'And keep thinking about how we're going to get back to the Zaise? Risala looked at the soiled savages as she tried to scour the blood from her blade with a twist of dead grass. 'We're caught between a wall and a sword here, aren't we?'
'I hope not.' Kheda tried to sound convincing. 'Wherever these savages live, we know there won't be a wizard, or a dragon. If they're all in awe of Naldeth, we should be safe enough from them. So we can take some time to eat and rest and then find a way to slip back to the Zaise unnoticed.'
Risala drew closer to him, surveying the waving grasses with mistrust. 'You don't think those women with the feathers might dispute Naldeth's claim?'
'Let's hope they've had the sense to flee before he can kill them too.' Kheda spoke quietly enough that neither wizard heard him.
Risala fell silent as they hurried on through the grasses. As they reached the crumbling bank, Naldeth pushed past the warlord, leaving Velindre swaying but at least standing unsupported on her own two feet. The young mage drew a shining ridge of mud up out of the water to give them all a safe path to the far side. The wild men's murmurs grew loud with approval.
'I'd say they've got a better deal in a wizard after this morning's work,' Velindre commented. 'And I think they realise it.'
Cries of relief and astonishment drowned out her words. Those who had been blinded by Naldeth's earlier spell were crying out and weeping. Some stood staring at their hands, others blinking wildly or knuckling their eyes as they found they could see once more.
'You undid your spell,' Risala murmured.
Naldeth's smile was brief and crooked. 'It just unravelled when I drew up the walkway. The elements here are so unpredictable.'
The spearmen closest to him threw themselves down in obeisance again.
'It should secure us more goodwill, regardless.' Kheda watched those savages unencumbered by spears laden with fowl meat or busy with reassuring their comrades scramble down onto the mud. More deftly than he had expected, the wild men scooped up fish left flapping on the surface of the walkway and dug nameless wriggling things out of the silt before they could burrow to safety. They turned, smiles broad on their dirty faces, bowing and nodding their gratitude to Naldeth.
'You've sealed their fealty by feeding them,' Risala said with sudden realisation.
Kheda nodded slowly. 'Any slave in the Archipelago knows he's safe as long as his master gives him sailer and salt.'
Is this going to make it harder or more easy to leave when we judge the time is right? Are these people going to want to lose this new wizard who saves them and feeds them so readily?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
As soon as Kheda stepped up onto the far bank, he had his sword and hacking blade ready.
What horrors are lurking on this side of the river?
'Where are we going?' Risala scrambled up to stand close beside him.
Kheda saw that all the savages were looking at Naldeth, who was negotiating the awkward climb up the crumbling bank. 'It looks as if we're all waiting on your convenience, Master Mage.'
'All right,' the wizard said uncertainly.
'Just start walking,' Kheda said curtly. 'Let's hope they show you where to go.'
To his relief, he was proved right. As Naldeth took a few hesitant steps, three eager savages who weren't burdened with fish or fowl flesh hurried ahead, half-turning to draw the wizard onward with beckoning hands and anxiously ingratiating smiles.
Kheda saw they were following the path he had cut through the vicious grasses the night before.
Was it only last night? It seems like an age ago.
He glanced at Risala and saw her face tight with tension. 'I think it'll be all right,' he said softly.
'Do you?' She stared at him. 'I'd feel better if we'd seen some sign that suggested as much.'
'I think we can trust the way these people are behaving towards us,' Kheda retorted.
I'll trust that and my own instincts before I rely on
some omen of the sky or earthly compass. Can't you accept that?
Risala didn't answer. As Kheda walked on, he concentrated on scouring the clumps of grass for any sign of danger. Clouds of tiny black flies were drawn to the fish and bird meat but nothing bigger had shown itself by the time they reached the steep barren slope leading up to the plateau where the bulbous barrel-like trees stood.
The fissures Naldeth and Velindre had opened up in the ground still gaped, the sandy earth deep within still dark where the dew's dampness lurked beyond the increasing strength of the sun. Several of the trees leaned drunkenly askew, their roots flailing impotently in the empty air. One had toppled over completely, an ugly gash in the sustaining earth cutting its feet from under it. Those mighty trees that had burned had been reduced to ragged black shells, the soil all around them grey and lifeless.
Naldeth clicked his tongue in exasperation and waved a hand at the ruined expanse. Sand began flowing like water to fill up the crevices. The wild men picking their way cautiously across the broken ground halted, their murmurs half-appreciative, half-apprehensive. Naldeth turned his attention to the fallen tree. Its exposed roots writhed and the stunted branches thrashed as it strove to stand upright again. Those savages closest to it sprang away with cries of alarm. The rest halted, some kneeling and others cringing as they all turned to the mage.
'Leave it.' Velindre gave Naldeth a discreet shove in the small of his back. 'Save your strength.'
Naldeth sighed and let the tree crash back to the ground. The savages hurried onwards with visible relief. Once they had left the barren expanse of the mighty barrel trees, they found themselves toiling up an apparently endless shallow slope dotted with thistly plants and the
strange scaly fingers of thorny green spikes. The sun was beating down strongly now and Kheda was sweating.
Where are we going to find water in this desert, so far from the river?
As he slowed to mop his brow, savages hurried past him. The foremost began shouting and Kheda saw movement ahead. A gap opened up in the indistinct green as men and women appeared, using sticks and spears to drag aside a woven barrier of thorns and spines.
Kheda took a moment to look around. Behind the tangle of vegetation, the land rose bare and brown, the earth washed away to leave scars of broken rock. Looking inland, he saw that this whole expanse of higher land fell away sharply into deep gullies choked with twisted nut trees and tangled thistly plants. On the seaward side, as best he could judge, the spiny forest sprawled all the way to the cliffs.
So these people at least have the wits to claim land with natural defences on two sides and reasonably open scrub on the other two.
'What do I do now?' Naldeth hovered at Kheda's elbow.
'You look calm and in control.' He pushed the younger man forward. 'And we'll be following you, looking equally confident. Just remember how hounds can rip the throat out of a foe who cowers too low.'
Risala was stony-faced. Velindre still looked drained, though her eyes were brightening with anticipation and a hint of discreet menace. Kheda looked to the old woman, who was still dogging his footsteps, in case her expression might give him some clue as to what to expect. Unfortunately her expression was as impenetrable as Risala's.
Naldeth walked slowly through the rough opening in the spiky barricade. Yellow-green sprawls of the fleshy spiny plants grew along the inside. The wild men separated to
pick their way through this low maze. Those who had appeared to greet them waited, spears ready.
As Risala and Velindre fell into step behind him, Kheda used his hacking blade to knock away the more threatening of the fat spiny leaves. A murmur of awe made him look up. Those who had not seen his steel before were gaping at it. Kheda paused and swung at one of the taller paddle-shaped leaves. It fell to the ground with a soggy thud, cleanly sliced in two. He looked around, his face impassive as he held the gaze of any who caught his eye.