15 stones, p.35
15 Stones, page 35
“We are going to escape. Now don’t cry out. But Crow is here with us. He is all right. Makar and Chandar are in the hills waiting for us.” This confused Ido completely.
“C ...row?” The girl stuttered in confusion. After considerable fumbling, Lana untied the bindings and cast them aside.
“Yes, Crow,” Lana reassured her. She turned toward the darkness and commanded, “Crow, tell her you are there.” But the darkness did not answer. Suddenly it coursed through her again that this was a dream after all! “Crow??!”
“Yes, I am here,” the voice whispered. “Now come give me your hands. I have made a hole in the wall, so follow me. When the moon is not hiding, it is lighter outside and we will be able to see quite well. For now, it is dark, but that will hide us.” One by one he guided the girls to the hole and helped them through. There was the wetness of dew all around, but it was dark with only a faint glimmer of light in the sky. Crow pulled the grass and reeds back into place. He said, “Wait!” then disappeared. Where did he go, now? The two girls held onto each other, slowly adjusting to the dim light.
Crow was back. “That should surprise them,” he said highly pleased with himself. “Keep them busy and perhaps cover our escape.”
“What?” Lana demanded.
“I’ll tell you later. Now Lana, give me your hand, and follow me. Ido hang onto Lana. And please be quiet.”
Thus, with Crow pulling, they proceeded through the enemy camp. They were careful to avoid coming too close to huts but still stay in their shadows. The moon emerged from behind the cloud and illuminated the landscape generously. Crow dropped to the ground and pulled the girls on top of him. There, they remained motionless, much aware of each other’s heartbeats and a few other sensations. Then when the moonlight faded, they scrambled to their feet again. They were almost through the last line of huts, heading for the slope of the hill, where Crow could see the zigzag path that soon disappeared among the rocks. “Just a few more steps,” he said, then stumbled in the darkness across a branch and a twig broke with a resounding snap. They froze, hearts hammering. There was a small noise to their left, but nothing more. Crow started to breathe again. He pulled the girls along and soon they were past the last of the huts, then on the open meadow.
Crow felt naked in the open, but the light was dim and even if they had guards out this way, it was unlikely they would see them. He kept a close watch on the sky and when the moon appeared again, he pulled the girls down into a depression while they waited for the darkness which came soon enough. The last few steps they ran, then rested at the foot of the hill. Crow scanned the way carefully and listened into the silence. Once on the hill they would be most visible, exposed to the full light. He watched the sky again for a big black cloud to obscure the moon. He tried not to look directly at it, fearing he would blind himself by the brightness of its glow. When the darkness passed over them, he hurried the girls upon the path. From now on it would be speed to get off this open section. They were panting hard by the time they reached a profusion of rocks and collapsed gratefully in their shadow.
“Are we safe, yet?” Lana asked, her breath going rapidly in and out.
“No. One is only safe under one’s cover in the cave with the whole clan on guard,” Crow quipped, chuckling at his own witticism.
“Hrump,” came back from the darkness.
The rest was uneventful, tiring perhaps, right up to the very top of the ridge. Crow led the girls into a shadow and told them to stay. He was going to explore ahead. Somewhere near, he calculated, Chandar and Makar should be waiting for them. In fact, he was surprised that they had not already been challenged. Then the thought occurred to him that they might have been discovered and fear filled him. He moved quietly as any spirit, circling to where he thought they might be. In the darkness it was certainly hard to orient oneself. Then he thought he heard noises. He crawled quietly around a rock outcrop and saw two faint outlines.
“Do you see anything?” a voice asked. Crow smiled; that would have to be Makar.
“No,” came the short reply from Chandar, of course. Crow was greatly relieved to find them alone. Then a curious thing happened; instead of jumping up and calling out joyously to his friends, his mouth clamped up and he could utter no sound. He tried to move but could not make himself budge. He started trembling and he shook all over. Belatedly, all he had been through suddenly caught up with him. On the threshold of safety, his will was overwhelmed. Did they really do all that they had done? Hardly seemed possible. But then why did his body refuse to obey him?
