Warriors Of Latan

Chapter 22

(«Is that it?») Blade asked, pointing to the mouth of the cave.

Perched on Blade's shoulder, Cheeky said «Yes» by tugging twice on Blade's right ear.

So their journey to the Idol was over. Now all that remained was to get down the rocky slope below them into the mist-hung valley, enter the cave, find the Idol, and get themselves and it safely out of reach of the Rutari.

If you were a comic-book superhero, easy enough. But if you were a comic-book superhero, you didn't have to spend ten days of foot-bruising, muscle-wrenching hiking just getting this far. Your stomach didn't rumble when you hadn't found any game for two days, and you didn't pick up more bruises ducking for cover to avoid Rutari patrols-or rolling on the ground with an enthusiastic young lady.

As Blade watched, the mist thinned for a moment. He could see farther back into the cave. He could also see two men sitting by a small fire in the lee of boulders just beyond the cave mouth. Both wore loinguards and had their spears propped against a boulder. They didn't look alert, but their presence was still a problem.

(«Were there men with spears here when you came with Ellspa and the Wise One?»)

After a moment's hesitation, Cheeky tugged Blade's ear once for «No.»

So Ellspa or at least a message from her had reached home. Now the Rutari knew things weren't going quite the way the Wise One had planned. Or perhaps Ellspa herself was visiting the Idol?

(«Can you hear any of the thoughts of the Mistress Ellspa?»)

Cheeky was silent for so long that before he replied the mist blotted out the mouth of the cave and the sentries. Then he gave the «No» tug.

That didn't prove that Ellspa wasn't present; she might be asleep or making love. At least she didn't seem to be in kerush-magor or some other state of telepathic sensitivity where she might pick up Blade's thoughts no matter how he tried to conceal them.

Telepathy, Blade realized now, had a good deal in common with radio. For example, when you broadcast, you had to be sure you had some chance of telling if the enemy was alert and likely to intercept you. For Blade, it made it easier to understand telepathy to be able to compare it to something he already knew.

So on the way north, Blade and Crystal had been able to work out security precautions, and Cheeky was cooperating nicely. The two humans would use no telepathy at all to each other. They would use it as seldom as possible to Cheeky. When they did use it, he would answer whenever possible with ear-tugs for «Yes» or «No.» Blade hoped this would produce the telepathic equivalent of radio silence. He would have been more careful with the Wise One and Moyla still alive, and not used any telepathic communications. Against Rutari, dependent as far as he knew either on Ellspa or kerush-magor, the limited telepathy should be safe.

Blade mentally crossed his fingers and looked down at the sentry post again. He could see one man coming out of the cave with an armload of firewood. This lack of alertness was encouraging. It was hard to believe that Ellspa or any warrior who knew his business would allow it.

«I don't think Ellspa is here, or any other strong leader,» he said to Crystal. «Do you know why?» He was testing her knowledge of war.

She gave him the same reasons he'd already considered, then added, «There may be more back in the cave. But if we move fast, we will be able to kill the two outside before the others can help them. Then we can wait for them to come out and be killed.»

«Perhaps,» said Blade. «It would be better if we killed the two outside so fast that they give no warning. Others inside might hide the Idol, or even take it out another way, Are you sure there is only one mouth to this cave?»

Crystal looked annoyed with herself, then shook her head. Blade patted her shoulder. «Never mind. You thought like a warrior, and I will swear this before all the Uchendi. Some things that you must know, you will learn only with experience. Winter Owl did not know everything either when he was your age. «

There was still one problem. Blade wouldn't have a good shot with his bow unless the sentries could be lured out into the open. With better arrows or the crossbow, he would have risked picking them off in their shelter of boulders, but with the weapons he had it was necessary to make other plans.

He explained those plans to Crystal while he strung the bow and checked the feathers on his arrows for damage from the wet weather. He had a dozen of the best wooden arrows the Uchendi could make; that should be enough against two surprised men who would never have heard of archery.

Crystal listened wide eyed, trying to stifle giggles. Then she crept behind the nearest boulder and stripped naked. She went on giggling as she did so, and Blade hoped she didn't think this whole thing was a game. There wasn't much he could do or say if she did, though-not with her whims of steel!

With Cheeky on her back and clinging to her hair, Crystal crept off down the slope on hands and knees. Blade did the same, moving off at a sharp angle. By the time he reached the floor of the valley, Crystal was already in place. She sent him a brief mental picture of what she could see from where she was, and Blade had to admit she'd chosen the place well.

(«Good thinking. But don't go into your act until I tell you.»)

Blade lay still for another minute, to make sure the telepathic communication hadn't alerted the sentries. Then he crept forward to the boulder he'd picked. It was big enough to hide him while he stood and drew his bow, and around it was clear ground to give him good footing while he shot. Blade picked his best arrow, nocked it to the bow, and sent his message to Crystal.

(«Now!»)

Fifty yards up the slope from the mouth of the cave, a dark-haired figure rose into sight. The sentries looked up and saw a naked woman standing there watching them. Perched on her shoulder was an animal. They looked again, and Blade could almost read their thoughts without telepathy, from the looks on their faces. Then:

«Wise One! You didn't die!» one of them shouted. «Blessings for that!»

«No blessings for lazy swine like you!» shouted Crystal, pitching her voice as low as possible. The two guards looked at each other. «Is this her or-?» one of them said, afraid to follow his own thoughts to their conclusion.

The other threw up his hands in despair. «Spirit or flesh, she summons us. I will go, if you are afraid.»

«If she allows, I will have your blood for those words,» the second man growled. Then they both did exactly what Blade wanted them to do, stepping out onto the open slope away from the boulders.

