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Published by Paul Edmund Norman Every month ~ Volume 3 Issue 2 November 2000 |
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| HERAKLION: PRINCESS By PAUL EDMUND NORMAN I awoke with the dawn, washed myself in the river, and ate some fruit, berries, and nuts. I followed the river, out of the forest, emerging in the foothills of the Amanus mountains. Before me stretched a gentle slope, alive with game, and grazing herds of cattle. Ahead of me, about half a league away, I could see a column of smoke rising from a thicket, near to the river where it curved away from the mountains. I set off at a run, and within a minute I came within sight of them, Arslan, Melisende, Phocas, Yolande, and Jessira. They sat around a camp fire, eating roasted meat. I approached, my hands raised. 'Marcellus!' 'You have lost two of my slaves,' I said, to Phocas. 'I could not help it. They were taken out, by arrows. We left them at the side of the path. There was nothing I could do. I was alone, and unarmed.' 'I caught up with them only this morning,' Arslan said. 'You managed to escape from Amanus, then.' 'Evidently. You have not got very far, Phocas.' 'We preferred to wait until you rejoined us. When we were attacked, in the forest, I moved everyone along the path. Then the second slave was killed. We never saw them.' I looked across at Melisende. She scowled at me. 'Is what he says true?' She nodded, without smiling. 'I was not aware that Telmar was your father,' I said, as we started out. 'You did not ask. He seemed in no meed to be introduced formally to you,' Arslan said. 'Your mother was not in the village?' 'As far as I know, she is dead. She was only a slave.' 'Nevertheless,' I said. It seemed odd to me that a man and a woman should have such a casual attitude towards the woman who was their mother. It is not always the case that men and women of Heraklion know their parents, unless they are of extremely high caste, and then the frequency of such an occurrence is still rare. In the villages of Heraklion, communities are by their very nature far more closely-knit, and the incidence of parents raising their own offspring within the village is more frequent. Neither Arslan nor Melisende seemed to wish to talk about their mother, and I wondered if I had been told the whole story, or if there were something more. 'I imagine the village is now well-prepeared, defensively speaking?' Arslan said. 'It is. Unless the riders of Mekhitar mount an aerial attack on your village, the chances of it being overcome without severe loss to the riders is severely curtailed.' 'An aerial attack?' Arslan said. 'What did you have in mind?' 'On silki-back,' I said. 'Ah,' he said, but I could tell that he was puzzled. 'Do none of your village ride the silki?' 'No. We are just farmers, and hunters. There are few silki hereabouts. I have never heard of warriors riding into battle on them.' I smiled. It struck me, then, that this sub-continent was peculiarly isolated and insular in many respects. 'Do you know a route through the mountains?' 'There are two routes. Both are equally hazardous.' 'You know them both?' 'I have not crossed the mountains myself but I know where both of the routes are, and I know from people that have taken them, what their nature is.' 'Describe them to me.' 'The first is to climb the mountains, and cross via their peak. They are very steep. The upper slopes are particularly slippery, I have been told. There is a path, but I believe it is covered with snow at this time of the year.' 'High summer?' 'In the winter the snow turns to ice. There would, then, be no possible way of crossing by that route.? 'The other route?' 'There is a way through the mountains themselves. You enter by a cave.' 'That sounds easier.' 'It sounds easier, yes.' 'You do not sound eager to enter the cave.' 'I am not.' 'Why?' 'There are many dangers, within the mountains themselves.' 'Dangers that you know of, or dangers that have been described to you by others?' 'My father crossed the mountains once, when he was very young. He described to me the dangers that lurk within them.' 'Worse dangers than the slippery slopes of the upper reaches, were we to climb the mountains?' 'Infinitely worse.' 'The nature of such dangers being?' 'Beasts, savage beings that live in the mountains. Ill-defined paths that branch off in several directions at once, and nothing to indicate which is the right path to get you through the mountain.' 'Your recommendation, then, Arslan?' 'You are leading this expedition. It is for you to decide.' 'Very well,' I said, 'we will go through the mountain. We will enter by the cave you spoke of.' 'I was afraid you would make that choice.' 'You would prefer, then, to climb the mountains?' 'I would not. Of the two choices, I prefer neither.' 'Your father was successful. He yet lives.' 'I am not my father.' 'We are well-armed. What manner of beasts can exist in the mountains which we cannot deal with?' 'I wonder that myself.' 'You are not obliged to travel with us. Nor is your sister. You could, even now, return ot your village.' 