The Northern Approach Read online

  Yoska laughed and nodded, adjusting his silk shirt to cover the cut. “I would expect the same,” he admitted. “Are many good theories why I still breathe. One is that I am hardy man, too tough for little cut to kill. Better theory is that one of my wives is happier being dead while I am alive, so she keeps me from joining her. She had eyes on my brother and I think he may have hand in this, if she keeps me here.”

  Yoska then dug around in the torn and battered remains of his pack and produced a few scraps of dried fruit and meats, which he split with Raeln. They said nothing as they ate the tiny meal, with Yoska apparently lost in thought and Raeln staring off toward the light that had grown bright.

  “If you worry so, go find our magic green man so we can leave,” the gypsy said suddenly. “Is more helpful than staring at cave wall, yes?”

  Raeln agreed with him, checking again on the man’s blanket. The cloth had mostly dried and Yoska appeared to be far more comfortable than he had been when they had arrived earlier. He would likely be fine for some time if Raeln could not return right away. Assuming Yoska did not stress his wound too badly, he would probably recover quickly.

  Hurrying toward the dim daylight, Raeln went as far as he could on the little island, inching out until his toe-claws were lapped by the water. From there he could see that the river deepened rapidly toward the drop-off at the end of the cavern. The falls there could have been anywhere from a foot tall to a thousand feet, but from the island, he had no way of knowing.

  “On’esquin!” he called out, his voice echoing back at him several times. No reply came.

  Reluctantly, Raeln stepped into the water and shivered. If anything the water seemed colder than before, if that were possible. Still, he had few options left if he was going to ever leave the cave. On’esquin had gone that direction and so Raeln would too.

  Raeln plunged ahead, clenching his shivering jaw to keep his teeth from clattering as he sank up to his waist in the rapidly moving water. He did what he could to maintain his balance and not slide as he continued up to his chest, the waters shoving at him steadily, trying to tug him into the flow and on to whatever destination lay at the end of the drop-off.

  Turning, Raeln went toward the edge of the cavern, reaching the stone wall just as his feet were swept out from under him. He caught himself against the wall, clinging to the rough stones to ensure he could control his movement.

  Raeln leaned out over the edge of the steep slope, finding the river had long ago bored a hole down through the rock and into what appeared to be another chamber. The round passage between where he stood and whatever was below was filled with crashing water. He could not see much, but he could make out stones far below and brighter light. Lying in the little bit of daylight, On’esquin was beside the rocks at the edge of the water and looked as though he were dead. It did not appear that he had fallen on them, but rather collapsed beside them. Perhaps he had fallen and then crawled a short distance.

  “A knife and drowning can’t kill him, but a fall can?” muttered Raeln, barely recognizing his own words around a nearly numb tongue and the roar of the water. “I can’t find one normal person to travel with, can I? Greth, this is on you for leaving me alone with these people.”

  Looking over his shoulder, Raeln could just barely see Yoska, sitting up on the little island. The man had opened up the small backpack he wore and appeared to be drinking from a flask. Upon seeing Raeln watching him, Yoska held up the flask in a salute better suited to a tavern than the cave they were in.

  “He’s fallen!” Raeln shouted, getting a nod in response. He could not be sure Yoska actually knew what he had said over the pounding water. “I’m going down! I won’t be able to get back up!”

  Nodding, Yoska held up a finger to indicate Raeln should wait a moment. The man pulled a spool of rope from his pack and pointed at it. Before Raeln could reply, Yoska hurled it into the water, letting it race toward Raeln.

  Raeln swore and tried to reach out toward where the rope appeared to be headed, but he knew it was too far out. He would miss it by a foot or more in the swift waters.

  Kicking away from the wall, Raeln snagged the rope before it went over the edge and then tried to catch himself on the stones he could see beneath the surface of the water. They tore into his legs and hands, but he managed to stop his movement, if only temporarily. All the force of the water draining from the room pressed against him, threatening to dislodge him at any moment.

