Odyssey

CHAPTER 14

Kamahl and Seton drove themselves hard up the road, pursuing both Kirtar and Laquatus. It took days to finally flush themselves of the ambassador's animals. They had been relentlessly pursued, the beasts continuing long after the merman and his party departed. Only the combination of the barbarian's flaming barriers to impede pursuit and the druid's constant effort to break the spell finally won them through. Each time the druid erased the implanted commands, he turned the creatures back to the forest. The repetitious contact with the animals led Seton to suspect that something beyond the ambassador and his lackeys was affecting the creatures of the west. Riding in the wake of

Kirtar's forces confirmed that something was wrong.

They returned to the village where they had battled Laquatus and his minions, but the site was deserted. Kamahl found his horse grazing in a deserted field and moved to a narrower mount, much to the relief of his legs. They continued west, looking in vain for the ambassador and his minions. Whether by magic or good trailcraft on the part of Laquatus's mercenaries, they could not track the aristocrat and his murderous cronies.

Soon enough they did find the trail of Lieutenant Kirtar. Dead animals and markers for fallen Order soldiers began to appear. Within a day of leaving the village they came upon a gravestone. The marker was nothing extraordinary, a simple boulder with the sigil of the Order and the troop name.

"The warriors of Eiglin," Seton said, identifying the unofficial symbol of the lieutenant's command. The soldier was interred in frozen ground. The dirt was enchanted to be as resistant as iron, denying scavengers an easy meal. The resting place would be recorded for eventual reburial in the mausoleums of the Order or the graveyards of the soldier's people.

Filled with hope that they would soon meet Kirtar and their search would be over, the two continued on. Instead they found more of the Order's passing slaughter.

They followed long runs of animals hunted down by soldiers until there was nothing left alive. The barbarian and the centaur were forced to backtrack as the trails ended in piles of dead flesh. Soon they neared the edge on the plains and entered the realm usually ceded to the forest.

The killing of animals continued even as the villages were left behind, angering the druid to greater and greater heights.

"There is no sign that these animals threatened anyone. The Order destroys anything in its path. Perhaps," he said darkly, "the waves of animals are right to kill, with such enemies waiting to come within the trees."

The barbarian rode with his axes loosely tied to his saddle, instantly ready at hand. Such destruction seemed pointless to the mountain mage. The Order had the right to protect itself from attack, but such indiscriminate slaughter must provoke a reaction. Seton assured him that the peoples of the forest were not behind the current attacks. The killing would not curb further animal incursions, for the beasts lacked the intelligence to react to such dangers. To kill every dangerous creature would be the work of decades. Even though the barbarian had spent his life in the mountains, he knew that one roused the forest at his own peril. The random attacks could change into a real campaign of destruction.

The dust and the cries dragged the pair onward, both desperate to see at last the events whose aftermath had filled the land for days. Seton went forward, his face sick and angry at the slaughter. Kamahl followed hoping to finally catch up with Kirtar or the ambassador. A camp with exhausted Order soldier appeared as they rounded a corner of the road. The centaur charged through, drawn to the combat beyond. Kamahl followed, knowing that both of those he sought were more likely to be near the tumult of battle.

The barbarian looked to the camp as he passed, seeing the line of wounded stretched out. His heart raced as he saw the face of the injured knight, the fighter he had seen with Laquatus. But the man was down in the dirt, a surgeon and orderly working on his wounds. The knight's shirt was cut away. Festering sores and weeping gashes lay open to the dusty air. Kamahl directed his steed forward more strongly, trying to regain the time lost due to his pause.

Seton slowed unexpectedly ahead, allowing Kamahl to come closer. The big centaur crowded a man on a horse, fear and strain plain on the guard's features. The druid's club was in a carrier strapped to his body, and rather than waste time fumbling at the straps he used his hands, as he had back at the caravan.

