Menduarthis muttered something in his own language that sounded less than flattering.
"You can find him?" she asked. "You know where these… thorns are?"
"The Thorns," said Menduarthis, "and yes, I do."
"So we can find Lendri?"
"We?"
"You promised to help me."
"Escape. I promised to help you escape, not kill one of Kunin Gatar's chief servants, then deliver you to her with silk in your hair."
"You were going to kill him!" she said.
Menduarthis hissed and waved his hands at her. "Quiet, quiet. Sound travels far out here." He dropped his own voice to just above a whisper and finally looked at her. "True enough, though. I was. And then I was going to run fast and far away. Not run off rescuing the one person Kunin Gatar has dreamed of killing for years!"
"So you won't help me?"
"Why should I?"
"He's kin to me."
Menduarthis snorted. "No. He's blood brother to some distant forebear of yours. Hardly a favorite uncle."
"And blood oaths mean nothing to you?"
"Don't know. I've never been damned fool enough to make one."
"Very well," she said. "I'll do it on my own."
Menduarthis grabbed her shoulder. "Hold a moment! At least answer my question before trotting off to your untimely death."
Her hands stopped halfway to her hood. "What question?"
He smiled. The mischievous boy smile again. "Why should I help you?"
She tucked the ends of her hair into the hood and raised it. "Get to the point. What do you want?"
"For helping you steal from the queen and rescue an honor-obsessed elf?"
"Yes."
"A kiss."
Hweilan felt her cheeks and ears flushing and was very glad for the deep hood and the dark halbdol masking her skin. "That's it? Just a kiss?"
"Well, it's a start. But that's all I'll obligate to you."
"Very well," she said. "Get me to Lendri, then help us to get out again, and afterward, I will… kiss you."
"Us? Get us out? You mean you, me, and Lendri?"
"That's going to depend very much on what Lendri has to tell me."
They took their time getting down the slope of the hill and into the valley proper. Menduarthis kept them to the shadows of the wood, going from shadow to shadow until they reached the wide expanse of the frozen river.
He stopped and gave Hweilan a chance to catch her breath. "This is where things get tricky," he said. "How do you mean?"
He pointed across the river. It was hard to be certain by moon- and starlight, but it looked to be close to a mile across. A mile of flat snow and ice, with no cover. "We have to cross that," he said.
"Why is that bad?" Hweilan asked. "Is this ice thin?"
"Thin? Ha. No. Solid ice straight to the bottom, I'd wager. But we'll have no cover. Anyone watching for as far as eyes can see will see us-and many have eyes out there that are much sharper than mine." Menduarthis sighed. "We go. Quick, but not too quick. We want to look urgent, but not hurried. And if we do come across someone-or they come across us-you let me do the talking. All the talking, mind you."
Hweilan nodded.
"And one more thing. Where we're going… the Thorns. Not a nice place. Not nice at all. I'll do my best for you, Hweilan, but no promises. We may not be able to get through there, much less get Lendri out. Not if the guards have been warned against me."
"You think they are? Looking for you I mean?"
He shrugged. "We know they've found Roakh. And since they don't know where I am or where you are… add to that the little trick I played back in the tunnels, and it won't take long for our people to start wanting to ask me a lot of questions. Much depends on how far word has spread and how fast."
The heaviness in her mind was almost pounding now. Hweilan could feel it, right behind her eyes.
"We need to go," she said. "Now."
They left the trees, hopped down the final bit of the embankment, and set off across a mile of frozen river.
They tried to run, but with no snow shoes and almost a foot of new snow covering the ice, the best they could manage was a quick shuffle, pushing their way through and sending waves of powdery white pluming in front of their knees.
Hweilan kept her eyes fixed on the dark line of woods ahead, fearing at any moment to see signs of movement. Once, she thought she saw a shape pass in front of the moon, but if so, it was either very small or very far away, and she could not find it against the night sky.
They were about halfway across when a great noise broke the silence. Not just horns this time, but horns, howls, and cries, wafting out of the distance to their right.
Menduarthis stopped in his tracks, listening.
"What is that?" said Hweilan.
"Kunin Gatar has returned to Ellestharn."
"Is that good or bad?"
"If we get out of here soon, it doesn't matter. Move."
They kept on, Menduarthis pushing them faster now. Hweilan's legs and back were beginning to ache, but she knew they couldn't stop. Not until they were well away from Kunin Gatar's realm.
The snow began to get shallower as they neared the far side. Most of the storm's fury seemed to have struck the palace side of the river. The bank and nearest trees were only a stone's throw away, and still there were no signs of pursuit. Hweilan believed they might actually make it. Still… that nagging weight in her mind seemed to grow with every step.
Looking at the dark line of the trees before her, the dream from days ago hit her again, not simply as a memory, but as an assault on her senses.
The smell-foul, putrid, rotting.
The black wolf, its yellow eyes suddenly brighter than the moon in her mind's eye, its voice-Run!
Laughter, devoid of all goodwill. The giggle of a girl ripping the wings of a butterfly. The eager smile of a boy, tearing the legs off a grasshopper and heading for the anthill.
Singing. Sweet voices. True melody. All set to blasphemies.
The motherly voice-
Death comes… be sure of it.
It hit her with such force that she stumbled, for a moment her mind separate from her body. She fell in the snow, her father's bow striking her painfully in the ribs.
"Hweilan?" Menduarthis's voice. "Are you-?"
She heard them before she saw them. Something large-or more likely many large somethings-breaking through the brush, and the sounds of many heavy hooves churning through snow. When the herd broke out of the woods just upriver from them, Hweilan actually felt the ice vibrating under their feet. Running against the dark backdrop of the forest, Hweilan could not make out what they were at first, but as they came out onto the snow- covered ice, she saw huge antlers crowning the herd. Swiftstags? If so, they were the largest she had ever seen.
"Stay calm," said Menduarthis as he helped her to feet. "Act like we're going about our business. And remember, I do all the talking."
Hweilan opened her mouth to ask how he planned on talking to giant deer, but then she saw them. The creatures were almost upon them now, the sound of their hooves on the ice like slow thunder. She thought she saw nine, though it was hard to tell through the great cloud of snow and frost churned up by their legs. Every one of them bore a rider, and every rider carried weapons.
The herd split into a V formation to surround Menduarthis and Hweilan. As they rode past, spraying her and Menduarthis with snow, she saw the riders' pale faces turn to watch her. Beautiful, lean faces, but solemn. Starlight played off the frost in their dark hair-elves. She saw two carrying bows, but most bore long, black spears.
Menduarthis stood unmoving as the ring of creatures closed around them. Not swiftstags after all, but something like them. Draped in shaggy gray fur, the smallest of the beasts was easily seven feet tall at the shoulder, and their antlers, which ended in curved points, spread more than ten feet across, so that as their masters turned them to face Hweilan and Menduarthis, the beasts had to stand well apart. Their breath froze as they panted, painting Menduarthis and Hweilan in fine frost.