Chapter 23 - Bad to Worse

One of the horses was still floundering in the water. It was mostly just panicking, and once it was calmed down it would be fine, and anyone could guide it out of the water.

Most of the ice was broken up at that point. There were large gaps between the largest chunks. She pulled her bow away from her and dropped it quickly on the soft ground, along with her quiver. She dove off the bank, dropping into one of the watery gaps.

The water was fairly deep right there, and she had to push herself down to the bottom. She found him there, unconscious. She knew he could be saved if she was fast enough. She grabbed him and pulled. His lungs were full of water, and between that, the armor, and his own weight, it was all she could do to get him to move at all.

'I know we have disrespected you,' she thought to the river. Rivers were living things to her people, and the magic spell had been a command on Jetha's part. Her own people never commanded, and so when they asked things of nature, nature was generally agreeable.

'Please help me now, these people know not our ways,' she pleaded, pulling more and starting to feel the desperate need for air. If she let go of him, she told herself, he would die.

She pulled again and moved him some, but it was a long way to air. The current picked up and he shifted with it. It made him easier to grip, so she adjusted her hold on him and kicked with all her might.

She she tried to quell the rising panic, as her heart pounded angrily at her chest and her lungs burned. For a moment, she almost gave in to the temptation to just give up. But the current swept them upwards and for a moment her head rose above the surface of the water. Kyla gasped in as big a breath of air as she could before she sank back down again. Trying to anticipate the bobbing up and down that the water was now causing her to do, she hoisted Ullden upwards, into the current with her.

The water was carrying them further away from the bank, and the river was moving faster beneath the surface than it had appeared before. In the starlit night, she could see the others slowly shrinking smaller. One of them was on horseback, riding towards her, and she focused on that person whenever the current brought her upwards again. She kept kicking as hard as she could, but realized she'd never have enough energy to get him to the bank on her own. However, she also knew he didn't have much time. She needed to get him above water fast.

Her shoulder brushed up against something and she grabbed hold of it with one hand, trying to use it as leverage to hoist herself further up. It wasn't much, a large branch of wood that was floating in the water, but she was able to lift Ullden closer to the surface when she wedged it under one of her armpits. The person was getting closer, almost alongside Kyla on the bank. It looked as if it was Niza, and she had brought a coil of rope. Kyla did her best to try and kick closer to the edge, in case the rope wasn't long enough to reach. Niza rode past, stopping a short distance further down the river before trying to throw the rope out towards Kyla.

The rope sailed towards her before falling a couple feet too short. The current slowed, but pulled her farther from the shore. Ullden's body shifted in the current and nearly pulled her from the branch.

'I should remove his armor,' she thought as she struggled with his weight. She grabbed and kicked harder. She knew that he was going to need that armor to give them a chance at surviving. She had to save him and his armor. She prayed to the river once more, asking for just a little help.

The current softened, and pushed against he less. She kicked desperately, and got a little closer to the bank. Niza had reeled the rope back in and threw it again. This time the distance was right, but the girl's aim had been off. The rope landed a little upstream of her.

She kicked against the current, hoping that she could slow her movement enough to let the rope catch up to her. It floated on the surface, but Niza was already starting to reel it in to try again. Kyla could not afford the air to call out. Just as Niza had gotten most of the slack up Kyla grabbed the end of the rope.

Jetha was also there, with the priest, and they all started pulling her in. She hung on to the rope and did her best to keep her own head above water. It seemed like an hour before she was pulled to the bank and they took Ullden from her. Weakly she crawled up the bank, Niza gave her a hand and helped.

"He is not quite gone," the priest announced. "It is not too late to save him." He knelt down over Ullden, praying. It was a very long couple of minutes before Ullden sat up abruptly, coughing up a large amount of water. He was weak, and it took the priest and both Niza and Jetha to help him to his feet.

"Thank you," he said to the priest.

"No, thank her," Marus said, gesturing to her.

"You jumped in after me?" Ullden asked.

"It was that or let you die, there was no choice to make," she explained simply.

"The wagon is gone," Marus said apologetically. "Let's get back to our things and get you two dry." They walked back to where the horses were waiting, loaded up with supplies. There was no sign of Alldeh.

"Oh, Gods!" Marus cried. "He didn't stay with the horses. I didn't have time to think."

"Kyla could track him," Niza offered.

"No, I can't," Kyla shook her head. "That spell that hides our tracks is still working. There are no tracks to find."

"What if he went into the water? What if he's drowned?" Marus hovered at the water's edge frantically. "Why didn't I just bring him with?"

"What about that spell you used to see the Elar, Father?" Ullden asked, grabbing the man by the shoulder. "Get hold of yourself, Marus! Could you find him with that?"

"No," Marus said, after a moment of thought. "That prayer is specific to finding one's enemies. It won't work for finding Alldeh."

"What about you, Jetha?" Ullden asked, turning to her next. "Do you have a spell that could help us find him?"

"Well, I could leave my body again - " she began.

"NO!" Father Marus interrupted. "We know the Elar have a demon with them. If it should see you, then you could be hurt or killed! We could also lose the advantage if that group doesn't already know we're here."

"Actually, there's another way," Jetha said. "A spell Nordithet taught me. I just need something that belonged to him and some items I have with me. Then I will know the path to find him by."

"Good, we'll make camp here. The wagon may be lost, but we might still be able to get some of the supplies out still. Jetha, you cast your spell and find Alldeh. Take Father Marus with you in case he's hurt. Kyla, if you could take care of the horses and see to setting up what we can of camp, Niza and I will see what we can recover from the wagon."

