Страница 4 из 16
The few who followed Richard, most of them silent, tossed the ritual handful of earth into the grave then turned away, eyes empty of emotion.
The company formed up for the march, Alwin detailing men off to bear the litters of the wounded.
The grave-diggers were nearly finished. In spite of the cold their faces were streaked with sweat and their hot breath made clouds of steam in the air, as they hurriedly worked to complete their task.
At the edge of the clearing De
His left hand drifted down to the hilt of his sword. He looked back over his shoulder. Gregory had been kneeling beside a Tsurani, studying the face of the enemy soldier as if he might learn something about the alien invaders from this man's still features. He had sensed what De
De
Gregory listened for a moment, then relaxed. He looked at De
A flicker of a shadow moved in the darkness of the forest on the trail ahead and De
The shadow stepped out from behind a tree, raised a hand and De
As he approached De
It was a bit of protocol that at times bothered De
'Tinuva,' several of the men sighed, as the elf came into the clearing. They were obviously relieved. Weapons were resheathed.
The elf nodded a greeting. He looked over at the burial detail, busy filling in the grave and paused for a moment, head lowered, offering his thoughts for the fallen. At last, he looked back at Gregory. 'You were right, two of them did escape.' he a
'And?' Gregory asked.
'Good fighters, tough, a long chase,' Tinuva said, matter-of-factly.
'So you got all them?' De
The elf shook his head. He was obviously winded after the long chase.
De
After nodding his thanks, the elf drank then handed the flask back.
'Not sure,' Tinuva replied. 'Their commander might have sent a ru
De
'Then we must assume someone did get out,' Gregory a
'I always assume that,' De
Gregory did not reply.
'I sense something else here as well,' the elf said.
'The Dark Brothers?' Gregory asked and the elf nodded.
'Did you see signs?' De
The elf reached into a pouch dangling from his belt and drew out the broken shaft of an arrow. 'It's their make – Clan Raven. Not more than a league from here. I came across tracks as I was returning here after finding the two Tsurani. There was blood on the snow. Someone killed a stag, quartered it and then headed back north. Four of them, early this morning, an hour after the snow started to fall today.'
'Only four?' De
The elf shook his head. 'No, there are more. What I found was just a hunting party foraging for food. The forest whispers of them. They're out here: something is stirring.' The elf nodded towards the mountains to the north, barely visible in a gathering darkness, to the north.
'How many?'
Tinuva closed his eyes for a moment, as if to aid his thinking. 'Hard to tell,' he whispered. 'We eledhel have history with the moredhel.'
Gregory gave a quick shake of his head to De
'They are as difficult to track as we are, unless they are close by or out in large numbers.' He looked northward again. 'Up there, distant, but in large numbers, I would judge.'
'Why?' asked Father Corwin, who was standing at the edge of the group.
Several of the men turned to look at the priest. Suddenly embarrassed, Father Corwin lowered his eyes.
No one answered. Finally the elf stirred.
'Holy one,' Tinuva said, softly. 'Something is begi
Gregory said, 'Are they moving south?'
Tinuva shrugged. 'The hunters whose signs I saw may have been foraging ahead of a larger company, or on the flank. It's difficult to know if they're heading south or in this direction.'
'All the more reason for us to get the hell out of here now,' De
He looked back at the burial party. They were nearly finished; a couple of men were dragging out deadfall and branches to throw over the grave. Several of the men were already returning to the ranks, hooking the short-handled shovels onto their backpacks. A trained eye could easily pick out the burial site today but if it continued to snow, by tomorrow the grave and the nearby Tsurani dead would have disappeared. By springtime, when the snows melted and grass fed by the richness beneath sprang up, it would have disappeared back into the forest.
'Alwin, move the men out.'
'Sir, you said you wanted to speak to the boy first,' Alwin replied softly.
De
Nervously Richard looked up.
'The rest of you start moving,' De
Two men acting as trailbreakers sprinted forward, darting off to either side of the trail, lightly jumping over deadfalls and around tree trunks. Within seconds they had disappeared into the forest. Half a dozen men, the advanced squad, set out next, moving down the trail at a slow trot.
Richard Kevinsson approached, obviously ill-at-ease. 'Captain?' he asked, his voice shaking.
De