'Those spearmen won't cross the river without their mage, and his dragon for good measure,' Velindre stated with absolute certainty. 'That's the boundary of the blue dragon's territory, which makes it their border as well.'
'Come on.' Kheda gave Naldeth's shoulder a shove.
'In a moment.' The wizard shrugged him off. 'If the wild men won't cross the river, she'll be safer over here.'
He thrust a hand out towards the water and a narrow bridge of glistening mud rose out of the depths.
'You don't think the tree dwellers will just kill her out of hand?' Kheda objected.
'Or those vile birds,' said Risala with feeling.
The young wizard ignored them both, moving to stand clearly visible, beckoning to the hesitating figure on the far bank.
Slowly, the old woman lowered herself down onto the mud and hobbled towards them. She moved awkwardly, hunched over some precious burden, the moonlight silvering her grey hair.
'She can take her chances.' Kheda turned away before she had reached the middle of the river and thought back to the terrain he had seen earlier in this interminable day. 'Let's make for the edge of those twisted trees and hope those birds are roosting deeper in the forest. If we stick to the very edge of the higher ground, we should be able to cut across the bottom end of the tree-dwellers' valley. We'll
go right to the sea and work our way up along the cliffs till we reach the Zaise.'
He hefted his hacking blade at an unnerving rustle deep in the dense grasses. A furred creature appeared, held startled in the moonlight as it crouched on all four limbs. Its snout was reminiscent of a hound's, yet it had long-fingered paws as if it lived in the trees and it was more catlike than dog in its lineaments. Before Kheda could decide what it was, it vanished into the darkness.
Like a loal, yet quite unlike. How many strange creatures live in this place?
Restraining the impulse to slice and force a path through the grass as quickly as possible, Kheda moved slowly and quietly, alert for any huge lizard lurking somnolent in the cool of the night. He could hear the harsh breathing of the others close behind him, and back beyond that some faint splashing from the river. Closing his ears to such distractions, he concentrated on the grassy plain ahead. He didn't let himself relax when they reached the sparse, spindly trees. Straining his eyes for any sign of the lethal birds, he went just far enough up the slope and into the woodland to gain a vantage over the plain and the river and the bank beyond.
'That old woman's following us.' Naldeth was trailing behind, looking over his shoulder.
'Forget her. There's someone over there.' Risala sank down as she pointed into the deceptive patterns of shade and moonlight beneath the blotched trunks of the trees.
Kheda realised they were closer than he had realised to the dry grass-choked gully where the birds had lain in wait for the hunters. 'I'd guess they're cave dwellers.'
'Come to watch the show,' Velindre murmured.
Kheda breathed a little easier as he realised she was right. The distant figures were all watching the commotion on the far side of the river. Several of the barrel trees
up on the barren plateau were still burning with vivid purple flames while shouts and screams suggested that the wild mage was taking out his wrath on some unfortunates. In the meantime, his spearmen were beating noisy paths through the grassy plain to the river bank.
'Let's leave them to it.' Stooping uncomfortably, Kheda led the way stealthily in the direction of the unseen cliffs. The twisted woodland meandered along the margin of the grassy plain. He tried to see if any of the bigger trees were rising up in the darkness, to warn him they were approaching the tree-dwelling wizard's dry valley.
'Wait.' Naldeth startled him with a warning hand on his back. 'We woke the neighbours as well.'
'The dragon?' Kheda was torn between the urge to stand upright to see what lay ahead and a fervent desire to cower in the dirt.
'No,' Naldeth said slowly, 'but his favourite mage has come to see what's going on.'
'This way.' Velindre slid deeper into the spindly woodland. She found a shallow scrape in the ground and crouched down behind an inadequate barrier of the thick-leaved spiny plants. The others joined her.
'Where is he?' Kheda looked westwards along the edge of the trees. He soon made out a knot of people standing beneath a broad-canopied giant that marked the edge of the dry tributary valley. The mage in the beaded cloak stood a few paces in front of the rest, intent on the barrel trees burning in the distance.
'He'll know us for wizards if we move any closer,' Naldeth whispered. 'He probably felt my magic coming across the river,' he added apologetically.
'We couldn't have stayed on the far bank.' Kheda looked around the depression. 'We'll just have to stay here till he gets bored and goes back to bed.'
Does he have anything to do with the cave dwellers? If he
sends any messenger to them, or they send word to him, whoever it is will be bound to see us. Unless Velindre uses her magic. But that will just alert the mage in the beaded cloak. So much for a simple day spent reconnoitring this land and then getting back to our boat unscathed.
'I'm more concerned with what might have made this place for its bed.' Risala shifted a clump of dried grass that lay flattened in the hollow and Kheda saw that something with frighteningly large claws had scraped deep furrows into the hard earth.
'We'll just have to deal with whatever it is if it turns up.' Kheda looked from side to side. 'They can't stand there watching all night, can they?'
'We'll just have to see.' Velindre tapped Risala on the shoulder. 'If we all sit facing outwards, we can lean on each other as we keep watch.'
The magewoman sat herself down to look inland along the tree line towards the unseen caves. Kheda settled himself to watch the softly swaying grasses while Risala stared into the gloom of the twisted woodland. Naldeth lowered himself awkwardly to the ground, vigilant in the direction of the tall tree and the mage with the beaded cloak.
The flames of the burning barrel trees eventually began to gutter. The shouts of the searching spearmen faded as they toiled back up the slope and disappeared beyond the bare plateau.
No one spoke. Kheda felt his own breathing slow and heard the inconsequential sounds of the night landscape for the first time. He looked up to gauge the progress of the moon past the fronds of the spindly trees and surprised himself with a yawn. After the long day's walk and the constant tension, he realised he was exhausted. Then he noted just how still Naldeth was sitting beside him, all his weight resting on Kheda's shoulder.
Has he fallen asleep? He had better not start snoring.
The young mage was still awake. 'We're being watched,' he said softly.
'What?' Velindre turned her head towards the plain.
'There.' Kheda focused on a dark shape lurking motionless behind the fringe of grasses. It hadn't been there before.
Risala twisted awkwardly to see. 'What is it?'
'It's more a question of who.' Kheda got slowly to his feet, letting his hacking blade hang loosely by his side. He spared a quick glance to either side and saw that both the tree dwellers and the men from the caves still had sentries keeping watch across the river.
Are we about to be betrayed to them?
The shape shifted and stepped onto the open ground at the edge of the grass. The moonlight showed them the old woman in her hide wrap. Close to, Kheda could see that her bare legs were no more than skin and bone and her grey hair was matted in filthy clumps. She would have been shorter than Risala if she had been standing upright. She was shorter still as she stooped over the bundle cradled in her skinny arms. She stood motionless, head cocked slightly to one side, her expression lost in shadow.