“Do you see anything?”
“No,” came the bored reply.
Crow was trying to settle his breath, but still his body would not obey him. His mind was filled unaccountably with panic and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Do you see anything?”
“No, nothing yet.”
“I knew it was not going to work. It was much too risky. Poor Crow, he must already be dead. I hope Ido ... and ... Lana …” the night swallowed up the rest of what he hoped.
Crow stopped trembling, but he was still short of breath, and perspiration flooded his face. Again he could not make himself move.
“Do you see anything?”
“No.”
“I knew it would not work.”
With difficulty Crow forced himself up. Lana, he thought and slowly he was able to peel himself away from the rock. Lana, and he could take a step. Lana, and another. Then whatever had held him simply melted and he was free again. A sardonic grin filled his face as he silently came up behind them and asked, “Do you see anything?”
“No,” came back the bored reply from both, but then they suddenly turned around astonished. Who said that??! Their mouths hung agape. “Crow!” the word came out in one rush of breath from Chandar, but he could not in his shock take another.
“Crow!” whispered Makar, his eyes big as fists, disbelief painted on his face. Then he peered behind Crow, hope dawning in his eyes.
“Yes,” Crow found his tongue. “They are safe. Just hiding a little way back. Let me go and get them.” He started going back but Makar grabbed and held onto him, “You are not going anywhere again and leaving me behind to eat myself.” Chandar agreed with that, and the three of them went back on the path, to stop before the girls who stood there, tears streaming down their faces.
Makar rushed to Ido, grabbed her, hugged her, held her off to look, then hugged her again so tight that she had difficulty breathing. “I should escape the Tolmecs, to die in your arms?” she said softly. The glee in his face instantly vanished, replaced by great concern. She smiled at him sweetly, gratefully. She knew that Crow and Chandar had come for Lana, but now she knew with absolute certainty that Makar had come for her. He had been there for her all along; she had just refused to see it before.
There was great relief for them all at this reunion. Chandar approached Lana carefully, not pressing his presence into her view. After all, it was Crow who offered himself up for her, who risked death and suffered, and he was the one who effected her escape. All he and Makar did was wait and wait and wait. But something of her mother showed, in grace and bearing, as Lana went over to Chandar, put her palm to his face and gently, gently caressed it. The big man, more than ten years older, cried large tears in silence. The tension had been unbearable for them all. Here upon the hill tops the five of them found themselves deep in enemy territory, bathed in moonlight that came and went, and knew that nothing in this life would ever be the same again. In this defining moment of their triumph, they finally knew themselves and forged a bond that nothing would ever change.
“How did you do it?” Makar asked Crow, in his heart already composing a great epic, the reward of feelings he had already tasted. But now he needed details.
“I would like to tell you but it must wait, for I fear that our enemies will soon be awakening.”
“How?” asked Chandar; the morning was still a long way off.
“No time, now. I’ll tell you on the way.” With that he strode off into the darkness and the rest followed, Chandar bringing up the rear. Crow was setting a fast pace, perhaps not fast for scouts, but certainly for the girls.
They were crossing onto a new ridgeline when Makar looked back and called out in surprise. They all turned to see the camp now far below, suddenly half ablaze. They could see fire jump from one hut to the next, and flare high into the sky, the flames bending in the wind. A faint murmur of sound reached them, then people yelling, flames roaring their pleasure.
“How did you do that?” Makar asked in complete astonishment. Maybe Chaiko had taught Crow his magic that made him command fire!
There was an ugly gleeful expression on Crow’s face and his eyes burned in the reflection of the fire he had caused. Abduct my soul-mate? Beat me to death? Threaten clan lands? Well this was the harvest of your hunt. How sweet was revenge. How liberating.
“They will be coming after us for sure, now that you woke them up so well,” Chandar said partly in admiration, partly because danger had been rekindled against them.