"Are you sure you're up to that?" Marus asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine," Ullden said, starting to strip off pieces of his armor. "We'll set up a line of rope between the wagon and the bank. We can use it to make sure nothing happens. It was this armor that was the problem before."

Fortunately, most camp supplies had been hastily distributed around between backpacks and saddles before crossing the river. Some things were still with the wagon, but she got started setting up what she could.

The tents were unnecessarily complicated, but she had helped set them up before and knew how they worked. Her own people used tents that she could have set up in half the time, but again she said nothing.

Ullden made several trips into the water. Apparently the wagon had sunk more or less straight down. Some supplies had sunk with it, and some had been carried away. A heavy bag of grain for the horses had gone down with the wagon, and Ullden left it down there, proclaiming it ruined.

He brought up another tent, which he helped set up once everything salvageable had been brought up.

"We were going to have to leave the wagon behind eventually," she reminded him, "but the grain would have been good to have."

"Alldeh might be harder to manage on horseback than just sitting in the wagon," Ullden pointed out.

"Didn't you say that the wagon was just slowing us down?" Niza asked.

"Yes," Kyla answered.

"So, at least we should be able to move more quickly now," Niza concluded.

"When we reach the mountains, the grasses that the horses can feed on will give way to barren rock," Kyla said. "The grain was to feed them when that happens. We can stock up on grasses along the way, but it will not last as long as the grain would have. We should only take what horses we absolutely need when we reach the mountains, and set the others free while they are still in grassland and can survive."

Both of them nodded at her wordlessly, which almost surprised her. She wondered how ready any of them would be to give up their mounts when the time came. Ideally, they would not bring any horses into the mountains, as it would be difficult for them to navigate, but she found it unlikely that Ullden would be so willing to give up his horse. While it was well-trained to do his bidding, she had noticed that he commanded it instead of asked it. He didn't seem to specifically mistreat the horse in any way, as she heard some outlanders did, but the animal had once had a fierce spirit that had been broken to accomodate it's rider. Except for the horse with Kyla, all the others with the group had a sadness about them.

Once again, however, she kept her thoughts to herself. She would approach the idea of setting all the horses free once they were much closer to the mountains.

"I wonder if they have found him yet," Ullden said, breaking the small silence that had risen.

"They haven't been gone for long," Niza reminded him. "I don't think we need to be worried yet."

"I'm worried whenever that madman is out of sight," Ullden sighed. "And it's getting late. We should have turned in for the night already."

Kyla shrugged, not having anything to contribute to the conversation that would be helpful. Jetha had taken one of Alldeh's shirts and put it into a bowl with water, some other liquid from a vial, and some herbs, chanting over it for a while before it glowed, with an odd greenish light. Then she and Marus took the shirt and left, following the direction in which the shirt seemed to glow more brightly. It wasn't the most stealthy way to go about finding someone, but she couldn't exactly track a man who wasn't leaving tracks, so she couldn't provide them with another alternative. She just hoped there weren't any Elar scouts this side of the river to see them.

Niza started yawning, and Ullden told her to go ahead and sleep. The girl nodded and crawled into her tent. Kyla moved to stand next to the warrior.

"In the morning we should gather what dead wood we can carry," she suggested. "There will be times in the mountains where we may not survive the night without a fire. I know part of you would rather restrict fires because they may give away our position. But mountains are more dangerous than rivers. If you do not respect them, they will have no reluctance to kill you."

"You talk like they're living things," he commented.

"How do you know they are not?" she questioned. "To my people, a river is a living entity, one that can be treated with understanding or that can be offended. How do you know that the river did not take your wagon because it was offended by her ice spell?"

He did not immediately respond either way, where she had expected some kind of debate from him. He looked thoughtful, and she appreciated him taking the time to think about what she was saying.

"I can't prove it either way," he said eventually. "But if rivers can speak, they've never done so to me."

"You cannot go your entire life expecting others to start all conversations. Everything speaks, Ullden. Just because you do not understand the language, does not change the fact that birds sing."

"Yes, but birds do sing," he said.

"As do rocks, and the wind, and rivers. Perhaps you have just never learned to listen."

"Perhaps I'm just not meant to hear," he replied with a shrug. "Either way, what's done is done. Gods know, I've offended enough people over the course of my life, adding a river to that list isn't likely to make it much bigger."

"Hmm," was all she said, keeping the sound noncommital. "I'm sure they'll be back soon." She realized he was more concerned for the others than he was trying to let on, his gaze constantly shifting back in the direction they had gone.

"Let's hope so." Ullden seemed as if he was hiding his worry by sounding irritated. She watched silently as he got up and moved to the stack of bags and crates that had been recovered from the wagon. He began sorting through and organizing items within them, readying them to be carried on horseback instead. She could tell he wanted to focus on something else, to distract him from his concern, so she left him alone with his thoughts. Instead, she moved off from the camp a short way to sit in prayer and meditation until the others returned. She was tired from her exertions earlier, and the meditation was restful. She knew it would help if she did not have the opportunity for much sleep that night.

Ullden was pacing the camp by the time Marus and Jetha appeared on the horizon, Alldeh in tow. The sun was already starting to lighten the sky a little, making Kyla glad she had meditated. The three seemed to be carrying bundles of something, Alldeh swinging his about playfully. He was also singing an odd song as they came near enough to hear. Ullden moved to greet them.

