The Farwalker's Quest Page 13

  “We’ve got to run, then! Back to the abbey!” As she said it, she could see that their pursuers would cut off their path. To circle around the men in the moonlight without being noticed would be nearly impossible. Their own moving shadows would stand out as much as the two she watched with such horror now.

  “We’d have to be able to fly.” Zeke’s voice had gone dull. That scared Ariel even more than the relentless shadows. If Zeke gave up, her will to resist would fade, too.

  Racing the Finders over the mountains was not really a choice. Even if they didn’t plunge over a cliff in the dark, they couldn’t outrun the men. Still, Ariel would rather fall to her death than be ensnared by the Finders again.

  “Ash said they wouldn’t catch us,” she moaned.

  “No, he didn’t.” Wise to the partial truths that Tree-Singers sometimes had to tell, Zeke added, “He said they wouldn’t catch us until. He just wouldn’t say until what. It’s not his fault. If this is the path before us, we have to take it.” Though his voice still sounded flat, it held a resignation that echoed almost like strength.

  “We can fight.” Desperate, Ariel scanned the debris littering the ground. “It’s two against two. We can let them get close and then hit them with rocks.” She scurried to gather an armful of stones.

  Zeke didn’t move. He sat with his hands pressed to his eyes.

  “Zeke!”

  “Shut up!”

  Even in her terror, Ariel felt his rebuff like a slap.

  He added, more gently, “Be quiet a minute.” He got up, keeping his eyes closed, and wandered deeper into their shelter. One hand trailed along the rock that slanted overhead.

  Unable to fathom his actions, she checked on the two shadows’ progress and reached for more weapons. Even if Zeke wouldn’t fight, she would. Maybe the men would decide she wasn’t worth it, or be hurt enough that she and Zeke could escape.

  Zeke’s voice drifted from the darkness behind her. Ariel turned. He wasn’t speaking to her. It was garbled and faint, but she thought he was singing.

  Poor Zeke. Ariel’s fear shifted to make room for sorrow. He’d lost first his maple, then his trade, and now this. His mind seemed to be straining apart like a rotten fishnet, spilling songs in a place without trees. She’d protect him, though, for as long as her arms could fling rocks.

  Shortly the singing fell silent. Zeke hurried to drop to his knees at her side.

  “Listen. I know what you must do,” he said. He took a deep breath. “Let them catch you.”

  “Are you crazy?” Ariel hissed. “We—”

  “Aagh!” he cried, so loud the Finders may have heard. Echoes bounced off the rock. “There isn’t much time! Do you trust me?” He rolled his head, anguished. His eyes flashed. “Do you?”

  “No,” Ariel wanted to say. “You’re acting too strangely.” She had come so far from anything she knew that everything around her seemed warped. Her throat tightened. This was Zeke before her, she reminded herself, Zeke from home, and he’d never done anything on purpose to hurt her.

  “Yes,” she said instead, forcing the word out. “I trust you.”

  “Then let them catch you,” he repeated, snatching his blanket and pack. “If they think you escaped by yourself, and they don’t know about me, we’ll still have a chance. Don’t throw the rocks. Don’t fight at all. If you make them mad, they might hurt you.”

  They would already be mad and they would probably hurt her regardless, Ariel thought, but she kept that fear to herself.

  Zeke squeezed her hand. “I’ll be near, and Misha will be with you.” Darting around the lip of the rock slab and hugging the rock, he vanished.

  Ariel drew her blanket close, curled into a ball, and let loose the tears crowding into her throat. The two men would soon reach the shelter. Misha might be there to see them, but he couldn’t stop them from punishing her. And bad men could do unspeakable things.

  Trembling in the moonlight, she waited for the Finders to come.

  By the time their feet crunched in the gravel before the stone slab, Ariel’s weeping had worn itself out. She lay near the entry, balefully watching their approach. They came directly but not too close together, as if they knew where she was but were ready to stop any flight. Just before they arrived, she buried her head in her arms and pretended to sleep. They may well have heard her crushed sobs, but if not, the less the Finders knew they’d been anticipated, the better.

  The footsteps grew so loud she thought the men must soon tread on her. One pair of boots stomped past toward the back of the nook. All noise stopped. The silence was worse. To keep her eyes shut, Ariel had to clamp her lids so tight she saw shooting stars. She held her breath, awaiting a blow.

