As Fire is to Gold (Chronicles of the Ilaroi Book 1)

by Mark McCabe

  “You’re right there, Ter,” said Tug. “He’s got it comin to him. But let’s not underestimate him. I thought that might have been a lucky shot he got Kyrt with, but bringing down both of Jard’s boys, that was no mean feat. I wonder how long before old Jard figures they ain’t comin home.”

  “He’s injured now,” said Rewin, focused as ever on the chase. “That arrow we found left a big hole somewhere and he might still be losing some blood over that. I reckon his days is about to come to an end real soon now.”

  Tug wasn’t so sure, or maybe it was just that he had a lot more riding on this chase than Rewin and Ter did. For them, it was just money, although he knew it had become very personal for Ter when his brother had been killed at the falls. When the girl and the man with her had jumped over the edge, the big man had gone mad with rage. He’d been off to his horse and after them before Tug and Rewin could do anything to stop him. Tug wondered if they’d still have fallen for the trick if it hadn’t been for that. He and Rewin had raced off after him and they’d lost half the afternoon before they’d thought to check the top of the falls again and found they’d been back that way. Kyrt’s horse had been what had really done it for them, though. They’d have caught up with them easily again if they’d still only had the one mount between them.

  “I hope you’re right,” he said to Rewin. “They’ve given us a long chase already.”

  “Yeh, but they’re running out of tricks. We’d have got them already but for those traps. That slowed us down a lot keeping an eye out for them. They’d be getting pretty tired now, and with him being injured and all, he must be getting weak. Those horses they got from the boys will have helped them, and the fresh provisions they got, but you can tell they’re slowing. Remember, while we’re sleeping sound here, they’re out there worrying about us chasing them. The chaser always sleeps easier than the chased. They can’t afford no fire either, so they’re cold and they’re eating cold rations. They’re slowing real quick now.” Rewin paused, nodding thoughtfully before he went on. “We got em.”

  Tug nodded. “He’s yours,” he said, turning to Ter, “once we get him. As much as I’d like to see the runt get what’s comin to him, you got the right.”

  “You bet I have.” The look on Ter’s face was a murderous one. “And he ain’t gunna git it quick like Kyrt did. He’s gunna be beggin me to kill him before I’m done with him.”

  “How do you reckon he got the drop on Jard’s boys?” asked Tug again, looking back at Rewin. He knew Rewin had ways of telling things like that from the tracks. While Ter was as good as anyone when it came to a scrap, or a bit of larceny for that matter, it was Rewin who did most of the thinking. Not that Tug would admit it; he was the boss and he liked it that way. It made for a nice change seeing as it was him that was usually the one taking orders from Ruz. Tug had learnt enough from Ruz to know his own limitations though. He was quite happy to let Rewin be the brains as long as he called the shots in the end.

  “I don’t think he did, you know,” answered Rewin, looking up at the draghar thoughtfully. “It looked to me like that girl might have put an arrow in of one of them and then her fella finished him off with a knife. The other one . . . I don’t know. The tracks didn’t make much sense to me, I have to say. I know he got hit though.”

  “You could be right,” said Tug. “She showed a lot of fight getting away from me and Ruz. I hadn’t figured her as being anything but a harmless little thing until then, but she showed she sure ain’t harmless. Just ask Ruz. If he ain’t dead by now.”

  “Yeh, well I think this one’s going to be a lot more of a handful than that last one we picked up for Golkar. Whatever did happen to her?”

  “She’s dead.”

  Rewin nodded as if he’d expected that answer. “Pity,” he said. “She was a pretty thing.”

  Tug nodded silently in response. There wasn’t much Rewin and Ter wouldn’t do for money. Kidnapping, murder, stealing, it didn’t seem to matter to them as long as Golkar’s gold was somewhere at the end of it. In some ways, Tug looked down on them for that. He regarded Ruz and himself as professionals. They did it because they enjoyed it, not because Golkar paid them for it. Not to say that there weren’t some perks that went with the job.

