Darknesses (24 page)

A
fter
the attack,
Alucius did not sleep well, even though there had not been
another attack, and he ended up rising before dawn. He doubted many had slept
that well. There were circles under his eyes as he ate a breakfast moments
after dawn, a breakfast prepared by the Deforyan cooks. That they had been left
behind didn’t surprise Alucius, but little about the Deforyans did any longer.

He
ate silently, with Koryt, since Fifth Company was manning the ledge posts, and
since Heald and Third Company were still on station manning the defenses on the
trail to the north. He hadn’t even finished when he saw a trooper outside the
mess room, looking at him. Leaving his platter, he hurried out.

“Sir…Overcaptain
sent me…lots of nomads on the old road to the north of Third Company…maybe ten
or twelve companies.”

As
the messenger spoke, Draspyr appeared at Alucius’s shoulder, but the majer said
nothing.

“Thank
you. Get yourself something to eat, then be ready to ride back. The majer and I
will let you know what we’re doing.”

“Yes,
sir.” The round-faced trooper nodded, then hurried away, toward the troopers’
mess.

“They’ll
need reinforcements,” Draspyr said.

Alucius
had a feeling that the pteridons might well be used in the north—or in both
places, but he couldn’t be in both places. After a moment, he replied. “I’d
recommend that I take Twenty-first Company to support Third Company, and that
Twenty-third Company and Eleventh Company remain here to support Fifth
Company.”

Draspyr
gave a wry smile. “I thought that might be your answer. It would have been
mine.”

Alucius
thought about explaining and decided against it. “We’ll be on our way as
quickly as possible.”

Draspyr
nodded.

Longyl
was waiting as Alucius neared the barracks area. “Sir?”

“Have
them saddle up. We’re headed north to reinforce Third Company. They’re under
attack.” Then he laughed, ruefully, at the inanity of the remark. They were
under attack everywhere.

In
less than a quarter glass, the company was on the trail northward, with several
packhorses, as well, carrying ammunition, water, and some rations. As he rode
northward, with the sun barely clearing the sandstone escarpments to the east,
Alucius kept scanning the skies, but he had not seen the pteridons.
Twenty-first Company had covered slightly more than a vingt when his
Talent-sense warned him. He glanced up, and to the west of the cliff, barely
visible, were three pteridons flying overhead.

Alucius
nodded. He had been able to sense the purplish feel that underlay the
pteridons, that strange similarity to the crystal that had powered the torques
of the Matrial. Yet he knew the Matrites had not had any connections to the
nomads. Was it just that certain kinds of Talent-use were shaded into the
purple, and others into the green and black? Why? And was there any connection
with the destruction and disappearance of the purple crystal and the appearance
of the pteridons?

“There
they are, sir!” said Longyl, from behind Alucius.

“Let’s
hope Heald can get his men under cover.” Alucius urged Wildebeast into a faster
walk, but he wasn’t about to move that much more quickly on the narrow way.

One
of the blue-winged creatures swooped downward, and a line of blue light flared
from the metallic lance held by the rider. Alucius couldn’t see where the
pteridon was headed, because his view was blocked by the way the trail curved,
but he had no doubts that the creature was attacking Third Company.

As
Alucius and Twenty-first Company neared the beleaguered troopers, he could see
that the pteridons—four of them—continued to circle and swoop, and send streams
of the blue fire downward. He hoped that meant Heald had his men under cover.

Another
half glass passed, and, as Alucius rode around another curve, he could clearly
see the promontory—clear of troopers, except for two blackened figures halfway
down the slope. Heald had been careful enough to watch the skies, and his
troopers were lined up flush against the sandstone cliff—safe from the
pteridons but unable to cover the road.

While
the blue flame from the skylances splashed around the top of the cliff and
fifteen yards from the base, the pteridons had not been able to fly close
enough to allow their riders a direct aim at the troopers. But the troopers
could not fire at either the pteridons and their riders, or at the nomads
farther to the north, who were doubtless moving southward.

Alucius
also saw Third Company’s mounts, in a long line southward, against the cliff
wall, also shielded from direct fire from the riders on the pteridons and
watched by a handful of troopers. The last of the mounts was only a hundred
yards ahead of Alucius. From where they circled high above, if trying to stay
out of rifle range most of the time, swooping occasionally, the pteridons or
their riders had not yet seen Twenty-first Company.

