—
I kiss at last the beloved ground of my land
That I left one day with my hard heart full of pain
I have looked in the faces of my old friends
But nobody looked at me as my old friends
And now what happens you must, you must tell me
You must remember who I am
—
Ash took a step backward as the raiders came forward. Guen leapt as soon as they moved, taking down one of them in a single pounce. The man struggled wildly, and hopelessly, under hundreds of pounds of cat. Guen's teeth were impeded by the man's armor, but that wouldn't stop her for long.
"The drow first," commanded one of the men as the others gazed in horror at the panther. The three of them spread out to flank as they quickly approached.
Ash and Drizzt were trapped on the top of the boulder. She took another step back, and her back foot nearly slipped from edge. She looked behind her, thinking to jump down, and quickly changed her mind. From this side of the boulder, it was too far a drop. The only safe way down was from the side that the raiders were coming at them from.
Drizzt splayed his swords out in front of him, his eyes darting between the three opponents. "Hold onto your spell," he warned.
She had not really noticed she was chanting until after he spoke. She did it automatically by that point.
Two of the men darted forward at once, one from either side. Ash flinched, and her spellcasting was interrupted. Drizzt's swords came up to block the attacks, one for each side. There were some advantages to carrying two swords at once. In a strange twisting motion that Ash couldn't quite follow, he turned each attack away so that their attackers' blades flew wide, but he grunted with the effort of it. He was not used to having to defend someone else while fighting, nor to being cornered. His preference was to dance circles around unsuspecting opponents, not to stand his ground and take the full force of blows as they came.
Another round of attacks came, and he ducked and parried them away again, but the effort of it forced him backwards another step, until he was pressed into Ash and nearly pushing her from the ledge. With a sudden burst of energy that seemed to come from nowhere, he whirled and converged on one of the men, his blades coming from multiple directions at once, only to reverse at the last moment and come from yet another angle just when the man had been about to block the attacks. Drizzt's blades drew blood-it happened so quickly that Ash was not even sure where from-and the man shouted in pain.
Drizzt whirled to counter the attack from the second man. He could not have been able to see the blow coming-perhaps he had heard it, or had simply known that logically, it would come. The man, surprised by the sudden counterattack, was not fast enough to stop the jab that came at his throat.
But as Drizzt buried his sword in the second man's neck, the third came at him from behind. Drizzt turned halfway, but there was not enough time to draw his sword out of the dying man and parry the oncoming blade. And now Ash understood why he'd told her to hold off on casting before then.
Drizzt ducked, and Ash jabbed a hand forward, as if swinging her own imaginary sword. A blast of magic energy shot him off the boulder and sent him crashing through the trees below. Guen sprinted after him, sealing his fate.
Drizzt was breathing hard, though whether it was from exertion or from nerves, she wasn't sure. He glanced over Ash as she did him, each checking each other for injuries.
"Now we will just do that twenty more times, and we will be finished," he said between breaths.
Ash sighed, and didn't dignify the optimistic comment with a reply.
"I did tell you about the time with the basilisk, did I not?"
"Shut up." She turned to climb down the boulder, and felt his hand on her arm. She paused.
He was looking into the trees in the far distance, near the village. "Look," he said, suddenly serious again.
She turned to follow his gaze into the darkness, and sighed again. "Drizzt, you know I can't see that."
"There are five," he said quietly. "No, six. One hundred steps that way."
After what had happened between them a few minutes ago, she suddenly wanted very much to forget about Marwood and just stay there with him, alone and safe. But she doubted he would think much of her if she suggested something like that. And she wouldn't think much of herself, either.
"It's dark," she said, raising her eyebrows. Even six of them would have trouble fighting him off he caught them by surprise in the darkness.
"Yes. I can intercept them before they reach the village."
"And then?"
He looked up at her, violet eyes luminous in the moonlight. Guen, finished with her grim work, padded over the soft ground to wind herself around his hips. "Then, we fight," he said. "I will meet you in the village."
"We're not going together?" she said, alarmed.
He gave a small smile. "You are a great spellcaster, but your feet are...a little loud."
"I see."
"We will not be far from each other. Try not to draw attention to yourself. Stay low until you see them. Do not let them see you first."
Distantly, she heard a panicked shout from the village. The first of the raiders were already there.
"Gods, it's really happening," she whispered.
"Keep your eyes on your opponent, Ash."
She nodded. Suddenly their hideout felt very far from the village. There was no time to be wasted.
"Be careful," he said.
"Don't get shot."
He smiled. "I will try not to." He gave a final nod, then he and Guen disappeared into the darkness of the forest. While they went toward the intruders Drizzt had seen among the trees, Ash started toward the village. She moved slower than he did-he was correct that she did not share his uncanny ability to run though brush in complete silence, and his advice to stay out of sight rang in her ears. She knew there would be more of the raiders around, even if she could not see them yet.
She came to a stop at the outskirts of the village between two houses, and waited among the trees. The only light came from the moon and the narrow shafts of firelight that shone from a few windows, so she listened more than she watched.
