Spirit Animals: The Evertree Part 6

"There." Abeke pointed. "That plant."

"What about it?"

Abeke didn't answer right away. Instead, her attention stayed on the plant. It was a short, squat, ugly little thing, with swollen leaves that looked like little green sacs. Back in Nilo, they called it a water bulb, due to moisture that the plant carried in its body. This one was covered in brightly colored spiked leaves, but otherwise, it looked fairly close. She dismounted from her horse and headed over to it. Conor followed her.

"Careful," Conor said, but Abeke gave him an encouraging smile and stooped down to peer at the plant.

"I won't touch the spikes," she promised. "Look at those colors they're probably poisonous."

She removed the knife at her belt and sliced one of the green bulbs off. She carved one end of it open. Wet, clear liquid dripped onto her hands. The others stopped in their procession to watch. Abeke stared at the liquid for a moment. It could be poisonous, of course but at this point, she was so thirsty that she didn't care. They would all die without water, anyway. Taking a deep breath, Abeke lifted it.

She sipped the clear liquid.

Then she closed her eyes and drank deeply. Water! It tasted slightly sweet and wonderfully cool before she knew it, she'd finished drinking the entire bulb. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed that the plants grew in a large cl.u.s.ter hidden behind dry, p.r.i.c.kly bushes. Conor stared at her in shock. She looked back at him with a grin, and Conor's expression changed to one of delight as he realized what Abeke had found. They both turned and enthusiastically waved the others over.

"Water!" they called out in unison.

Everyone set about filling their canteens and watering their horses the best they could. The water from the plants wasn't much, but it was enough, and the mere fact that they would be able to find bulbs like this in Stetriol's barren lands gave Abeke hope that they could make it across.

"I'm going to search for more plants," she announced, then set off up the hill to find more cl.u.s.ters. They seemed to grow together, and if she found a few more at the base of the hills, they would be set for another week.

"Wait for us!"

Behind her, Conor and Rollan came running. Maya stayed behind to look after Kalani, who still didn't seem her best. Abeke waited until the boys caught up to her, and then the three of them set out together.

"I used to survive on bulbs like that when I went out hunting," Abeke said. "The thing is, they tend to grow in lands that have some underground water or tiny streams. If we find any more cl.u.s.ters of them growing, then we might be able to find a bigger water source."

"Bigger water source," Rollan said, still drinking from his refilled canteen. "Music to my ears."

They covered the short distance between the plains and the foothills. There, to Abeke's delight, they found two more cl.u.s.ters of the water bulbs growing. There had to be some sort of stream around. Abeke, Conor, and Rollan climbed higher up the first hill. The wind had picked up again, and the cool breeze it brought was a welcome change from the stifling heat. Abeke breathed a sigh of relief. Thank Ninani their luck was finally turning around. At this rate, they'd be prepared when they caught up to the Conquerors. Sure enough, Abeke glanced down from the hill to see the first sign of a thin, snaking stream. She laughed as they went.

"Look!"

Conor stopped so suddenly that Abeke b.u.mped right into his back. Rollan smashed into her in turn.

"What is it?" Abeke said. Then her eyes settled on what had captured Conor's attention, and her words faded away into nothing.

From this vantage point on the hill, they could look down at a vast expanse of flatland, partly framed by the Red Mountains. The nearest side the side they now stood on was lined with narrow ravines. On the far side was a strange, s.h.i.+mmering red rock formation that plateaued high above the ground, looking like a giant ant mound.

And in the flatland's center, between all of the formations ... were thousands of Conquerors.

SO MANY OF THEM.

That was Conor's first thought.

His second: We can't fight them. We have to go around.

And his third: Olvan's army should be here by now.

"Let's go back," Conor whispered, crouching lower in the gra.s.s. All thoughts of water seemed to have escaped him. "We have to warn Finn."

"Right," Rollan whispered. He turned abruptly around and started making his way through the tall gra.s.ses. "It's a good thing we went searching for plants. We would've walked right into them. They probably have troops guarding all the pa.s.ses."

"It likely also means we're close to Kovo's prison," Abeke piped up. She looked sharply at Conor. "Anything familiar to you out there? Anything from your dreams or visions?"