'I have a mission to fulfill in Heraklion. I mean to avenge somebody.' 'Should we take your sister back to the village first?' 'She would not go. She wishes to accompany me.' 'As long as she is aware of the dangers.' 'She is aware.' We continued for a while in silence. The nearer we got to the mountains, the more subdued Arslan became. Around noon we began to ascend quite sharply, firstly through a field which had been partially cultivated, for there was some evidence of a primitive crop, then through uncultivated, wild terrain. Here the trees thinned out dramatically, and those that there were rose only to a height of about seven feet. I paused to glance behind us, the way we had come. In the distance we could see the village of Amanus. From here there was nothing to suggest that it was now moated and defended against future attacks. I smiled to myself, pleased with what I had helped to achieve there. The grass beneath our feet was tough, dried, and coarse in spite of the recent rains, and between the blades there was shingle, rather than earth. Those of us who went barefoot, which included the two girls, now found the going tougher and somewhat painful. We rested in the shade of the largest tree we could find, then continued upwards. Abruptly, Arslan, who was now leading the way, stopped and pointed upwards. 'There is the cave!' I looked up, following the direction of his arm. I saw it. We would be there within a quarter of an hour. Whilst the others rested before we attempted the final ascent to the mouth of the cave, I searched for some dried material, grass and twigs, which I then compressed into tight bundles and tied to longer sticks so that we should, for a time, at least, have some illumination whilst we were inside the mountains. I wished I had access to some oil, so that the torches might burn a little longer, but there was none to be had. At approximately the second hour after midday, we reached the rocky plateau in which the cave was situated. It was a narrow fissure, just wide enough for us to squeeze through. I brought up the rear. Looking back across the plain we had just traversed, I thought I saw something move, behind one of the trees we had recently come past. I paused, standing still, pretending to look in a different direction, but I could see nothing. Whatever it had been, it had evidently seen me, and had frozen into immobility behind the tree. I entered the cave. Inside, once we had lit our torches, the cavern was little more than a narrow tunnel, along which we were able to proceed stooped. I led the way, my sword ready, with Arslan now bringing up the rear. After perhaps a half hour we emerged into a larger cavern. Before us, there lay two tunnels, both larger than the one we had just come through, and through either of which we would be able to proceed upright. To our left there lay a heap of bones, probably human. 'Which way, do you suppose?' I asked Arslan. 'I have not the faintest idea.' 'In that case we will follow our instincts. We will take the left tunnel.' He left the group, and was stooping to examine somthing, on the floor of the cavern. Straightening up, he returned. 'Droppings,' he said. 'Large droppings.' 'An argot?' 'Larger.' 'A veever?' 'Larger still.' 'Do you have a suggestion to make as to the owner of these droppings?' 'I do,' Phocas said. 'I do not know these caves, but I have been told about them.' 'By Thementocles?' I asked. 'Amongst others,' Phocas said, nodding slowly. 'Well?' 'They are bats' droppings.' 'Bats' ?'They are the droppings of the Zhengid bat.' 'I have never heard of such a creature,' Arslan said. 'That is not surprising,' Phocas said. 'They inhabit these caves. They fly only at night, and seldom far from the mountains. I doubt they would fly as far east as Amanus.' 'The droppings are too big for a bat.' 'The Zhengid bat is a large creature.' 'Even so,' Arslan said. 'I do not believe there could be a bat this large.' 'I will tell you about the Zhengid bat, if you wish it,' Phocas said. 'Tell us,' I said. 'It is a distant relative of the silth. It has six legs, or rather, paws. It has sabre-teeth. Its body is four feet in length, and its wingspan is fifteen to twenty feet. It has been known to carry off small animals, from a herd, and even human beings. It lives off the blood of its prey, and is extremely ferocious. It lives in colonies of several hundreds. Some of the larger Zhengid bats have even been large enough to carry a man.' 'The size of a small silki,' I mused. 'A larger wingspan than the largest silki, in my estimation,' Phocas said. 'There is no sign of them, in here,' Arslan said. 'Surely they could not fly through those tunnels?' Phocas smiled. 'I think you will find that this cavern is their resting place,' he said. 'It is not night,' Arslan said. 'Where are they now?' 'Shine your torch at the roof of the cavern,' Phocas said. Arslan pointed his torch overhead. 'I cannot see the roof,' He said. 'What can you see?' Phocas asked. 'Just black,' Arslan answered. 'Those are the bats,' Phocas said. 'Hundreds, possibly thousands of them.' 'Above us?' I said. 'Now?' Phocas nodded. 