As the horror stepped forward, it swung its arms out, almost daring Burke to come close enough for a death hug. Timing his lunge to slip inside the creature's arms as they swung around, Burke grabbed the horror's jaw in one hand and a horn in the other and began to pull its mouth open. The creature closed its arms around the jack and cut deeply into Burke's back with both pincers, spearing him with one while the second tried to cut him in half.
Oblivious to the monster's attacks, Burke continued to pry the creature's huge mouth open, finally ripping its jaw off and dropping it to the ground. As die huge horror continued to hack away at Burke widi its pincers, the jack punched up into the roof of the monster's mouth, easily smashing dirough the cartilage, ramming his fist into the beast's brain and out dirough the top of its skull.
As the summoned horror dropped to the ground, Burke pulled its pincer out from his side and jammed it into the chest of the surprised mage standing behind the dead monster, piercing the summoner's heart with die appendage.
Not even waiting for Burke to deal with his wounds, Laquatas ran off toward the hills rising up behind the Cabal camp. When Burke caught up widi him, he still had numerous daggers sticking out of his face and arms, but the deep gashes from the horror had been repaired.
Seeing the injured aven ahead, Laquatas dashed up the slope and frantically searched for signs of Kamahl or die dwarf. Hearing the mage moan, Laquatas dropped to his knees and questioned the aven.
"Did you see a barbarian and a dwarf after you fell. Do you know which way they went?" he asked.
"No," replied the injured and wingless aven. "I blacked out when I struck the ground. Can you help me? Did you come to save me?"
"Blast!" uttered the mer. "Useless aven." Laquatas held his hand over the aven's forehead and concentrated, forcing the Order mage to relive the battle in her head so Laquatas could see everything she saw. Right before the end, he saw in her mind the rear of a horse moving north into the brush.
"Thank you, my dear," said Laquatas. "You have been very helpful. For that I will spare you a painful death at the hands of my jack." Pressing a little farther into the aven's mind, Laquatas found a particular spot deep inside and snapped his fingers, quickly and painlessly cutting the link between life and death within the bird warrior's brain.
"Come, Burke," said Laquatas as he stood up. "Kamahl has gone this way."
Never looking back at the battle that still raged behind them, the mer and his jack headed north, picking their way through the rocks and brambles of the foothills of the Pardic Mountains.
CHAPTER 16
"What do you make of that?" asked Kamahl, pointing up into the night sky at a bright object plummeting to the ground.
"Looks like that battle is getting a might too close to us," said Balthor as he pulled on two sets of reigns to cut both horses back up the slope. "Move back up the hill. It's an aven falling out of the battle and bringing an infernal light right at us."
"I'm glad to have your eyes tonight, Balthor," said Kamahl, nudging his horse to climb up the slope after the dwarf's mounts.
"I'm glad this battle is keeping them busy while we get past," said Balthor. "If I were a hundred years younger, I'd ride right through that battle, but I agree with ye that for the sake of Jeska we should avoid fights."
"With any luck, we'll be well into the plains before this battle is finished," said Kamahl.
"Follow me up to that ridge. There's a pass through there that leads out of the bluff and down to a stream that will mask our trail in case those Cabal summoners have any demon dogs up their dementia spaces."
The two rode in silence up to the ridge. Kamahl could see forms and shapes in the moonlit night, enough to keep his mount and himself out of trouble, but he was relying on Balthor's keen, dwarven eyes to detect dangers before they presented themselves.
As they reached the crest of the ridge, Balthor glanced back toward the aven one last time, then spurred his horse into a trot.
"Move it," he said. "That aven's light attracted attention."
"What did you see?" asked Kamahl as he pressed his knees into his mount.
"Two men," said Balthor. "One tall and shining in the moonlight, like the light was bouncing off him in every direction. And I swear he had… horns!"
"A mer? Here?" asked Kamahl. "Laquatas! The other?"
"A big lump of a man," said Balthor, picking his way down the back of the ridge as quickly as possible. "I couldn't make out any features, but he was massive and dark, almost black. If not for the moonlight, I wouldn't ha' been able to pick him out against the rocks."
"His new jack," confirmed Kamahl, following his mentor as closely as he could in the dark. "I heard stories about this creature when I returned to Cabal City the last time. They say Chainer made him using the Mirari. They say he can't be killed. They say he's deadly."
"Anything can be killed," said Balthor. "Ye just have to find its weak point."
"They say he has no weak point," added Kamahl.
"Bah!" said Balthor. "I'll find one for ye."
"But not tonight," said Kamahl.
"Not tonight. No."
The two warriors rode on, keeping a watchful eye behind them for signs of the mer and his jack as they cut back and forth down the steep slope toward the stream below. Balthor caught glimpses of them through the scraggly trees and shrubs that somehow thrived in the shallow soil of the ridge, but as they neared the stream, Laquatas and Burke were only half way down the long slope.
"That jack is sure-footed, but the mer keeps slowing them down," said Balthor. "Every time he slips, the beast has to catch him."
"Laquatas values his own safety over everything else, even the Mirari," said Kamahl. "That has always been his failing."
"I wouldn't say we've won yet," said Balthor as he negotiated the last switchback and started down toward the water, "but once we reach that stream, we should be able to outrun those two. Unless that mer has a couple horses hidden in his robes."
"I wouldn't be surprised by anything that one does," said Kamahl. "He's as shifty as he is cowardly."
"Best to keep moving then," said Balthor. "It's going to be a long night."
"Damn these mountains!" swore Laquatas as he skidded several feet down the slope before Burke shot out his arm to catch him.
"How do dry landers put up with all this… dirt?" he asked, slapping his hands together to wipe them clean and then wincing at the pain from the scrapes on his palms.
Burke simply stared at his master. Laquatas peered down the ridge, watching for movement behind the trees and shrubs. Having spent most of his life in the depths, the mer's eyesight was as good as a dwarf's.
"Blast Norda to the depths!" swore the ambassador, as he spotted the horses nearing the stream. "They're getting away. I'm so close. I can feel it. The Mirari is down there, and I can't get to it. I don't even know where they're taking it…"
Laquatas snapped his fingers. Pressing his forefingers and thumbs against his temples, the mer concentrated on the dwarf whom he could just barely make out in the distance, looking for the entrance to his mind, the pathway to his thoughts.
"Got you," he whispered. "Jeska… hurt… Mirari… Kamahl… Seton… Krosan."
Laquatas broke the contact and rubbed his temples. "Norda bless me," he said. "They're headed right to the forest. If I can just herd them into my ambush, I can take the Mirari, and no one will ever know."
Turning to Burke, Laquatas smiled. "Come, Burke. Krosan Forest is a large place. Our allies can still be of some use to us, assuming they haven't all killed each other."
"Anything?" asked Kamahl.