The Black wing

Chapter 8

The cry of a hawk wheeling in tbe gray sky above cut the brittle silence. Heads tilted up, neither knights nor Led's party moved. Even the ogres seemed to sense the strain in the air. They stood as still as their large, hunch-shouldered bodies would allow.

Stippling broke the silence at last. "I'll warn you one last time. Open the wagon."

Led cleaned the dirt from under a fingernail with a small blade. "Or what?"

Led's indifference infuriated the haughty knight. For an answer Stippling snapped down the visor of his helm and clenched his fingers around the hilt of his sword. "Or face the consequences. I would have the woman withdraw, if I were you."

Led could feel Onyx stiffen with indignation. "Fortunately for my troops and my cargo, you're not me," he cut in before she could fashion a fiery reply. "She stays."

Truth to tell. Onyx was eagerly anticipating a battle that was, at last, not of her own making. It would give her the opportunity to compare the full measure of a human's reflexes to a dragon's. The muscles of this body felt more tightly strung than those of her dragon form. The blood did not hammer deafeningly at her temples in the usual manner. There was no acid with which to scald the flesh from a foe, no tail to deliver a killing blow. Onyx felt the blade in her right boot, cold against her calf; it was a sorry replacement for a dragon's claws. She'd have to rely heavily on her spellcast-ing. Onyx readied her two best enchantments.

Stippling seemed to be spoiling for a fight as well. He obvi shy;ously had no idea what he faced as he edged his horse for shy;ward. With swords and maces drawn, the knights followed his lead. Four knights rode past the wagon to the downhill side of the road, blocking escape. Four more, including the two Stippling had ordered to search the wagon, were still on the uphill side, spread out slightly ahead of their comman shy;der. Sensing what was to come, their horses pranced and tossed their heads in anticipation. Stippling leveled his sword at the chest of the bounty hunter.

Still Led had not drawn his own weapon. Does he intend to let the knights open the wagon after all? Onyx wondered. She'd never seen him fight, but his tactics were not what hers would have been. Then she remembered the ogres. Without moving her head, Onyx's eyes shifted to the rocky walls where they waited. Even she could scarcely make out the brutish heads peering around boulders above.

Of course Led had no intention of letting the knights see his prize. Calmly finishing his manicure, he put the blade away. "Do nothing and stay put," he whispered lightly to Onyx. Then, with incredible speed, he sprang forward and to the right, darting around the front of Stippling's horse. He snatched at the horse's bridle but missed. The horse lashed out its front hooves. One glanced off the greave on Led's left leg. The bounty hunter spun to the ground from the shock. He scrambled away before the rearing horse could trample him.

Led's maneuver, however little effect it had on Stippling, focused most of the knights' attention on him. They moved forward. Only three faced off with the ogres. The remainder closed in on the leather-armored man, still crouched defen shy;sively on his haunches near the horse's hooves.

An eerie wail broke over the scene. Hearing the strange sound from the rocks above, the knights looked up just in time to see several large boulders-propelled by Onyx's magic-hurtling toward them from the cliffs. It was too late to move. The rocks were slightly off target and just grazed the flanks of the stunned knights. One was bowled from his saddle. The rest raised their shields and hastily directed their shrieking mounts backward; they weren't retreating, merely trying to figure out whether the greater danger lay on the ground or in the cliffs.

The answer came when the hidden ogres rose up from their hiding places. They began pelting the road with skull-sized rocks. At first the stones hit their marks, crashing into heavy plate mail with loud clatters. The knights quickly recovered. Holding their rose-crested shields aloft, they easily deflected the stones.

"Lay on!" came a cry nearby. "Take no prisoners!"

The bounty hunter waved his forces forward. The three towering ogres charged into the milling, confused knights, whose gazes were still turned skyward. The ogres indiscrimi shy;nately swung their clubs and thrust their rough spears at horses and knights alike.

But the trap had not been sprung in its entirety.