"What took so long?" Ullden asked unhappily. "He couldn't have gotten so far..." He trailed off, and seemed to be waiting for an explanation.

"Components!" Alldeh exclaimed, holding up his bundle as if it were a prize. Kyla was surprised to see Jetha laughing at the man's antics.

"Yes, Components!" Jetha nodded. "Alldeh seems to think we need some of these items. I think they're for the spell we will have to do."

"He wouldn't leave until we'd gathered some of them," Marus added. "He was... um... very insistent."

"What do you mean?" Ullden asked.

"He cast some sort of spell," Jetha said. "We actually couldn't leave until he let us. I'm not sure how he did it yet, but it was quite clever."

"Well, rest a little while you can," Ullden warned. "We need to get moving. So much for sleep tonight..."

Kyla stifled a yawn and then volunteered to get some breakfast prepared. She was capable of sleeping on horseback, and would do some short sleeps during the day in case she was needed at night again.

She got a light breakfast ready as quickly as she could, eager to get them moving. She was not comfortable knowing there was an Elar raiding force near by. The forces she had seen were always several hundred strong, if not a thousand or more. A group of about a hundred would almost have to be a raiding force, and not an invasion force, per se. Either way, it was too much for the five of them to handle on their own.

A lone coyote howled in the distance. No other howling voices answered it, which was sad. It howled once more, a sad and mourning wail echoing across the grasses. It was somewhere southeast of them.

None of the others said anything, so she wondered if they had even noticed. Whether they had or not, she waited a while before recommending that they stick close to the river for a while yet--at least as long as it continued heading mainly north. Ullden had no argument to that. Having water close by would be a good thing, he reasoned. But, he added, they would have to keep moving quickly. If an enemy came at them the river would cut off any escape.

They moved far more quickly throughout the day than they had previously. Alldeh had been helped onto one of the horses that had been pulling the wagon, and the other was carrying some of the burden the wagon had been packed with. The rest of the rescued supplies had been distributed between the loads behind the riders, some items discarded as not important enough to be worth the bulk or weight. There had been quite a few items left behind that she would not have bothered with from the beginning, but they still seemed to be carrying a lot of weight that wasn't really required. She had heard that people from these lands tended to be attached to their belongings, but she hadn't really understood it until now. Ullden seemed to be the most practical in his choices, but even he carried items he could have easily done without.

Alldeh seemed to have surprised everyone with his ability to stay astride the horse. She noticed him talking to the horse frequently throughout the day, and occasionally thought she heard him using words in her own language. He looked comfortable in the saddle, although that seemed to worry Marus more. Both Ullden and the priest seemed especially concerned that Alldeh would ride away from the group, causing need to go after him.

As they made their way upriver, she watched for signs of other tribes, or even a lone survivor of her people. The few signs she could find of any camps or tracks seemed far too old to give her much hope. Most of what she found was from the Elar, and was often such that even the others could blatantly see someone had been there. They found large areas of grasses that had been burned away, leaving the scorched ground behind, often with bodies or remains from the tribes that had tried to stand against them. She found herself praying to Aldanara far too often, trying to ensure that the souls of her people made it to the next life.

Hunting was also becoming harder and harder. The animals that the Elar had not killed were hungry as well. Even the plants she searched out were in short supply. It felt as if her homeland had been stripped clean as the Elar marched and killed their way across it.

She supposed it was the same across the other lands as well. She wondered how people less accustomed to living in harmony with the land were coping with it--if there were people left free at all in those places.

They crossed other tributary streams as the days went on. It meant that they had plentiful water, and they were not difficult to cross. They also found fresher Elar trails, confirming that they were in lands that the Elar had taken and kept.

Ullden pointed out that some of them looked like supply lines for their army. While some of them wanted to try to attack a supply group to hurt the Elar army, Ullden had reminded them that they would only be distracting themselves from their quest. Their quest would ultimately have greater impact on the Elar. At one point they saw banners in the distance, and changed course to steer out of that group's path.

By the time they began to see the mountains in the distance some of their supplies were already getting low. They all knew that there was no further chance of trade, and Elar supply caravans would be too large to raid. She looked skeptically at what they had left. She thought that with the horseflesh they would have enough to make it to their destination. She wondered if there would be enough to make it back out of the mountains. She wondered if any of them would live long enough for that to matter.

There was only the most meager results from hunting in the days that the mountains slowly grew larger ahead of them. She steered them to the gap in the mountains that would provide the only safe entrance to where they needed to be. When they finally got there they found an Elar encampment blocking the entrance.

It was smaller than the forces they'd seen recently. Only about fifty Elar, and another ten slaves. Only three of the slaves were from her people. The other seven were Morgule. She scouted carefully while Marus used his spell again to look at them. Then they moved back from the encampment, making a light camp of their own. They did not risk a fire as they sat down to review their options.

"There's no other pass through?" Ullden asked her, pointing a stick at the ground in front of them. Kyla had made up a rough map of the area around them and the way to the area of mountains they needed to get to. Even Alldeh seemed to be preoccupied with peering at it. She had scooped mounds of dirt and rock to represent some of the more difficult mountains to get around. The easier ones were marked with smaller, river stones.

"This one," she replied, pointing with her finger, "goes in the wrong direction entirely. This other one starts out heading the right way, but veers off. The path they are blocking is both easier and faster to reach our destination."

