Fire Bringer (57 page)

‘The river,’ said Bankfoot, but on the far side of the water a line of deer were already moving up to block their escape. There, on the wide plain, the hundred and sixty Outriders – so impressive a sight in the home herd or even in the corrie – were dwarfed by the regiments of deer that surrounded them.

‘Tain,’ cried Peppa desperately. ’Tain, what shall we do?’

‘Thistle,’ said Tain, suddenly waking from this vision of hopelessness, ‘let’s try to. . .’

But as he looked round Tain realized that Thistle was missing.

‘Thistle, where’s Thistle?’

He was looking at Willow and the hind shook her head sadly.

‘He never made it through the pass.’

Tain gazed back at her in horror but now the captain’s instincts began to rally for he realized that without Thistle the Outriders were leaderless. He turned to scan the plain desperately and almost immediately his eyes settled on a patch of ground to the west, near the forest, that rose a way above the plain; a hillock of rock and heaped earth with a single rowan tree growing in its middle, but wide enough for a good many deer.

‘There,’ cried Tain, ‘we’ll make our stand there.’

Braan had seen it too and he was already bellowing to the Outriders as he turned towards it. Like a flock of birds the deer swung after him and again they were running, making for the higher ground. The Sgorrla saw what they were doing and instantly fifty of them broke from the facing wall of deer and rushed forward to try and cut them off. But the mound was closer to the Outriders than to the Great Herd and as the Sgorrla drew near, Braan and Tain had already reached it. The Outriders flowed up its sides after them and as they did so the Sgorrla pulled up and, bucking their antlers angrily, turned back to the main body of the herd.

There the Outriders settled. The four old friends, with Braan and Haarg at their side, gathered round the rowan tree, the other stags all about them. They made a brave sight, but a desperate one too. Silence fell on the plain and the Outriders waited, but the Sgorrla didn’t move. The deer across the river made no attempt to cross the water and to the east the Sgorrla stayed in the shadow of the trees. Behind them the pass was sealed again with stags, but they did not advance either. They were all waiting.

Suddenly, as the Outriders looked on at their impenetrable enemy, the ranks of the Sgorrla in front of them began to stir and then parted. Through the middle of them came two deer. From the hillock the friends recognized Narl and at his side was an old stag whose bare head stood out clearly among the waves of antlers.

‘Sgorr,’ hissed Braan.

Narl and Sgorr had reached the front of the stags and they began to range up and down the columns of waiting deer, inspecting their antlers and nodding approvingly.

Sgorr smiled inwardly. His night terrors and the shock of meeting Rannoch had passed away with the morning and now his courage swelled as he looked on. The Outriders were so few compared to the Sgorrla, the odds nearly ten to one. Though Sgorr was concerned about the Herla coming from the north, his scouts had seen nothing at all and he knew that they would never reach the Outriders in time. They were doomed.

‘He has lost, Narl,’ whispered Sgorr delightedly.

Narl nodded. He had been amazed when Sgorr told him of Rannoch’s visit, but any fear that had woken in his heart was dispelled by the sheer might of the Great Herd.

‘Today we will put an end to the Prophecy,’ said Sgorr.

‘Before Larn comes we will put an end to Herne once and for all. And if he dares to come we will put an end to Rannoch too.’

Narl smiled.

‘Narl, I will watch from those trees,’ said Sgorr, nodding casually towards a cluster of birches. ‘Bring some Sgorrla to guard me. But first I want to talk to these fools.’

Narl gave the order as Sgorr walked forwards. The distance to the mound was some twenty tall trees, but the plain dipped slightly and in the still air Sgorr’s voice carried clearly to the waiting Outriders and across the ranks of the Sgorrla too.

‘Outriders,’ he cried, ‘I had thought to let you live, for Narl tells me you fought well in the corrie. But now I see you, I feel nothing but contempt. You will never see another Larn.’

Sgorr dipped his head and as the Outriders stood there they trembled, for across the grass came a terrible sound. A violent clicking. The Sgorrla were knocking their antlers together in rhythm.

The dreadful noise carried far through the day, even to the slopes of the surrounding mountains where three old hinds trembled as they watched the tragic scene.

‘I’m frightened, Willow,’ whispered Peppa as the clicking swelled across the plain.

Willow smiled sadly at her sister.

‘If we’re to die,’ she answered, ‘then at least we will die together.’