With the knights' attention turned to the action around them, the ogres above began to throw themselves from the cliff face like lemmings. Ogres rained down with greater force and accuracy than the boulders. Three more knights were sent sprawling from their saddles, and two of them were seriously hurt by the trampling hooves of their own horses. The horses were suffering as much from spear thrusts as their riders. Many of the steeds were down on their knees, their drapings covered in blood.

Everything was going according to Led's plan.

The knights had fallen more easily than even Led had hoped-so easy, in fact, that there had been no need for him to do anything but lean against a boulder and enjoy the spec shy;tacle. He'd held Onyx back from the skirmish with him, telling her with a wink that she was too valuable to sacrifice in a lopsided brawl. His tone was patronizing as he told her to be ready with her spells, in case the tide turned.

Onyx watched the ogres at their sport and felt cheated. She was reminded of Kadagan's parable of the sword: Onyx was like a mighty blade used only to pare apples. Soon the ogres will finish off the last knight, she reflected jealously, and I'll have had no fun at all.

Then the unthinkable happened.

A lone ogre hopped anxiously from one foot to the other on the cliff above, eager to join the fray. This exceptionally dim-witted creature grabbed its knees and flung its thirty-stone, olive-green body off the cliff without thought to where it was headed. The brute landed with the force and grace of an enormous gunstone, square on the roof of the small wagon. The monster's bulk smashed open the top and one side of the compartment. A second side splintered as he tum shy;bled to the ground, landing in a heap of broken boards and splinters.

"No!" wailed Led. "My fortune!" He rushed forward, then stopped, paralyzed. An audible gasp rippled through the melee. All heads were turned toward the demolished wagon, and the creature huddled amid the wreckage.

Onyx knew the pathetic thing, shivering in a shabby, dirty tunic, had to be Dela. But the gray, wrinkled skin, sunken eyes, and swollen joints bore no semblance to the perfectly formed nyphid she'd seen in the maynus. Dela's tunic seemed to hold a bundle of sticks. Her hair, now dull yellow and matted and littered with straw, was barely recognizable.

Onyx silently screamed for the nyphid to run, but, sur shy;rounded by people, Dela was obviously too terrified or weak to move. Her mouth opened and closed with soundless screams. There was no place to hide in the ruined wagon. The nyphid threw her withered arms across her face and col shy;lapsed into the straw.

Do something! Onyx told herself. But what? She couldn't just grab the nyphid and run. Unless she intended to reveal her real reason for joining Led's group, she had to think of a way to make Dela help herself. A spell. She tried to think of one, but she'd concentrated for so long on enchantments that might aid in a battle, no new ones penetrated the fog of her confused thoughts.

Onyx felt the burning sensation around her neck again. Dela's maynus … The nyphid was surely too weak to use it herself. Onyx pulled the choker from under her tunic and let it rest on her armor. Placing her hand on the round maynus to screen it from view, she silently bade it to grant energy to Dela.

The maynus grew warmer still, and the glow that squeezed between Onyx's fingers turned from white to blue. A fine spray of light emanated between the cracks and bathed the sun-loving nyphid with warm energy. The light on Dela was so soft and diffuse that anyone looking at her would think her highlighted by a lone shaft of sun cutting through the cloud cover.

But instead of invigorating Dela, the light caused the shrunken creature to whimper and draw away, as if the ray were steaming-hot water. A thready sound rose in her throat. The more the light sought Dela out, the more acute her pain seemed to become. After only a few seconds, her agony was unbearable to hear.

Onyx commanded the maynus to stop, sensing that some shy;how, through her long deprivation, Dela had lost the ability to absorb or draw energy from the light. The nyphid's shrill screams thankfully ended as soon as the light disappeared.

Foes stood shoulder to shoulder among the fallen bodies of knights and horses. The battle was momentarily forgotten as the men stared, immobilized by the wretched form twitch shy;ing in the debris of the wagon. Though half-dead, shriveled to little more than a skeleton, the nyphid still seemed able to ignite some desire to touch her. Stippling himself, his side streaked with blood, forced his steed forward. Leaning from his saddle, he tried to scoop her up in his arms. There was a flash of pale blue light and two screams. Stippling flew back shy;ward, his horse staggering to stay under him. The knight was dazed, his armor scorched, but he was still alive. Had the nyphid been healthy, the jolt would have killed him.

