The Towers

Copyright (C) 1997 by Charles Tryon


11: Alone

"Attack! Attack! We're being attacked!"
GreyEagle was jolted awake by the cries around her. She rolled out of her blankets and grabbed for her sword in the darkness. Ormec raced past her, headed in the direction of the road. GreyEagle looked towards where the horses were tied and could just make out the shadowy forms of figures moving there. There were more noises behind her.
"Horton! Lets go!" Sucaba shouted, scrambling for some of his things. The mage leapt on the dragon's back as it went by and the two burst into the air with a terrible scream.
Judging from the sounds around her, GreyEagle guessed that they were being attacked from at least two directions. If they weren't careful, they would be splintered into small, ineffective groups and picked off one by one. "Someone, throw some wood on the fire!" she yelled as she snatched up her shield.
"No time for tea woman," the Sumatran yelled as he ran past her. "Ogres are attacking! Fighters to arms! This way!" Raal ran off in the direction of the crashing noises, directly opposite from the direction Ormec had gone.
GreyEagle turned to follow, but then remembered Marianne and Laurel. She couldn't the two of them alone. They would be defenseless standing by themselves. It didn't take a strategic genius to smell an ambush here. It could easily be that the intent of the attack was to draw people away from the center of the camp, making their things easy picking for any thieves who might then sneak in. Besides, she was not about to start taking orders from a rat. She looked to where Ormec was already attacking the figures by the horses and tried to guess how many were there.
Recuahc brushed by her, clenching his long sword. As he passed, he turned for a moment, and in the flickering light of the fire, GreyEagle saw a look of hatred and furry so intense that she shrank back.
"Stay here with Marianne," he hissed. "If anyone comes, yell!" GreyEagle quickly nodded and Recuahc sprinted after Ormec, a growling scream rising from his throat as he ran. He circled around the opposite side of the horses from Ormec, falling on the figures there from behind.
Laurel flashed past her, running swift and silent as a great cat. With a barely perceptible flip of her wrist, a dagger whistled past Recuahc's ear, and there was a sharp cry from the shadows as the blade found its mark.
"GreyEagle?" She spun around to see Marianne crouched near her, her eyes wide.
"The fire. We need more light. Throw some branches on it, quickly."
Coyle stood on the opposite side of the fire, his sharp eyes sweeping the darkness around them. He too had guessed that the group by the horses might be no more than a diversion. GreyEagle swore under her breath as the others spread themselves out all over the camp area. She could not see any of the mages, but she suspected that they were engaged over in the area where Raal had disappeared. She hesitated to follow though, fearing another ambush.
Marianne quickly gathered some branches from the woodpile and was about to toss them on the coals of the fire when it suddenly exploded in a shower of sparks and brightly colored flames. Marianne screamed as the blast of heat and light threw both her and GreyEagle back.
Suddenly, everything was dark.
It didn't take long for GreyEagle to recovered her senses, but she discovered that, while she could hear the noises of the battle going on around her, she could see nothing. At first she thought that it was just because the fire had gone out, but the darkness around her was complete. Her heart sank as she realized that the explosion must have blinded her.
"Marianne! Coyle! I can't see!" she shouted angrily. She tried to stand, but quickly stumbled and fell to the ground again. She thought that she might be able to guess the direction of the fire from its heat, but the explosion had put it out completely. Everything around her was cold and dark.
Coyle groaned. "GreyEagle? Where are you?" At least he was still alive, though she couldn't tell if anything had happened to him. From somewhere near by, she could hear Marianne's frightened whimper, so she too was still alive.
"I'm over here," she answered, straining to see anything through the blackness which wrapped itself around her. "Where are you? Are you alright?"
"I'm okay - can't see a thing though. Just keep your head down. Where is Marianne?"
"She's here by me."
"Good. Is she hurt?"
"I don't know."
Coyle swore.
GreyEagle still clutched her sword and shield. She carefully stood to her feet and held them up in front of her. She tried to relax her mind, to let it extend itself out through her sword as she had done so many times before, but it was useless. Her senses were so jangled by the explosion that she could hardly stand up straight much less fight. At least she could try to look threatening.
