Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series (3 page)

He took the offered hand without thinking and she pulled him to his feet. His mind seemed to be working slower than normal, and Kara frequently said his mind worked pretty slowly under normal circumstances. It was then that he realized he was standing on his damaged leg and there was no pain.

"What did you do to me?" And then he remembered what she had said, "Did you say that Flare described me to you?"

Leela's smiled broadened. "I did say that but I can actually sense his presence on you. That is how I knew you."

Okay,
Derek thought,
whatever that means.
"When did you see Flare?"

"He passed through here some time back. He said that he and his companions were headed to Helum. I assumed he was planning on meeting you there."

Nodding, Derek sighed. "We were delayed." Urgency settled in as he remembered what had brought them here. "Listen, my friends are in the forest as well. Can you help them like you helped me?"

Leela's eyes fluttered and they half closed and it was like she was actually somewhere else. "Two of them are to the north of us and the other two are to the south. Your pursuers have found both groups."

"What? You have to help them."

"Remain calm. I can not reach them in time, but they will be helped." She turned and started north along the edge of the gulley. "Come, follow me."

Five steps into the forest, Keenan lost Enstorion's trail. It was rather surprising, not to mention embarrassing, that a magician was able to lose him that quickly but Enstorion was an elf and they did have a certain connection with trees and forests. There were several different ways that Enstorion could have gone but there wasn't so much as a disturbed leaf to mark which path he had picked.

Keenan paused, considering which way to go. Shouts and a commotion a little ways behind him caused him to pick a course at random and start forward. Their pursuers had reached the point where the five of them had entered the forests. It wouldn't be long before the men entered as well.

The going was slow. The trees grew close together and where there wasn't any trees, there were bushes, briars, and brambles. He forced his way through, trying to disturb as little as possible.ve About a hundred yards into the forest an enormous oak tree had fallen and lay running north to south. Its fall had crushed a number of smaller trees and bushes. Struck by a sudden inspiration, Keenan climbed up on the tree and began moving quickly south.

After a couple of minutes, he found what he was looking for. The massive oak tree he was walking along had fallen up against a smaller tree. Reaching up, he was just able to grab hold of one of the second tree's branches. He pulled himself up onto the branch and then climbed towards the trunk of the second tree. Once he reached the trunk, he climbed down to the ground and then being careful not to leave tracks, he moved farther west into the forest.

Enstorion knelt in the crook of a small tree watching Keenan move away into the forest. The prince may have been a good soldier, but he was no woodsman. Keenan had done an okay job of using the fallen tree to help hide his trail but the problem was that he was making enough noise for the king of Telur to hear him.

A cracking noise back the way they had come caught his attention and he moved his eyes without moving his head. He knew that unexpected movement would mark him out quicker than just about anything.

Five men were working their way along the trunk of the fallen oak tree. At various points along the length of the tree, a soldier would jump down and head west. In this manner, four of the men jumped down, leaving the last soldier to follow the tree.

He watched the four men as they fanned out, moving slowly and studying the ground. He wasn't worried about them finding his trail, but as he expected they soon found signs of Keenan's passing.

One of the soldiers paused over a spot in the ground and then he cupped his hands to his mouth and made a strange bird call. The other three soldiers quickly joined him and they drew their swords and headed off in the exact direction that Keenan had gone.

Enstorion said a silent curse.
Everything would have been just fine if Keenan had gone his own way, but instead he had to follow my trail. Probably thought he was helping me,
Enstorion thought.

The thought of letting the man take care of himself occurred to Enstorion but he dismissed it. Normally, he didn't go looking for trouble and he didn't volunteer to help others, but the prince had saved him from a horrible fate. It would be poor repayment to let him fend for himself now.

Sighing, he dropped from his hiding place and followed after the soldiers. He moved so silently that not even the trees seemed to notice his passing.

Trestus jerked Kara into a run, shoving the girl across the clearing and drawing his sword at the same time.
Four of them!
He thought bitterly
, I could see dealing with two, maybe three, but not four.

Kara stumbled and Trestus grabbed her by her left arm to keep her from falling. They crossed the clearing and began climbing the small hill. He glanced backwards and saw the four soldiers at the far edge of the clearing. "Damn." He said to no one in particular. This didn't look promising.

The four men spread out in a semicircle but still advanced quickly.

Trestus frantically looked around for a defensible position. He had hoped that the hill would give him the advantage of high ground and that he could find a pht=lace to keep their backs to a boulder or something, but no such luck. There were plenty of small trees growing across the hill but none of them would give them any protection from the soldiers coming from all four sides.

Reaching the top of the hill, he looked around for anything that might offer them some protection. It wasn't so much a hill that they stood on, as the clearing had been in a depressed low-lying area and the hill was the sloped side of the depression. There was nothing that would help them.

He glanced down the slope and sighed deeply. The soldiers were almost upon them. "Kara, get ready. Here they come!"

Kara stood beside him, still panting from the climb. Taking a deep breath, she drew the short sword that Keenan had provided for her. It wasn't a weapon that she particularly liked but it was better than nothing.

The two soldiers in the middle of the slope stopped climbing at the sight of Kara and Trestus at the top of the slope, but the outer two soldiers did not. They continued the climb and reached the slope, fifteen yards or so to either side.

"You're outnumbered," one of the two guards on the slope said. "You can't win." It was the leftmost of the two soldiers. He looked like he had seen thirty or so years, and he had black hair and a thin beard. He was a muscular man and held his sword like he knew how to use it.

Trestus feared the man was right but it was better to die here today than return to one of those torture rooms. Trestus and Kara stood there, shoulder to shoulder, watching the four men slowly approach. Hating what he needed to say, he whispered quietly to Kara, "If they overwhelm me, I intend to save the last blow for myself." It would be quicker and cleaner than going back with these men.