In the distance, there was a quick shout, cut short. A few moments later, there was another. Several urgent voices spoke quickly, too far for her to hear distinctly. She jumped as the sound of a sword against metal armor rang out into the night. And then, a figure came sprinting out of the trees and into the middle of the village.
Two more figures quickly followed, and then a large, dark, cat-like shape flew through the air after them. In one terrifyingly long bound it had tackled one of the men to the ground. There was a crunch as its jaws tore into the man's neck. Ash suppressed a chill, still finding it hard to reconcile this vicious creature with the calm, even playful animal that had slept right beside her countless times over the past few weeks.
She was so mesmerized by Guen that she didn't realize that Drizzt was also there until one of the other raiders suddenly groaned and dropped to the ground. He'd drawn his hood up over his hair, which made the reflective metal of his swords the only part of him that she could properly see. As another figure struck out at him, he dodged easily out of the way and returned a slice at the man's side. The man gasped and backed away, favoring his bleeding side.
"Bastard," he said, out of breath. "How did you know we were coming? Who are you?"
"Drizzt Do'Urden," Drizzt said, an utterance which the raider surely did not understand, and then feinted and slashed at the man again. The raider narrowly avoided being eviscerated, although the sword still managed to slice a hole through his shirt.
As Drizzt was occupied with his opponent and Guen was with hers, the third figure circled around to flank Drizzt. Ash jumped up, chanting, but before she could cast, Drizzt had spun out of the way of both attacks and somehow managed to get in two jabs of his own at the same time. Ash stopped chanting and lowered her hands to her sides when she realized that he still had it all in hand. He whirled around them, raining innumerable quick blows on both of them while taking none of his own, and she realized that, after a while, she was watching more with admiration than distaste. He made it beautiful to watch. His tattered cloak floated around him as he weaved around their weapons, and the grace and delicacy of his movements made him seem like a being made of shadow, like something of another world-and, Ash supposed, that was what he was.
When both of the raiders were dead on the ground, Drizzt turned to look at her, having already spotted her in the darkness. She couldn't see his face, but he gave her a brief nod, an affirmation that things had gone well so far. Ash nodded back.
By then, doors were opening. Lamps and torches were being lit. People were peering out windows. Guen bent as if to pounce at a nearby figure in a doorway, and Drizzt had to call out to stop her.
Ash pressed her back to the wall of the closest house, hoping to blend in to the darkness. As she did so, an arrow pounded into the wood just to the left of her head. When she had recovered from her shock, she ducked low and darted around the side of the house, watching the darkness in the forest where the arrow had come from as she did so. She could not see the source of the attack, but she didn't have to-Guen dove into the woods, and there was a growl and a very short, strangled cry before more shouts and roars.
Ash spotted more figures encircling Drizzt, and then another group coming down the road from the other direction. Suddenly the village was filled with noise and movement coming from every direction. Several people had leapt out onto their porches, lanterns and bows raised threateningly at things they could hardly see. Several more screamed. Figures ran past. Ash ducked lower against the wall, spotting swords in the hands of the ones nearest her. All attempts at stealth were done now. The raiders knew they'd been discovered, and now it was time to attack.
She struggled to make sense of all the things vying for her attention. Instinctively, she started toward Drizzt, who was now warding off several foes at once. But then he turned and ran back into the woods. His opponents paused for a moment in surprise, then ran after him, oblivious to the deaths that clearly awaited them in the dark wood.
A few houses down, a screaming voice stuck out to her. A young voice. The unsteady light of a swinging lantern revealed two figures, and one smaller, brown-haired one between them. Kala. Ash rushed down the road toward them, chanting.
Kala's mother, Sharlin, clutched the girl close as Elva tried to fight off two people with something long-a broom, she realized. A broom, against the two swords. The lantern in Sharlin's hand went flying as one of them tried to grab her, and flames spread across the floorboards of the porch.
One of the attackers' swords came down on the broom, cutting the handle in half. Ash raised a hand and punched the air as she spoke the last word of the chant. Both of them had just enough time to look up and see her before they went flying backwards high into the air and then skidded far across the road.
Kala, Elva, and Sharlin watched them, shocked, then turned to Ash. Kala gave her a slow smile before Sharlin pulled the girl behind her. She and Elva looked no more happy to see Ash than they'd been to see the raiders, though now their gaze was tinged with a confused suspicion that hadn't been there before.
Suddenly remembering the fire, Elva tugged off his cloak and threw it over the flames, then stomped over it to put them out.
Ash took in the scene around them. There were more of the raiders appearing from all directions. More than she and Drizzt could take on alone. Across the road, she spotted someone holding a torch to the thatch roof of the Fletchers' house. She tried not to panic. This was more than they could handle at once. Far more. She looked around for Drizzt and Guen, but they were nowhere to be seen, despite his promise that they would not be far away.