“Company
halt!” Alucius dismounted, and handed Wildebeast’s reins to Longyl. “Have them
wait here, but have them ready rifles.”

“Yes,
sir. Ready, rifles.”

After
taking both rifles from their holders, Alucius walked another fifty yards
northward along the narrow road-trail, keeping as close to the cliff wall as he
could.

Once
he was far enough north so that he could get a clear sight, at least part of
the time, on the pteridons, he took his time, watching the patterns,
waiting—and infusing the cartridges in the magazine with darkness, the kind of
darkness that came from him, from the stead, and from the healthy lifewebs of
Corus.

Then,
he fired.
Crack
.

The
first pteridon tumbled out of the sky, careening downward, before striking the
canyon to the north and the right of where Alucius stood. A flare of blue flame
erupted—the heat reaching Alucius.

He
ignored the flame and concentrated on the second pteridon. That was harder,
because the riders immediately changed their pattern and began to climb,
circling upward and searching for the source of the attack on them.

Alucius
emptied the magazine of the first rifle and had taken two shots with the second
weapon before a bullet struck the lowest and trailing pteridon. The wide blue
wings folded…but Alucius could not see where the beast fell.

A
cheer rose from the troopers under the cliff to the west of the promontory.
Alucius and Twenty-First Company watched as the pteridons headed southward.

Before
the cheer even died away, Heald called out, “Back to positions and ready to
fire!”

One
of the troopers went down from the nomads’ fire as they scrambled back into
position.

“Twenty-first
Company! Forward!” Alucius ordered.

As
Longyl rode forward, leading Wildebeast, Alucius put one rifle in the holder
and mounted quickly.

“Good
shooting, sir.”

“Very
fortunate shooting,” Alucius acknowledged. “We’ll have to take our mounts past
those of Third Company, probably all the way to where the wagon blocks the
trail.”

“Yes,
sir.”

Alucius
couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy as they rode past the Third Company
mounts, because he was close enough to the edge of the way cut from the solid
and ancient lava that he could easily look down, and “down” was several
thousand yards of a sheer drop. He pulled Wildebeast in right in front of the
first of the Third Company horses, where he dismounted and looked to the young
trooper from Eleventh Company.

“I’ll
watch him, sir.”

“Thank
you.” Alucius climbed up the slope enough to be clear of the trail, then moved
eastward, well below Heald’s troopers, who were firing almost continuously,
then continued eastward, waiting until Twenty-first Company came to a halt
below. “First and second squads! Dismount and take your rifles. Up the slope to
reinforce Third Company!” Alucius looked at Longyl. “Hold the others here until
I see what we need and where.”

Longyl
nodded.

Alucius
scrambled up across the sandstone, but carefully. The entire trail was filled
with nomads—on foot—and the first handful was less than fifty yards from the
wagon. He knelt just below the crest of the natural stone rampart.
“Twenty-first Company! First squad on me! Prone position!” He waited only until
the troopers scrambled into position. “Take out the lead nomads! Fire!”

The
first volley was nearly instantaneous, and most of the nomads in the first wave
dropped. By the third, and far more ragged volley from first squad, none of the
lead nomads were moving.

“Second
squad! To my left! Interlock with Third Company!”

Heald
raised his hand, then smiled. “Welcome!”

“We’ve
got more ammunition below.” Not enough. Not nearly enough, Alucius thought, but
the nomads didn’t have to know that. Not yet.

A
lucius
slowed as he,
Heald, and Third Company neared the last fifty yards
before the trail turned the bend onto Black Ridge. He didn’t like leaving
Longyl, but it was unlikely that the pteridons would attack in the late, late
afternoon, especially after their hasty retreat, and he needed to find out if
any of the scouts had returned—and if there was any other way out of Black
Ridge. They had used all too much of their ammunition, and Alucius had no
doubts that the attacks would continue. He also had not seen the pteridons
circling to the south…and he had to hope that Black Ridge had held out against
any nomad attacks.

The
four troopers standing guard at the bend that led onto the black lava ledge
looked at the two officers and the riders behind them.

“Sirs…how
are things to the north?”

“They’re
holding back the nomads for now,” Alucius replied.

“Sir…there
were pteridons here.”

“Are
they still here?”

“No,
sir. They only came by once—this morning. Then they went south. Been two
attacks by the nomads since then.”

