Shadeborn: A Book of Underrealm (10 page)

“That loop is only a few days’ journey west of the village.” Loren could hear the eagerness in Chet’s voice. And now, she found herself feeling the same.

They spurred their horses on, even the children catching the mood. Soon, they found a narrow road, little more than a dirt path worn by hooves and boots. Loren thought she recognized it as the one that ran to their village. At midday, they again stopped to eat. Loren wanted to keep riding until she saw familiar homes in the distance, but that was a foolish thought. Even on the road, it would take them days yet to reach the village.

As they sat in the underbrush beside the path, Loren felt a prickling on the back of her neck. She faltered as she ate, looking about and wondering at the feeling. Then she noticed that Chet had stopped eating as well and was staring off into the shadows under the trees.
 

“What is it?” said Loren, quietly.

He raised a hand to shush her. Then, in a moment, she heard it: silence. Birds and beasts had fallen quiet. The only noise was the wind and creaking trees. Gem and Annis watched with wide eyes; Gem looked as if he might burst but still managed to keep his mouth shut. Xain watched Loren, his eyes squinted.

“On the horses,” Loren whispered.
 

They mounted in silent speed. She had no wish to follow the road, so she led them north into the trees. She scanned all around for another river or stream and cursed herself for losing her caution. Mayhap, if they had kept hiding their trail, they would be home free. But then again, mayhap the Shades had been tailing them longer than they realized and were only now taking the chance to strike.
 

They found a stream and began to ride south along it. After a time, it passed under the road, where a slender wooden bridge had been built to cross it. They did not slow but rode under the bridge, ducking to pass beneath its bottom rafters. But still the forest stayed silent, and the river’s babble grated against the quiet.

She was painfully aware of their horses’ thunder. Her pulse was so loud that Loren felt certain the Shades could hear it. Frustration grew. The water was slowing their steps, and if they were being followed closely, it would do little to deter their pursuers. She nudged Midnight up beside Chet’s horse and leaned over to whisper in his ear.
 

“We should leave the river and make for the road again. I think speed will save us, more surely than silence.”

He looked back over his shoulder. “We passed the bridge some time ago. That would mean turning around, mayhap into waiting arms.”

“Then let us cut east, and turn north if we feel it is safe.”

He shrugged and pulled on the reins. Together, they headed off between the trees again. Still all was quiet, and maddening at once. Loren was half-ready to turn them around and scream into the woods, demanding that the Shades show themselves. But suddenly they struck.

Arrows whistled out from the trees, striking trunks and ground about them. Annis screamed, and her horse reared with a whinny. Gem clung to her and barely stayed atop the beast.

“Ride north, and quickly!” said Loren.

They kicked their horses and galloped. Loren whispered thanks for Midnight’s sure steps and quick reflexes but watched the children’s mount with worry. Annis was sure in the saddle, but her horse was easily frightened. Often it tried to break from the others, and Annis had to wrestle it back into line.
 

In the end, Chet’s steed nearly doomed them. Another arrow came flying, this time from their left and passed the beast’s nose by a few inches. It screamed and lurched left. Chet pitched from the saddle at the sudden change in direction and landed hard on the forest floor. For a heart-stopping moment, Loren feared he might be hurt. But he scrambled to his feet, lifting his staff. His bow lay in the dirt a few feet away, string snapped where he had landed upon it.

“Chet!” Loren went to him.

Mounted figures in blue and grey appeared beneath the trees.
 

Another volley they loosed, but all arrows went wide. Then they leapt from their saddles and charged with swords held high.

Loren flung herself from Midnight’s saddle midstride and landed catlike beside Chet. From her back she pulled her bow, and from her hip quiver an arrow. With shaking hands, she fitted and drew it as Albern had taught her, but still nerves would not let her aim for the heart. The shaft went wide.

Then the Shades were on them with swords, and Loren snatched her staff where she had dropped it. Together, she and Chet managed to ward their blows, backing up a step at a time between the trees. They used the trunks to their advantage, ducking behind them and letting the Shades’ swords bounce harmlessly from the wood. One of their blades became trapped by the bark. Chet lunged forward and slammed his staff’s butt into the man’s head and sent him to the ground in a heap.

A high, thin scream ripped the air, and Gem ran into the fray with his sword held high. Annis came behind him, blanching with fright but still firmly holding her staff. Gem’s wild swings proved little danger, but at least distracted one of the Shades long enough for Loren to take him unawares. She struck him first in the gut, and then on the back of the head with a sharp overhead swing.
 

His companion pressed forward, and Loren had to fall back before her. The woman knew her way about a blade. Loren kept her at bay, but could not knock the sword from her grasp. And whenever Loren lunged to strike, the blade would be there to block it. Gem came running, but the Shade barred his first stroke with her blade, then delivered a powerful backhand blow that sent him crashing into the trunk of a tree.

“Gem!” said Loren, hands loosening on the staff. With a cry the Shade kicked out, knocking the staff from Loren’s grip before she swung her sword hard. It barely missed Loren, and she danced back out of reach. The Shade swung again, and this time released the sword, which flew spinning toward Loren’s face.

She fell on instinct and heard the blade whistle overhead. By the time she rose to her knees, the Shade was on top of her. Loren was borne to the ground, one arm across her throat, and the Shade whipped a knife from the back of her belt. Loren only just caught the wrist in time, choking for breath as she fought to shove the knife from her body.

Annis screamed and swung, but in her panic struck the Shade in her back, not the head. The woman grunted and loosened pressure on Loren’s throat. Then the air rang out with a sharp
crack,
and a bolt of lightning struck her in the chest. Loren felt it course through her body, rocking her with a sharp and sudden pain. The Shade lurched back with a cry and fell to the ground with her arms clutched around herself.
 