"Please tell me you've got something in your house that can do more damage than a broom," Ash said to Elva. "Something metal, perhaps?"
"The shed," Elva said, eyes widening as he looked up at his mother.
"You think we're going to fight?" Sharlin scoffed. "We're going to run, and keep our lives."
"Then take a shovel with you, so you can defend yourselves on the way out. You might not have a choice."
Elva and Sharlin exchanged a nervous glance. Elva set his jaw, and an uncharacteristic determination came over him. "Will you help us?" he said to Ash, tentative.
"That's what I'm trying to do." Her growing hopelessness was beginning to come through in her voice despite her best effort. Elva gave her an appreciative nod nonetheless.
She turned to assess the battlefield before her. Half of the Fletchers' roof was aflame. Chanting, she summoned a vast wind that blew over the flames. For a moment, the fire roared and grew, and she was afraid that they would burn through the wind, but then they shrank and dissolved into smoke and ash.
Several raiders had been standing below the house and were pinned against the wall as the wind blew. But as the spell ended, they spotted her. One of the men drew a bow, and Ash tensed. Perhaps if Kelle had been there, she would have been able to magically pluck the bow from the man's hands. Ash had increased her magical strength, but such minute control was still beyond her, so she simply shoved the man sideways, sending him splashing into a nearby water trough. Before the rest of them could reach her, she hefted them high into the air, then let them drop to the ground. They gave a collective shout as they landed. Some of them still moved. Some didn't.
She let out a long breath that she'd been holding, and gasped to catch her breath. Her arms ached as if she'd lifted them with her hands. The magic was already beginning to tire her, and there were still so many of them.
Several of her more able-bodied neighbors were brawling in the road with the attackers, now. Talen was dueling another man, sword against sword. They traded swipes, then Talen spun and cut a deep slice across the man's midsection. He picked up the man's dropped sword and handed it to Orin, and they both set off to find their next opponents with eyes wide and frightened.
She saw Guen stagger out of the trees, bearing several visible wounds and carrying three arrows in her back. The cat seemed to take a last breath, exhausted, and then she dissolved into shreds of black mist.
Drizzt was still fighting off multiple people, dimly lit now with the torches and lanterns flickering all around them. Ash thought he was moving ever so slightly slower now. Every so often there was a small twitch of pain as he moved.
"Ash!"
The voice calling to her came from her left, beside a house by the edge of the forest. It took her a moment to recognize Corin, the boy from the caravan on the road. He'd come back after all.
Then she spotted the two figures standing beside him. One tall and one short. A stray light flashed over them, illuminating their faces for an instant, and Ash's stomach backflipped. Kelle, and Erith. They were here.
Drizzt's hood had fallen back, and he was no longer hidden by the cover of darkness. There could be no doubt to anyone present about who or what he was. Kelle and Erith were both watching him. Erith turned to Ash, only for a moment. He didn't nod or smile or do anything to attempt to allay her residual fears about the two of them, but his presence here was enough to reassure her. They were on the same side, for now.
It seemed that whatever agreement he and Kelle had come to didn't need to be discussed, because neither of them spoke another word as they turned away from Drizzt and started toward the fight.
Erith clambered up to the roof of the nearest house, perched there, and began picking people off with his bow. Kelle simply waded into a brawl. She reached out and grabbed an unsuspecting woman by the wrist, and the raider immediately went stiff, as if turned to stone, then fell to the ground, still frozen in mid-attack.
Renewed hope surged through Ash. With the two of them there, they might still have a chance at winning.
Footsteps ran close to her, and she whirled to find a man coming at her with a sword. She raised her hands, beginning the spell that she had practiced over and over for days on end-the only one she knew she could conjure with a snap of her fingers. She averted her eyes, and let go.
White light exploded from her hands, rapidly flashing on and off. Her attacker stopped short, blinded. In a quick, panicked motion she drew her old stone knife from her belt and jabbed it into the man's throat. He was still trying to blink the blindness away as he fell, dead.
Ash, shaking, dropped her knife to the ground and picked up the man's sword instead. Her breath came in short spurts, and she struggled to keep her wits together under the stress and the nausea she was beginning to feel from all the bloodied bodies she could now see littering the road.
"Ash," said Drizzt, suddenly beside her. "Are you alright?"
Ash looked him up and down. He was out of breath, his hair was out of place, his clothes were wet with blood, and she spotted several small cuts on his arms and thighs. Somehow, he still managed to look lovely despite all of that. Or, maybe because of it. Like a warrior.
"Are you?" she countered.
He might have smiled in another circumstance, but his expression remained grim as he said lightly, "Of course."
Behind him, Ash spotted Elva, Kala, and Sharlin standing in a tight group in the middle of the road, glancing uncertainly around at all the fighting. Zelda and Orin and their two young children had joined them-the infant boy in the crook of Zelda's arm, and her small daughter clinging to her legs. The group was trapped between two different duels, reluctant to move past either of them for fear of drawing attention.
Against her better judgement, Ash started toward them.