“Yes, but not yet. For now they will be busy fighting the fire,” and Crow’s face glowed with sardonic delight.
Chandar nodded, so be it, but he raised his next concern: “The girls will need rest soon.” Crow nodded in recognition of this fact, but then led the way along the rocks on a zigzag mountain goat path.
Near a place that had a pool of water they rested and watched the last glimpse of the camp still burning. The girls were able to tell their story and the men shuddered with fury at the Tolmecs and their ways. After that the fire in the distance looked even cheerful. Burn, burn, and wreak our vengeance. Then they listened horrified as Crow told them some of his story: to have willingly dared death like that twice was almost incomprehensible. First by being captured and at the enemies’ whim, then by nearly choking to death by choice, to force his captors to release his hands from the impossibly tight bonds. Though they had tied him up again, it was not nearly as effective as the first. But then the first time he had been their enemy, threatening their camp; the second time he was a half-dead body, or so they believed. “He has the look of a wolf sometimes,” Lana remarked to herself, but her heart glowed with pride in him.
“Oh, Makar, thank you for the small flint shards you hid in the folds of my wrap. They never even came close to finding them and they worked perfectly cutting through my bonds.” Makar glowed with pleasure, not at the praise so much as for the recognition of his small contribution to the rescue that had saved his love Ido.
With one last look at the fire still burning below, they moved onto the next line of hills. The rest was just a long tiring walk in the dark. They crossed the river and this time it proved to be surprisingly easy. Perhaps the first time they had been heavy with the dread of their undertaking, uncertain and without a plan. Certainly, on their return they were tired, but much buoyed by their success. Even Chandar found the crossing uneventful, after he made sure to point himself and his wood bundle into the flow, so as not to be pushed sideways by it. He also did not try to fight the current, but let it carry him downstream, patiently working his way across.
They were drying themselves on the other side, on clan land, when they first became aware of their pursuers across the water. They heard them before they saw their numbers, so they had a chance to hide in a dense bush further up the brow of the slope. Beyond stretched the plain, the hunting preserve of the clan. They waited and watched the enemy emerging from the cut in the hill, about thirty of them. They fanned out to either side on the strip of land beside the river. It was not long before they came across the tracks of the five, for a triumphant shout called the rest together. There was a small conference, then the group took a rest.
“We’d best be going,” Crow said quietly. They moved quickly through the bush then onto the flat plain on the other side. Both Crow and Chandar had been here before with Cosh. Up, some way ahead of them yet, was a narrow place where the path cut through a gap in the ridge. Both Chandar and Crow knew that would be the place to turn upon their enemies if needed. From the high ground they would be able to hold off the horde in pursuit. But first, they had to reach it and it was going to be close. Both men increased their strides, forcing the girls to keep up with them.
At first the pace seemed unnecessary and even excessive, but neither Chandar nor Crow relented. Then as the sounds of pursuit caught up with them, the desperation of their situation became recognizable. They pushed on. The scouts of course were used to it because wherever they went, Cosh wanted to get there fast. With the girls it was a different matter. They were weak from being fed so little over the past days and not being allowed to move about much. So now they were tired and they were still not within sight of the ridge. Makar, too, was hurting from the pace, but he bit his lips and pushed on.
Behind them the sounds of pursuit grew. Then as the five ascended a short rise, the Tolmecs caught sight of them and sounds of jubilation broke from their ranks. They redoubled their efforts, which meant that the five had to find the strength to keep ahead. Crow grabbed Lana and pulled and she did her best to keep up with him. The mettle of her parents showed in her determination. Ido was more of a problem, for she was a year younger and had not yet developed the stamina of the others. It took both Makar and Chandar to pull her along. She, too, made a valiant effort, but the gap was closing noticeably.