In
one way, Alucius didn’t like that at all. “How many pteridons?”

“Just
two. They didn’t stay long, but they got some of Fifth Company. Captain Feran
got most everyone clear, then got ’em back in time to stop the attack.”

“Thank
you.” Alucius rode around the last narrow curve and out onto the flat black
expanse of Black Ridge. He could see more blackened patches on the ground along
the edge of the ledge. After a moment, Feran came hurrying toward him on foot.
Alucius pulled Wildebeast to the side and reined up short of the older captain.
“How bad was it?”

“Could
have been worse. The pteridons only came by once, and there were only two of
them. Came in out of dives, and ran a quick flame across the ledge. Almost
impossible to get a shot off. Still lost half a squad. Been three attacks from
below today. Last two were more just to make sure we were watching.”

“Do
you know if any of the Twenty-first Company scouts are back yet?”

“There
were a couple of riders that came in maybe a half glass back,” Feran replied.
“One was wounded. That was just after the last nomad attack. I wasn’t watching
too closely…” He shook his head.

“Thank
you. I need to see what they found.” Alucius hoped they had discovered
something. “If they did.”

“You
thinking there might be another way out?”

“Hoping,”
Alucius admitted. “But I don’t know where.”

“If
anyone could find it, you can. Let me know.” Feran gestured toward the ledge.
“I need to check on them.”

“I
will.” Alucius worried, once more, about leaving Twenty-first Company and
Longyl…but…if he didn’t come up with something, they were all likely to be dead
anyway.

He
made his way to the stone archway that gave access to the barracks bays where Twenty-first
Company was bunked.

Waris
and Dueryn were in the first bay, where one of the Deforyan cooks was binding a
dressing over Waris’s left shoulder.

“Sir…they
said…”

“Twenty-first
Company’s still out. I came back to find out if you’d discovered anything.”

“Sir…”
Waris glanced down at the dressing on his shoulder as the Deforyan stepped
back.

“How’s
that wound?”

“Not
too bad,” the scout lied.

Alucius
could sense the waves of pain. “Let’s see.” He reached out, his fingers barely
touching the dressing, and let a trace of his own Talent run over the torn
muscle. “That will take a while to heal, but it will.” He paused, almost afraid
to ask. “Did you find anything?”

“Sir…you
were right…there’s another road…but there’s no way to get to it. Leastwise not
that we can see.”

“Go
ahead,” Alucius said.

“Black
Ridge…it sits…it’s a big long point of stone, and there are canyons on both
sides. I managed to get up a ways. The nomads caught me coming down, didn’t
realize they were so close, but they didn’t know what I was doing. Thought I
was spying on them, and they were shooting from below to the east. Anyway, to
the west in places…you can see a road-trail, just like the one we came in on,
but it’s so sheer…you couldn’t climb down. It looks to run along the west side,
just like the one we used runs the east side.”

Alucius
frowned. The upper west end of Black Ridge was a solid sandstone cliff—wasn’t
it? “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes,
sir…” Waris winced again. “Goes a long way, but you can’t see it from the east
except from real high and in the afternoon…”

Alucius
nodded. “Thank you. Just rest for now. You might have to ride later.” He
glanced at Dueryn. “If you’d come with me…”

“Yes,
sir.”

The
two slipped out of the barracks bay and walked along the corridor and out onto
the ridge, where Alucius headed west, walking swiftly.

From
somewhere, Heald appeared. “Mind if I join you? You look like you have
something in mind.”

“The
scouts say that there’s another road to Black Ridge. But they couldn’t say how
it got here.”

“I
haven’t seen another road. Have you?”

“I
have the feeling we weren’t meant to see it.” Alucius stopped short of the
sandstone escarpment that blocked the west end of the flat lava ledge. The
sandstone rose more than a thousand yards above him, and it looked solid. More
important—it felt solid even to his Talent, as he slowly walked its curving
length back toward the stable entrance.

He
looked up, his eyes taking in the sweep of the stone above, noting the
indentation in the top of the cliff to his left, almost over the westernmost
archway—the one for the western stables. Whoever had created the tunnels and
stone-hollowed rooms had done so symmetrically, so symmetrically that, from the
first time he had seen Black Ridge, the lack of a second access had bothered
Alucius. He had ignored that feeling, but now he had to follow it. He turned
toward the stable archway and walked swiftly to and through it, to the end—the
westernmost part of all the tunnels. There, he began to study the back walls,
both with Talent and with his eyes.