"Murderer." Kamahl heard him growl as he swept the mercenary off his horse and turn his head until the fellow could see behind him. The dead man's steed stood placidly, apparently accustomed to death in close proximity. "Take a centaur's hide and die!" Seton spat. Kamahl assumed that the centaur had found another member of the ambassador's party. The druid dropped the corpse in the road and reached back to draw his club. Kamahl looked, but no one else saw the killing, and the dead man faded into the background with the other corpses.

"Such a criminal deserves death," the barbarian said as Seton breathed deeply. "But perhaps vengeance might wait when we find the others. Especially if they be in the company of the Order."

The giant grimaced but nodded reluctantly. The pair advanced more slowly, the detail of the fighting beyond becoming clearer as they rounded a clump of trees.

Animals of all sorts, both large and small, moved chaotically between riders and infantry. Seton turned his head, waving off a bobcat as it ran at him and tried to climb to higher ground on his back.

"Sheer madness!" he exclaimed, and Kamahl agreed with him, turning his horse from a badger headed for the trees behind him.

The druid moved tentatively into the confusion. The mountain warrior could feel energy hum as the druid neared a pack of wolves. The beasts snarled, and Seton snarled back, reinforcing the sound with a wave of the club. Kamahl stayed close to his friend as the druid tried to drive the animals away from the killing field.

"Difficult," huffed the druid as a bull elk threatened him with its antlers.

The centaur tried to nudge the animal on with his club, but the beast fenced the stone-tipped weapons with its velvety antlers. Kamahl whipped a fire lash into the ground at the animal's side, and it broke away. The centaur grunted and tried to control other animals as the barbarian raised a line of flickering flame that began to prod the animals to the side. Kamahl ached with the effort of controlling himself, but the druid wanted to stop the battle, not join it, and the barbarian felt constrained to honor his friend's wishes.

The pair worked their way through the animal refugees, turning those outside the fighting back to the forest. Now they crowded the Order soldiers. Kamahl stayed the peacemaker, though more and more he ached to smash a profane soldier to the ground. This fighting was wrong, and they must stop it. The barbarian's frustration mounted higher, and it was with relief that he found another member of the ambassador's party.

Turg announced himself by springing from ambush, as he had so often before. The faint flames Kamahl used to herd animals roared higher, drying the amphibian's skin as the creature came at him. The barbarian ducked as the frog's hind leg thudded into his mounts shoulder, his sword out of position. The jack threw himself onto the centaur. The frog was red with blood and gore from the battle. Kamahl wondered if the champion's fury was directed at him for following the ambassador or attempting to quell the slaughter. Regardless, the amphibian jumped to the druid's back and tried to rip his throat out.

The centaur showed the flexibility of his kind, turning around at his humanoid waist to fight the frog face to face. Kamahl saw them gripping arms, and he waited for parts of the amphibian to fly over the battlefield. As massive as the frog's muscles appeared, they were dwarfed by the forest warrior's mighty shoulders. He turned to his own defense as he left the centaur to his.

Without Seton's will, the animals swung back to fight. Two bears and dragonettes converged on Kamahl, and now the barbarian's fire lash burned away fur and scales. Other animals came closer, some fleeing battle, the others seeking it. The Knights of the Order came together, and a new summoning burned through the magical ether.

New creatures shimmered into being. They seemed huge mounds of crystals, some over twenty feet high. For a moment, Kamahl wondered if the Order forces were trying to construct a fortress. Then the apparent masses of rock began to move. Ponderous legs swung into new positions as the creatures started across the field. Light began to glimmer inside the crystal, rotating wildly before leaping out to engulf animals. The magic congealed, slowly trapping its victims in glowing layers. Bison and great bears struggled as if in tar until the bands of golden light hardened and left the victims immobile. The monstrous creatures knew their allies and rhinos ran freely among the trapped creatures, trampling and goring the helpless animals.

