Exodus of the Xandim (GOLLANCZ S.F.) (38 page)

I’ll act cowed and scared – that won’t be difficult. Surely they’ll drop their guard at some point, and there’ll be a chance to escape. I just need to buy
myself some time to work out a way—

The Phaerie captain – Nychan, she recognised him from her days with the Wild Hunt – might as well have been reading her mind. ‘Bind her tightly, and someone signal across the
gorge for the horses to be brought, and another net. I don’t know who, or what this one is, but the sooner we get her safely back to Eliorand, the sooner Cordain will be able to start finding
out what she knows.’

He was just turning away from her when it happened.

Out of nowhere, Corisand was struck by an oppressive, gut-freezing sense of dread. Waves of rage and hatred seemed to come at her out of the empty air, striking fear into her heart as even the
Phaerie had failed to do. Then suddenly strange, spectral creatures poured into the cavern, dropping from the ceiling, oozing from the walls, erupting out of the floor. An odd shivering in the air,
like the heat rising from a courtyard on a summer day, made the apparitions visible against the surroundings and in these roiling shadows, flashing out like lightning through storm clouds, was the
deadly glitter of fangs and claws, and eyes that burned with a white-hot rage.

The Phaerie started screaming as the invaders swarmed over them. Blood sprayed and spattered as great rents and gashes appeared in their bodies, their limbs and faces. The discordant,
high-pitched, screeching shrieks of triumph that came from the attackers ripped the air, mingling with the Phaerie cries of agony as eyes were gouged, flesh was torn and bones were snapped.

Her captors let go of Corisand, who dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball. The creatures seemed to be concentrating on the Phaerie and leaving herself and the still form of Dael
unscathed, but she wasn’t about to risk attracting their attention. Besides, this way she didn’t have to see the hideous carnage that was taking place all around.

Hours seemed to stretch by while she lay there, but in reality, it could only have been a matter of minutes before the screaming stopped, the shrieks of triumph died away and the sickening waves
of rage and hatred dissipated from the atmosphere. All that remained was the stench of ordure and blood, and the silence of the Phaerie dead.

After a while, the Windeye finally plucked up the courage to open her eyes and look around, and what she saw in the pale remains of Iriana’s dying magelight brought nausea flooding into
her throat. Mangled corpses lay on the floor, limbs missing or badly askew, as if the bodies had been tossed carelessly aside. Only she and Dael had been left untouched, and Dael was— Her
mouth fell open. ‘You’re
alive
!’

Dael, though spattered with Phaerie blood, was sitting up and looking around in horror at the scene of carnage. Then he turned his gaze to her. ‘What in perdition happened here?’ he
demanded, his eyes huge and round. ‘What did you
do
?’

Corisand began to deny doing anything, but was interrupted by the sound of voices coming from the outer part of the cave, frantically calling her name, and those of Dael and Iriana. Relief swept
over her. It was Taine and Aelwen! ‘We’re in here,’ she called.

They appeared in the entrance to the smaller cave, Aelwen looking pale and shaken at the sight of all the dead. ‘Corisand, Dael. Thank providence you’re safe. Are you all
right?’ As quickly as the slippery floor would allow she picked her way through the corpses and knelt down beside the Windeye. ‘Have you been hurt?’

‘I’m all right.’ Corisand grabbed Aelwen in a bone-crushing hug. ‘I thought you’d been captured,’ she said. ‘Tiolani—’

‘So she did betray us.’ Aelwen’s expression tightened with pain. ‘Are you sure you’re not hurt? You look terrible.’

Corisand realised she must be as gore-spattered as Dael, and hastened to reassure the Horsemistress. ‘I’m just so tired – I couldn’t hold the Phaerie off any more. Then
those dreadful, dreadful –
things
– attacked out of nowhere, but they only hurt the Phaerie, and left us alone.’ She paused, looking narrowly at Aelwen. ‘You
don’t seem at all surprised by any of this. Do you know what they were, those beings?’

‘Never mind all that – did you get it? Do you have the Fialan?’

Taine, in the meantime, had been helping Dael to his feet. ‘They didn’t hurt me,’ the young man was explaining, ‘but only because they thought I was already dead,
and—’

‘Where’s Iriana?’ Taine interrupted.

‘They took her,’ Corisand said. ‘She was outside my shield, and I couldn’t keep them away from her. They took her away, back to Eliorand.’

