Valorian (20 page)

Valorian smiled then. He reached out and clasped his brother's shoulder. "Thank you," he said.

Then he turned Hunnul and disappeared into the night to finish his watch.

* * * * *

Ten days later Valorian's family was still on the move and still uncertain of where they would go.

They had traveled higher into the hil s every day, setting up camp in a new meadow each night and staying one step ahead of the numerous scouts and Tarnish detachments that were sweeping the lower hills for some sign of Valorian. The family realized the danger they were in, but they were growing disgruntled and worried. Snow mantled the mountain peaks, flurries had already dusted the lower hills, and the nights were growing cold. The time was well past for the family to establish their winter camp. If they waited too long, they would have a very cold, hungry, and miserable time ahead. Yet no one, not even Mother Willa, could think of a suitable place to go that would be safe from the Tarns for the entire winter.

Valorian had toyed with several ideas, including wintering at StoneheIm, but although he knew Lord Fearral was too honorable to be the one responsible for spreading the rumors of his activities, he didn't trust the people of the town. The vil age was too open and vulnerable.

In fact, he didn't know who to trust anymore, outside of his own family. Anyone in the Clan, for any number of reasons, could have gone down to the Chadarian villages and spread tales, and that same person could easily reveal Valorian's location. He decided that once he got his family settled somewhere, he would keep moving. He could visit the camps, continue talking to the clanspeople, and, with luck, keep the Tarns guessing over his whereabouts. He could even go south and see Wolfeared Pass for himself before the snow clogged the hills. Staying on the move would also help keep the soldiers away from his family.

Early one afternoon, when his thoughts weighed heavily in his mind, he slowed Hunnul to a walk beside the cart carrying his tent, his few possessions, Mother Willa, and Kierla.

Kierla was over six months into her pregnancy by now, and the bulge of the baby was becoming quite evident under her bulky skirts. She smiled at her husband until a hard jolt from the cart knocked the smile from her lips. He watched her worriedly as she tried to settle herself more comfortably on the cart seat.

Mother Willa irritably slapped the reins on the rump of the old mare pul ing the cart and pursed her lips. "You know we can't go on much longer like this," she said tartly to her grandson. "Kieria needs rest before her confinement, not al this jouncing around."

He agreed. Kieria was past the prime age to bear children, and he was already deeply worried about her.

Kieria laughed at them both. "I'm fine!" she cried. "I've never felt stronger or happier in my life, so don't waste your worries over me. Just think of a place to go so we can set up some ovens. I have the strongest craving for some freshly baked bread."

Valorian chuckled at her. He had to admit that she did seem to be in excellent health. So, by the gods, if it was bread she wanted, then somehow she would have it!

Just then a shout went up from the head of the caravan. Ranulf came galloping over to Valorian and called, "A rider coming. A clansman!"

Hunnul cantered forward past the carts, horses, and people to meet the approaching rider. Valorian recognized with pleasure the rider's bright hair. It was Gylden.

The rider waved his arm and hallooed at the caravan in obvious relief and happiness. He cantered up to Valorian, his red cloak snapping in the cold wind, and greeted his friend. "Valorian! Am I glad to see you! I've been looking for you for almost seven days. No wonder the Tarns can't catch up with you."

"You know about that?"

"Everyone does. Word spreads fast. That and the fact that the Tarns have stopped every family they could find. They're really anxious to catch you." He studied Valorian intently before he said, "Something about a suspected murder?"

For a long breath, Valorian hesitated. His first reaction was to keep quiet and not extend his trust any further than he had to. Only his family knew the circumstances of Sergius's death, and it would be safer if no one else learned the truth. Then he felt ashamed. Gylden was his oldest friend. How could he gain the Clan's respect and trust if he couldn't extend the same to those around him?

"That part is true," he explained to his friend. "Sergius Valentius was trying to take Kierla. I struck him with a bolt of magic before I remembered I had the power. We hid his body up in the mountains."

A cloud fell away from Gylden's handsome face, for he realized how much Valorian was trusting him with that information. He was both relieved and pleased. It made his news for Valorian that much more gratifying. "That isn't murder," he snorted. "That's just snake killing."