The noises of battle tumbled around her in a mad whirlwind. She had some sense from the voices that most of the fighting was going on by the horses, but there were also sounds from further away. Trying to fix her sense of direction from the sounds around her, she faced towards where she thought the horses were. Then she heard the sound of footsteps running towards them and she clutched her shield and sword tightly. There was nowhere to run, so she held her ground.
Abruptly, the footsteps stopped, followed quickly by the thud of something hitting the ground.
Suddenly, a screaming cry tore through the darkness, a cry that dropped GreyEagle to her knees. At first she thought it was Horton, but then she heard the dragon add his own scream, rising from a gurgle to an ear splitting cry of victory, and she realized that the first cry had been human. She shivered uncontrollably as the echoes of the cry died out in the stuffy night air.
Then all was deathly quiet.
GreyEagle knelt in silence for what felt like an eternity. There were no sounds around her other than the sound of her own ragged breathing. She could not even hear Marianne, though she knew that she had been only a few feet from her before. Even the normal background sounds of the night had been silenced, petrified by to dual screams of the man and the dragon. She wondered for a moment if everything around her had died.
Then, she began to hear the voices of the others as they returned to what had once been the campfire. While she could hear them around her, she could still see nothing of what was going on. She slowly sank to the ground again, wondering what kind of damage she had done to her eyes and if she would ever be able to see again.
Laurel's voice floated over the others as she checked out injuries. Eventually, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. "Who is it?" she asked, straining to see anything which might identify it might be. There was no answer. "I'm OK," she said, guessing from the lack of a vocal response that it might be the silent mage. Slowly, softly, the touch moved, first down one arm and then the next, probing for injuries. Somehow, the touch seemed to cause her to relax. She quietly submitted to the examination.
Then, as abruptly as it had begun, the touch left. She realized now though that she could make out the dim outline of the figure standing over her. The tall hat told her that it was in fact the mage. "Thank you. I'm... fine," she stammered, trying to force her legs to bring her back to a standing position. "Just a little dazed by the fire going up in my face. I should be fine in a little while." The mage regarded her silently for a moment longer, and then nodded and turned to move on.
GreyEagle shivered again. The fire had been extinguished by the explosion, and it was cold and dark. After a few minutes, she began to hear the crackle of the flames licking at the small branches as someone began to rebuild the fire. She looked and once again made out the dim silhouette of the silent mage, this time stooped over the campfire. As the flames caught on and once again spread their light around the area, she found that her sight was slowly returning, though the others still floated by as blurred images, ghosts in the chill of the night.
In the distance she could hear Horton's cry and guessed that the pair was still patrolling the area for others who might have tried to flee after the bungled attack on the camp. Ormec's grumbles filtered back to her from the bushes around the camp as he continued to stomp through them, still looking for a fight.
"Looks like the mage over there got a slight case of indigestion," Conrad said as he walked back into the flickering light of the campfire. "Good thing Horton doesn't breath fire, or I might have been toasted along side of him! He was the one that made the fire flare up, and I think he had worse planned until I got to him. Good thing Horton kept him from getting away."
"My guess is that they planned to draw us off from the center of camp, and collect up our things at their leisure," GreyEagle added.
Conrad scanned the area quickly. "Well, it looks like they didn't make it. The mage over there had a few items of interest on him though." He held up a pair of daggers and a small pouch. "I didn't think he would have any more use for these, so I took the liberty of retrieving them," he added with a smirk. "There wasn't much else left after the job Horton did on him." GreyEagle could still smell the rank and acidic remains, and it turned her stomach.
Recuahc continued to pace agitatedly back and forth, brushing off Laurel's attempts to attend to his wounds. GreyEagle could not remember a time when she had seen him seethe so. Finally, he let out an angry hiss and pushed Laurel aside. The firelight flashed off the blade of the dagger in his hand as he headed off into the bushes in the direction of where the ogres had been. Laurel stood with her hands on her hips for a moment, watching him go, and then strode off into the bushes after him.
