“It’s good!” we finally heard. “Come ahead!”
I briefly closed my eyes, thanked a goodly portion of the gods, then squinted into the darkness. “I don’t see the light.”
“We might not from here. The roof is low and he had to go around.”
“Right.”
“Well, shall we?” Tanris asked.
I didn’t want to get wet again, which was just silly, since I was already drenched. The flatbread was probably soggy, too. Ugh. “Girl?” I asked. “You can swim, can’t you?”
For an answer, she waded out past me, tugging her horse along.
“Stay close to the wall,” I reminded, “and stay out of the way of those hooves!”
One by one we dragged our equine companions into the unfathomable water, and their fear fluttered at me like the wings of giant moths, a circumstance just as unnerving as swimming alongside their great, thrashing hooves. It was quite a trick to stay close enough to the wall to follow it while avoiding their feet and directing the silly brutes. Tanris’s cat, perched on top of one of the packs, growled and cried and carried on in a truly demonic voice. No amount of reassurance quieted the thing, and Tanris took exception to the notion of drowning it. After a very long way I found the lower portion of the ceiling with my head, and promptly went under, stars flashing in my vision. I could only imagine that Kem had done exactly the same, but he hadn’t had to worry about being trampled.
I came up gasping and choked out a warning to the others. I had no idea where they were in relation to me, but I didn’t have time to do anything about it as I had to deal with Horse’s panic. “This way, stupid!” I ordered her, pushing myself to one side and tugging on the reins. She hit the ceiling. I heard the dreadful thump and I’m sure everyone heard the panicky whinnying and flailing and hollering the two of us engaged in. They probably heard it all the way back to Uzuun village, cave or no cave. Maybe the cave amplified it, for all I know.
Hysteria reigned until I caught and held a decent breath, finally bracing myself against the low ceiling until I got my heart mostly back under control. I had to physically drag Horse around in a new direction which, while being somewhat easier to do in the water where she couldn’t get a purchase, was still no mean feat. Fortunately, the others avoided my same near-disaster, and we made our way along the ceiling.
The downward bulge took us a considerable distance to one side—much further than seemed possible. We could not tell if we were actually going sideways, going straight, or even going in circles, and I was haunted with images of the three of us swimming round and round. Eventually finding the floor beneath my feet again made me dizzy with relief. Pulling out one of the witchlights, I held it up high. Thank the merciful gods, we had not gone clear around to our starting point again. Some fifteen yards or so to the left a darker stain of shadow indicated the passage. Of Kem Bohadri, however, we saw no sign.
As soon as we reached dry land, the cat gave a horrendous shriek and catapulted off the pack and into the shadows. The horses shied. Tanris hollered. I hollered. It took several minutes to restore calm. The floor here was steep and rough, and that occupied our attention as we helped the horses up and over it, but several yards down the passageway once again became smooth and regular. Tanris called for the cat, but it refused to show itself. Magnanimously, I kept my joy to myself. I lifted the light to peer into the darkness overhead but the ceiling remained invisible—a circumstance which didn’t hurt my feelings in the least. We called out for Kem, but he did not answer. We searched along the edge of the water and Tanris even swam out a ways, but we did not find him, nor any trace of him.
Tanris took me aside. “I don’t like this. For all we know, he’s waiting ahead to ambush us or he’s gone on to join his friends, which is even more dangerous. Be on your guard, Crow.”
We resumed our journey, a gloomy and sodden group. Distracted by morbid thoughts of Kem’s drowning or betrayal, I found myself in the lead, Girl behind me, and Tanris bringing up the rear. The blind leading the blind, I mused to myself. The passageway resumed its former character, gently winding to and fro, and up and down. We had to contend with the frustratingly low ceiling again, taking gear off the horses to ferry ahead, then going back and dragging the poor, unwilling beasts through. I pulled and Tanris pushed, once getting himself kicked for his efforts. He grunted harshly and I felt the surprising shaft of shock at the blow, but he brushed it off and said he’d had worse.
