Chapter 13
Sure enough, the narrow crack in the earth off to the travelers' right quickly widened into the beginnings of a valley, flanked by odd sand-colored rock formations just like the one they had eaten by that afternoon. Fortunately for horses and humans alike, the ground rolled down gently, rather than sharply, in front of them, and without any tripping at all, even from Shen, they soon found themselves traipsing between earthen walls at least three times Shen's height. The surface beneath their feet, Shen discovered several minutes later, was comprised no longer completely of sand, but rather of sand dotted here and there by tufts of hearty grass so dark green they were nearly black. Another dozen minutes or so later, tough little scrub-bushes had begun to sprout up alongside them.
About an hour after they had entered the valley, the grass had spread so that it covered a good deal more of the soil, which was now made up of pebbles rather than sand. This altered the horses' gait to a dichotomy of barely-audible thwucks and much more readily apparent crunches, which normally would barely have registered with Shen's ears but now in her exhausted state – exacerbated by her persistent headache – raised her already-significant annoyance level. In addition, the valley's walls, she gradually noticed, were blocking the cool desert wind and making the air stuffier, causing her, even more than the others, to sweat uncomfortably. By then they had completely used up their water rations, and the only thought Shen could keep her overtired mind focused on was, I really hope that raven was telling the truth about there being a river in this valley. And we'd better find said river sooner rather than later.
At length the river did appear, although gradually rather than all at once. It was Hwin whose ears first pricked up, and when they all froze for a moment, they could clearly hear a faint but definite trickle off to their right. By the light of the full moon, they could see a tiny streamlet forming at their feet. Their spirits buoyed, they quickly picked up the pace, which caused Shen to grit her teeth against the head pain produced by the increased speed and exacerbated by the noise of the water. Wait. Water. That's the sound I wasn't hearing out in the desert the past two days. No wonder. Hm. At first she was convinced the sound was getting no louder, but after they had rounded a few curves in the meandering gorge, she looked down and discovered that the rivulet had widened into a tiny stream. Not that I should be trusting my hearing at this rate, anyway, as badly as my head is hurting. Ouch! She nearly exclaimed the last word out loud as she stepped on a particularly sharp-edged stone, but chose instead merely to grimace, rub her foot briefly, and hop to catch up with the others before they could notice.
A few such stumbles later, the horses wearily bent to let the humans mount them – which, Shen reflected a few minutes later as she watched Shasta and Aravis yank themselves out of half-dozes over and over, had perhaps not been the best idea. She briefly considered trying to start a conversation to keep them all from tumbling off the horses, but decided against it when she opened her mouth only to realize that the air hitting the back of her parched throat no longer even registered as dry in comparison. Even her throbbing headache had dulled somewhat and therefore had diminished in its ability to keep her awake. Come on, Shen. Must stay awake…must…must…must.
Must? You've been repeating that in your head all day. I'm sick of it.
I don't care. If you don't get to Archenland in time, all those people will die…and you may as well be dead when you get to Narnia, if you even do.
Don't care. Want to rest.
No. Mustn't rest. Must keep goooooo…
Shen's overworked body had finally journeyed to the cusp of giving up the fight when she felt herself tumbling downward, then splashing into a very chilly wetness. The startled yelp she instinctively tried to emit came out merely as a gravel-laced "Aaahhhkkk." Both Shasta and Aravis, twisting in their suddenly-stopped horses' saddles, lost their balance and promptly joined her on their hands and knees. Shen vaguely noticed that all of said hands and knees were completely submerged under – water? Can the stream have really gotten that deep?
She slowly glanced down at the same time her brain finally registered the watery chill that had encompassed her own limbs. Amazing. It's not even a stream any more; it's a river!
Shen, get up on your feet; you can't fall asleep in the water, or you'll drown.
Slowly, she lurched and groaned her way upright, beginning even as she did so to scoop up a double handful of water and taste it. It felt remarkably free of dirt in her mouth – a little bit reedy, but not bitter or gritty. Ahead of her, she saw the horses greedily lapping up all they could get. I suppose we can drink it if they can, she decided, and without further ado proceeded to quench her nearly bone-deep thirst.
