Darkness at Sethanon

by Raymond E. Feist

  Shigga motioned with his head. Arutha whispered, ‘Goblins.’

  The spearman nodded and they moved down the trail, following the band of tiny fugitives.

  • Chapter Fifteen •

  Flight

  Arutha motioned for a halt.

  Everyone, including the children, moved against the rocks, hiding from possible observation. The entire party crouched down in a gully, one they had been following for the night. Dawn was approaching, and after the fiery destruction of Armengar, the hills behind the city had become a no-man’s land.

  The fall of the city had been a victory for Murmandamus, but a vastly more costly one than he had expected. The hills behind Armengar had been thrown into chaos. The units already in place there had been overrun by the rout army fleeing the city. A large number of goblins and trolls had quit the hills and fled back toward Murmandamus’s camp.

  In the first few hours after the fall of the city, Arutha’s party had seen few goblins or Dark Brothers, but it was obvious that Murmandamus had ordered a large number of his units back into the hills. At first Murmandamus’s forces had no clear advantage once in the rocks. There was no coordination among commanders and not enough soldiers had come into the hills to put the fleeing Armengarians at a clear numerical disadvantage. Bands of goblins and moredhel ventured into the gullies and washes behind the city in the darkness, seeking to overtake the fugitives, but many never returned. Now, the balance was shifting; soon the area would be entirely in the enemy’s control.

  Arutha glanced back at the huddling children. Several of the little ones were close to exhaustion from a sleepless night and constant terror. The problem of finding a safe passage south was confounded by the inability of the youngest children to move quickly. And at each turn they ran the chance of encountering the enemy. Twice they had blundered into elements from the city, and Guy had ordered them along on their own, refusing to let this group become larger. Twice more they had discovered corpses, from both sides.

  The sound of boots grew louder, and from the number and the lack of any attempt to hide their approach, Arutha judged this likely to be the enemy. He signalled and everyone faded back along the gully, until Arutha, Guy, Amos, Briana, and Shigga crouched down in the shadows before the huddling children. Jimmy and Locklear stayed in the midst of the children, keeping them quiet.

  The patrol, led by a moredhel, consisted of trolls and goblins. The trolls were sniffing the air, but the heavy reek of smoke confounded their senses. They marched past the gully and down a large defile. When they were past, Arutha motioned and the company moved cautiously forward, travelling toward the west, away from the patrol’s line of march.

  Suddenly a child yelled in fright, and Arutha and the others whirled around. Jimmy was leaping past the children, Locklear at his side, weapons drawn as the trolls attacked. Whether they had discovered the fugitives or had simply decided to double back along the defile, Arutha did not know, but he knew they must dispose of this patrol quickly or they would alert others.

  Arutha lunged over Locklear’s shoulder and killed a troll forcing the boy back. Amos and Guy passed them and soon the entire company was engaged. Shigga thrust with his spear, killing another troll, while the moredhel faced Guy. The dark elf recognized the Protector of Armengar, for he shouted, ‘One-eye!’ He attacked with savage fury, pushing Guy backward, but Locklear duplicated Arutha’s trick, striking past Guy, killing the moredhel.

  Abruptly it was over, with five trolls, an equal number of goblins, and the moredhel dead. Arutha was breathing heavily when he said, ‘It’s a good thing this is a narrow gully. If they’d got around us, we’d never have survived.’

  Guy regarded the greying sky and said, ‘We have to find some place to hide. The children are ready to drop, and there’s no place close where we can move over the mountains.’

  Shigga said, ‘My kraal is not far, so I’ve travelled here, Protector. There’s a trail a mile more to the west, not often used. It leads to a shallow cave. Perhaps we can mask it. It’s a difficult climb…’

  ‘But we’ve no choice,’ said Amos.

  Guy said, ‘Show us.’

  Shigga set out at a trot, only slowing to glance around turns in the trail. When he at last climbed up on the rocks next to the defile, they began lifting the children. The last child had been handed up and Briana had climbed up after, when a shout came from the west. A half-dozen Armengarian soldiers were fighting a rearward action as a larger number of goblins pursued them toward Arutha and his companions.