'They will not attack in the daylight hours. Or so I have been led to believe.' As he spoke we heard a soft swishing noise. I trained my torch on the ground where Arslan had found the droppings. Beside it was a fresh heap, still steaming. 'We had best get into that tunnel,' I said, leading the way. 'They will be able to follow us,' Phocas said. 'That is reassuring. What makes you so sure?' 'They are mammals, they have legs, and paws. They fold their wings tight and walk like silthen. Where we can go, they can go.' 'You think they will follow us?' Arslan asked. 'I am sure of it,' Phocas said. 'Why risk the dangers of the open countryside when there are ready meals to be had within their own cave system?' 'We had better get on,' I said. 'Follow me.' We set off along the tunnel, Arslan again bringing up the rear. Yolande was immediately behind me, Melisende behind her, then Phocas, followed by Jessira. 'Marcellus,' I heard Yolande whisper. 'What is it?' 'How wide are the mountains?' 'Be silent, slave!' Melisende hissed. In the comparative darkness, I smiled. 'I do not know, I have never been here before.' 'It is so dark,' Yolande said. I could almost hear her shivering. 'Be silent!' Melisende said again, furiously. She had no time for female slaves, it was evident. ?Stop whining and concentrate on your duties, girl!' Melisende said. 'I am sorry,' Yolande said. Something on the ground, ahead of me, caught my eye in the faint illumination of the torch. Most of the material had burned away, what was left amounted really to nothing more than a pile of glowing ashes. Behind me, Arslan's torch was also on the point of going out. Yet, ahead, there was a strange red glow. I stooped to examine the object that had caught my eye. It was an earring. I picked it up and held it near the torch. 'What have you found?' Melisende asked, pushing past Yolande. 'It is an earring,' I said. She turned away, disgusted. 'Shameful!' 'Marcellus?' Yolande said. 'It is an earring.' 'Hers?' In the low light, I nodded. 'Yes.' 'Whose?' Melisende demanded. 'It belongs to - another of my slaves. The one I seek. The one I am following.' 'The one who is with Vitellius?' 'Yes,' I said. She made a face. 'She is just a slave,' she sneered. 'Nevertheless, she is my slave, and I intend to have her back.' 'Why would someone bother with a slave?' Melisende asked, mystified. Arslan smiled. 'She does not understand the ways of men,' he said. 'That much is obvious.' 'Just a slave!' 'Nevertheless she is my slave. She was stolen from me, and I intend to have her back.' 'That is why you are going to Mekhitar, then?' Melisende said. 'It is.' Abruptly, I started walking again. Very soon I reached the end of the tunnel, it opening out into an enormous chamber, lit by a strong red glow from the farther side. There was, I suspected, a gorge, dropping away into the bowels of the planet. We could barely see the opposite walls of the chamber, although Arslan thought he could just make out a number of tunnels, gained by crossing rock bridges. 'Which route?' I wondered aloud. Arslan shook his head. 'Directly ahead of us?' he suggested. Cautiously we approached the edge of the gorge, for such it was. Peering over, we could see the unmistakable red glow of fire, and the smell of sulphur. 'We will cross here,' I said, pointing to the widest of the bridges. From our side to the opposite was a distance of ten feet. I started out across the bridge. Abruptly there was a loud roaring noise and a hissing and a jet of flame shot into the air, almost enveloping me. I almost lost my footing, but regained it, scrambling across to the opposite side. 'What is happening?' Arslan asked. 'I do not know,' I said. ?It sounded like thunder. And the cavern appears to be on fire.? 'It is simple,' Phocas said. 'The interior of the planet is still hot. These are simply fires and gases that are still burning, making their way to the surface. Heat rises.' 'Cross now,' I told them, peering down into the fiery depths. One by one they crossed in safety. We were now presented with the opportunity of entering a further three tunnels. The central one seemed to lead in the direction in which we had been travelling, the two either side went off at tangents which we discovered after a brief excursion into each. We entered the middle tunnel, Arslan now leading, and myself bringing up the rear. As I stepped into it behind Yolande, the area behind me seemed to darken and became suddenly filled with a hideous and blood-curdling shrieking noise. 'The bats!' Phocas cried, his white face tunred to mine. I stared back into the enormous chamber. It was indeed filled with an infintesimal number of winged creatures. I pushed Yolande forward and drew my sword. 'Run!' I told her, and heard her obey, following the others, her bare feet slapping on the smooth floor of the tunnel. I retraced my steps to the face of the tunnel, and emerged into the chamber. There were thousands of them. They swooped and dived, their huge wings flapping like dried leather hides rapped against a rock face, their hideous, silth-like faces emitting the ear-splitting, shrill shrieks, their beady red eyes fixed on one thing, me. 'You were told to run,' I had said. 