After all three humans had drunk their fill and done all they could to scrub the past two days' accumulated dust and dirt off their limbs, they replenished their water-skins and promptly sat down to eat. Shen was amazed at how much sweeter and more date-like her dried dates tasted, and how much less gritty the bread felt in her mouth, now that she had washed the thirst and grit away – along with much of her headache. Perhaps we won't die on the journey, after all. Perhaps we'll just die once we get there. Or I will, anyway; if this King Lune wants to execute us for being spies, I'm sure I can make a deal to save Shasta at any rate…even Aravis…at least I'll die having eaten remarkably good dates…mmm…
"Make sure you don't eat all the food, Shasta," she muttered thickly. "We're still not there yet…we'll need to eat again before we get there, probably…"
"Mmm," grunted her brother as he leaned against Bree's back.
"Shasta, don't fall asleep," Aravis urged him in what she'd probably intended to be a sharp tone; it came out sounding almost nonchalant instead. "We have to keep on going."
Shasta grunted again. Shen mustered the energy to nudge him sharply with her foot, which made him start and glare at her briefly before turning to the horse directly behind him.
"Bree," he mumbled, "you want to go yet?"
"Soon," Bree whinnied in reply. "Soon…yes, just a few-hoo-hoo minutes…"
"Five," Bren put in, sounding only mildly less dazed than her brother.
"All right," agreed Shasta, then promptly leaned against Bree again. Shen half-expected Aravis to reprove him for this, but the younger girl only shrugged and straightened out her knees, which had bent up against her chest, before resting her head back against Hwin.
I suppose I'll have to get them up, then, Shen's exhausted mind ruminated. In a couple minutes, that is…and a few seconds more…hm, Bren's hair is really soft…
Several hours later, Shen awoke to a chorus of indignant whinnies and neighs, which accompanied Aravis's voice, sounding a bit higher than usual in frustration.
"Oh, buck up and come on, Bree! We've already wasted Tash knows how much daylight…ugh! I cannot believe I let everybody sleep this long!"
"Actually, technically I let everybody sleep this long," Shen answered, momentarily silencing the startled Tarkheena. "You two – sorry, Hwin, five – fell asleep more than I did." Amazing. I can string more than ten coherent words together now. Perhaps sleeping wasn't such a bad idea after all – provided it hasn't kept us from reaching Archenland in time. Of course, if that raven meant to say his route required a boat in the first place to stay ahead of Prince Rabadash, it won't matter how long we've been asleep.
She turned to her brother, who was just beginning to stir, and gently shook him awake. "Come on, Shasta, let's go. We've slept for too long, and we need to start again now, all right?"
Shasta merely grumbled and groaned at first, but a few sharp nudges from Bren quickly persuaded him to his feet. Shen made sure their saddlebags were all packed properly before turning to Aravis. "You're ready, then, I take it?" Fortunately, the words came out fairly free of unnecessary sharpness, and Aravis didn't even roll her eyes as she opened her mouth to reply.
"You humans may be ready," Bree cut her off, "but we horses do need a good drink before we put any more miles under our feet – not to mention a few mouthfuls of grass to go with it."
Aravis gave Bree the full fierceness of the eyeroll she'd spared Shen. "Bree, look at the sky. We've wasted more than half the morning already."
"Well, we've already crossed the desert – " Bree began.
"But we're not in Archenland yet," Aravis interrupted him. "And we've got to get there well ahead of Rabadash."
"Oh, we must be miles ahead of him," replied Bree. "After all, this is a shortcut – isn't that what the raven said, Shasta?"
"He didn't say anything about shorter," Shasta informed him. "I thought I'd explained that yesterday."
Oops, he probably did. At least, he tried, but I was so angry at him about the whole "ride-the-water" business that I didn't give him a chance.
