Gorinthians (42 page)

Celdic looked back at Jesha
in fascination. He had grown up around Selindria, but aside from
her eyes, there was nothing to set her apart from the other women,
except an unrivaled grace. Jesha's long blonde hair hanging over
each shoulder made her appear even younger than she already looked.
Celdic noticed several subtle differences in Jesha. Her shoulders
seemed to make a graceful curve down her slender body, and her
elbows had the same smooth curve that her shoulder did, as if she
were made of clay.

Li tapped a large spoon
against one of the pans loudly, interrupting his inspection.
"Dinner's ready!"

As Celdic turned to move
toward the fire, he saw a flash of movement back in the trees
toward the road. He froze, trying to locate the source of the
disturbance. He tried using his
yar
to sense the area, but felt nothing. He was not
sure if he felt nothing because there was nothing to feel or if he
was just doing it wrong. It did not really matter. He had spent
most of his life relying on his physical senses, and they were
telling him that someone was out there.

"What are you looking at?"
Jesha asked nervously, peering toward the road.

"Lendel, get your sword!"
Celdic shouted, not waiting for someone to confirm what he saw.
Drawing his own sword in one hand, and a long dagger from his boot
with the other, he began making his way toward the movement. Lendel
and Jalorm had immediately broken off their conversation and drawn
their swords at Celdic's shout. Everyone in the camp stared into
the trees around their camp warily and pulled out
weapons.

From the corner of his eye,
Celdic saw a blur flying through the trees. He spun sideways as an
arrow tore through the sleeve of his grey coat. He heard the
whistle of arrows shooting through the trees all around the camp,
followed by sharp cracking sounds. Celdic charged toward the first
place he had seen movement, risking a glance over his shoulder at
the camp, fearing the worst. All around the camp, arrows lay
broken, as if they had hit a solid wall. Riah collapsed with a
sigh, and Celdic felt the small barriers she had quickly surrounded
the camp with disappear.

Celdic crashed through the
last of the thick sagebrush and cedar trees, twisting sideways as
another arrow skimmed past him from a soldier in thick leather
armor twenty paces in front of him. The man had a large scar that
crossed over one of his cheeks, and he was missing several teeth.
He hurriedly tried to draw another arrow, but Celdic reached him
before he even began drawing the string back and slashed his short
sword across the man’s throat. His scarred face turned white and he
grabbed at his neck as if he could keep the rushing blood inside
with his hands.

Celdic heard shouts of
dismay to his left, and knew that Lendel and Jalorm had reached
some of the other soldiers. Celdic moved to his right, ranging
around the perimeter of the camp, looking through the thick sage
and cedar trees for more of the concealed archers. The sound of a
bowstring drawing back was all the warning he had before he lunged
forward in a roll that brought him behind a large cedar tree. An
arrow sailed over his head. Looking back the way he had come, he
saw the soldier that shot at him fitting another arrow to his
bowstring. Celdic pulled his arm back and threw his dagger into the
man's forehead, just as he began pulling the bowstring back. As the
man fell backward, his eyes seemed to be staring up at the hilt of
Celdic's dagger.

Celdic pulled his other
dagger from his left boot, continuing his circuit around the
perimeter. He could hear cries all around now, as more of his
companions began hunting down the archers. There was a loud
drumming noise coming from the road, and Celdic looked through the
thick brush to see close to forty men with swords running toward
their camp. Turning, Celdic ran back to the camp, racing swiftly
through the thick sage as if it were grass. He heard a few more
arrows buzz past his ear as he ran, ignoring them and hoping that
his luck would hold. All he could think of was Riah, laying
unconscious after the first volley of arrows, waiting helpless in
the camp.