  “She got a long way.” Scarl stood over her, from the sound of it.

  “If I had a horsewhip I’d give her a stripe for every mile.” Elbert’s voice echoed from the hollow behind her. “Plus a few more for the horse.”

  “He was my horse, not yours. But I still have his bridle if you’d like to try that.”

  “Don’t tempt me. I might lash you for convincing me to take her in the first place.”

  “I know,” Scarl said. “Listen. Why don’t you go on to Libros straightaway in the morning? I’ll follow with her. Save you the frustration.”

  “We’ll see,” Elbert growled.

  The boot, when it came at last, only nudged Ariel’s ribs. Overprepared for a kick, she jerked. She scrambled to her feet before her eyes fully opened. It wasn’t hard to pretend to be panicked. She leaped for the entrance.

  Scarl caught her arm, pulling her back and trapping her flailing body against his chest. Even once she stopped fighting, his arms remained doubled around her as though she were a sack of unruly potatoes.

  “Princess! Forgive us for disturbing your rest!” Elbert returned from the back of the cave. Seeing his pale head emerge from the shadows terrified Ariel more than anything she’d ever seen of the ghost. His lips pulled back in a sarcastic smile that would have befitted a skull.

  “We missed you. Didn’t you enjoy our company?”

  Resentment boiled into Ariel, almost replacing her fear. “Not half so much as I’d enjoy seeing your grave.” Without thinking, she spat at Elbert.

  Scarl laughed. Elbert’s face buckled in fury. Ariel barely saw his fist coming. A flinch of Scarl’s shoulder tipped her face away, but not far enough. Pain burst over one of her cheekbones. She slipped lower in his grip, the crook of his arm covering her face and nearly smothering her as she flung up her forearm. Knuckles glanced off the bridge of her nose, swept her arm out of the way, and ricocheted back across her eyebrows.

  “Quit,” Scarl growled. “You’re hitting me more than her, and I’m not liking it much.”

  “Drop her, then, and give me a clean shot.”

  Ariel stiffened. Instead of releasing her, Scarl turned and carried her deeper into the niche where the moonlight and the breeze didn’t reach.

  “She’s bleeding all over me as it is.”

  Ariel could feel blood from her nose drip over her lips. Although at least two of Elbert’s blows had glanced off Scarl first, they still left her head buzzing. She sniffed back the blood in her throat.

  “Best not to cry,” Scarl murmured at her ear. Already sobbed dry, she had no intention of starting again. With the hand that was loose, Ariel wiped away blood.

  “Oh, I plan to see a bit more of her blood once the sun rises,” Elbert muttered. “In fact, we may see a grave, too, missy. Not mine, though. No indeed. I have a surprise for the morning.”

  Ariel opened her mouth, trying to think of a cutting reply. Feeling her inhale to speak, Scarl shifted his grip. His quick fingers found her bloody lips in the darkness. His thumb hooked her chin and snapped her mouth closed. He was telling her to be quiet.

  “Yes,” Elbert added. “We can all have a good time in the morning.” He repeated that promise half under his breath, his voice falling flat to the earth.

  Scarl put her down.
Wrapping her in the blanket from his own pack so he didn’t have to leave her unguarded for even an instant, he trussed her like a caterpillar in a cocoon. Once she was bound, he slid her farther back into the tight space and curled himself between her and the fresh air. Even if she had been able to move, she would have had to crawl over him to escape. Her lungs struggled. She wasn’t sure there’d be enough air in the close dark for them both.

  Her thoughts cried out to Zeke. How could he possibly free her again? Maybe he’d hurry back to the abbey for help.

  The sixth or seventh time Elbert promised Ariel a good morning, she felt Scarl stir.

  “Shut up,” he called. “Get some sleep. Or your fine morning won’t come.”

  She heard a rustle of his pack, then the slosh of a water jar. His hand felt for Ariel in the dark, patting as if to reassure himself that she was still there. Then a cold, wet bit of cloth slipped into the hand that could still reach her face. Wishing she would suffocate before sunrise, she pressed it to the parts of her face that hurt most.

