Sunset of Lantonne (53 page)

Though Raeln had expected Greth to fall and try to recover, instead he rolled as if he had fully anticipated the attack. Greth came up fast, driving his dagger into the throat of the wolf guarding the perimeter. Before the others had done more than growl, Greth spun and threw the dagger toward Olis.

Olis’s eyes did not even widen as he leaned to avoid the dagger, which clattered into the trees somewhere past him. Baring his teeth, he shook his head angrily. “Two chances, pup. You don’t get a third. Kill them both.”

Raeln heard the snow crunch behind him and off to his left as two wildlings moved on him. He steadied himself, but kept his eyes on Greth in case the man changed his mind and tried to turn on him.

The rustle of fur and clothing nearby prompted Raeln to react. He planted one foot and spun, sweeping his arm over the nearest wildling’s neck and chest. Throwing his weight behind the attack, he flipped the smaller wolf onto his back, then stomped the man’s chest with his paw, stunning him.

The second wolf leapt at Raeln, raking Raeln’s arm with claws sharper than he had expected. Pain flared across his arm and he felt his shirtsleeve dampen as blood ran through his fur, warm against the cold air.

Raeln ignored the pain as he had been taught when fighting, using his forearm to deflect the clawing attacks by the wolf he faced. When the wolf attempted to bite at him, Raeln swept his elbow across to strike the man’s jaw, knocking him off his feet, though the man immediately tried to stand again. As part of the same motion, Raeln kicked the wildling on the ground again, keeping him from standing up.

Spinning in place, Raeln grabbed the man that was on his knees by the scruff of his neck with one hand. With his other hand, he locked the wildling’s arm behind his back. Raeln checked on Greth and surveyed the remaining three wildlings.

Olis still stood to one side of the trees, watching with a bemused expression. He had done nothing since the fighting had broken out and appeared entirely unconcerned. Raeln dismissed him for the moment.

The other two wolves were torn up badly but still fighting Greth. The three men dodged and raked at one another, spraying blood as each blow connected.

“Enough,” Olis said, his voice carrying through the woods. “The pup is bloodied and the newcomer knows his place. If you can walk, follow me for dinner. If you can’t…don’t show your tail on my land again.”

Olis turned and walked away from the fight, dragging the elven body behind him as he went. The two men attacking Greth broke away immediately to pursue Olis, taking a few more painful-looking injuries from Greth as they ran. Even the wolf at Raeln’s feet began crawling away, while the one he held squirmed and tried to flee.

In disgust, Raeln released the wildling and watched him try to catch up to the others as they disappeared into the woods.

Greth, still standing where he had been fighting, nearly collapsed as his legs shook. After the last of the other wildlings had gone, he dropped to his knees, panting for breath. He clutched at ragged wounds all across his chest and arms. He very nearly put his forehead on the wet ground, curling up in agony.

“Greth,” Raeln said, rushing to his side.

Snarling, Greth took a swipe at Raeln and then curled back up. “Don’t touch me.”

Raeln backed off briefly and noticed the rapidly spreading blood stains in the snow around Greth.

“How badly hurt are you?” asked Raeln, kneeling beside Greth. Greth would not let him anywhere near his injuries. “Let me see.”

Greth shook his head and tightened his arms around his torso, saying in a raspy voice, “The camp is northwest of here. Go on without me. You can be there within an hour. Tell Asrahn that I’m out here and she’ll know what to do.”

Raeln reached for Greth and got another clumsy swipe of his claws in thanks. “I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” Raeln told him, getting to his feet.

The northwest looked little different from any other direction that Raeln could see, making him wonder how Greth could have any idea where he was in the woods. Dense trees blocked sight in nearly every direction, though Raeln could see the mountain peaks in spots to the west. They all looked the same to him, giving him no information at all about where he was.

Raeln started walking, hoping he could keep his footing well enough in the snow and ice to cut into the hour Greth predicted. One hour was bad enough if he was badly injured, but the extra hour for help to return with him….

Sliding to a stop, Raeln looked back at Greth, who was lying down in the clear area under the trees, still clutching his chest. From what Raeln could see, Greth was trying to prop himself against one of the trees.

“Idiot,” muttered Raeln, walking quickly back to Greth. “This is one of those wild animal things you keep saying I don’t understand.”

“I guess you’re smarter than I give you credit for,” Greth answered, his grin red with blood. “Go to the camp. They’ll send someone to bring me back. It’s about all that can be done. If you’re fast, Asrahn might be able to shove life back in my body.”

Raeln knelt beside Greth, catching his wrist when he tried to claw at Raeln. Twisting, he forced Greth’s arm aside so that he could better see the wounds.

Dozens of shallow cuts covered Greth’s shoulders and arms, but the most severe was a deep bite on his neck near the shoulder that bled profusely and the wound under his hand, near the base of his ribs. That injury bled even worse than his neck, seeping out past his hand.

“He got me with a knife when I wasn’t paying attention,” explained Greth, laughing weakly. He peeked at his side and quickly put his hand back in place. “If you weren’t such a big target, I’m certain they’d have kept stabbing me. I’m pretty sure I got his eye. Fair trade. At least you get what you wanted from the day we met—you get to poke fun at me while I bleed. I’m pretty sure that’s what those glares you kept giving me meant.”

