Child Of A Guardian And Of The Free (Book 3) (46 page)

‘
No. They’re still alive,’
Milgorry informed him silently, without taking his eyes from his father.
‘They went after Tiernan. I thought it might be prudent to hide their thoughts.’

Nandul backed away, and even in
his hopeless situation, his eyes were calculating, as if he was planning his next move.

‘
Tim?’ Milgorry prompted and Nandul’s face whitened.

Timbul stepped forward. He lifted his sword
, cleaned it on his own tunic and slid it into his sheath. There was momentary hope on Nandul’s face, and then Timbul fixed him with his gaze. He felt his spine stiffen and he gasped, surprised by how much this hurt. A sharp spasm of pain made him twitch violently and he fell to his knees.

‘
Take his weapons,’ said Timbul, keeping his eyes fixed on Nandul. Milgorry stepped forward and removed his father’s sword and several knives. Nandul glared at him and bared his teeth in anger and fear.

‘
Do it then!’ he commanded hoarsely. ‘Get it over with! Return me!’

‘
I didn’t come here to return you,’ said Timbul emotionlessly.

‘
What?’ Nandul’s jaw dropped in confusion.

‘
You’ve brought too much evil upon too many people for far too long. You are without remorse, beyond hope of repentance.’

‘
What? You can’t mean...’ Sweat ran down Nandul’s face as he stared imploringly up at Timbul. ‘No! Please no! You can’t do this to me! Please, Tebur, please...have mercy!’

‘
Did you show mercy to your half-brothers as they screamed in terror and agony, while you took pleasure in burning them alive and letting them die slowly and in terrible pain? Have you ever shown mercy to anyone? To the women you have raped and murdered, to the children you have enslaved, to the innocent humans whose families you have slaughtered and whose homes you have destroyed?’

‘
Timbul, you have to understand...you can’t do this...please...’ Nandul’s voice dropped to a desperate whisper.

‘
Where is my Father? Where did they take him?’

‘
To the pit,’ said Nandul, and a tiny flicker of hope kindled in his voice. ‘I can take you to him. I can get him out! You can have him!’

‘
Take us to him right now, but don’t do anything stupid. If I even think you flinch at the wrong moment, I’ll put you through more pain than you ever believed was possible,’ Timbul said coldly.

‘
Tim, I have to go after Callian,’ said Danil, looking urgently through the trees. ‘He’s...I have to go.’

‘
Yes. Callian will need you. And the King will need you. Go,’ said Araas, giving him a little shove. Danil sprinted away.

*   *    *

‘Half a mile!’ said Borgulnay as he and Gilgarry sprinted through the trees. They were both relieved by Milgorry’s reassurance that he was hiding their minds. In Borgulnay’s opinion, his open mind was the only thing which made him vulnerable to the fallen and in his own case this wasn’t far from the truth. He was not as fast, but his strength was exceptional and his mind was far clearer and very well trained. He worried somewhat about Gilgarry, but he knew he was an extraordinary soldier and an extremely brave man, with a lot more intelligence than most. It took them no time at all to cover the distance, and they slowed as they reached their destination. Ahead, through the thinning trees they could see a huge pit had been dug in the ground. The hole was more than sixty foot deep and it had been dug so the walls sloped inwards towards the top, making it impossible to climb. Around the edge four warriors stood looking down into the pit. Three appeared amused, but one bore an expression of pity. Without leaving the trees, Borgulnay and Gilgarry sneaked as close as they could until they could see the bottom of the pit. It was an appalling sight. There were nine live but emaciated Nailmarni trapped inside, all desperately hungry, and in their midst stood Tiernan. He was weak. Borgulnay and Gilgarry would tell immediately that whatever means he had been using to fend off the hungry Nailmarni had almost entirely drained his strength, both mental and physical. Apart from the nine live Nailmarni; on the soil lay another eight, quite obviously dead. Three had broken necks and another three looked like their bodies had been stressed to a point that their chests and skulls had exploded apart. The other two bodies were unmarked but obviously dead and Borgulnay wondered if they were already dead from hunger before Tiernan had been thrown into the pit. One of the Nailmarni made a dash past the guardian and took a swipe at him with an outstretched hand, but Tiernan ducked and punched him so hard he sprawled across the ground, came to his feet and hissed angrily.

