The Evermen Saga 01 - Enchantress (33 page)

Ella couldn’t see how Layla kept to the trail — how she knew they were still tracking Killian. Occasionally Layla touched her fingers to a patch of dirt, or examined some moss on a tree. It made no sense to Ella.

The riverbed led them to a cleft under a huge rock that once must have been the spring’s source. From the boulder they were forced to climb.

The ground grew steep, gravelled and littered with rubble. Trees were sparser here. Ella’s breath grew ragged and she tried to use the trees for support. Sweat began to pour down her forehead, even in this freezing air. The mist thickened.

"Are you sure he came this way?" Ella panted.

"Yes, I am sure. Would you like to lead instead?" Layla said. She seemed to be finding the going much easier than Ella.

Ella only grunted in reply.

The climb grew even more difficult. They had no chance to talk, only to take one step after another. Even Layla began to pant. The air became thick, the moisture in it a tangible thing. Soon Ella could barely see Layla ahead of her, the small woman’s figure almost lost in white.

Then she lost her altogether.

Ella stopped in her tracks. Then, scrambling, she started climbing the steep slope as fast as her legs could take her. Bits of stone and dirt were kicked up by her feet. She clawed at the earth with her hands.

"What are you doing?" Layla asked.

Ella looked up. The slope had ended. Layla was on the top of the crest, resting with one arm against a tree.

"Umm… Climbing," Ella panted.

The fog was like a white version of darkness, so thick it felt impenetrable. Ella stretched as she panted, her muscles ached.

"When I catch him, I’m going to do something terrible to him for putting me through this," she muttered.

She walked around the flat area. Only now could she appreciate how high they’d come, how steep the slope they had been climbing had been.

"Stop!" Layla suddenly shrieked. She ran at Ella, and grabbed hold of Ella’s arm, dragging her to a halt. "Stop!"

"What…?" Ella began.

Then she realised where her feet were taking her. Where they were.

She was standing on the edge of a terrible precipice, an abrupt cliff that fell down, down, until it was lost in the mist.

The edge of Ella’s foot was just over the cliff. Another step, and…

"Lord of the Sky…" Ella breathed.

Layla tugged on her hand. Ella let herself be led away. She couldn’t believe how close she’d come. If Layla hadn’t been there…

"Thank you," Ella said. "Thank you, Layla."

She received only a grunt in reply.

~

L
AYLA
insisted they wait until the mist cleared. They settled down to a cold camp of stale bread with some mouldy cheese. Layla supplemented it with some wild mushrooms with pink stalks she insisted were edible. Ella found to her surprise that they were actually quite tasty.

"If only we had a bow," Layla grumbled. "I need meat."

It was the first time they’d actually had a chance for a proper rest without being exhausted from a full days march. Ella tried in vain to think of a way she could use her talent to feed them. No ideas were forthcoming.

With a sigh, she activated a nightlamp, its light stretching just far enough to create a haven within the fog. Eventually, Ella felt refreshed. She began to get restless. The fog was going nowhere. Having an idea, she rummaged around in her satchel.

"Stand up," Ella said.

"What do you mean?"

"It’s a simple request, stand up."

Layla stood.

Ella slipped the brown silk dress over Layla’s head. "Stop struggling!" she said.

"I can’t breathe!"

"Yes you can. Don’t be a baby."

The dress slid down Layla’s small body. Her head popped out. She looked around in confusion.

"Here, hold the hem or it’s going to get dirty," Ella said. "Now stay still."

"Ouch!"

"Sorry," Ella laughed. "I’m just tailoring the dress to fit you. You’re very pretty, did you know that?"

"No I’m not," Layla said in flat voice.

"You are! And you’re going to look beautiful in this dress."

Ella could see that Layla was fingering the supple material as she held the hem, casting her eye over the gold trim. Ella quickly pinned the sides of the dress, tucking it in a little at the waist, letting it out at the hips. She then pinned the hem.

"There we go, done! Hold up your arms. There!"