  The thought of Golkar turned his mind back to the task at hand. “How far now to the edge of the wilderness?” he asked Rewin. “I want to catch up with them before they get out into open country.”

  “Maybe three days at the pace we been going,” said Rewin slowly, clearly thinking about the ground they would need to cross between here and there. “A lot depends on this rain. That might slow us down, or, like I said, it might make it easier to track them. With us so close now, I think we’ll get them before they clear the wilderness.” After a slight pause, Rewin spoke again. “Yep, I don’t think they’ll get that far.”

  Tug lay back down on his bedding, listening to the soft drum of the rain that had begun to fall once again on their tent. Once more he hoped that Rewin was right. There was no way he was going back to Tu-atha without the girl. No way.

  ~~~

  All through the next day, Sara and Rayne plodded on through the intermittent rain. As he rocked back and forth on Ned, with his eyes fixed on the rump of the horse in front of him, Rayne found that the depression, which had previously gripped Sara, now had a firm hold on him.

  He cursed himself for the foolishness that had driven him to venture into the settlement. His father, with all of his experience, had warned him of the place and still he had done it. And then, to compound the error, he’d given little thought to their choice for a campsite that night. If it hadn’t been for Sara’s brave response to their attackers, he’d be dead already. As it was he still didn’t give much for his chances of making it out of the wilderness alive.

  Their only hope now lay with this rain. Rayne doubted if it would be enough to save them, however. They had a long way to go and it was taking all of his energy just to stay mounted. Instead of leading them forward at a time when they should be pushing on with all speed, he’d become nothing more to Sara than a dead weight. He was just slowing her down. If only his cursed arm would begin to show some sign of improvement.

  Rayne realised that, far from improving, his arm was getting worse. It was clearly infected, and the fever that was muddling his thoughts was also worsening. If things continued the way they were going, Sara might have to tie him into the saddle. The dull ache in his arm had progressed till the pain had become a permanent distraction. It throbbed constantly from shoulder to wrist and it had taken all of his will not to scream out in agony when Sara had last re-dressed and bathed it. Even if by some miracle they did get out of the wilderness, he’d be lucky to retain the use of his arm.

  And what of Sara? Rayne knew that he’d let her down, and badly. The poor girl was depending on him to save her from a horrible fate and yet it was all he could do to just to keep from falling off his horse as he followed along behind her. When he had said that he wanted adventure, he hadn’t planned on it turning out like this. He was supposed to rescue her and here she was looking after him. What would his father think of him now? What must Sara think of him? He’d had his first chance to do something, to make his own mark as a man, and he’d failed.

  Rayne wondered if it had become his fate to lose everything he loved. Was he cursed in some way, as Ranoran had been by the nymph? He’d lost his mother, and then his father, and now, just when he had dared to feel something for Sara, it seemed he was going to lose her as well.

  He remembered how his father had once said to him that life was anything but fair and he should never expect anything more from it other than what he got. He’d never truly understood why his father had felt that way, wondering whether it might be bitterness over the loss of Rayne’s mother that was behind it. Now he could see that his father was right. If there had been anything fair about life then he wouldn’t have been given the opportunity to meet someone as lovely as Sara only to have her snatched
away from him just when he realised he cared for her.

  Rayne considered his feelings for Sara. He knew he’d only known her for less than two weeks, but he was fairly certain of what he felt for her nonetheless. He’d known other girls back on the Marches, pretty ones too, but none of them had intrigued him as much as Sara did. She was far more intelligent, and worldly, than the girls he was used to. At times that daunted him, but it also added to her mystique.

  Looking up as they rode on, he took in her lovely form. Her long ponytail hung down to the small of her back, ending just above her slender waist. He smiled as he remembered how it had felt when he’d placed his hand there, remembering how much he enjoyed snuggling up behind her at night with his hand round her waist. She had her back to him now, but he had no difficulty picturing her face. He’d spent enough of his time admiring it. He loved her smile, especially the way that it seemed to light up her whole face. That was the thing that he liked more than anything else. When she was happy it struck a chord somewhere deep within him that made him feel happy as well, content that something was pleasing her. Rayne thought her simply the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