Gasping, Loren flipped up and on top of her, one hand gripping the woman’s throat just as hers had been.
 

She screamed, “Killing children in the woods? Is that the manner of person you are?”
 

The dagger was in her hand before Loren knew what she was doing. She raised it high. Only at the final second did she stop herself. The woman’s eyes had rolled nearly all the way back, and her hands feebly tried to pull Loren’s fingers from her throat. She could see where her nails had dug into the skin, which had turned an angry red under her grip.

She cried out again and turned the dagger, bringing the pommel crashing down upon the woman’s head. The Shade’s skull rocked back against the ground, and she lay still.
 

Loren’s fingers loosened from her neck.

She looked up and found Chet staring. He had already bested his foe, who lay slumped against one of the trees. His expression nearly made her weep, more so because it held neither anger, shock, nor fear. It was sorrow, the same she had seen in his eyes when he sat beside her in Northwood and held her as she trembled and cried, murmuring that it was not her fault.

Quickly, she turned. “Annis, fetch rope from my saddle. Quickly!”

She started to drag fallen Shades to the base of a beech tree. After a moment’s hesitation, Chet moved to help her. Soon, Annis came running with the rope and then ran to revive Gem with a splash of water from her water skin. Loren bound the Shades’ wrists behind their backs before tying the binds to each other in a circle around the tree. When they woke, they would be able to rise if they all stood together, but they could not move away.

“It will not hold them forever, but long enough for us to make our escape,” she said. “Now get the horses, and quickly. With luck, they will not have run far.”

Chet’s mount had fled after throwing him, but they soon found it a bit northwest. The other horses were nearby. Loren saw Chet studying her from the corner of his eye. He flinched when she turned toward him.

“We cannot return to our village,” said Loren. “If they followed us this far, it is folly to believe they will not stay on our trail. Heading east will only bring their wrath upon our home.”

Chet said nothing. Xain watched him for a moment before looking to Loren. “Then where do we ride?”

“North. To Dorsea. Then east to the coast.” She spoke again to Chet. “But that does not have to be your course. You could go on alone, for you can hide your tracks better than the five of us. They would not follow you, and you could return home in peace. No one will speak ill of your doing so. Indeed, I would call you wise.”

Still, Chet said nothing, and now the others noted his silence. Gem watched him, mute, an angry bruise growing on his cheekbone.

“That is a fine dagger you have,” Chet said at last. He kicked his horse and rode north, soon out of sight among the trees.

“Do not get used to seeing it,” Gem called after him.

After a long and doubtful look, Annis spurred on behind him. Xain still sat, waiting and watching Loren.

“Turn your eyes, wizard,” she said. “They should be on the road ahead.”

He shrugged and tugged on the reins. Together, they followed the others.

thirteen

Their steps felt hounded, and traveling through the wood no longer gave Loren peace. All that day, she could not banish thoughts of their fight with the Shades. Over and over, she saw the dagger held aloft, ready to plunge into the soft flesh of the woman’s throat.

For she
had
been ready to strike, that Loren knew. Fueled partly by her worry for Gem, whom the Shade had struck, and partly by the thrill of a fight, she had very nearly claimed the woman’s life.
 

But you did not
.

She had hesitated.

And why?
 

Loren was a killer before she left the Birchwood, though she had only learned it recently. All along the king’s road she had counseled peace to her companions. She had called Jordel bloodthirsty and admonished Gem and Annis when they wished violence on others. Now all those words had turned to a sour and bitter ash in her memory. She half wished she could take them all back.

More than the dagger, she saw Chet’s sorrowful eyes. He had not moved to stop her. He had not even cried out. He had only watched, and if Loren had struck, he would have done nothing. What would she have seen in his eyes if indeed she had murdered the Shade?
 

They stopped as the sun set and evening promised the Birchwood. Still, Loren could not meet Chet’s eyes, so she made a show of adjusting Midnight’s saddle.

“We will rest here for a time but should ride again once the moons rise.”

“Another midnight ride,” said Gem. “They seemed romantic at first, but repetition has dampened their appeal.”

“You may stay and sleep the night here, if you wish,” said Loren, more harshly than she had intended. Gem flinched and looked away.

“Loren, he meant nothing,” said Annis quietly.

“I grow weary of his complaining. I will return in a moment.”

Loren hobbled Midnight and walked away, hoping they would think she was going to make water. In truth, she wanted to be alone. She found a clearing, the other end invisible in the dimming twilight, and sat with her back to a tree. Sightless, she stared into the darkness, hands fiddling in her lap, trying to banish the anger and melancholy that plagued her.

“You cannot lie to me, you know.”

Chet’s words came from nowhere and frightened Loren half to death. She was on her feet before she recognized his voice. He leaned against the tree with folded arms. She shoved him in the shoulder.
 

“Do not sneak up on me like that!”

He smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. “You would prefer I tramped around the forest like an ox? I thought we sought to go with stealth.”

“You know what I mean. Go back to the others. I want to be alone.”

“Why? What ails you?”

She glared, though he surely could not see it in the darkness. “Nothing ails me. Murderers chase us through the forest, and twice they have nearly killed us all. No matter what we try, we cannot evade them for long. Indeed, it is only by the greatest luck that we are still alive. What could I possibly be worried about? Clearly, our fortune is such a blessing that we need not concern ourselves with worldly worries.”

He looked back at Loren, and now the stars shone brightly enough for her to see him. It was the same look he had worn earlier, when he saw her nearly kill the Shade.