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Tariro

Chapter 10: Waves came Tumbling Down

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"So here's the plan," Tyro said briskly, addressing all of the newcomers and his own group at the same time. They were crammed into the corners of the cave, a sea of faces, and all listening. "We're going to go down to the lake. You'll have half an hour to pack up anything you want to take with you. If we walk quickly then we can be on the island before the creatures attack. Imagine that- sleeping safely for once!"

A general murmur ran through the crowd. Tyro held up a hand, waiting for them to be quiet, and then started again. "When we get to the island we will sleep, and in the morning we will assign rooms and tasks for you all. The mages who are fighting the monsters can do their study from there, but we must all help the fight! We will need to repair our weapons, and find food, and sort out some way to stop ourselves from freezing under the ground. We also need to keep making pipes, musical instruments. Bring what you need."

The people spoke to each other again, a soft hubbub that gradually rose to a roar. People who would have fought each other a few hours before turned to each other and talked excitedly about the rooms and trying to think of ways to solve the cold. The sight made Tyro grin, and he sat down on the rock he had used as a stage to watch. Good news is better than a treaty. If they had come here tonight with nothing but fear of another attack, then we would have been at each other's throats by morning.

Despite the general excitement of the crowd, a shiver ran down his spine. He glanced up to see Elan's eyes fixed on his intently. Trying to remember the way that Morgan had taught him to block off his mind, he shook his head as if to clear it. When he looked up again, the cold eyes slid away. They turned instead to his wife, who stood dutifully beside him but was smiling animatedly, laughing with the woman next to her. When Elan touched her arm she snapped around faster than a snake, and then forced herself to relax, her eyes wary.

How can anyone not see it? Tyro thought. She hides it quickly, but she loathes him.

Elan was talking to the girl in a measured undertone, inaudible from where the other man sat. The week had gone well, and Elan knew it. If he had been a cat he would have been purring. All of the players, even those who didn't know they were acting, had played their parts well. Even if he'd been upstaged, he was still one of the most important people on the island... and now he had his Sight back, he knew it wouldn't take him long to usurp the other ruling bastard.

So it meant little to him that his wife had disappeared after the meeting for a useless chat with a fish, or that he'd had to make excuses for her improper behaviour to the other bandits. Waiting for her, feigning concern, was no hardship, and the quiet away from the gossip of the camp gave him time to think. Having his Sight back meant that the torrent of thought that had been silent for so long screamed in his ears, untrained and wild. He could almost hear the rocks thinking. It was dizzying. Now that he was in this room filled with thoughts, he was glad that his shields were back in place. He didn't notice that a surprising number of thoughts were shielded, although it did annoy him that Tyro was doing it. Even so, his head hurt, as if people were pushing against it.

"Did you know that the Neferii can read minds, too? They wait under the water. Any profane thought and... well, that's the end of you." Daine didn't even look at him, but at her hands as if they were fascinating. Her soft voice ran under the general noise clearly. Elan scowled.

"That's not true."

"No." She almost sang the word, "But oops- I might have accidentally led a few people to believe it! They're asking the mages how to shield their minds. And you know, these rumours have a way of spreading."

"You little..." he started, grabbing and squeezing her wrist painfully, "Why would you do that?"

"Let go of my arm." She said quietly. He laughed, his eyes almost manic for a second. He couldn't believe it- a speech, a rumour, and suddenly she had the upper hand? Impossible. But she couldn't shapeshift here, not in a crowd, and he was perfectly right to chastise his wife for disappearing, even in front of hundreds of people.

"Or what, pet?" His voice was dangerous, his eyes narrowed almost into slits.

"Excuse me, sir." The words were impeccably polite. Elan glared up at the tall shadow who blocked out the torchlight. "You might not remember me, sir, but I'm the man who guarded your wife? And I just wanted to say that, well... I didn't risk my life protecting her all this time to watch a shabby little bully like you hurting her."

"This is none of your business." The sentence was a growl. When Elan stood up straight they were almost the same height, and for all of Numair's feigned politeness there was iron in his glare. Around them, the people were still chatting obliviously. Elan met the glare for a long breath of time, and then dropped his gaze and let go of the girl's arm. He shrugged.

"What's it to me, if you're here now? You can insult me all you like. At the end of the day, she's an ungrateful whore who you guarded for a day, but she's my wife until the day she dies. I know her better than you ever will. So keep your chivalry to yourself and mind your own damn business." The manic smile flickered and died. As rapidly as the confrontation had started, it ended in Elan striding through the crowd, presumably to locate his belongings. Daine rubbed at the red marks on her arm.