"I wonder if they are blocking only this one, or all the paths into the mountains," Father Marus said. "Whether this is deliberate, to stop us, or coincidental."

"If they are blocking all the paths, then we will have to fight our way through. Finding out which path is least defended would be a good idea," Ullden said. "Could we take this path in and then cross over somehow to the path we want?" Ullden pointed out to the path that veered away.

"There are two mountains, here and here," she pointed again, at a spot right after the path veered away. "Part of the reason the path heads away from there is that it is a particularly dangerous area. There are said to be large beasts of two kinds, each claiming a mountain as their home and hunting ground. Between them is a deep chasm, where the two mountains meet. While the chasm itself would be easy to use to get back to the path we need, it is where these two factions of beasts do battle. It is also said that they will fight over and try to kill any who attempt to pass through, and feed upon their flesh."

"Lovely," Jetha said.

"Any idea how many of these beasts there are?" Ullden asked. "If that pass is unguarded, and the beasts' numbers are smaller, we might stand a chance. We're a bit tougher than your average travelers, at least."

"My prayer only tells us about the nearest enemy," Marus interrupted. "It would take time to travel and find out if that pass is guarded. It could all be for naught if it is."

"I could go look," Jetha said. "I could leave my body and see. That encampment doesn't have a demon, so I shouldn't be in any danger as long as I am cautious. I could also try to go see about the beasts in the mountains."

"I think that checking the opening to the pass would be a good idea, Jetha" Ullden nodded. "But what do we know about these beasts, Kyla? If it's possible they know any magic then I don't think you should risk approaching them."

"They are said to be magical, although not many in number," Kyla told them. "The elder who spoke of them said that their battle has gone on for more generations than my people have been in these lands. I do not know much more than that. I have not known anyone who has even tried to go to either mountain or the chasm, though some have ventured near enough to confirm that the beasts are still there. They are said to be at least twice as tall as any man, covered with thick hair to protect them from the cold, and they weild great metal spears with blades at each end." She recalled being told the story as a child, and the way the elder had gnashed his teeth when telling them that the beasts ate the flesh of those who wandered too close. Some of the smaller children had gasped in fear with the telling of it. A pang of saddness washed over her as she realized there might not be elders remaining to tell such tales. The Elar were unlikely to have taken any Elders as slaves.

"Well," Jetha said eventually, "I think I should leave my body and explore. I'll check to see if the other route is guarded. If I see either of the two monsters, , and one sees me, I'll lead it through the Elar. That way it might at least slow down enough for me to get back."

"Is there any chance that we could try that on purpose to get the beasts to attack the Elar for us?" Niza asked.

"I've seen Elar wiped out by their own demons when the demons got loose," Kyla explained. "If there has been any encounter between the two, I doubt the Elar made friends with the beasts. Yet I do not know if the magic they use to control demons could possibly work on the beasts. You could make things worse for us if that's the case."

"I think we have to take the risk," Ullden said. "No matter what we try something bad could happen. At least scouting gives us more information to make decisions with. Do it, Jetha."

Jetha nodded and moved off to the side to do her ritual. Alldeh picked up some small stones and started dropping them on the dirt map. He made a crashing noise each time a stone hit the ground. Kyla looked at him, wondering what secrets were buried in his broken mind.

"If we can't take another route in," Ullden said to the rest of them, "we'll need a plan to get past the Elar here. It would be a good idea to start working on one. We may need it regardless."

"There's too many for us to fight," Kyla pointed out. "Even without a demon, they outnumber us nearly ten to one. The only way to get past them would be to lure them away somehow or sneak around them."

"We can't sneak around them with the horses," Ullden said. "But luring them away might be an option. Although they might still leave men to guard the pass, it would be less numbers to deal with."

"But what will lure them away with more than just a hunting party," Marus asked. "We can't get past them if we're busy luring them away..." He trailed off, obviously trying to think of something.

"I traveled with a wizard once who could do illusions," Ullden said. "Most of them were changes in his own appearance, or small things. There was one instance, however, where he made it appear as if a manticore was on the hunt outside a small village."

"Why did he do that?" Marus asked.

"It helped draw out some of the troops that had just siezed a small keep from the local lord. We led some of the lord's troops in while they were away, and took back the keep. When the other troops returned from trying to hunt the manticore, we defeated them as well. We'd need something bigger than a manticore though, something dangerous enough that they'd be worried about their ability to defeat it. We don't exactly have a military unit to defeat what they leave behind, so we want to draw out as many as we possibly can."

"There may be a prayer that could handle this," Marus said, going over and getting his book from his saddlebag in the tent. "I thought I saw something in the section on Kielle. I'm not sure it was an illusion, though. More like a hallucination. And I'm not sure if I can make it work on so many all at once. I seem to recall it worked on more than one..." He flipped through the pages, scanning each quickly before moving on to the next. "I remember being surprised to see it, since most of the prayers to Kielle are usually about healing wounds or illness. There are a few in here, however, about inflicting symptoms onto the body. Never actual harm, but the illusion of such."

There were no clear indications that Jetha had left her body. She did eventually stop the ritual things that she was doing and stop moving. The others seemed to know what was going on, and apparently Jetha had done this once before. She could only assume that everything was normal. Nobody was reacting as if there was anything to be concerned about.

The camp was now dark without a fire. Night would fall even more quickly once they were in the mountains. When they got higher up it would also mean it would get cold quickly. Some nights they would need fires to survive the nights.

