At least all those who gathered within the cool seclusion of the caves recognised him and his right to call himself their guide. Fourteen pairs occupied much of the rough, cool floor space. No other of Tual’s creatures used this place except in the direst of need. This was a refuge for the ClawBound.
Serrin sat with his panther close, as did they all. He looked around at his brothers, flaring his nostrils at Sikaant and Resserrak, with whom he had run during the years after Ysundeneth fell. Others whose former names he remembered were Ayrol, Tamoor and Venras. The others were dim memories but he knew their names would come in time.
‘You are all here and so we are stronger in the eyes of Yniss and Tual,’ said Serrin. ‘And here we must stay until we can identify our role.’
‘We cleanse,’ said Resserrak. ‘We purify the forest.’
‘Yes,’ said Serrin. ‘But too many of us have forgotten the root of our faith. We are not alone in the forest. We must work with others who share our desire.’
There was a collective hiss at his words. Serrin snarled back and his panther’s hackles rose.
‘It is they who have brought us to this state of despair,’ said Venras. ‘They cannot help us.’
‘They are helping us. Without them we cannot prevail.’
‘I will not let them choose our path. They do not have the faith,’ said Venras.
‘They will not. But we have seen their actions against the enemy. Their poison is clever, but it poses a risk to us and even more to our Claws. We have freed over three hundred elves. Now it is time to defend what we have.’
‘That is not cleansing,’ grunted Resserrak.
‘You would prefer desecration?’ asked Sikaant, moving with his Claw to stand by Serrin.
‘I do not understand,’ said Venras.
‘But you should,’ said Serrin. ‘And that is a sign that we should all consider to what level we have descended. Is it the inevitable end to our calling that we become true denizens of Tual and shake off the embrace of Yniss? I do not think so.’
‘It is our natural state,’ said Resserrak.
Serrin shook his head. ‘No. It is your base desires alone that lead you down that path: the thrill of the hunt and the taste of an enemy’s blood. But we are not animals. We are the bridge between the elves and Tual’s denizens. It is a narrow way and we have strayed.’
‘What would you have us do?’ asked Tamoor.
‘Think like an elf once more and outthink man. Tell me, if you were a human, what would you do now?’
Serrin’s question was met by a blank silence. Resserrak glowered at him and his Claw was growling, tense and angry. Others responded as though they’d not understood a word he said. Or perhaps they just didn’t care.
‘Any who wish to return to the forest and run alone, you have my blessing in your work.’
None of them moved, not even Resserrak. Perhaps they simply did not know what to say. But there was something in the atmosphere of the cave that changed. Panthers began to move, stretch their jaws and stare deeply into one another’s eyes. The hands of bound elves moved unconsciously to their Claw’s heads.
One by one the pairs rose and filed past Serrin, bowing their heads in reverence. Resserrak paused and laid a hand on Serrin’s chest.
‘We all know where to go.’
‘Tighten it further,’ said Auum.
The tourniquet was tied around Elyss’ thigh just above the knee. Ulysan turned the stick thrust through it and she grunted.
‘Where the hell is Merrat? I need the uncaria quickly or this is going to spread.’ Auum looked into the shadows of the forest and back to Elyss. ‘Keep your breathing steady. Let’s not pump too much of this stuff around.’
Elyss smiled though her face was pale and shone with sweat. ‘It didn’t hurt until you put the tourny on.’
‘Liar.’
Auum dabbed at the dwindling supply of tea tree oil in the warm log pot sitting on the embers of a small fire. He turned back to Elyss’ wound. The crocodile had snagged her calf with a claw and flooded it with bacteria as it had swum past her. Piranha had taken bites from the wound as she’d swum to the shore. Throughout the follow-up attack later that night on the humans succumbing to the poison, she’d said nothing of it. She had killed with customary efficiency though she must have been in acute pain.
It had not been until the following morning that she had displayed any symptoms of infection. Now, in addition to the problem with the wound itself, she was developing a fever.
‘You know better,’ said Auum. ‘You cannot afford to stay silent.’
