The Dark Glory War (6 page)

The cloak puddled around Rounce’s feet. “Thanks for pointing that out.”

“Well, gentlemen, our course is clear. We head east-northeast as quickly as we can.” Leigh pointed the sword in the direction of Valsina. “We’ll have to be alert and quick.”

Nay folded his arms across his chest. “You having the sword … You must be the best swordsman among us, then?”

Rounce shook his head. “Hawkins is better, actually.”

“Then why does Leigh have the sword?”

“I have the sword, dear Nay, because I am a Norrington.” Leigh’s surprised expression clearly suggested he had no idea why Nay would think anyone else would be entitled to carry it. “Perhaps you somehow think you should wield it?”

“No.” Nay walked over to a fallen tree and snapped off a thick branch about a yard and a half long. “Do fine bashing with this. If Hawkins is better with the sword, though, it should be his.”

I held my hands up. “Let Leigh keep it. I may be better, but he’s not bad. Being his father’s son, he’s likely heard lots about frostclaw killing, so he can put it to better use.”

Leigh spread his arms. “Anything else, or shall we go?”

“After you, my lord.” I waved Leigh forward, then fell in behind him. Rounce came after me and Nay brought up the rear.

Though it wasn’t the sort of hot and humid summer night I was used to, it was not really cold. Even so, I felt chilled to the bone. My left hand rode on the hilt of the dagger, ready to draw it in an instant. My ears strained for any hint of sound that couldn’t be put down to the tread of my companions or me. Though the moon provided light, it didn’t provide enough, and walking down the north face of a hill plunged us into a moon shadow so deep I almost lost sight of Leigh’s ghostly form ahead of me.

We didn’t talk as we marched along. I told myself it was because I wanted to keep quiet so the frostclaw wouldn’t track us. While I wanted that to be true, I knew it wasn’t. I was afraid, deeply afraid, and I didn’t want the others to know it. I didn’t know if they were as fearful as I was, but I took their silence as a sign that they each knew how dangerous our situation was.

Try as I might, I couldn’t hear or see or smell anything of a temeryx, but back then I was woefully unprepared to spot the beast. We were moving into the wind, so I had no chance of catching the dry, heavy scent of it. We were making enough noise to hide the approach of cavalry, much less a creature that is more quiet than falling snow. And, as for seeing it, the creature didn’t want to be seen until it struck, so unless I could see through to the other side of the hills, I had no chance of spotting it.

We were strung out along a deer path running along the side of a hill when it struck from upslope. Nay started to cry out, which brought me around to the right, looking back up the hill. I caught movement in the shadows, but it came so fast I couldn’t focus on it. The temeryx leaped at Rounce, its clawed hind legs reaching for him. Before I could complete my turn, it had carried Rounce off the trail and was chasing his rolling form down the hill.

How to describe a temeryx? From tip of its toothy muzzle to tail, the feathered beast is ten feet long, standing six at the head. The rear legs are cocked back like those of a bird, and the forelimbs are these small, hook-clawed things that aren’t strong, but useful for holding prey. The hind legs are thickly muscled and the interior toe on each has a big sickle-shaped claw that slices through flesh and muscle quicker than a sword. The narrow head has eyes set forward and a long muzzle with rows of sharp teeth.

The temeryx’s black feathers half hid it, but Rounce’s screams told us where it was. The beast leaned forward, ducking its head down to snap at and worry Rounce’s left leg, then its head came up and the creature hissed open-mouthed at the sound of Nay and me running toward it. Its tongue writhed like a snake and the hiss made my flesh crawl, but I was moving too fast to stop.

Nay’s club came up and through with a blow that snapped the frostclaw’s jaw shut. His blow tumbled the creature off Rounce and sent it staggering a step or two down the hill. It waggled its head and clawed at it with its little forelimbs, then tried to turn toward me, but its stiff tail smacked against a tree, freezing it in position.

I dove at it, sailing above Rounce’s thrashing body, and hit the frostclaw in the right flank with a diving tackle. I got my right arm around its neck and hooked my legs inside its thighs and down around its belly. The dagger in my left hand flashed down, stabbing a full handspan into the monster’s chest.

The temeryx shrieked and twisted around to the right, trying to pitch me off. Its little claws caught my right sleeve and shredded fabric as the beast tried to pry my arm free. I tightened my grip, trying to crush its throat, but its thickly muscled neck defied me. The temeryx smashed itself into a tree, battering my right leg, but I hung on, stabbing and stabbing and stabbing until my left hand, slick with blood, lost its grip on the dagger. The weapon spun off into the darkness.