"He only said better," Shasta was saying, "because you got to a river this way. If the oasis is due north of Tashbaan, then I'm afraid this may be longer."
Which I should have had figured out shortly after we left yesterday morning. Nice going, Shen.
"Please," Hwin was addressing Bree when Shen managed to snap herself out of her thoughts. "I feel just like you that I can't go on. But when horses have humans (with spurs and things) on their backs, aren't they often made to go on when they're feeling like this? And then they find they can. I m-mean – oughtn't we to be able to do more even, now that we're free? It's all for Narnia." She added, almost too low to be heard, "And the north."
Bree tossed his head contemptuously. "I think," he answered, "that I know a little more about campaigns and forced marches and what a horse can stand than you do."
At this, Bren's left foreleg shot out and collided solidly with her brother's. "Oh, shut up, Bree," she nearly hissed. "I know every bit as much as you, and I agree with her. And she knows a right sight more than either of us about how to haul her pace and take care of her human at the same time. We leave in ten minutes. If you're not done gorging your fat stomach with grass by then, good luck catching up with us."
For the first time since she'd met Bree, Shen saw him lower his head, turn around without a word, and very nearly slink away to a nearby patch of grass. After a moment she took a water-skin out of Bren's saddlebag and tossed it to a wide-eyed Shasta. Even Aravis looked shocked.
Bren turned to Hwin. "He's not usually that rude," she told the other mare apologetically, "although that's no excuse at all – "
Hwin quickly shook her head and whickered reassuringly. "You don't need to apologize for him," she answered. "We're all very tired, and I dare say I'll feel just as much like complaining once we go a bit farther." She turned to face Shen. "Are you feeling all right, Shen?"
Shen rubbed the gathering sweat off her face for at least the third time that morning. "Just a bit hot, thank you." And it's only going to get hotter. Ugh! I can't believe Bree didn't complain about that along with his hunger. And Aravis isn't even sweating a drop.
Oh, put a cork in it, Shen. Heat and sweat will be the least of your worries if you don't get a move on.
Silently, she pulled out another water-skin, took a long drink, and sat waiting for the feeding horses to return. Fortunately, Bren was as good as her word, and Bree had obviously taken her as such, because ten minutes later all three horses were mounted and trotting off north beside the river.
Shortly after their departure, Shen began to notice the odd colors that had begun to stud the valley floor. Patches of flowers, most of them types she had never seen before, peppered the drab green-and-brown surface with splashes of yellow, blue, purple, pink, and even a smattering of light orange here and there. As she slid off of Bren for the first time during the day's journey, getting closer to the flowers, she slowly realized that most of them were softer and more muted in color than their counterparts in Tashbaan had been. But I like them better that way – I think. Especially that patch of pink ones. Oh, look – it's formed in the shape of a horse or – But she never got the chance to decide what shape accompanied the horse shape, for her left foot chose that particular moment to trip over a pebble. She managed to break the fall, but the resulting impact jarred her enough to cause a protesting ache to shoot through the back of her head. Ouch! Oh, no. Oh, no. I thought I had gotten rid of you! Go away. Please, please, please go away…
"Shen!" Shasta, just ahead of her, had turned and was staring at her worriedly. "You all right?"
Oh, right. I'm standing here like a complete idiot when I should be keeping up with them. Of course he'd wonder if I'm all right. Seriously, but it's hot here.
"Fine!" she lied back, grabbing Bren's halter and striding toward her brother.
Shasta frowned suspiciously for a moment, then shrugged and hurried to catch up with Aravis, who with Hwin was outpacing Bree and Bren rather impressively.
Despite her hours of rest earlier that morning, Shen soon found herself yawning profusely, and consequently trying to distinguish the most ridiculous shapes possible in the patches of flowers along the river in order to stay awake. Her head soon joined the cause as it began to throb in time with Bren's hoofbeats.