Peppa lifted her head. Bankfoot and Tain were listening now and the friends drew near and looked at each other silently. Bankfoot gazed at Peppa sadly, for he had never even told the hind what he felt for her. But they had all been through so much together and they knew each other so well, that words now seemed barely necessary.

‘You know,’ said Bankfoot after a while, smiling as he looked at the splash of black by Peppa’s ear, ‘I always longed to be an Outrider. And here I am, an Outrider captain. But for what? I’ll never even get a chance to guard the herd. It’s funny, really.’

‘Don’t say it, Bankfoot,’ said Tain quietly. ‘Be proud to be a captain.’

Bankfoot looked at his friend and nodded.

‘I am,’ he whispered.

‘And I’m proud that I’ve known you,’ said Willow, ‘all of you.’

‘If only Rannoch would come,’ said Peppa.

‘No, Peppa,’ whispered Tain, ‘it is better that he’s not here. What could he do? If there are more Herla coming from the north they’ll never make it through the pass in time. And Rannoch alone, he would just add his carcass to ours. I’m glad he’s not here.’

‘And at least I know now,’ said Willow, ‘that he was never a coward. But I wish. . . I wish. . . Our parting was so terrible.’

The friends were silent again and across the plain the clicking subsided.

‘They’re coming on,’ whispered Haarg.

The ranks of the Sgorrla were advancing towards the mound. Not all of them came. Some three hundred. Walking at first. Then trotting. Then breaking into a charge.

‘Captain Bankfoot,’ said Tain, lifting his antlers.

‘Captain Tain,’ answered Bankfoot proudly.

‘If this is the last story, Bankfoot, then let’s make certain it’s the best.’

Bankfoot nodded and drew himself up. The Outriders were gathered in concentric rings around the rowan tree, and as the Sgorrla came on, Tain and Bankfoot, Braan and Haarg stepped forward through their ranks, to each side of the stand.

The Sgorrla drew nearer and now the Outriders could see the livid scars on the stags’ foreheads and the points of their sharpened antlers. Then they hit, rushing up the sides of the hillock like a tidal wave. Even within the rings of Outriders, Willow and Peppa felt the shock of it. All around the hinds, stags were suddenly fighting, bellowing and lashing out. The little hill dissolved in a frenzy of thrusting haunches. Sgorrla was pitted against Outrider. Antler against antler. The Outriders seemed to rock to and fro, pushed this way and that by the impact from all sides.

The battle raged on, but in the midst of the desperate melee neither Peppa nor Willow could be sure how the Outriders were faring. Now and then they would catch sight of Bankfoot or Tain, Braan or Haarg, scything with their heads or rising up on their haunches, rallying the Outriders or rushing to the aid of another stag. They saw deer fall around them but could not tell which side they belonged to. The one thing the hinds were sure of, though, was how hopeless their plight was.

Suddenly, through the Outriders nearest to them, a stag came hurtling straight at Willow.

‘Look out,’ cried Peppa, and Willow just managed to step aside to avoid his antler thrust. He swung round again and Willow caught the surprise in his eyes to see a hind in the midst of the Outriders. But he dropped his antlers again and lunged.

From the left came Haarg, who had seen the stag break through the Outriders and abandoned his position at the front of the fight. He was just in time. He thrust the Sgorrla aside and brought his trez tines up and under the deer’s muzzle, tearing his throat open in a single slash.

But as the Sgorrla fell, Haarg felt himself knocked sideways in turn and a stabbing pain tear into his chest. Another Sgorrla had broken through and was goring him.

‘Help him,’ cried Willow desperately to the surrounding Outriders. ‘Help Haarg.’

Three Outriders came to their aid and the Sgorrla paid the price for his courage. The Outriders were on him.

‘Thank Herne,’ whispered Willow, for although he was wounded, Haarg was still on his feet. But as the hind turned back to her sister she cried out in agony.

Peppa was lying among the rocks, blood streaming over the ground.

‘No, Peppa, not you too,’ sobbed Willow, her front legs buckling before her.

Willow’s head came down above her sister’s and she saw the fatal gash in Peppa’s throat that the Sgorrla must have inflicted on her only moments before he had charged Haarg. Peppa’s blood was already sinking into the grass.

The hind’s eyes were still open but they were beginning to stare.

‘No, Peppa, no,’ cried Willow bitterly.

Peppa tried to lift her head but it was no good.

‘I should never have allowed you to come with us. . .’

‘Quiet, Willow,’ whispered Peppa, ‘look to yourself, for I will soon be with Herne.’

‘Peppa!’ cried Willow again.