"Thank you," she smiled up at Numair, and then it faded. "I swear by the goddess that he's going mad."

"Sane men are easier to deal with." Numair glanced around, seeing that the people who deliberately ignored their leader hurting his wife were staring at this stranger talking to her with open speculation. Rather than say more, he bowed his head. "Mistress Arra."

Daine returned the gesture, and when she looked up he'd disappeared back into the crowd. She squashed the fleeting regret that she couldn't say more, that she could see the pain in his eyes whenever he looked at Elan... she stopped rubbing at her arm and went to pick up her own things from the collective pile, becoming just another member of the crowd.

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"I have to time it just right." Numair said. "The Neferii might attack us if we get too close, but if they're screaming then they'll ignore us. I figure we'll have about ten minutes to get everyone across and destroy it, before the Johi reach the bottom of the cave." He sketched something into the dust, and then glanced at Tyro. "Is everybody ready?"

Tyro nodded, and then raised an eyebrow. "It's a nice coincidence, don't you think: the fact that they have to hide until the spell is cast means none of them will see it?"

"Very nice. Remind me to thank the person who arranged that." Numair grinned at him, and then pointed abruptly at the surface of the water. It was boiling, writhing with silken fins. "Time to go!"

Tyro turned and ran back to the cave where the people were hiding. As soon as he was gone, Numair slammed a rush of pure magic into the stone. The symbol he'd scratched there glowed for a split second, and sank into the ground. Cracks appeared in the stone, racing towards the lake, forming deeper and deeper fissures. And then, as suddenly as a fish leaping from the water, as liquid as the water it surrounded, a stream of rock and soil darted across the water. It spanned hundreds of feet, groaning as gravity tried to drag it back where it belonged, and finally reached the far shore. The whole cave shook with the impact, and a shower of icy chalk rained down from the roof. When the dust cleared, the bridge was finished- a massive span across the endless lake. Numair leaned back against the cave wall and grinned. Not bad work at all. A little rough, but it didn't need to look special to let people across it. He closed his eyes for a few seconds.

Someone shook him roughly. His eyes slid open, and he looked up. Tyro grimaced at him.

"Falling asleep? They're going across; we have to go."

"Where's..."

"Elan went across first with his lot. I guess she's with him. The Johi are coming... Come on!"

They ran to the lake and started clambering up the bridge. It was tough going- there were no steps or walls at the sides to stop you falling off, and the hundreds of people who had already climbed up had dislodged the smaller pebbles, making the larger ones shift. Because of the massive distance it spanned, it climbed high above the lake before reaching a peak. They rested there for a moment, out of breath, looking down at the hundreds of people still scrambling across the bridge. It was exhilarating. From this height, falling into the water would kill you without the Neferii having to bother.

Those creatures were screaming at the distant Johi, who ran down the cliff sides like water. They were more than halfway down the cave, and their laughter grew louder as they approached. As one, both the men stood up and started climbing down the other side of the bridge, sliding down scree and catching themselves on the secure rocks. Far below them, the crowd of people were doing the same thing, frantically looking around at the advancing children and pushing past each other in their panic.

There was a scream, a splash.

As one, every head whipped around to the sound. The man who'd fallen into the water stared up at them, half stunned by the height and the icy cold. His eyes slowly cleared. He shook his head. He gestured for the bandits to throw him a rope.

A woman pointed at the far water, and screamed. The neferii had broken into two groups, and one of them was streaming towards the bridge at an impossible speed, snarling. Their eyes flashed from watery blue to opaque white. Fury spat from their sharp pointed teeth as they screamed at the people on the bridge.

The bandits panicked. As one, they fled across the bridge. They fell over onto the stones and crawled back up, barely noticing the cuts and bruises they'd gathered. When they reached the island they kept running, crawled in through the trapdoor, grasping at it as they went past as if to close it after them.

The man in the water gasped, desperately swimming towards the shore. For ever meter that he pulled himself, the creatures behind him covered ten.

"We have to help him!" Tyro leapt down from the boulder he'd been standing on, frozen. They ran, ignoring the ground shifting under their feet, knowing that they'd never get there in time. Most of the people who were close enough to help were gone, and those that were left were looking at each other uselessly. Some huddled over in fear, or simply sat down looking lost.

The creatures bore down on the man, who shouted helplessly and still swam. Their hands reached out; long clawlike fingers scratched at the water violently. The tidal wave of water that their swimming had created struck him, sending him sprawling under the surface. He swam up and gasped for air, white with fear and cold, too frightened to move.

They swam closer. Twenty meters, ten...