'You did not say in which direction,' she had replied. 'I watched you follow them, the others,' I had said. 'I thought you were behind me,' had said Yolande. 'You should not have returned,' I had said. We stood on a plateau overlooking the short plain and the dense forest beyond which lay the twin towers of the city of Mekhitar, their spires disappearing into the clouds. Arslan and Jessira were at the stream, collecting water as it coursed, changing into a waterfall which plummeted one hundred feet into the river below. Phocas sat, white-faced, out of breath, against the bole of an enormous shrub. Melisende, amazingly unclothed for a free woman, wearing only the brief tunic and skirt, paced about the cliff top, alternately glaring at me and her brother, and scowling with ill-concealed hatred at the two slave girls who attended us. I had brought down perhaps three or maybe four of the loathsome creatures, standing blocking the entrance to the tunnel, when a fifth had whirled at me unexpectedly, unseen, from the right as I hacked upwards at another, disembowelling it with one stroke of my sword. Its incisors pierced my cheek, cutting right through to the interior of my mouth. I howled with rage and pain, dropping the sword momentarily. I beat it off with my fists, stooped to retrieve my blade and renewed my attack, realising with thankfulness that there was apparently no blood flowing from the wound. Later I would discover that the puncture was tiny, barely visible, and soon healed. But at the time, and for several hours afterwards also, it hurt. A lot. There were now four bodies around me, and I was sure that a fifth had been despatched into the roaring inferno in the gorge. As I raised my sword again another fierce jet of flaming coals and ashed surged upwards from the gorge, dispersing the flock and taking at least another two with it. But there were still thousand upon thousand of them, swirling at me, blacking out the red glow, beating their wings, rendering the very air foul with their noisome, stenching breath. I began to swing the sword about my head as they swooped down again, but their number was so great that they now began to cluster about me as I felled them, so that as one died another two took its place, fastening their teeth in my arms and my legs, wherever they could until I dislodged them with my feet, my fists, my sword. I began to tire. I was sure that my head, my arms and my legs were bleeding profusely, yet the only pain I could really feel was from the wound in my cheek. My vision clouded, and I assumed there was blood pouring down my forehead and into my eyes. Then my legs became leaden, and I could hardly raise my sword. Abruptly I lost consciousness. I opened my eyes to see before me the naked form of Yolande, wielding my sword, fearless and fiercely. She swung it like a woman possessed, scattering the massive bodies, slicing in half, dismembering, beheading as and when they came close enough for the blade to be effective. I staggered to my feet and pulled her into the tunnel, taking the sword from her. Clasping her briefly in my arms, I planted a kiss on her upturned, anxious lips, and raised the blade again. Again there was the deafening noise of the flames and the steam and the hot coals as an enormous jet of sulphur rose angrily from the gorge. The bats, beaten back by the sheer intensity of the heat, dispersed for a brief moment to the opposite side of the cavern. It was long enough. I threw the blade to Yolande and stooped to pick up one of the bodies. One by one I piled them up inside the entrance to the tunnel, until I was sure it was sufficiently blocked for them to abandon their attempt at following us. Weary and bloodstained, we staggered through the tunnel, clasped in each other's arms, laughing and crying together, at last stumbling out into the daylight. 'You were told to run,' I had said. 'You did not say in which direction,' she had said. Then, to the disgust of Melisende, and to the amazement of Arslan, and Jessira, and Phocas, I had taken her in my arms and kissed her as a man might kiss a preferred slave, a love slave. 'You saved my life,' I told her, releasing her. She smiled prettily, shyly colouring. 'I am sorry if I misunderstood your command, Marcellus,' she said, leaving her hand in mine. 'On the other hand, I did not say in which direction you were to run, it is true.' 'I saw you fall.....' 'On the other hand, I thought it was quite clear that the command I gave was for you to follow the others.' '.....and I could not help myself.' 'You could have been killed, or maimed.'? 'Would you have cared if I had been?' 'Of course. I would have nothing to trade with Vitellius!' Again she blushed. Melisende, who had been watching and listening to our exchange of conversation, strode up angrily. 'She should be punished,' she said. 'She will not be punished.' 'Hah! What does that mean!' 'It means that she disobeyed a command, but she will not be disciplined for it. I will think of some fitting reprimand for her. It has nothing to do with you.' 'She is an ignorant, disobedient slave!' 