Hunters Unlucky Part 57

Storm scowled. After a moment, he said, "There's a cave in the opposite cliff wall. You can't see the opening from the top, but you can just make out the lip. That's where you aim when you jump. The cave is a tunnel that comes out in a thicket north of here. Without a scent trail leading there, it's nearly impossible to find."

Kelsy's head came up sharply. "I showed you this! A couple of years ago. Itsa and me...and Faralee."

"Yes," grinned Storm. "You did."

"I'd never have tried jumping to it from the cliff, though," said Kelsy. "If you miss, you're dead."

"Well, Roup was about to catch me the first time I tried it," said Storm, "so it seemed like the better option."

The fiord opened suddenly in front of them. "I almost went over the edge here," muttered Roup. "Lyndi was-" He stopped and shook his head.

"It's actually easy once you know where you're aiming," said Storm. "You see that line? It looks like a tiny shelf of rock not even wide enough for standing, but that's the lip of the cave mouth. You just can't see the opening from this angle."

Arcove studied the cliff. "Clever," he muttered.

"Yes, I shouldn't be showing it to you," said Storm.

"Well, I did just save you from a pack of curbs," said Arcove.

"So we're even." Storm backed up, took a running start, and jumped. He could not suppress an instant of fear as the cliff wall rushed up to meet him. Then a dark opening yawned abruptly, and he landed, with a clatter of hooves, in the hidden cave.

The others soon followed. Storm had been a little worried about Charder. He was the oldest and not in fighting shape, or so Storm had thought. However, Charder made the jump so neatly that Storm wondered whether he'd done it before. Kelsy, by contrast, nearly fell. He landed, scrambling, on the edge, and then bolted into the cave, bristling with anxiety. Roup came next, sniffing and looking at everything, and finally Arcove, who, for all his size, landed silently.

"Oh," murmured Roup, when he saw the odd figures on the walls. "This is an old ferryshaft cave." Sunset light streaked the ancient images of ferryshaft with odd creatures on their backs.

Arcove grunted.

Roup was examining the images minutely. "Very old. From the time of the humans."

Arcove padded past him down the pa.s.sage. Storm doubted that he would rest until he'd seen every bit of the cave. Just as well. I haven't been here in more than a season. I hope the exit hasn't collapsed.

Storm wished that the cave had water or anything to eat. They'd pa.s.sed a stream earlier in the afternoon, and everyone had taken a few gulps, but Storm was thirsty again. Still, the cave had the essential thing-safety. Arcove was still gone when there came a rustle of activity on the ledge above-creasia voices and calls, the yip of curbs.

Sounds carried easily in the fiord. Everyone sat very still. Arcove came stalking back, and waited, saying nothing, while the clamber continued above. After a while, the sounds died away. However, the fugitives took the precaution of moving farther back along the tunnel before speaking or settling down. Arcove and Roup curled up back-to-back. They were talking in voices too low to understand, but their tone sounded grim.

"I'll take first watch," said Kelsy suddenly.

"Second," said Storm.

"Wake me when you get tired," said Charder. He glanced at the creasia. "You two, sleep. We'll wake you if there's anything to kill."

Neither of the creasia responded.

It's not so easy-staying awake all night and running all day, is it? Storm shut his eyes and tried to sleep. However, all the fears that he'd managed to suppress during the day came flooding into his brain. What would Tollee do if creasia tried to drive her into Leeshwood? She's a fighter. Was her body out there on the plain? Would Myla survive the river crossing? It's a long swim for a spring foal. How many drowned?

More than anything, Teek's expression of pain and betrayal hung like a ghost before his mind's eye. Were those his last moments?

"Storm?"

Storm's head jerked up. Roup was looking down at him. "I thought you might like to know-I did a quick run around the trailhead before the rest of you reached the ground. I was trying to identify all the creasia bodies. I didn't see Teek or smell his blood."

Storm swallowed. "The curbs might have chased him before they killed him."

"They might have," agreed Roup. "But they seemed focused on us. I think he got away."

Storm felt his insides unclench a little. "Maybe."

Roup hesitated. "That cub loves you, Storm."

Storm could not meet Roup's steady gaze. "Not anymore."

"No," said Roup in a tired voice, "he still does. You never really stop loving someone like that...no matter how hard you try." Roup turned away before Storm could respond and went back to lie down beside Arcove.

Leagues below, in the twilight of the Dreaming Sea, a pair of blue eyes opened, fully alert for the first time in decades. Syra-lay raised his snowy head, scattering brightly colored fish and crabs. His coils rippled and uncurled, snapping off crustaceans and bits of coral. He yawned hugely, shook himself, and laughed. "My song is finished."

Chapter 5. Loyalty.

In the chilliest time of night, just before dawn, Charder crouched on the cold stone near the northern mouth of the tunnel. He wrapped his tail around his legs and tried to stay awake. He was thinking that this all felt familiar-as though the past and the future were colliding. I have waited, hungry and cold, in such caves before.

Then a darker shape-a little blacker than the shadows-came gliding around him.

Charder managed to repress his instinctive flinch. "We don't need anything killed yet."

Arcove sniffed at the breeze blowing in from the mouth of the tunnel. Charder already knew that it smelled of woods and sea, but not of other animals. Arcove yawned and lay down on his belly, closer than Charder would have liked. The cat put his head on his paws and shut his eyes. "Tell me."

Charder swallowed. "Tell you what?"