  Ariel lay awake even after the men’s breathing took on the slow rhythm of sleep. The dawn still came before she was ready.

  CHAPTER

  20

  “Come on out here,” Elbert called cheerfully. “Out in the light. I want to make sure everyone can see.” From the shelter’s entry, he beckoned.

  His eyes narrowing, Scarl sighed. He lifted Ariel, still ensconced, to her feet.

  “Oh, untie her,” Elbert said. “It’ll be more fun if she can squirm.”

  Scarl took his time stripping off the bridle leather and blanket confining her. She pulled her arms gratefully loose. They’d fallen asleep in the tight constraints. Now they tingled. The feeling matched the apprehension in her belly. Elbert’s voice had recovered its amusement, but Ariel didn’t trust the dull light in his eyes.

  He waited as Scarl escorted Ariel out. When she faltered, Scarl nudged her forward. She considered springing past Elbert down the hill. Falling and hitting her head on a rock might be better than whatever he had in mind.

  She took too long to decide. She’d just shifted her weight to the balls of her feet for a dash when Elbert stepped toward her and grabbed her by the back of her neck.

  “Oh, come along, princess.”

  He hauled her into the early light and then around the edge of the rock slab. Ariel writhed and tried to jerk free from the clamp on her neck. She struggled without much effect until the spreading grin on Elbert’s face told her she was only feeding his pleasure. She made her limbs limp and heavy instead. They matched her heart.

  His grin fading, Elbert paused, looking over the slopes.

  “So where is your little friend, then? The boy. Do you know?”

  Ariel gasped, unable to hide her horror.

  “Sure! That secret is out,” Elbert continued. “Are you surprised that we’re not as dull as you think?” He shook her, his big hand pinching her neck. The motion throbbed in the swollen bridge of her nose.

  “You were seen with him on the horse, at the roadhouse,” Scarl said from behind them. “Ezekiel—am I right?”

  Ariel slumped. Without Elbert’s grasp she would have dropped to her knees. If they knew about Zeke, she was lost. Her remaining hope and defiance drained out. She should have run and broken her neck while she’d had the chance.

  “We’ll flush him out,” said Elbert. “For your sake, he’d better be close.” Thrusting Ariel before him, he found a low edge of the slab that wasn’t too steep. He half pushed, half lifted her onto the stone, then stepped up himself.

  “A good view,” Elbert said. “That’s what he’ll need.”

  Scarl hopped up behind.

  Elbert tugged Ariel to the top of the slab. Beyond the edge lay a ravine carved by the avalanche in which the slab had originally fallen. Certain that Elbert planned to fling her down onto the sharp rubble below, she didn’t resist. It would be over soon. She only hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much. Her hands clasped the glass bead at her throat. Perhaps she would see her mother.

  “That’ll do,” Elbert said, yanking her to a stop not far from the edge. He held her by the neck at right angles to the barrel of his chest. Cringing, she turned her head as far away as she could. She didn’t want to see on Elbert’s face the satisfaction she could hear in his voice. Surveying the meadows and cliffs, she couldn’t help but look for Zeke, perhaps hiding behind a rock or a bush. Yet she would rather he be far away at the abbey by now, safe.

  “Boy!” Elbert’s bellow startled her. “You see this?” Like a dog with a rabbit, he shook Ariel by the neck. “We know you’re out there. Can feel you, in fact. That’s what Finders do. So no point in hiding. Come out.”

  Ariel scanned the mountainside. Other than a falcon in the distance, nothing moved. She wondered if even Misha had been scared away. Then she noticed that both Finders focused on the same clump of thimbleberry bush not far upslope, just beyond the rockfall debris. Unable to spy Zeke in the leaves, she looked away and hoped he’d gotten much farther than that.

  “No?” Elbert called again. “Perhaps this will change your mind.”

  Expecting a push over the edge, Ariel held what she thought was her last breath.

  Instead of shoving, Elbert brushed aside the flap of his coat. His hand returned with the long knife he kept sheathed at his belt. He raised it aloft. It glinted.

  Fear slammed into Ariel like something important she had forgotten.