  Ducking under the water, Raeln looped the rope over one of the larger stones, hoping it would hold. He came up once it was knotted, taking a deep breath as the current continued to batter him against the rocks. Once he was sure he had a good grip on the rope and it likely would not slip, he slid himself up and over the stones, letting the current take him.

  Raeln tumbled through the water, pulled rapidly down the steep slope until the rope snapped taught. Dangling from it mere feet over the sharp stones that lay at the bottom of the falls, Raeln searched for anywhere he could safely let himself down. The only spot he could see was near On’esquin, where the rocks were more worn and smooth, giving him some chance of not being torn apart by the current. However, if he fell there, he was not certain he could get back to the rope.

  One thing at a time, he told himself, then kicked off the bottom of the river, letting go of the rope as he did. The falls grabbed hold of him immediately, hurling him over the edge and down toward the stones more swiftly than he had expected. Halfway down, he knew that he had missed the gap between the rocks that would have been the only safe place to land. With a cry of pain, he crashed into the stones with his right hip, flinging his arms out to grab hold of anything he could reach before he could be dragged any farther away from On’esquin.

  Looking up through his tears as his leg throbbed, Raeln could see On’esquin only a foot away at the edge of the water. Raeln’s aim had been good, despite the rough landing. Using only his arms, Raeln pulled himself over to On’esquin and then hoisted himself mostly out of the water onto the stones, though he continued to be pummeled by the endless spray from the falling water. “On’esquin,” Raeln said, though he could barely hear himself. “On’esquin!”

  The orc’s lids fluttered and he groaned and took a breath. Opening his eyes, he looked at Raeln with surprise. “Where am I?” he shouted, turning his head about to survey his location. “I…the tunnel. I came back out and slipped.”

  Raeln had no desire to discuss things while they both lay at the bottom of the deafening waterfall, so he grabbed On’esquin’s arm to help him up. As he did, he realized nearly black blood flowed freely from gashes in the orc’s arm. His eyes widened in surprise and On’esquin’s sudden tensing told him the man was equally surprised.

  “We need to get out of here!” On’esquin shouted to be heard over the water. “Get the gypsy!”

  Raeln nodded and searched the falls for the rope. Wherever it might be, he could not find it in the crashing water. He looked up and saw Yoska was braced against the stones at the top of the falls, watching him with impatience. Making the gesture more broad than necessary to ensure he could be seen in the near-dark, Raeln shrugged and pointed at the falls, hoping Yoska would understand he had no idea how to get him down.

  Frowning deeply enough that Raeln could see it even from the bottom, Yoska crawled up onto one of the larger stones. He stared at the roof of the shaft the falling water had created and then squinted down at Raeln and On’esquin, letting his eyes drift over the stones in the water. Finally, he stood up on the rock at the edge, put his feet together as he straightened his back, and closed his eyes.

  “What is he doing?” On’esquin shouted, clutching his wounded arm to his chest. “He’ll kill himself! Find some way to stop that idiot!”

  Raeln knew there was nothing he could do. Instead, he closed his eyes and uttered a short prayer to the old gods—the dragons and elementals he had learned actually existed, even if he knew they were not truly gods. Before he opened his eyes again, he heard a
soft splash nearby.

  Turning, Raeln saw Yoska surface as the current swept him away. Somehow the man had leapt off the falls and come into the water gracefully enough that he did not break every bone in his body on either the stones or the water’s surface. He appeared to only be using one arm to pull himself toward shore, which let Raeln know he had made his side ache again, if nothing else.

  “Start walking!” Raeln told On’esquin, pushing off of the stones himself. Almost immediately the rapids swept him downstream, following Yoska’s path.

  Unlike the first section of the river and the cavern above, this area was littered with rocks. Raeln bounced off several, feeling them cut into his clothing yet again, but surviving the river was far more important to him than injuries and pain. Those he could ignore if it got the three of them away from whatever had hurt On’esquin.