Reloading our things did not keep my mind occupied enough to forget about the strange impressions besetting me. Had it truly been some magical spell that attached itself to me, or was I merely suffering some form of hysteria? I opted for the latter, wondered how long it would last, and forged ahead. My false optimism was short-lived. Rounding the very next corner, there appeared more of the foreign markings, clearly visible the very instant I came abreast of them.
“Don’t touch the walls here!” I called out, careful to avoid contact. Whatever had happened to me, I did not want to repeat the procedure. Looking at them with much distrust, I passed them by.
They came with me.
— 15 —
Sensory Overload
The sensation reminded me of spiderwebs sticking and dragging across my skin. It was not limited to those parts of me that were exposed—my hands and my face—but affected me from head to foot. I froze. Horse bumped into me, and Girl bumped into Horse.
“Crow?” Tanris queried. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” My heart had leaped up into my throat, and I swallowed it back down. Turning in place, I took another cautious step. Fragile webs of light, some so fine I could barely discern them, stretched out from the markings on the wall to me. “More magic.” I admired the remarkable steadiness of my voice and dragged my hand experimentally through the threads. A scratching noise filled the air, and I caught the shapes of words—leaving… listen… all that remains… pattern… must be protected… enough… must be done now…
“Crow!” The sharpness of the word jerked my attention back to the passageway.
“What?”
The whispering continued, like the wind through autumn leaves.
“I can’t see you, and I can’t get to you.” There was a flicker of relief in his tone. “Is the passage blocked?”
The strange glowing strands draped across her face did not affect Horse at all. She shook her head a little, picking up on my own anxiety. I could sense that, too, though I did not understand how or why. Extending one foot behind me, I took a cautious step back, then another. The threads stretched out further and the voices kept whispering, growing neither more nor less frantic. As I continued to ease down the passage, the threads stretched and stretched—until they began breaking off and drifting away.
“No,” I said at last, watching curiously as thread after thread disconnected and fluttered away. As they did, the whispering became quieter. “Look to the side, and you should be able to see the writing. You have to be looking straight at it.”
I kept glancing backwards as I walked, but the inky darkness revealed nothing—not the symbols, and certainly not my companions. They passed the spot without any incident. “Did you see it?” I asked.
“Yes, but it’s very faint. Is this the same thing as before?” In my mind’s eye Tanris looked right at the things, his brow creased.
“Yes. You’re not touching it, are you?” My voice went up an embarrassing notch.
“Not touching it,” he said calmly. “And now we’re past.”
“Good. Did you—hear anything? See anything strange?”
“Just the marks on the wall, why? Did you?”
I got a firmer grip on Horse’s bridle and tried to pick up the pace a little. “Probably just my imagination.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, and I’ll be even finer when we get out of here.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” he muttered, but his voice carried.
I cannot say much about w
alking along in the dark for mile after mile except that I was exceedingly glad for a smooth floor almost entirely free of things to make man or beast stumble, though occasional strange pitches or loose rocks kept us on our toes. I hummed a song or two, and Tanris didn’t complain. Girl didn’t say anything, which came as no surprise. The horses plodded along cooperatively, however unhappily. Sometimes I heard other voices, but I elected not to tell Tanris. And then I perceived his sudden anxiety, brushing along my nerves and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Tanris? You all right back there?”
“No,” he said, his voice oddly strained. “Can we go faster?”
Girl squeaked behind me and I heard a smacking sound, then stomping and more squeaking and slapping.
“What is it?”
“Bugs.” Tanris grunted. “I think it’s bugs.”
“Would the Ancestors have two of us experiencing the same illusion? Kem said it was different for everyone.”
“Will you just go, Crow?”