Conor furrowed his brows. Up ahead, the others had already quieted and turned to watch them running frantically back. Conor's persistent visions flashed through his mind the eagle, the ape, the snake, the golden leaves. The cliff, the red earth "That red rock," he muttered under his breath. Then louder, "That rock formation we just saw, on the far side. I think that's Muttering Rock."

"Do you think they've freed Kovo already?" Rollan asked.

"I don't know," Conor admitted. "But we have to head there all the same. If Kovo hasn't been freed yet, it won't be long before he is."

The three charged back to the others. Finn frowned at their expressions. "What did you see out there?"

"Conquerors," Abeke said breathlessly. "A whole army of them."

"And no Olvan," Conor added, saying what Abeke had been hesitant to voice. "His forces are supposed to hold them off and give us the chance to go ahead."

"We may have arrived before him," Finn said grimly. He nodded toward the foothills from where they'd just come. "Show me."

Conor took them back to the crest, where they all got down on their bellies to watch the ma.s.sive expanse of troops arrange themselves into practice formations. It seemed as if they were preparing for a big event, and Conor had no question what that event would be. Maya crawled over to join them after a while. She sucked in her breath at the sight.

"There," Abeke snapped, pointing out a lone figure standing near the front of the flanks. Her jaw clenched until Conor thought it might break. "Shane!"

Even from this distance, the Devourer's enormous crocodile was clearly visible camped out at its human partner's side, its mighty jaws opening and closing. Conor s.h.i.+vered at the way its tail swept back and forth, and imagined the wide swaths it was painting in the desert sand. He looked back at Abeke to see her hands were clenched into fists. The fire of rage lit her eyes, a rare sight.

"If Shane's here," Rollan added, his own eyes sweeping the scene, "then maybe Meilin is too."

Conor's gaze settled on the strange rock formation he'd seen earlier. Something about it continued to hold his attention. Kovo. He called Briggan out from his pa.s.sive state, and the huge wolf joined them in a small flash of light. His hackles were already up.

"Conor," Finn said, looking at the rock. "Is that ... ?"

Conor nodded.

"We have to find a way around this army and reach the rock without drawing their attention," Finn continued. He gestured down to the formations. "I can see some of their forces down in three of the narrow ravines leading onto the plain. I'm going to a.s.sume they've taken those, as well." He pointed to two more narrow valleys that fed into the plains. "If we want to get around them, we'll need to make a wide circle east. And we'll need to do it without our horses."

Conor felt a pang at that. He looked back at the poor animals, all of whom had already been in bad shape before they set out. How would they survive in the desert?

Finn saw his face and shook his head. "We can't take them. Where we'll have to go is too steep for their legs. They will die. And if one of them startles when we're pa.s.sing close to the Conquerors, they could give away our location."

Conor took a closer look at the terrain. The way he was crouched in the gra.s.s gave him a better view of the lower plains than Finn had. As he scanned the s.p.a.ce, he noticed a tiny, shadowed path. Paths. In fact, there were several branches of grooves carved deep into the land, as if some ancient river and its tributaries used to exist there and had dried up decades ago.

The resulting maze of winding paths had tall walls with strange, wavelike formations and natural half tunnels. The paths carved their way all along the edge of the foothills. They stopped short of where their small troupe needed to be, but if they could pa.s.s through there completely unnoticed, they would leave behind the worst of the Conquerors.

"There," he whispered. "What if we make our way through one of those river paths?"

Finn followed his finger. His brows furrowed in thought. "It will take us dangerously close to the troops," he finally muttered. "If we're found while still there, they'll easily overwhelm us in a matter of minutes."

Conor nodded. "Definitely dangerous," he admitted. "But it's faster, and it looks like smooth, flat ground underneath those wave formations. If we pa.s.s through, the shape of it should m.u.f.fle the sound of our horses' hooves, and block them from seeing the troops." He glanced at the others for their approval.

Rollan didn't even hesitate. "The faster, the better. I'm with Conor. Meilin might be down there with those troops, and we need to save her as soon as we can."

Abeke seemed more guarded. "We are pa.s.sing awfully close," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "But if we pad our horses' hooves, we can make them travel even more quietly. Conor's right the shadows and the formations should hide us from view."

Maya frowned. "It'll keep them from seeing us, true, but it'll also keep us from seeing them. We won't even have a warning of them coming until they're right on top of us. We won't have a second chance."

