Daffyd was awake and had a pot of hot water to make tea and some tubers that he had discovered and cooked in the coals that morning. Feeling somewhat groggy, she inquired as to how long he had been up, and was chagrined to be told that he had risen well over two hours ago. He further told her that she had fallen into an unrousable sleep immediately after eating the previous night.
"So you put me into my bedroll?" she inquired, covering a large yawn.
"That seemed the only solution," he replied amiably.
"It must be from using the ring..." She stifled another yawn.
"I remember both Lord Colin and Lady Dinea complaining that arcane work left them tired and disoriented," Daffyd volunteered.
"Well, at least I now have a fairly clear idea of where to go from here. In future I will be chary of using it except when in real need." Hollin stretched her hands high above her head and wriggled out of her bedroll. With a healthy appetite she ate the cooked tubers and three rounds of the tough but filling journey-cake that Daffyd had purchased in the village.
"Arcane work also engenders a great deal of hunger, so I see." Daffyd laughed. "Yes, it would be best to limit your use of the ring until I have restocked our larder!"
Hollin gave him a look of comic dismay and joined him in laughter. What they shared was not only the relief of being finally free of the fear of pursuit, but also the sense of having cut themselves off from the past. The horror of the massacre two days ago was still there just beneath the surface of emotions, but their immediate setting and shared purpose kept the feelings of pain and rage from overwhelming them. From that moment their relationship as friends began, to be molded and held in check by the codes of leige-lord and paxman, but strong and enduring nonetheless.
The following weeks were spent arduously climbing; wending their way through the towering mountains. As early summer came, though the nights were uniformly cool, the days grew mild and pleasant. Occasional thunder-showers in the late afternoon would force them to seek shelter for brief spells, under their tarp or the trees, but their forward progress was steady. As the fear of pursuit left them they stopped looking over their shoulders and looked only ahead. Daffyd was at home in the mountains and his knowledge of plants and animals, the finding or construction of simple shelters, and how to forge or follow a trail, made him an invaluable companion. He also showed an unfailing good humour when things went slightly awry and an innate sensitivity to the duchess' need for speech or silence.
Once Hollin became acclimated to the mountains and the rigors involved in climbing them, she became quite proficient. She had spent many long days as a child riding and walking in the mountains of Langstraad. Not allowing herself to become overly soft and castle-bound when she assumed the sovereignship of Langstraad paid off now. Only the dirt and grime of travel had been difficult for her to adjust to, though they passed creeks and streams often enough for her to maintain a degree of cleanliness. Still, often at the end of a long march she would find herself wistfully remembering the amenities of her own castle.
They met no one for many weeks as they journeyed north. The mountains to the west of the great trade route were little habited and presented few opportunities to those who might wish to settle there. Only the arcane knowledge supplied by the duchess' ring led them through the rough corrugations of the terrain. They began to speculate on how far they had come and how much further they must travel after several weeks stretched well beyond a month. When queried as to why she had originally planned to travel on the trade route when they were heading more west and north rather than east and north, Hollin pointed to the steeply pitched slope that they were slowly traversing and asked him to imagine one hundred and fifty mounted men, plus servants, tramping down this hill. He snorted in understanding.
"Lord Colin and I had a general idea of the direction of the city in which Prince Brian is believed to reside. It's known that when the prince quit the Pentarchy he left by way of the northern trade road. We decided that since the company we were taking was so large, it would be best to use the largest, most populated road, at least for as long as we could. Remember, no one knows exactly where this city lies. Messengers have been sent before to find the city and the prince, to no avail."
"Are there any people living along the trade route who have heard of the city?"
"Oh yes, it is known that such a city exists, but not its exact whereabouts. Not even those who dwell in the far northern lands know how to find the city. Those peaks ahead in the distance are the Pillars of the Sky. Images of them have been coming to me while I have worked with the ring. It's towards them that we must now steer our course." She fell silent as somber thoughts of the ill-fated embassy returned to her. Though for the most part she had put it from her mind, occasionally she would recall that dark afternoon, remembering Celia's cries of pain and terror as she was struck down. Sighing with the effort, she forced herself back to the present moment. With a fleeting pang of insignificance she saw that the sunlit mountains that surrounded them were oblivious to their transient existence.
Chapter 11
"Where do we go from here?" Daffyd's voice aptly conveyed both his frustration and discomfiture.
They stood at the far end of a narrow valley, a rift in the mountains, surrounded by menacing pinnacles of rock and snow. Before them towered a great wall of loose stones and debris. No trees grew here, only short tufts of grass clinging to life between the scattered rocks. From where they stood, the sky was but a band of blue stretched upon on the vast heights of the mountains.
Almost ten weeks had passed since they had left the confines of the Inner Ward and began their perilous journey. For the most part, they had kept to the valleys between the mountains, taking advantage of the easier paths rather than assaulting the high peaks. The past few days, however, had led them higher and higher until they left even the conifer forest behind. Here the world was colder and brighter, the air thinner and the aspect grimmer. When they struck the semblance of an actual trail yesterday, both had become excited. Hollin was convinced that they were nearing the end of their journey. The trail, well-marked, seemed to meander eastwards, back down the mountain from where they picked it up, but Hollin was certain that their way led up, not down. Up they had gone and ended here at a wall of dangerously loose rock that threatened to collapse and destroy them at any moment.