Arcove smiled without opening his eyes.

Charder fidgeted. "Don't you want to wait for Roup?"

The tip of Arcove's tail twitched. "If I wait for him to wake up, I'm not sure I'll have time to kill you."

Charder said nothing.

Arcove's green eye opened a slit. "You never know when I'm joking, do you?"

Charder concentrated on breathing. "I would not presume to guess."

"Are you trembling because you're cold or frightened?"

"Both."

"Well, let me see whether I can tell you what happened. Lirsy survived...somehow. That's the only thing that makes sense. Storm's mother is her...daughter? Granddaughter?"

"Daughter." Charder felt a strange relief as the secret left him. "Lirsy didn't fall from the cliff. She jumped into a tree that overhung the edge. I found her...after." After I watched you kill Coden, and I couldn't abandon his foal, Arcove. I couldn't. No matter what I'd promised.

"So you hid her from me...and lied to me about it for fifteen years."

Charder laid his head on the ground and shut his eyes. Please use your teeth and not your claws.

"You did this even though you're scared to death of me. That is remarkable loyalty, Charder."

"Don't you think Roup would have done the same if you'd died and it had been your cub?"

There was a long silence, during which Charder hardly dared to breathe.

"Yes," said Arcove at last, "I suppose he would have." He didn't actually sound angry. Charder dared to open his eyes. "Peace," said Arcove. "I've lost enough officers lately."

You think of me as one of your officers? The world seemed upside down and backwards.

"Is she still alive?" asked Arcove. "Lirsy, I mean?"

Charder cleared his throat. "No. She took a mate, but had several miscarriages. She died when So-fet was born. A friend nursed the foal, and I fed her and protected her during her first two seasons. Then I distanced myself. I was afraid you'd notice."

Arcove said nothing.

"Would you...would you have killed her...if I hadn't run with her?" Charder wasn't sure which answer would be worse, but he had to know. She was never quite right after the war. I'm sure she would have lived a longer life if she hadn't been on the cliff that night.

Arcove thought for a moment. "If I had caught her, I would have used her to threaten Coden into surrender...to get him down off Turis Rock alive. I would have preferred to keep him in charge of the ferryshaft. They would have obeyed him more readily, and things after the war would have gone more smoothly. I had no plans for his foal beyond that."

Charder bowed his head.

"But," continued Arcove, "the a.s.sumption that I intended to kill her was not unreasonable, given the circ.u.mstances. In your position...I won't say I would have done the same, but I would have considered it."

Charder gave a bitter laugh. "In my position, you would have fought beside Coden and died."

"I am glad you did not," said Arcove. "Your herd should be glad of it, too."

Charder didn't know what to say to that. After a moment, he muttered, "It is difficult for low-ranking ferryshaft now. Ferryshaft herds were never meant to be so large. There aren't many resources left over for those at the bottom. Kelsy is right when he says that the low-ranking animals are most often killed in raids. He's correct, too, that it would be easier to manage things in a smaller, more natural-sized herd."

"I will not be outnumbered and surrounded again," growled Arcove.

"Too late," said Charder and wondered where his new bravery had come from.

Arcove gave a sad little chuckle.

Charder had stopped trembling. I am old enough to be your father, and when we met, you were hardly more than a big cub. A cub feeling his way along in the dark. Why did I never see that?

"This thing with Treace," said Charder, "I always knew something like this would happen eventually." He hesitated. "I thought I would enjoy it more."

"Well, the irony might be sweeter if you weren't in here with me," said Arcove.

"No," said Charder, "I don't think so. Arcove...what if I could get the herd to fight for you...for your cats?"

The twitching tip of Arcove's tail grew suddenly still. You weren't expecting me to say that.

"It would put you in my debt, of course," continued Charder with no small degree of smugness.

Arcove was silent for a long moment. "You've learned from me too well," he said at last. He thought for a moment. "I don't think you could get them to do it."

"But if I could," persisted Charder. "Would you stop the raids and let the herd split up?" Would you trust us?

Arcove was perfectly still. At last, he said, "Is that your advice, then, councilor?"

"It is." You're going to have to trust someone before this is over.

A clatter of hoofbeats sounded in the pa.s.sage. Charder and Arcove rose quickly as Storm dashed out of the shadows, Kelsy and Roup on his heels.

"We may be discovered," said Storm in a frantic whisper. "I heard- I thought I heard-"

"We heard voices on the ledge overhead," said Roup more evenly. "Indistinct voices."

"It was Teek," said Storm miserably. "I think he was telling them how to get in. He knows. I told him."

Kelsy looked bleary-eyed and skeptical. "Storm, you couldn't even understand what they were saying-"

"I know his voice," snapped Storm.

"I don't think your cub would do that," said Roup.

Storm only shook his head.

"Quiet," muttered Arcove.

They all sat perfectly still. In the silence, Charder realized that the night birds outside had stopped singing. So much for loyalty. This tunnel would be a terrible spot to get trapped. But if we bolt, and Treace's cats haven't found us...we could lose our hiding place.

Arcove was listening intently. And now Charder heard it, too-low voices, not far away.

Suddenly, Roup came stalking right up to the cave's mouth. He reared, so that his head was above the opening, and made a chittering noise. Arcove c.o.c.ked his head, but he didn't say anything. Roup did it again, and this time, there was an answer.

Roup looked like he was ready to jump out of the cave then, but Arcove said, "Wait."