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the night was quite still and they saw no Makkon.
DAI-SAN 201
Increasingly, the dells became more rocky, until
by the fourth one, there seemed no earth
whatsoever.
They crouched on the high verge, peering
through the snow, two black boulders among the
many.
Both saw it at once.
A brief flicker of orange.
Using the rocks as cover they crept down into
the dell, careful that their boots did not dislodge
any loose stones.
The snow fluttered down, increasing in intensity,
softly numbing.
They had an anxious moment crossing a small
patch of open ground before clinging to the
sloping sides of the ice-encrusted rocks but the
visibility was down now.
Slowly they wove their way through the maze of
stone until they could observe the tiny clearing.
Around the fire sat a pair of the dark,
insect-eyed generals. Past them, slightly to the
right, several squat warriors were going in and out
of a cave entrance, blacker than the night.
They drew back for a moment.
"You have no idea what is inside?" said the Sunset
Warrior.
Tuolin shook his head.
"All right, there is only one way that I can see
that we will have any success. I will engage the
creatures while you explore the cave."
"There seems to be no light in there."
"Yes, I know. You will have to use a torch from
the fire."
The Sunset Warrior withdrew Aka-i-tsuchi. The
long, bluegreen blade seemed to glow in the night,
the snowflakes whispering against its angry metal
skin, turning to watered tears.
With a great leap, the Sunset Warrior bounded
into the clearing and, with two great sweeps of his
sword, slew three of the squat warriors before they
could make a move against him.
The insect-eyed generals rose and withdrew
their weapons great serrated sickles as thick as
cleavers, purple-black, single-edged.
He rushed them and their blades clashed
together, beginning the heavily percussive music of
combat.
While behind the broad back of the Sunset
Warrior, Tuolin raced for the fire, scooping up a
burning brand and rushing headlong down the
ebon throat of the tunnel.
Out of their unhuman eyes, the black creatures
spied the blur of Tuolin's back and moved to
follow him. The Sunset Warrior blocked their path.
202 Eric ~ Lustbader
Aka-i-tsuchi screamed in the air as it battered
the generals in a swift series of oblique strikes.
Now that he was close to them, the Sunset
Warrior saw that their faces were triangular,
composed entirely of sharp angles. They had tiny
mouths and no noses, merely slits in the hard,
shell-like flesh of their faces. From their cheeks,
protruded curving, hornlike tusks like those of the
stag beetle.
Aka-i-tsuchi slashed downward, through the
guard of one of the creatures, cleaving its head
from its body. Viscous black blood spurted,
congealing almost instantly in the cold.
The second creature reared up and attacked
with a ferocity bordering almost on desperation.
It seemed intent on following Tuolin down the
black hole of the cave mouth.
The Sunset Warrior stepped aside and with an
ill-aimed swipe it was by him, loping for the
underground entrance. Alca-i-tsuchi flashed
outward, the dense air crying with its swift
passage, and the creature collapsed to the snow.
The Sunset Warrior heard a cry from within the
cave and he sprinted over the white ground,
disappearing into blackness.
Ahead he saw a fitful, feral glow. There came,
echoing down the cave's long corridor, the clash
of metal, then a brief cry, choked off.
He went downward, feeling the chill dissipating
until it grew quite warm.
Around a turning, he found Tuolin back up
against the cave's wall, slimy with humidity. Two
squat warriors lay dead at his feet. Wordlessly, he
pointed ahead.
Before them, the cave ended in a cul-de-sac.
Piled up. Within its warm confines, were perhaps
ten score spheroids, glossy, iridescent. As they
watched, a crack zigzagged its way across the
shining shell of one of the spheroids.
It broke open.
Bathed in slime, a tiny creature pulled itself
out. It grew before their eyes and, as he saw the
formation of the two glossy black insect eyes in its
head, the Sunset Warrior lifted his sword and
slew the infant.
"Eggs," he whispered. "Sorcerous eggs."
And now cracks were appearing in more of the
shells. Too many for him to slay, and turning, he
grabbed the burning torch from Tuolin's hand and
fired the dead creature. With a pop the thing
blazed up and now he fired the eggs as they split
until the small fires were so numerous that they
rushed tot "ether, covered all the splitting mound.
DAI-SAN 203
Noxious gases bloomed from the blaze and thick
oily smoke filled the underground chamber.
The Sunset Warrior threw the torch into the
flames, and coughing, they made their way upward
to the surface of the world.
Out of the clearing they raced, hearing distant
calls of alarms drawing nearer. Over the dells, they
ran, conscious that little cover lay ahead until they
reached the copse of firs just this side of the river.
Numbness had reached his hip and now Tuolin
stumbled over a rock hidden by the thick carpet of
snow. He sprawled on the ground, tried to pick
himself up. The Sunset Warrior reached down,
pulled, and they went on, hearing the cries gaining
in intensity. There came the fierce barking of dogs.
The trees were in sight now but the numbness
was traveling swiftly down Tuolin's leg and he
could no longer feel the ground with his left foot.
The Sunset Watrior was otherwise occupied. He
peered ahead through the fog and the swirling
snow at the stand of firs, certain now that their
configuration had altered somewhat. He called to
Tuolin and unsheathed Aka-i-tsuchi. Their haven
was alive with the enemy.
The squat warriors had set up a line of defense
and now, before the swaying firs, they came
together. Aka-i-tsuchi sang through the night.
Tuolin jabbed with his stiletto, his body
concentrating on the efforts of combat while his
mind composed a poem.
He slew two of the squat warriors with his
weapon before he was felled by a blow through his
stomach. Still, he killed the attacker before he
collapsed to the cold earth.
They were through the line but the air was alive
now with the deadly whisper of black arrows as
their pursuers closed in. The howling of the dogs
grew in intensity.
The Sunset Warrior knelt beside him, about to
catty him off.
"Wait." His voice like a sigh on the night. "My
friend. I will not last the river crossing."
"We have accomplished what we came here for,"
said the Sunset Watrior.
"That was my line," said Tuolin, smiling thinly.
His blood blackened the snow around him. With
his cupped hands the Sunset Warrior attempted to
keep Tuolin's organs within his rent flesh.
"Oh, my Sha'angh'sei," Tuolin said, his breath a
whisper.
204 [Eric V. Lus1bader
"I will never see your crimson skyline again." He
paused for a moment as if to gather strength. The
dogs were howling hysterically, nearer now. "I
think she understood, in the end."
"I am sure she did."
"I could not stay there in that yellow hole to
die. I am a warrior. I am happy now." The rustle
of the snow, powdering his upturned face, whiter
than white. The Sunset Warrior wiped the sweat
from his eyes. "I love her, you know."
"Yes."
"I told her."
"I know."
The arrows had ceased. The warriors must be very
close.
"That was so important."
"And what did she say?"
"She loved me."
"She understood, my friend. She is a warrior also." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]