Winter Be My Shield (12 page)

Sierra backed away leaving room for Rhia and the other women to gather around him. Eloba cradled Garzen's hand between her own. ‘The home-fires are lit to guide you,' she said through her tears. ‘All your kin are coming to g-greet you …'

Isidro waited for Garzen to speak and say the final part of the ritual for the dying. Some long moments passed before he realised Garzen had died.

Eloba threw her head back and wailed. Lakua, her arms around her sister, added her own voice to the keen.

‘No!' Rhia dug her bloody fingers into the hollow of Garzen's jaw, and when she felt no pulse she rose to her knees to pound on his chest, as though she could pummel his heart into beating again.

‘Rhia,' Isidro said, reaching for her arm. She slapped his hand away.

‘Rhia.' Cam dropped down beside her, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her away. ‘Rhia, he's gone. Leave him be.'

Taking hold of one of the warrior's arms, Cam dragged the bloody corpse to the edge of the woods where the dead were arrayed in a rough line. ‘You should have told me.'

‘I told you as soon as I'd worked it out myself.'

‘Rhia swears she killed Garzen.'

‘What do you think?' Isidro said. ‘Maybe she could have stopped the bleeding, but you and I have both seen men die from gut wounds. There are some folk I might wish it on, but I'd rather see a friend die quickly than end his days screaming in pain.'

Cam didn't reply at once. He just looked over the line of dead men with his face blank and impassive.

It was an unnerving sight, even to men who were familiar with the aftermath of a battle. Some of the corpses looked no different than any other men who had fallen beneath swords in a battle, but others seemed to have been flayed and some were blackened and scorched as though a great fire had blazed around them.

Cam looked away from them. ‘It's just …' he began, but then broke off with a shake of his head.

‘What is it?' Isidro said.

‘When we pulled you out of the water, you were dead. Your face was blue, you weren't breathing and your heart had stopped, but Rhia wouldn't give up, and she brought you back. After that … for the first week, you just kept getting sicker. We thought you'd never wake again, and we told ourselves at least he'll die among friends. But Rhia wouldn't give up. She sat up night after night, brewing her potions and making you drink them a spoonful at a time. She brought you back from the dead, Isidro.'

‘She's probably the finest physician we'll ever meet,' Isidro said. ‘But even the best can't save everyone.'

Cam sighed. ‘I know that. I do.' He glanced in the direction Sierra had taken when she left the camp in a trail of sparks. ‘I just don't trust her.'

‘Trust her? By the Black Sun, do you think we'd be free right now without her? We'd either be dead or in chains.'

Cam grimaced, but didn't deny it.

‘She's in the same position we are.'

‘Except that she won't be killed if she's caught.'

‘Kell won't kill her,' Isidro said. ‘He'll give her to Rasten to break her will. He'll torture and warp and poison her until she's just like him. Can you blame her for doing whatever it takes to avoid that?'

Cam didn't reply, but turned to survey the carnage Sierra had left on the snow.

‘I don't think she can control it,' Isidro said. ‘From what she was saying, Kell was wary of her powers — he was careful not to teach her anything she could use against him and he relied on the enchantments to control her.'

‘Is that supposed to be reassuring?' Cam demanded. He stared intently at the scattered trees opposite. ‘Black Sun take her, she's coming back.'

With Brekan wounded and the women still overcome with grief, Sierra had volunteered to check on the intruders' camp where the horses had been tethered, to make sure the survivors hadn't retreated there to regroup, but also, Isidro suspected, to give her a chance to regain control of her power. There couldn't have been many survivors — a bare handful at the most.

‘Cam,' Isidro said. ‘There's an important thing I think you're forgetting here.'

‘What's that?' Cam didn't take his eyes off the young woman heading towards them.

‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'

Cam turned to him with a frown. ‘What are you suggesting?'

‘She's as desperate as we are. When the one who sent these men realises they're not coming back, she'll need us as badly as we need her. And then there's the Akharians to consider. We've no way to face their mages, but someone like her …'

Cam grew tense as Sierra approached, even though she stopped a good few paces away, making an effort not to crowd him. ‘They were
there,' she said. ‘It looks as if they took a few things from the sled and ran.'

‘How many?' Cam said.

‘Four, one of them wounded. It might be a good idea to take one of the horses and fetch what's left of their gear. They only took what they could carry — there might be things we could use.'

