Quest (47 page)

Sh'ellen flicked an ear and blew through his nostrils, then bent his head into the arduous labour of pulling a great trading wagon through the wildwoods. Although the vegetation looked too dense to allow them passage, the leaves and branches were pushed easily aside and sprang back just as easily after the second wagon had passed. Yet no one would have known from a casual glance that there was any way through the woods.

Jonner hunched his shoulders, fiddled with his favourite stiletto and continued to scan the vegetation around them as if he expected an ambush at every turn. It was no use talking to Sisters, especially the Lady Herra. They were so trusting, it was a wonder no one had cut their throats in the cradle.

Not that he didn’t believe in the God's powers, he added, with a mental apology to the deity. It was just - well, it stood to reason that a God would have a lot of things on his mind, so it was better to help him by watching out for oneself wherever possible.

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They spent the next three hours rolling slowly forward through the undergrowth. Twice it was necessary to clear fallen trees from the route. Sh'ellen and the other deleff simply moved out of their harness to do that.

'It's not likely this easy passage is here by chance,' Katia observed. She was walking next to the leading wagon and studying the undergrowth. 'Elder Sister, I just cannot understand why larger trees and bushes haven't grown in earth so rich. Or why the plants seem to be only of the sort that can easily be pushed aside.'

'Then we must be grateful that someone has kept the way clear,' said Herra.

Jonner gaped at them. 'Are you saying we're on a track that's been made on purpose?'

Katia nodded. 'It must be. Though it's not a track exactly, or not at first sight, anyway. I've been watching the deleff.

At first I thought they were feeding, but they're not. They pull up certain plants as they pass - the young trees and larger shrubs. I think - I really do think - that's how the track stays clear enough for a wagon to pass.'

Jonner swallowed hard. 'Then it's true! I thought - everyone thought - it was just a tale, the sort you tell over a camp fire to entertain the children.'

Herra stared at him. 'Are you saying that you know something about this track and the deleff? If so, Jonner, you had better tell us immediately. And if, in future, you think of something else, do not keep it to yourself!'

He wriggled uncomfortably. 'Well, it's just that we say, we traders, I mean, that the deleff live in the Lands of Nowhere. We begin children's stories with "Far beyond the wildwoods, in the Lands of Nowhere, where the deleff dream their dreams . . . " It doesn't mean anything. At least, I thought it didn't mean anything. But maybe, just maybe, this track leads to the land of the deleff. '

'The Lands of Nowhere, ' murmured Herra.

Sh'ellen lifted his head and bugled loudly. Jonner nearly fell off the seat of the wagon. 'He knows.'

QUEST Shannah Jay 173

'Who knows what?'

'The deleffal - Sh'ellen. He knows what we're talking about.'

Herra's eyes narrowed and she looked at the huge greyish back before her, a back covered with tiny iridescent scales that made the deleff looked blurred in some lights. 'We are not yet talking about anything pertinent. Tell us what you know, Jonner, and without any further circumlocution!'

'It's said among us Traders,' began Jonner, 'that they have secret tracks - the deleff, I mean. They sometimes walk away from their owners, you know, and they rarely get found again. So where do they go? They can't just vanish! And they don't breed in captivity - not ever - or die in captivity. There's no such thing as a dead deleff. So where they go is a mystery, and that’s why say the Lands of Nowhere.'

Katia was listening intently, but at the same time watching the track ahead. 'One moment, Elder Sister,' she said suddenly, and ran forward. She slowed her pace to match that of the deleff and watched as Sh'ellen pulled up a small tree that was in his way, not eating it, but tossing it aside to die. The deleffal several times turned his head to look at Katia. After a minute or two he slowed down and came to a halt, shaking his head and whistling through his nostrils at her.

She reached out her hand to him, and as she laid it on his head, he raised the ruff of scales around his neck and stared into her eyes. Gently, she laid her other hand along the far side of his head.

Herra signalled for silence.

Katia stood like one mesmerised, staring into the deleffal's eyes and breathing very slowly. The rest of the group waited anxiously, not knowing what was happening. Long minutes passed. Jonner started to fidget, until Herra laid a hand on his arm. Carryn whimpered in her drugged sleep. A bird cal ed. Insects buzzed around them.