With a dull keen, they stopped. It was as if they'd been yanked upright by their necks, so suddenly did they stop. The water frothed around them as they struggled, each wave striking the swimming man with a resounding slap. As one, their furious screams turned into bitter keening.

"Quick, get a rope!" Tyro shouted, bearing down on the frozen people on the bridge. They looked up blearily. "A rope, for Mithros' sake... pull him up!"

They shook their heads free of the shock, moving like sleepwalkers. Cursing at their slowness, Tyro tore through the packs until he found a length of rope. He didn't even tie it to anything; there wasn't time. He threw the end into the water as close to the man as he could. The man stared at it dully.

"MOVE, you soft maggot!" Tyro bellowed, waving the other end of the rope frantically. Numair caught up the trailing end and tied it around a rock rapidly, hoping like fury that it would hold. He fought the urge to magically pull him from the water. He was shaking with weariness now, and he didn't know if he'd be able to destroy the bridge if he spent any more power. What's one life, if we all get killed afterwards?

Out of breath, shattered from casting the spell, he looked around hopelessly at the cowering people. Some of them had snapped out of it, and the men were running to help with the rope. Others stayed crouched, terrified. He ran from one to the other, pulling them upright and sending them staggering off towards the island.

"His hands are too cold to hold on to the rope!"Tyro shouted over the noise of the writhing creatures. He didn't say- but they could all hear- the next thought. The children were at the base of the bridge. If they didn't pull the man up soon, they'd have to abandon him.

Near Numair, one of the crouching people looked up, one hand clutched to her head. "Oh for the Hag's sake." Daine cursed. She stood up, wincing, and saw Numair. Her eyes were odd, as if they were seeing more than just one picture, and flickered from side to side rapidly. This made her smile quite unsettling. "They're very... loud." She said unsteadily.

"How are you holding all of them?" Numair asked. She shook her head and looked towards the edge, where the bandits were all yelling advice down to the helpless man.

"Get them off the bridge," She said, and ran to the edge. Before any of the shocked bandits could think to stop her, she'd dived off. There was a splash, and for a second the monsters could move again. They swiped at the man, barely missing, one leaving red trails along his back. The pain made him yell, broke his stunned trance, and he grabbed again for the rope. His hands constricted; the waxed twine darted away again, swinging from the ledge.

Daine surfaced, gasping from the cold, and swam strongly towards him. Before her own hands could tense from the cold, she wrapped the rope around his waist and tied it as tightly as she dared. The men on the bridge cheered and began to pull, expecting her to simply hold on to the end of the rope.

She let go, treading water calmly, and smiled at the man as he was pulled clear. He reached out to her as if to pull her with him, but she shook her head and swam backwards, into the circle of creatures who thrashed blindly against the water. As if on cue, their heads all snapped around from the man they were hunting to this new intruder.

You could almost hear the noise as whatever was binding them snapped. As one, with a snarl, they dived forward. Daine vanished under a surge of water at the same time that the bridge creaked alarmingly and shook, settling a few feet to one side. The men pulling up the swimmer yelled and fell to the ground, holding onto the rope with a death grip. When it settled, they pulled him up the last few meters quickly and ran even before they'd untied the rope, dragging the poor man with them. Most of the cowering people screamed at the movement and ran too, and the few that were still stunned were bodily dragged by those who weren't.

The bridge shook again, shuddering violently, cracks littering its surface. On the peak, a child's face grew from the stone and laughed, the noise echoing like the noise of striking flints.

"Run, you idiot!" Tyro grabbed Numair's shoulder and yanked him forward, sending him flying into the middle of the bridge. The whole thing was shaking constantly now, rocks thudding heavily into the water. The Neferii were attacking both ends of it, trying to destroy it before the Johi could get any closer to their sacred land. When rocks fell into the water they picked them up and threw them, desperate to destroy it. The children laughed and screamed as if they were playing.

Running was the wrong word. They were thrown from rock to rock, scrambling upright and forward only to be thrown into another one. Blinded by the hail of dust and rock, they only realised they had reached the island when the ground stopped moving. Numair spun around as soon as they stopped and rested his palms flat against the base of the bridge, trying to catch his breath. When he could speak, he whispered a single word.

The bridge shook once, and turned to soft sand. Screeching, the Johi darted off it onto the mainland. Those who were too far from the shore to run clawed at the shifting ground, slipping from it as it gently bled into the lake.

Then, with a dull rushing roar, the whole thing crashed downwards. The bottomless lake swallowed it up as though it had never existed, and the only things left in the silence were the screams.

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End of Part 2

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