Windcatcher: Book I of the Stone War Chronicles (10 page)

“Earlier, when we were looking for the escaped soldier and approached the wagons, I looked inside one. It still had a pile of dried wood stacked inside. At the time, I figured it was used to keep the soldiers warm during their march through the White North, but now I think that wood had a much more important purpose. I bet they used the wood to heat up this egg and keep it warm. Using the wood, you can easily heat up stones of the right kind, as some stones are known to store the heat inside and radiate it outward for a long time. That, in combination with the embers that are left over from burning the wood, should keep the inside of the chest nice and warm, even with the extreme low temperatures that they have traveled through. The only thing I don’t get is why the chest had not caught fire, but perhaps they worked the inside with a nonflammable paste; sometimes my dad would use something similar in his workshop. Perhaps they did something special with the egg, too, or it could be that the heat was all that was needed to revitalize the egg.”

Xi’Lao nodded slowly.

“If that is true, we need to make sure the egg stays warm enough. Perhaps we should add some more wood to the embers, as it looks like the embers are cooling down quite a bit.”

“Good idea. And I think we better close the lid now, too, so the heat stays inside the chest as much as possible.”

Both of them closed the lid of the chest together, flipping the clip to hold the lid in its closed position. Raylan moved to the side, and tested how heavy the chest was by grabbing one of the four handles on the side.

“I can barely get it off the ground. It will be too heavy for the both of us to carry alone. Let’s go and get two of the others, so they can help carry it toward the wagons. Ca’lek and Richard could be back at any moment, so we need to prepare everything for our departure.”

Walking out of the cave together, Raylan could not help but glance backward into the darkness of the cave. He did not like leaving the chest unprotected, even for a little while. He shook his head slightly.
Best thing to hurry then
, he thought, as he broke out into a run to look for the others.

Raylan ended up looking for Harwin, Kevhin and Galen by himself to ask for their help in moving the chest to the wagons. Xi’Lao thought it was better if she reported their findings to Gavin straightaway. With the stolen item located, even if it was in a surprising state, the written report was quickly completed. Gavin chose to leave out the surprising state of the egg, but added some details on their stone warrior encounter. The pigeon was sent off with the news for the king.

Before leaving on their assignment, it had been agreed that any news received by the king on the expedition would be forwarded to the Tiankong Empire immediately, for which Xi’Lao had left behind the Empire’s own bred homing pigeons. She said these pigeons could outfly almost any bird, but it could still take up to a week before that news reached all the way to the Empire.

After moving the chest toward the wagons, Raylan restocked the inside with firewood, much to the amusement of Harwin, Kevhin and Galen who wondered why he went to so much trouble to bring firewood with them. But just when they started questioning him about what they saw inside the chest, they heard Peadar—who was on lookout—shout that Richard was approaching.

As the four of them joined Gavin and the others, Richard rode up to where they gathered and dismounted. His horse stood restless from the sudden inactivity, scraping its right leg along the ground. Shaking its head, Richard gave a small pet on its neck, before handing the reins to Peadar and joining the encircled group.

Kevhin threw him a water bag, which he gladly opened, taking a big gulp of cold water.

“What did you find?” Gavin asked.

Looking at his brother, Raylan was glad to see a morning of rest had done him good. Gavin seemed more aware, and gathering his thoughts before he spoke seemed to be less difficult. His eyes were clearer, although he still kept them closed from time to time when it seemed he was plagued by a sudden headache.

“Nothing dangerous.”

The words were ushered between two gulps of water. He closed the water bag and passed it back to Kevhin.

“Thanks,” said Richard, before he continued, “I rode out toward the east at a good speed for quite some time. Getting to the edge of this larger clearing, I spotted what looked like a path traveled sporadically. Following it through the needle forest, I made good time and rode a good distance.

“The path seemed to go straight east, passing a number of smaller clearings and staying level most of the time. I didn’t see any humans, settlements or even animals. I was debating whether to turn back or not, when I found myself at the top of a large slope providing some oversight of the land to the east. The path ran down into a valley going east, while the mountain ranges to the north formed a natural barrier for as far as I saw, uninviting as ever. It was difficult to spot anything after that, as a number of valleys rose up and obstructed the view. I believe I saw chimney smoke rise from the second valley, but it was too far to go and check out, and I didn’t wish to risk being discovered. The path seemed to fork into another direction at some point, heading more south. I didn’t see the split in the path myself, but I saw a second path winding south at the bottom of the slope; so, I reckon both paths met up just out of sight from where I stood. The path southward looked less traveled but still wide enough for a wagon to travel on.”

“Good,” Gavin mentioned. “We should be nearly done here. We recovered the item successfully. The wagon is loaded up with all the food we could find in the camp, and we have six extra horses to pull the wagon, in turns. They’re not in the best condition, as they look underfed. I imagine they had as much trouble as we did finding food for the horses, but the rotation should make it easier to travel constantly with the wagon.”

“I see Ca’lek coming. It looks like he is in a hurry.”

The entire squad looked up to Peadar, who had climbed back up to his high lookout point to keep an eye on the surroundings.

“
Really
in a hurry.”

Gavin got up from the ground supported by Xi’Lao; he leaned backward against the rock while the others shifted positions to get Ca’lek into view as soon as possible. Peadar waved him over from his high point to let them know on which side they were located.

Raylan grabbed the reins as the horse ran up, and Ca’lek ordered it to a hard stop. Jumping out of the saddle, he panted heavily. Stretching his legs, he bent forward, hands on his knees to make sure his legs would not give out under him from the long, hard ride. Raylan saw that his horse was foaming at the mouth and was completely covered in sweat. It looked like it had been running full speed for quite some time. The mare shook its head and gave a small neigh of restlessness, stepping back and forth as Raylan kept it on a short rein.