Celdic crashed into camp and
slid to a halt as Morindessa whirled toward him with a dagger in
each hand, completely covered in blood. She was standing over
Riah's comatose form, surrounded by the bodies of seven men. Cha'le
and Li were nowhere to be seen, and Ferrich lay unconscious next to
a blunted arrow. Seranova was bent over Ferrich checking his pulse.
Jesha was sitting next to Riah, with an arrow sticking out of her
shoulder. She was white-faced and in shock, staring at nothing
while Lori sat next to her crying, not knowing what to
do.

"There are forty men headed
this way," Celdic informed Morindessa, gulping in huge breaths of
air. "We need everyone here if we are going to have a
chance."

Morindessa nodded. "Come
back to camp!" she shouted. Celdic felt her amplify the sound with
her
yar
. Her face
was grim as she stood watching the direction from which Celdic
emerged. A moment later, armed men began jumping through the trees,
slowing slightly as they advanced on him and Morindessa.

"Surrender, or we will be
forced to kill you!" one of the soldiers with a knot of rank
demanded, making his way to the front of the growing number of
soldiers.

Celdic did not bother
replying. He ran forward, knocking the first blade away with his
sword and striking its owner in the throat with his dagger at the
same time. He kicked another soldier on the side of the knee,
causing a loud popping sound as the bone snapped. He spun among the
soldiers like a whirlwind, kicking knees, stabbing throats and
eyes. He lost his dagger after sticking it into the back of a
soldier’s head where it became lodged in the bone. Morindessa was
her own whirlwind of death, spinning through the soldiers like a
scythe through wheat. As often as not, the soldiers would fall from
loud concussions from her
yar
as she knifed others. What seemed hours later,
though in reality was only moments, Celdic heard Jalorm, Lendel, Li
and Cha'le join the melee, spinning more death into the tight knot
of suddenly demoralized soldiers. The ground around them was
growing slippery with blood, and Celdic felt as if his lungs were
going to burst. The last few soldiers finally turned and ran back
the way they had come, one of them falling over as Lendel's sword
speared into his back.

"Is everyone all right?"
Celdic demanded, panting heavily. "Is anyone hurt?"

Cha'le and Li shook their
heads, and Lendel pointed at the ground below them, which was
covered in gore and still-dying men. "I would say that quite a few
people are hurt."

Celdic felt relief wash over
him. It had all happened so sudden, that Celdic had been sure one
of their party would be dead. He turned back toward Riah, and
cursed loudly. Lori was laying on the ground unconscious, and Jesha
was nowhere to be found.

"Jesha?" Morindessa called
out, the fear loud in her voice. "Jesha!" Morindessa screamed,
running past Riah and into the thick sagebrush behind
her.

"We should spread out," Li
said urgently. "We don't know which way they went."

"In pairs," Celdic insisted
firmly, pulling another dagger from his belt, "We need someone to
watch our backs."

Li nodded, following him as
he went back the way the soldiers had first come in. They covered
the entire area for miles, searching for some sign that she had
escaped or was still alive. Several miles north of their camp, they
found the place where the soldiers had first gathered, before
ambushing them. A long line of hoof tracks led back to the road,
toward North Fork.

"I think that they are
gone,” Li said finally, as the sun began to sink toward the eastern
horizon. "We should check back at camp. Maybe someone else found
her."

Celdic nodded resignedly,
following Li as she led the way back to camp. When they arrived,
Cha'le and Lendel were already there, looking worried. Ferrich was
conscious again, though he looked groggy.

"You didn't find her,"
Cha'le said worriedly, not really a question.

Celdic shook his head,
looking at Riah's still-unconscious form in concern. "Is Riah all
right?"

Lendel shrugged uncertainly.
"Her heart is still beating, but we haven't been able to wake her
up."

"Where is Morindessa?” Li
asked sharply. "We didn't see her."

"Neither did we.” Lendel
looked around in frustration. "They can't have
disappeared!"

"We found a lot of horse
tracks," Celdic said quietly. "They were headed toward North
Fork."

Lendel bit off several
savage curses. "They could be thirty miles away by now!"