"I can keep Essix out," Rollan suggested. "She'll have to fly high to stay out of sight, but she can be our eyes, and if she sees the Conquerors moving toward us, she'll give us a warning cry."

"It's the best solution," Conor said, nodding toward Kalani. "We're not going to survive much longer out in these deserts, not with the state we're all in. It's time for us to take a chance, even if it's our only one."

It took him a moment to realize that everyone was looking to him as if he were the final say in the decision as if he were now leading the charge. Conor blinked, taken momentarily off guard. Maya was right about one thing: This was their final stand. They would succeed now, or everything they'd worked toward, ever since they first drank the Nectar and joined the Greencloaks, would be for nothing. This was the final struggle for Erdas, and it fell to Conor's decision.

Memories from long ago flashed across his mind sitting with his brothers in green pastures dotted with white sheep, standing behind Devon Trunswick and meticulously b.u.t.toning his luxurious vest.... How strange to be here after once being a shepherd and a servant.

He took a deep breath and willed himself to keep his head high. "I say we do it."

Finn nodded once. He didn't question Conor again. "Prepare the horses. We'll make for the path at sunset."

Sunset seemed to take forever to arrive. The light turned red and purple, casting long shadows across the plains. Cooking fires began to dot the bush where the Conquerors were gathered.

The team finally made their move.

Their horses trotted slowly down the side of the rolling hills. Finn led, followed by Conor and the others, the hoods of their cloaks pulled over their heads to blend them in further with the lengthening shadows. They moved in a short, silent procession. As they went, the landscape s.h.i.+fted, changing from bushes and dry gra.s.ses to red, sandy rock and bare, sheer cliff sides. The walls of rock kept them safely hidden as night fell in earnest.

After a while, the mouth of the paths came into view its walls tall and curved into a wave formation. The sound was strange here, bouncing the faint thud of hooves against the curved wall so that it came right back to them, giving it an odd echo. A cool breeze whipped their hair and hoods back.

Conor struggled to hear what might be going on beyond the rock wave, whether or not the Conquerors had followed them. The formation made it difficult for him to hear much outside of the path, though. He looked up to the sky. Essix was flying so high that in the darkness, he couldn't see her anywhere.

Behind him, Rollan whispered, "We're doing okay. The Conquerors seem like they're all cooking their suppers."

"Good," Conor replied. He could use a little bit of supper himself, but he quickly banished the thought. As if in response, his stomach rumbled. Even that sound echoed inside the wave formation, bouncing back and forth between the high bluffs.

The darker the night became, the harder it was for them to make out where they were going. The path had started to branch too, forcing them to concentrate on following the rightmost course so that they didn't accidentally lose each other. Conor couldn't see the moon tonight. Soon they were traveling in almost total darkness, their horses picking their way carefully through the terrain.

Finn kept them at as fast of a pace as he could, but they moved slower than Conor had predicted. The idea of Conquerors being right over the top of the wave formation that at any moment, one might wander close by and look down to see them pa.s.sing through made Conor urge his horse on.

The other thing he didn't plan on, aside from the strange echoes: the wind. The shape of the narrow path channeled the air in such a way that a constant blast of cold wind beat against them, whipping their cloaks out behind them in dark streams. Conor gritted his teeth against it. After traveling through dry heat for the entire day, the sudden s.h.i.+ft threw him off. At least it made a whistling noise as it went, muting their hoofbeats.

"How far along are we?" Abeke hissed from ahead. "It feels like we've been stuck in here for hours."

Conor tried to gauge how much distance they'd covered, but it was hard in the winding darkness. He looked over his shoulder at Rollan. "Can Essix give you any hints?"

Rollan started to answer, but a sound stopped them all abruptly.

It was the sound of hooves against dirt, but not any of theirs. They fell into a tense silence Conor strained to hear if it came from the Conquerors' camps. But the noise had disappeared.

Then it was back again, even louder. This time, Conor could tell it came from the path far ahead that curved around a bend. A moment later, he saw the flood of light from a lantern wrapping around the path.

The rock formation bent sound so oddly that they hadn't heard the approaching party. Kalani, riding near the front, only had time to draw her sword before the other party came clearly into view.

Meilin appeared first, her hand clutching the lantern, with Jhi right beside her. An entire troop of Conqueror soldiers followed. She stared straight at them, her eyes anguished.

"Found you," she said.