GreyEagle took a step back as Laurel went past and tripped over something on the ground under her. She let out a muffled cry as she landed on something soft. In the darkness, she could barely make out the slumped forms of two men on the ground. They were beginning to stir, so she guessed that these had been the source of the footsteps she had heard, and that one of the mages had dropped them with a sleep spell.
"What do we do with these?" she asked.
Trouble spat. "Question the scum to find out if there are more of them around." He walked over and jabbed at one roughly with the toe of his boot. "Show them the hissing remains of their comrade as encouragement. Our lives may depend on getting answers from them. As for me, I am going to check the remains of the dead ogres." He spun around and stomped off after Recuahc.
Horton glided into the clearing and settled in a short distance from the others. He hunched down at the edge of the camp, a patch of blackness against the night, with only the shimmering glow of his eyes to mark his presence. What surprised GreyEagle though was that there was no sign of Sucaba with him.
GreyEagle's sight had cleared enough now to be able to carefully walk around now. She stood up again and looked around. Recuahc, Laurel and Trouble were still off where Raal had said the ogres were attacking, and she could hear various noises and shouts coming from there. They did not sound like the noises of battle, and she wondered what might be going on. She had no idea where Sucaba might be.
She found Marianne near the fire. Coyle was busy bandaging her face and hands. Marianne had been burned by the fire when it had exploded, but other than that, she appeared to be ok, though obviously shaken.
"What! Has nothing been done with these two?" Trouble's angry cry announced his return to the camp. "Do I have to do everything myself?" he fumed, throwing up his hands and glaring at GreyEagle. The two bandits still lay on the ground where they had dropped, and Trouble grabbed a section of rope, bound the two bandits and dragged them over close to where the remains of the dead mage still smoldered.
Sucaba walked into the clearing leading a number of horses. "Well," he said cheerfully, "at least we shouldn't call it a totally wasted night. I found these a short distance off. They're a little spooked, but they should be OK. We may as well take them with us. No sense, leaving them out here in the wild." He smiled cunningly. "They were even so good as to leave us their supplies." He walked over to GreyEagle and handed the lead on the horse he was holding over to her.
She quickly checked them over. They were not the best of mounts -thin and overworked, with poorly made shoes and tacking, but they looked like they could still travel.
"Yes, these should turn over a few gold pieces when we reach town, if nothing else, and the supplies will help." With a gentle tug on the lead horse, she headed towards where the other horses were tied.
She suddenly remembered as she walked how she had seen some of the bandits over by the horses during the initial moments of the attack, and she broke into a cold sweat. It was dark enough ahead of her that she could not tell if any of the horses had been untied, or had perhaps run off in the confusion. She quickly reached the trees where they had secured them earlier and counted noses. To her relief, it looked like they were all still there, frightened and jumpy, but still secure. GreyEagle stepped lightly from one horse to the next, speaking quietly to then and softly stroking their sides. Slowly, her soft words began to take effect, and they ceased snorting and pawing the earth. Once she had them quieted, she tied the other horses to a near by tree for the night.
She stopped for a moment by Krifel. He pushed her gently with his nose and blew a snort of warm air in her face. GreyEagle laughed and buried her face in his maine. He was a good horse. In the darkness, she ran her hands over his back and down his flanks. He was growing stronger every day, and she would be able to ride him again very soon.
She sighed. It would be nice to just stay here with the horses, but she had other duties at the camp. The campfire was once again burning brightly and she could see activity around the two captured thieves. Giving Krifel one final pat on the rump, she headed back.
As GreyEagle approached the fire, she heard a shrill hiss behind her. She turned to see Raal standing there with his finger pointing accusingly at her. His eyes glowed red in the light of the flames.
"There you are," he said loudly, "wandering around doing nothing while the rest of us clean up." The rat hissed again "You say how much you distrust magic," he went on in his best guilt dripping voice, "and then you just stand around while two of your companion magic users are under attack. Humph! You should at least be glad that they did not hesitate in coming to your aid."