'She came back for me.' I walked away, into the shrub. Yolande waited for a moment, then began to follow. After a moment, Melisende, too, followed, her arms folded, still scowling. When we were a fair distance away from the others, I stopped. 'What are you going to do to her?' Melisende demanded. 'She is my property. She is mine to do with as I please.' 'She is just a slave.' 'I am aware of that.' 'I want to see you discipline her.' I threw back my head and laughed. 'No, you do not.' 'I am a free woman. I demand that you punish her.'? 'For saving my life?' 'That is not the point. She disobeyed your command.' 'That is true.' 'She must be punished!' 'For saving my life?' 'For disobeying an order!' I regarded her coolly. Yolande remained at a discrete distance. 'You do not want to see a slave disciplined.' 'If you do not discipline her then I will.'' 'And the nature of your disciplining of my slave?' 'Is none of your business.' 'It is also none of your business how I discipline my slave.' 'Are you going to discipline her or not?' 'Your father spoke to me of you before I left Amanus.' 'Are you going to discipline her or not?'? 'Yes.' 'Good. I will watch.' 'You think it will give you pleasure?' 'Yes.' 'You are wrong.' 'I will watch.' 'I give you one more chance to go away.' 'I will stay,' Melisende said, sitting down. She crossed her legs and once again folded her arms. She was very beautiful. I unhooked my whip and shook the coils out on the ground. Melisende smiled. I flicked the whip as casually as I could, it snaking about Yolande's waist, and drew it tight. I pulled on the whip, drawing her to me. When she was just a foot from me, I released her from the whip. 'You disobeyed my command,' I said, quietly. She had not raised her head, even when being drawn across the ground toward me by the whip. 'Lay on your back,' I told her. Melisende frowned. Casting her a casual glance I stretched myself out full length between Yolande's welcoming thighs. She arched her back, lifting her body to meet mine. Melisende scrambled angrily to her feet. 'You are supposed to be punishing her!' she cried. I looked up at her. 'Do you suppose she enjoys this?' I asked. 'Oh!' Melisende cried, and walked angrily away. I looked down at Yolande's face and winked at her, then began to kiss her. She smiled prettily. Abruptly the earth trembled and shook beneath us. I rolled off to one side and stood up, pulling Yolande to her feet. Before us the plateau opened in two and an enormous fissure appeared where we had been laying but a moment ago. Trees became uprooted and tumbled across our path. A noise like overhead thunder deafened us and the sky went suddenly dark as the mountain above us erupted. Yolande and I were thrown violently to the ground as it broke up around us, and Melisende was knocked over, rolling over and over until she came to rest, entangled with the two of us. 'What is it?' Yolande screamed. 'I do not know,'? I said. 'We must get off the mountain quickly!' Again we regained our footing. I ran to the edge of the clearing to look for the others but the plateau had effectively been sliced in two by the opening up of the mountain. Looking up I could see a river of burning coal cascading down the side of the mountain. Although we were not directly in its path it was widening all the time. Trees and shrubs caught fire instantly as the river of heat enveloped them. I took the two girls' hands in mine and started to run towards the edge of the plateau. At its furthest edge we peered over a precipice which was sheer, and at a terrifying angle. Nevertheless, it was our only means of descent. Beneath us, possibly a hundred feet or more, there were gorse bushes and a carpet of greenery. It was our only chance. I seized them both firmly by the wrist and leaped out into the gorge, dragging them with me. For a time we slid on our backs, crashing through roots and small shrubs, lichen and so forth, occasionally dislodging them and starting small landslides of pebbles and rock as it broke free of the rock face. Then my foot caught on a root and I plunged headlong forward, the two girls wrenched from my grasp. I shut my eyes and tried to roll. After what seemed an eternity I was brought to a sudden halt by the carpet of gorse and shrubs that heralded the beginning of the woodland that led to Mekhitar. Dazed and shocked, I looked around for the girls. They were safe enough, although bruised and cut in a dozen places. I glanced up to reassure myself that the river of hot coals was not descending after us, then pulled the girls rudely to their feet and marched them away from the foot of the cliff to the small stream we had seen earlier. 'What about Arslan, and Phocas,' Melisende asked anxiously. She made no mention of Jessira. 'There was no sign of them.' 'Where do you think they are?' 'I have no way of knowing.' 'We must find them.' 'If they are alive, we will find them. In the meantime, it is getting dark. We must make camp here, by the river. In the morning we will look for them.' 'I will look for them myself,'? she said defiantly. I caught her wrists. 'You will not leave my camp until I say so.' 'You cannot detain me. I am a free woman.' 