Secrets
Chapter Ten: False Identity
Daine and Numair had been walking for hours, with Kitten lagging wearily behind. Upon returning to their realm, they had searched for the missing animals, but to no avail. Presently, they had no idea where they were going, but the trek across the crags and peaks seemed to have a purposeful direction. They never strayed far from the southern course that Daine had set when they found themselves without their horses.
"We're lost. Let's just stop and rest for a while, okay?" Numair leaned against a tree.
"Just a little further, all right? I think I hear something." Daine climbed cautiously up a large rock at the base of a hill. A tune from a pipe floated across a great chasm to her ears. There was a cave in a mountain across the great canyon, from which a soft light glowed welcomingly.
"Numair, come here! I found something!" Numair came, scrambling up the rock, and sending a spray of pebbles down on Kitten's head. She clicked disapprovingly and followed him.
They met at the top, and Daine pointed down across the gorge to the cave. The music from the pipe was louder now, more intense. It called out to them, begging them to follow it, to seek it out and obey. It took all her strength for Daine to fight the call of the pipe.
Numair, on the other hand, shook the tune away easily and focused on its producer. The sound was familiar, but the song was one he had never heard before. Trying to place a finger on the instrument in question, he pulled a mirror out of the satchel at his waist. Using the tune as a focus, he began to see a long, slender flute, made of a heavy, shining rock that resembled metal. Black Pearls, he thought grimly. That's why we're drawn to it. It's magic. He only knew one person who had access to enough black pearls to make such a creation.
"Tristan."
Daine looked up from her concentration. "Tristan? Tristan who? Tristan Staghorn? I thought you turned him into a tree. What does he have to do wi-"
"That's what he meant by rebellion!" Numair said, interrupting her. "Chaos still has some control over her realm, even from her prison. She changed Tristan back into his human form so he could lead the remaining immortals in a rebellion! Mithros, why didn't I see it before?!"
"But what does that have to do with Lindhall?" Daine whimpered, her energy totally drained. "He'd heard of Tristan in Carthak, I know that much, but he was into plants, not dark magic."
Numair sat in thought a moment, the expression on his face deteriorating from excitement into sadness. "He killed Lindhall to get to me. To have his revenge on me. . . And you." He reached out and lazily dragged three fingers down her stomach, which she shrank back from instinctively.
Mithros, help me, she sucked in her breath quickly to keep herself from crying out. She turned back to the cave, biting her lip in anguish. Focusing on the task at hand, she pushed thoughts of murder out of her mind. Numair could handle that part.
The glow in the cave had gotten brighter, casting shadows out onto the ground. She blinked. Was it. . . no, it couldn't be. . . could it? It was. Spidrens. In the cave, surrounding a man who was playing what looked like a flute. She turned to see if Numair had noticed as well. Sure enough, his eyes were trained on the dancing shadows across the canyon. He put the mirror away and took out a small crystal. It began to shine brightly as he held it out and mumbled a few unrecognizable words.
"Numair," Daine hissed at him. "What are you doing?!"
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "I'm getting rid of him once and for all." He went on mumbling.
"Wait! We don't even know if that's him or not! Let's just check it out first, okay?" She pleaded with him, tugging on the sleeve of his outstretched arm.
Sighing, he tucked the crystal back into his satchel. "The voice of reason. Come on, let's go. And be quiet! We don't need-"
He was interrupted by an inhuman scream, piercing the afternoon sky. Daine's head snapped towards the cave, her eyes searching for an answer to the horrifying shriek. She found it seconds later, her mind ablaze in a fiery fury.
A shadow stretched out across the rock, bucking backward, making its identity known to the girl.
Another shriek.
"Cloud," she whispered. The horse bucked again, and Daine could see the cause of her pain. Spidrens encompassed her in a tight circle., poking her repeatedly with their ling, jointed legs.
Daine cried out in horror as she saw a second horse shadow, followed shortly by that of a marmoset. The tiny monkey's screeches and squeals could be heard from where she and Numair sat. Daine fell to her knees and began to sob uncontrollably. She felt her body shift from one animal form to another, over and over until she finally lay still, exhausted and in her original form.
The shrieks continued for some odd moments, then were silenced as a sorrowful ballad spilled from the pipe the man was playing. For the first time, they saw him as he skipped out of the cave and changed his song. The Spidrens followed as if her were the pied piper, dragging a pair of beleaguered horses and a squirming monkey behind them.
Daine looked away, searching for Numair as she did. She saw nothing, only the random shrub or bush rustling in a soft wind.
He was gone.
***
Numair walked warily across the rope bridge that spanned the gorge not one hundred yards from where he had left Daine. He cursed himself for doing so, but he knew that she shouldn't be involved in the impending battle in her condition. She had more at stake than he did, so he would rather to die a slow, horrid, painful death than let her come to harm. Her or the child. He thought fondly of the word, "father". It had meant so little to him, since he hadn't seen his own father in years, long before he even left Carthak. The memory of his parents had been erased the day he arrived in Tortall, when he began a new life as Numair Salmalin.