Dela's screams rang long and loud. The frightful sounds pierced the men's ears so that they clapped their hands to their heads. Her tiny body convulsed, but with almost no energy left, the defensive discharge had been too much for Dela. The wailing stopped. Her grotesquely sunken face abruptly softened into a faraway smile, as if the tortured nyphid alone was privy to some glorious sight. Her golden hair took on the brief, backlit glow it had once possessed. Then, just as suddenly, Dela's wizened body slumped for shy;ward, exposing the wings on her back. Like a drying forest leaf, her still body withered away until nothing remained but her tattered tunic.

Onyx stood staring for several seconds in disbelief. She had seen a race die.

After a time, something caught Onyx's eye, and she blinked. She thought she spotted a tiny lightning bug against the gray sky, fluttering above the remains of Led's wagon. A firefly in winter? She blinked again. Now there were two, twin yellow tails dimly blinking in daylight. A cold winter breeze rose swiftly, caught the tiny insects up, and carried them out of her sight.

"Well, there goes my fortune," Led muttered at Onyx, dis shy;missing the dead nyphid from his accounts as if she were just another dice wager. Dusting off his hands, the bounty hunter turned to consider the distance to his horses; since there was no longer precious cargo to fight over, he might as well escape. Stippling's voice brought him up short and settled his course of action.

"As I suspected, you're the worst of scoundrels/' the knight thundered. "I'll see you brought to justice for this poor creature's death, in addition to that of my fallen com shy;rade. …"

Led drew his sword at last and whirled around. "Then I'll have to make it an even eight knights!" he cried. "Now's your chance," he told Onyx before charging into the throng.

The fight resumed with greater intensity. On foot and horseback, the seven remaining knights trampled and cut their way through the frenzied ogres in an effort to unite in a defensive formation. The knights had a small advantage while they kept to their horses, but Yoshiki Toba had trained the ogres well in brawling.

Toba had tirelessly drilled the warty monsters to approach horsemen from the right side. The mounted knights found it clumsy and difficult to bring their shields across their horses, and thus their right flanks were exposed. The ogres rushed forward with their crude spears extended or massive clubs spinning through the air. There came a subhuman growl and a tremendous crash. After the attack, an ogre stood over the crumpled body of a knight.

The ogres were viciously efficient, especially compared to those Onyx had fought as a dragon. As the battle wore on, two ogres doubled up against one knight. The soldier deftly knocked aside a club as a spear slammed into his chest. The tip shattered against the knighf s heavy breastplate, and the force of the impact knocked him from his saddle. A third ogre crashed its club against the forehead of the furiously kicking and biting horse. The animal stumbled. A second blow sent it thudding to the frozen earth.

One ogre pinned the fallen knight to the ground and another struggled to wrench the helmet from his head. The man's left arm was useless, strapped to the heavy shield, but still he thrashed desperately with his sword arm, cutting sev shy;eral of the ogres who bore down on him. His helmet tore free. The human roared his defiance-before a spiked club crushed his skull.

Near the remains of the wagon, Led fought, bobbing and weaving to land a sword thrust at the still-mounted Stip shy;pling. Onyx spied another knight rushing at the bounty-hunter's back. Preoccupied with reaching his goal, the knight did not see her stride over a dead knight to hold her hands, burning like rag-soaked torches, to his tunic. The knight whirled about just short of landing a blow to Led. Onyx rec shy;ognized his young face-he'd led the procession through the pass. He gazed at her in confusion at first. Then he felt the fire at the hem of his tunic, spreading rapidly under his armor. With a yelp, he took off running, as if that might allow him to escape the flames that threatened to engulf him.

Led paused for an instant to watch the knight, fanning the fires of his own death by his flight. Smiling, Led tipped his sword to Onyx, then resumed his attack on Stippling.

Suffering greatly, the ranking knight managed at last to break off from Led. He and the three remaining knights drew up across the top of the pass, facing downhill toward where the ogres continued clubbing and kicking the unconscious or dead bodies on the ground. Suddenly one man charged from the group, driving the startled ogres back along the trail. His long sword cut great whistling arcs through the air, and his horse kicked and pawed at the oafish monsters. Several ogres dived for cover as the knight rushed headlong into their backs. His sword chopped straight down through an ogre's shoulder, cleaving its ribs. The body tumbled away and wrenched the sword from the knight's hand. Without pause, he pulled up a heavy mace slung on his saddle and smashed it down on the head of a second ogre, which crashed to the trail, lifeless, just yards beyond its comrade.

Onyx summoned her magic. Instantly, the knight's helmet was engulfed in swirling lights and colors too thick to see through. An ogre jumped forward and poked him in the back with a broken spear shaft. The knight slashed backward blindly, but his blade found no target. Another ogre reached forward and grabbed the man's ankle, then gave a mighty yank. The knight toppled from the saddle, howling over his now-broken leg, then disappeared under a tumult of ogres.

Led motioned toward the three remaining knights, who were now advancing at a trot down the hill. Onyx could see in his eyes that Led didn't relish the thought of fighting these warriors; riding knee to knee, they were obviously better trained than their doomed fellows. The ogres were fearsome in a swirling melee, but they weren't equipped to face charg shy;ing war-horses directed by skilled riders.

Onyx stooped to the ground and began scraping at it with her dagger. Fortunately, the Solamnics ignored her and con shy;centrated on their more outwardly dangerous adversaries.

The knights thundered straight through the ogres, who scattered like pins in every direction. The knights wheeled and galloped back again, this time shifting to the right to ride down the smaller group of ogres. As they stormed into the brutes, Onyx stood with a handful of dust, spit into it, and rolled her hands together to form a clay spike. She hurled the spike into the air above the knights. Pulling a startled Led along behind her, she darted out of range, behind the boulder on which they'd eaten lunch.

The sky seemed to split open. Enormous icicles, sharp and glistening in the sun, materialized in midair and rained down, slashing at knights and ogres alike. Most of the Solam shy;nics found shelter beneath their shields, but the ice pounded the horses mercilessly. Stunned and bleeding, the animals stumbled and finally fell. They lay on the ground, kicking feebly.

The ogres suffered as much as the horses, wailing and howling in panic. The ice storm sliced them into bloody rib shy;bons before they could crawl away.

Crouching beneath their battered, dented shields, the knights inched their way downhill. Once out of the mael shy;strom, the warriors scrambled back to their feet. They shook their heads to clear the awful ringing in their ears and cut the straps from their now useless shields.

But Led was not about to let them regroup. With the few remaining ogres at his back, he led the charge. Without their horses or shields, beaten and dazed by the hail, the knights fell before the assault. Led took great pride in slicing Stip-pling's pompous head from his shoulders.

When the fight was over, the smashed and broken bodies of the knights and their horses were mingled together on the narrow road with the hulking carcasses of slain ogres. An unfortunate survivor of the hailstorm whimpered pitifully

through its tusks, watching in horror as a tremendous pool of blood pumped unstoppably from its mutilated thigh. Led stepped up behind the doomed creature and cut its throat to end its suffering. The remaining ogres didn't object, merely clutched more tightly at their own bleeding sword cuts or licked their wounds like animals.

Watching from the fringe, Onyx caught a glimpse of move shy;ment out of the corner of her right eye. She swung her head about. A distance down the road, a knight was struggling to his knees. His armor was scorched black, helmet gone, hair singed nearly off. It was the young knight she'd set on fire. Assuming he would burn to death, she'd forgotten about him in the heat of battle. Blood ran freely down the dented plate mail at one shoulder. His awkwardly twisted leg also bore the signs of a clubbing. The young knight staggered with a clumsy gait down the hill, toward the thick woods on the east side of the pass.

"Hey!" she shouted. "One of them is getting away!" Onyx looked frantically back toward the scene of the fight. The ogres were stripping the corpses, dividing up the dead men's possessions. Led stared into the shattered wagon, shaking his head sadly. Onyx called again, but no one seemed to hear her.