She knew there were some alcoves and spots that were nearly caves on the way up, along with some actual caves. She hoped those would provide adequate concealment for a fire if there was to be the possibility of Elar following them. If nothing else, there would be many narrow places to ambush a following force. That, unfortunately, also meant that there were many places they could be ambushed if the Elar had sent anyone up the path ahead of them.

"How long does this spell of hers take?" she eventually asked.

"Well," Marus replied, "the last time was only a few minutes, maybe five or ten. She can travel faster outside of her body, but she is still trying to cover a fair amount of ground, I think. I couldn't guess how long she might be able to continue it, or how far she might be able to go."

"Any luck in that book, Father Marus?" Niza asked.

"Well, there's several different kind of illusion-based prayers throughout," he replied. "I've been looking through all of them. Kielle's hallucination prayer, on the other hand, seems like it would be more likely to have the effect we are looking for. Most of the illusions are either too small or too simple. Making a barrier, like a wall, appear where it isn't won't really help us much. Kielle allows some control over what the person is hallucinating. If nothing else, we might be able to make one of their scouting parties think they saw something big. They'd run back and tell the others, who would send men to deal with it. At least, that's the hope. I've never tried to ask for something quite like this before. I'm not entirely sure how it will work."

"The other prayers you've done have turned out alright," Niza said, smiling. "I'm sure this one will work out well too."

"Nonetheless, we should see if Jetha has anything along these lines too," Marus said, not sounding convinced. "We should use whatever option is safest and most likely to work. The alternative seems to be a battle we're not equipped to win."

"I'm back," Jetha's voice made everyone's head turn towards her. She had slumped over to one side and seemed to be breathing heavily. Marus got quickly to his feet and moved to her side. Everyone else rose and headed towards her, Kyla following suit. Jetha appeared exhausted by the effort of her spell.

"You were gone a lot longer than last time," Ullden commented, looking concerned. "What were you able to learn?"

"Well, I was more careful this time, for one thing," Jetha explained. She looked worried.

"The other pass is guarded, but it looks like a smaller force. It might have only been about twenty. I think they started at fifty, but I'm guessing they had a run-in with one of the beast things."

"I didn't see any direct sign of either of the beasts, but the area of mountains around there is more devoid of life than the rest. Even the few trees in the valley looked withered and stunted. The main path looks clear, once we get past the guarding group. But there is another problem."

"And what's that?" Ullden asked.

"There are more Elar coming up from behind us. It's hard to judge distance, but I don't think they're very far away. I didn't get close, because they have two demons, but my guess is that it's two groups of a hundred that joined together. I don't know how long we can afford to sit here and make plans. They're camped for the night, but..." she trailed off, curling her lower lip into a frown.

"If there were just twice as many of us," Ullden complained, "we could plan hit-and-run raids to cut their numbers down. But one wizard and one archer can only do so much."

"Jetha," the priest said, "we have been discussing using illusions to draw them away from the pass so that we can slip past them. I might be able to create hallucinations in a couple of their pickets, and if they were convincing enough it might draw enough of them off. Do you know of any spells that might help with that?"

"What I wish is that I had a spell to make us fly," Jetha said. "There are some illusion spells, but they're meant mostly just to be immediate distractions, not anything somebody might believe and chase down."

"Well," Ullden said, "with more coming it sounds like we only have time to try one approach."

"We should go against the smaller force," Ullden said. "If they've already been hurt by the beasts, the remaining forces may be wounded too. They would leave the wounded behind to guard the pass while hunting down whatever they hallucinate. Even if they don't, we stand a better chance with those numbers than we do with the fifty. How long will it take us to get to that pass, Kyla?"

"The better part of two days if we travel hard," Kyla answered. "What about the beasts? The only place to cross back to the pass we need will go right through their territory."

"The travel time will give us a chance to fully figure out our plan of attack," Ullden said. "As for the beasts, Father Marus' spell works -"

"Prayer," Marus interrupted. "I ask for assistance from the Gods, Ullden. These are not spells like Jetha does."

"Sorry, prayer," Ullden corrected himself with a sigh, "works on detecting the nearest enemies and letting him see them. When we are closer to the beasts than to the Elar, he can try and see where they are. Perhaps we can navigate our way through without encountering any. If we move quickly enough, maybe we can get through to the main pass again ahead of the Elar. We have to assume at this point that those two hundred are coming for us. It's going to be long, hard travel from here on."

There was a tired sigh from Jetha, but she said nothing, merely nodding with the others.

"Get some sleep," Ullden added. "We'll need to get up even earlier in the morning."

"Our best chance for survival," Kyla said to Ullden, "is to enter the beasts' territory with the Elar not very far behind. If the beasts see the Elar as the larger intrusion, they might go after them."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Ullden commented. Her people had a similar saying, but she had to admit that his saying was more to the point and had a certain elegance to it.

"Indeed," was all she said in response. "We should get rest too. They will need our strength."

She offered up a prayer to Aldanara before going to sleep. It took her longer to fall asleep, which was a little bit unusual.

She dreamed of the prairie. She was older in her dream, and there were others of her people. There was a little girl running and playing in the grass, partly gathering wild plants and partly singing and dancing.

In her dream she watched as her daughter sang the traditional songs of her people. She fingered the spirit pouch around her neck, the medicine bundle carried by the shamans of her homelands. There were only twenty or so of her people around. A warrior rode in from scouting, and he came directly to her.