  He thought back to their first few days together. As he’d started to feel something for her, he’d tried to dismiss it but had found that he couldn’t. Then he’d told himself that someone as beautiful as she was wouldn’t be interested in someone like him. What was he after all? Just a trapper. He was just someone she had turned to for help. It could have been anyone. It just happened to be him.

  And then, last night, when they’d kissed, everything had changed. He had never felt such a strong desire for someone before in his life. She certainly wasn’t the first girl he’d kissed, but none of the others had affected him as she had. He was just grateful she’d been stronger than he had been. The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her.

  To add to Rayne’s depression, he now knew that she felt something for him as well. Her response last night had made that clear. The irony of the situation galled him. Instead of the elation he should have been feeling, frustration was eating away at him like a canker. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her.

  Rayne’s thoughts were interrupted as he felt something shaking him. With a start, he looked up. It was Sara. She had turned Nell around and ridden back to him and was shaking his arm.

  “Rayne,” she said with a look of concern on her face. “Are you okay?”

  “Y-yes,” he replied, a little uncertainly, wondering why she was asking. “Why, what’s wrong?”

  “I’ve been trying to get you to answer but you wouldn’t respond. I think you’re getting tired. We’d better stop for a bit.”

  Looking around, Rayne could see they were close to the top of the ridge they’d been ascending. The drizzle had stopped for the moment. “Let’s get over into the next gorge and stop there,” he replied. “Less chance of being seen by someone following then.” He was glad he was still aware enough to be of some use to them.

  “Good idea,” said Sara. “I didn’t think of that. Follow me.”

  Turning Nell around, Sara led the way again. Rayne followed, urging Ned on so that he kept close behind. He looked about him as they climbed, determined not to let his thoughts drift away again. A few minutes later they reached the crest of the ridge, stopping as they did so to look down at the valley below them.

  The scene before them was similar to many they’d viewed before, the broad mass of trees which spread out in front of them was broken here and there by a few rocky outcrops. A shallow river bed snaked its way across the floor of the valley below them. Rayne cast his eyes to the horizon, searching forlornly for an end to the wilderness. The low clouds which hung over the forest ensured that his vision was limited. Perhaps on a better day he might have been able to see further.

  “Oh my god,” whispered Sara as his eyes scanned the horizon. “Quick, get back.”

  Before Rayne had a chance to react, Sara turned Nell and, taking hold of Ned’s rein, quickly led them back off the crest of the ridge, returning to the valley they’d just climbed out of. The two spare horses, which had been tied in a line to the back of Rayne’s saddle, turned with them. Once they were all safely behind the ridgeline again, she stopped and dismounted.

  “Wait here,” she whispered urgently to Rayne, who still hadn’t worked out what was going on. As he watched, she dismounted and warily crept back up to the top of the ridge, peering over into the valley on the other side from behind the safety of the ridgeline. Intrigued and confused, Rayne somehow managed to clamber down from Ned and scramble up beside her.

  “What is it?” he whispered, painfully aware of the ache in his arm as he knelt down on the ground beside her.

  “Down there,” said Sara pointing, “in the bed of that stream. There are some men down there on horses.”

  Rayne looked down at the spot Sara was pointing to, trying desperately to focus his vision. He didn’t see how Tug and his men could have gotten in front of them. Following the line of her arm, he could see there were small shapes moving about on the bed of the shallow watercourse. They were mounted . . . but they weren’t men! Rayne felt a chill come over him as he realised what they were looking at. He’d never seen one himself before but they fitted his father’s description perfectly. “They’re sligs,” he whispered, his voice betraying the horror he felt.

  Sara squinted, trying to get a better look at the shapes she had seen. “My god,” she said after a few moments. “They look horrible. I thought you said that they lived far away? What are they doing here?”