«No, l will have your blood,» said Blade, only half to himself. He took two steps to the left and shot his first arrow. It flew wide, but the two Rutari had no ears or eyes for anything except the apparition of the Wise One. Blade had plenty of time to shoot again. The second arrow hit the first sentry in the thigh.

He let out a scream that echoed around the valley. Crystal shuddered visibly, but the second man didn't notice. He looked wildly around and apparently decided the scream was from the Wise One. Now that he was satisfied that she had returned as an evil Spirit to curse him, no amount of respect for her memory could keep him at his post. Without a backward glance at spear or comrade, he took to his heels.

Blade nocked a third arrow with flying fingers. Not far beyond the running man was more rough ground. If he got into that he'd be so hard to hit that he would have a good chance of getting away. His tale of what happened might not be accurate, but it would damned sure bring more Rutari warriors up here in a hurry! Blade thought he and Crystal could do better without this.

Blade could also have done without Crystal's idea of help. As he aimed for the running man, she ran down the slope, her knife in her hand and Cheeky clinging desperately to her hair. Screaming like a real Spirit, she leaped on the staggering wounded man and slammed him to the rocky ground. Blade didn't dare shoot for fear of hitting her, and by the time he was able to let fly, the running man was no easy shot.

The arrow drew another scream. Blade dropped his bow, snatched up his spear, then dashed forward. He hoped he hadn't hit Crystal and was determined to teach her a lesson if he hadn't.

Crystal was covered with blood when Blade reached her, but she was grinning with such savage delight that he knew it must be her victim's. He dashed on past her until the second sentry appeared out of the mist. He was stumbling along, the arrow in his back, one hand groping behind him for the source of this mysterious pain. Hearing Blade coming up behind him, he turned just in time to take Blade's spear in his chest.

When he was sure the second man was dead, Blade returned to Crystal. She was wiping her knife off on the dead man's hair, and wiping herself off with a bunch of dead grass. As Blade approached she jumped up and threw her arms around him. It was a much more enthusiastic embrace than Blade enjoyed receiving from a naked young woman when he couldn't do anything about it.

«That's two for my father's Spirit. Two, and they won't be the last!» she crowed.

«It might have been only one, and us in danger,» growled Blade. «You must understand the way of weapons like my bow. Never, never, never get in their path when I am using them. An arrow flying a long way cannot always tell a friend from an enemy. You might have had an arrow here-«he patted her flat stomach «-instead of the two sentries.»

Instead of being apologetic, Crystal wriggled with pleasure under his touch. Danger and vengeance for her father seemed to be working on her like a love potion.

Blade sighed. «Crystal, if you try to draw me into making love to you now, I shall turn you over my knee and spank you. There is much to be done before we can safely do that. Have you forgotten why we came?»

She pressed her face into his chest. «Am I no longer desirable to you?»

He put his arms around her. «You are even more desirable than ever.» This was the simple truth. She'd lost weight on their trek north, without losing her magnificent figure. «Left to myself, I would have you down on the ground-«

«Not on the ground, please, Blade. The stones would be hard. On our cloaks, at least.»

Blade laughed. «On our cloaks. But as I said, we are not our own masters. There is the Idol close by, ready for us. Who knows? It might make me impotent, if we tried to make love before we rescued it from the unlawful hands of the Rutari!»

Eye of Crystal looked horror-struck, whether at the idea of the Idol's wrath or Blade's impotence was hard to tell. Then she looked up toward the mouth of the cave and nodded.

«Let us go and seek the Idol, then. Once we have it, perhaps its magic will make you stronger.»

«Woman, you've got a one-track mind,» said Blade, patting her rump as she started up the slope ahead of him.

Blade would have been happier if he'd known exactly what they were looking for. Knowing where the Idol was hadn't answered the question of exactly what it was.

No living man among the Uchendi had seen the Idol. The Rutari carried it off something like eighty years ago. Cheeky had seen it, but only from a distance, in poor light, and while he was desperately trying to hide the fact that he was looking at it from the Wise One, Ellspa, and Moyla.

Somehow Blade pieced together enough information to keep his job from being completely hopeless. The Idol was made of metal harder than any the tribes knew and worked in ways they could not understand. It was small enough that one person could carry it-Cheeky had seen Ellspa do so.

That was all he knew. In a way it made the mystery of the Idol greater and more tantalizing than ever. Now at last Blade was at the mouth of the Idol's cave, with no one to stop him from going in. According to Cheeky's memories, the Idol lay about three hundred feet inside the darkness.

Blade's feet were itching to carry him into the cave, but he controlled them. While he covered her with the bow, Crystal retrieved their packs. She returned wearing trousers and sandals again, with some of her light-headedness gone. Taking vengeance for her father with her own hands must have been a tonic to her, but Blade was glad it was wearing off. It was a long way home.

In the packs were four torches made of reeds dipped in animal fat, then bound tightly around wooden sticks. Blade took out two torches and blew up the sentries' abandoned fire until some embers were glowing again. It was smoking like the devil, but with the mist swirling around so thickly Blade wasn't worried, about anyone noticing the smoke. Thrust into the embers, the torches began to smoke, then burn, then shed a flickering, sickly yellow light.

Just enough to keep us from falling down holes, thought Blade, and to Cheeky, («All right, little friend. Lead on.») Aloud, he told Crystal, «Stay behind me and keep a lookout toward the mouth of the cave. «There was no point in leaving her alone on guard at the entrance; she'd be in more danger and Blade would be in no less.

Slowly Cheeky walked along the damp rock to the mouth of the cave, then waited for Blade and Crystal to come up behind him. He moved on, to the limits of the torchlight, then yeeped plaintively. His unhappiness at being so close to the darkness was obvious. Blade took three steps forward while Crystal stayed where she was, extending the light of his torch that much farther into the cave. Cheeky yeeeped again, this time happily, and hopped forward…