"One of the far-lands people is coming," he said. "It is the one you told us about."

She woke suddenly to Ullden shaking her.

"We have to go," he said urgently. "Right now."

She rolled out of her sleeping furs and gathered her belongings quickly. Ullden had already woken Marus, who was waking the others while Ullden quickly started packing items back onto the horses. She hurried to help him, not wasting time with words as they took down the tents and rolled the heavy canvas up again.

The sun was not even beginning to show signs of rising yet as they mounted up to ride. It didn't seem as if they had been asleep for more than a couple of hours. Ullden passed around some hard bread and told people to keep it handy for later, as there would be no time for breakfast. The group was yawning and still blinking the sleep out of their eyes as they began to ride. Ullden set a fast pace, and she noticed him continually looking behind them as they went. She waited until they'd gone a while before moving up next to him.

"What's behind us?" she asked him.

"I had a dream," he replied. "It was more vivid than any dream I've ever had, so I asked Marus to check. I dreampt the forces guarding the pass knew we were here and were gearing up to come and kill us."

The others were listening, the horses drawn together as tightly as they could be for the pace they were keeping. Marus took up the conversation next.

"I asked Ogrun to let me see our enemies. They were readying for battle. It did not look as if they were planning to leave anyone behind to guard the pass either. They seem to be waiting for us specifically."

"But how can they know we're here?" Jetha asked. "We're not leaving tracks, we hardly every risk a fire anymore... How do they know where to find us?"

"Angels see through human eyes, but demons need devices..." Alldeh said suddenly. The man's voice was strangely clear despite the odd look on his face. Marus reached over and grabbed hold of the bridle of Alldeh's horse, looking worried.

"What devices?" Ullden said, looking angry. "Explain it in terms we can understand damnit!"

"The scepter," Niza said quietly. "I think he means the scepter."

"It's possible," Jetha said. "But I thought that by keeping it covered we were keeping the demon from seeing us."

"What if he's seeing me in my dreams?" Niza asked. "Alldeh said he's inadvertently telling me things, what if I'm doing the same thing?"

"Then that's something you have no control over, and therefore no blame for," the priest explained.

"All fifty at once...," Ullden said. "We can't do that without some kind of advantage."

"If they're not leaving anyone behind," Kyla pointed out, "then all we have to do is evade them and we can get through."

"There's a spell to do that for one person," Jetha said, "but I have no idea how do to it for a group, if I even can."

"Actually," the priest said, "I think there's a prayer for that. It's usually used for concealing women and children during an attack, to keep them safe. We can't move while using it, but it might hide us long enough for them to move past us."

"We'll have to risk it," Ullden said. "I don't see what other choice we have." Kyla had to agree.

The priest gathered them all together and prayed, asking one of his gods to hide them from their enemies to survive the day. Kyla did not feel anything happen, but the priest gathered them closer together. He warned them to be quiet, and that once the Elar got close it was critical to not move.

It was very shortly after that that the Elar came marching towards them, spread out in a wide search line. They were looking for tracks, which Kyla knew they would not find.

Kyla counted forty of them in the line, twelve of which were archers. One Elar on horseback trailed behind, occasionally riding to one area of the line or another, giving orders. He seemed to be in command, giving orders to specific individuals amongst smaller groups. She started to understand how they divided their forces. Each set of ten Elar had a leader, three archers, and six footsoldiers. They had left one set behind, although she suspected it was probably to keep the slaves from running off more than to guard the pass.

They seemed to be coming nearly right towards the camp. Kyla murmured softly to the horses, having taken charge of trying to keep them still. Marus had taken charge of Alldeh, who was silent and still, but had a wild look in his eyes, his nostrils flaring with each breath. The others huddled close, Ullden watching the coming Elar with sharp, worried eyes.

It seemed to take forever for the Elar to come. They were diligent in their search of the ground, some stopping to examing a twig or blade of grass here and there as he looked painstakingly for some sign that anyone had passed there. Kyla realized that one end of the Elar would pass right through the camp if they continued on the same path they were currently on.

"They'll pass right through here," she whispered to Ullden. "They'll discover us."

"I know," Ullden whispered back. "We'll have to mount the horses at the last minute and ride like hell for the pass. It's our only chance. We should be able to get past the remaining ten if we can leave these behind. It helps that these aren't on horseback right now."

"Have faith," Marus whispered. "The Gods will keep us concealed. Do not move unless we are discovered. Just pray. Your faith could add to the power of the prayer that has been granted to hide us."

"I do not follow your Gods, Marus," Kyla reminded him. Her doubt made her stomach ache, and fear chilled cold in her chest. She felt as if the Elar could see them already, nothing made her sure that the prayer Marus had said was working, save the fact that the Elar had not drawn their swords and rushed forward to kill them. A part of her worried they were just pretending to look for tracks as some sort of dangerous ruse, even though the rational part of her knew it was unlikely.

"Then pray to Aldanara, Kyla," Marus whispered, seeming urgent. "It is a prayer to Ardana that I have used. If your Aldanara and our Aradna are the same, then your prayers are just as likely to help us."

She stroked her horse's neck reassuringly. The animals were being calm, and she did pray.

The Elar drew closer and closer still until they were upon them. One of them was walking directly towards her. He did not have his sword out, and was looking at the ground rather than up at her, but he was going to walk right into her.

She looked at the priest. She was moving from doubtful to fearful.

'Have faith,' he mouthed clearly.

