30. Up To the Task
30
UP TO THE TASK
Clinging to leather straps, flying mane stinging her face and hands, Ari was too busy to scream, pray, faint, or wonder. The equine bunched and released under her, a giant spring pulsing in terrified rhythm, and she no sooner reached some kind of equilibrium than the beast shifted direction with a jolt that threatened to send her tumbling. A gathering, a sudden weightlessness, and they were airborne, the creature floating over a half-seen fallen log.
I hope you know what you’re doing, honey . The poor animal had endured enough, and frankly so had she.
Grasping fog-fingers receded, shafts of red sunlight piercing the canopy and strobe-flickering to either side. The equine’s gallop smoothed, though the creature plainly had no intention of stopping, and Ari found she could cling to the reins a little more firmly, leaning into a rhythm now bearing less panic and more purpose.
Zombies. Jesus . But the metal lodged inside their muscles, pistons and gearwheels working in dead flesh, that was a new one. Were they mutating into the big golden robots, or failed experiments?
This Ternek guy’s probably real fun at parties . His name sent a shiver down her back, or maybe that was just the current situation shaking her like a small stuffed toy in a dog’s jaws. The Bright King had strangled a woman in order to take a throne, and he somehow created murderous supersize robots as well as ambulatory corpses.
The chained man, though terrifying in his own right, was looking better all the time. Certainly far more restrained.
Trees flashed by on either side. Undergrowth waved as they passed. The forest was settling, the bright warnings of hi, I’m poisonous becoming far fewer and eventually rare indeed. Straight grey trunk-columns mixed with pale-barked, crimson-leaved trees, a sprinkling of evergreens thickened, and the equine settled into a canter.
Well, settled was a relative term. Ari’s heart pounded nearly in time to hoofbeats, breath thick in her throat, and she felt like a violently shaken soda can. Stealing quick glances left and right, she decided they were indeed out of the Poisonwood, but didn’t dare risk attempting to stop the poor beast.
It seemed to take forever before the equine slowed further. Craggy hills reared on either side, hemming them in, the forest rioting upslope and down. A moving glitter to Ari’s left was a stream, glimpsed and gone. Her back was sore, the feeling attempting to break through a screen of analgesic from magic pondwater, and she wondered again if the liquid merely masked sensation instead of doing any real healing.
But it had made her bruises and cuts shrink, hadn’t it? Her legs were numb; she didn’t even want to think about getting out of the saddle.
The white equine’s canter melded into a trot, its hooves no longer throwing up great clods of earth. Then a walk, plodding, its ears pointed forward and Ari able to move cautiously, looking around in more than small sipping glances.
Thinning trees, hills now higher but also drawing away. The shrubs and ferns were half-familiar, more closely akin to those around the Keep. The rock was dark grey instead of black with mica speckles, great rounded lichen-clad boulders thrusting through the earth’s skin. The white equine was working downhill; Ari glimpsed ochre and amber in the near distance, more undulating grassland in yellow tones instead of green.
Maybe that would be good for her mount, even if its teeth weren’t that of a grazing critter. And Ari had to think about the saddle now; she’d watched the guys strap tack on the horselike beasts more than once. Maybe she could reverse the process.
She didn’t think it possible that anyone had followed their wild career. Her heart pounded in her ears so hard she wouldn’t have heard if they had; her throat was full of thin hot sourness. If she was now on her own, she could at least unsaddle the white beast tonight, hoping it wouldn’t take a chunk out of her with those sharp carnivore fangs.
But then what? Walk? She doubted she could get a saddle back on the big animal, especially if it took exception to the process. Should she try to find this Blight or Mirrored City, hope that the chained man or Jazarl’s guys could track her? Cast around for a ‘door’ to the mortal realm, hop through, and see what the hell? Of course, she had no idea what any doorway would look like, since she’d been knocked out by landslide on her way here.
Or maybe she was dead in her own world, and would start to rot the moment she passed through? Now there was a wonderful thought. She didn’t know nearly enough about the terms and conditions of this bullshit. The reflex of planning ahead, thinking through contingencies, trying to cover every angle had gotten her through living in the house on Hardison Hill, but in the end she’d still been surprised by Mike’s…
What on God’s green earth had set him off? Her brain was leaping around like a ferret on crack, Jesus and gin. She had to think .