GreyEagle was shocked, and the blood quickly raced to her face. "My dear rat," she shot back through clenched teeth, "while you were running off to glorious battle, I remained behind you to watch not only all of your magical equipment which you felt laying scattered around the campsite, but also to defend those of us who are not so well equipped to defend themselves, and who's services in healing and tending wounds have already used to our aid. Had our attackers possessed more intelligence than simple ogres and thieves, they could have easily slipped in and surprised you from behind, or at the very least, plundered our belongings while you were off stroking your ego on the front line".
"Stroking my ego?" Raal interrupted, "I was on guard duty! As to covering our backs, you certainly would not have been there to help, as I expected you to be."
"I do not know what you expect," GreyEagle answered, becoming more agitated by the moment, "but I should think you would thank me rather than continue to sow discord in the group."
"Discord in the group? Discord in the group!" the rat squealed, "I reported where the ogres were. You were asked for help and only stood flat footed. Perhaps you are the one who should consider your commitment to the group, to all of us." Raal stared at her for a moment, with his hail twitching angrily. "No, I do not thank you," he spat. With that, he turned his back on GreyEagle and stomped off. GreyEagle stared after him, too angry to even think of something to say. Whatever made the rat think that it could order her around she could only imagine, but it was obvious that it thought that she had been too frightened to move, or worse. She glared around at the others, thinking that someone might speak up for her, but either no-one else had heard the rat, or they were too busy with other things.
The others were in fact already busy with the two remaining thieves. Trouble had begun to question them, but they were either too groggy still from the sleep spell, or too frightened to speak, and had apparently not given Trouble answers which satisfied him.
She spun around at the sound of crashing noises in the bushes behind her and saw Recuahc striding towards them. He was carrying something, but GreyEagle could not see what it was, until he stepped into the clearing and the light of the fire. GreyEagle gasped and took a step back when she saw that he was carrying the bloodied and dismembered heads of the two ogres.
Recuahc strode directly to where the two bandits were seated on the ground and threw down one of the ogre heads at their feet. Still holding the other head, he cuffed one of the thieves across the mouth with the back of his hand with such force that the man was knocked to the ground. The other thief looked on in terror.
"Consider your answers carefully," Recuahc hissed, bending down so that he was only inches away from the face of the second thief. "These two did not answer our questions, and you can see what we did with them." He looked over to where Horton stood a short distance off, slowly licking his chops. "I am sure that our dragon friend here would find you a tastier morsel than the bodies of the ogres we left to rot in the bushes over there, unless of course, you can give us some answers."
GreyEagle's stomach turned at the whole scene, and she thought she would be sick. None of the others appeared to be willing to interfere - Coyle stood by a few yards off, saying nothing. GreyEagle looked back and forth between Recuahc and the mages snickering in the background at his speech. She could not believe that this was the same Recuahc that she knew - sensitive and kind, soft spoken, always cracking jokes. She knew of the pain in his soul over the loss of his family, but that it could produce this sort of outburst frightened her so that her stomach rose in her throat. She had faced many different foes, some far more powerful than she, but to see such hatred and evil in someone she considered a friend threatened to knock her senses from her.
She was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that she had to get away. She could still remember the hideous scream of the man as he had been laid low by Horton's acid breath, and she had no desire to see another man fed to the dragon. She turned her back on the scene and walked towards the horses. She did not even have the courage to tell Coyle she was leaving. She just had to get away from all of them. She did not even care if she ever returned. She pushed her thoughts of Coyle and Marianne and Schimray and their quest behind her. All she could think of was getting away.
Krifel nuzzled her shoulder as she stepped next to him, and she turned to bury her face in his warm neck. Still, the voices at the campfire buzzed in her head.
Suddenly, GreyEagle reached up and loosed the halter which kept Krifel tied to the tree. Her hands were shaking so that she had a difficult time loosening the knot, but eventually she had it off. She swung up on to his back and gave him a little kick. Krifel seemed to sense her mind as she pressed her knees into his side, and he quickly backed away from the other horses and silently swung out to the road and the blackness of the night.