Taine spat out a violent curse. ‘We’re going after them,’ he snapped, already turning to leave the cave. ‘How much start do they have?’

Aelwen leapt to her feet. ‘Plague take Tiolani! Without her flying spell, we’ll never catch them. Quick – we’ll explain everything else later. We have to get across the
ravine. Maybe there’s probably enough of the spell remaining on the Phaerie horses to get us to Eliorand.’

‘I can do better than that,’ Corisand said. ‘I do have the Fialan and – the Fialan! Where is it? It rolled away somewhere.’ She looked wildly around the cave,
daunted by the idea of scrabbling among the mangled Phaerie corpses in search of the stone.

Taine had no such compunction. ‘Where did it fall?’

‘Around here, near the wall somewhere, I think,’ Dael replied.

Taine squatted down. ‘There’s a natural opening down here, just a small crevice – ouch!’ He snatched his hand back with an oath and looked in astonishment at the bleeding
scratches. ‘There’s something in there.’

‘Melik,’ Dael cried. He knelt down by the aperture and called to the cat, his voice low and coaxing.

‘We don’t have time for this.’ Taine pulled a pair of leather gloves from his belt and thrust his arm back down the hole, pulling a snarling, spitting, very frightened feline
out by the scruff. ‘Here.’ He dumped Melik into Dael’s arms, where the cat fought and struggled to be free. Dael bore the scratches without complaint, and in a little while Melik
calmed and lay trembling in his arms.

Corisand, in the meantime, had spotted the Stone of Fate, which had been dislodged from the same hole when Taine had pulled the animal out. ‘I’ve found it!’ she cried. As her
fingers closed around the pulsing green gem she felt the power flooding back into her, along with a euphoria so intense that it brought tears to her eyes. Then at the edge of her vision there was a
movement, and she swung around to see a strange old man standing in the entrance to the cave. Without thinking, she raised the Fialan and summoned its powers to strike.

‘Corisand, no!’ Aelwen shouted, grabbing her arm. ‘This is Kaldath. We met him in the forest. He’s a friend.’

‘As I said, we’ll explain everything, but we’ve got to get after Iriana right now,’ Taine said urgently. ‘Those accursed Phaerie have a head start on us,
there’s no time to waste. What if the flying spell wears off?’

‘I was trying to tell you,’ the Windeye said. ‘After you left I discovered how to cast my own flying spell, using the Fialan. As far as that’s concerned, we’re no
longer dependent on Tiolani.’

Aelwen let out a whoop, and hugged her. ‘Corisand, you are truly amazing.’

‘Indeed you are,’ said Taine. ‘Kaldath, can you ride?’

‘I can. And wherever I go, the Dwelven will follow.’

‘Then let’s get moving,’ Aelwen said. ‘The Phaerie have left their horses on the other side of the ravine, so if you can perform the flying spell, Corisand, I’ll
take Rosina across and bring back mounts for everyone.’

‘No, it’ll be easier if I transform back into a horse and fly you across the gorge in relays. We have Rosina too, so it won’t take very long. We’ll have more room to get
organised on the other side, and when we’re ready, it will be far easier to take off from there.’

In only took a very short time to get everyone across the gorge, and select horses for those who had none. The remainder of the steeds would follow their Windeye, obeying her call, and Corisand
suddenly realised that she had made a start on freeing her people – albeit only a handful. The rest must wait. For now, the most urgent consideration was saving Iriana’s life. Dael rode
Rosina once more, with Melik in his basket strapped securely to the saddle. Taine, Aelwen and the mysterious Kaldath had the best of the Phaerie mounts including, in Aelwen’s case, an
enormous flame-red chestnut stallion that had belonged to Nychan. Corisand, who had changed back into her equine form, had the Fialan fastened securely around her neck once more, in a makeshift bag
fashioned from fabric torn from the tail of Aelwen’s shirt, and a length of spare thong from one of the packs. They had decided to head back to Eliorand in the straightest line possible and
as fast as they could. Though there was little hope that they could catch the Wizard before she reached the city, they were determined to try.

Taine raised an arm. ‘Let’s go,’ he cried, and urging their horses forward, they bounded into the air, and headed north in search of Iriana.