ROLLAN DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK AT THE SIGHT OF her. He didn't know how to react. He didn't know why his first thought was of the last time he'd seen her, running away from them with Abeke in tow, her mind and body no longer under her own control. He had no idea what expression must be on his face.

"Meilin," Rollan found himself calling out.

She winced at his voice but held firm. Her eyes turned yellow, and her pupils dilated to an unnatural size. "Seize them," she commanded.

The Conquerors charged at Finn and the Greencloaks. Conor called Briggan out in a blaze of light, and Uraza came roaring out of pa.s.sive state to attack the enemy soldiers. Rollan called out for Essix, who let out a cry in return as she swooped down and then he swung from his saddle and started shoving his way toward Meilin.

She didn't look like herself anymore. Dark circles rimmed the skin below her eyes, and her hair swung limply with each move of her head. But one thing stayed the same she moved in an elegant blur of motion, a whirlwind of attacks that he was all too familiar with, taking down a Greencloak with a fierce kick at his head. Beside her, Jhi reluctantly ambled at her side, protecting her as she went.

"Take them prisoner!" Meilin shouted.

Rollan noticed that Shane stood at the very back of the patrol, a dark smile on his face.

Shane called for his crocodile. The enormous creature emerged, tail thras.h.i.+ng, blocking off the entire path with its size. Rollan touched the talisman buried against his chest. If the Conquerors got hold of his and Abeke's talismans, they were doomed.

Essix dove into the fray with talons outstretched, her cry furious. She lunged for the Devourer's crocodile first, but her sharp claws clicked harmlessly against tough scales. The crocodile snapped its head around, jaws seeking feathers. The gyrfalcon darted out of reach at the last instant. The beast's teeth barely missed her.

Abeke and Kalani moved at the same time, with Uraza charging ahead of them. They attacked a Conqueror and knocked him hard to the ground. Uraza pounced up onto the back of another Conqueror's horse with one huge leap, and the soldier fell off his mount with a shriek.

Nearby, Conor and Briggan aimed for Shane's crocodile, Briggan snarling and trying to find a way around its snapping jaws, to hold the animal off from the others.

"Meilin!" Rollan shouted as loudly as he could.

Meilin paused for a moment in the midst of the fighting; her head snapped in his direction. There he could see a spark of recognition in her eyes, something within that fought to break free of the cloud that blanketed her face. He ducked under a Conqueror's swinging sword and sprinted in her direction. If he could just reach her, if he could just touch her hand, he knew he could help her overcome the Bile. If he just "Fall back!" Finn shouted from the fray. Rollan's attention broke for an instant. The elder Greencloak pointed at the path behind them. "The way we came!"

The Greencloaks began to break formation, turning their shrieking horses around and urging them in the opposite direction. Rollan cast another desperate look toward Meilin. She met his gaze for a brief moment. No. I have to reach her! Again he started to push through the soldiers, but the Greencloaks were all retreating. Abeke grabbed his arm as she pa.s.sed him.

"We have to run!" she shouted.

"But "

Rollan looked again and Meilin was lost from sight within the Conquerors. The enemy charged forward, weapons brandished. Gritting his teeth, Rollan followed Abeke and ran with the others.

Dust flew up from the footsteps and hooves, clouding the entire narrow path with a haze lit by the light of their lanterns. The dust lined Rollan's throat. He choked and coughed. His boot caught on the edge of a sharp rock he stumbled, then fell hard to the ground.

Immediately he started staggering to his feet again, but he looked up and found himself staring straight into Meilin's haunted face.

She looked like she was about to attack him. Rollan braced himself.

Then, without warning, she grabbed his s.h.i.+rt collar and pulled him close. The colors in her eyes s.h.i.+fted abruptly, flas.h.i.+ng from sickly gold back into a humanlike darkness, her pupils contracting. "The next fork will have no patrols," she hissed. "It'll lead you to the surface. Go!" She released him.

Rollan gaped, but he had no time to respond or to grab Meilin's hand and pull her with him. She lost the battle in her eyes. Her pupils dilated back into big black halos, and her irises gleamed yellow once more. With Jhi at her side, she waved the Conquerors forward. Shane smirked in approval.

Rollan had no idea whether Gerathon heard Meilin's warning to him, or how it even happened, but he knew they couldn't stay on their current path for long. He turned and ran to where Abeke was das.h.i.+ng back to him.