“I’m glad you’re with me, Ayela,” Isabel said. “I would have walked right into them.”
Ayela smiled, motioning to a safe route around the deadly jungle flora.
Isabel spotted Hector and Horace through Slyder’s eyes and adjusted course to rendezvous with them. Within the hour they approached the well-hidden brothers.
“Hector, Horace, it’s Isabel,” she said softly.
They both seemed to materialize out of the jungle.
“Lady Reishi, you’re a welcome sight,” Hector said.
“Lord Reishi was most distraught when he discovered your absence,” Horace said.
“I imagine,” Isabel said. “This is Ayela Karth. She helped me escape-protect her as you would me.”
Both Hector and Horace bowed formally to Ayela. She flushed slightly and seemed a bit flustered at their deference.
Shadowfang slipped between the brush and into the little clearing. Ayela nearly screamed, slapping a hand over her mouth. Hector and Horace drew swords as one, positioning themselves between the cat and their charges.
“Stop,” Isabel said, moving between them and scratching the jaguar affectionately under the jaw.
“This is Shadowfang … he’s my friend,” she said. “He won’t hurt any of you and he should keep some of the other predators away from us while we travel.”
“The jaguar is my house crest,” Ayela said. “They’re revered as well as feared. How can this be?”
Isabel shrugged. “Magic.”
“Forgive me,” Ayela said. “For so long, magic has been forbidden to the people of Karth. We’ve always believed it to be evil, so this is difficult for me. I saw how the Sin’Rath witch killed so many so horribly with her spells and then watched you dispatch four soldiers with almost casual ease. I was coming to think that witchcraft is only good for killing, and then you presented Shadowfang. He’s so beautiful and regal, I’m finding it hard to reconcile everything I’ve been taught all my life with the things I’m seeing.”
“The things you’ve been taught about magic are mostly lies,” Isabel said. “The Sin’Rath have controlled this entire isle, both your family and the Regency, for centuries. They’re the ones who forbade magic, and they did it to protect their power over your family and the Regency leadership.”
“But we’ve been at war with the Regency for so long,” Ayela said. “Why would the Sin’Rath want to perpetuate such suffering?”
“You saw the one that died in the entry chamber,” Isabel said. “They’re not human … they’re monsters. As for their motives, I couldn’t tell you, except to say they’re totally insane.”
Ayela was silent for several moments, staring at Shadowfang through teary eyes. “Do you really think the Goiri’s bones can help us kill them?” she asked.
“I do,” Isabel said, “and maybe much, much more. What we do here might be the most important thing anyone does for a very long time.”
Ayela nodded, sniffing back her tears. “Will you teach me how to fight?”
“I will,” Isabel said, “but not here. We need distance from the enemy.”
“Lord Reishi said we should head due east for several days,” Hector said. “The jungle is thick, but it will keep us out of the swamp for as long as possible.”
“That’s wise,” Ayela said. “The gloaming swamp is feared by all on Karth, and for good reason. Few who venture into its waters ever return.”
Alexander appeared again.
“You better get moving,” he said. “It looks like Phane has some means of communicating with his people, because they suddenly sent out a search party looking for you.”
“How many?” Isabel asked.
“Twenty soldiers and a wraithkin,” Alexander said.
“What’s a wraithkin?” Ayela asked.
“Remember the man who vanished and then reappeared right in front of the witch?” Isabel asked. “The one who killed her?”
Ayela nodded.
“He was a wraithkin,” Isabel said. “He can teleport short distances and heal every time he does. They’re very hard to kill.”
“How far behind us, Lord Reishi?” Hector asked.
“Not far enough,” Alexander said. “Maybe an hour. Get moving. I’ll be watching.” Then he vanished into the firmament.
Chapter 25
Isabel nodded to Hector to take the lead and they moved into the jungle. It was slow-going through the dense brush. While the air was cool and damp, Isabel found herself sweating before long.
They tried to leave as little sign of their passage as possible but it was a difficult, if not impossible, task. Often, they had to double back to circumvent some obstacle or other.
First it was a patch of quagmire sands. Hector stopped short as his leading foot started to sink into the innocent-looking jungle floor. He’d lived on the Isle of Karth for long enough that he was aware of the danger and easily backed out before it was too late.
“I wonder how far this goes?” he asked.
“That’s hard to say,” Ayela said. “Quagmire sands can stretch for miles or just cover a small patch of ground.”
Isabel tipped her head back and linked with Slyder who was perched in a tree above. “It looks like there are a fair number of clear patches of dirt around here,” she said.
“To be safe, we should stick to areas covered in vegetation,” Ayela said. “Plants almost never grow in sands.”
Hector plotted a new path through the jungle, avoiding open ground, which slowed their progress even further. Isabel only hoped that the soldiers following them might lose some of their number to the perils of the jungle.
She sent Slyder back to scout the enemy’s location and found them almost a league behind but tracking steadily. It seemed that the denseness of the brush was both making it easier for Phane’s forces to follow their trail and causing them to follow more slowly because they followed every dead-end path that Isabel and her friends had taken and been forced to backtrack out of.
Late in the day they heard the bark of a wild dog, then a yelp as it died. Isabel linked with Slyder and found Shadowfang, surrounded by six more dogs, standing over his kill. He didn’t look too worried about the opponents he faced as he snarled at them.
Seeing the dogs gave Isabel an idea. She forced her mind into the psyches of all six and imposed her will on them. It was more difficult controlling several animals than just one but well within her capability, for a short time anyway. After she reined in Shadowfang, she sent the dogs to hunt the Regency soldiers. Isabel felt a little guilty using the animals in such a way, knowing that some would probably die as a result, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that they would have attacked her party instead, had she not intervened.
As darkness fell, the jungle became far too treacherous for them to press on. Isabel felt anxious about calling a halt, knowing that the enemy might decide to make up time by moving through the darkness, but she knew better than to risk running into some unseen danger in the night, especially given how hostile the jungle had proven to be.
They found a small clearing in a depression surrounded by heavy foliage and carefully tested the ground for firmness before stopping for the night.
In the last of the day’s light, Isabel found Phane’s forces through Slyder’s eyes and was relieved to see that they had stopped as well.
No one slept well that night. The noises of the jungle created an eerie song that was far too often punctuated by the death cry of some hapless animal as it gave its life to provide a predator with a meal. Isabel found herself lying awake waiting for the dawn as the dark of night began to ebb. She was grateful to be on the move again, eating a cold breakfast while she walked.
Alexander appeared next to her, smiling at her when she jumped slightly.
“You need to warn me before you do that,” she said without breaking stride.
He walked by her side, passing through the foliage. “You’ve picked up another hunting party,” he said. “Looks like two of the witches and about thirty soldiers of Karth.”