‘Stop fussing,’ said Elyss. ‘We only had the one chance to attack. And look at the damage we did.’
‘And I’m still laughing that they think the poison has finished its work,’ said Ulysan.
‘I’ll celebrate with you when Elyss is on the mend,’ said Auum. ‘Concentrate.’
Auum smeared the tea tree oil over the wound. It was angry and red, torn at the edges where the fish had bitten, deep and dark where the crocodile’s claw had stabbed her and raked backwards.
Elyss winced. ‘That means it’s working, right?’ she said.
‘And that there is something in there to fight,’ said Auum. He smoothed his free hand across her forehead. ‘You’re getting hot.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ said Elyss.
‘Keep on thinking that.’
Auum glanced up at Ulysan. The big TaiGethen looked anxious and Auum couldn’t give him any particular comfort. He placed his hand over Ulysan’s.
‘I’ll take the tourniquet. Get the other pot ready. Merrat will be back soon.’ Auum smiled down at Elyss. ‘Looking forward to your soup? Uncaria is magnificently awful to drink.’
‘I thought you were making a poultice.’
‘As well.’
Merrat reappeared from the forest, Nyann with him. He squatted by Auum and failed to disguise his concern at what he saw.
‘I’ll prepare the roots and vine,’ he said. ‘Ysset is hunting down the vismia we need.’
‘Good. Thank you.’
It took an age, or it felt like it. Merrat and Ulysan were quick, cleaning and cutting the uncaria and adding it to boiling river water, but the wait for the vital liquor to form was interminable. All the while, Auum watched Elyss fall into her fever. The tourniquet could not stop the infected blood making its way through her body. The tea tree oil was not strong enough to combat the disease at source.
‘Keep your eyes open,’ said Auum. ‘Talk to me about something.’
Elyss’ eyes fluttered. ‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Auum, and he released the tourniquet to give her some relief from the pain. ‘Not much point in that now, is there? Tell me, what is it you pray for today?’
A smile played across Elyss’ lips and she licked them with a dry tongue. Auum squeezed water into the side of her mouth which she sucked in greedily.
‘I pray that whatever poison runs through my body does not stop the joy of what I could feel happening yesterday.’
Auum frowned. ‘And what is that?’
‘It is my time, Auum.’ Elyss’ eyes spilled tears and she gripped his hand in hers. He could feel the heat of her fever through her palms. ‘I so want to live to know the glory.’
Auum found a cool cloth and mopped her brow. She was going down so fast.
‘Stay with me,’ whispered Auum. ‘What is the glory? See it, believe it and you will know it.’
Elyss spoke but Auum couldn’t hear her. He glanced over at Merrat, who spread his arms.
‘Soon, Auum. I can’t rush this. Not enough is as bad as none at all.’
‘I know,’ said Auum. ‘Come on, Elyss. Tell me again, don’t be shy. Shout it out. What is the glory?’
‘Wh . . . what every Ynissul iad . . . desires.’
Auum gasped. ‘Yniss preserve you, Elyss. Merrat, tell me you’re ready.’
‘Almost.’
Elyss’ head had fallen to one side. Sh
e was unconscious. Auum tapped her cheek lightly but there was no response.
‘It has to be now, Merrat, she’s slipping. Shorth is waiting.’
Merrat came over with a water skin. ‘Raise her head. We’ll have to do this for her.’
Elyss was limp, her fever so intense that just touching her skin was uncomfortable. The infection had gathered strength incredibly quickly and Auum prayed that she had not kept her silence for an hour too long. He had an arm under the back of her neck and with his other hand tried to open her mouth, pulling on her lower jaw.
‘Ulysan, I need you,’ said Auum. ‘Work her throat; don’t let her spit this up. Gently, Merrat.’
With as much care as he had time for, Merrat poured the decoction of uncaria into the side of her mouth, a few drops at a time. Her swallow reflex was still there and Auum relaxed his hold on her jaw to let her work the liquid down her throat with Ulysan’s tender help.