There was only a thin sliver of a moon overhead, and the darkness seemed to close in around her, but the road was good and Krifel was sure footed as he quickly picked up speed. She crouched down and urged him forward. The cool air ripped at her face and hair and stung in her eyes. The rhythm of the pounding hoofs on the hard packed dirt and Krifel's steady breathing mixed with the roar of the wind in her ears. She wanted to nothing but ride, to cleanse her soul in the pure night air.
After some time, GreyEagle pulled Krifel up and slowed to a trot. The stars sparkled brightly in the clear sky above her, and lit the land around her with a faint silver light. She was still angry, angry at the rat for his insulting tongue, angry at the others for their cruelty to the prisoners, angry that no one had stood up for her in the face of the rat's accusations, angry at Schimray for sending them off on this whole mess, but by now the anger had started to loose its edge. She rode on for a while though, letting the emotions of the night slowly drain away from her into the darkness around her.
She suddenly became angry with herself. "Here I am running away from the problem again," she whispered. "When am I going to learn?" Krifel shook his head as if he understood, and GreyEagle laughed in spite of herself.
GreyEagle turned as she heard the sound of pounding hoofbeats approaching rapidly from behind her. She hissed quietly at her own foolishness and jerked Krifel around off of the road and into a small stand of tall bushes which she could just make out in the faint light. The branches scratched at her face and arms, but she pressed herself as flat as she could against Krifel's back and held her tongue. There was a small break in the bushes and she stopped there and slid down from Krifel's back. Hardly daring to breath, she crept back to the edge of the thicket to where she could see the road.
The hoofbeats continued to approach, and in a moment, she saw two dark forms hurtling past her. She could barely make out the riders as they past, showering dirt and small stones in their wake, but it was clear that whatever business they were on was far to urgent to allow time to notice the huddled form of a small frightened girl, and they had no intention of stopping. Quickly, the sound passed into the darkness, and soon GreyEagle was left once again with only the familiar sounds of the night. She was surprised to discover that she was soaked with sweat, and her heart was still beating rapidly within her chest.
She fell forward as Krifel nudged her from behind. "So you think the danger is past, and you want to get going again?" she laughed. She stood up and the two carefully made their way back to the road. When they reached its edge, GreyEagle stopped. "I suppose you are right. The others will probably wonder where we are, and that rat will probably start to complain again about how unreliable I am." She bristled again with the thought of the rat. "However, I am not ready to go back just yet."
She looked up at the stars to judge what time it was. Not yet midnight. She shook her head. Sooner or later she would have to go back, but for now she walked for a while in the dry grass which lined the edge of the road.
Her thoughts turned back to Recuahc and the look on his face and the hiss which had escaped from his teeth as he had taken off towards the bandits. What could have caused such a transformation to come over him? She remembered the story he had told her of how his family had been murdered. She shivered as the sight of him holding the severed heads of the ogres in front of the prisoners flashed once more before her eyes. Bitterness bred hatred, and hatred bred cruelty and every kind of vile thing.
She sat down at the top of a small rise next to the road. Krifel stamped impatiently next to her. "Oh, be quiet," she scolded him softly. "We will go back when I am good and ready. Let them think for a while about whether they need me or not, if they think about me at all." She picked up a small stone and flung it into the darkness. "I'm feeling sorry for myself again, aren't I Krifel?" she sighed. "Just like a child. Marianne wouldn't have gotten angry. She knows better." She leaned back to look up at the stars. "I really should be getting back," she said with a yawn.
GreyEagle awoke with a start and wondered why she was so cold before she suddenly remembered where she was and what had happened. She looked around quickly to find Krifel, but she could not see him in the darkness. Swearing under her breath, she whistled for him, hoping that he was still within earshot. The hilltop where she sat was clear of trees, but the moon had already set, and the stars cast barely enough light for her to see.
Krifel was nowhere in sight.