Cam nodded stiffly.

‘Look,' Sierra said. ‘I know you don't want me here — and I don't want to endanger your people any more than I already have. There's got to be a tent and a stove among the gear they left and I can cut down a sled to a size I can haul myself. I'll trade my horse for whatever supplies you can spare — the Black Sun knows I have no idea how to look after the beast, anyway.'

‘That would probably be for the best,' Cam agreed.

‘Don't be stupid,' Isidro said. ‘She can't —' He turned to Sierra. ‘You can't head off on your own. You might be fine in the dark, but it'll be days before your eyes have recovered enough to see in daylight. And then there's the matter of the stones. If anyone does recognise them they're likely to send another division out to track us down.'

‘What do you mean,
if
they recognise them?' Sierra said. ‘Why else would they have come here?'

‘There's a good chance someone in the village recognised Cam and
that's
what drew them here,' Isidro said. ‘But sooner or later someone will either identify the stones or wonder where a score of soldiers have disappeared to —'

‘Or the ones who fled will make it back to tell their story,' Cam said.

‘Exactly,' Isidro said. ‘They'll find the bodies — and our trail.' He caught Cam's eye. ‘It's better for everyone if Sierra stays with us.'

Cam turned away, kicking idly at a clump of snow. ‘Well, we can't go on like this,' he said to no one in particular. ‘Isidro, once you were well enough to travel we were planning to get away from this thrice-cursed battlefield and head east to ask the Wolf Clan for shelter. At the moment we've got enough supplies to reach the cache we left at the beginning of winter, but if we divide them up now it'll be a close thing, especially when we don't know how fast you'll be able to travel. What say we travel together until then? If there's no pursuit, we'll have supplies enough to send Sierra on her way. Unless you'd rather try to claim sanctuary from
the Wolf Clan?' He turned to her with one eyebrow raised. ‘You could be of use in this war — if what you say is true and the legions do march this way.'

‘Hah,' Sierra said. ‘I can't see a noble clan jeopardising their position for a demon like me, however many legions and Akharian mages they face.'

‘You may be right about that,' Cam said. ‘I'll have to put it to Rhia and the others. I can tell you now they won't like it, but it's safer than parting ways right now.' He kept watching her with a steady gaze. ‘So
that's
how you know so much of the king's plans and the enemy's movements. Were you at Kell's side the whole time?'

‘Not exactly.' Sierra glanced away, her face neutral and impassive. ‘I was there when they interrogated the captured scouts. The rest I truly did overhear.'

When Cam started back towards the tents, Isidro followed and Sierra started after them, but then she stopped, turning towards the trees. ‘Wait,' she called after them as another bolt of light crackled through her hair. ‘There's someone back there in the trees.'

Cam stopped in his tracks and laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. ‘Where?'

At Sierra's side, Isidro could see nothing, but she led them into the stand of trees where a trail of blood on the snow brought them to a young soldier with one of Eloba's arrows in his belly. He sat with his back against a tree and one hand coiled loosely around the shaft.

Cam nudged him with his toe and the soldier roused with a shudder and a low moan. ‘Well, what do you know?' Cam said, drawing his belt knife. ‘He's still alive.'

‘Wait,' Sierra said, and crouched down beside the soldier. A thin strand of lightning skittered across her shoulders. She lightly touched the boy's cheek but when that elicited no response, she slapped him, and his eyes fluttered open. She looked up at Cam and Isidro. ‘We might be able find out why they came here and how long we have before anyone notices they're gone.'

Isidro felt his stomach lurch. Something must have shown on his face because Cam turned to him with a frown. ‘Isidro —'

He shook his head. ‘It's nothing.'

‘But —'

‘I can handle it, Cam. She's right — it's better to know exactly what we're facing.'

Cam watched him with narrowed eyes for a moment longer and then turned to Sierra. ‘I'll get his arms, you grab his legs. We'll put him in the smaller tent until we're ready to deal with him.'

‘Better get Rhia to have a look at him,' Isidro said. ‘With an arrow in his ribs he might not last long enough to answer any questions.'

Sierra crouched down beside him and held one hand an inch above his chest. ‘I'd say he's got a few hours yet, so long as we leave the arrow in place. Does Eloba use broadheads or bodkin-points?'

‘Broadheads. Hunting arrows. If we remove it, it'll do enough damage to make him bleed out.'