The megoliths moved their crystalline masses over their captives, both the living and the dead, and settled down for a moment. Then the legs raised the crystal bodies, and new bands of magic jumped forth to trap fresh prey. A cow kicked and thrashed as the energy tightened and locked it rigid, waiting for a rhino's killing thrust or a crushing death from the advancing giants. The megoliths had moved far enough that Kamahl could see the lane they left behind. Every drop of blood, morsel of flesh, or sprig of a plant was gone. A floor of corpses lay in front of them, and the crystal grew rosy as the mineral creatures helped the Order sweep the field clean.

"The drive is broken," Seton croaked from behind Kamahl. The barbarian turned to the centaur. The druid's face was black with an oily liquid, and water wept copiously from his eyes. Of Turg, there was no sign.

"The ambassador's jack vomited his bile into my eyes as we struggled," Seton said, peering myopically into Kamahl's face. "1 wrenched his shoulder and would have pulled his arm off but for the burning of its juices."

The centaur tried to wipe his eyes clear, and Kamahl pulled a canteen from his gear. The forest warrior tilted his head back and poured the water directly into his eyes.

"I think the battle is done," he gasped and handed the nearly empty container back to the barbarian. Animals fleeing the conflict proved the centaur's word good. A bear lumbered by, giving only a glance in their direction before continuing on its way. However, there were other creatures on the field. A rhino stabbed its way through the flow of animal refugees and headed for Kamahl. His axe spun into its skull, dropping it into the bloody mud. Others converged on him, and he drove his horse forward, trying to get away from the approaching beasts. The megoliths reversed course, and energy folded over the barbarian despite his horse's efforts to outrun the spell. The mare's gallop suddenly stopped, and the horse tumbled to the ground. Kamahl threw himself free before he could be trapped beneath the body.

He rolled, the sword flying free from his grip. He came to his feet with knives of fire in his hands. Seton swung his club, snapping a rhino's horn free as he struggled against the megoliths' magic. Kamahl ran to his aid, his power severing crystal as he turned to destroy the mineral giants. But the battlefield held only the victors and the dead. The creatures of the forest merged back into the trees as the rhinos and megoliths began to fade away.

The barbarian hobbled to his horse, a deep gaping wound on her side telling him that a rhino had attacked while he scrambled to his feet. He knelt and laid his hand on her side.

"Thank you," He whispered, then stripped the saddle and gear from the corpse.

"My friend," Seton said tremulously, "I can't see you-" The centaur collapsed, rolling up against the other corpses in the field. Kamahl paused for a second and threw away everything, racing to find a healer. •к "к "к "к "k

Kamahl did not know how long he searched before he found someone willing to help his friend. He was sure that the exhausted sergeant came more because of the barbarian's sword than belief in his story. Once he checked to see if Seton was alive, the Order soldier fell into a healing trance.

The mountain warrior struggled to clear the centaur's eyes, scouting for water among the fallen to wash away the poison and quench the druid's raging thirst. Kamahl waited, wondering if he should fetch others to help, but the cries of the wounded could be heard in the distance. The barbarian counted himself lucky to have found the sour sergeant.

"I have done what I can," the Order soldier announced suddenly, standing up and moving away from the patient he had lavished so much care over.

"I do not know how to repay you," Kamahl started to say.

"Don't bother," came the gruff reply. The man stretched, his back crackling at the movement. "I saved the eyes. I don't know if he will be able to use them. Bring him to the main camp when he feels able to walk."

"I will thank you as soon as I can guide him up the road," Kamahl said. "I will do it right before I speak with Lieutenant Kirtar."

The sergeant laughed harshly. "I won't be seeing you then. Kirtar has been recalled. The captain was going to haul him back to the citadel to explain his conduct. If 1 know Captain Pianna, he was on griffin back within a minute of the battle's end."

All that riding and he must have missed Kirtar by only minutes. The barbarian stood rigid, wondering how he would catch up with the lieutenant now.

Kamahl sat in his camp, eating a piece of travel bread. Despite the tons of meat lying in the field, he had gathered none of it. Besides being no scavenger, he could not afford the trouble a fire might bring.