‘Come on, Elyss. You can do this,’ said Auum. ‘You’re doing just fine. Soon have you up and running again. Slowly, Merrat.’
‘I know what I’m doing,’ said Merrat.
‘Yniss bless you,’ said Auum.
‘You too, my friend.’
Ysset ran back into the camp. ‘How is sh—’
‘Start extracting the resin,’ said Ulysan. ‘Know how to do that?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good, we’ll need it for the wound. The tea tree isn’t enough.’
‘All right,’ said Merrat. ‘That’s all of it. I’ll make another decoction for when she wakes up. Right now you’d better make her comfortable. I’ll string a hammock for you.’
Auum regarded Merrat through a mist. ‘She has to live. She has so much to give us.’
Merrat pushed himself to his feet. ‘We cannot afford to lose one TaiGethen to a blow such as this. She’s strong.’
Auum laid Elyss’ head back on the soft ground and stroked the sides of her face. She was so dreadfully hot but her face was so terribly pale. Her eyes were completely still beneath their lids but her body quivered and was sheathed in sweat. Ulysan touched his shoulder and handed him a cloth, damp and cool with rainwater. Auum nodded and wiped Elyss’ face and neck with it.
‘Ulysan, scout the enemy. I need to know when they move and what strength they still have. Let Merrat go to Haliath Vale to join Grafyrre when they’ve made the poultices and decoctions. When Elyss wakes, we’ll travel there too.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m not leaving her. She’s TaiGethen. My cell. My place is here.’
Chapter 19
Where would I be without faith? I would be breaking bread with humans.
Auum, Arch of the TaiGethen
When Hynd awoke he saw Jeral standing over him. He looked a bit green about the gills but otherwise undamaged. Hynd frowned.
‘Didn’t some elf give your intestines an airing?’
Jeral laughed. ‘At the time it would have been a relief. No, like the hero I am, I fell down with a cramp of quite extraordinary agony. I’m told that we were both saved because Fifth Company, who hadn’t eaten from the same pots, joined the fight. We were both pretty incapacitated while it all went on around us. Don’t you remember the noise and the screaming?’
‘Only my own.’ Hynd sobered quickly. ‘So what happened?’
‘Here, let me help you up and you can see for yourself.’
Hynd knew he shouldn’t have been so selfish but the first thing he noticed was how well he felt. There was a small ache in his lower back across his kidneys but apart from that he felt ludicrously refreshed. Until he looked beyond his own fire and saw the debris of a vicious conflict.
Their section of the river bank had become churned mud streaked with the gore that no one had yet had the time or the stomach to clear up. The wounded were being treated just inside the forest canopy in lines three deep and twenty long at least. The dead were piled up downstream and downwind, ready to be burned. And soldiers and mages lay everywhere, exhausted and filthy.
‘How many attacked us?’
‘Just six,’ said Jeral.
‘But we killed them, right?’ Jeral didn’t answer. Hynd sighed. ‘But there are elves among the dead.’
‘Just Sharps. Some blamed them.’
‘They’ll have to carry their own kit now.’ Hynd spat. ‘Fucking idiots. We know exactly who is to blame for this.’
‘But we couldn’t lay a finger on them. We lost fifteen soldiers and about thirty mages yesterday, because the elves targeted any casters trying to neutralise the poison. We got lucky, you and I. We were the last men our saviour managed to heal.’
‘And what about the poisoned men who didn’t get help?’
‘Some lived, some died.’ Jeral shrugged. ‘Fancy some breakfast?’
‘Can’t wait. But no oats this time, all right?’ Hynd stretched his back. He must have lain badly; the ache was growing. ‘This can’t go on. They’re beating us, Jeral. You’re the captain of First Company. Time to speak to your general, isn’t it?’
Jeral nodded. ‘I was waiting for you to wake up. You’re company lead mage, after all.’
‘And you don’t want to take the blistering on your own.’
Jeral smiled and spread his hands. ‘You know how I like to share.’
‘It figures. Come on then. Before Loreb starts the day’s drinking.’