Hollin surveyed the unstable wall of rock and shuddered. "Maybe we have to climb it," she suggested with misgiving.
Daffyd shook his head vehemently. "There is no way that we can go over that, my lady!" His voice rang with certainty as he pointed to the top of the cliff. "If we attempt it, we'll more than likely come sliding back with a part of it on top of us."
Hollin bit her lip in frustration and stepped back. "There must be some way out of this valley!"
"At present, the way that we came in seems to be the way we must leave, unless you can conjure wings to let us fly over this cliff."
Raising her eyebrows at his uncharacteristic asperity, she turned around and around studying the surrounding cliffs. When she concluded her scrutiny, she turned back to Daffyd who had dropped his pack and saddlebags to the ground and was seated on them. To her questioning look, he shrugged and said, "It's late in the afternoon; let's find what shelter we may in this barren bit of wilderness and try again in the morning. What eludes tired eyes at the end of the day may be revealed with the morning."
She grudgingly admitted that he was right and together they retreated back down the valley and away from the threat of the unstable cliff.
Finding shelter in the valley proved difficult even for the seasoned travelers they had become. The valley was less than half a mile wide and about two miles long. With no trees, they were forced to camp in a crude dell roughly surrounded by boulders. A wind-screen was constructed with the tarp, and Daffyd built a fire-pit out of smaller rocks. There was no burnable wood, so Daffyd emptied one of the packs and left the valley to climb back down to the tree-line and gather a small amount
of wood for the evening’s fire. It took him over an hour and the valley was deep in shadow when he returned.
Hollin had assembled the articles of their camp and was waiting impatiently for him to return. He was disconcerted to find his sword unsheathed and lying near at hand, but forbore comment on it. As he unloaded the wood and set a fire blazing, she busied herself with preparing dinner. Only after they began to partake of their evening meal did she tell him of the strangely chilling scream that had caused her to unsheathe the weapon.
"It was like no cry that I have ever heard before. It may have been an animal but it sounded like a demon." A faint shiver of recollection passed over her.
"It may have been nothing more than the wind screaming on the heights, but if it will make you feel better we can take turns on watch during the night." He had much respect for the duchess' nerves and whatever had set her nerves on edge was not to be dismissed too lightly.
The night was exceptionally cold and they ran out of firewood after a few hours. Huddling together for warmth, they took turns sitting awake and alert while the other slept. They had done this several times on their journey, usually after they had found indications that bears were in the vicinity. Nothing happened during the night to alarm them, but when they rose the next morning, both felt the want of sleep and the lack of adequate warmth. Hollin was eager to immediately begin exploring the walls of the valley, while Daffyd advised collecting firewood first. In the end they agreed to explore the valley in the morning and procure wood in the afternoon.
With icy fingers and frozen breath they began to walk the perimeter of the valley. The floor of the valley abruptly ended at sheer cliffs which gave little hope of handholds, let alone any sign of a trail. There were a few places that looked as if they might possibly be scaled, but only at the risk of life and limb. Discouraged after several fruitless hours, Daffyd persuaded Hollin to leave the valley with him to hunt for firewood.
They left most of their belongings behind in the valley, venturing out with empty packs and Daffyd's sword strapped to his back. They had to travel far back down the mountain in order to find burnable wood. All around them the mountains spread out in an endless panorama that only mist and distance dissipated. There were many broken branches once they reached edge of the forest and they spent the better part of an hour collecting pieces of dry wood. Bowing forward under the weight, they trudged back up the trail to the valley and deposited their gleanings beside the firepit. By then the valley was again in the deep shadow of late afternoon.
Sitting and drinking long draughts of water after their exertions, they were shaken out of their lethargy as a shrill scream cut through the air, prickling the hair on the napes of their necks. The demoniacal cry was repeated moments later as they stood, back-to-back, raking the cliffs above them with their eyes in a attempt to verify that the scream came from a corporeal form. Hollin first spotted the large pale shape, which seemed to hover high above them on the cliff wall. She directed Daffyd's attention to it and he whistled faintly in amazement. Though he continued to crouch with his sword in hand, the knot of fear relaxed within him. Mesmerized, they watched as the creature turned and leaped away, vanishing into the shadows. They listened for several long minutes to see if it would return but the valley had subsided into silence once more.
Hollin spoke first. "What was that?"
"A snowcat," Daffyd breathed in awe as he lowered his sword. "I've heard tales of them but never thought to see one in the flesh. They do not exist in the Pentarchy, only back here in the depths of the mountains, and it is said that they are very rare even here."
"How dangerous are they?" The duchess was plainly unsettled by the creature's appearance.