'You are my captive.' Stunned into silence, she glowered at me. I made her sit with her back to a tree. 'Will it be necessary to bind your wrists?' I demanded. She glared at me, making no answer. 'You understand what I am saying?' I asked her. Still she did not answer. I had declared her to be my captive. It effectively gave me certain rights over her, such as making her behave, to all intents and purposes, as a slave. She evidently did not relish the idea over much. 'If I have to I will tie you to the tree. You will not be able to escape.' 'Then you had better do so,' she said, spitting the words at me. 'As long as I am untied, I will come and go as I please.' 'As you wish,' I said. Swiftly I secured her to the tree. Yolande watched, again from a safe distance, frightened, uncertain of what was going on. Once she had been a free woman, but I hazarded a guess that she had never been treated thus. Satisfied that Melisende would not be able to escape, I made Yolande prepare a fire and caught some fish in the stream to cook for our meal. Abruptly, Melisende called to me. I turned to see her pointing excitedly along the direction of the river, and beyond her, seven riders, on deichen, were splashing towards us through the water. 'The riders of Mekhitar!' I muttered to myself, and drew my sword, advancing to meet them. 'Into the bushes,' I ordered them, untying Melisende. 'Do not let them catch you, either of you.' The riders had seen me. Their mounts, with long, powerful back legs and shorter front legs, pushed their heads almost into the water. Their large nostrils often became submerged in the fast-running waters, but they came on, unerringly, guided by their riders, large, fierce-looking brutes, with low foreheads, thick, curly hair about their faces, and long, powerful arms. There was no chance of escape for me. I stood squarely in the water and waited for the first rider to reach me, then, as he thrust at me with his lance, I jabbed upwards, piercing his leather tunic and toppling him from the deichus. It, confused without its rider, reared up in the water, lashing at me with its sickle-armoured claws. Again I dodged out of the way, and the second and third riders reached me simultaneously. I grinned at them, not from happiness, but from a grim determination that they would not take me alive. I swung the sword, this time catching the first rider's mount in the hindquarters. The blade sank an inch or so into the thick, purply-grey hide. The beast squealed, and it, too, reared up out of the water, throwing its rider full into the path of the third deichus. There was an audible crack as the lizard-beast trod unceremoniously on his head. 'Come, then!' I cried to the third rider. 'Your turn!' He, grim-faced and angry, reined in his mount and pulled back away from me a few feet. He sat there, staring down at me, waiting for me to make the next move. Behind me, the first deichus stamped around in the water, waiting for someone to take charge of it, to tell it what to do. 'Are you afraid, then?' I demanded. Still he sat there, unmoving. It was then that I realised that the other four riders were not following him, but had disappeared, striking off into the undergrowth at the side of the river, where the two girls had run for cover. A cold, sudden panic filled me. Either the other four riders were going after the girls, or they were circling around behind me, and would shortly attack from four different directions. Whatever their plan, I stood little chance of remaining free and retaining my companions. I looked swiftly to the right, but could see nothing. There was no movement, or sound, from the bushes in that direction, where I had urged the girls to seek safety. Neither was there any noise or movement coming from behind me. Yet the third rider, the last one of the three that had come after me initially, still sat staring at me, unwilling or unable to take the initiative in this brief battle. Beside me, in the water, the first rider struggled to a sitting position, holding his hand to his side where my sword had penetrated him. Blood flowed freely between his fingers and down over his hands, into the water, staining it crimson where he sat. A few feet away from him lay the body of his companion, face down in the water, his head and back squashed and broken. The first deichus had wandered off downstream, the second, its hide bleeding slowly, pawed the water and looked at me with large, unfeeling eyes, recognizing me as a stranger. I raised my sword and began to move towards him, but then they wheeled and turned, and after a brief moment, they vanished. I stared, open-mouthed, then frowned, and walked hesitantly forward to where the deichus had stood. I struck out for the bank, climbed out of the river onto the lush, green grass, and started to search for signs of a struggle where the girls might have been taken, moving all the while in the direction of the twin towers of Mekhitar. My pride was wounded, I had lost track of all of my companions, and I was tired and hungry, and angry. I determined to make Mekhitar by nightfall. To be continued..... |
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