Seton recovered some, and the barbarian was able to lead the centaur to the Order camp perimeter, though he did not follow the druid to the healers. He left the giant and returned to his solitary tent.

He waited for a day, eating dry travel food and ignoring the stench. The barbarian meditated, but the core of his anger made his attempts to find peace meaningless. On the second day, Seton returned.

The druid's face was discolored, the apelike features splotched with what looked like blue-and- black dye. His eyes seeped a steady stream, and he advance slowly into the camp, watching where he stepped.

"It looks worse than it really is," the forest warrior said. "The healers believe that with time my sight may improve." The giant tried to sound cheerful, but it was obviously difficult. The barbarian came closer, gripping his friend firmly by the lower arm.

"I have not wasted my time in the Order's camp," Seton explained, lowering himself gingerly. "The lieutenant was called to the Citadel to explain his policy of slaughter.

"The captain sent word that all forays into the forest would cease pending further information. There is talk that the bird warrior might be demoted or transferred far to the East." Seton paused, speaking more seriously. "The Mer Ambassador and his jack have also left for the Citadel, 'hoping to resolve the current difficulties,'" the druid repeated, the bitterness plain in his voice.

"The quest must not end here," Seton urged. "Reclaiming the orb or foiling the ambassador's plans, your journey must continue." The druid stood and picked up Kamahl's gear.

"This was not my first stop after the Order's healers released me," the woodland fighter said. "I was able to secure you another steed. Come and I will introduce you to him." The centaur picked up Kamahl's gear with a single hand and headed into the forest, not bothering to wait for a response.

The druid walked through the trees, his huge strides tentative but still forcing the barbarian to step rapidly to keep up with him. They arrived at the foot of a tall cliff after a long walk, one that obviously taxed the giant's strength. The vertical rock face climbed hundreds of feet, the limbs of trees seeming to peek out over the top of the ridge.

"Unless this steed can fly or is invisible, I do not see it." Kamahl quipped as he reached the centaur's side. The druid chuckled painfully as he dropped the barbarian's gear and looked blearily to the sky.

"Emerald!" he called. "Your rider is here!" A head popped out over the top of the cliff, eyes swiveling separately to peer down on the two below. A lizard stepped onto the side of the sheer wall, standing vertically a moment before it started down.

"Emerald volunteered last night to provide you with transportation. He fed this morning and should be ready for days of hard riding."

The barbarian moved back, nervous to be under a creature of such size descending with no visible means of support.

"Do not worry," said Seton. "Emerald's kind can walk on a ceiling as long as the surface can hold the weight."

The lizard was at the bottom of the cliff and stepped to the ground. Its body stood as high as a horse, though it was much longer. Emerald's long tail beat against the rock.

"Exactly how am I going to ride it?" Kamahl said as he approached the beast. The centaur said nothing, swinging the saddle onto the animal's back. A long tongue darted out of the gecko's mouth and worked along the underside of the saddle. When the druid settled it all the way down, it squelched and then locked solid.

"That will hold you and your gear even if you are upside down," Seton said with satisfaction. "Though you might want to grip with something besides your knees. Now climb aboard, and tell me how it feels."

Kamahl approached cautiously and, using the saddle horn, pulled himself up. The lizard was huge, but the barrel of its body was close to the same width as a horse's.

"How do I care for it?" Kamahl said uncertainly.

Seton laughed. "Emerald is as smart as you are, even if he can't talk," the centaur explained. "When you want to get the saddle off, just tell him and lift. That tongue will smear something on its back that will break the saddle's grip. When you want to start out again, just do as I did." The druid lifted the rest of Kamahl's gear to him and helped secure it. "Emerald knows the way to the Order and how to avoid trouble. Just trust him to know where he is going."

The forest warrior stepped back and settled down to rest. Before Kamahl could say anything the gecko started with a jerk.

"Good luck in your quest, Kamahl," Seton called.

The barbarian could only wave, hoping the druid saw him as he concentrated on adapting to the lizard's gait.