“Then we should be thankful that the demGoth sent an underling to launch the beast. As it is, we are at the limits of his range, and it seemed to me that what the parGoth sees with that Jardember thing, so too does the Kraal.”
“It sees the light of living things, Longsword, as the lady Elayeen sees them as well as the darkness. The wizard and the Jardember direct it, set it on its course, and then release it. With its gaze fixed upon its food, it attacks, and its appetite is voracious. The light from Jarn will be very bright compared to the light of our small group.”
Tyrane shifted nervously. “You mean, Serre wizard, the more people there are, the brighter the light?”
“Yes, Captain, that is precisely what I mean. And the brighter the light, the further it may be seen.”
“Dwarfspit.” Gawain sighed.
“What does it mean?” Jaxon asked a little timidly, seeing the worried looks on all the faces around him save for Elayeen’s vacant and unnerving stare.
“It means,” Tyrane sighed, “We daren’t proceed.”
“No indeed,” Allazar agreed, “For we do not know the range at which this Darimak parGoth might eventually detect the town he is seeking. For all we know, it may be a hundred miles, or a hundred yards further along the road.”
“Dwarfspit.” Gawain muttered again, looking down the track at all the expectant faces gazing back at him. “We need to destroy this Kraal-beast before we can take another step along the road.”
All eyes save Elayeen’s swung towards Allazar.
“Ah.”
23. The Plan
Elayeen stood half a dozen paces away from the small group, her eldengaze facing the darkness. Tyrane, his sergeant, Jaxon, Allazar and Gawain formed a small circle, squatting on their haunches in the middle of the western half of the passing-place.
“Here, about three miles north,” Tyrane explained, scraping a map in the dirt, “This is where the woodlands either side of the road thin to nothing, leaving just the road and the plains to the north and east. Here, to the west, the forest dwindles the further north and west you go, until finally at the river Ostern, it fades completely. On the other side of the Ostern lie the plains of the Old Kingdom.”
“But it’s all forest west of here to the river?” Gawain pointed.
“Yes, and shading to the northwest too. It’s probably how those Dwarfspit Gorians managed to evade our Westguard. No offense, Serre Jaxon.”
“None taken, my lord. All this here,” and Simayen Jaxon used a twig to scratch at the ground, “Is the southern forest of Pellarn Province. From what you said, my lord, the dark maker and the beast would have passed through the forest in the south and crossed the Ostern not far from the mountain.”
“Which would explain how they evaded the Westguard,” Tyrane agreed.
“We can thank our unknown Pellarnian map-maker for that blunder,” Allazar sighed, “Or Jarn would have been devastated before we arrived at Raheen. And that means of course that Morloch intended it to be so. He likely had no idea of our whereabouts or intentions.”
“True. They did say they’d been lost in the forest for ten days since receiving their orders.”
“Then something must have happened in the north, at the Council of Kings. Morloch intended something shocking here in the south, to distract the Council and draw all their attention here, and away from his armies near the Teeth.”
Gawain agreed. “Whatever our friends are doing, they are clearly doing well. But that leaves us here, alone, with a Kraal-beast growing ever hungrier scarcely a mile away.”
“If we leave now, we could reach the end of these woodlands and be in open ground in an hour. They would still have the forest between them and us. It would at least give us the advantage of seeing the beast coming.”
“It has not moved.” Eldengaze asserted, without so much as a glance at them.
“We dare not move too far to the north, now that we know what it is that tracks us.” Allazar announced. “The risk of drawing close enough to Jarn for the parGoth to detect the town is too great.”
“And yet, my lords, without the knowledge that his Majesty brought from his hunt, we would be travelling merrily on our way.”
“And at the same time, unwittingly dooming an entire town.” Gawain sighed. “Allazar is right, we can go no further north. Not together, anyway.”
“Not together?” Jaxon looked confused.
“The enemy’s sight is limited to about a mile, given the brightness of our combined light. They clearly didn’t see me when you all moved off this morning leaving me behind. It would be interesting to know how good or how poor that sight really is. It may be that some could leave, could continue on to Jarn, but with the rest of us remaining here the parGoth would not see them?”
Allazar shook his head. “The Jardember would show the light diminished. It wouldn’t take an intelligent enemy too long to understand why.”
Tyrane tapped his dirt map with his twig. “Why don’t they just step out of the forest on to the road, point the beast to the north, and let it loose? They’ve been tracking us long enough to know the road runs almost arrow-straight north-south.”
The wizard shook his head. “No, Captain, that would not do. Once the beast is loosed, like words once spoken or an arrow shot from a bow it cannot be recalled. The iron collar and chains infused with aquamire are all that keeps it in check, those and the occasional interventions from the parGoth as Longsword described earlier. Once free of its bonds though, it would take the power of its creator to contain it once more, and I believe we have destroyed that creator.
“No, the Kraal would charge down the road, destroy us, and then it would be aimless, purposeless, its only remaining interest the feeding of itself. And the only food it would find within the range of its eye once we were destroyed would be its former masters, unless they themselves could find a way to outrun the beast, and they are on foot.”
“Yet if we simply remain here the beast will eventually become unmanageable, and in fear for their own lives the Gorians will loose it upon us and run west as fast as they can.”
Allazar agreed again.
“So,” Tyrane sighed, staring at the map. “We cannot advance to the north. And to stand still invites attack, sooner or later. That at least leaves us a good deal of room for manoeuvre. We have at least half the compass to move in, and that includes our attacking them.”
“It does.” Gawain agreed. “Certainly they’re more concerned with the Kraal and us on the road than they are in keeping watch around them in the forest. It should be straightforward enough to take the wizard into the forest, sneak up behind them, incinerate the creature and be back in time for supper.”
“Ah…”
Tyrane smiled. “I was thinking of something so much more complicated, my lord. But now you’ve mentioned it, the simplest solution is often the most elegant and effective.”
“I think I would like to hear your complicated plan, Captain.” Allazar muttered.
Gawain smiled. “Humour him, Tyrane.”
“Oh, I was going to test the enemy’s ability to see our movements by despatching small numbers of our group south half a mile or so, until they elected to follow. Or, to confuse them even further and add to their discomfort, by sending some east through the woods towards the plains, and some south at the same time.”
Gawain grinned. “If it were just men tracking us it would be wonderful plan. But knowing the fractious state that our enemy is in, and how close they are to losing control of the beast, I think the more direct approach is the one I favour. Besides, we know where the beast is, and I’d rather destroy while it’s chained. You can destroy it, Allazar?”
“Yes, Longsword, a sustained bolt of white fire from the staff will defeat the aquamire armour of its skin, of that I am certain.”
Gawain eyed the wizard, looking for signs of overconfidence, or signs of the kind of dangerous enthusiasm that had so worried him the day before. There were none. If anything, Allazar seemed nervous about the plan, rather than excited.