The ogres continued to climb, oblivious to the death waiting above. For no good reason, Brianna found herself holding her breath as she watched. Every so often, a warrior would pause to rest or catch his balance. The princess's heart would leap into her throat and pound like a drum until the brute resumed his ascent, usually after a sharp grunt from the climber behind him, but there was no sign that the warriors had caught the scent of her allies. Finally, the ogre in front of Brianna's stepped into the ravine mouth and reached up to grab a handhold.
That was when the whole line came to a halt. The princess craned her neck to see the cause of the delay. She found only the hunched backs of several ogres, spread along the shadowy ravine like so many boulders.
The ogre shaman's voice rolled down the ravine. "What wrong, spy?" he demanded. "Why stop?"
When the spy did not answer immediately, Brianna felt cold fingers of despair slipping around her heart. It would do her no good to attack until all the ogres were in the ravine, so the warriors close to her would be too busy fighting to worry about their prisoner. The princess could not spring her trap before then, or the brutes would organize a defense and prevent her from escaping. Unfortunately, the traitor Runolf- Brianna thought of the man that way to keep her hatred of him from tempering-was about to force her hand.
Runolf had joined the ogres at dusk, as the brutes, ended a chilling two-hour wade down the Clearwhirl. After receiving a gruff greeting from the shaman, the traitor had led the group through a dark spruce forest and into the icy hinterlands of the north valley, guiding them without incident to this ravine at the edge of the Ice Spires' forbidding wilderness.
And now it appeared that in addition to leading her kidnappers to safety, Runolf would ruin Brianna's only hope of escape. He was clearly a good enough scout to know mountain lions never hunted in packs. They were stealthy creatures as solitary as they were vicious, often lighting to the death even when male and female came together during mating season. Assuming the traitor realised that more than one beast lurked above his head, he would also know someone had used magic to summon the pack.
The ogre shaman finally grew tired of waiting for Runolf's answer. "Climb, spy," said his muted voice. "Take us Needle Peak."
"This is as far as I go, Goboka," came Runolf's answer. "You know the rest of the way-probably better than I."
Goboka, the shaman, was silent for several moments, then his voice asked, "Why afraid? What danger ahead?"
Brianna resisted the urge to call her attack. If the ambush was foiled, she would lose nothing by waiting until Runolf actually told the shaman about the mountain lions. On the other hand, if the traitor had merely decided to turn back, her plan still had a good chance of working.
"The danger ahead is minor." said Runolf. "But I've risked enough on your behalf. You can face it alone."
Brianna heard Runolf's boots scraping on the rocks as he started down the ravine. She thought Goboka would kill him on the spot, but soon saw the shaman's warriors pressing themselves against the craggy wall to let their departing guide pass.
The princess did not know quite what to make of the sudden desertion. It seemed likely that the traitor knew about her ambush, but for some reason of his own had decided to keep the secret. As for Goboka, Brianna felt certain the shaman was merely biding his time until Runolf left the crowded confines of the ravine, where his smaller size would prove a valuable advantage against the looming ogres.
As Runolf came near, he gazed into Brianna's eyes and gave her a brief nod. The princess noted no suggestion of apology or shame in his expression, only a tight-clenched jaw like she had once seen on Morten's face as he went off to execute a treasonous earl. Brianna tried to curse him. She managed no more than a garbled rasp around her gag, but the meaning was plain enough. The traitor looked away and stepped past.
Goboka's voice instantly boomed down the ravine, "Kill him!"
The last two ogres stepped abreast of each other and reached for their hand axes, but Runolf was ready for them. Throwing himself between them, he drew his weapon and lashed at the heel of the attacker nearest his sword arm. The brute's ankle came apart in a spray of blood and, bellowing in pain, he dropped to his knee.
The second ogre's axe arced down at Runolf, who avoided death only by hurling himself at the poor brute he had just injured. He struck the groaning warrior full in the chest, bowling him over and in the same move tucking a shoulder to start a somersault. The traitor rolled right up his foe's huge body, slashing the throat of the astonished ogre as he passed over, and came up standing on the ground. He spun and charged, his flashing blade beating back the brute he had not yet killed.
Hoping to use Runolf's distraction to good advantage, Brianna closed her eyes and pictured Hiatea's flaming spear in her mind. The talisman on her breast grew warm, and she thought. Hunt, my friends! Slay the ugly ones!
The mountain lions sprang from their hiding places, bounding along the rim of the ravine, descending into the dark gorge as silent as owls. The beasts hit their targets with raking claws and snapping teeth, filling the ravine with the pained cries of dying ogres.
The two brutes nearest the ravine mouth fell instantly their necks crushed by their attackers' powerful jaws.
Several more warriors were tumbling down the steep channel with mountain lions still clinging to their backs. Farther up, a few had actually managed to keep their feet, and were spinning in wild circles, bellowing madly and wildly flailing their arms in an effort to halt the vicious claws slashing their backs. Brianna could not see what had become of Goboka, but she did hear his angry voice bellowing off the craggy walls as he struggled with one of the murderous beasts.
A low growl sounded from the murky ravine, then a dark shape came leaping out from a crag's shadow. Brianna's ogre let her slip to the ground, at the same time using his free hand to meet the mountain lion with a powerful backhand smash. The beast crashed into the mountainside, then righted itself as the ogre pulled his hand axe off his belt. The mountain lion eyed the weapon warily, then flattened its ears and snarled.
As the warrior and the mountain lion faced off, Brianna rolled onto her back and spun around so that her bound feet pointed at the ogre. She waited until he stepped forward to attack the mountain lion, men thrust both heels at the ogre's leg. The kick caught him at the ankle, sweeping his foot from beneath his body. He teetered on one foot for a moment, then crashed down, his skull smashing the rocky ground with a terrific crack. The brute's eyes rolled back in their sockets, and the axe fell from his grasp.
The mountain lion gathered itself to spring.
No, me first! Brianna ordered.
The princess lifted her bound hands. The lion leaped over, severing the greasy rope with a single snap of its powerful jaws, Brianna pointed at her feet, and the mountain lion bit through those bindings too.
Seeing that its job was done, the lion whirled around and jumped on the stunned ogre. It gave a tremendous snarl, then bit through his throat. At the same time, the bloodthirsty beast raked his abdomen with the claws of its rear feet, spraying entrails and foul-smelling blood everywhere.
Brianna rose and saw that her allies in the ravine had not been so successful. Although many of her foes had fallen to the initial assault, the ogres had not taken long to recover from their shock. She saw at least three mountain lions lying motionless on the ravine floor and did not know how many more had fallen in murky shadows where she could not observe them. The two live beasts she could see were on the defensive, reduced to dodging axe blows and countering with quick slashes as they slunk between their attackers' legs. Goboka was scrambling down from the top of the ravine, scowling angrily at the scene below.