Layla turned to Ella and grinned. It was so rare that she smiled that Ella found herself smiling along.

As Ella worked on the dress, a gentle breeze began to blow against the hill, and the mist began to clear. Ella added some finishing touches and smiled to herself, putting the scrill and essence away. She wondered how long it would take Layla to discover the runes she’d enchanted into the fabric of the dress — whether she’d recognise them for what they were or think they were merely decorative.

"What are you smiling about?" Layla said.

"Nothing," Ella said. "I’m just happy that the dress has turned out well. Here," she handed it to Layla, "you can try it on another time."

Layla took the dress, handling it with suspicion. But her sparkling eyes showed her interest.

Ella gathered herself and stood. "Look!" she said.

The haze below the cliff had cleared to reveal a breathtaking panorama. A turbulent river twisted and turned its way through a green valley. Tracing it with her eyes, Ella could see at its source was a majestic waterfall, spouting from the cliff face directly below them. In the far distance she could make out the dusty road, turning ever south and east to the glass-bottle mountains of the Elmas at the extreme limits of her vision.

"It’s beautiful," Ella said.

"If we cross that river, it will be the farthest I’ve ever been from Loralayalana," Layla said.

Ella followed the healer to the cliff edge. It was sheer, dropping down for hundreds of feet before it began to develop any kind of level with the ground.

"Surely he didn’t come this way?" Ella said.

She drew away at the glare Layla gave her.

"Look," Layla said, pointing.

It was a braided rope, tied to the base of a sturdy tree. From the marks in the tree, it looked like it had been there for a long time. The rope was yellowed with age, thinning out in places.

Ella knelt down and began to pull up the rope. A small pile of rope built up on the ground in front of her. Then she pulled up the frayed end.

It had been cut. It would never reach down to the bottom of the cliff. It wouldn’t even reach half way.

Layla looked at Ella. "I think we will not be going this way. By the time we get down from here he will be long gone, your book with him." She shrugged. "We tried. I am sorry."

Ella sat down hard. She looked at the rope in frustration. Suddenly she picked up the pile of rope. Her fingers worked quickly as she began to unbraid it.

"What are you doing?" Layla said. "That rope will never be strong enough. Even I would not trust it. You are much bigger than me, much heavier than me. Your body is large."

"Thanks," Ella said wryly. Her fingers continued working.

"We should be going now. I should be going now." Layla said.

"Just wait."

Ella finally completed breaking the rope into three thin lengths. The rope was so old that in some places it had almost broken through.

She rummaged inside her satchel, pulling out the fine scrill and the vial of essence.

"What are you doing?" Layla said.

"Shh," said Ella.

The separate strands of rope were perhaps half the width of Ella’s small finger. First she tied the strands together, to make one long piece. Then, sitting down in a place where the light of the sun was the best, Ella began the delicate process of enchantment.

Rope was difficult, but not impossible — the trick was to tie knots into simple rune structures and then trace the essence along those knots. When she was done she looked up triumphantly. Layla was sitting on a tree stump nearby, munching on some forest food she had foraged. Ella picked up the rope in her hands. It was just as light, but she could feel the new strength she had imbued it with. She’d had to keep the runes very, very simple, but she was proud of what she had done.

"Here!" Ella said. She threw the rope at Layla, who deftly caught it. "Try to break it, test its strength."

Layla was red in the face before she would acknowledge that the rope was strong enough.

Ella tied the rope back onto the tree and cast it out over the cliff. She looked at Layla. Layla looked away. Sighing, Ella began to lower herself down the rope.

She soon developed a rhythm, finding holds for her feet first, before gently lowering herself, holding onto the rope with her arms, her feet searching the cliff for new footholds.

Halfway down, Ella began to hear a huge roaring sound. It grew louder the more distance she made down the face. Then she passed a knob of rock, and the source of the sound was revealed.

A second mighty waterfall, sparkling in the sun. Water sprayed out in a cloud around it, rainbows sprayed their colour across the air. Butterflies buzzed about flying up then down, to where the waterfall was lost in the foam churned up by its power. It was an amazing sight. The most beautiful she had ever seen. Ella watched it as she descended confidently down the rocky face.

