The Serpentwar Saga: The Complete 4-Book Collection

Calis hurried through the darkness.

Without conscious thought, he started counting steps and measuring distances with his hearing, and he hoped that he’d find his company where he had left it.

De Loungville almost leaped when Calis touched his arm. He spun around to hear a familiar voice ask, ‘Where is everyone else?’

‘Captain!’ de Loungville said. ‘I was about to say a brief prayer to Ruthia and a small testimonial to Lims-Kragma on your behalf, then get the hell out of here.

‘Now I can sit down and die of a burst heart!’

‘Sorry I startled you, but I couldn’t tell who it was here in the dark, and it smelled like you but I wanted to be sure.’

‘Smelled like me …?’

‘It’s been a while since you’ve had a bath, Bobby.’

‘You’re no bunch of roses either. Calis.’

‘Have you a torch?’

To answer, De Loungville struck steel to flint and set a hot spark into the treated cotton wadding wrapped on a stick. The flame started modestly but spread quickly, and by the time de Loungville held it up, they were bathed in a pool of light.

‘Call me mother, but you look a fright,’ said de Loungville. ‘What did you find down there?’

‘I’ll tell you when we’ve put some distance between us and it. Which way?’

‘We found a passage used by some serpent men, so I put Greylock in charge and sent the men in the other direction, to the left.’

‘Good: that should mean they’re on the surface by now. If we hurry, we can overtake them before they get too far down the hillside. We’re a lot higher up than when we came in the tunnel, Bobby.’

‘And a lot farther from where we want to be than we were when we started,’ responded de Loungville.

‘We’d better hurry. We have a long way to go.’ Softly Calis added, ‘And I fear not that much time to get there.’

• Chapter Twenty-One • Attrition (#ulink_c459595b-478b-599d-abde-3257f4ef7163)

Erik ducked.

A shower of darts flew through the air and bounced off his shield as he tried to keep low to the ground. Since leaving the cavern and moving down through the hills to the grasslands, Nakor and Sho Pi had both claimed they were being observed.

When they had finally reached an area of broken rocks, islands of limestone, shale, and granite that broke up pools of tall grass, a sudden attack of the Gilani had greeted them. Six men died in the first assault, which was barely driven back by the heroic efforts of those in the forefront.

Greylock had quickly organized the defense, and the struggle had gone on for nearly a half day. Two more men had died as they retreated up the hillside, looking for this defensive position. Praji and Vaja had moved to the front, and were in council with Greylock as Erik approached.

‘I’ve got everyone situated as best I could, Owen. We’re taking a beating.’

‘I know,’ came the calm reply. He looked at Praji and said, ‘Any idea why they hit us?’

Praji shrugged. ‘We’re here and they’re Gilani. They don’t like anyone who isn’t Gilani, and we’re about to enter the grasslands. That’s their range and they’re trying to tell us to keep off.’

‘How’d the damn grass get so tall this time of year?’ asked Greylock.

Vaja said, ‘There are some that grow in the winter and others in the summer, and they are all mixed in down there, is my guess.’

Putting aside his frustration, Greylock asked, ‘Is there another way out of these mountains?’

Praji shrugged. ‘Your guess is as good as mine. Even if I knew exactly where we were, I’ve never traveled this way. Few men from the Eastlands have.’ He looked around. ‘I’m guessing if we could get over the ridge’ – he pointed upward at the highest peaks of the mountains – ‘we might be able to make our way down to the Satpura River. Maybe make some rafts and get down to the coast near Chatisthan. Or we could move back up into the foothills, staying high enough so the Gilani don’t come after us, and could head south, see if we can find a way to the river Dee and follow that down to Ispar, but I don’t recommend that course.’

‘Why not?’

‘That would take us through the Great South Forest. Not a lot of people get through there alive. Rumor has it that’s where your Pantathians hole up, and it’s where tigers that talk like men live …’ When Greylock looked at him with disbelief written on his face, he quickly added. But that’s only rumor.’

A whizzing sound in the air warned them a scant second before another rain of darts pelted them. Erik tried to get his bulk below his shield. A shout and curse told him someone hadn’t covered up quickly enough as darts rained off shields and the surrounding rocks.

‘How bad are the wounded?’ asked Greylock.

‘The wounded aren’t too bad,’ answered Erik. ‘One of the men has a dart in the leg, but it’s down in the fleshy part of the calf – he can walk with help. A couple of broken arms, and Gregory of Tiburn dislocated his shoulder.’

Greylock said. ‘Well, we can’t outwait them here and find out how many of those damn darts they’re carrying.’ In frustration he added, ‘Hell, we don’t even know how many Gilani there are.’ The little men had swarmed over the front of the column, then vanished back into the grass when Calis’s company had turned out to be willing to stand and make a fight of it. Since then they had been launching random flights of darts.

Looking around, Greylock said, ‘Erik, try to get back to the rear and start the men heading back up toward the cavern. We’ll see if we can find another way down that won’t bring us back into this hornets’ nest.’

Erik crouched as he moved along and twice had to flatten himself against the rocks to avoid missiles. The darts were rude things, but cleverly fashioned. Long reeds, little more than heavy grass stalks, were tied together in tight bundles until they were as rigid as arrows, and fitted with tips of sharpened glass or stone. The tied reeds were surprisingly strong, and they rained down with enough impact that they could punch through any unarmored part of the body. Praji had mentioned that the Gilani used a throwing stick, called an atlatl, to propel them in a high arc over their victims’ heads, causing them to fall with great force. Erik would attest to their effectiveness.

He reached the end of the line and started the men moving back up once more. In less than ten minutes, Greylock, Praji, and Vaja came into view, the last of the forward element climbing upward.

Erik looked after and saw no sign of pursuit. ‘They don’t seem anxious to come up here after us,’ he said.

Vaja said, ‘They’re not stupid. They’re little fellows. In an open fight we’d chew them up in less time than it takes to tell of it – but coming after us from tall grass, well, there’s no one who can fight out there better than the Gilani.’

Erik wouldn’t argue that. ‘What has made them so hostile?’

Praji looked back. ‘Usually, they simply don’t like strangers; they could be coming after us for the pure hell of it. Or maybe the Saaur are pushing them south and they’re just mad.’

Erik said, ‘But the Saaur who came after us couldn’t have mounted enough of a force to clear out these grass-dwellers. They’d need an army as big as the one mustering on the Vedra to do that.’

Vaja tapped Erik on the shoulder and pointed up the hill. Calis and de Loungville were hurrying downward to meet them.

When the Captain reached the men, Erik could see by more than one face in the company that many were relieved to see the Eagle of Krondor back among them. He retrieved his longbow from the man who held it for him and said, ‘Why are you climbing back up?’

Greylock quickly explained, and Calis said, ‘We can’t get over the mountains. There’s nothing like a pass up there I could see on the way down, and we can’t risk going back into the cavern to see if there is a way through.’ He thought it best not to tell anyone of what he had seen until he compared notes with Nakor.

Turning to de Loungville, he said, ‘Send Sho Pi and Jadow ahead. Tell them to find us a trail heading south. If we can move along the face of these mountains, then down behind these Gilani so we can then cut across to Maharta, we still may get through this without too much more damage.’

De Loungville nodded and went up the line to give the order to the men who would scout for them. ‘How’s our water?’ asked Calis.

‘We’re fine if we can find a source every day or two,’ answered Greylock. ‘We’ve got eight fewer men who need to drink than we did a couple of hours ago.’

Calis nodded. ‘Praji, what’s water like out there?’