Chapter Sixteen: One Step Ahead
Tranith Argan: Book 3
The four travelers are barely able to stay ahead of their relentless pursuers.
They grabbed their supplies and started marching, but in a slightly different direction than the one they had been traveling. Alessa had them very carefully step back the way they came a few hundred feet, and then even more carefully step lightly in a new direction that was more easterly.
“Maybe we can throw them off long enough to give us more time,” she said. “If we make more for the river Arenton instead of directly toward Mount Majestic, it should not make much of a difference to us, and if we are still followed we can lose them in water more readily than over land.”
After a few hundred feet of very careful stepping, they began to march quickly in their new direction. As he did before, Felanar looked behind him now and then to see if he could perceive their followers. He never could, but his imagination turned every speck on the horizon into something dreaded.
As the afternoon wore on, and Alessa kept updating them on their situation by announcing the pursuers were ever closer, they talked about what they could do next.
“We should have another three days to Mount Majestic,” began Felanar, “but by heading east we could perhaps reach the river a day earlier. If we march night and day, we could be at the river by twilight tomorrow. Can we cross the river?”
“Probably not,” said Alessa. “The Arenton is wide and swift this far south. I would not recommend it.”
“All right,” said Felanar, “we can do what you suggested and work our way down the river to the mountain and thereby erase our tracks. Are they still following our previous route, Alessa?”
The elf turned back and stared intently.
“Yes,” she said, “they have not yet turned east toward us.”
“Then we might buy some time,” said Felanar. “I think we can make it if we march through the night while they are forced to wait for light.”
“Who are these pursuers?” asked Kara.
“I have been considering this question,” said Alessa, “and I think it must be the Hírikk Jakkír.”
“Who are they?” asked Dolen.
“They are the elite troops of the autarch,” said Felanar. “Kara and I have encountered them before.” Felanar reminded the dwarf of his kidnapping by dragon and the rescue efforts of Kara to get him back. “They were Hírikk Jakkír who were taking me back to the Tri-Cities. I got to observe them closely and found them to be efficient, clever, and strong. Even though the elves with Kara defeated them, they fought well. They were considerable opponents.”
“There is no shame in losing a battle to elves,” said Alessa matter-of-factly, “but the autarch's elite troops have a great reputation among men. His entire society is militarized, and the Hírikk Jakkír are the ones who rise to the top, his hand-picked chief men. They must be who is following us, though their ability to track us is more than I expected.”
“That is a fighting skill,” said Kara. “Bren taught it to me when I was a child. He said every good warrior needed to be able to track her enemy and I studied his techniques well. Then I learned even more from elves.”
“They must have their master trackers as well,” said Alessa as the twilight enveloped them.
“We'll see if their master tracker can follow us over water,” said Felanar. “A night and a day should get us to the river's edge, and from there we should be safe.”
“What are our pursuers doing now?” asked Kara.
Alessa looked again, concentrated in the diminishing light, and then said, “They continue the way we were originally traveling, and by now they should have reached the spot where we back-tracked our steps. Let us pause for a moment so I can see what they do next before the light gives way completely.”
The four of them stopped to rest with all but Alessa sitting down. The elf continued to stare intently for quite a while and saying nothing.
“They have stopped,” she finally said in a quiet voice that did not hide her concern.
“Stopped for the night?” asked Felanar.
“Alas, no,” sighed Alessa. “They must have reached the end of our tracks and stopped, but now they are traveling back the other way. A torch has been lit! I think you can see that light, can you not?”
The others could just make out the tiny dot of light in the increasing gloom.
Alessa's shoulder's slumped. “They are following our new tracks.”
“They can see them even though we tried to leave behind no marks?” asked Felanar. “In this light? How can they do that?”
“They indeed are master trackers,” said Alessa.
“Are they going to travel all night?” asked Kara in dismay.
“They cannot,” said Alessa, “for they would run the risk of losing our trail. That is our only hope. It will soon be too dark even for a master tracker. Come, we must be off quickly if we are not to be caught in the daylight tomorrow.”
“Let's adjust our direction again,” said Felanar. “A little more southeast. I think the river curves west at the end, and it will help us reach the water sooner if we make for the westernmost banks.”
The four grabbed their packs and began to march in their new direction. Behind them a small dot of fire moved ever closer.
They traveled through the night and into the next day, and evidently made enough progress at night that Alessa could no longer see them. Despite this they pressed onward hoping to reach the river as soon as possible. As evening approached they noticed the ground became more fertile and brush increased. Soon trees appeared and they knew they must be drawing closer to the river. Baked earth gave way to brush and then to grassland.