Ouch! If this blasted headache would just subside the tiniest bit! I can deal with pain; gods know Arsheesh saw to that. But I found ways to rest it and not be out in the sun so much after he beat me. And it is beastly hot! She looked up at Shasta – slowly, so as not to further aggravate her headache – but he didn't seem to be sweating nearly as profusely as she was. If this keeps up, I will drink my water-skin dry at twice the rate I did yesterday.
Sure enough, not an hour later, Shen had called a brief halt in order to refill her water-skin. Shasta and Aravis, not yet halfway through theirs, nevertheless bent to restock theirs as well.
"Shen, are you sure you're all right?" Aravis asked her almost haltingly as the two girls squatted together next to the river. "You're paler than you were even this morning."
Shen gritted her teeth to avoid a sharply irritable reply. "All right or not, Aravis," she replied, "we still have a journey to finish. I won't be the cause of our going too slowly to warn King Lune."
Aravis rose to her feet, shifted uncomfortably for a moment, nodded, and turned to put her water-skin back into Hwin's saddlebag. Shasta cast a brief but searching look at his sister before following suit.
Not long afterward, horses and humans alike began to hear the flow of a rushing torrent in the distance, which caused Shen's brow to wrinkle – ouch, Shen, don't do that – and ask her brother after a moment, "Shasta, did that raven say anything about a second river?"
Shasta, perched on top of Bree just ahead of his sister, tilted his head for a moment and frowned before replying, "No. He just said we could 'ride by the water.' He didn't say how much water."
Lovely. First no definable distance, then no proper numbering of rivers. This trip keeps on getting better and better.
"If I may," broke in Hwin, immediately causing everyone to stare at the normally silent mare in surprise. "I – I don't remember too much about being in Narnia as a foal, but I do know my mother told me there was a river dividing Calormen from the northern countries. I don't remember the name, but I think it flowed east. This river here is flowing northwest, so perhaps it intersects that other river shortly. That larger river would mark the boundary of Archenland – wouldn't it?"
Bree nodded, then snorted briefly. "Of course! The Winding Arrow – that's what it's called. My mother told me about that river, too – in fact, I'm quite certain I crossed it on my way into captivity as a foal. I can't believe I didn't remember that before!"
"Hence you have us along," Bren replied.
Bree shot her an eyeroll before continuing on toward the unseen river.
Sure enough, not an hour later, the travelers found the valley widening extensively to reveal a winding ribbon of brilliantly green hills – much like the rounded coastal dunes by which they'd met Aravis weeks before, Shen reflected, except that these were covered with grass and more of the beautiful pink flowers that graced the valley. I have never seen so much grass in my life! Beyond the hills, like a series of long, somewhat distorted shadows, rose a range of bigger hills – no, wait, those must be mountains. I've never seen mountains, either.
Her eyes drifted to the source of the rushing noise they'd heard earlier, an enormous, bubbling carpet of blue and silver flowing directly across the newly-revealed countryside, roaring out of the hills on their left to the broader, flatter horizon on their right. And I have never seen a river as scary-looking as that. It looks like it could easily sweep us all to that side of those mountains within seconds.
"Ha!" Bree's snort sounded much more like a mutter to Shen amidst the roaring of the river. "The Winding Arrow! Friends, we are in Archenland!"
"No," Bren corrected her brother, "we are in Archenland after we cross the Arrow."
Bree rolled his eyes at her. "Any brilliant suggestions on how to cross it, then, sister?"
Yes. Hurry up. Gods only know where Rabadash is by now. And my head really hurts.
"How about we find a place to cross it first?" Bren shot back. "You know these great rivers – they always have places where they broaden and don't flow as swiftly as they do normally. I say we go east – to the right, that is. The ground slopes downward that way, and we don't want to push uphill if we can avoid it."
Nobody made any objections to this, so off they trotted to the east. A few miles on, the river broadened as Bren had predicted, and, after an experimental foray into the water, Bree proclaimed it "so simple as to make it easy for any colt to ford it." Shen considered this a bit of an exaggeration, but did not so much as roll her eyes, so acute had her headache become. And when the water splashed up around Bren's body onto her legs, she sighed in relief; it was quite cold, but she was sweating so profusely by then that the chill came as a profound relief.