‘
He’s almost done in,’ said Gilgarry. ‘We have to get him out of there in the next few minutes.’

‘
They are obviously not expecting Tiernan to be able to climb out, or for anyone to attempt to rescue him – they’ve left their weapons too far away!’ Borgulnay pointed. ‘Gil, do you think you could take down the guard on this side of the pit? Do you think if we ran at the two nearest, we might be able to force them into the pit? That would distract the Nailmarni for long enough for me to...I need a rope.’

‘
I have a rope,’ Dale’s voice whispered in Gilgarry’s ear and he and Borgulnay leapt around in fright. Borgulnay moved faster than Dale believed was possible of the human soldier.

‘
Don’t...ever...do...that...to...me...again,’ said Borgulnay tersely. He moved his knife away from Dale’s throat and released him from headlock.

‘
Sorry!’ Dale gasped, rubbing his throat. ‘But I didn’t exactly want to announce my arrival too loudly. Eibhear told me to be as quiet as I could!’ he added accusingly, glaring at Eibhear as he and his brother appeared silently beside him.

‘
I was told you were heading for Weema,’ Gilgarry commented.

‘
We were,’ Dale confirmed. ‘But Mil managed to get his thoughts through to Rudi and Eibhear to let them know what Nandul had done to Tiernan and where Kelian was, so we thought we’d come down here and try to find Tiernan. Though getting him out of that pit isn’t going to be easy. How do you want to do this?

‘One each,’ said Rudiger. ‘There are four of us, and four guards.’ He ran his eye over Borgulnay and Gilgarry. ‘The moment of truth,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope you know what you’re doing, soldiers.’

‘
There are five of us,’ Dale pointed out. ‘Well six if you include Einin.’ He gestured to the woman who was standing behind Rudiger.

‘
Einin?’ Gilgarry lifted an eyebrow. ‘Who’s Einin?’

‘
His girl,’ said Eibhear impatiently. ‘Dale you’re the one carrying the rope. You have to get Tiernan out of the pit. Why can’t I sense him at all?’

‘
Because he might be almost exhausted beyond hope, but he still has enough courage to hide his mind so we won’t endanger ourselves by coming after him,’ said Rudiger, wondering at the selflessness of the guardian.

Eibhear put his hand on his shoulder. ‘Well, he knows we’re here now and he will know by now what we’re planning to do. I’ll take whoever that is on the far side, and Borg you take out the one on the left, Paka. He’s an evil bastard and I wouldn’t cry if he accidently fell into the Nailmarni pit. Gil, you deal with the one nearest to us now. He’s a stinking bastard of a man as well, so same goes for him. Rudi, you get Inartu. You know how Narto got caught up in all this; he didn’t want any of it. Can you can take him out of action without actually returning him?’

‘
I can try,’ Rudi agreed solemnly.

‘
This will have to be really fast if we want it to work,’ said Dale. ‘Otherwise I imagine more warriors will come after us.’

‘
We’ll be faster than you’ve ever known us to be,’ Eibhear assured him. ‘Ready?’

Dale untied the rope from around his waist.

‘On three then,’ said Rudi. ‘One... Two… Three!’

The
y rushed forward as one. Dale raced towards the edge of the pit, trusting that the warriors would keep the guards occupied whilst he completed his task. He didn’t stop to watch whether the warriors were successful in their attack even when a terrified scream made him want to turn. He wished he knew whose body had fallen into the pit. The Nailmarni launched themselves on the newcomer as he crunched onto the ground, and within seconds his body was torn to shreds. Dale’s heart gave a lurch as he heard a second body hit the bottom of the pit. He fed out the rope, and then Gilgarry was beside him. Tiernan grasped the end of the rope and tied it around himself. He waved weakly to Dale and Gilgarry and they began to pull him upwards. Half a minute later he reached the top of the pit and they pulled him over the edge. He lay on the ground for a moment before rolling onto his feet.