At last, Katia spoke. 'It is - hard. I am - unskilled. Your pardon, deleffal, but I can speak no more now.' She took her hands away and bowed her head slightly to the great creature before returning to the side of the wagon like one in a trance.

Davred jumped down from the second wagon. Cheral moved forward to stand behind its driving seat, where Fiana and Benjan were sitting.

'I was communicating with Sh'ellen,' Katia said slowly, seeming to have trouble speaking. 'He told me thisa track known only to the deleff. Sh'ellen is taking us to his - his land, his soul-haven. There we can meet the High Deleffal, who is also called the Giver of Words. She is very old and very - peaceful. It's hard to put it into words - Sh'el en used images - anyway, it will take us several days to get there. '

She frowned. 'We have to go through a kind of - a portal. I couldn't understand what he meant exactly by that. But Those of the Serpent can't follow us through it. We must hurry, not stop again.' She turned and again bowed slightly to Sh'ellen. 'Do I speak your thoughts correctly, deleffal?'

Sh'el en blew softly through his nostrils and twitched his left ear, then pawed the ground, signal ing his desire to leave.

As they started to move along the track again, Jonner whispered to Herra. 'The Lands of Nowhere. Who'd have thought it of a bunch of animals?'

Sh'ellen tossed his head and snorted.

'Speak with more courtesy to one who is helping us, Jonner!' Herra rebuked. 'Your pardon, deleffal! My friend meant you no offence.'

'No offence at all!' said Jonner hastily. 'I was just - er - just surprised.'

The ruff rose and fell, but the deleffal did not stop moving forward.

'Tell us all you know about our friends the deleff, Jonner.'

Jonner wiped his brow on his sleeve and wished he’d kept quiet, but Herra was looking at him expectantly, so he thought it best to continue. 'It's said that the deleff have their own land - west of the wildwoods, wherever that may be -

QUEST Shannah Jay 174

and that they return there to mate and breed their young when they tire of sharing our travels. Great ones for travelling, the deleff. They seem to like new experiences. We're taught always to explain to them what we're doing, always to talk to them.'

He kept an anxious eye on the two creatures, but they showed no signs of taking offence. 'Older traders - those who've worked al their lives with deleff - say the deleff were here in the world before we were - and that they've found the way of peace. But you should be very careful about making them angry, and especially careful if you see their wings.

And we did see them today, didn't we? That fellow who walked into them screamed and dropped down unconscious.'

Herra didn’t break the silence that fell after he’d finished speaking. She reviewed Jonner's halting explanation, mentally testing its truth. Yes, it had the feel of truth.

The shadows were getting longer now, and the warmth of the day was past. They moved between light and shade at the fastest pace the deleff could manage over the rough ground. None of the group spoke. Birds sang in the trees around them, and insects danced along low, slanting sunbeams. The only other sound was the crunching of leaves and twigs beneath the feet of the deleff, or the occasional snapping of a branch.

Then Herra sat bolt upright. Something was flickering at the edge of her consciousness. 'Quiet! Sh'el en, stop moving, please!'

Both wagons immediately came to a halt and everyone, people and deleff alike, waited for Herra to speak.

'We're being followed.'

'By whom?'

'By Those of the Serpent.'

Katia sighed. 'I've let you down, then, Elder Sister.'

'In what way?'

'The wards I set weren't strong enough.'

Herra laughed bitterly. 'Child, I know of no way to set wards along the whole length of a track not yet followed.

Should you have known more than I did?'

Everyone was listening intently.

'Shal I stay here and buy you more time, lady?' asked Benjan, hefting his sword.

'Certainly not! It would be a useless sacrifice. But Katia, could you scout behind us, see how many are pursuing us -

and perhaps set more wards to delay them?'

'I'll try.'

'Take no risks, child. I wouldn't send you had we anyone else skil ed in woodcraft.'

'I'll take the time first to change into men's clothing, if you don't mind, Herra. A long skirt is impractical for this, impractical for any travelling in the wildwoods, really.'

'I've got some spare clothes that should fit you,' volunteered Fiana. 'I've done most of my travelling dressed as a man.'

