Steelmind shook his head. “Empaths,” was all he said, but it was in a mix of bemusement and admiration.
“Well, how many more doses of that scream could you take?” Shandi retorted, glancing around for Kel. “I thought blood was going to pour out of my ears in a moment. I was in such pain from the scream I was damned well going to do something about it!”
“I have no arguments with what you did!” Darian assured them, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. “It worked, and that’s all I care about!”
Kelvren limped up, his left side somewhat scraped up but only slightly bloodied. “It isss good rrreass-soning,” he added, sounding complimentary. “It isss the mind that trrruly winsss orrr losssesss each battle. Talonsss would not accomplish in ten daysss what one well-placsssed bad memorrry of Motherrr did.”
Keisha frowned at the gryphon, and gestured with one finger pointing downward at her feet, then snapped her fingers. “Come here, hero. Let me look at that.” Kelvren gave her a withering look, but approached obediently and gently mocked, “Jussst do not thrrreaten me with yourrr Fearrrsssome Pow-errrsss, and I shall obey,” as he lay down to be tended to.
Shandi’s face abruptly clouded, and she looked back up the pass, anxiously. “Getting back, though - ” she started.
“We’ll worry about getting back when we have to.” That was Wintersky, who had been dragging their belongings into a rough circle. “I’ve been checking what we have left. Anybody object to staying here for the night?”
Darian shook his head. “I feel like it was me carrying the dyheli, not the other way around.”
:I am no frisking filly - my old bones ache after a gallop like that one,: Neta said ruefully. :With any luck the ladies have affrighted that cold-drake into a new hunting ground - it will eat its fill and retire into torpor as it properly should, and we will not need to concern ourselves with it on the return journey.:
Neta looked terrible - all the dyheli looked terrible, and Karles didn’t look much better. Their coats were drenched and streaked with sweat and dust; they hung their heads, and their legs trembled with fatigue.
“You lot, go lie down as soon as you think you can without cramping up,” he said in a quick decision. “We’ll mount guard tonight without you.”
:Thank you,: Neta replied simply for them all. One by one the dyheli folded their legs underneath them and dropped to the moss and grass; following Darian’s example, each of the humans pulled a blanket out of their bedrolls and draped it over the prone bodies so that the wet dyhelis didn’t take a chill.
Darian squatted down in front of Neta. “About the . . . loss of Gacher. I’m sorry. Is there any ceremony for his death that we should do?”
:It has already been done,: Neta mindspoke. :What you all choose to do regarding Gacher’s death is yours to determine.:
They made camp, although it was still light; the early stop gave them time to hunt and cook food for a change. Kel settled in beside Darian and Keisha after his own hunt; the gryphon still looked somewhat shaken, and settled down on his bandages as an easy way of keeping pressure on them.
“I did not know the thing would ssscrrream like that,” Kel said finally.
“None of us did,” Darian replied. “I don’t know that anyone has ever gotten close enough to a cold-drake to find out.”
“The only time I’ve ever heard of anyone killing a drake, it’s been three or four Adepts at a distance,” came Steelmind’s dry comment. “No one has even been stupid enough to try to take on one on foot that I know of, and survive.”
Darian smiled a bit. “We certainly qualify as stupid enough.”
“Maybe, but according to Kerowyn, the Shin’a’in say that if it is stupid but works, it isn’t stupid,” Shandi added. It looked to Darian as if she’d forgotten whatever grievance she had with Steelmind.
Then again, she’s probably storing it up to use some other time. When he least expects it.
“I can only say that I hope never to meet with such a thing again in my lifetime,” Hywel told them all solemnly. “Killing such would make the Manhood trial for a legendary hero, and I am no such hero.”
At that, Steelmind smiled slightly, got stiffly to his feet, walked over to the young tribesman, and dropped slowly to one knee. While Hywel watched, Steelmind handed the young warrior one of his own valuable watersteel fighting knives.
Hywel took it gingerly, appearing startled. “What is this?” he asked, perplexed.
“I have no place in my life for anyone who is sure he can do everything. You just realized - and admitted - that you’re not invulnerable, or unbeatable, or perfect,” Steelmind said solemnly. “By my reckoning, that makes you a real man. Now I completely trust you, and I’ll have you at my back any time.”
Hywel admired the knife - and what it symbolized - for a long moment, before Kelvren broke the silence with his own comment.
“If you want rrreal perrrfection, you mussst find a grrryphon.”
Eighteen
Fog surrounded the campsite; there had been no rain last night, but it was a damp, cool morning. Kel had gone out to scout out the way as soon as there was any light in the sky at all. Darian looked up at the sound of large wings, his breakfast uneaten in his hands. He couldn’t see anything in the mist, but a moment later, Kel’s wings blew the fog away enough for him to land beside the morning fire. Darian put down the broiled fish, uneaten. He’d been too keyed up for hunger anyway.
“If you rrride harrrd all day, you will rrreach a village at the edge of the waterrr, and it isss definitely Rrraven,” Kel said, breathing heavily. “I sssaw the totemsss forrr myssself.”
Darian started to breathe a little heavily himself. Don’t get too excited, he reminded himself. Raven is only the tribe that creates the vests. Mother and Father might not be there.
Oh, he could tell himself that, but it was impossible not to hope, impossible not to feel his heartbeat quicken, his nerves tingle. “Then let’s get going - ” he began, starting to rise, when a hand on his belt jerked him back down again.
“First, eat,” Keisha ordered, frowning. He knew that look. He ate, though the fish was cold and tasted like wheat paste. He crammed it down as fast as he could, washing it down with water.