Valdemar 11 - [Owl Mage 03] - Owlknight (44 page)

“That's
enough!”
Keisha shouted in anguish. She stood up and staggered, unsure of each step, but seemed to have a purpose. She half-screamed again, “That is enough!” and marched toward the drake, her hands curled into fists. Darian stumbled to his feet and ran after her, but she paid no attention to him. She concentrated on the cold-drake, and the cold-drake was so preoccupied with its wounded nose that it ignored this small and insignificant morsel of prey marching toward it. But suddenly its head jerked up, and it stared at Keisha with eyes blank and widened. Bright red blood smeared down its snout, and ran freely from the wound in the nostril. The drake raised one claw, then curled it under its chest, staring at Keisha, yet somehow unable to focus upon her.

Darian felt a growing illness in his belly, adding queasiness to fatigue and the pounding headache. Ahead of him, Keisha was within easy striking distance of the cold-drake, and from his point of view, her small body was entirely framed by the red-spattered white mass of the cold-drake. Her feet were ankle-deep in the water runoff, both from the drake's newly lost ice layer and the nearby landscape. Darian's limbs seemed to move far too slowly, as he tried to gain on her, and the terror rose up inside him—was he about to see his Keisha die? But Keisha wasn't affected by the eyes the way they all had been the last time. Could it be that
Keisha
was doing something to the drake?

“Yes!” Shandi shouted from behind him, and ran to join her sister, shoving Darian aside. The two women came to within striking range of the drake and stood there, staring at it. They were too close for Darian to dare shooting at the thing—especially with its ... head down?

Then it not only blankly stared at the duo, it raised its head to the fullest extent, and its eyes were widened and completely dilated. If Darian had not seen the cold-drake's next move with his own eyes, he would never have believed it. It reared up and back—but not as if to strike. It bobbed its head and seemed to be cowering away from them, as if they were the most dangerous and threatening things it had ever seen. Its whimpers changed to a whine, and it slowly backed away from them, scrabbling backward across the rocks, claws slipping on the smooth, slick surface, without ever taking its eyes off them, moving up and out of the ravine and then down past the openly stunned Steelmind, and more rapidly down to the edge of the clearing.

It reached the edge of the forest, still walking awkwardly backwards, its tail actually between its legs at one point. Its own bulk made the progress painfully slow. Then, just as a large branch it had pushed aside snapped back into place, obscuring for a moment its sight of the two young women, it turned and
ran—
ran off into the forest, crashing through brush and briar and making an incredible amount of noise.

“Now! Let's get past!” Shandi shouted, as Karles raced up beside her. She mounted; the
dyheli
each sought out a rider—no matter which one, they'd sort out the baggage later.

They raced up the pass at breakneck speed, following Shandi, who was in the lead. Kel kept watch behind, the birds in front. There was no one watching the flanks, but at the speed they were traveling now, they'd be past anyone on their flanks in short order.

Darian wouldn't have thought the
dyheli
could maintain this pace uphill, but evidently fear was spurring them on; as he leaned down over the outstretched neck of his mount, there was no slackening of their speed as they reentered the forest, charged headlong through it, and exited again, higher up the slope. Now there was nothing between them and the pass—

Then they were up to the pass itself, and over it, and if anything, their pace increased as they charged downhill again. They were out in the sunlight at last; the air was considerably warmer, and the hordes of birds and small creatures that startled and fled before their headlong rush testified that the cold-drake didn't hunt on this side of the mountain.

Darian got a brief glimpse of something shining off to the west—it might have been water, but he didn't get a good enough look to tell for certain. Then they plunged into the forest shadows again.

The
dyheli
kept running for a good candlemark, and only when their flanks were soaked with sweat and their sides heaving did they finally slow and stop beside a trickle of a stream.

Darian was off his mount in a heartbeat, as were the rest. Snatching up handfuls of coarse grass, they began wiping their mounts down. They pulled off the tack and did what they could, then the
dyheli
themselves walked off to cool down and take occasional sips of water.

Only then did Darian turn to Keisha. “You got into its mind? What was it that you two used? Fear?” he asked.

She nodded. “Fear. But I guarantee you, it is not in a way you would have expected.”

Steelmind commented, somewhat amusedly, “These two've certainly scared me before, so I can understand that. I thought it had to be something more. I didn't think my arrow was that effective.”

Keisha grinned. “Effective enough. When you hurt it, that was the first time anything had ever touched it since it had left its mother and been on its own in the wilds. Literally it had never felt pain since the last time its mother disciplined it. And do you know how drakes discipline their babies?”

Darian shook his head dumbly.

“They bite the baby's nose!” She laughed breathlessly.

Steelmind knit his brow, and shook his head slightly. “I still do not understand. You two are just humans, not the cold-drake's mother.”

Shandi stepped over, her sweat-scraper and curry-brush still in hand, after tending briefly to Karles. “I'll try to explain. The warmth Darian summoned was making it delirious and disoriented. It became more and more unfocused mentally, it felt more vulnerable as its armor's ice layer melted, and its eyesight clouded, too, much like a developing infant's. It thought about the last time it felt that way—when it was just a pup. So instinctively, even though we were just snacks for it, when that nose wound hurt so sharply, the drake felt as if we were bigger and more powerful than it for just a moment.”