Swearing under her breath, Onyx touched the knife in the top of her boot and set off at a dead run after the wounded knight. Rounding a boulder, she entered the forest and stalked through the brush, looking for signs of the man's passing. She stopped suddenly and held her breath, listen shy;ing. In the distance she heard the clanking of his heavy plate armor.

Onyx spied a bloody trail in the leaves and snow and fol shy;lowed it toward the sound of the jangling armor. She could hear the knighf s ragged, labored breathing as he struggled to run. Eyes ahead, she nearly tripped over the shield he had dumped along the way. At last she caught sight of him, half running, half crawling, dragging a leg.

He looked frantically over his shoulder, his brown eyes wide with alarm. Seeing how quickly the woman was closing

the gap, the knight pulled himself up to run faster. In his haste, he lost control of his wounded leg. The foot twisted to the side and caught on a sapling. He fell to his face on the ground. Cursing, the knight rolled over and tried to struggle to his feet again. Onyx launched herself in a flying leap and knocked him back to the cold ground.

Straddling his stomach, Onyx looked into his face. The knight's eyes were the deepest brown she'd ever seen. His soot-streaked cheeks were ruddy with burns. His Solamnic mustache had been singed to stubble above smooth lips. To her annoyance he showed no fear, and was, in fact, similarly evaluating her.

"How'd you put out the fire?"

"I dropped and rolled. You forgot about me."

Scowling, Onyx reached back, raised the knife from the cuff of her boot, and swung it down in an arc toward his face. The knight wrenched his head to the side and batted at her arm. The blade bounced off the young man's mailed sleeve and recoiled out of Onyx's hand. The knife landed in the underbrush several yards away.

"You're going to die, you know," she said coldly, reaching out to squeeze his throat with her bare hands.

"Eventually." He tossed her easily from his stomach and onto the ground. Gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg, the knight rolled onto his knees and pivoted to face her. His own knife was now in his palm. He waved it before him threateningly.

"Please run away," the knight invited in a patronizing tone. "I've no wish to compound my transgressions by killing a woman today."

"Transgressions?" she repeated, though she knew from the little Led had told her about the Solamnics that the knights valued honor above all else. "You mean bolting from a battle and leaving your dead friends to be mutilated by ogres?" she asked archly.

His eyes narrowed in anger. "My comrades were all good men and true, but my dying won't help them now."

"That doesn't sound very chivalrous," she said. "Won't you burn in the Abyss for your cowardice?"

The knight winced perceptibly at her choice of words. "I believe honor and chivalry must be tempered by wisdom and discretion. I'll be rewarded in the hereafter for the bal shy;ance of my good deeds." The young man shrugged and gave a rueful smile that made him tense in pain. "But who really knows how one will be judged when the time of reckoning comes? Today I chose to put that day off, so that I may live to avenge my friends."

"Oh, will you?" Onyx lashed out with her nails and raked his face, drawing three thin lines of bright red blood on his left cheek.

Scowling, the knight lunged toward Onyx with the knife. The cold blade bit into her shoulder, bringing an involuntary yelp of pain to her lips. She looked up at his young face in angry disbelief.

The knight shook his head almost sadly. "You can't act like a ruffian and expect to be treated like a lady. Stick to your spells, witch. You aren't very good at hand-to-hand fight shy;ing."

Humiliation made Onyx's blood boil like molten metal in her veins. Her fingers came upon a fist-sized stone. Scarcely moving a muscle, like a cat creeping up on a field mouse, she closed her hand around the cool rock. Onyx swallowed an evil smile, smelling revenge.

Suddenly, the young knight raised his forearm and his fist shot forward in a quick, effortless, bone-snapping punch to the bridge of Onyx's nose. The rock dropped from Onyx's fingers.

"Not much good at all," she heard the knight say distantly. As daylight spun into darkness, her last vision was of the young man's face. She would never forget, nor forgive, the pity in his brown eyes.