Then her feet felt out into emptiness.

Her scream brought Layla to the top of the cliff, peering down at her. "What is it? I can’t help you from up here."

Ella would have laughed if she hadn’t been terrified. "I need your help! I need you to look down and tell me where I can put my feet."

Layla frowned down at Ella. "Why don’t you just look down yourself?"

The muscles in Ella’s arms were growing weak. She tried to grab hold of the rope with her feet to take some of the strain, but couldn’t get a purchase. She slipped.

"Layla! Just help me!"

"I don’t understand why you don’t just look down?"

Ella took a deep breath. "Because I know if I look down I won’t be able to continue! I don’t want to know how far I have to go! Does that answer your question?"

"No need to be angry. The cliff falls away below you, for about ten paces. You need to either slide down or swing to the side to get hold of the cliff with your feet."

"I can’t slide! I’m not strong enough! I’ll fall!"

"Then swing to the side."

Taking a deep breath, Ella kicked out to the side. She just managed to touch the side of the fissure. She began to swing. Her arms were on fire. She kicked out again. She began to swing more. The pressure it was putting on her arms was too much.

She fell. Her hands slid down the rope, scorching her palms, but she couldn’t let go, she had to hold on, had to…

Her feet touched the ground. The fissure panned out, slowly sloping to become the valley floor.

Something scampered down the rope. Layla landed next to Ella only a moment later.

Ella just stared at her, too angry to speak. Her eyes were wide, her fists clenched at her sides.

"What?" said Layla. "You told me you didn’t want to know how far you had to go."

~

E
LLA
didn’t say a word as they continued along the lush ground of the valley. After a while though she relented; the beauty was just too great to maintain a foul mood, and Layla didn’t seem affected anyway.

The valley had a microclimate — its own cycle of seasons and warmth, its own species of birds and insects. The warmth rising from the valley finally took the chill from Ella’s bones, chill she hadn’t known had been there. Butterflies the size of a man’s hand and coloured like brilliant jewels fluttered about lush green trees. Ella could now see three other waterfalls. The water spilled far out into empty space before disappearing into mist.

"Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?" Ella said softly, almost whispering. "Look at that bird, there on that branch, its just sitting there looking at us. Why doesn’t it fly away?"

She cooed to the rainbow-coloured bird, as big as a medium sized cat, with a large hooked beak. It eyed her curiously, tilting its head first one way then another. Ella reached in to touch it. Only at the last moment did it hop a little bit away.

They followed some kind of game trail, either a path made by animals or a track long-neglected by humans. The roaring of the waterfalls grew more distant. Ella didn’t ask if they were still on Killian’s trail, she was learning to pick up the subtle signs as Layla checked small changes in the plants or the earth.

Ella followed Layla into a wooded glen. A soft gurgling sound came from somewhere ahead, a pleasant tinkling — the sound of running water. Birds fluttered from tree to tree, singing to each other in their high voices. Ella hardly had an eye for the path, mesmerised.

"Few people come here," said Layla. "The animals have not learned fear."

They emerged from the trees. In front of them was a wide, turbulent river, its water a deep green, splashing against the banks.

"Someone must have come here," said Ella, pointing at something on the bank.

It was a roped bridge, evidently the only way to cross the river.

It was in tatters, deliberately cut after being crossed.

"He covers his tracks well," said Layla.

Ella sighed.

30

I had finally reached the summit of the mightiest mountain in the Emdas. The victory was short-lived. Some regular arrangements of stones told me an ancient people had been there long before me.

— Toro Marossa, ‘Explorations’, Page 189, 423 Y.E.

"S
ARK
. The guest house with the best view in the whole of Halaran," a voice came from Miro’s shoulder.

Miro started.

"Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you."

It was Bartolo. Miro had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t heard him approach.

He put on a smile. "No, no, it’s good to see you. It’s been so frantic lately; this is the first opportunity I’ve had to just stop and think."