Stormrider (27 page)

Raptor spotted it the same instant as she. “
Jaiqi
or Dinh Dinh—too many trees, I can’t tell for sure.”

They took a few steps more and stopped at the very mouth of the cave they had been using as their conduit through the mountains. The ground before their feet dropped off abruptly into a spill of loose rock and fine soil.
 

Caution,
was Strongheart’s advice.

Stormrider nodded. “If there’s a camp near here . . .”

By unspoken agreement Stormrider, Raptor, Sun Dog and the animals all eased back into the deepest shadows cast by the cave, waiting until the flier was well out of sight before moving forward again to appraise their exit.

“Not an easy descent for a long-legged pony,” Raptor observed from where he squatted at the cave’s mouth peering over the edge.

Starwalker snorted, tossing his head.
I have seen worse and negotiated it. You will have a harder time with only two legs.

“I’ve heard of this place,” Song Dog ventured, soft, coffee brown eyes widening perceptibly. “The gathering of The People for the ceremonies will be to the north.”

“And so will The Amulet of the Suonetar.” Stormrider stood at his shoulder, staring out across the unusual landscape below while Strongheart scrambled down a few paces and returned.

So it would seem.
Strongheart put in.

They waited a few more moments, all of them absorbing the silence of the place. A few bird calls echoed eerily in the distance. The mists hung below, hugging the ground, awaiting them like some sleeping beast eager to consume them all. In the distance caves gaped from other mountainsides, dark maws with perhaps darker secrets. The land itself was abrupt and sharp. It jerked and plunged first one way then the other, was filled with steep descents and awesome pillars of raw earth reaching to the sky.

Littlefoot started down first, feet, legs, then belly disappearing into the mists until all that could be seen of her was a patch of back, her head, and elevated tail.

There is a coolness to these strange mists
, the she-wolf declared. She plunged her head into the gossamer white curtain.
It continues a11 the way to the ground
.

“You said you heard of this place.” Stormrider said to Song Dog. “Have you heard how far the mists extend? Littlefoot says it is deep to the ground.”

“Just as well,” Raptor interjected, “I wasn’t planning on worming my way on my belly.”

Song Dog shrugged. “There are stories. Talk that it is a land unto itself. That it covers more distance than a man can cover running in many days. I have no way of knowing if that is true. None I know has actually been here.”

The wolves struck out without further discussion, Strongheart handily usurping Littlefoot’s lead, tails and heads visible at intervals as they slipped and slid the length of the long slope. Starwalker followed, the mists swirling to his belly in the deepest spots, creating the illusion that the pony floated down the incline in the wake of the wolves.

Raptor, Stormrider and Song Dog followed, though the young warrior of The People did so with obvious reluctance. Stormrider couldn’t blame him. It was an odd feeling, placing feet one in front of the other, unable to see where it fell or what was nearby. Unable to judge the slope or spot loose rock before it rolled from beneath searching feet. The mists came well up on her thighs, a little lower on Raptor. It made the going slow and anxious.
 

They pressed on, moving as swiftly as they dared, hoping always to see the end to the wafting white mists just ahead.

But the mists did not end. And the limited visibility the people shared gave no promise of it ending any time in the near future. It looked like forever, but by the same measure, the mists could end just a few feet further on.

The situation was more than a little disconcerting. The wolves ranged far ahead, their mind-touch a constant thing, they too being anxious to break out of the enveloping whiteness. Periodically either Raptor or Stormrider would continue astride Starwalker, lending a little height to the view, but not enough to catch sight of the clear lands of The Northland People beyond.

For more than two days they continued on; discovering a path sloping on the easiest course of the mountains, following the flow of a stream which they occasionally stepped in quite by accident. At night they camped beneath the ceiling of the mists, barely able to make out the shadowy form of each other despite the small hole burned in the haze by their campfire. Two of the wolves were always near, sharing their warmth against the damp night chill. A third would scout, nearly all night, trusting in smell to guide him or her. Still, an end to the fog seemed no nearer.

They had seen fliers three more times since exiting the cave. Once, they had been close enough to be identified. Dinh Dinh.

That recognition swiftly brought to mind two questions. The first was what exactly the Dinh Dinh were up to in their quest to possess The Amulet. The second was regarding the
Jaiqi
, wondering what
they
were up to chasing the same goal.

And there was a third concern. One Stormrider did not care to give too much thought. The days were rolling together, moving swiftly ahead, stacking up behind and still there had been no way for her to contact the Circle of Nine or Antaris’ High Cudan. Obviously, neither had the bounty hunter. Would the Council of the Servitors send another to Nashira? A Janissary? A bounty hunter? Was there already war?

They pressed on.

Toward the North.

“Tell me again,” Song Dog urged as they plodded slowly on, ever cautious of footing on steep ground invisible to them, “about the fliers. You said the ones the slavers use are not the same as the ones you have ridden.”

Stormrider nodded. “That is mostly the case. The very small fliers are transportation for short distances. A swift way to move about Nashira. The slavers can use them to scout an area before descending upon it. Those used for traveling over much greater distances are generally considerably larger. There are some though, such as the one Raptor brought with him here, which easily traverses great distances, but is very cramped for a long trip.”

“Does just fine for me,” Raptor put in.

“It takes a great deal of time to go from one great land mass to another?” Song Dog asked.

“It can,” Stormrider answered. “For those places which are more distant from Antaris.”

“And I can learn to fly one of those machines?”

“Yes.”

“With such a skill it would be possible for me to help others the
Jaiqi
have taken from their homes. We could steal them and now that we know the givers of pain can be removed, it would be possible to free many.”