She whistled again. How could she have been so foolish? Still, she was surprised that Krifel had wandered off like that. It wasn't like him. She waited and whistled again. Still no response. She carefully walked down the side of the hill and circled the base of it, looking for any signs of where he might have gone. The light was too poor to pick up tracks though, and she had not thought to bring anything like a torch or even her flint and steel. Looking back up at the stars, she guessed that she must have slept for nearly two hours. The wind was getting colder and she hugged herself in an attempt to get warm.
She sat back down to try to think. "I've done it now - gotten myself in big trouble," she muttered under breath. "Sucaba will never let me live this one down, if I make it back at all." She tried to think where Krifel might have gone. She whistled again, and waited for another ten minutes or so. Fears began to crowd in on her, faces and shadows drifting around her in the darkness, and she was tempted to suddenly bolt. Slowly, she pushed the fears away. She had spent nights out on her own before, tending sheep. This should be no different, right? Somehow the thought is not too encouraging...
There was nothing she could do. There was not enough light to track Krifel, and she could not exactly wait until morning. She had no idea how far she was from the camp, but she suspected that, at the rate she had been riding, it could be a couple of hours to walk back, if nothing happened. Finally, she knew she could wait no longer. Perhaps Krifel had headed back towards the camp. In any event, she would have to start walking. Slowly, she stood and began the trek back.
She had only been walking for a short time when suddenly the air before her seemed to explode in a flurry of darkness. Her heart leapt to her throat as she stumbled back and suddenly found herself face to face with a very angry dragon.
"Enjoying your little walk?" Horton hissed at her. "Do you care that you have the entire camp in an uproar, thinking you might have been carried away by more bandits. Just what were you thinking of to take off like that." The dragon began to circle her, but GreyEagle nervously stood her ground, too frightened to even move. "You're lucky I found you before anything else did. I have been searching for you for over an hour."
"I... I..." GreyEagle stammered. Suddenly she wished that she could shrink down to the size of an ant and crawl under a rock. "I'm sorry," she managed finally. "I wanted to get away by myself for a while, and I accidentally fell asleep, and then Krifel wandered off, and I couldn't find him, and... and... and..." She tried to control the tears, but found they were slipping by nonetheless. "I know I shouldn't pay attention to what the rat says," she said, throwing up her hands. "Now I've just given him cause to insult me more." She forced herself to stop. Struggling to regain her composure, she whispered, "Thank you for coming for me."
"Don't be too quick to thank me," Horton muttered. "We will see what Sucaba, and Coyle, have to say when you return. You had better grow up and get a hold of your emotions girl, or you may not live to grow up."
"I know," she answered in a whisper. "You haven't seen Krifel, have you?"
"Krifel? What is a krifel?" Horton asked, tilting his head to one side.
"My horse, only not the one I have been riding for the past few days. He was with me when I came out here, but he wandered off."
"Your horse? Wandered off?"
"Well, yes, while I was asleep, only I didn't mean to..."
"Sleeping?"
GreyEagle hung her head again. "I was tired."
"Tired..."
Horton blinked a couple of times and then shook his head. "I saw only you, but if he was in the area, I am sure he is long gone now." The dragon gave a sly grin. "For some reason, horses seem to panic when I'm around. I can't understand it." Suddenly, he shook his head. "In any event, I am taking you back to camp now."
"You are? How?" GreyEagle asked, backing up a step.
"On my back if you would like," Horton growled, "or in my claws if you would prefer."
"Oh! I guess on your back then," she replied quickly, carefully eyeing the great white claws. The thought of flying, especially in the dark, suddenly brought her to the edge of panic. However, it didn't look like the topic was open for discussion.
Horton bent low to the ground in front of her. She had seen Sucaba climb up on the dragon's back countless times, but somehow when she tried to do it, it wasn't nearly as easy as it had seemed for the mage. She slipped and banged her chin on the tough scales of Horton's back twice before she made it up and got herself situated. There was precious little to hang on to, and the scales were smooth and slippery. She closed her eyes tightly and hung on as best as she could.
With a sickening lurch, Horton sprang from the ground.
Next...

7 April, 1998