Kara was silent for a moment, "I can't do that," she said finally. "The church says it's a sin."

He didn't know if it was a sin or not but he knew he would take his own life either way. He swallowed hard, if it came to that, he would have to try and do Kara as well. Tears formed in his eyes at the very thought.

The two soldiers on the slope were slowly working their way towards Kara and Trestus while the outer two had put up their weapons and were digging out ropes. For the briefest of moments, the two men on the top of the slope had their weapons put away. Trestus seized on it immediately. "Kara, attack the man in front of you."

He didn't wait to see if she did it or not but sprang forward. The soldier in front of him had a pack open and was digging through it.

The soldier realized what was happening at the last moment and slung the pack at Trestus and at the same time tried to dive out of the way of Trestus' sword. He almost made it.

Trestus jabbed out with his long sword and felt the gratifying pressure of the sword jabbing in the man's side.

The soldier screamed and jerked away, half falling and half crawling away. The sword cut had not been particularly devastating but it had pierced the man's side, probably putting him out of the fight. He continued to crawl down the slope, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

Turning, Trestus saw that Kara seemed to have been more successful than him. The soldier she had gone after had slipped in the dirt and she had run the man through, killing him. Elation ran through him for one brief glori0">ous moment and then something struck her and she fell to the ground.

The two remaining soldiers had not been idle during the fight. Instead they had charged up the remainder of the slope and now stood between Kara and Trestus. The soldier closest to Kara had thrown what looked to be several feet of rope with small rocks tied at various intervals. The rope had flown through the air, wrapped itself around her and one of the stones had hit her head, knocking her unconscious.

The soldier nearest Trestus began to spin another one of the ropes over his head and Trestus quickly moved a couple of feet to his left, putting several small trees in between the soldier and himself.

The man cursed and lowered the rope. "This one's going to be difficult." The other soldier joined him and the two fanned out, trying to get Trestus in the middle.

Trestus knew he couldn't run, not with Kara unconscious. He looked around again for anything to inspire him but there was nothing that could help. He looked back towards Kara and froze. He wanted to scream but he couldn't. It was all he could do to keep breathing. An enormous emerald green snake was slithering past where she lay on the ground. It was as wide as a man's shoulders.

His first thought was for her safety but the snake was already moving beyond her and it seemed to be completely ignoring her. It was moving in his direction.

The two guards were almost even with Trestus when a deep guttural roar erupted from his right, back near the slope. A great brown bear loped over the edge of the hill and charged them.

His eyes widened and his heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest but the bear attacked the soldier that was closest. The soldier tried to stab the beast with his sword but the bear was too quick. It slammed into the man, knocking him on to his back. The man landed hard and his sword went flying. The bear pounced, landing on the man's chest and then biting his throat.

The second soldier rushed to aid his comrade but he never reached the fallen man. The snake, which Trestus had lost track of when the bear arrived, had approached quickly and was behind the second man. The snake struck when the soldier moved to aid his comrade. Trestus saw the beast's monstrous fangs pierce the man's right arm. He screamed and tried to pull his arm free but it was no use. The snake maintained its grip and wrapped itself around the soldier's chest, coil upon coil, until he couldn't be seen.

Trestus swallowed hard and ever so slowly began to edge his way around the gigantic beasts, all the while hoping they kept their attention on the two soldiers. After a few nervous moments, he was behind the snake. He walked backwards to Kara, refusing to turn his back on the beasts. Finally, he reached her and knelt down beside her. Loathe as he was, he turned his back and quickly checked her neck. The heartbeat was strong and he let out a huge sigh, regretting it at once.

He whipped his head back around, looking towards the beasts. They were gone. Quickly, he climbed to his feet, staring at the strange sight before him. The bodies of the two soldiers were there, just the beasts were gone. Closer to him, where the snake had been, a short and fat bald man stood naked. It was not a pretty sight. It was hard to tell the man's age but Trestus guessed he was thirty or so. Even though there wasn't a hair on the man's head, his eyebrows were so thick that they resembled caterpillars over his eyes.

Farther away, where the bear had been, a massive older he man stood. He was tall and barrel chested and had long graying hair past his shoulders. His nose was broad and twisted, giving him an evil appearance. He too was naked.

"Who are you and where did the beasts go?" Trestus asked, the words sounding distant in his own ears.

The closer man, the short one, grinned. "I am Cleatus," he motioned over his shoulder, "that's Seth." His grin got even wider, "He's the bear and I'm the snake."

Keenan walked for about a quarter of an hour, moving as quickly and quietly as he could. He didn't see anyone or hear anything, except the normal sounds of a forest. Every now and then, an animal would cry out and nearly scare him to death.

This part of the forest was thick. Trees grew all around with bushes and brambles growing in the gaps of the trees. Roots kept trying to trip him and vines were constantly trying to wrap around his feet. He forced his way on through these annoyances, although he did curse from time to time. It wasn't long before the thorns and branches had torn his clothes and cut his skin.

Finally, he broke through to a flat clear stretch. The clearing was thirty yards long and maybe another ten yards wide. On the far side of the clearing, a gulley ran north to south, effectively blocking his way.

Keenan jogged up to the gulley and looked in; hoping that he could climb down and cross. The gulley was a good twenty yards wide here and a slow stream ran at the bottom. Upon closer inspection, he wasn't sure if it was a stream or just standing water. The bottom of the gulley had the look of a bog more than a stream.

He looked first north and then south, wondering which way would be easier and which way he could find a crossing. He had just decided to head north, when there was a loud snapping sound behind him.

He whirled around, drawing his sword at the same time. Four men emerged from the woods in the exact same spot he had come through.