Davred helped Katia to change into Fiana's clothes, kissed her briefly and watched her vanish among the trees. How useless he was on Sunrise! He looked at Herra, but the Elder Sister's face was expressionless. In the end he went to walk behind the second wagon and practise a heartbeat and pulse control Discipline, anything to keep his mind occupied. At least here he was best placed to help Katia if she came back closely pursued and he had to do any fighting.

An hour later they were still travelling. Dusk was closing in on them rapidly and Katia hadn’t returned. Jonner kept twitching his head from side to side, peering into the undergrowth and muttering to himself about the dangers of ambushes. Benjan had taken up a position at the rear with Davred. Herra's expression had grown grim and her head was bent to one side most of the time, as if she were listening.

QUEST Shannah Jay 175

'There are many of them, more than I thought when I sent Katia to scout,' she said, 'and they're coming nearer.'

Jonner hissed between his teeth.

'What about Katia?' asked Davred.

'I can't tell. Can you?'

'She's alive. More than that I can't sense.' Davred broke off and started searching in the edges of the undergrowth.

Eventually he found a length of dead branch. 'Let me borrow one of your knives, will you, Jonner? I want to trim this.'

He hefted it in his hand. 'Will it do for a stave, do you think?'

'What? Oh, yes. Yes, it's a nice handy size, that. Who taught you how to choose a fighting stave?'

Davred smiled grimly. 'I've been watching you and Benjan.'

'Cudgels are better when they're dried out properly, of course,' Jonner went on, 'but there's no time for that now, and yours is a good shape, nicely balanced. Here, this'll do the job of trimming it.' He tossed Davred one of his larger knives, which had a broad wickedly sharp blade.

In the second wagon, Cheral deliberately set the frying pan near her. They would harm that child again only over her dead body. The God would surely want her to defend them both if they were attacked. After all, the Elder Sister has assured her that violence used only under extreme provocation wouldn’t be wrong.

The deleff turned abruptly left, and although this side track was stil passable for the wagons, it was much narrower.

The vegetation pressed more closely in on them, brushing the sides of the wagons and hanging in their faces. The deleff all had their ruffs raised to protect themselves from the dangling branches, and were moving as quickly as such ponderous creatures could, almost as if they could sense danger.

Herra wished she could set wards on the track, but she didn’t dare do so until Katia rejoined them.

'I don't like this place,' said Jonner. 'Too easy for someone to creep up on us with all this green stuff crowding in on us. Isn't there a better track than this, Sh'ellen?'

The deleffal ignored him. The track widened out abruptly into a circular clearing with a pool on the far side. The water looked as black as obsidian and its surface was quite stil , with not a single ripple to be seen. There were no birds drinking from it, and no tracks of animals around its edges. It just lay pooled there, dark and menacing. There weren’t even insects buzzing around the clearing, just the ring of huge trees, a semi-circle of beaten earth and a silence that was almost tangible.

'It's a dead end!' exclaimed Jonner. 'They've led us to a dead end!'

Sh'ellen half turned towards him and snorted through his nostrils, tossing his head and making his anger plain.

'Wel , I'm sorry!' snapped Jonner. 'I don't want to upset you, deleffal, but it looks to me as if you've led us into a trap. How can we possibly escape from here?'

Sh'ellen and his mate began to drag the wagon forward across the clearing, even their huge muscles straining to pull the heavy vehicle over the soft ground. In spite of the slow steady pace, in spite of the strength of the deleff, one of the rear wheels sank deep into the loam and the wagon stopped moving.

'Everyone off the wagons!' ordered Herra. 'Come here and push!'

They got the wagon going again, and when it drew to a halt at the very edge of the water, the second wagon began to move forward, exactly in the tracks of the first.

Jonner hit himself on the forehead. 'Where are my wits?' He rushed to the edge of the clearing and tore off an armful of small branches and leaves. He tossed these onto the soft patch where the wheel of the first wagon had got stuck. The second wagon moved forward, the rear wheel started to sink, then it found purchase on the leaves and twigs and jerked forward, pulling up at the edge of the pool next to the first wagon.

Sh'ellen whistled urgently through his nostrils, tossed his head and looked back towards the forest.