Fire Bringer (58 page)

‘Bankfoot,’ cried Willow desperately as Tain ran over to her. But Tain was gazing towards the trees. The glow was growing stronger and stronger.

‘What is it, Tain? What’s going on?’ panted Haarg as he reached the rowan.

‘I don’t know,’ whispered Tain fearfully.

Now all the deer on the plain fell silent as they watched the furious sparks leap from the trees. The bark was unusually dry from the lack of rain and the strange warmth, and already the flames were catching and jumping from branch to branch.

The Sgorrla that had been lining the forest had fled back to the main body of the Great Herd, and the attacking Sgorrla had reached it too. Among the stags a frightened whispering went up as they watched the glow eat away at the branches. Only in the centre of the trees was there no orange light and now, from the shadows, stepped a single, twelve-pointed stag.

In his mouth he carried a branch. It was glowing too. As the Herla watched, the stag suddenly reared up on his hind legs and cast the branch into the air in a shower of sparks. He bellowed furiously and brought his hoofs crashing to the earth.

Tain came forward from the rowan tree.

‘Rannoch,’ he gasped. ‘Rannoch has come.’

In the heavens there was a grumble of thunder, for on the edges of the horizon storm clouds were beginning to gather.

All their eyes were trained on Rannoch as he stepped forward. The stag, his antlers cutting through the air, walked slowly, surely, his head held high, towards the birch trees where Sgorr was standing with Narl. When he was about four trees away he bellowed and rose on his haunches again.

Sgorr’s heart tightened.

‘Sgorr,’ cried Rannoch, his voice like thunder, ‘I told you I would come. And I am here. I have summoned man’s light to avenge my father and the Outriders.’

Now a furious murmur went up among the Sgorrla, for they had heard his words and some had seen the fawn mark on his head.

‘Herla,’ cried Rannoch again, ‘you did not believe in me, or in Herne, but now you will pay the price. For I am the Marked One that you drove from the herd and now I have come to fulfil the Prophecy.’

Many of the assembled deer looked at each other in wonder. Next to Sgorr, Narl stirred fearfully.

‘It’s true,’ whispered Narl. ’It’s true.’

Sgorr’s eye seared into Narl and then he snorted in disgust and stepped forwards himself. The Sgorrla guards around him were looking nervously at their master, but Sgorr pushed angrily past them.

‘Rannoch,’ he shouted scornfully across the plain, ‘you cannot frighten me with your human trickery or the tricks you used on Herne’s Herd. For the orange light must feed on the trees and can do us no harm here. As I told you, I too know the mind of man.’

Again the stags looked nervously to their master, for the sight of the fire in the forest and the smell of burning wood had terrified them. But Sgorr’s confidence and his knowledge of the orange light seemed to reassure them.

Rannoch stamped the ground.

‘Yes, Sgorr, you know something of the mind of man. But you only know of his violence. So why don’t you tell them, Sgorr, what you did? Why don’t you tell them that you killed a human fawn and ate his heart?’

Some of the deer gasped and looked with horror at their leader. Sgorr felt a thousand questioning eyes on his back.

‘What of it, Rannoch?’ he spat. ‘That is past. Now we are here to face each other.’

‘Very well then, Sgorr,’ cried Rannoch. ‘Then come out to fight me. On your own if you dare. Enough stags have died already this day and I am loath to kill any more.’

Sgorr smiled coldly.

‘How can you harm a thousand stags, Rannoch?’ he cried.

‘No. You had your chance last night and you should have taken it. But now you are on your own and you must pay the price for your belief. You’re a pretty sacrifice, Rannoch. Sgorrla,’ shouted Sgorr suddenly, ‘take him. Take him now.’

But the Sgorrla held their ground. All of them.

‘Obey me,’ cried Sgorr furiously, swinging round. The deer looked back nervously.

‘You needn’t fear him,’ cried Sgorr. ’Look at him. He’s just a stag. Any one of you could take him.’

But still the stags hesitated. It wasn’t just fear that held them now, but the thought of what Sgorr had done.

‘You,’ cried Sgorr to one of the older Sgorrla. ’You will obey me.’

The stag dropped his eyes.

‘Herne is with him,’ he whispered, ‘and you. . . you. . .’

‘Herne is not with him,’ spat Sgorr. ’He’s a Lera, nothing more.’

Sgorr turned to another stag.

‘You. I command you.’

The stag shook his head too. He was looking at Rannoch and in his eyes shone the light of devotion. It was Quaich.

But suddenly another stag stepped forward from the ranks of the Sgorrla. It was the Sgorrla commander who had been inspecting the herd the night before.

