Tallea rushed up to the Derrit, grabbed a handful of hair near the Derrit’s short tail, and drove her knife deeply into the Derrit’s thigh, just below her left leg, trying to hit the femoral artery.
Tallea pulled her knife out, and though her blade had not made a deep cut, it was a painful one. The Derrit shrieked and lurched away.
The Derrit struggled to turn, hoping to throw Tallea off, but Tallea thrust the knife in again and again. The Derrit screamed in fear, released some acrid-smelling urine, then turned and fled, rushing toward Gallen’s back.
Tallea could not hold the female Derrit from attack, but she dung to her, slowing her down for a moment. Tallea shouted for Gallen, then drove her blade deep into the back of the Derrit’s knee, hoping to cripple her, and then Tallea lost her grasp on the monster and fell.
Tallea looked, and Gallen was swinging at the big male. With a mighty blow he leapt forward and slashed it across the forehead, seemingly unaware of the female rushing in behind, then suddenly he danced to the side, and swung a terrible blow at her leg.
The female crashed into the big male, knocking them both backward, and in that second Gallen rushed to Orick’s aid, shouting to Tallea, “Flee!”
With a heavy heart Tallea ran, knowing it was the best thing to do. She lacked adequate weapons, and only Gallen was equipped to fight in that room. But few men survived an attack by a single Derrit, while Gallen and Orick had three to contend with.
Tallea found tears in her eyes, and recalled the teachings of her crèche masters: “A warrior cannot afford to weep in battle. It gives your foe the advantage.” And so her masters had beat her, until she could hold back the tears. Yet the tears came now, for her friend Orick was battling without her, and Tallea knew that when this was over, she would have to weave a new rope belt for Orick, for her greatest bond now-beyond all her imaginings-was with the bear.
She passed by a room where wind blew in fiercely from a hole, a deathly chill, and Ceravanne was just behind Tallea, at the back of the group, holding aloft the light to ward off any more Derrits.
Their shadows danced madly upon the floor and the walls of the corridor, and then they ran into an open hallway, where suddenly the floor fell out from beneath Tallea.
There was a flash of darkness, and she found herself hurtling down-a rough hide and dirt falling all around her-then she landed with a jolt, and a searing pain shot through her back and arm.
For one brief moment she lay looking up, and Maggie shouted, “My God!” and was staring down into the pit. It had to be a good five meters to the top, Tallea thought. Ceravanne called, “Are you all right?”
Tallea felt very confused. She could see the light above her, and her ears were ringing. She was breathing hard, panting, and a sweat had broken out on her forehead. She felt as if she’d landed on a rock, and it was digging into her back, but it hurt when she tried to move off it, and something held her in place. She tried to answer, but no words would come out.
“Are you all right?” Ceravanne repeated, and she held the light above her head so that she could see down into the pit.
“Derrit … Derrit trap,” Tallea managed to say, and she felt lucky to say that much. She wanted to count her good fortune at being alive, but when Ceravanne’s light shone on her, Tallea looked down at her own legs. A pointed stake as wide as her hand was poking up through her belly, and another pierced through the meat of her right arm. A third came through her leg just below the hip, but she could not feel it.
She could feel nothing below the waist. Her back was broken. She closed her eyes, listened. There was the roaring of Derrits in the far room, and it was getting closer. Gallen shouted something, and Orick roared in return, and Tallea’s heart sang with joy at the sound. At least Orick will live, she realized, and she looked back up at the concerned faces of the women.
“Leave me,” Tallea said, and her voice came out as a croak, barely audible above the yelling.
“Not yet,” Ceravanne said, and she stood fast beside the pit.
There was more shrieking, more cries, and one final wailing roar. A few moments later Gallen and Orick came and looked down into the pit. Both of them were covered with blood, but little of it was their own.
“Three Derrits?” Tallea asked when she saw Gallen. “Perhaps a record.”
Gallen’s face was sad. Tallea felt light-headed, as if she were floating, and she almost thought she could float up to them, tell them that it was all right.
“What can we do for you?” Gallen asked, and Tallea tried to think of an answer.
“There must be something we can do for you,” Maggie said, but even kind Ceravanne shook her head no.
“We’re losing her,” Maggie whispered.
“Save me!” Tallea found herself asking.
“There is nothing we can do,” Orick said solemnly, and the bear had tears in his eyes. Tallea coughed, tried to speak. “They say, in City of Life, Immortals with mantles can save people. Save me!”
And then Maggie’s eyes opened, and Tallea realized that with all of his lore, even Gallen had not realized what she was asking.
“Not all mantles have this power,” Ceravanne said.
“Of course,” Maggie said. “We can download her memories into Gallen’s mantle!”
“Yes, the rebirthing,” Tallea pleaded.
Gallen held up the cloth woven of black rings, its glittering diadems shining in the light. “Can you catch it?”
Tallea nodded, and Gallen dropped the mantle onto her chest. Feebly, with her left hand, Tallea grasped the mantle and placed it on her forehead. Maggie called, “Command it to save you.”
“Save me,” Tallea begged. “Save me.”
The silver rings sat cold upon her forehead, and she felt no different. She fell asleep for a moment, and she saw bright images: flashes of her childhood when she picnicked at a pond in carefree days. The time she first learned to hone a sword blade. A great meteor that she once observed streaking across the night sky for several minutes.
And then Gallen was beside her, stroking her head. He’d climbed down into the pit, though she had no idea how. He picked up the mantle, showed her a gem in the center where the mantle sat on his forehead, a gem that gleamed palest green with its own light.
“See this,” Gallen said, pointing at the gem. “These are all of the memories that make you. All of your hopes and dreams. And I shall take a hair from your head, to remake you.”
Tallea tried to thank him, but no words came from her mouth.
“Quiet now,” he said, and he kissed her softly on the forehead. “The great wheel turns without you now for a while. Until you wake again.”
She closed her eyes, and for a long time it was a struggle to breathe. She thought of one last thing she wanted to ask of the others, a gift she dearly wanted to give to Orick. But Gallen must have left her, for when she next opened her eyes, it was dark, and the stone floor beneath her was cold, so cold that it felt as if it were sucking all the heat from her.
* * *
Chapter 26
Though the remaining journey through the passageways of the city of Indallian took only a few hours, to Maggie it seemed to last forever. Gallen took the lead, watching for traps while Ceravanne told him which passages to take, and once more they heard the roaring of Derrits in distant recesses, but the company eluded them by slipping through passageways too small and narrow for the Derrits to negotiate.
Once, when they stopped to rest in an ancient hallway where dried and faded tapestries still hung on some walls, Gallen said, “I’d hoped we wouldn’t find so many Derrits here. I saw a tribe of them in the Nigangi Pass. I think that the movements of armies has driven them here.”
“With nothing but dirt to chew on for these past few weeks,” Ceravanne said, “they’ll be mad with hunger. How many did you see in Nigangi Pass?”