Sierra nodded. ‘Well, we won't have to worry about him escaping. The arrow lodged in his spine. He'll never walk again.'

‘How do you know?' Cam said.

Sierra shrugged but she wouldn't meet his gaze. ‘It's what I do.'

Together she and Cam hauled the moaning soldier into the smaller tent, where Cam found a leather thong and tied the prisoner's hands together behind his back and then tethered them to one of the tent poles. He bound a spare sash over the soldier's eyes for a blindfold, then they left him.

Inside the other tent Rhia was sewing up a long gash across Brekan's ribs. When he'd stumbled back, Isidro hadn't seen the extent of the wounds, but from the grimace of pain on Brekan's face and the way he held himself it was more than just a cut. Lakua was at the stove, stirring something in a pot. Eloba was doing her best to repair the slash in the tent, but her hands were trembling and she had to stop with every stitch to wipe tears from her eyes. She and Garzen had grown very close, fishing and trapping together often enough to make Brekan grow jealous.

When Sierra followed Cam and Isidro into the tent everyone fell silent.

‘How bad is it?' Isidro said to Brekan, breaking the silence.

It was Rhia who answered. ‘His ribs are cracked. It will take a few weeks for him to be fit again.' She craned her head to look him and Cam over. ‘Is anyone else hurt?'

‘No,' said Cam. ‘Bright Sun be thanked.'

That was scant comfort. Brekan was an indifferent fighter but his injury left Cam as their only warrior. Eloba was skilled with a bow but she used no other weapons.

‘We're going to have to leave here, and soon,' Cam said. ‘A few men survived the battle and for all we know they've managed to track down their horses and ride for help. We have time for a few hours' sleep, but we need to be off and moving well before first light.'

‘What about Garzen?' Eloba said. ‘We need to build a pyre … or dig up stones to cover him, at the very least.'

Cam scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘We don't have time for either. The best we can do is build a cairn of branches over him.'

Eloba stared at him open-mouthed. ‘That's
horrible
! How can you even suggest such a thing?'

‘Eloba, this isn't over. The battle we fought tonight is just the beginning — time is against us, and now we have two wounded people to care for —'

‘I don't need to be cared for,' Brekan spat. ‘I'm not an invalid. I'll pull my weight, don't you worry.'

Cam ignored him. ‘The needs of the living outweigh the needs of the dead. Garzen believed that too, we all know it.'

‘Um … may I make a suggestion?' Sierra said. ‘There's a fair store of firewood behind these tents. We don't have time to let a pyre burn out, but we could start one burning. That would be better than leaving him in a cairn any beast could break into.'

Eloba narrowed her eyes. ‘It'll go out if it's not tended. That's not a clean burial. Once the flames die down the foxes and weasels will eat what's left and scatter his bones.'

‘Is there anything you can do?' Isidro said to Sierra. ‘If the fire burns hot enough —'

‘No!' Eloba shouted. ‘Isn't it enough that you want to leave him without a proper burial? You want to desecrate him too? She's a monster! She brought this down upon us!' She turned to Sierra. ‘Child of the Black Sun,' she spat. ‘He would have lived if it weren't for you.'

Brekan cleared his throat. ‘She made me take the stones,' he said. ‘She put a spell on me. I didn't want to do it.'

‘Brekan, shut your cursed mouth,' Cam said without bothering to look at him. ‘I've no time for your horseshit right now. Eloba, it will have
to be a pyre — we don't have time to go digging through the river ice for stones. Will you build it? Of all of us, you were closest to Garzen.'

Eloba blinked. ‘Alright then. But she doesn't touch it,' she said, nodding to Sierra.

‘I'll help you,' Lakua said. ‘And we'll call the rest of you when it's ready to light.'

‘Good,' Cam said. ‘When we move out, we're heading for the cache we left in autumn. Sierra's going to travel with us that far.'

‘I won't have it,' Brekan said. ‘She's not staying in my camp.'

‘When you have your own camp, you can make that decision,' Cam snapped. ‘I say she stays. Issey's right  — we'd be prisoners now if she hadn't been here and now we're down two warriors. Sierra was Lord Kell's apprentice before she escaped, and the men who survived tonight will report back that she was with us. Make no mistake, they will be after us.'

‘But …' Lakua said. ‘Even if she leaves us now, it'll be us they track, because we'll leave a clearer trail.'