Dale
tried to make sense of what had happened. One warrior was unconscious on the ground and Dale knew this must be Inartu; the warrior Rudiger and Eibhear had not wanted to return. His heart have a leap of relief as he saw Borgulnay, Eibhear and Rudiger running towards him, and he turned and ran back into the bushes, expecting to find Einin. He skidded to a shocked halt as he saw her being hauled away by another warrior, who had seen what was happening and decided to remove her before she could warn anyone of his presence. He had a knife in his hand and Einin was whimpering with fright and pain as he dragged her violently across the rough rocks.

With a roar like an angry bull,
Dale threw himself at the warrior. The warrior hadn’t been expecting the attack but still managed to turn and strike out at Dale before Dale could reach him. Dale was smashed sideways into the roots of a tree, rolled to his feet, gave a snarl of fury and launched himself at the warrior once again. This time the warrior had his knife ready but Dale was also regaining a portion of his usual intelligence. He feinted right, and then threw himself to the left and the warrior’s knife missed him by inches. With all of his strength, he drove his knee into the warrior’s groin and the man flopped like a landed fish. With not a second’s hesitation, Dale drew back his foot and slammed it into the man’s head. He heard an ominous crack as the warrior’s head snapped back. Dale snatched the knife from the man’s hand and sliced his throat, and then with a final adrenalin charged cry, he drove the knife up under the warrior’s ribs. He leapt backwards, looking a little shocked at what he’d done and flung the knife towards the ground. He turned to find Einin staring at him in open-mouthed shock. His face softened. He reached out to her and ran the back of his hand down her cheek and across her jaw and he smiled when she shivered. She took one last horrified look at the body sprawled across the ground, and flung herself into his arms. He held her tightly for a few seconds then led her back to where Tiernan was standing.

‘
Dale,’ he said croakily. ‘You’re changing. That was...unexpected.’

Dale shrugged and squeezed Einin
’s shoulders gently.

‘
I’m a bit...’ Tiernan brushed his hand across his forehead. Rudiger stepped forward and Tiernan nodded to him gratefully, accepting his help. They turned south.

*   *    *

Danil barely glanced to the right or left as he ran, as his attention was entirely on Callian’s tracks. He wondered if Callian was planning to take Kelian by the Ice Coast or through Khynol’s gap. It pained him that he could clearly see which way Callian had gone. He knew he must be in a very bad way to be leaving any tracks at all, let alone such an obvious path. His heart sank lower as he crossed a sandy patch where he could see the Guardian General’s foot prints. Danil could see where his foot had dragged slightly in the dust and this was enough for Danil to know that Callian was in a terrible state. Further along there was blood and spittle. Not a lot at first, just a spot here and there where Callian had coughed up blood and spat it out, then more and more frequently until Danil was sure he was closing in and would catch up to Callian in seconds. He was right.

Callian
was kneeling on the ground, slumped forward. Garran was crouched beside him and Danil wasn’t surprised to see the tears glittering in his eyes as he tried to help his brother. Callian coughed violently and blood flowed from his mouth.

‘
Callian,’ Garran said desperately, ‘I have to help you. You have to tell me what to do. Callian?’

Callian
gestured to the arrows sticking into his back. Garran reached behind his brother and wrenched them from his flesh. Callian gave a soft cry of pain and slumped forward. He coughed again and blood ran down his chin and neck. Danil knelt beside them.

‘
Callian?’

Callian
gestured to his right and Danil saw Kelian’s battered and unconscious body on the ground. ‘Take him home,’ Callian managed to say in a blood drowned gurgle. ‘Please.’ He leaned forward even further and then his eyes closed and he toppled sideways. Garran caught him as he fell and laid him gently on the ground.

‘
Which way were you taking him?’ asked Danil.

‘
South,’ Callian’s answer was practically inaudible.

‘
The Ice Coast then,’ said Danil, struggling to speak normally.