‘I’ll face him, Lord Sgorr,’ he said.

A Sgorrla stepped up behind him. Then another and another. They nodded to Sgorr and he smiled coldly.

‘Very good,’ he said. ‘You will be rewarded. Now bring me his antlers.’

Suddenly twenty stags were running towards Rannoch. He rose on his haunches for a third time and boxed the air as he bellowed again, and then he turned and ran towards the mound and the Outriders. As the Sgorrla saw him and thought he was fleeing the forest and the terrible light, their fear began to subside and suddenly others were breaking away to join the chase.

‘He’ll never make it,’ whispered Willow desperately as Rannoch raced towards them.

The Outriders were all transfixed as Rannoch made for their ranks, but as they watched him they could see that the Sgorrla were gaining on him. There were nearly thirty at his back and Tain shuddered as they saw another group of Sgorrla coming from the right.

‘We’ve got to help him,’ cried Willow.

‘What can we do?’ gasped Tain. The Sgorrla were nearly on him.

But Tain suddenly stood stock-still. Around him a shadow was spreading across the grass.

‘What is it, Willow?’ he whispered.

Then they heard it. In the sky. A furious cawing and flapping. The Outriders looked up and gasped. The sky was turning black. Above them hundreds and hundreds of black shapes were moving through the air. The sound was deafening.

‘Ravens,’ cried Willow, ‘they’re ravens. Crak is here.’

‘Then his wrath shall cloak the sun,’ whispered Tain gravely. ‘Willow, it is the Prophecy.’

As the Sgorrla reached Rannoch they suddenly began to bark in fear and dropped their heads. Others rose up and lashed at the air, boxing the sky and the swarming birds. The black cloud was descending on them. The ravens were pecking at their eyes and flapping at their antlers. The chasing deer came to a stop as Rannoch ran on. He had made it to the Outriders.

The Great Herd watched in horror as their comrades fought off the birds. The Sgorrla were lashing at the air, driven to a frenzy by the pecking.

The Outriders dipped their heads as Rannoch reached the rowan tree and looked aghast at the scene of devastation. Bankfoot’s eyes were closed. He lay on the ground next to Peppa. Around them both the ground was covered in blood.

‘Then I’ve come too late,’ cried Rannoch bitterly.

‘Thank Herne you have come at all,’ said Tain.’Rannoch, it’s good to see you again.’

Rannoch looked helplessly at Peppa and Bankfoot. Then he looked around at the Outriders.

‘Where is Thistle?’ he asked. Willow shook her head.

‘I am sorry,’ said Rannoch quietly, ‘but I had to make sure my mother was safe.’

‘Your mother, Rannoch?’ said Willow with surprise.

‘Bracken is here too?’

‘No, Willow, Bracken is dead. And she was not my mother.’

Tain and Willow gasped.

But suddenly Rannoch stepped further forward. He was looking keenly at Bankfoot. The stag twitched, stirred painfully in the grass and opened his eyes.

‘Rannoch,’ he whispered dreamily.’Rannoch, you’re here.’

‘Stay still, Bankfoot,’ said Rannoch, ‘there will be time to heal you. If there is time at all.’

‘But Herne is with us now,’ said Braan. He too was badly wounded.

‘Herne may be with us,’ said Rannoch gravely, ‘but years of wandering have taught me how strange his ways can be. For if Herne is a healer, he is a hunter too, and he may yet demand the ultimate sacrifice.’

The Outriders stirred and above them now another dark shadow passed across the fading sun. The ravens had done their work and now they were returning home – those that would fly again, for many of them had died in the fight.

‘Thank you,’ whispered Rannoch, ‘thank you all. But now we have need of a stronger help than yours. Our only hope is if they come in time.’

‘They?’ said Tain.

Suddenly there was another bellow from the plain and the friends turned. Although they couldn’t hear what he was saying now, they knew that Sgorr was once more addressing the Great Herd.

‘You see,’ cried Sgorr, ‘they are just Lera. Nothing more than pecking birds. But we are stags. Sgorrla. Invincible. Look at him and his Outriders. There can’t be more than sixty left.’

Sgorr was working himself into a frenzy.

‘But we, we are an army. Those marks I put on your heads will protect you and this time I will lead you myself. Although I am old and I have no antlers, I will show you that I am not afraid.’