After they crossed the river, the ground became less level, sloping gently up and down in its slow march to the mountains. Shen eventually gave up looking at flower patches; the agony of her headache was simply too great for her to do anything but shut her eyes whenever possible and grit her teeth when she could not. Fortunately, she managed not to fall off of Bren and thereby exacerbate the pain, but even that took a great deal of extra effort, which only seemed to make her sweat more. As she reached up to wipe her brow for at least the thirtieth time that day, she realized that it was abnormally hot even to the touch of her sun-warmed wrist. Oh, now I have a fever too. Lovely. But all she could do was sip a little more water, grit her teeth, and will herself onward. Shasta must get to safety. Tash can have me after that for all I care. Anything to take away this headache and fever. Anything.
The next few hours passed in a haze of heat and pain for Shen. As the humans dismounted their horses yet again, Aravis turned to make an adjustment to Hwin's bridle, then suddenly straightened and furrowed her brow deeply. "Bree," she called, "can you see the disturbance in the ground back there? Doesn't that look like a sandstorm at the edge of the desert, without any wind?"
This, of course, made Shen and Shasta turn to see what she was talking about. Shen had to squint sharply and hold her hand up to shield her eyes in the bright and painful sunlight, but eventually she was able to distinguish the broad golden edge of the desert, although just barely. Sure enough, in one spot she saw a good deal of sand puffing and swirling above the ground along the horizon.
"Oh!" Hwin's startled voice, raised for the first time since Shen had met her, made the girl nearly jump off of Bren's saddle. "Look! There are things flashing in it. Look! They're helmets – and armor. And it's moving – moving this way."
"By Tash!" exclaimed Aravis. "It's the army! It's Rabadash!"
Oh, Tash save us all. We're pig-roast!
"Of course it is!" Hwin replied. "Just what I was afraid of. Quick! We must get to Anvard before it." And before any of the others could so much as think the word Anvard, let alone say it, she whirled and hurtled toward the mountains like a dish out of the hands of an angry Arsheesh.
Oh, no, was all Shen had time to think before Bree and Bren followed suit, jarring Shen's head into even greater pain – which she hadn't thought possible before then. All she could do as the horses' hooves thudded frighteningly swiftly over the uneven ground was bury her hands into Bren's mane, bend forward so as to lessen the wind's resistance against her aching head and body, and close her eyes as she held on for dear life. She counted the hills they flew over by feel, rather than sight. One…two…three… She lost count around ten, and guessed that they had passed fifteen when she heard her brother shouting, "They're on the river!" Turning her head, even slowly, was pure torture at this point, but she couldn't keep her curiosity in check; sure enough, Rabadash and his two hundred horsemen were crowded in a knot of boiling brown-and-black dots, studded with the flashing silver of their spear points catching the afternoon sunlight, next to the far bank of the Winding Arrow.
"Quick! Quick!" screamed Aravis; Shen, who was just turning her head to face forward again, felt a renewed jolt of pain that almost blocked the Tarkheena's shouts from her ears. "We might as well not have come at all if we don't reach Anvard in time. Gallop, Bree, gallop! Bren, come on! You're war horses, for Tash's sake!"
Oh, put a cork in it, Aravis! Shen would have retorted but for the fever-ridden pain. Bren's doing everything she can, and so is Bree, I'll warrant – ow! For Bren had just put on a renewed burst of speed, forcing the girl to crouch so far forward in the saddle that she was lying very nearly flat against the horse's back.
Up, down, back, forward, left, right – all directions whirled into one enormous, perpetual spin in Shen's overtaxed mind. Tash help us – oh, anybody help us, was the only thought it could hold as the three horses hurtled heedlessly across the countryside.