By nightfall they heard the rushing sound of the Arenton and knew they had made it. Alessa's final check before darkness found that their pursuers were once again in visual range. They did not stop at the river's edge but, at Alessa's instruction, waded into the shallow parts along the bank and headed south. Their travel was slower this way as they had to follow the undulating of the Arenton as they made their way along its path, and they had to step more carefully around and over rocks and other obstacles. But their slower progress was made up by the fact that their trackers would have little to go on once they reached the river.
“They will see we reached the river and then nothing,” said Alessa as she gave a hand to Kara who was stepping along a series of slippery rocks in the moonlight. “They will think we tried to ford the river and got swept downstream.” Since they were walking upstream, this belief would suit them.
“Even if they think we walked along the river's edge,” responded Felanar, “they would have no reason to expect us to head south. They would assume we would take the northerly route toward Elaria.”
“And as long as we don't make any tracks on earth,” said Alessa, “we should disappear into the air, as it were. Just like an elf.” She laughed.
Through the night, the second night in a row without sleep, they worked their way carefully along the river's edge. Occasionally one would slip and fall into the water, but it was still warm this far south and it proved no more than an inconvenience and source of teasing from Alessa as well as Dolen, who was taking great pride in the fact that he was matching the elf step for step without once slipping, though in his case he took a bit more care to match Alessa's grace. Then at one point Alessa tried to make a particularly difficult step, misjudged it, and plopped into the river. Bouncing right back up and sputtering water from her mouth, she looked around her in chagrin, and Dolen began laughing so hard at the sight that he too lost his footing and fell. Alessa laughed through her wet hair and gave a hand to the dwarf, who looked sheepishly at the elf, and she smiled.
By daybreak, and with most of them near exhaustion, they turned a bend in the river and saw in the distance Mount Majestic. They went back onto land, dried themselves off, lay down exhausted in the sunshine, and felt it safe enough to rest. They found a shelter of some trees after they were completely dry and they set up camp. Within a few minutes all of them, Alessa included, were in a deep sleep.
When Alessa awoke, disturbed in her sleep by a dream, she noted with alarm that it was mid-afternoon. They all, even she, had slept the day away. Bounding to her feet, she looked for the nearest high ground from which to search for their trackers. Climbing a small hill she looked intently and long toward the north. What she finally saw gave her chills.
“Awake!” she cried, rushing back into the campsite. “Awake now!”
The other three sat up groggily and looked at the elf with questioning glances.
“They have found our trail!” she continued. “I see them, and they are not far off!”
“What?” said Felanar as he jumped up. “All of them? How can they track us over water as well as land?”
“I do not know,” said Alessa, “but whether lucky guess or skilled tracking, they are only a few hours behind us and riding hard. We have slept the day away and given them time to catch us.”
They grabbed their packs and tried to erase any sign of their camp. They began marching quickly over ground toward Mount Majestic, reasoning that if they could be tracked through water they might as well take the fastest course.
“Where can we safely cross the river?” asked Kara as she walked quickly.
“I think nowhere this close to the mountain,” said Alessa. “It only gets worse as we travel south.”
“Then what is our plan, to go around the mountain?”
“Yes,” said Alessa, “we need to get to the Elven Plain where we can find a band of knights along the border. With them we will be safe.”
“Are there many knights along the southern reaches of the Plain?” asked Felanar.
“Alas, I think not as many as further north,” sighed Alessa. “From what I have heard from my brother, they depend on swiftness of travel to cover this territory, not numbers of guards.”
“So we might not find a band of knights right away?” asked Kara.
“I cannot say,” said Alessa, “but that is our only hope. We must get to the mountain and go around its base and then we hope to find rescue.”
“May I suggest another way?” asked Dolen.
“What?” prompted Felanar.
“Let us not go around the mountain, but through it,” said the dwarf.
The others said nothing at first as they tried to figure out what Dolen had in mind, but then Alessa's eyes opened wider.
“Your people used to mine Majestic!” she cried.
“Aye, we did,” said the dwarf. “It is many generations and much time since we lived in this land, but our stories tell of the mountain in the wilderness of the west. We had our mines here long ago.”
“How does that help us?” asked Kara. “Are you suggesting we can tunnel through Majestic using the old mine shafts?”
“Aye,” said Dolen.
“Are you sure they are still there and passable?” asked Kara.
“I see no reason why not,” said the dwarf. “Alessa, have your people heard of anyone inhabiting the mountain in recent ages?”
“No,” said the elf. “It is a mountain used by no one.”
“No saarks?” asked Felanar.
“None that have reached our ears, and our knights would have heard of it,” said Alessa firmly.
“Then the shafts should still be in place, if a bit old,” said Dolen.
“Can you find your way?” asked Kara.
Dolen looked at her with scorn. “I am a dwarf! Of course I can find my way.”
“Well then, let us see if our pursuers can follow us through a mountain in the dark,” laughed Felanar.
“Indeed,” said Kara, “it us under Majestic we go.”