There was a bright flash,
causing everyone to look up into the sky to see a conduit of light
descending down to the ground. Lochnar and Thistledown emerged from
the end of it. Celdic could feel an immediate difference in Lochnar
from when he left. His resonance seemed the same as it had when
Celdic had first met him, though there still seemed to be parts of
him that were not there. The missing pieces of his spirit that he
had used to heal Riah were once again filled. Celdic wondered if
they had a stockpile of spiritual matter somewhere.

Thistledown and Lochnar
looked around the camp in amazement. It was still covered in blood
and body parts, with a few of the dying still dying.

"What happened?" Lochnar
demanded in a growl.

"Some men attacked us,"
Celdic replied quickly. "We fought them off, but someone stole
Jesha, and Morindessa hasn't come back since we all went to search
for Jesha.” Celdic licked his lips nervously. "We don't know what
to do. Riah passed out after keeping the first couple of arrows
from getting through, and we didn't dare leave her to go after
Morindessa and Jesha."

Without a word, Lochnar
disappeared. Lendel stared at the spot he had been standing. "Is he
better now?" Lendel asked Thistledown, pulling his long hair back
over his shoulder.

"And some," Thistledown
muttered, half to himself. He moved over to where Riah lay and
began examining her.

Ferrich was just beginning
to become coherent again. "Where is Morindessa?" he demanded
intensely.

"We don't know, Ferrich," Li
said soothingly. "She is looking for Jesha. She will probably be
back later."

Ferrich stood up, took two
quick steps, then fell down hard. He slowly sat up, looking around
vaguely. "Who hit me in the head," he grumbled, rubbing the large
goose egg that was sticking out the back of his head. "This is my
most valuable possession. Couldn't they shoot me in the leg or
something?"

"You are in no condition to
go looking for Morindessa," Li told him firmly, folding her arms
beneath her breasts. "Lochnar is already on his way."

"I still need to go after
them," Ferrich insisted stubbornly. "What if this Lochnar fellow
fails?"

Thistledown rose from his
examination of Riah to face Ferrich, "If Lochnar is unable to
rescue them, then no one alive will be able to.” Thistledown's face
looked tight, as if the skin on his face had been pulled backword.
Celdic noticed his feral eyes had a small light burning in them
Celdic had never seen before. It took him a moment to realize
Thistledown was smoldering with rage, an emotion Celdic had begun
to believe did not exist in the jovial little man.

"What are we going to do
now?" Celdic asked Thistledown tentatively, unsure of how to act
around Thistledown in his present mood.

Thistledown looked at
Celdic, "We go to Shalilayo."

Thistledown looked around
at the other youths, his gaze pausing on each of them before moving
to the next. "From now on, I will be giving all of you lessons
on
yara
. Pack
everything up. We will stay the night in North Fork."

Thistledown was already
moving back to Lori's unconscious form as he finished speaking,
probing her head gently with his clawed fingers. Celdic hurried
over to the fire-pit and began putting the dirty dishes back into
Li's pack.

Celdic looked around at his
companions, noticing the worried crease on Li's forehead as she
joined him and began silently putting the strange food into one of
the packs. Lendel was scowling as he rolled up the few bedrolls
that had been unpacked, his large hands almost throttling the wool
blanket. Cha'le wore the same worried crease on her forehead that
Li did as she helped Lendel with the sleeping gear. Jalorm seemed
to be the only one unaffected. He already had all of his gear
packed and strapped to his shoulders.

As they finished covering
the last few traces of their short camp, Riah and Lori were both
conscious again, though Riah's beautiful features looked haggard.
Thistledown pulled one of the horses over to where she sat,
stopping to stare into the horse’s eyes for several moments before
turning to Riah.

"You will need to ride
Nenstle," Thistledown told Riah firmly. "With luck, Lochnar will be
waiting for us at North Fork with the other two."

Riah nodded wearily, rising
gracefully, despite her battered condition, and climbed onto
Nenstle's back. Thistledown watched her carefully for several
moments before turning toward the road.