"Not to the Tarns," Valorian replied dryly.

Aiden and several of the other men on horseback joined them at that moment, and Gylden brought up the reason that had sent him chasing after them.

"We knew you might be in trouble when we heard about the charges brought against Valorian, so Father had an idea. He wants you to come winter with us."

Valorian chuckled with a mix of surprise and disbelief. "Your father? I thought he would have nothing to do with me without Lord Fearral's approval."

Gylden didn't take offense. His father was known to be set in his ways. "I've been talking to him,"

he said with a grin. "I had to do something to earn al those pregnant mares. And gods' truth, Valorian.

He knows a place deep in the Gol Agha that he says will shelter both of our families through the winter.

He wants you to come."

"Gol Agha?" Aiden questioned. "The canyon of the winds? I didn't know there was any place in there worth camping for a day, let alone several months."

"I didn't either. But Father swears it's there. He sent several scouts out to check on it while I came to find you." He tugged at his mustache and glanced at Valorian. "Will you come?"

"You realize that we could be putting your family in great danger," Valorian said.

Gylden didn't hesitate. "Of course."

The clansman looked to his brother and the other men around him. The hope and relief on their faces melted the last of his reservations. If Gylden and his family were willing to risk hiding them, then he wasn't going to argue further. He felt relief lift the weight of worry "from his shoulders. "We'l come,"

he said. Then he trotted back to Kierla and told her the news.

"Praise Amara!" she cried in delight. "We'll have bread by the Hunting Moon."

And she was right.

By the time the next ful moon, or "the Hunting Moon" as the clanspeople cal ed it, swelled over the Darkhorns, the two families had joined and traveled south of Stonehelm deep into the mountains to the canyon called Gol Agha. The wide canyon mouth, aptly named the Place of the Winds, faced the northwest, catching storm winds and the winds of winter like a giant funnel. The reddish brown canyon was never stil or silent from the winds that surged down its long length. They keened and whined and howled and sang, sometimes so strong a man couldn't stand upright in their passing.

Further along, however, the canyon made several bends that took the force out of the winds, and between the protection of high walls was a long, narrow, flat place, green with grass and scattered trees. It wasn't ideal, but it was safe enough. Only a few clanspeople had ever bothered to explore beyond the Place of the Winds; one of those had been Gylden's father in his younger days.

Happily the old man's memory was as sharp as ever, and after three days' traveling with the winds howling at their backs, the two families found the sanctuary within the canyon. They immediately set about building the more substantial camps that were used for winter, including the careful y constructed ovens for baking bread. Two days before the moon was full, Kierla ate her fill of the warm, fragrant, freshly baked bread.

The rising of the Hunting Moon was another day of celebration for the clanspeople, this time for the god Surgart, the god of war and the hunt. They spent the day dancing and reenacting famous hunts, and when the ful moon sailed over the canyon wal , the men set out on foot to hunt the fiercest predator in the mountains, the cave lion. After his horses, a cave lion pelt was the most respected and treasured possession a clansman could own. To kill one of the big cats during Surgart's celebration was a feat of great honor and a good omen for the year to come.

Valorian himself had never had a successful lion hunt, but this year, Kierla wasn't surprised when the men returned two days later filthy, exhausted, and laden with the pelt of a huge lion.

In front of both families, Gylden's father stretched the pelt out flat for al to see. "Before the eyes of Surgart," he shouted to the gathered people, "Valorian threw his spear straight and true into the chest of the springing cat. It is to him that wt: give the pelt for the honor of the killing blow!"

The crowd cheered as Valorian gathered up the pelt, and pride and gratitude burned in his heart.

He gave the fur to Kierla to tan and prepare as she wished.

Several days later, on a windy, frostbitten morning, he kissed her good-bye, and, leaving her in Mother Willa's care, he set out with Gylden, Ranulf, and Aiden to see the Wolfeared Pass.

It wasn't difficult for the four clansmen to elude the Tarnish soldiers still searching the hills.