  As he was thrown about by the rapidly moving water, Raeln caught glimpses of the cave around them and then suddenly it was gone, replaced by open sky. They had been brought out of the tunnels, though where he could not possibly guess. They could figure that out once they were safely on land again.

  Soon the speed of the water slowed dramatically and Raeln managed to right himself and get his head above the surface. Blinking away the water that blinded him, he saw Yoska sitting on the shore of what appeared to be a large retaining pond they had come into, which then exited via another stream that continued on through the mountains. In all directions, he could see bright-blue sky and snow-tipped mountains.

  Raeln swam hurriedly to shore using his arms and his one good leg, coming up only a few feet from where Yoska was resting. It did not take him long to catch his breath, and once he had, he began looking for On’esquin.

  Whatever was happening to the orc had gotten even worse. He was floating facedown, and not moving as the current brought him past the shore. As he came out of the caves and into the light, Raeln watched helplessly as On’esquin slammed into a large stone and spun about. The orc did not even twitch as he struck the rocks.

  Hopping back into the water and nearly screaming with the pain of moving his wounded leg, Raeln caught On’esquin’s boot with one hand and pulled him to shore. It was slow going, maintaining his balance on one foot while dragging a man that was likely half again his own weight, but he eventually got them both onto dry land.

  As soon as Raeln reached the shore, Yoska went to On’esquin and checked him, giving Raeln the time he desperately needed to sit. He tried to ease himself down, but his leg would not move, and any time he tried, the pain from his hip was incredible. Finally, he resorted to getting as low as he could on his good leg and then fell over, catching himself with his arms and lowering himself the rest of the way.

  “He is not breathing,” warned Yoska, shaking his head as he pushed against On’esquin’s chest in an effort to clear any water left in his lungs. Each time he thumped the man’s armored chest, On’esquin would cough up a fresh mouthful of water. “Did he overstate his ability to stay alive?”

  Raeln pulled himself over to the other men, trying hard not to put any weight or pressure on his hip. Once he reached On’esquin, he pushed Yoska aside and began pumping the orc’s chest, getting far more water out with his greater weight and strength. After two hard pushes, On’esquin gagged and coughed and then breathed on his own, though he did not open his eyes.

  “We’ll wait here overnight. Neither he nor I are in any condition to travel,” Raeln told Yoska once he was sure On’esquin was not going to stop breathing again.

  The gypsy nodded and looked down at Raeln’s leg, but did not comment. After a minute, Yoska began rummaging through his pack, clearly taking inventory of their remaining supplies. The frown that gradually deepened across his face told Raeln all he needed to know about what he was finding.

  Raeln lay down on his back and tried to ignore the pounding pain in his hip with no success. Then, realizing he was able to lie flat, he fumbled for his own pack and found the bag was shredded and empty. “I have no food,” he noted aloud, groaning. “What do we have left?”

  Yoska made an annoyed click with his tongue and shook his head. “Maybe one day worth of booze. Plenty of water, but no way to carry it. Most of what I had is gone. Green man has few spare weapons and maybe a few bites of food. Was good thing we ate well yesterday.”

  “Then in the morning, we figure out where we are and hunt until we have enough supplies to go on. There have to be fish in the water.”

  Laying back down, Raeln tried to let sleep take him, but it would not come. Instead, he found himself staring over the small lake at the outlines of the mountains. In the deeper sections of woods that seemed always in shadow, he could feel eyes watching him or his companions. All he could think of was the endless clattering footsteps he had heard following them in the dwarven fortress as he longed to take turns patrolling with Greth.

  Chapter Four

  “The Lost”

  If they have already failed, my predictions from this point forward mean little. I see disaster, I see death, and I see loss. A child’s death keeps coming to me, though I do not know its significance, beyond being a symbol of what will come. I feel the breaking of bones and gasps for breath, but what comes after is a blur.

  Not all of these things will come to pass…in fact, none of them might.

  Let them find what was lost and embrace it. Only through their understanding can progress be made. Then and only then will they find their way out of the hunting grounds created to trap them.