“We’ve got a big problem!” Ca’lek panted heavily. “There’s a large force traveling toward the cliff. At least two hundred fifty men, most likely more. Spear men, sword fighters, and soldiers on horses. An advance scouting party nearly cornered me on top of the cliff, but I believe I remained undetected in the end.”

“Did they follow you?” Raylan asked.

Kevhin handed Ca’lek the water bag as he did before with Richard.

“Not that I’ve noticed. They were taking a break for midday eating, when I snuck away and got back to my horse. The main force will not reach the cliff for another day or so, as they are slow moving with such a large number of people, and they were still a few leagues out. They will need to set up camp before they start their climb up the cliff. But I expect the scouting party won’t take that long to get here. Unless we’re lucky and they return to the main force for the night, which means we have until tomorrow morning at most before they show up here.”

“Any way around them?”

Gavin looked at Ca’lek with little hope in his eyes.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. The valley and area on top of the cliff aren’t very wide, so risk of discovery would be high; besides, we have no idea how stretched out their forces are.”

“I wonder if this is the main force returning after their diversion attack on the Empire,” Xi’Lao interrupted Gavin.

As she looked at Gavin beside her, Raylan could not help but notice that since Gavin got hurt this morning, her face turned slightly softer whenever she looked into his brother’s eyes. He also noticed she touched his arm—ever so briefly—whenever she had the chance, but only if she thought no one was watching. Perhaps their time on the road together had drawn her closer to Gavin, but Raylan doubted if his brother had noticed it, too.

She looked back to the group to include everyone.

“Perhaps last night we had the luck of facing only a part of the temple attack force. We just assumed that most of them died traveling through the harsh region of the White North, but it could just as well be that they split off a smaller group to make haste and secure the sacred item as fast as possible. If that is the case, those soldiers coming up the cliff soon are only part of the problem we might have to face traveling back west to Aeterra.”

“There’s no way that we can we take on that many soldiers,” Harwin added, with a low grumble. “And they might have more of those stone things as well. I don’t fancy taking on one of those again. Without my shield, it would’ve broken me in half with that kick.”

“I agree,” said Gavin.

He looked up to the sky, feeling his head spin slightly.

The sun disappeared again, behind a steady layer of gray clouds now. Looking at them, Gavin figured the rain would soon come down again.

“With the wagon, we can’t travel very fast. We have little hope of outrunning them, if we are discovered; so, we have to stay hidden for as long as possible. It is time to pack up and head out. We will move further east and then turn south, away from those valleys. That way, perhaps we can stay in front of the main force long enough to disappear into the wilderness toward the south. We are less likely to be discovered in a less confined region.”

Raylan preferred to take the shortest road home, but now that it was blocked, it was more important to protect the chest and its valuable content than to return to the comfort of civilization as soon as possible. Still, something bothered him.

“What about the encampment?” he said, to no one in particular, gesturing all around him.

“Once this all is discovered, they’ll know something is wrong and send out scouting parties to hunt us down. They have the advantage over us, with knowledge of the terrain and their sheer numbers, that means it’ll probably not take them long to track us down. I prefer avoiding any future enemy encounters.”

Gavin’s head started to pound again, making it difficult to think of all the variables of the situation. Besides him, Xi’Lao noticed his loss of focus and stepped in.

“I agree with Raylan,” she said, looking at Raylan. “But what do you suggest we do about it?”

Raylan took a moment to gather his thoughts before putting the plan he felt forming in his head forward.

“Well, since we’ll only need one wagon to transport the chest and provisions, we can use the other two wagons to load up the bodies and equipment we don’t take. We should check on the area to the south and see if there’s a place to hide the remains of the soldiers and the encampment. The north is going up the mountain side fairly quickly and the west and east both have paths. So south will probably be our best option and the least likely area that soldiers will travel through. If we can clear all the bodies and equipment, get rid of the wagon wreckage and statue, we should be able to leave these surroundings in a state that gives the impression that they traveled on as normal. We can leave some of the old campfires sitting out and put some torches ready at the entrance of the cave. I think we should throw fresh dirt over the spots with a lot of blood and hope the rain will wash away the rest before the soldiers arrive.”

“What about the scout unit I encountered?” asked Ca’lek.

“Like you said, we might get lucky and not see them at all, as they might return to the larger group; but we can put Rohan on watch here in the encampment, while Kevhin takes up position near the path entrance where they will be coming from. If we let them enter the rock formation, we can surprise them and take them out before they find a way to retreat. If one or two do get away, Kevhin can take them out while they move toward the cliff area again.”

Gavin let out his breath slowly.

“I don’t look forward to cleaning this place up, but under the circumstances, I believe Raylan’s plan is a good one. If we can pull it off, it will give us a much needed head start to find another way home. Taking out the scouts will raise suspicion, for sure, so we better be quick about this and hope we’re long gone before any of them get here.”

Raylan stood pondering next to the still stone giant. Everyone helped; even Stephen and Gavin moved, or in Stephen’s case hobbled, around the encampment. Though wounded and at a slower speed, they gathered things to be loaded on the wagons, leaving the heavy lifting to the lesser wounded members.

Ca’lek quickly scouted the south area and returned with some positive news. The trees in the forest were wide enough apart for the wagons to move between them. Riding south of the clearing for a bit, the forest ground was split apart by a small chasm which was deep enough to mask anything thrown in it. One wagon had already dumped a load in and was currently being loaded for a second run. Once the final run was made, the two extra wagons would be pushed into the chasm, too.