Ambitious plans for one so young.

“Possible,” Stormrider agreed, “but it would take much very careful planning.” The idea of males of The People gaining the skill to pilot fliers and launch rescue missions gave Stormrider pause.

But she remembered the Disir claimed Nashira was in change. That the world they shared was a being onto herself; aware. This then was change. But the thought which plagued Stormrider was one of change coming too fast. There must be a better way. Nashira would benefit more from being freed of the Dinh Dinh and the
Jaiqi
than from learning their tactics.

“I’m a better than average teacher,” Raptor offered, “if I ever see my ship again.”

Stormrider slanted him a cool look, but said nothing.

Raptor scowled, pondering how to proceed. He and Stormrider were independent, yet together. Designated partners by the Disir, yet not. He was not here to accompany her on her quest, he was here to retrieve The Amulet for his own reasons. Once he knew the location of his flier he would be unshackled. He and Stormrider could separate. He flicked his gaze back to meet Stormrider’s eyes.

But Stormrider was looking over his head, seeing the swarm of fliers as they hove into view from the west. They appeared small, still in the distance, but starkly visible against the clear blue sky. Something in the way they traversed the heavens, skimming the tops of towering green trees, gave Stormrider a pinch in her stomach.

They moved like predatory birds, seeking, but knowing the prey lay close at hand. The pinch in her stomach grew into a hollow clench. It reflected on her face because Raptor spun in the direction of her gaze.

Song Dog gaped.

They knew! By the Goddess, the Dinh Dinh knew they were here!

Chapter 23

The Dinh Dinh didn’t know—not really. But the fliers were after something and Stormrider, Raptor and Song Dog did not have to be of more than average intelligence to deduce that they were directly in the path of the oncoming craft. The strangely glowing peach beams splaying out in all directions from the air craft toward the ground served as a reminder of the technological capabilities which the Dinh Dinh still possessed and which Stormrider and Raptor were now denied. Their escape from the
Jaiqi
with the slaves had stripped them of their last more advanced resources.

“Down!” Stormrider shouted. “Get down!”

As one she, Song Dog and Raptor dove into the mists, the floating whiteness closing above them. Starwalker remained as he was, head dropping, for all the world as if he were no more than any common pony grazing.

“We will be safe here until they pass,” Song Dog gasped. “They cannot see us. The fog is too thick.”

“They don’t have to see us,” Raptor told the young warrior. “We merely bought a little time. They can find us with the beams their ships are projecting.”

“The colored stripes?”

“Yes,” Stormrider gave a clipped answer. “Come on, we have to move.” She reached into the bond for contact with the wolves.

Strongheart entered Stormrider’s thoughts with a heavy-handed abruptness unusual for him.
It is dangerous to move.

“It is dangerous not to,” Stormrider replied.

Some of theirs are on foot. We have caught their scent upon the breeze. It weighs heavily upon the mists. They pursue something. You will give yourselves away.

Stormrider brushed his protests aside. “They do not need smell or eyesight to find us, I have told you of the machines of the Dinh Dinh. That which they use now will find us if the beams touch upon us.”

Agitation, uncertainty. The wolves passing thoughts among themselves.

Then something warm and furry brushed against Stormrider.

One Eye.
Then
w
e will lead you
.

Littlefoot, brushing close against Raptor and Song Dog.
Hurry
.

“They want us to follow them, and they wish us to be quick about it,” Stormrider muttered quickly to her companions, reflexively keeping her voice low though it couldn’t have been heard above the drone of the fliers’ engines.

Raptor had given up on questioning Strongheart’s directives. The wolf was uncanny. “Then let’s follow,” he grunted, grabbing Song Dog’s arm to drag him along.

Hunched over, tucked in, they moved swiftly beneath the ceiling of the white, flowing mists. The wolves led off at a right angle to their previous course abandoning, for the time being, the northward trek.

The cool, moist caress of the mists touched their cheeks and left sparkling droplets on eyelashes. Stormrider was grateful to the impulse which had earlier caused her to don, once again, the soft leather leggings that kept some of the dampness at bay.

The wolves padded in near silence. The pony moved erratically, first swiftly, then more slowly, putting on the appearance of a pony disturbed by machinery to prevent his becoming a beacon for the Dinh Dinh to focus upon.

Under foot and occasional slammed down knee of Stormrider or Raptor sharp rocks rolled and pressed, gouged and cut. Visibility varied from a few inches to a couple of feet, the milky white of the heavy mists reluctant to give up any secrets.

Whatever it is they seek follows us.
Strongheart signaled abruptly.
We have caught the scent of another
.

Instinctively Stormrider looked back, then up. Both glances yielded nothing but a vaguely translucent whiteness. Faint shadows of forms. It was unsettling, but she did not have to see the fliers. She heard them plainly enough and they were coming on steadily, bearing down upon them, led by something, someone else. The low drone of engines indicated a search pattern to her trained ears. And the Dinh Dinh were very thorough in whatever they did. Stormrider turned to Raptor.
 

“Strongheart says we’re being followed.”

“How by the light of the blue moon can anyone be following us?
We
can’t see . . .” Raptor kept one hand buried in Littlefoot’s fur and the other attached to Song Dog, trailing the question off into new silence.

I do not know the answer to his question
. Strongheart threw the response to Stormrider.
But I recognize the scent. He came to Kadlu with Grey Wanderer. The one called Bear Dreamer.

“Bear Dreamer?” Disbelief colored Stormrider’s reaction, tinting it somewhere between the pearlized black of fury and more violet hue of amused apprehension. She did not need such a problem as Bear Dreamer just now.