Keisha picked up the explanation from there. “It's like with a pony, if you pick it up off the ground as a foal, even when it's full grown, it will think you can still do that. Lessons learned early in life stay just as big in any creature's mind, and when someone is in pain they tend to act more childlike—that's something we Healers know and use. That wound-scream jarred me out of my own fear and my Healing knowledge sort of welled up, and I remembered where I'd sensed that sort of reaction—from other wounded animals, and some badly injured people. The cold-drake didn't know what was happening to it, and its instincts made it think of dear old mama. We just pushed more fear at it, using what we sensed its own memories of an angry mother were. I don't know if I could have driven it off by myself, but when Shandi and I joined, there was enough to push it over the edge.”

Steelmind shook his head. “Empaths,” was all he said, but it was in a mix of bemusement and admiration.

“Well, how many more doses of that scream could
you
take?” Shandi retorted, glancing around for Kel. “I thought blood was going to pour out of my ears in a moment. I was in such pain from the scream I was damned well going to
do
something about it!”

“I have no arguments with what you did!” Darian assured them, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. “It worked, and that's all I care about!”

Kelvren limped up, his left side somewhat scraped up but only slightly bloodied. “It isss good rrreasssoning,” he added, sounding complimentary. “It isss the mind that trrruly winsss orrr losssesss each battle. Talonsss would not accomplish in ten daysss what one well-placsssed bad memorrry of Motherrr did.”

Keisha frowned at the gryphon, and gestured with one finger pointing downward at her feet, then snapped her fingers. “Come here, hero. Let me look at that.” Kelvren gave her a withering look, but approached obediently and gently mocked, “Jussst do not thrrreaten me with yourrr Fearrrsssome Powerrrsss, and I shall obey,” as he lay down to be tended to.

Shandi's face abruptly clouded, and she looked back up the pass, anxiously. “Getting back, though—” she started.

“We'll worry about getting back when we have to.” That was Wintersky, who had been dragging their belongings into a rough circle. “I've been checking what we have left. Anybody object to staying here for the night?”

Darian shook his head. “I feel like it was me carrying the dyheli, not the other way around.”

:I am no frisking filly—my old bones ache after a gallop like that one,:
Neta said ruefully.
:With any luck the ladies have affrighted that cold-drake into a new hunting ground
—
it will eat its fill and retire into torpor as it properly should, and we will not need to concern ourselves with it on the return journey.:

Neta looked terrible—all the
dyheli
looked terrible, and Karles didn't look much better. Their coats were drenched and streaked with sweat and dust; they hung their heads, and their legs trembled with fatigue.

“You lot, go lie down as soon as you think you can without cramping up,” he said in a quick decision. “We'll mount guard tonight without you.”

:Thank you,:
Neta replied simply for them all. One by one the
dyheli
folded their legs underneath them and dropped to the moss and grass; following Darian's example, each of the humans pulled a blanket out of their bedrolls and draped it over the prone bodies so that the wet
dyhelis
didn't take a chill.

Darian squatted down in front of Neta. “About the ... loss of Gacher. I'm sorry. Is there any ceremony for his death that we should do?”

:It has already been done,:
Neta mindspoke.
:What you all choose to do regarding Gacher's death is yours to determine.:

 

They made camp, although it was still light; the early stop gave them time to hunt and cook food for a change. Kel settled in beside Darian and Keisha after his own hunt; the gryphon still looked somewhat shaken, and settled down on his bandages as an easy way of keeping pressure on them.

“I did not know the thing would ssscrrream like that,” Kel said finally.

“None of us did,” Darian replied. “I don't know that anyone has ever gotten close enough to a cold-drake to find out.”

“The only time I've ever heard of anyone killing a drake, it's been three or four Adepts at a distance,” came Steelmind's dry comment. “No one has even been stupid enough to try to take on one on foot that I know of, and survive.”

Darian smiled a bit. “We certainly qualify as stupid enough.”

“Maybe, but according to Kerowyn, the Shin‘a'in say that if it is stupid but works, it isn't stupid,” Shandi added. It looked to Darian as if she'd forgotten whatever grievance she had with Steelmind.

“I can only say that I hope never to meet with such a thing again in my lifetime,” Hywel told them all solemnly. “Killing such would make the Manhood trial for a legendary hero, and I am no such hero.”

At that, Steelmind smiled slightly, got stiffly to his feet, walked over to the young tribesman, and dropped slowly to one knee. While Hywel watched, Steelmind handed the young warrior one of his own valuable watersteel fighting knives.

Hywel took it gingerly, appearing startled. “What is this?” he asked, perplexed.

“I have no place in my life for anyone who is sure he can do everything. You just realized—and admitted—that you're not invulnerable, or unbeatable, or perfect,” Steelmind said solemnly. “By my reckoning, that makes you a
real
man. Now I completely trust you, and I'll have you at my back any time.”

Hywel admired the knife—and what it symbolized—for a long moment, before Kelvren broke the silence with his own comment.

“If you want
rrreal
perrrfection, you mussst find a
grrryphon.”

F
og surrounded the campsite; there had been no rain last night, but it was a damp, cool morning. Kel had gone out to scout out the way as soon as there was any light in the sky at all. Darian looked up at the sound of large wings, his breakfast uneaten in his hands. He couldn't see anything in the mist, but a moment later, Kel's wings blew the fog away enough for him to land beside the morning fire. Darian put down the broiled fish, uneaten. He'd been too keyed up for hunger anyway.

“If you rrride harrrd all day, you will rrreach a village at the edge of the waterrr, and it isss definitely Rrraven,” Kel said, breathing heavily. “I sssaw the totemsss forrr myssself.”