  Guy shouted to Briana, ‘Get the children out of here!’ Shigga crouched with his spear at the ready, while Briana hurried the children along toward the cave.

  Arutha and the others joined with the Armengarians and blocked the defile, refusing to yield to the goblins. The goblins fought with a frantic quality, and suddenly Arutha shouted, ‘They’re fleeing from someone behind them!’

  The pressure increased as goblins began to leap at the Armengarians. Guy ordered a slow withdrawal, and step by step they let the goblins push them back along the defile. Shigga crouched above the defile, guarding the slight trail to the cave from any goblin or troll who might attempt to climb toward the children, while Briana continued to usher the children upward. But the goblins chose to ignore them, seeking frantically to get past Guy’s detachment.

  Then a shout from the other side, beyond Arutha’s vision, sounded, and several of the rearmost goblins began battling some other foe. The goblins ceased moving, as they were trapped between two groups of attackers.

  A yell from behind caused Arutha to spin about. Jimmy and Locklear had been watching the rear, and another company of goblins was appearing at the far end of the defile. Without hesitation, Arutha shouted, ‘Climb! Get out!’

  He and the boys leaped for the rocks, then stabbed downward at the goblins to allow Amos and Guy a chance to climb upward. Now Arutha could see what had caused the first band of goblins to flee back toward him. A company of dwarves was battling furiously against the goblins. Behind the dwarves, two elves could also be seen, who drew bows and fired over the heads of their shorter companions. Arutha recognized one of the elves and shouted, ‘Galain!’

  The elf looked up and waved. He shouldered his bow and leaped up on the ridge, skirting the fighting in the gully below. With a long running leap he cleared another wash and landed on the side of the defile where Arutha stood. ‘Martin has gone on to Yabon! Are you all right?’

  Arutha nodded as he drew a deep breath. ‘Yes, but the city’s gone.’

  The elf said, ‘We know. Even miles away the explosion was seen. We’ve been encountering refugees all night. Most of the dwarves under Dolgan have formed a rough corridor along the high trail.’ He pointed back down the main trail they had used in coming to Armengar. ‘Most of those fleeing will get through.’

  Guy said, ‘There are children in that cave up there.’ He waved to where Shigga crouched on the other side of the defile.

  Galain called out, ‘Arian! There are children up there.’ He pointed toward the cave. The second detachment of goblins joined the fray and further conversation was halted. Several goblins attempted to climb up after those in the rocks, but Amos kicked one in the face and Jimmy ran another through, and the others thought better of it.

  A momentary pause in the fight allowed Arian, the other elf, to yell, ‘We’ll get them out.’ The elf continued to shoot at the goblins while two dwarves scrambled up the small trail, to aid Shigga, Briana, and the two remaining Armengarian soldiers in getting the children safely down.

  Galain said, ‘Calin sent a company of us to Stone Mountain, to honour Dolgan’s accepting the crown. When Martin arrived and told of what was going on up here, Dolgan set off at once. Arian and I decided to come along while the rest returned to Elvandar with word of Murmandamus’s march. Calin can’t leave our forests unprotected with Tomas gone, but I suspect he’ll send a company of archers to help the dwarves get the survivors over the mountain. The dwarves’ corrid
or is well held, from the Inclindel Gap to about a mile west of here. Dolgan’s warriors are all through the hills, so it’ll be lively up here for a while.’

  The dwarves fought a holding action from behind a shield wall while those above handed the children down to two dwarves at the rear, who quickly led them to safety. Jimmy tugged at Guy’s sleeve and pointed to where a company of trolls was climbing up from below. Guy glanced about, seeing better than a dozen goblins still between himself and the dwarves, then pointed toward the east. He waved to Briana and Shigga, indicating they should flee with the children. Quickly Guy and the others scrambled behind the goblins, and leaped down. They ran back to the last intersection they had used, and moved down the shallow gully. Ducking into the same covering they had availed themselves of moments before, Guy said, ‘Those trolls coming up from below will make it impossible to reach the dwarves. Perhaps we can drop lower and move along until we’ve circled around them.’

