“Don’t worry,” Jahrra breathed, trying to make her tone cheerful. “I’m a much bigger target than you.”
The limbit must not have picked up on her attempted humor because he squeaked again, “I don’t want them shooting you, either!”
Jahrra didn’t waste her breath trying to reassure him. Instead, she urged Phrym into an even faster pace as soon as the skittering rocks gave way to a solid expanse of granite.
Thank goodness the ice and snow has melted, she thought as the horses sprinted over the winding road. Had there been snow, or worse, ice, she would have been forced to slow Phrym to a walk. Red Flange hot on their tail or not, she would not risk her semequin slipping and falling off the face of the cliff. A five hundred or so foot drop was much more terrifying than an arrow flying in her direction.
Finally, they cleared the granite slab and came out onto a wide road consisting of deep brown earth. Pines, tall and straight and growing up from the steep slope to their right, shaded the way and blocked the view of the somewhat hidden city in the distance.
Ellyesce didn’t wait for Jahrra to catch up to him. Shouting a command, he used the extra length of the reins to slap his semequin into a nearly break-neck pace. Jahrra followed suit, trusting that Ellyesce knew the road well enough to feel somewhat safe traveling at such a speed. Well, there was that, and the fact that they needed to reach Cahrdyarein as soon as possible. Dervit gave up trying to cling to the saddle and grabbed Phrym’s mane instead, pressing himself as close to the semequin as possible.
The road, to Jahrra’s great relief, proved to be well-maintained and relatively easy for Phrym to cover. The trees continued to line both sides of the path like ever-present sentries, and after several minutes, those craggy peaks she had gazed at from farther down below appeared once again, this time much closer.
“How much farther!” she shouted breathlessly to Ellyesce.
“Less than a mile!” he returned over his shoulder.
Immense relief flooded through Jahrra’s veins. Oh, thank Ethoes! She only hoped that Jaax was somewhere close behind. They turned one more corner, the horses kicking up clods of damp earth as they flew up the mountain side, and the full-force of Cahrdyarein’s impressive wall hit Jahrra like a battering ram. The road made a wide, sweeping arc up ahead, brushing past the entrance to the city like a lazy river bend before continuing on to cross the sister peaks to the northeast. The wall, constructed of enormous slabs of soot-colored granite, rose fifty feet in the air in what had most likely been a small canyon at some time. A massive wooden gate stood off center halfway up the wall, and a smaller road, veering off from the main byway, climbed the side of the canyon to meet up with the gate. Towering pines, rising along the hillside like the quills on a porcupine’s back, added an extra sense of menace to the already intimidating scene.
Before Jahrra could take in any more details, something flew across the path just in front of her, causing Phrym to jerk his head and falter. Jahrra screamed as her semequin struggled to keep his footing.
“No! Keep him under control, Jahrra!” Ellyesce shouted.
Barely, Jahrra managed to get Phrym pointed in the right direction again, just as another projectile whizzed by, this one so close it grazed her hair.
“Arrows!” Dervit cried.
“Come on, Phrym!” Jahrra shouted, putting more strength into her kicks.
The semequin whinnied and pinned his ears back, digging his hooves in and gaining ground.
More arrows fell from the sky, two lodging into the bags strapped to Rumble’s back. Still, they kept moving, the impenetrable wall inching ever closer.
They were now only a hundred yards from their destination, and Jahrra could see where the road to the city gate cut away from the travelers’ highway. Her heart sank. They would have to make a sharp turn and double back, before turning once again halfway up the switchback to reach the gate. It would mean slowing down and presenting themselves as an even easier target.
Jahrra sucked in a deep breath and willed her heart to slow down. They had no choice. They had to do it or else they would die for sure.
“Turn, Jahrra, turn!” Ellyesce roared, jerking on the reins of his semequin and forcing both him and Rumble into a tight turn as they began their ascent up the side road. A few more arrows sped by, but Jahrra mimicked the elf, directing Phrym to make that sharp turn onto the first switchback. Dervit nearly became unseated, but his grip on her semequin’s mane saved him. Still, he ended up flung out of the saddle, hanging against Phrym’s neck on the right side.
“Dervit! Hang on! I can’t stop!” Jahrra breathed.
Sweat stung her eyes, and the muscles in her legs were burning. Phrym’s heavy breathing and frothing mouth told her he was wearing down, too.
“No, Phrym, no!” she rasped, tears forming in her eyes. “You have to be strong! Remember the race against all those other semequins up Demon’s Slide? That was much harder than this!”
He must have taken her words to heart, because he blew out a great breath and pushed himself a little harder.
They reached the turn that would point them in the direction of the gate once again, and only when they got there and Jahrra bothered to look up did she notice Ellyesce had stopped his semequin.
“What are you doing?!” she screeched. “You’ll be shot!”
“Better me than you!” he snarled. “The elves are ready for us, I see them at the gate. Now go!”
He gave Phrym’s rump a hearty slap as he swept by them, making the marble grey semequin jolt forward once again. In the same instant, Ellyesce let go of the lead rope he’d used to guide the pack horse. Rumble sensed his freedom, but instead of running off down the road in terror, he followed after Jahrra and Phrym.
The gate was a few dozen feet away, and now Jahrra could see the elves. At least, she noticed some tall figures dressed in armor from head to toe. She sensed more than noticed the archers waiting between the crenellations, especially when a fresh wave of arrows launched from somewhere above her rained down upon a section of road they’d left far behind. Good. The citizens of Cahrdyarein were fighting back.
She and Phrym would have slammed right into the solid wooden door, but someone or some mechanism from inside started to crank it open. Hot relief flooded over her, but before disappearing inside, she shot a final look over her shoulder.
Ellyesce still sat atop Gliriant on the exposed hillside below, the vast expanse of all the mountain peaks they’d spent the past three weeks crossing visible between the gaps in the trees. But, it was a sight farther down the road that forced her heart up into her throat. The Crimson King’s men spilled around the last bend of the mountain, their red cloaks like blood oozing from a wound as they crawled up the same road she and her companions had been on just minutes before. She could tell by their swift movement that they pressed their quahna hard, hoping to catch up with their quarry before the great wall of Cahrdyarein blocked them off from danger. But, if the enemy had made it this far up the mountain, where was Jaax?
White-hot fear threatened to petrify Jahrra on the spot. Where was her guardian? How had they pushed past him? Was he hurt? A sob of anguish fought to suffocate her, but she pushed back against it. No. She couldn’t think about that right now. She had to get off the road and beyond the gate.
As Jahrra struggled against her emotions, another volley of arrows flew from the Tyrant’s archers. Ellyesce was still vulnerable. He would be hit, and she would lose him, too. And just when she was starting to trust him. She should cast those morose thoughts to the wind and get herself inside the city wall, but she could not look away from Ellyesce. He was so still and quiet, and then he shimmered ever so slightly. Jahrra narrowed her eyes. What on Ethoes …? Had the hard ride exhausted her so much she was seeing things? She shook her head and blinked several times, clearing her vision, then focused back on Ellyesce. A pale, semi-iridescent green film spread from the elf and formed a bubble around him and his semequin. So, she wasn’t seeing things after all.