"I don't know. According to legend, the snowcat's appearance is a portent of great good or great evil. There are some who believe that they live and travel freely between the worlds of flesh and of dream." He wrenched his eyes away from where the cat had disappeared and, kneeling, began to build the fire. "I think it would be most prudent to stand watches through the night again and keep the fire burning brightly. That cat definitely looked of this world to me and was big enough to do a lot of damage to us if it wished."
That night was as chilling and filled with dread as the previous night. Daffyd took the first watch, alternately walking the perimeter of their camp and sitting against a large rock with his naked sword across his knees. Strange sounds floated to him out of the eerie darkness: faint whispers, the mutter of the wind and footfalls that were not quite right. He thought not to wake Hollin, to see the night through himself, but she woke of her own accord and demanded that he get some sleep. Reluctantly he agreed, and she piled new logs on the fire. She woke him for the last watch before dawn, informing him that the sounds had continued off and on, but that she had seen nothing.
In the early light, Daffyd shook himself into wakefulness, realizing with distress that he had fallen asleep during his second watch. With hands stiff with cold he pushed himself up and checked the still form of the duchess. She slept on, oblivious to his lapse of duty. The fire continued to smolder with coals gone ashy grey and he bent forward to lay new wood on the embers. As he leaned forward his attention was arrested by a pawprint in the soft dirt on the other side of the firepit. Slowly rising, with his sword at the ready, he carefully scrutinized the area in and around their camp and discovered more of the large feline prints. No other trace of the snowcat remained and, with a shudder, he sank back on his heels and tended the fire.
Hollin awoke within minutes of his rising and he pointed in silence to his discovery. "I fell asleep. I don't remember getting drowsy but I was very much asleep by this morning. Apparently the snowcat entered our camp while we were both unconscious."
Hollin, who had begun to brew the tea, said as composedly as she could, "Well, it doesn't seem to have wanted to harm us."
Daffyd's reply was less optimistic: "Perhaps it simply wasn't hungry. Look at the size of those footprints! It looked large on the cliff, but it must be even bigger than I thought!" He shook his head in disbelief and accepted a cup of very hot tea.
"Today I want to check out the base of the rocky cliff again," Hollin said briskly.
Daffyd cocked his head in query at her. "I told you before that the wall is far too unstable to climb."
"Yes, but the other cliff-bases have revealed nothing, and I have the impression that we have overlooked something. I can't quite explain it, but unless you have a better suggestion I'd like to do some more exploring."
"No, I have nothing better to offer," he admitted, disheartened.
In the growing morning light they walked through the valley towards the massive wall of stones. Before they had gone halfway there was an ominous rumble and several of the loose rocks shifted to come rumbling down to the foot of the wall. A cloud of dust rose and the motes danced high in the air. Pushing fear aside, Hollin and a reluctant Daffyd continued to approach the unstable obstacle.
When they were close enough to observe the features of the wall in detail, they stopped. Starting at the southern side, where the wall melded with the solid rock of the valley's cliffs, Hollin began to walk in front of the threatening wall towards the cliffs of the northern side of the valley, all the while patiently seeking any continuation of the path that had led them into the valley. Daffyd followed a pace behind her, his eyes constantly roving about, as much on guard for any danger as trying to find a trail.
The sun was just beginning to spill its light into the depths of the valley when they reached the northern cliffs for the third time. Discouraged, they halted and sat down to drink from their water flasks. Daffyd was beginning to warn her that they would have to make another trip out of the valley in order to gather wood and water if they intended to stay another night, when a piercing scream sent them leaping up from their resting spot with sword and dagger drawn. Not far above where they stood, a large feline creature observed them impassively.
The snowcat was impressive: frightening and beautiful
in the same instant. Its fur was long and pristinely white. Close to fifteen feet in length from its elegant whiskers to its gently twitching tail, it watched them from opalescent eyes with pupils slitted in response to the noon light. For many minutes cat and humans stared at one another; Hollin was curious, Daffyd anxious, and the snowcat enigmatic.
At last Hollin discerned something and softly spoke to Daffyd. "It's standing on a ledge."
He looked up and saw that indeed, the snowcat was balanced on a ledge, and a ledge that could be reached from the ground. He caught his breath as the snowcat rose from its crouch. Still watching them, it walked slowly up the wall.
"The path!" Hollin exclaimed in subdued excitement. "Do you see it? It goes up this cliff!"
"Yes, but it has a snowcat sitting on it! It is just as likely to lead to the snowcat's den as to take us out of the valley." He was clearly skeptical.
The cat continued climbing until it was fifty or sixty feet above them. Then it stopped, sat down and regarded them once again.
"I don't think it wants to harm us," Hollin remarked, intently watching the snowcat. The snowcat returned her stare unblinkingly. "We must follow it," she announced quietly. As if in response, the snowcat stood and climbed another ten feet before stopping.
"That is madness!" was Daffyd's appalled response.
"Nevertheless, that is what we must do. Go fetch the packs, I'll wait here." Her manner was preemptory as she concentrated on the animal on the cliffs above.
"Lady Hollin I beg you, do not follow the snowcat! What you propose is extremely dangerous. You are going to your doom to follow that thing!" His face was white and his voice harsh.
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