CHAPTER THIRTY
Hweilan and Menduarthis crouched in the trees on the top of a small hollow. Menduarthis had put his light away. After leaving Grilga and his band, they had gone swiftly downhill, and the foliage was not as thick down here. Parts of the path were even open to the sky, and there was enough moon and starlight that even Hweilan could see fairly well. A wall of trees and vines ringed the hollow, but farther down, the brush seemed to thin out, and Hweilan could see bits of snow here and there.
"Damn," said Menduarthis. "There are guards."
"Where?"
"In the hollow. I'd hoped Grilga might summon all his forces to go after… that thing."
"I don't see any guards."
"Of course you don't."
The pounding in her mind had dampened somewhat, but it had not gone away. "We don't really have time for this, Menduarthis."
"If the guards had gone off with Grilga and his band, this place would be alive with birds. Owls mostly. But it's dead quiet. That means sentries."
"We need to hurry," she said. The feeling of approaching doom was getting stronger again. Making her bones itch. "You have a plan for getting past the sentries?"
"Bluffing. Seemed to work on Grilga, eh?"
"And Tirron?"
Menduarthis sighed. "You have a better idea?"
"No."
He stood and offered his hand. "Then let's do this."
They walked down a winding path toward a thick wall of trees and vines. As they drew near, Menduarthis said, "Now, remember-"
"I know. You do the talking."
Several steps later, leaves rustled over them and two of the green creatures, much like the ones from Grilga's band, dropped onto the path, one before them, one behind. Both had bows, with arrows pulled to their cheeks.
Menduarthis stopped and spread his hands. Hweilan followed his example.
The one in front of them relaxed his blow slightly and said, "Menduarthis? Why are you here?"
The one behind Hweilan lowered his bow.
"We need to see the prisoner," said Menduarthis.
The first creature narrowed his eyes to glowing slits and said, "Why?"
Hweilan could barely keep herself from bouncing on her toes. Her entire head was thrumming. "Menduarthis," she said in Damaran. "Hurry. Please."
"What's this?" said the first guard, his words harsh and angry. "Who is this one?"
Menduarthis turned to Hweilan and spoke in Common. "It is most rude to speak of our hosts in front of their backs." "What is the meaning of all this?" said the guard. Horns broke the surrounding silence of the wood. The same warning clarions as before, but these were much closer. Definitely this side of the river. Perhaps even just over the crest of the hill, Hweilan thought.
"Invaders are in the woods," said Menduarthis.
"We heard. Drurtha and I guard the prisoner. Why are you here?"
"Just you two?" said Menduarthis.
"We two. Now why-?"
"That simplifies things," said Menduarthis. He thrust his hands outward, one toward each of the guards. Currents of air, focused like battering rams, shot through the trees and hit the guards, snapping both arrows and knocking the bows from their hands. He flicked his wrists again, and the currents came back around, striking each of them from behind and pummeling them to the ground. Bits of leaves went flying from their clothing.
"Get that one!" Menduarthis shouted, and leaped for the first guard.
Hweilan threw down her bow and jumped for the second guard. His quiver had spilled its arrows all over the ground, and he was still stunned from the pummeling, but as soon as Hweilan grabbed his arm, he screamed, kicked at her, and tried to twist around to bite. Only her thick glove and coat sleeve saved her. He was no larger than a six-year-old child, and very thin, but he twisted and thrashed like a sack full of cats. Hweilan yanked him up by the arm, spun him around, and grabbed him in a fierce hug. Still he kicked and thrashed.
"I thought you were going to talk our way past!" she screamed.
Menduarthis had the other guard in a similar hold. "Changed my mind."
"Now what?"
The little creature was still thrashing and wailing in her arms.
Menduarthis walked over, his own prisoner putting up quite a fight. "Listen, you two!" he said.
It did no good.
Menduarthis threw his charge to the ground, belly first, and straddled his back, pinning the creature's arms underneath his own knees. His hands now free, Menduarthis twirled his fingers, and the guards' screams suddenly stopped.
"That's right," said Menduarthis. "I can rip the breath right out of you. Or"-he twirled a different pattern, and Hweilan heard a great gasp forced into each of the creatures-'or I can pop you like pustules. So you will both calm yourselves. Now."
Air exploded out of both guards. The one in Hweilan's arms went limp, as did the one beneath Menduarthis.
"Much better," said Menduarthis. "Now, the girl and I are going to see your prisoner. Then we'll be leaving. You can tell Grilga whatever you want. Never saw us. Ate us. I don't care. But you will cease to bother me. Understood?"
Hweilan retrieved her bow while Menduarthis kept a tight grip on the guards' arms. But it seemed unnecessary. After Menduarthis's threat, all the fight had gone out of them. There was still anger and hurt in their eyes, but a great deal of fear as well.
The horns had stopped, but the wind had picked up again, setting the entire wood to rustling. Knowing Menduarthis as they did-at least by reputation-this only served to make their captives even more nervous. Wisps of cloud were racing past the moon and gathering overhead.
"Oh, damn," said Menduarthis.
"What?"
Menduarthis spoke as he led Hweilan along the wall of vines and trees. "Kunin Gatar. I think she might be headed this way. And I don't think she's happy. Let's make this doubly damned quick, shall we?"
Prisoners in tow, they ran.
"How far is the way out of here?" Hweilan asked.
"Skip, hop, and a stone's throw," said Menduarthis, and they came to an opening in the wall. "Let's see to your pup," he said, and rushed inside.
They ran through a tunnel formed of foliage, leaving the soft ligh of the night behind. Holding the prisoners, Menduarthis could not retrieve his light. Hweilan followed the sound of his movement, his boots kicking their way through eons' worth of dead leaves.
They emerged from the tunnel and into a large area devoid of trees. Clouds hid the moon entirely now, and the last of the stars were fading behind their haze. But faerie light lit the area before them. A fall of glowing frost, much like the ones Hweilan had seen in Ellestharn, only much larger, fell over a low cliff to their right and gathered in a narrow pool. Small orbs of light, none larger than her fist, floated soundlessly throughout the area, reflecting off the fresh snow in every color of the rainbow.
A huge tree, shaped like an ancient oak but utterly black and leafless, grew out of the glowing pool at the bottom of the glowing fall. It towered at least fifty feet in the air, but its lower branches, thick as battering rams, bent low to the ground. Vines draped the tree, and thorns covered the vines. Tangled among the vines, like a fly in a spider's web, was Lendri. Naked, his pale skin bled from dozens of places where the thorns had raked away great gouges of skin or cut deep into the flesh beneath.
"Quickly, Hweilan," said Menduarthis. He was watching the sky nervously. "Every moment counts now."
He needn't have said so. The pounding in her brain told her all she needed to know.
She ran to Lendri, Menduarthis following with their prisoners.
Mindful of the vines and thorns, Hweilan knelt in front of Lendri. He raised his head to try to look at her. She reached in among the thorns, slow and careful, and brushed the hair from his face.