neatly in place and nudged at her face.

  “Tell me when you're ready", Galdan breathed against her ear.

  “Take a count of a hundred, to make certain everyone's settled over there,”
she whispered. “But stay by me, I'm going closer in now.” He merely nodded. She skirted dry brush, set her feet down with silent care, making no more noise than Nisana would—than her companion did. Galdan cast her a brief, admiring glance; her concentration on the hold before them was such she wasn't aware of it. Three lengths from the hole, in plain sight of it, she stopped. Held up a hand. He nodded again, drew his sword. Something was tickling the hair at the back of his neck, touching his stomach with evil little fingers. Somewhere, not far away, there was a scent of blood, fresh blood and old death. But be knew it wasn't his nose that was scenting it.

  'Ready, cat?’

  'No.’ Nisana's fur was hackled, her eyes black, her body vibrating with the horror of what she sensed of them through the shielding. Ylia eyed her worriedly. She knew they were there, but only because she could see the entrance to the hold from where she stood. ‘I never will be, not against that. Begin!’ Ylia reached up to press the cat's ribs, held her close to her face and joined.

  They passed through the barrier and the Fear was suddenly about them, coming hard from all sides. Are they aware of us? They can't not be! Silence, still. They searched, mind-touch moving down low-roofed crumbly passages, through a maze of chambers. ‘There!’ the cat snapped suddenly. ‘The sacrifice chamber, the first place, set it there!’ They both jumped as lightning blazed a blue-white path across the sky and a crashing roar followed on its heels. ‘Set it now!’ Ylia staggered, scarcely aware as a strong hand caught at her arm and steadied her, unnoticing, also, as Nisana's claws dug for a better hold against the mail shirt, pierced skin and drew blood. Baelfyr roared through the chamber, out and into the corridors. She forced herself on, went deeper yet, set it twice more.

  A howl topped the thunder, Galdan yanked Ylia back. Nisana flung herself out and away. One of Erken's men was suddenly visible in a blare of lightning, hands tight on hilts, his face set. With the suddenness of nightmare, a hoard of Mathkkra burst from the ground and spilled across the clearing.