~

I
riana’s stomach lurched as she swung giddily in the air, and the meshes of the net bit into her skin. Her head throbbed, and she felt sick
and sore all over. She had no idea what had become of her friends, or of Melik, her eyes. Had they survived? The odds had not looked good when she’d been taken. For certain, they could do
nothing to come to her aid.

She was alone, blind, helpless. Terrified.

This was exactly what Sharalind and Zybina had been trying to protect her from all her life. The nightmare. The disaster that could happen if she lost all the animals who let her utilise their
gift of sight. But if she could only survive to see her foster mother and Sharalind again, she could put up with having them say ‘I told you so.’ Iriana knew better than to give up,
however. She had been in a similar position when the Phaerie assassin had attacked in the forest, and she had found a way to survive then.

She would now.

She wracked her brains for a way to escape her predicament, but all she had were questions.

How long had she been unconscious?

They were probably taking her to Eliorand, but how long would it take to get there?

Had the others been taken captive too – or were they dead?

No, she would not think of that. She had to believe her friends were still alive, that they had managed to escape somehow. That was the only way she could hold on to her own hope.

How many of her captors were carrying the net? Dael had told her of his own capture during the Wild Hunt, and she suspected that the scenario would be similar, with four of the Phaerie, on their
flying steeds, carrying the net aloft. Were the others with them? It seemed very quiet, with few noises of harnesses creaking and horses breathing. She could not be sure, but she suspected that the
rest of the enemy were elsewhere.

Suddenly, it dawned on her that the Phaerie
were
flying, and that could only mean one thing. Iriana bit back a curse. Tiolani had turned out to be a traitor after all.

Iriana knew her only hope was to think hard and act fast. Very well, then, her first priority must be sight. If she could only see, she might stand a chance of defending herself, and if, better
still, she could manage to gain control over one or more of the beasts, she might even cause enough chaos to drive her captors out of the sky; for until she reached the ground, she would be
helpless.

Though it was hard to concentrate between her anger at Tiolani, her fear of what the Phaerie would do to her, her aching head and the nauseating swing and sway of the net, she began to extend
her consciousness outward then still further out, trying to make contact with the minds of the Phaerie flying steeds. As she encountered their thoughts, she had a sense that there were four of
them, flying in a diamond-shaped formation, with one in the lead, one on either side and one behind.

Initially, Iriana tried to impose her will upon the mind of the leading horse, but it proved very resistant to such outside influence, plunging in the air and shaking its head furiously, as if
trying to dislodge the unwelcome intruder. The rider cursed, tightening the reins cruelly, and Iriana hastily switched to the animal on her left-hand side.

Ah, this was better; a mare, more gentle and amenable than her initial choice. Having gained a foothold, the Wizard waited a little, letting the horse get used to her presence, then gently took
control of its vision. Oh, what relief to be able to see again – though her heart sank at what she saw. Though Eliorand was not yet in sight, the northern mountains had grown a great deal
closer, and the snow-capped peaks now dominated the sky.

It was high time she acted.

Holding tightly to the meshes of the net, Iriana took a firm grip with her mind on the mare’s consciousness. She wanted to keep her vision steady in what was to come. Controlling a horse
was entirely different from influencing a cat, a dog or a bird of prey, all of which were predators. It was much easier, however, to plant a suggestion that was completely in tune with an
animal’s nature. Horses were prey animals, their key motivation was fear. Because the equine spent its entire life primed to run, to escape, it was a simple matter for the Wizard to trigger
panic in the leading mount’s mind.

Danger! Run! Flee!

The net gave a lurch and started swinging as the horse tried to bolt. The animal continued to plunge and shake its head wildly, desperate to get away from the fear with which Iriana had infected
it, but with a great effort, the rider wrenched it back under control and kept it in position.

At that point, the Wizard realised, with a sinking heart, that it was no good. She couldn’t control the mare she was using for vision as well as the leading mount whose mind she was
filling with fear. She would never manage to subvert all four animals at once – at least, not enough to overcome the riders’ control. Though she frantically tried to think of another
plan, terror and panic clouded her racing thoughts, and she could discover no way out. Through the horse’s eyes she could see that the mountains were drawing nearer. She had very little time
left in which to act, for once they had her in Eliorand, with no animals around that she could use for vision, escape would be impossible. Though she knew that there could not be any friends within
range of her call, she sent out a cry for aid in mindspeech, hurling the thought out as far as she could into the void.