  Galain said, ‘It’s pretty chaotic up here. I was with the most forward elements of Dolgan’s army and they’ve come as far as they can. Now they’ll begin withdrawing. If we don’t overtake them quickly, we’ll be left behind.’

  Further conversation was interrupted by shouts from above as more of Murmandamus’s forces ran along the ridges toward the invading dwarves. Guy signalled and they moved off at a crouched walk, deeper into the wash, heading down. After they had gone a few hundred more yards, Guy said, ‘Where are we?’

  They all exchanged looks and realized they had taken a different way from the one they had come, and now they were somewhere to the west of the cavern that had emptied out behind the city. Jimmy glanced up and began to rise, then ducked down again. He pointed. ‘There’s a glow in the sky still, over there, so that must be where the city is.’

  Guy swore softly. ‘We’re not as far east as I thought. I don’t know where this gully empties out.’

  Arutha looked at the lightening sky. ‘We’d better keep moving.’ They hurried off, not certain where they were heading, but knowing that to be caught would be to die.

  ‘Riders,’ whispered Galain, who had been scouting ahead.

  Arutha and Guy both pointed, and the elf said, ‘Renegades. A half dozen. The louts are taking their ease about a campfire. You’d think it was a picnic’

  ‘Any signs of others?’ asked Guy.

  ‘Nothing. I saw some movement farther to the west, but I think we’ve moved behind Murmandamus’s lines. If those lazing about the fire are any indication, things are pretty calm hereabouts.’

  Guy gestured with his thumb across his throat. Arutha nodded. Amos pulled a belt knife and motioned for the boys to circle the camp. In a crouch they all moved I along, until Jimmy signalled and he and Locklear climbed up above the trail. The two squires moved quickly and silently, while Arutha, Amos, Galain, and Guy waited. They heard a startled shout and dashed forward.

  The two squires had jumped a guard at the far end of the small camp, and the five other men had their backs turned. Three died without knowing someone was coming behind them, and the other two quickly followed. Guy glanced about. ‘Take their cloaks. If we’re questioned, we’ll likely be found out, but if we keep to the ridges, perhaps their sentries will think us only another band out looking for stragglers.’

  The boys put cloaks of blue over their Armengarian brown leather. Arutha kept his own cloak of blue, while Amos donned one of green. Guy retained his black one. To a man the Armengarians wore brown, so the colours might disguise the fugitives for a while. Arutha tossed a grey cloak to Galain and said, ‘Here, try to look like a Dark Brother.’

  Dryly the elf said, ‘Arutha, you do not know what a test of friendship that remark is. I must have Martin explain such things to you.’

  Arutha said, ‘Gladly, if it’s back home over wine in the company of our families.’

  The bodies were rolled down into a gully. Jimmy leaped atop the ridge above the camp and climbed up another ridge above that, standing so that he might get some sense of where they were. ‘Damn!’ he swore as he jumped back down.

  Arutha said, ‘What?’

  ‘A patrol, about a half-mile back along the trail. It’s not in any hurry, but it’s coming this way. Thirty or more riders.’

  Guy said, ‘We leave now,’ and they mounted the renegades’ horses.

  As they moved out, Arutha said, ‘Galain, I’ve not had a moment to ask of the others who travelled with Martin.’ He left the question unasked.

  Galain said, ‘Martin was the only one to reach Stone Mountain.’ He shrugged. ‘We know Laurie’s boyhood friend is dead,’ he said of Roald, not using the dead man’s name in elven fashion. ‘Of Laurie and Baru Serpentslayer, we know nothing.’ Arutha could only nod. He felt regret at the death of Roald. The mercenary had proved a loyal companion. But he was more disturbed at Laurie’s unknown fate; he thought of Carline. He hoped for her sake Laurie was well. He put aside that worry for more immediate concerns and motioned for Galain to lead the way.

  They moved eastward, taking the higher trail whenever possible. Galain rode in the van, and they did resemble a company of renegades led by a moredhel.

  At a point where two trails met, they could again see the city. It squatted against the mountain, smoking rubble. The crater where the keep had stood still spewed forth black smoke. The rocks of the cliff face seemed to glow red in the early morning gloom. ‘Is there nothing left of the keep?’ Guy asked in quiet wonder.