My face tingled with their growing terror. The horses, too, were uneasy, pushing and twitching and making horsey noises. I pulled out one of the witchlights and abruptly wished I’d remained worried and ignorant and just gone ahead as fast as my little feet could carry me. A thick, fuzzy-looking web slanted sideways across the passage in front of me. All up and down the strands and across the ceiling and floor ran dark, eight-legged blobs the size of my fist.
Girl sucked in a terrified breath. A spider landed on my shoulder. A sudden wind sprang up from behind us, rushing wildly down the passage and sending the horses straight into a panic.
“Crow!” Tanris bellowed, though I really didn’t need him to urge me to action. I ran. Granted, running straight into a monstrous spider web that probably came with a monstrous mommy spider wouldn’t have been my first choice if I’d had any other. The strands caught at me, slowed me, and might have held me if not for Horse pushing me anxiously from behind. I staggered through and lit off down the narrow corridor like—well, like giant spiders were chasing me. The near darkness didn’t hinder me, I’d spent a great deal of my life honing my ability.
However, running blind was not a talent the horses could claim. With nowhere to go but ahead, they bounced and scraped off the passage walls, whinnying wildly. Luckily, the narrowness of the way kept them from going any faster, else someone would have been knocked down, trampled, and their troubles with spiders and unearthly winds would be over.
Trailing streamers of sticky webbing, we left the spiders behind—most of them, anyway. The wind still followed us, though. Rank, stinking of rotten flesh, putrid with the decay of things I didn’t even want to contemplate, it chased us, plucked at us and tangled around us. I had to press my arm over my mouth and nose, fighting the urge to vomit. Behind me, Girl was less successful, but I really couldn’t stop to cosset her, even if I had been so inclined.
Ahead of me, the passage split into two in spite of Kem’s assurances that it did no such thing for its entire miserable length. The putrescent wind went one way, and I went the other. I ran until I was sucking furiously at the air to fill my lungs and a stitch jabbed at my side with every breath. Then I had to figure out how to slow the headlong rush of Horse without getting plowed over in the process.
“Whoa!” I gasped. “Whoa!”
She was not much inclined to cooperate. I, unfortunately, couldn’t run as far as she could. To make matters worse, the witchlight I gripped tightly in my hand flared crazily. I shouted in startled dismay. Magic pulled, the voices rustled. Horse jerked me forward and dashed around a corner. White gleamed ahead, and my poor pounding heart achieved new and painful levels of speed; at any moment it would make an emergency exit through my nose. “Stop!” I screamed at Horse, terrified of whatever new torture the Ancestors had devised.
The cloth over Horse’s eyes blinded her to the new danger we hurtled into headlong, and I am not certain vision would have done anything to change her commitment to escaping the terrors besetting her.
“Stopstopstooooop!” I screeched as we burst into the all-encompassing whiteness. Beneath my feet the cave floor dipped suddenly. Fresh, cold air hit my face, right along with the knowledge that three more horses and two people were about to crash into us from behind. My screaming did nothing to keep us from falling. Horse went down first, dragging me with her, and the ground went completely out from under me.
For a terrifying slice of eternity, I hung suspended in space. A heartbeat later—probably ten, given the speed at which it thundered along—I met the earth again as my entire right side crashed into it. Stunned, I dangled with a one-handed death grip on Horse’s reins while she grunted and shuddered above me. Her heaving breaths echoed mine, but bigger and louder. I flailed around until I had both hands on the reins. Burning from fingertips to shoulders, but somewhat safer now, I endeavored to look around.
Blinking madly, eyes streaming, I realized I was face to face with rock, that the brilliant white mercilessly assaulting me was sky, and then, lastly, the ground was actually a good hundred feet below me, mostly hidden beneath a blur of greenery I could only assume was trees. My mind, working far more quickly than one might expect, supplied me with the awareness that the rest of the group would strike Horse any second, sending her over the edge, and that would be the end of the two of us.
But the gods who had deserted me inside the mountain had returned and I did not go plummeting to a horrible death.