The Elar came to within feet of her and she shut her eyes hard. Seconds passed impossibly slowly, but she was not bumped into. She opened her eyes, and there was no Elar in front of her. She turned herself around to look and there was the Elar, continuing on his way.

She saw another Elar about to bump into one of the horses. He walked right through the horse. Neither he nor the horse seemed aware of just what had happened.

She whipped her head around to look at the priest. He just smiled at her knowingly.

They waited until the Elar were out of sight before anyone moved. It seemed to take hours as they watched the back of the Elar line as it grew smaller and smaller on the horizon. Then Ullden let out a long, loud breath of air, as if he'd been holding it for the whole time they'd been waiting.

"That felt closer than I would have liked, Father. Next time let us know how the prayer works or something." He looked both relieved and frustrated at the same time.

"I don't always know what exactly is going to happen, Ullden," Marus admitted. "I merely ask the Gods for their assistance. How and if it is rendered is up to them. This is not how I have heard of the prayer being granted in the past. But then I don't know that it has been asked for in a situation such as ours either."

"Right, let's just count ourselves lucky and get moving before they give up," Ullden said, shaking his head. "If we have to deal with the ones they've left behind, we need to go now."

They all mounted the horses and Ullden set a fast pace, setting them up to come in on the enemy's flank. Marus did his prayer to protect Ullden and himself from arrows, while Jetha pulled out some of the strange things she threw that turned into balls of fire. Kyla readied her bow. She noticed that Ullden had Niza stay further back to protect Alldeh, instead of join the fight. Niza seemed frustrated by the instruction, but said nothing. Kyla suspected that Ullden was underestimating the girl's ability to contribute in the fight. She had found Niza to be a surprisingly quick study, and felt confident that she would do well if she could keep to a single opponent at a time.

"Niza should ride in the charge," she said. "Jetha and I can see that the madman doesn't wander off again. His horse is gentle and will listen to me."

"I don't have time to watch over both of them, Kyla," Ullden argued, "and I need you using your bow to help take out those archers before they realize to shoot the rest of you. I know what Marus can and can't do with his sword. I don't know how ready Niza might be for battle."

"If she can keep to one opponent at a time, she is ready," Klya said, seeing the anxious look on Niza's face in the corner of her eye.

"I'll help watch her back, Ullden," Marus said quietly. "I doubt you have to worry about either of us getting overconfident. We know the stakes here."

"Fine," Ullden snapped, unhappily. "Include her in the prayer then."

"She already is, as it's centered around me. We all need to stay close." Marus moved a short distance away from Ullden and pointed out the distance between them. "This is the length of the radius around me that I believe the prayer effects. It could be longer, but I'm not positive, so try to keep this close to me or closer to be certain until the archers are no longer a threat."

The Elar they found were not expecting to be attacked. As a group they rode in quickly to get within Kyla's bow range. Jetha had suggested that range was not really an issue with her spells. Kyla and Jetha slowed to a stop, stopping Alldeh with them. Alldeh's horse was calm and cooperative.

There was just the ten Elar and some slaves. It was the same kind of grouping she had seen. The three archers were obvious, and she identified the leader quickly.

The Elar spotted them coming and moved into positions, thwarting any real flanking attempt. The soldiers moved in front of the archers, and the leader moved between the two groups some to coordinate.

Kyla and Jetha waited on their attack until the archers fired. Kyla launched her first shot at one of the archers. Her bow was stronger, and her arrow flew with a flatter trajectory so that it arrived just before the Elar arrows bounced off Marus' protective shield.

Jetha hurled her first fireball to hit the other two archers. One of them went down, the other was wounded.

"Soldiers up front next," Kyla instructed. She fired another arrow at the wounded archer. They were far enough away he had time to react, but he used that time poorly. He threw his arms up ineffectively instead of making any attempt to avoid the arrow. It hit him squarely enough to put him out of the fight. There was time for one more arrow before Ullden and the others reached the Elar.

Kyla concentrated on the leader next. He wasn't stupid. He didn't stop giving orders as his gaze met Kyla's. He knew the threat, saw her looking back at him, unafraid.

You've had your warning, she thought, as she drew the bowstring back. The Elar dove for cover, and she saw Jetha's next fireball explode onto a bunch of barrels that a couple of soldiers had sought cover behind. In seeking cover, however, the soldiers had split up. Ullden, Marus, and Niza bore down onto them, each choosing a different target.

Kyla waited, her target having been lost, and took shots when she had them. One by one, the soldiers were flushed out and killed. She assisted with several of them, being careful not to risk hurting her friends instead.

Somehow, however, the leader managed to vanish. He never came back up from where he had taken cover, next to one of the larger tents. As the last of the soldiers went down, she told Jetha to take charge of Alldeh as she made her way forward to look for him.

A quick survey of her friends told her that they had done well. Ullden had taken on most of the soldiers, with Marus and Niza each having really only had one opponent all to themself. Marus had a few minor wounds, mostly on one of his legs, but Niza had taken no damage at all. Kyla didn't waste time taking pride in it, however, as she made her way towards the tent the leader had gone behind.

"The leader isn't down yet," she called as she dismounted and drew her sword. She knelt down and examined the tracks next to the tent. It was hard to distinguish, as there were so many fresh tracks from the rest of the Elar in the encampment. She couldn't be sure which were the leader's. She looked over at one of the slaves, one of her people, who was cowering with the others at the far end of the camp.

"Which way did he go?" she asked in her own language.