“Not at all. I just wanted you to try being nicer to Ilarra,” Raeln answered, gently checking the edge of the cut under Greth’s hand. Blood practically poured out when the hand was moved at all. “I’ve known enough men that lose themselves in the violence of war. Most of my life, I blamed it on Hyeth being so close to the raiders’ lands. I’d hoped someone from far away might be different, but you weren’t helping my world view any.”

“Sorry to disappoint. Dad taught me to be a wolf, not a prissy elf.”

Raeln smiled at that and grabbed his pack. Digging through it, he pulled out a thick pair of winter pants he had intended to change into at the first opportunity, once he was dryer and not in the middle of the woods. Rolling the pants up tightly, Raeln pushed the cloth against Greth’s wound in place of his hand.

“Shouldn’t waste perfectly good clothes on the dying,” Greth gasped, clenching his jaw as pressure was applied. “Those were actually nice. I meant to steal them.”

“They wouldn’t have fit you.”

“Not the point. Half the fun was going to be watching you go crazy trying to find them. I could have thrown them in a river and gotten the same satisfaction.”

Raeln held the cloth to Greth’s wound for a long time, until blood stopped oozing around it. Given Greth did not look any weaker, it gave him some hope he could keep the bleeding to a minimum long enough for them to reach the camp.

“Why didn’t you just attack me?” Raeln asked as he waited a little longer to be sure the wound did not begin gushing again when they moved.

“Thought I’d lose.”

He stared at Greth, who would not look back at him. “That never stopped you before.”

“This time was for real…those were for fun,” answered Greth. He coughed, tensing in agony as he did. “Besides, I don’t really want to talk about it. I’m dying here.”

“No better time. I doubt you’ll be as talkative if I don’t get the bleeding stopped.”

Greth chuckled, then winced. “Truth is, Raeln, you’re growing on me. Kind of like a rash. I like a lot of things I shouldn’t and I don’t want you dead, at least not yet. Give it a couple days. If I live through this, I promise I’ll try to kill you again someday.”

“Thank you. That’s actually the kindest thing I think you’ve said, even with the rash part.”

“Don’t expect me to be nicer than that, even if I do…never mind. Are we dragging my miserable hide to the camp or waiting here until the snow thaws?” Greth asked through his still-clenched jaw.

Judging by the tightness around his eyes and trembling ears, Raeln knew Greth was in incredible pain but hiding it better than most.

“Once we start running, I’m not stopping for anything,” Raeln explained, slipping on his pack and Greth’s. He then got a hand under Greth’s legs and another behind his back. “Hold that cloth tight so you don’t start bleeding as soon as I pick you up.”

“Yeah, I know how bleeding works. Either leave me or get going. I need to concentrate on not dying, if you don’t mind.”

Raeln picked him up as slowly as he could, then let Greth steady himself a moment. The bleeding cuts on Raeln’s arms throbbed and his muscles objected immediately to the weight of everything he was trying to hold.

“There’s no way you’ll make it to the camp carrying me and all our things,” Greth warned, looking distinctly uncomfortable about being lugged around like baggage. “If you drop me…”

Digging in with his toes, Raeln pushed himself straight to a run, heading northwest. He ran as hard as his legs would let him, using his training back in Hyeth to ignore the aches in his muscles and burning of his lungs. The detachment from his own body’s feelings allowed him to keep going even after his mind warned him he should have fallen.

Raeln ignored everything except running and the difficulty of the terrain ahead of him. Ice and uneven ground he avoided, while steadily going in the direction Greth had pointed him. He ran on, feeling nothing and noticing little, until he heard Greth telling him to stop.

As Raeln slowed and began paying attention to Greth, pain flooded his body, returning with the loss of his concentration. His arms shook and his back felt as though he had been beaten with sticks for hours. Every muscle in his legs trembled and ached, even as his feet tingled numbly from the time in the snow. Raeln’s heart raced and his lungs felt raw, but he saw they had come far already and that made it worth the pain.

“We’re almost there,” Greth told him, staring up at him with a touch of respect and awe. “Remind me never to pick another fight with you.”

Raeln tried to answer, but his breath came in such sharp gasps he could not form the words. He attempted to walk on, but his knees and ankles nearly gave out, forcing him to stop again.

“Put me down, you oaf. The camp should be just over the rise. The high stones here help hide it. Asrahn can be here in five minutes or less. No trick this time…just go get help.”

Reluctantly, Raeln sat Greth down against one of the smooth stones that jutted out of the smooth incline of the hillside. He checked the cloth, finding blood soaked through it but was not oozing anymore, which was better than he had hoped for. Setting down both packs beside Greth, he put a hand to the man’s cheek.

“I’ll be back, with or without her,” he promised. “I won’t let you die out here alone.”

“Shut up and go,” Greth snapped, looking embarrassed.

Despite the shaking of his legs, Raeln hurried up the slope near the rocks, making his way over the hill and into the section of the mountainside that the stones hid. As soon as he reached the far side of the stones where he could see much farther ahead, he stopped and fell to the ground. Raeln landed hard on his rump, though he did not even notice the sharp stones under him biting into his tail and hip.

Nearly a mile of the mountainside ahead of him lay blackened. A crater filled much of the region, descending from where he sat to a point nearly twenty feet below him, the ground carved out as if by a massive shovel. At the center of the crater, a shifting black hole hung in mid-air, with wisps of dark smoke drifting around it in a lazy spiral. Around the edge of the blackened land, pieces of what looked to be a metal statue lay scattered about.