“Crow!” I squeezed my eyes shut against a barrage of rocks and dirt. One vicious chunk smacked me hard in the cheek, adding insult to injury.
“Could you maybe give me a hand up?” I croaked.
“Thank all those crazy gods you worship, you stubborn, stupid, crazy son of a crazy cross-eyed donkey. I thought I’d lost you.”
Gratifying as it was to hear Tanris’s grasp on speech reduced to dull and insulting repetition, I had more important things to worry about. Horse’s sudden thrashing underscored my plight.
“Stay there!” Tanris ordered, and scrambled out of sight.
“As opposed to what?” I asked rhetorically, and ventured a look at the trees below, which appeared a bit clearer now as my eyes adjusted to the light of day. Heights didn’t generally alarm me, but I was a bit concerned about the results of falling such a distance, particularly since the only thing holding me up was a little leather attached to a terrified horse in obvious pain and distress.
The thrashing upstairs stopped, and an examination of the cliff face provided me with some tentative places to brace my feet, thus taking some of the pressure off my hands. I daren’t let go the reins, in spite of them slicing steadily through skin and bone. I discovered a crack where I could wedge my toe and put my weight on it gingerly, then pulled myself up a little. Horse grunted and tried to toss her head, a feat I’m sure was made incredibly difficult with my entire weight dangling from the bridle. Tanris barked sharp orders, then Girl laid down across Horse’s neck and peered down at me. She looked petrified, and I couldn’t really blame her. Doubtless I wore the same expression.
Horse groaned horribly. Tanris appeared again, stretched out flat on his belly and holding his arm out to me. “Grab hold.”
“You’re not going to take advantage and drop me, are you?” It would be an easy way to rid himself of me for once and for all. Still, he didn’t have the dragon’s egg yet.
“Just shut up and grab on.”
I pried one fear-cramped hand off the reins and took hold of his forearm. He caught hold of the back of my coat. Half climbing, half dragged, I soon found myself up over the edge. I laid on my belly in the dirt and rocks, catching my breath and waiting for the burning pain in my hands, arms, and shoulders to subside.
“You crazy idiot,” Tanris complained uncharitably, his voice ragged.
“Hey, I found the way out.”
“That was pure luck, and you know it. And more luck that you didn’t just die.”
“The hands of the gods are everywh
ere,” I said, pushing myself up with a wince. My unexpected journey had torn holes in both cloth and skin. My wrists bled. Shaking, I made my way to Horse’s side and knelt, murmuring sweet nothings to her, thanking her for helping save my life. Girl, who still laid across the beast’s neck, stared at me as if I were a ghost. Tanris argued that the “flamin’ stupid creature” had nearly killed me. He had little faith in the abilities of the gods. In order to keep himself safe while he helped me up, he’d secured himself to Horse with a rope tied to her saddle, and when I’d recovered sufficiently, we used it and one of the other horses to pull her around so she could scramble to her feet without being in danger of throwing herself off the cliff. The blindfold no doubt saved her some needless worrying.
While Tanris examined the mare for injuries, then cast about for some sign of our missing guide, Girl crawled a safe distance from both the cliff edge and the cave opening and had herself a nice cry. I collected some of the supplies that had been torn from the saddle and tried to work some sensation back into the hand and arm with which I’d gripped the reins during our acrobatics. My shoulder, ribs, and hip ached, but nothing appeared to be broken. Only a little worse for the wear, Horse suffered nothing more serious than some scrapes and bruises. Her mouth, Tanris said, was another story and he refused to let her wear a bit. He fashioned a hackamore for me to use instead, and then pointed out that we’d be walking for a while anyway. The way down from our lofty exit wound along a perilously thin track across the face of the cliff and then, evidently, along the crest of a wonderfully steep ridge.
It was a good thing I wasn’t afraid of heights.
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:
“Crow. Crow.”
I blinked as Tanris snapped his fingers in front of my face.
As the Crow Flies: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Page 19
