Remnant of Power

Chapter Thirty-five

Yavenna

Yavenna took a deep breath as she reached the line of trees. She hadn't dared look back until she reached them; there was no point anyway, she couldn't have run any faster even if she'd known for certain the mage was following her. She was panting hard and she needed water, but she had to keep going.

As she ran, she constantly thought of Mal. How devastatingly awful that she hadn't got him out. Again and again she almost turned to go back. But what else could she have done? She couldn't have fought twenty soldiers, could she? And if she went back now she would only get caught herself.

Then she thought about Sharva going back to tell the King she'd escaped and guilt made her stomach tight. Her plans had gone horribly wrong. She could only pray that both Mal and Sharva would be alright. She ran on, biting her lip.

After several more miles, she noticed a small stream twinkling in the afternoon sun. Filling up her water skin, she drank deeply and bolted down a raisin muffin she'd kept from the breakfast tray. She set off again, rejoicing in the protection the new boots gave against the undergrowth.

The forest was thick and dark and cool. It was a good job she hadn't ridden Moonlight; it would have been almost impossible to bring him through here. As she ran on, she started to look over her shoulder every few minutes, but the forest was so thick here she could barely see more than a few yards ahead. Had the mage seen which direction she went in? Yavenna pressed her lips together and tried to run faster.

The sun started to fade. What sort of wild creatures lived in Arvad? Daggers, there could be all sorts of savage beasts. What a stupid, dangerous thing this was to have to do. She'd never spent the night out in the open before, not even in Tarhasta. Should she attempt to find a town? She racked her brains trying to remember the map she'd studied last night. If she'd gone south there would have been lots of towns, but that was the way they'd expect her to go; the shortest distance back to Tarhasta. This way had looked like a better idea on the map, to go north around the long sierra called the Glimmering Mountains and across the top of Arvad. The drawback was, she couldn't remember seeing any towns up here, not unless she went east towards Menendreth. And she didn't like the sound of what she'd heard about Menendreth. Well, she'd sleep on the bough of a tree with her great-grandmother's rug over her. That's if she could stop feeling guilty about leaving Mal and Sharva long enough to actually sleep.

Immediately ahead of her was a solid wall of rock with no visible way around it. There was a flash of shadow as a small animal ran across the grass in front of her feet, but it was too fast for her to see what it was. Had something startled it? She drew her dagger and stopped still, backing against a tree trunk, listening.

She heard nothing, so she set off again, but her pace was slow as she climbed up the rock face. Reaching the top, she straightened up and looked around, noticing that the trees were still thick on the higher ground. And then a figure stepped out in front of her. Gasping, she spurted past him. Another figure stepped out in front of her, this time with his hand up. And a third figure jumped out of the trees. Pale skinned, all of them, like the mage, the second two holding bows. She crashed to a standstill, despair threatening to flood over her. He'd got her. These were three more like him, whether or not they had the white eyes and the green hair. Well, she'd not give in without a fight.

Like a flash, she spun around, drawing her own bow, aiming it at the first man. But as she moved, she caught her pendant on a branch. The chain snapped and it fell to the ground. For an instant, her concentration lapsed and the second man took a step towards her, his hand up.