Unencumbered by herds and carts, they were able to travel fast and on paths known only to wild animals and the Clan. Before too many days were gone, they passed the ridge where lightning had struck Valorian and headed into country only Ranulf had seen.

The young man was thril ed to be the guide for the other three, and he led them south down the long length of Chadar over ridges, hills, and valleys they never knew existed. Not far from Valorian's ridge, Ranulf had to lead them out of the foothil s and down to the plains to circumvent a vast, deep canyon that sliced through the mountains and forced its way through high bluffs into the lowlands.

The steep gorge formed an insurmountable barrier across any mountain path going north or south, and Valorian grimaced when he realized that if the Clan came this way, they, too, would have to risk going down to the plains to avoid that canyon.

Several days after passing the canyon, the clansmen crossed the Bendwater River into Sarcithia.

They worked their way south along the flanks of the mountains for five more days until they reached a wide valley carved out of the hills by the swiftly flowing Argent River.

When all four men saw the old scars of wagon ruts left on the trail by the retreating XIIth Legion, Valorian felt his excitement grow. To the east, he could see where two peaks rose from the same summit, forming a shape similar to a wolfs prick-eared head.

Ranulf nodded when Valorian pointed to it. After all that time, Valorian was finally able to see Wolfeared Pass for himself. Following the legion's trail, they rode up the long and often steep path to the snow-covered summit of the pass and sat on their horses to gaze on the land beyond.

They were silent for a long time as their eyes slowly traveled down the rumpled mountain slopes, past steep granite faces powdered with snow, to the pine-covered foothills and the purplish vistas of the far distant plains.

Hunnul stretched his neck to snuff the wind from the east, and his pleasure sang in Valorian's mind.

I smel grass down there. More grass than I have ever seen. That is a good place.

Grinning widely, Valorian patted the stallion in agreement. He could tell by looking at his companions that they thought so, too. He was encouraged as never before. Until that moment, the dream of going to the Ramtharin Plains had been something only he had truly believed in. His friends and family had thought about it, accepted it, and wished for it, but none of them had passionately believed in its possibilities. Now the dream had been passed to others. Valorian could see it ignite and begin to glow in the three men beside him. They stirred, straightened a little, and glanced at one another like conspirators in a wonderful secret. Ranulf was grinning. Gylden's brown eyes were wide and brimmed with excitement, and Aiden's fingers drummed on his knee as he imagined the vast potential of such a land.

Valorian nodded to himself. Now he had three dedicated disciples who would help him carry the dream to the Clan. The people had to understand! If he could only bring them al here to this mountaintop to look down on the far plains, he knew they would come to believe in hope and freedom just as his three companions had. Unfortunately he couldn't bring the Clan here just for a look. He had to instill enough trust in the people for them to make a mighty leap of faith. When they ascended this mountain, it would be for the first and last time.

With a quiet sigh, he turned Hunnul away from the pass and the tantalizing view and led his friends back down the mountain. The weather was still mild and dry for late autumn, so Valorian decided to use the opportunity to scout for trails passable by carts. The other three men agreed. No one in the Clan was familiar with the land this far south, and I it would be very helpful to know the fastest way to reach the pass.

They began at the Argent River valley and methodically worked their way north, exploring every trail through the rugged hills—the smal val eys with rushing streams, the deep canyons, and the open meadows of sun-cured grass. They looked for watering places, areas that could accommodate a large number of tents and herds, and smoother paths for the carts. They didn't try to keep a map or write down any of the information they learned. None of them knew how to write, beyond a few basic names and symbols, and maps were for Tarns. After generations of traveling from place to place, the clanspeople were adept at memorizing landscapes and distances. When the Clan finally came that way, Valorian knew he and his companions would be able to lead the caravan unerringly along the ways they had chosen.

Before too many days had passed, however, Valorian began to feel his nervousness for Kierla increasing by the moment. They had been gone for a ful passing of the moon, and her time was coming quickly. He wanted to be there with her when their child came into the world. He didn't admit it aloud or even to himself, but he also wanted to be with her in the horrible event that she did not survive childbirth.