Though blood gushed from its side with every exertion, the beast still bucked and leaped and whirled beneath me. Jolts ran through it as its tail or flanks hit trees. The back arched as the frostclaw leaped, then landed stiff-legged to drive its spine up into my chest and groin. Each bone-jarring landing would pitch me up a bit, then the temeryx would spin, trying to flick me off. I hung on tight, though, thrusting the fingers of my left hand into the hole I’d opened between its ribs. The ribs crushed down and pinched my fingers, but I refused to let go because I knew the second I flew off, it would pounce on me and tear me to pieces.

The month of anticipation before mid-summer had seemed to take a year to pass for me, but it was a heartbeat compared to the time I spent on the frostclaw’s back. My right leg came free for a moment, unbalancing me perilously to the left, but the temeryx caught its tail on another sapling before it could spin me off. Its foreclaws raked the flesh on my forearm, igniting fiery pain, but it couldn’t pull my arm away. Finally the temeryx stumbled and crashed down on its right side, with both of our spines pointing downhill. We began to slide in that direction, so I heaved mightily and rolled the beast over the top of me so that when we hit a tree, as I knew we would, I’d not be between it and the wood.

I clung on through a final impact. The temeryx’s limbs thrashed and its lungs worked hard to fill with air. I tightened my knees on its chest and after a couple of labored breaths, it stopped fighting. The fingers of my left hand felt a strong heartbeat become ragged, then flutter and die. But even with that assurance that the creature was dead, I waited for the final jerking of its body. Until Rounce’s cries overrode the pounding of my own heart, I refused to believe the monster was truly dead.

Finally, I pulled my left hand from its side and my left leg from beneath it. I rolled onto my back and trembled and wanted to vomit. My jaw quivered and faint wisps of steam rose from my blood-slicked hand. I glanced at the dead monster, then shoved myself further from it, coming up on my hands and knees.

I started the crawl back up the hillside. Leigh and Nay crouched over Rounce, not sparing a glance in my direction. I’m certain they felt the creature had made off with me and that I’d never be seen again. As it was, covered in its blood and mine, I looked more dead than alive.

Halfway up the hill I managed to get to my feet again and lurch further upward. Leigh nearly jumped out of his skin as I touched his shoulder and left a bloody handprint on his jacket. “It’s dead.”

“So are you, by the look of it.” He stood quickly and looked me over. “You killed it? All by yourself, you killed it?”

“I had help from Nay.” I dropped to my knees and looked at Rounce. “Oh, by the gods. Rounce’s not dead, is he?”

Nay, kneeling at Rounce’s feet, shook his head. “Fainted from the pain.”

I nodded. A couple of cuts on his right flank showed where the temeryx had hit him in the initial attack, but they looked as superficial as the cuts on my arm. What looked the worst was the mangled, bloody mess the thing had made of his left knee. The angle of his foot in relation to his hip told me bones had been broken, crushed in the temeryx’s jaws. Blood oozed up through the wounds and soaked the fabric of his pants. Nay finished slicing open that leg of the trousers with Rounce’s knife, then cut it away above the wound. Leigh stared down at the ruined leg. “It’s my fault.” I glanced up at him. “How so?”

“I was leading. I couldn’t get back; he got taken. My fault.” Leigh’s eyes narrowed as he chewed on a thumbnail. “I have to fix it. I have to make it right.”

“Want to make it right, Leigh?” Nay wiped the knife off on his own tunic. “Here’s a start. That’s Fesyin Bane over there. Hack off a branch.”

Leigh complied with Nay’s command. Nay took it and began to strip off leaves, stuffing them in his mouth. He tore away smaller branches and handed them to us. “Chew the leaves into pulp. Pack his wounds with them.”

We quickly complied, and I noticed the edge on my pain dulling as I did so. I spit a mouthful of chewed leaves into Nay’s hands. He smeared them over the wound and started us chewing more. After we’d produced enough for a poultice, Nay wrapped the leg in the torn trouser material and tied it up tight. He then cast about for two stout sticks and tore the sleeves off his own shirt. He used them to fasten the splints around Rounce’s leg, above and below the knee, keeping it stiff.