The woman pointed mutely at the tent. Kyla slashed the tent with her sword, ripping it open to see. It was empty.

It did seem like a leader's tent. There was a writing box and a pile of papers. But there were also other things, although the tent looked to have been hastily rearranged. Half the rug floor had been pulled up and thrown over the other half. She moved it to see what had been covered up.

There were jars of colored liquids and powders. There was an elaborate ceremonial-looking knife. There were also internal organs spread out on a cloth. One was a heart, although human or animal she could not be sure. She did have a strong suspicion, however.

She stepped back and checked again for tracks. She could find nothing moving away from the tent.

The rest of her group was going through the camp. Ullden was checking tents while the priest tended to the slaves. Jetha and Niza also going through tents as a pair, and Alldeh was poking the fire with a stick and giggling. She moved straight to Ullden.

"The leader was a summoner, and he's missing," she informed him.

"Missing how?" he asked.

"Apparently he ducked into his tent and vanished. I can find no sign of him leaving it."

"Well, we don't have time to waste here," Ullden said, frowing. "We'll deal with him if we encounter him, but we need to get into the pass before the other Elar get back. It's likely he went to inform them where we are."

They scavenged some items from the camp, mostly grain to replace what they had lost in the river before. The Elar had many horses with them, so their supply of grain was fairly abundant. Ullden made his way around the camp once they were done, grimly setting fire to all of the tents and supplies that they left behind.

"It may slow them down at least," he told them as they mounted up. "Marus, let's go."

"I'm coming," Marus said, turning towards them and looking angrily. "I've done all I can, but they won't listen to me!"

Kyla looked over at the slaves, who Marus had been talking to for nearly the entire time they had been in the Elar camp. She'd overheard some of the conversation, and it sounded as if the slaves were intending on waiting for the other Elar to return. One Morgule in particular had been convincing the other slaves that it was in their best interests not to run. From the sound of it, the Elar would hunt them down and it would be ten times worse for them. A part of Kyla wanted to stay and explain about her own experience, but she knew Ullden was right. They had to move quickly or their chance at the pass would be lost. The slaves would have to make their own decisions.

"Leave them," she said. "They're spirits are broken. They are like animals that once domesticated can no longer survive in the wild on their own. There is nothing you can do for them."

"What, and just leave them to the Elar?" the priest protested.

"You cannot help them," she explained gently. "A part of them is already dead. We must focus on our mission, and those we can still save."

"You are right, of course," he eventually replied.

"They will tell the Elar which direction we went," Ullden remarked.

"The Elar will not need to ask," Kyla pointed out. "The way seems fairly obvious."

"Besides," Niza interrupted, "I think they know well enough where we are anyway."

Ullden thought on that for a moment before nodding once and grabbing the last bundle to put on his horse. He swung up back onto his saddle and led them off up the pass.

There were low, scraggly trees on both sides of the narrow valley. Higher up into the mountains were clearly going to be rather barren. They had already seen the snow that was always at the tops. They rode quickly along a dried stream bed littered with large rocks. If the terrain continued like this, she thought, it would provide many places for them to ambush the Elar chasing them.

They rode hard at first, trying to put some distance between themselves and the Elar. She worried that the horses would get too fatigued, when Ullden slowed them.

"Kyla, I need you to scout ahead once your horse is capable of picking up the pace again. We don't know that those beasts don't wander this way too."

Kyla nodded in response. Her horse would not need much time to rest, although she knew the additional weight it carried in supplies would slow her down some.

"Marus, Jetha," Ullden said, turning to them, "The closer we get to our destination, the more we're going to need to know about where exactly it is. We can't afford to be wandering around the mountains forever. The two of you need to start working on Alldeh, to see if you can get more information out of the man."

"Niza," he added, "since Kyla has been training you, I'm going to put you on scout duty as well. But I need you to scout behind us now and again. Drop back to make sure that the Elar aren't catching up. We'll have Marus check again, with that prayer of his, when we camp for the night, but I'd like to know that they can't get up behind us while we're moving. If you see any Elar, a demon, or anything bigger than a wildcat, you ride hard back to us. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes," Niza said. Kyla noticed that the girl's voice showed no signs of her being unsure of herself. She wondered if Niza really felt so confident. From what she'd seen so far, the girl doubted herself frequently. It was the one thing really holding Niza back.

She rode ahead before it was time for Niza to fall back. From within them the mountains were disorienting. It was going to be harder to navigate if they needed to leave the trail. She looked around at the rock around her. Low in the narrow valley there was no way to tell how far the mountains stretched in any one direction.

A hawk cried out its angry challenge. She felt like an intruder. They were coming to a place they were not supposed to be. But the Elar were the real intruders, she reminded herself. A small intrusion to stop a greater one could not be so unforgivable.

The Elar tracks only went a short way beyond their camp. They had scouted out, but had not sent anyone up the trail any real distance. That was reassuring.

Horns sounded in the distance. They echoed strangely among the mountain walls. She knew that it had to come from behind them, but part of her heard them coming from ahead. The echoes also made it sound like answering calls, but she told herself there were no Elar ahead to answer.

At the worst, she presumed, the Elar at the other passage were answering. It would take them time to arrive, short of cutting through the mountains. If they tried that, not many, if any, would make it through to be a matter to her.

She led her horse up the gentler slope, widening her scouting pattern to let the group catch up to her. She did not want them out of her sight for very long stretches, just in case.