They rounded a dense copse of trees, and thankfully, saw ahead of them the line of the ridge cutting across the land. Will we be in time? Chandar’s eyes asked Crow, but Crow just did not know. Then the pursuers saw the ridge ahead and a fresh wave of exhortation sounded from their ranks. They must be yelling, “Faster, faster!” Crow thought tiredly. He heard the increased rhythm of the footfalls behind them and pulled Lana harder. But at their present speed she could barely keep her feet under her. Desperately she fought for her balance but she said all the same, “Faster, faster.” Right behind, Ido was having similar trouble, but she had found a reserve somewhere and fought on in spite of her exhaustion, in spite of the difficulty of making her feet obey. Luckily they had had a good head-start while the Tolmecs had been preoccupied with fighting the fire and had burned up their reserve energies just to catch up with them. But those that followed were spurred on, sensing the fear of their victims.
The ridge loomed up ahead, and behind it rose the sun, its golden radiance so out of place to the participants whose life and death hung in such a narrow balance. Crow was vacillating between yes we can make it, and no we cannot, when there was a slight stumble in the rhythm that he and Lana shared. The sound of pursuit was right behind them and they could expect spears to start flying. Crow felt a peculiar sensation in the middle of his back and any instant expected the bite of a spear. Chandar let go of Ido’s hand and she nearly fell. It is the stampede all over again, Chandar said to himself, as he whipped Falcon from his back. With a smooth motion he slid a talon from its container, nocked, drew, aimed and released. There was an answering surprised cry of pain. Makar turned also, and he, too, sent a talon flying and drew a wail of anguish. Crow flung Lana on her way then helped Ido to her feet and pushed her up and away. “Go! Run!” he yelled. Ido staggered after Lana and on toward the ridge just ahead. Crow turned and drew back on Falcon, a talon waiting for a target. “Back!” he yelled to Chandar and Makar. They looked at him undecided. “Walk backwards!” Crow shouted. “If one of them makes a move, aim at him but don’t release. At the same time walk backwards into the gap.”
And so the three men kept the horde at bay. Every time a Tolmec ventured to move, three talons were aimed at him and he cowered. Then at a command of their leader, they charged and released a flight of spears. Three talons struck the leader in the chest and he went down instantly, blood bubbling from his mouth. The three men managed to jump out of the rain of spears. The leader trembled once and then was quite still. The rest hesitated, half ready to charge, the others ready to give up the chase. On the one hand, the skinny sticks of their enemy were deadly. On the other a mad rush could easily overwhelm the three young men standing against them. It was ridiculous; they were but boys, not even painted. The fate of both groups thus hung in the narrow balance.
Crow suddenly remembered standing on the hill before, and yelled “Somana! Somana!” and they all took up the chant, “Somana! Bleed!” The Tolmecs were paralyzed. Some had heard that cry before and their blood chilled. The rest could not understand why suddenly the enemy hurled this word at them; bleed who? But the hesitation was enough and froze the Tolmecs just long enough for the girls to reach the gap. The three backed up a step at a time, covering the Tolmecs with the talons. “Somana, somana, bleed, you bastards.” After a while the word lost its meaning and sounded like the bleating of mountain sheep. They stopped yelling, but they had arrived at a narrow place of safety, in the closeness of the gap. At least here they could not be outflanked and taken from the side. They retreated deeper and paused near the top with a great view of their enemy.
The Tolmecs followed them, but as experienced warriors they knew it would be senseless to charge into such a narrow place, with an enemy so intent and with such a deadly weapon at his command. If the unpainted others stayed at the top, it would be suicide to rush them. If they vacated the height, then the Tolmecs would have a chance to catch them in a broad attack in the open. But the enemy made no move to change their position. After some discussion the Tolmecs collected their dead leader, packed two of their wounded and retreated beyond the farther line of trees.
The five young people looked at each other. It had been such a close thing. But just like with the stampede, all three had done the right thing at the right time, and saved themselves. Makar suggested they could go since the Tolmecs had retreated, but both Chandar and Crow had faced them before and had a healthy respect for their cunning and war guile. “No,” Crow shook his head, “if we move off here they will be following us again.”