  “I don’t know,” he whispered, wondering why he did so when the sligs were far too far away to hear them. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Which way should we go?” asked Sara as they quickly made their way back to their horses. Rayne could see she was as shaken as he was by this unexpected development.

  He struggled to clear his head. “I don’t know,” he responded, stopping and looking around as he tried to gather his thoughts. “We can’t go back. We’ll just go straight into the arms of Tug and his men if we do that.”

  “Well,” said Sara. “We have to either go further up this valley then, or lower down.”

  “Let’s continue down the line of the valley we’re in and try to cross over further down,” he decided. “They looked like they were headed up the valley.” He hoped he was right. They would have no hope at all if they ran into a band of slig warriors.

  “Okay,” said Sara, quickly mounting. She was obviously anxious to get moving.

  With an effort, Rayne remounted Ned. Letting Sara take the lead once again, he concentrated on following along in her wake. The appearance of the sligs wasn’t something he had considered. He couldn’t begin to fathom what they were doing here in the wilderness; they were certainly a long way from their normal haunts. What really alarmed him, however, was what they’d been doing. He couldn’t be sure, but he’d gotten the distinct impression that they were searching for tracks, like they were following or searching for someone. He wondered what it meant, hoping that whatever it was it had nothing to do with them.

  As quickly as they could, they made their way along the line of the ridge, keeping sufficiently below the crest to ensure they couldn’t be seen. While Sara kept peering nervously over her shoulder, Rayne tried to keep an eye out for Tug and his men. Although they weren’t going back on their former trail, they were effectively travelling at right angles to it. His father used to have an expression which Rayne thought fitted their current circumstances perfectly. ‘Between the hammer and the anvil,’ he called it. Rayne now knew how desperate a place that could be.

  After a while, they halted again and crawled up to the crest of the ridge once more. They were further down the valley now and the ridgeline itself wasn’t as high as the spot from where they had seen the sligs. They lay there watching for some time but could see no further sign of the creatures. Cautiously, they re-mounted and crossed over, making their way down into the next valley, bot
h of them anxious to be down and up the other side as quickly as they could. Neither said a word as they made their way down through the trees; they were afraid they could run into more sligs at any moment. Rayne forced the pain in his arm to the back of his thoughts. The prospect of an encounter with slig warriors was now foremost in his mind.

  It took them some time, but they finally reached the edge of the shallow stream, halting as they did so and peering nervously up and down the watercourse. Nothing could be heard but the babble of water as it gushed over the stony creek bed. After a brief pause, they urged the horses out from the cover of the trees. Rayne held his breath as they moved out into the open, only releasing it with a gasp of relief when they finally gained the cover of the trees on the other side. Sara, who had waited for him on the bank, reached out with her hand as he drew level on Ned.

  Taking her hand in his, he gently squeezed it, trying to give her a reassuring smile as he did so. He could see that Sara was just as scared as he was. Neither had said a word from the moment they’d crossed over into the valley. The tension was becoming unbearable. The brief linking of hands lifted Rayne’s spirits and he could see Sara drew inspiration from it as well.

  With a nod to each other, they moved on, only to halt again abruptly a moment later. Somewhere, close by, a horse had snorted. They had both heard it and pulled up at the same time. Turning to Sara, Rayne placed his index finger to his lips, indicating that they should be as quiet as possible. His heart thumped furiously as he looked around, frantically trying to see where the sound had come from. He desperately hoped that their own horses wouldn’t make any unexpected noise.

  Both of their heads snapped to the left as they heard voices and the splashing of horses wading through water. The sounds had come from downstream. Quickly they urged their horses away from the bank, anxious to gain the cover of the trees before whoever, or whatever, it was got closer. To Rayne’s horror, as they moved forward two mounted slig warriors appeared from between a clump of bushes, directly before them. They were only ten or so paces away. As Sara screamed, Rayne quickly turned Ned and kicked him into a gallop, knowing Sara would follow his lead.