Jeral rubbed at his back and screwed up his face. ‘They could have found us a mattress or something. I feel like I’ve been rabbit-punched. Let’s go.’
The pair picked their way along the river bank past disconsolate groups of soldiers, mages with nothing left to give and anxious-looking groups of Sharps. Out on the river, the barges were alive with activity. Hynd could feel castings being played over the food cargo as mages tried to discern what was poisoned and what was not.
Every barge was being checked. Hynd could feel the suspicion among the men. He shared it. Soldiers were gesticulating. Someone heaved a crate over the side of a barge and a mage and a barge skipper went nose to nose over it. Shouting filtered across the water. Hynd shook his head.
‘Look at that. Can’t say I disagree with them. Frankly, I’m not going to eat anything I don’t catch or pick myself.’
‘Looks like you’ll be going hungry, then,’ said Jeral.
‘It won’t matter. We’re all going to die anyway.’
Hynd spun around. The voice had come from a group of Sharps. One of them was staring at Jeral from her position, hunched on the ground. She looked dreadful – they all did – fatigued, malnourished, bruised and ragged. One of the other Sharps dug her side with an elbow and tried to hush her.
Jeral spat on the ground between his feet and pushed his sword under her chin, lifting her face a little further.
‘Think your pathetic band of warriors can really bring down this army?’ The Sharp shook her head. ‘Want me to prove exactly how easy it is to kill an elf?’
The Sharp smiled, revealing a mouth of rotting teeth and bleeding gums. ‘Make it quick because the alternative is agonising and your mages will be powerless against it. I ate the poison too, and I know what’s coming next.’
Another dig in the ribs was followed by some angry words in elvish. Jeral blew out his cheeks and sheathed his sword.
‘We’re going to find your city and kill every last one of you inside it. If you’re lucky, I’ll let you watch as the light of your race goes out for the last time.’
He turned away. Hynd made to follow him.
‘Is your back sore yet? Just wait until you need to piss.’
The human terminology sat uncomfortably on her tongue.
‘What did you say?’
Hynd massaged at his back absently. The Sharp pointed and shrugged.
‘That’s how it starts. When the urine makes you scream then the poison has hold of you and by then it’s almost too late.’
Hynd dropped to his haunches and grabbed the iad’s ragged shirt, pulling her featherweight towards him e
asily.
‘What is it? What have they done?’
‘God in the water, Hynd, you don’t believe this bullshit, do you?’
Hynd felt a sweating cold encase his hands and face. There was truth in the Sharp’s eyes, he could see it.
‘Tell me,’ he ordered. ‘And the rest of you shut up or my friend will start cutting out your tongues.’
‘Hynd, we don’t have time for this . . .’
‘There is nothing more to tell,’ said the Sharp. ‘All of us who ate the black mushrooms will die. You thought last night’s pain was bad? You know nothing of pain. The whole forest will hear our screams and Shorth will be waiting to take us to his heart and to condemn you to torment unceasing.’
‘You knew it was poisoned and yet still you ate?’
‘To refuse would spark suspicion. I am proud to die for my people, for the TaiGethen. They will remember me. No one will remember you as you lie and rot.’
Hynd shoved her away and stood up, wiping his hands down his shirt as if it would cleanse him of her words.
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘Because a human who dies in helpless terror is a joy to behold as I make my own way to Shorth.’
Jeral’s blade jabbed in front of Hynd and into her throat. She jerked in shock and blood flooded down the blade. Her life flowed away terribly quickly. Jeral removed the blade, and as she slumped into another Sharp’s lap, Hynd could have sworn she was smiling.
‘Enough of that sort of chatter,’ said Jeral. ‘Any of the rest of you want to speak up?’
He wiped his blade on the dead elf’s clothes and walked away towards Loreb’s command post. Hynd hurried after him, fighting against a seething anger.
‘You’re judge and executioner now, are you?’
Jeral did not break stride and Hynd could hear the growing comments in support of his action coming from all around them.
‘You expect me to listen to that sort of shit from a Sharp, do you?’
Elves: Rise of the TaiGethen Page 18