I got moremetholanth and chewed it up to salve the cuts on my forearm, and wrapped it with the tattered remains of my shirt’s right sleeve. With that task done, I looked around for Leigh and found him trudging back up the hill from where the temeryx lay. He nodded to me and tossed the things he was carrying on the ground before us.

He’d chopped all four paws off the temeryx and had plucked a half-dozen teeth from its jaws. He’d also torn a fair-sized patch off its hide. He stabbed the sword into the middle of the pile, then knelt and began to unbutton his jacket.

“This is the plan, gentlemen.” He peeled his jacket off and laid it over Rounce’s chest. “The two of you will make a stretcher or sled to drag Rounce along.”

Nay frowned. “And you’ll be … ?”

Leigh heaved himself to his feet. “I’ll be running to Valsina to get help.” He held up a hand to forestall protest. “Ask Hawkins here who’s got the most endurance and can run the longest among us. The sword stays with Hawkins, in case there’s another of those things around. I’d take Hawkins’ dagger with me, but it’s gone.”

I nodded. “Sorry. It does make sense to have you go ahead, though. No offense to your healing skills, Nay, but Rounce is in serious need of help.”

“True enough. One thing wrong, though.”

Leigh arched an eyebrow. “And that is?”

Nay reversed the boot dagger and offered the hilt to Leigh. “Club’s good enough for me. Take it.”

Leigh’s hand closed about the hilt. “Thanks. I’ll get help, I really will, and fast, too.” He tossed us both a salute, then stooped and picked up one of the temeryx’s hind claws. “They’ll come even faster if they see this. Keep on east-northeast. I’ll carve blazes and pile rocks at stream fords, so I can backtrack to you.”

“Go, Leigh. May the gods speed you on the way.” Standing, I drew the sword from the earth and slid it into the empty scabbard on my belt. “Beware the frostclaws.”

“Ha,” he laughed as he started off. “I’m a Norrington; it’s methey should fear.”

I watched him crashing off into the brush until darkness swallowed him and the sound of his passing faded. “Think we’ll see him again?”

“Itwe don’t, if there are more frostclaws about, chances are no one will ever see us again either.” Nay shrugged. “No matter. Worrying about that won’t get Rounce to town.”

“Well said.” I gave him a smile and we set about making ourselves a way to get Rounce home.

fe made a drag-sled out of two stout saplings that we hacked down with the sword. We ended up butchering the temeryx, pulling off the hide and cutting loose the long sinews that ran along the back of its legs and that helped stiffen the tail. We used the sinews to lash pine boughs on the sapling poles, then we laid the temeryx skin on it, feather side up. We put Rounce on it, using his belt to tie him in place, then made a harness out of our belts and the sword belt with which one of us could drag the sled.

Nay put himself in the traces first and I led the way, following Leigh’s blazes. Leigh did pick out a fairly easy course, taking into account the fact that we’d be carrying or dragging Rounce behind us. The trail wound through the valleys between hills, giving us plenty of opportunity to see any temeryces that would be attacking—at least, after the sun came up. In other places, where trees were spaced enough to let us pass, the path took us through the sort of grove that would make twisting and turning tough for one of the stiff-tailed beasts.

I looked back at Nay. “I’ll take over and drag him whenever you want.”

“Good to go a bit more.” He swiped a hand over his brow, smearing dirt through the sweat. “Thought you were dead when you took the temeryx.”

“So did I, but I didn’t really have a choice, did I?”

“Always a choice. It had a meal. We could have moved on.

I spun on my heel. “That meal was Rounce and I wasn’t going to leave him. And, despite what you suggest, you weren’t going to leave him either. You hit it before I did.”

“Funny what fear will make you do. Glad it was you there in line, not Leigh.”

I started on walking again. “If Leigh had been there, he’d have gone after the temeryx. Leigh can be … annoying, but he doesn’t lack for courage.”

“Not what was suggested, Hawkins.” He grunted as we began a bit of a climb. “He’d have used the sword against it. Not the right weapon. Gotta be close, like you, with a dagger, or away, with a lance.”

“That’s pretty insightful.” In close the temeryx couldn’t bring its formidable weaponry to bear. Skewered on a lance or spear, it would be too far from its killer to do any damage. At medium range, as Leigh would have been, the creature could have leaped at him, and even if he impaled it on his sword, the beast would have raked its claws through him. “Of course, I’d not have had it if you’d not addled it with that lick you laid on it.”