Out of the confusing morass engulfing her senses, Shen suddenly perceived a noise that made her blood, heated with fever though it was, run glacially cold – a noise she had heard only once before in her life, but most decidedly, she thought, once too often. Just as it had only weeks before, the bone-shaking roar vibrated across a stretch of earth flying by under the hooves of three terrified horses who had suddenly discovered a last extra burst of lifesaving speed.
Instinctively, Shen whipped her head around. She nearly passed out, but forced her eyes open long enough to confirm her worst fears. Hurtling toward them across the countryside, and gaining with every step, was what had to have been the most enormously shaggy Lion any human in the world had ever seen – and despite the horses' best efforts, it was gaining on them rapidly. Shen could feel Bren's muscles tighten harder and harder with each stride; as strong as she was, she clearly couldn't keep going at that rate for much longer.
Shen's terror was briefly interrupted by a piercing yell from her brother some way ahead of her. Somehow she managed to turn her head back in his direction. She saw Shasta bent over Bree, apparently yelling in his ear, then found herself facing a very steep ridge – no, wait, that's no hill, it's a wall made out of…grass? – curving in a gentle circle and interrupted in the middle by an enormous set of wooden gates, which were manned by an elderly man in rust-colored robes and a wispy white beard. What on earth…does he maybe own the Lion? Oh, blast it, the Lion…! She turned her protesting head a third time and realized, to her horror, that the beast was within several yards of Hwin, who had lagged behind both of the war horses. No, no, no! Not good! Not good!
"Bren!" she screamed, using most of what little coherent energy she still possessed. "Back! Back! Go back! Help Hwin!"
Shutting her eyes to avoid passing out, Shen felt rather than saw her mount respond. Bren wheeled around so sharply that she almost threw her clinging rider, then tensed her haunches to spring at the Lion when she suddenly stumbled over some object or other on the ground.
Shen, caught off guard, lurched forward and tumbled over Bren's ducking head, hitting the ground with a dull thud. Blindly scrambling to her feet, she clutched her head to avoid falling back down from sheer dizziness, then opened her eyes just as Hwin emitted the most horribly guttural shriek Shen had ever heard. Although she feared for a terrifying moment that her head would split from the sheer awfulness of the noise, the girl still managed to open her eyelids in time to see her brother racing back toward Hwin and Aravis, the latter of whom was reaching across her own body in a frantic attempt to grab her sword. Before her hand could make the journey, though, and before Shen could do so much as issue her own earth-rending shriek, the Lion had leaped through the air, and one of its front paws had landed squarely on Aravis's left shoulder, ripping her tunic – and the skin underneath it – all the way to her right hip.
Then Shen really did scream, in concert with Aravis; somehow she managed to will herself toward the fray, picking up a stone from the ground as she went and heaving it at the Lion as hard as she could. At the same time, Shasta – no, Shasta, NO! – pelted past both the fleeing Hwin and the bleeding Aravis and yelled at the Lion, "Go! Go home! Go home!"
"Shasta, NO!" Shen managed to shriek, but to her utter shock, the Lion seemed to have paid attention to him; swiping its bloody paw through the grass, it glanced briefly at the chaos it had wrought, then stared into Shen's eyes for two terrifying seconds before whipping around and fleeing into the sunlit hills.
Shasta, who was panting profusely by this time, whirled and exchanged a brief, wild-eyed stare with his sister before both siblings looked back toward Hwin, who with a scarlet-drenched Aravis still clinging to her saddle had nearly reached the strange green wall. Good – man there – can help Aravis…keep her from that horrible beast…huge scary golden eyes… "Shasta," Shen gasped, "you hurt?"
Shasta, still unable to speak, shook his head.
Shen felt the dizziness blend with the heat in the wake of her terror and rise up to overwhelm her at last. "Good for you…go help Aravis…help Bree…go warn the king!"
No sooner had Shen finished her directions than she felt Bren nudge her from behind. This jarring proved to be the last straw for her head, which registered one last burst of pain and dizziness before she pitched forward unconscious onto the green grass of Bree's beloved north.