The white equine stopped, ears flicking. Ari swayed, cessation of motion nearly knocking her from the saddle as all the shakes and jolts had failed to; the Carcanet was warm, nestling against her skin like a small frightened animal. She freed a cramped, trembling hand, red marks creasing her palm and fingers, and patted her mount’s lathered neck. “Easy,” she managed, in a trembling approximation of their rolling, beautiful language. “Easy, big fella. Or are you a missus?” English words salted her croon; she didn’t have to worry about being overheard.
“That was awful,” she continued. “But I think we lost ’em. You did good, you know that? I was scared too.”
It was so much easier talking to an animal, even one with sharp hooves, pointed teeth, and a few hundred pounds’ worth of muscle on her. The equine’s ears swiveled, and she thought it was probably waiting for direction, some sign that its rider knew what the hell to do.
She had to figure this out, not just for herself but for this poor creature. As usual, Ari doubted she was up to the task.
A headshake and a horsey snort, mane flying, and the equine took a step. Then another, more tentative than she’d thought such a heavy critter could be. Its ears swiveled again, and Ari held her breath.
She heard it too. Hoofbeats.
So she wasn’t alone after all.
The pale dappled grey burst from a screen of foliage, Hannixe on its back moving with natural grace. She spotted Ari, and even at a distance her relief was plainly visible. Ashen hair a banner, skirts floating, she aimed her equine in their direction and managed to slow the beast, leaning back, reins stretched taut.
Not only that, but Keners was right behind her, bending low over the neck of his slightly darker mount. The streak at his temple glowed, and Ari realized the sun was high and the angle of light said late afternoon . When had that happened?
Then Darjeth appeared, clinging to the saddle of his chestnut. He sagged, and Ari’s heart lodged in her throat.
He looked hurt. Or sick. They were all so graceful and healthy, it was a shock to see.
“My lady!” Hannixe, calling breathlessly. She leaned back a little further and her equine obeyed, coming to a halt precisely at Ari’s side. The white beast made a sound that had to be a greeting, tail flicking, and Ari realized she was both hopelessly rumpled and happy to see at least quasi-familiar faces.
“Hannixe.” Her lips shaped the word, silently. Oh, hey. I’m so glad to see you, even if I was ready to do all this alone .
Well, ready might be an overstatement. But still.
“Are you hurt? Let me look at you.” The grey-haired woman freed one hand from the reins, reaching out; Ari’s own fingers lifted, questing blindly. “By silver, I am glad to have kept you in sight. You ride well.”
Liar . But she meant it kindly, Ari decided. Her voice wouldn’t quite work, despite being perfectly usable a few seconds ago.
“Have a care, Hannixe.” Keners arrived on the Grey Lady’s other side, his equine stopping on a dime. “Come, just downslope; we may halt, and rest the mounts. I like not to be so easily seen upon a ridgetop.”
Darjeth’s mount clipclopped up, forging past them. The blond man was pale, and great clear drops of sweat stood out on his forehead. “Thank the Moon,” he said, shortly. “We have outpaced both help and harm; let us take some rest and counsel.”
“Are you all right?” Ari’s fingers finally found Hannixe’s, tangled together briefly before separating. The contact was powerfully soothing. “The others?”
“They were in battle, last I glimpsed.” Darjeth sagged, wincing. “Do not fear for them overmuch, my lady. Our lord prince is with them, and that counts for a great deal.”
“Oh, aye.” Keners made a chirruping noise, and the equines began moving as a pack, picking their way downhill. “Yet until he is fully free, contagion is a risk. Still, he?—”
“Hush.” Hannixe sounded stern, for once. “Of course he will be well, and our other companions too. Perhaps they are already upon our trail, though ’twill be difficult with the forest shifting through renewal.”
Yeah, let’s hope for the best . Mom would be proud of her for even thinking it. Ari arranged her reins, though the horselike thing was deciding where to go and she was simply a relieved passenger. “Darjeth? Are you all right?”
“Well enough, my lady Ari.” His grin was a shadow of its former self, and he held one elbow stiffly clamped to his side. “Though perhaps not for long. Safety is of more import, let us seek what shelter we may.”