He
could sense the puzzlement from both Heald and Dueryn.

One
area—although it looked the same—felt different. Alucius took out his belt
knife and scratched the wall. At first, just sandstone plaster fell away, and
then, a reddish white powder, and then a huge clump of mortar covered with
sandstone. He continued to scrape until he had uncovered the outline of a
sandstone block, set amid others.

He
turned to Dueryn. “I need four men, with shovels, picks, anything they have or
can find.”

“Yes,
sir.” Dueryn hurried out.

“You
herders…” Heald shook his head.

Alucius
continued to scrape away the mortar covered with the red sand, a good imitation
of the sandstone itself.

“Overcaptains?
What are you doing here? And in the back of the stables?” Majer Draspyr’s voice
carried more than annoyance.

“Trying
to see if we have another way out, where we don’t have to fight through
thousands of nomads.”

“In
the stable?”

“I
sent out scouts this morning…” Alucius went on to explain, ending up, “If there
is a road on the west side, it had to have been concealed for some reason, and
it has to be on this end of the tunnels.” He pointed to the stones he had
uncovered. “There’s no mortar around them, just over them. That’s almost as if
they were meant to be removed quickly. I’ve sent for some troopers…and then
we’ll see.”

“You
left your company?”

“For
just a bit. Twenty-first Company is holding the position. Longyl is a good
senior squad leader, but he doesn’t know what to look for in something like
this. This morning, and early this afternoon, the two companies pushed back the
nomads. Third Company had been out there for a solid day, and they’d lost some
men to the pteridons. We did manage to down two, and the others left, but that
didn’t stop the nomads for long. They backed off, and we brought back Third
Company. I came back to check to see if the scouts had discovered anything and
to arrange for more ammunition for Twenty-first Company.”

“There’s
not that much left,” Draspyr pointed out.

“That’s
why this is important.”

“Sir?”
came a voice from behind the officers.

The
four troopers who followed Dueryn back into the stables had two short shovels,
a pick, and an iron bar a yard and a half long.

“We
need to get these blocks out of here.”

“Yes,
sir!”

It
only took the four men a quarter of a glass to uncover the rest of the archway
filled with rough sandstone blocks and to remove the unmortared blocks—an
indication to Alucius that the archway led to the unused road—but only an
indication. Even before all the blocks were removed, he could see and sense a
tunnel, and cool air began to flood out.

There
was indeed a tunnel—one with ancient light-torches in brackets on the wall, the
first light-torches Alucius had seen anywhere in Deforya.

“I
think we just might have another way back to Dereka.” Alucius stepped into the
tunnel, wide and high enough for a mounted rider—if with little room to
spare—and took down the first light-torch.

The
greenish beam revealed that the tunnel continued northwest, and Alucius kept
walking. The west tunnel was over two hundred yards long, and there was another
blocked archway at the north end, but it was sealed only with square stones not
mortared on the outside, because Alucius could see light around some of the
stones.

He
turned to Draspyr. “I’d like to send a messenger to Twenty-first Company and
have them withdraw to Black Ridge.”

“We
don’t know if this road will take us out, Overcaptain,” Draspyr pointed out.
“Or that we won’t meet nomads at the other end.”

“We
don’t,” Alucius agreed. “But you just told me that we were almost out of
ammunition. If we try the road, we’re no worse off than if we stay here, and
there’s a chance that we’ll be far better off.”

Draspyr
nodded. “Send your messenger.”

Alucius
looked to Dueryn. “Are you up to it?”

“Yes,
sir.”

“Longyl
is going to have to give the impression that his forces are still there. Try to
leave a couple of men in position, occasionally firing, until the others are
well clear. Then, they’ll have to follow and catch up.” Alucius hoped that
would work, since the nomads hadn’t tried early-night attacks before, but
attacked later in full darkness.

“I’ll
send a half squad from Third Company with him,” Heald added.

As
Alucius watched the four troopers open the second archway, he could only hope
that the road was usable—at least to a point beyond where the nomads were.

Draspyr
had already left to organize the withdrawal when Alucius looked out in the
late-afternoon light at the narrow way, sandy in places, and clearly not used
in years, if not generations. The road
felt
open and
solid, but Alucius could only hope that he was not deceiving himself—and the
others.