  The hunter has become the hunted, yet they do not know. Gather the prey and turn on the hunter quickly.

  - Excerpt from the lost prophecies of Turess

  Raeln stood at the edge of the wide woods, which stretched in both directions as far as he could see, rising ahead of him as the foot of the mountains gave way to the steep slopes beyond. Among the trees he could see nothing, as though the shadows defied the sun that shone down on him. He could hear movement out there, but nothing caught his eye.

  Turning, he looked back at the city in the distance. Lantonne, in all its glory, stood waiting for him to return. On the plains between himself and the walls of the great city, he could see his mother, Asha, and his sister, Ilarra. They watched him, waiting for him to come back.

  “They will wait like that forever. You know that, right?” asked a familiar voice from the direction of the woods.

  Raeln turned to the woods and saw Greth standing near the closest tree. The wolven man stood casually, as though he had been there the whole time, his tail wagging with amusement as he watched Raeln. His clothing was as Raeln remembered when they had first met—a mismatched assortment of Altisian garments scavenged from merchants.

  He smirked at Raeln and crossed his arms. “Go, be with them if that’s what you want,” Greth went on, nodding toward the plains behind Raeln. “There will always be cities to go back to. Run as far from the wilds as you can. This is a dream. You can go where you want.”

  Walking toward Greth, Raeln touched his dark grey fur, having almost forgotten what it felt like and how he smelled. It was painful to look at him, knowing this could not be truth. As much as his mind shouted at him to wake up, he struggled to stay asleep, to have another fleeting chance to see Greth.

  “I miss you,” he said softly, ignoring Greth’s teasing eye-roll. “I can’t do this.”

  “You managed to go on just fine before you met me, idiot.”

  Chuckling at Greth’s confrontational demeanor that had taken him so long to understand, Raeln pressed his muzzle to the other man’s, wishing he could do that again in his waking life. It would never happen again, though. The final time he had been with Greth was as he drew his last breath, tortured and dying after facing a Turessian—judging by scents and the garb they wore, Yoska’s own daughter. He wanted to hate Yoska for that, but Raeln could not even bring himself to ask the question. It was probably better that way.

  “What will you do?” Greth asked him, making no attempt to pull away. Inst
ead, he brushed at Raeln’s facial fur with his claws.

  “I…I don’t know what I can do,” Raeln admitted. “I’m hurt and struggling to find the strength to keep going.”

  Greth pushed Raeln away a few inches so he could look up into his eyes. “You know how this ends for us,” Greth said, showing Raeln a dagger he had produced from somewhere. “It’s how it always ends.”

  Raeln closed his eyes and shuddered, knowing exactly what Greth meant, then lurched as he woke. Any dream ended like that.

  “Raeln, you need to see this.”

  The heavily-accented voice jarred Raeln out of the brief nap, and it took him a moment to think who could have been talking. Memories of the last few days came back quickly, and he looked around, trying to get his bearings.

  The area where they had camped for the last two nights was still relatively dark, though a soft light had begun to illuminate it, hinting at sunrise at any moment. Yoska knelt in front of Raeln, still clutching his side but clearly feeling well enough to be up and about. He looked worried, which in turn worried Raeln.

  Looking past Yoska, he saw On’esquin was awake, though he appeared ill, propped against one of the beached pieces of stone with his hand to his face. Raeln could smell vomit and wondered idly whether On’esquin was still getting some of the water he had swallowed out of his body.

  “What’s going on?” Raeln asked, seeing nothing around them that might warrant the man’s obvious fear.

  “I patrolled while you slept and saw much that makes me think staying is unwise,” Yoska explained, motioning toward the far side of the lake, where the waters continued down the mountain as another river. “I help you walk so you can see. The green man has already looked and is quite unhappy, though that might be because he drank the whole river.”

  “That wasn’t what I said,” noted On’esquin, his deep voice sounding more hoarse than normal.