  Amos looked down, his face a stony mask. ‘It was there,’ he answered, pointing to a spot at the base of the cliff. Now only the raging inferno could be seen as the pool of naphtha burned unabated in the deep pit blown out of the rocks. Nothing which resembled the keep, the inner wall, moat, or the first dozen blocks of the city could be seen. Those buildings nearest the citadel still discernible were little more than piles of rubble. Only the outer wall remained intact, except where the barbican had been exploded. Everything was gutted, charred black, or glowing red. Amos said, ‘It’s all gone. Armengar is gone.’ No building remained intact, and the entire mountainside was shrouded by a blue black haze of smoke. Even outside the walls, the litter of bodies was appalling.

  It was clear that Murmandamus had taken a terrible beating in sacking the city, but still his host dominated the plain outside the walls. Banners flew and companies moved, as the moredhel warlord ordered his army to march. Amos spat. ‘Look, he still has a larger army in reserve than he threw at us.’

  Arutha said with fatigue in his voice, ‘You cost him close to fifteen thousand dead –’

  Guy interrupted. ‘And he can still march more than thirty-five thousand against Tyr-Sog…’ Elements were moving, and the scouts and outriders were already galloping toward their assigned places along the line of march. Guy studied it for a moment, then said, ‘Damn me! He’s not moving south! He’s moving his army eastward!’

  Arutha looked at Amos, then at Guy. ‘But that makes no sense. He can hold the dwarves to the west, pushing them back until he’s in Yabon.’

  Jimmy said, ‘To the east…’

  ‘… lies Highcastle,’ finished Arutha.

  Guy nodded. ‘He’s going to march his army down Cutter’s Gap, right into Highcastle’s garrison.’

  Arutha said, ‘But why? He can overrun Highcastle in days, but he’ll be left standing in the middle of the High Wold, unprotected on either flank. He’s got no obvious goal.’

  Guy said, ‘If he strikes dead south, he can be in the Dimwood inside a month.’

  ‘Sethanon,’ said Arutha.

  Guy said, ‘I don’t understand it. He can take Sethanon. Its garrison is little more than an honour company. But once there, what? He can winter, living on forage from the Dimwood and whatever city stores he captures, but come spring, Lyam can hit him from the east and your forces from the west. He’ll be between the hammer and the anvil, with a five-hundred-mile retreat back into the mountains. It would mean his destruction.’

  Amos spat. ‘Let’s not underestima
te the nose-picker. He’s up to something.’

  Galain looked about. ‘We’d best be going along. If he’s moving east for certain, we’ll never be able to double back and reach Inclindel. That patrol we saw will be a company of outriders. They’ll stay up here along the entire line of march, following behind us.’

  Guy nodded. ‘Then we must reach Cutter’s Gap before his advanced elements.’

  Arutha spurred his horse and they began the ride eastward.

  For the balance of the day they managed to keep ahead of any of Murmandamus’s soldiers. Occasionally they would see flankers riding off from the main army, far below on the plain, and there were signs of movement behind them. But the trail began moving downward, and near sundown Arutha said, ‘We’re going to be riding smack into their outer pickets if we keep moving toward the plain.’

  Guy said, ‘If we continue riding past dark, we might slip into the woods at the bottom of the hills. If we hug the foot of the mountains and ride all night, we’ll enter the forest proper. I doubt even Murmandamus will be sending large numbers of soldiers into the Edder Forest. He can circle it easily enough. The Edder is no place I’d like to be, but we’ll have cover. If we ride all night, we might stay enough ahead of them to be safe … at least from them.’

  Jimmy and Locklear exchanged questioning looks, then Jimmy said, ‘Amos, what’s he mean?’

  Amos glanced at Guy, who nodded. ‘The Edder’s a bad place, boy. We can – could forest for about three miles or so into the woods along its edge. A little farther in a man could hunt. But farther than that, well – we don’t know what’s in there. Even the goblins and Dark Brothers skirt the place. Whoever goes deep into the forest just doesn’t come back. We don’t know what’s in there. The Edder’s pretty damn big, so just about anything could hide in there.’