The Sgorrla watched their lord, and though fear was stirring through their ranks, for years they had been trained to do his bidding and, in the fading light, Sgorr looked strangely magnificent. He turned and began to move towards the mound; Narl followed him. The Great Herd stirred, then they came on, a thousand deer heading towards the Outriders. More Sgorrla were crossing the stream and moving out from the pass too. Their training had won. Now the sky was full of heavy rain clouds, swollen by days of evaporation in the unearthly heat.

On the mound Rannoch lifted his head.

‘No time,’ he whispered sadly, ‘no time,’

Then the stag turned and addressed the Outriders.

‘My friends,’ he called, ‘will you follow me? Will you follow this mark, in the name of Herne?’

The Outriders nodded their antlers and began to bark.

‘Very well then,’ cried Rannoch, ‘let us face our destiny.’ Rannoch turned and with Willow, Tain and Braan at his side, he led the Outriders off the mound to their deaths.

Nearer the Sgorrla came and nearer, but as the friends readied themselves for the terrible impact, Willow suddenly cried out. She could hardly believe her eyes.

‘Look,’ she barked, ‘the pass.’

Through the pass behind them, where the Sgorrla had moved forward, deer were running towards them, fighting as they went, trying to break through to the Outriders.

‘It can’t be,’ shouted Tain.

But they all recognized the deer leading them. It was Birrmagnur. There were other reindeer at his side too, maybe fifteen of them, and behind another hundred or so Herla. Most of the newcomers were red stags but Rannoch’s heart thrilled as he saw roe deer among them, and one deer in particular running ahead of them.

‘Teek,’ cried Rannoch in amazement, ‘it’s Teek. From the edge of the Great Mountain. This day may have more surprises than I’d thought. Come on.’

The Outriders raced forwards towards Birrmagnur and Teek and before any of the Sgorrla had reached them, they had come together, swelling the depleted ranks of the Outriders once more.

‘Birrmagnur,’ cried Rannoch, ‘I’m glad to see you, my friend.’

‘I brought all I could, Rannoch,’ cried the reindeer, ‘when the Lera told me you were coming to face Sgorr. I found my friends below the Great Mountain.’

Rannoch looked at the band of reindeer. They were an impressive sight.

‘There are many others coming,’ said Birrmagnur, ‘but I fear they won’t be here in time.’

The Great Herd was closing in on them from all sides now, charging in fury and bellowing as they came. Although he lifted his nostrils to scent the wind, Rannoch’s heart was heavy.

Closer and closer they drew.

‘Herne,’ whispered Rannoch. ‘Help us now, Herne.’

In the sky the clouds had grown black and suddenly there was a rumble of thunder. Lightning flecked off the heavens and it started to rain. But the Sgorrla were on them. The whole plain became a mass of fighting deer. In the centre of them Rannoch lashed back and forth, rising to box or butting left and right. Tain was at his side and Birrmagnur too. The reindeer’s strength and bulk proved a mighty force against the Sgorrla and the friends held them at bay. But around them the Outriders were already beginning to fall. One after another. It was hopeless. On they fought, bravely, for the honour of the Outriders, but their hearts were fired now only by desperation and as the rain grew heavier it added to their despair. They could see the light of triumph burning in the Sgorrla’s eyes.

‘Goodbye, Rannoch,’ called Willow above the melee, as she caught sight of the stag. Rannoch’s eyes came level with the hind’s and the look in them now was one of defeat.

‘Has this mark brought us to this, Willow?’ said Rannoch.

‘I am sorry for everything.’

‘Don’t, Rannoch,’ cried Willow.’At least we will rest together. For ever.’

But suddenly the fighting Herla heard a sound that froze all their hearts.

It rose amongst them, a terrible howling. The voice of an enemy far more terrifying than any Herla that faced them. Then the real enemy was moving amongst them, snarling and biting, tearing at the Sgorrla’s legs and haunches.

‘They’ve come!’ cried Rannoch gravely, but with triumph in his voice.’They’ve come at last!’

Other animals were moving through the deer, hundreds of them, their shining, silvery fur glistening in the wet. They growled as they came, slavering and biting, but only at the stags whose heads were marked. The Outriders they left alone. They moved like lightning and in their teeth there was terror. The wolves had come at last.

‘He commands the Lera,’ cried a petrified Sgorrla. ‘Herne has come to punish us. To punish Sgorr for what he did.’

‘Sgorr, Lord Sgorr,’ cried Narl in the midst of the fray, but as he turned to his lord, Narl gasped. Sgorr was surrounded. Three wolves were advancing on him, curling back their lips to show their teeth and growling furiously. Sgorr was trying to back away but the old stag had nowhere to run. He too showed his teeth but now he looked tired and helpless.