  “You see this, as well?” Elbert hollered. His hand slashed downward, wrist flicking. A red line appeared against the dingy white of Ariel’s left sleeve. Bemused, she gazed at it. A sting joined the mark along her forearm. Only then did she realize that he’d cut her. Once she knew what he’d done, burning pain slacked her knees. With a yank, Elbert held her upright.

  She felt Scarl approach closer behind them, drawn to her blood like a shark.

  “There’s a bit more blood for us, hey, princess?” Elbert asked. “A bit neater than a fist, I’ll admit.”

  Ariel clapped her right hand atop the crimson line. It welled up through her fingers. Though he didn’t move, Elbert’s next roar sounded fuzzy and distant.

  “Boy! Show yourself now, while you can! Or watch something you might not want to see!” Elbert’s grip shifted from Ariel’s nape. His hand clenched her hair. Her chin cranked up to the sky. First she felt a startled twinge in the back of her neck—then the sharp line of pressure at her throat. Elbert’s cold blade creased her skin just under her jaw.

  Her eyes rolled at the blue sky. “No, Zeke!” she cried, as loud as the angle of her neck would permit. She feared the hoarse cry wouldn’t carry. “Don’t listen!”

  Flick. The tip of the blade jumped to nip at her cheek before tucking back under her chin. Pain seared instantly this time. A tickle of blood coursed the curve of her jaw.

  “Please,” Elbert breathed. “Give me another.”

  “Elbert.” Scarl’s voice, close behind them, sounded hard. His usual hush had vanished.

  “I’m busy,” Elbert snapped. “Wait your turn.”

  “I don’t think I will.”

  A hand cupped Ariel’s jaw from behind. It yanked her upward and back, then down away from the knife, even as Elbert lurched half a step forward. She fell amid a tangle of legs.

  Eyes darting, bewildered, she flattened herself on the stone. Had Zeke silently sneaked up to attack?

  Scarl stepped over her, his left hand planted on Elbert’s shoulder. His right hand wrapped the handle of his own knife. It had somehow become sheathed in Elbert’s back.

  Scarl withdrew it. The blade grated against bone. A splatter of blood hit the rock near Ariel’s feet. Grimacing, Scarl plunged the knife back in and out again. Then his left hand gave Elbert a push. The big man crumpled to his knees on the stone, twitched, and tumbled out of sight over the edge.

  CHAPTER

  21

  “I did not want to do that.” Scarl’s voice had returned to its usual murmur. “But I guess I’ve
known for a while I would have to.”

  Ariel dragged her stunned eyes from the place where Elbert had disappeared. Scarl turned toward her. She skittered back out of reach.

  “I’m sorry,” he told her. “But he meant to kill you in any case. I could hear it in his voice. And he most certainly would have killed your friend.”

  Uncomprehending, her head spun. Feeling glued to the rock, she watched as he wiped the gory knife on the shin of his pants. The swish made her skin crawl. He tucked the blade back into its proper place at his hip.

  “Zeke!” Scarl called. His voice rang across the hillside. “Come out, if you like. You needn’t fear me.”

  His words unstuck her. “Don’t listen!” Ariel cried again.

  Scarl turned and raised one eyebrow at her. He took a step toward her. She scrambled farther away. She wanted to jump to her feet, but her legs couldn’t seem to remember how.

  “Shall I tend to those cuts,” he asked, “or would you rather keep bleeding?”

  “I’d rather be dead, too.”

  One corner of his mouth drew up. He dipped his head. “Suit yourself.”

  To her surprise, he stepped away down the slanted face of the slab, back the way they had come. She watched him jump from the low ledge and disappear around its base toward the nook where they’d slept, which was hidden from view.

  Ariel stole a few breaths. Pain wormed its way through her shock. Wet rivulets ran from her forearm to stain her clothes and the stone. She cupped a hand to her bleeding cheek. The only sounds were chittering birds and a slight hiss of wind. The falcon she’d seen a moment before, still in the sky, circled closer. It seemed to belong to some other world.

  Ariel edged partway down the rock, wondering exactly where Scarl was. A motion caught her eye. Zeke sidled into view not far away, descending from his hiding spot and circling around the slab toward her. When their eyes met, he gestured, asking if she was okay. She turned her palms up, uncertain, and then pointed in the direction where Scarl had disappeared. Zeke nodded. From his position, perhaps he could see the Finder even now.