'That skull-faced mage must have had some kind of lair.' Kheda looked for the feather-crowned women and frowned when he realised they were nowhere to be seen. 'Which presumably now belongs to you, Naldeth. That would be some sanctuary, just till you two recover your strength. Once we've had some food and some time for reflection, we can consider how best to get back to the Zaise?
'What about the wild men?' Risala looked warily at the prostrate savages. 'Will they let us go?'
'I can't see them stopping us.' Kheda sighed reluctantly. 'And in the meantime, they'll be bodies to stand between us and anyone else's spears until we're rested.'
'Kheda—' Naldeth roused himself to protest incoherently.
'Do you have some better idea?' the warlord challenged. 'And what would you wager on your chances of persuading these people to let the four of us go off alone into hostile territory? Do you feel fit enough to take on that mage in the beaded cloak and his black dragon besides?'
'No.' Velindre was adamant.
'We may end up doing that anyway if we don't move soon.' Risala indicated the closest wild men, who were now getting to their feet.
Then everyone froze as a faint tremor ran through the earth underneath them and a low sound on the very edge of hearing seemed to surround them.
'What was that?' Kheda looked at Naldeth.
'I don't know.' The young mage moved to Velindre's other side, draping her arm around his neck. 'But let's get out of here.'
Unnerved by the earth tremor and the strange noise, the wild men who had been following the skull-faced mage hurried forward to throng around the four of them. With their stained loincloths and mud-matted hair, they smelled sour with fear and filth.
Naldeth backed away, trying to avoid the worst of the odour. 'How do we tell them what we want to do?'
'Just head for the river,' Kheda suggested, but the crowd was pressing around them so thickly that they had no hope of forcing a way through.
The old woman appeared at Kheda's side and seized his elbow yet again, shoving him forward. She said something
and the wild men instantly sank to their knees and prostrated themselves once more, chests to die ground, their hands outstretched towards Naldeth.
'I have no intention of setting myself up to be some magical tyrant like that villain,' Naldeth said angrily.
'Then start considering how you might show them that,' snapped Velindre.
As the savages began slowly getting up again, their faces wretched with apprehension, a resonant cry echoed through the twisted trees. Another answered it, followed by a hollow clattering sound. All the savages turned towards Naldeth, fearfully hopeful and expectant.
'It's those birds.' Kheda drew both sword and hacking blade as a new realisation made his stomach churn. 'Those savages you blinded will be easy prey for them, Naldeth.' The horror of that prospect drove him a few paces towards the nut trees where the bespelled unfortunates still cowered.
'It was only supposed to be temporary,' the wizard protested, nevertheless following Kheda towards the belt of twisted trees.
'I don't imagine those birds will care.' Kheda glanced over his shoulder to see Risala drawing her own hacking blade, grim resolve on her face. 'Can you summon up enough fire to roast them, Naldeth?'
Risala drew level with Kheda's shoulder. 'Can't you just undo the spell?'
'I can try,' the wizard offered uncertainly.
As they moved, Naldeth still supporting Velindre as best he could, the wild men scrambled to their feet and pressed close around the four of them. As they reached the twisted trees, the savages snatched up the spears they had discarded in the dirt. Those at the forefront spread out to flank Kheda and Risala, their weapons levelled, expressions hard.
Somewhat to Kheda's surprise, the trees proved to be empty of the vicious birds. As a few of the unblinded wild men began calling to those savages Naldeth had bespelled earlier and gathering them together, the warlord looked across the grassy plain towards the dubious safety of the river. He saw a flash of an emerald crest as one of the vicious birds lifted its head above the swaying grasses.
'I see it.' Naldeth raised a hand and crimson fire flickered around his fingers.
'Can you scare those birds off with your magic and still have enough strength to raise a walkway across the river?' Risala asked suddenly. 'There were lizards as long as the Zaise in the water last night.'
'I don't know,' Naldeth admitted, uncertain.
'Then don't risk it.' Kheda gripped his sword hilt. 'Steel will kill these things as surely as sorcery.' He strode forward into the vicious grasses, giving everyone else no choice but to follow.
A great squawking bird burst through the tussocks, murderous black beak gaping. More of the flock flapped their ineffective wings ferociously behind it. Those savages escorting the blinded men raised a despairing wail. Kheda side-stepped the creature's vicious lunge and swept his sword up and around. The bird's lifeless head fell to the ground as its body collapsed with a thud and a flurry of feathers. Kheda heard a second screech behind him cut short, the sound of the bird's fall drowned out by the shouts of the wild men on either side, astounded, encouraging and reassuring the urgent questions of those who still could not see.
Another bird took a lanky stride forward, whether to attack or to try eating its dead fellow Kheda couldn't tell. He dismissed the irrelevance and parried its hooked beak with his hacking blade before slicing through its neck with
his sword. The rest of the birds screeched uncertainly, milling around rather than attacking, disconcerted by the scent of their own kind's blood. Emboldened, several of the spearmen lunged forward, yelling. The birds turned tail and vanished into the grasses, rattling their beaks with alarm.
Kheda looked over his shoulder to see Risala smile thinly back at him. Her hacking blade was smeared with blood and three of the blue-feathered birds lay dead at her feet. She took a pace back and he did the same as wild men clustered around the dead birds, eager to claim this unexpected bounty.
Kheda watched for a moment as the wild men produced crude knives of black stone from the folds of their loincloths. The fluted blades proved surprisingly efficient as the hunters deftly gutted the dead birds.
'Come on.' He beckoned to Naldeth and Velindre as the savages rapidly dismembered the fowl, skewering the legs and carcasses on spears for easier carrying.
Naldeth tried for an optimistic tone. 'I suppose this is one way to learn more about these people.'
'Just be sure to keep your wits about you,' Kheda said shortly.
'And keep thinking about how we're going to get back to the Zaise? Risala looked at the soiled savages as she tried to scour the blood from her blade with a twist of dead grass. 'We're caught between a wall and a sword here, aren't we?'
'I hope not.' Kheda tried to sound convincing. 'Wherever these savages live, we know there won't be a wizard, or a dragon. If they're all in awe of Naldeth, we should be safe enough from them. So we can take some time to eat and rest and then find a way to slip back to the Zaise unnoticed.'
Risala drew closer to him, surveying the waving grasses with mistrust. 'You don't think those women with the feathers might dispute Naldeth's claim?'
'Let's hope they've had the sense to flee before he can kill them too.' Kheda spoke quietly enough that neither wizard heard him.
Risala fell silent as they hurried on through the grasses. As they reached the crumbling bank, Naldeth pushed past the warlord, leaving Velindre swaying but at least standing unsupported on her own two feet. The young mage drew a shining ridge of mud up out of the water to give them all a safe path to the far side. The wild men's murmurs grew loud with approval.