But it was already over. The hind closed her eyes and laid her head on the earth.

Willow staggered to her feet and now she could see that around her the fighting had died down. The Sgorrla were retreating and through the thronged Outriders, who were beginning to regroup on the mound, Tain and Bankfoot were coming towards her.

‘We held them,’ cried Bankfoot, ‘we held them all right. But it was close, when they—’ Bankfoot stopped. ‘No!’ he cried. ‘No!’

The three friends stood over Peppa’s corpse by the rowan tree, their heads bowed. Around them on the mound the grass was littered with bodies. Along with many Sgorrla, forty Outriders had fallen in the fight. But while that first terrible charge had very nearly overwhelmed the Outriders, across the plain the Great Herd was virtually unaffected and already two other groups of stags, two hundred in each, were advancing again.

‘It’s finished,’ said Tain, shaking his head. ‘We’ll never survive another attack.’

Bankfoot stamped the ground furiously.

‘Th-th-th-then the Sgorrla will die with us to avenge Peppa.’

But now Tain drew Bankfoot aside.

‘Bankfoot,’ he whispered, looking back towards Willow, ‘will you do something for me?’

‘Anything, Tain.’

‘Will you stay with Willow to the end and give your last to protect her?’

Bankfoot stared at Tain. They both knew that they would all die in the next assault, Willow too, but Bankfoot nodded.

‘Gladly,’ he said.

The two old friends clicked their antlers and prepared themselves. By the birch trees Sgorr was nodding approvingly as he watched the final assault on the mound. It had been almost too easy. The Sgorrla came on as Tain and Braan and the wounded Haarg ran to the front of the Outriders. Once more the mound was submerged in a sea of fighting. By the rowan tree Bankfoot stood with Willow and they waited quietly together.

The ring of Outriders around them began to weaken and then the Sgorrla broke through. Three of them. This time they came straight for Bankfoot.

‘Get behind me, Willow,’ cried Bankfoot, ‘with your back to the tree.’

The hind did as she was told.

‘To me,’ cried Bankfoot, rising up on his haunches and pounding the air with his hoofs. ‘To me.’

But there was no one to help him.

‘Come on then,’ he shouted furiously, ‘Sgorrla f-f-filth.’ The Sgorrla paused, momentarily held at bay by the fury in Bankfoot’s eyes. But then they advanced and lowered their heads. Bankfoot dug in with his back feet and readied. On the first charge only one Sgorrla came at him and Bankfoot held the blow on his antlers. The Sgorrla seemed unnerved but now they all came at him together. Bankfoot knocked aside the first blow with his head, but the second Sgorrla locked his antlers and as he did so the third dipped towards his chest. The brow tine went in and Bankfoot gasped.

‘Swine,’ he cried.

But now he felt another antler gouge him and suddenly the strength went out of his legs.

‘Forgive me, Willow,’ he cried as his legs gave way. Bankfoot’s head hit the ground. He looked up to see the three Sgorrla standing above him, dipping their antlers, poised for the kill. Bankfoot turned his head away.

But as he did so, his eyes came in line with the eastern forest. His vision had been impaired by the blow to his head and, as his head began to swim and he finally lost consciousness, he fancied he saw a strange sight. In the distance, through the fighting deer, Bankfoot saw a light glowing through the day and as he closed his eyes he heard, very faintly, a voice.

‘The forest, look to the forest.’

At the forefront of the battle, Tain had heard the shout too and suddenly the fighting deer were disengaging, turning in amazement towards the woods. Now, across the ground, came the bark of terrified deer and the Sgorrla on the edge of the trees were running left and right in confusion and terror, out onto the plain. Tain gasped.

The trees. The trees behind the deer. Their branches were glowing. A strange smoke furled up from the dry branches and everywhere a bright orange glow began to fleck through the woods. A furious crackling sound came to Tain’s ears. Across the plain the Great Herd was watching in wonder as the Sgorrla nearest to the trees fled.

Whatever was happening Tain knew it could not save the Outriders, but at least the attacking Sgorrla had been distracted and had temporarily lost the advantage.

‘Outriders,’ cried Tain. ’Outriders, drive them back. It’s your only chance.’

The Outriders had heard the call and instantly they were fighting again, a new hope filling their hearts. The sight of the light and their fellow Sgorrla fleeing in terror had discouraged the Sgorrla on the mound, and in their own confusion they found themselves being driven back off the little hill. Their ranks wavered and then, suddenly, they turned and ran.