So now, as Numair hid in wait behind a large patch of berry bushes, the new meaning of "father" struck him breathless. He took out the mirror again and used the focus he had of Daine to find her in the glass. She was sitting where he had left her, looking around frantically. He saw her get up and call out, although he couldn't hear it. She wandered around, while staying in the same area, and continued to shout his name.
Ashamed, he stuck the mirror back in his satchel and removed the crystal to put it in his palm. Concentrating, he enveloped the glowing object in his fingers and began to recite some unintelligible words. The ground to rumble and a large crack opened in the path in front of the bush. Acting quickly, he covered it with brush leaves and dirt, praying that he still had time. Cautiously, he tapped the covering with a foot, testing the strength of the improvised lid. It was strong enough to hold a man, but Spidrens were another story. He grinned to himself and ducked back behind the bush to wait.
***
Daine followed the tracks in the dirt, calling Numair's name in a hushed whisper. After realizing he was no longer there, she had begun to get worried, knowing his rage against Tristan Staghorn could lead him to disaster. The imprints from his boots told her so many things; that he was running, that he was stumbling, and that he fell once. These only made her more concerned. She felt helpless, so incredibly alone, without Numair or Cloud or Zek, even with Kitten trailing precariously behind her. There were no animals in the forest; they'd all gone, fearing the Spidrens. The quiet surrounded her and over took her thoughts. Soon she was stir crazy, searching for something to keep her mind off whatever she might find.
She reached a path that she guessed was about half a mile from the cave, and noticed that the tracks had become jumbled in a mess of incoherent steps. She could hear the whistle from the pipe as it drew nearer. Searching for a place to hide, she behind a bush, where she was greeted with a surprised yelp.
"Mithros, Daine! What in all the gods' names are you doing here?" Numair lifted the startled figure off of his chest and sat her down beside him. She dusted of her clothes, and then his, seeing that they were much dirtier than her own.
"I got worried when I looked up and you were gone, so I followed your tracks until I got to the trail, then I head the pipe, so I – " Daine was shushed a moment later when Numair put a large hand over her mouth.
"You heard the pipe?" he asked, in a barely audible whisper. She nodded in reply. "Okay, I want you to go further down the road. Stay hidden, no matter what you hear, understand?" Another nod. "Promise me you'll stay hidden, with no tricks from your animals. Promise me!"
She removed Numair's hand from her mouth and took it in her own. "I promise, Numair." She kissed him lightly, then with more passion that bordered on inviting. He reached for her blouse, but she brushed his hands aside. "Later, my love." She stood and mouthed, "I love you," before turning and running down the path.
Numair watched her and Kitten go and sighed pleasantly. He looked around to find the crystal, which he had thrown away in his surprise. He found it, a few yards behind him, and stood to retrieve it. He stayed low to the ground, in case he needed to stay unseen.
The pipe tune was growing louder as he picked up the heavy object. It began to glow as soon as he touched it. As he turned, he threw himself to the ground, since he had heard a stick snap behind him on the trail. He watched in silence as Tristan Staghorn led an army of a full score of Spidrens down the trail. Numair watched as Tristan stepped on the covering, and walked on, ignorant of the crack below him. The Spidrens drew closer, the three in the back holding the animals. They all responded to the music with a Neanderthal-like grunt and began to cross the crack in the ground. The leaf and dirt lid gave way underneath their weight and one by one they fell into a seemingly bottomless pit.
Tristan didn't notice until it was too late. The Spidrens, unable to stop themselves because of the call of the pipe, plunged into the hole in the ground. The player stopped his tune and pleaded with the entranced immortals to go no further. Nearly three quarters of the army had disappeared into the depths, but the few that remained were removed from their hypnotic state. They shook their human-like heads and turned upon Tristan in fury, which he avoided by. . . evaporating?
What?! Numair kept hidden in the bush but stuck his neck forward to get a better look at the scene in front of him. There was no sign of Tristan Staghorn anywhere. He had vanished into thin air. A Simulacrum. Numair felt go wide as he realized his fatal mistake. He waited until the Spidrens were to enthralled in their own debates to stand dispose of them.
The two horses and marmoset, who had been long since forgotten, lay motionless on the trail. From what he could tell, they were hurt pretty badly. But nothing Daine can't fix, He thought as he knelt by Cloud's side. No! She can't! It's just too dangerous. He stood abruptly and hurried off down the path.
***
Daine sat in total silence, hoping that the pounding in her head would subside. She had been hiding in the cramped crevice in the side of a hill for over and hour, and still no sign of Numair. Kitten was curled up at her feet, her head on her forepaws, but not really asleep. She too watched out the crack wondering if they would ever see Numair again.
A crunch of rocks and sand under heavily weighted boots shook her out of her daydream. The glint from the sun was blocked out by a figure, unrecognizable from the glare of the light. "Numair?" she whispered. "Is that you?"
An evil laugh confirmed her fears, as she was dragged out by the front of her shirt into the bright noontime sun. She was brought face to face with Tristan Staghorn, who grinned at her sadistically and hissed, "You'd like to think that it was, wouldn't you?"
Author's Note: OMG it has taken me sooo long to write this. Special thanks to Sirena, who helped me out in so many ways, and also just a note to say
GET YOUR F****** STORY UP!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks!