Stormraven

Chapter Nine

They rode through the dark shadows of the forest, headed westward.  The terrain around them rose broken and uneven, slowing their progress.  The pale light that drifted like gentle rain from Vardmir's magic allowed them just enough illumination to pick their way through the gullies, ridges and trees around them.

Elrahien constantly looked from one side to the other during the difficult ride, searching through the trees for signs of the beasts, especially the ones that were reported to be ahead of them.  The ravens were already searching for them, in an effort to prevent further loss of life.

The wizard Vardmir rode alongside him for most of the time, a fact Elrahien found oddly comforting.  The man could fight, always a welcome ability in a companion in such a perilous time, yet it went further than that.  During the battle with the elemental creature, Vardmir had saved his life.  In an attempt to avoid one of the clubbing blows from it, he had tripped in the dark on a hidden root and fallen.  Vardmir had sent chains of ice snaking out to restrain the blow that would have finished him off, allowing him time to scramble back to his feet.

"I did warn you that you couldn't defeat the creature with your weapons." Vardmir said quietly as they pushed on, following Alryd and Ludjak as they scrambled up a steep climb of broken earth and rocks.  "Still, your efforts proved helpful.  I am not sure that I could have defeated it alone.  The bonecaster put a lot of his power into that elemental, leaving him with little left for his own defence."

"Luckily for the others."

"Though not for you Aujenou," Vardmir replied grimly.

"Not for him, no," Elrahien agreed.  "What do you think our chances are of making it out alive?" he asked, ducking under a tree branch.  The turn of events had left the prospect of it looking grim, and he knew Vardmir well enough to know the man would tell it as it was.

"It all depends on how serious the Halfmen are," Vardmir told him.  "They may just be content in seeing us driven from their lands."

"Or?"

"Or they may want more than that.  If so, then we are in deep trouble," Vardmir stated grimly.  "Even with Ludjak's ravens to scout out paths for us to travel and avoid ambushes, they can come at us in great numbers and from all directions.  We may be in for little sleep for the next few days."

"Do you believe that they will do that?"

Vardmir nodded.  "Yes.  We saw representatives of two clans in the clash, horse and goat, and the ravens reported another, the boars.  For them to be working together means something substantial is at hand, and more so given the varduna are involved.  The boars seldom work with the other clans, but for times of war."

Up ahead, Ludjak halted his horse, signalling for the rest to do likewise.  He dismounted and called the company to gather around him.

"The barbarians are ahead," he told them when all had come together.  "There are about ten minutes away.  From what we have been able to observe, they are arranged like this."  He drew a dagger from his belt and began to make marks in the ground, in the shape of a V.  "They are in a gullet through which a small stream trickles, heading south to join up with the river.  It is one of the few easy passes to make it through this stretch of hill.  To find another way around would take too long, given the others are already hot on our trail.  We are going to have to smash our way through the group here.  Lucky for us they are not in great number, and seem unaware of our presence yet."

"Or so we hope," Alryd added quietly.

Ludjak nodded seriously.  "Or so we hope."  He stabbed at the centre of the gulley he had scratched out with the dagger.  "They have a band of the boars here, a dozen strong.  It seems they are meant to block our path if we come this way, allowing satyrs on the ridges on either side to close in on us.  There aim seems to be to trap us here, or delay us long enough for the barbarians on our trail to come at us from behind.  If they can do that, we are finished."