Dangerous Games

Chapter 14

The barbarian couldn't see, but he could feel them dropping like a shot duck. He'd tumbled backward onto his rump into the woven seat, so his huge boots stuck out of the side of the tiny vehicle, almost as high as the crumpled wings. He was screaming that he didn't want to fly.

Knucklebones was shouting too. "Turn around, you idiot! Lean out there and grab that wing!"

"Lean out?"

Sunbright could barely hear her for the rush of air. The flitter hummed like a bowstring in the punishing wind. But it wobbled, too, and waffled and sideslipped and spun and shuddered. They were falling, as Candlemas had said, in a spiral, like a maple seed, but the tubes and struts and flimsy wings vibrated so badly

Sunbright's teeth clattered. Or perhaps that was fear.

"The damned wings got crumpled!" the thief shrilled. "Grab them before they break off and we fall!"

"We are falling!"

Sunbright scrambled to drag his boots in and get his rump in the seat rather than his shoulders. But the wild bucking made the task as difficult as mounting a running horse.

"I mean fall like a rock, you fool! We're almost gliding now!"

"What do you know about flying?"

She didn't look at him, but peered all around with her one good eye. Her hands were never still on the twin sticks that banked and tilted the wings.

"I know enough to waggle these sticks, and see where those wings are bent and not straight! Grab 'em or we're dead!"

She punched his shoulder for emphasis, the brass knuckles stinging.

What the hell, the fighter thought. They were going to die anyway. And it wouldn't hurt much when they struck-no more than a cow felt the axe in its brain. Grabbing metal tubes not thicker than his fingers, he hauled himself upright — and almost started screaming again.

The ground, the entire world, was much closer than it had looked from the inverted bear cave behind Knucklebones's stronghold. Yellow-green fields below gave way to dark forests on the slopes of the purpled mountains that loomed here and there. He wasn't sure of any direction because the whole scene swung in wide, wobbly circles. Below his outthrust boot was nothing but air. It was insanity to fly, he thought again. This was worse than clinging to a dragon's ear.

Another thump rapped his shoulder blades.

"Graaaaab!" Knucklebones shrieked.

Clumsily holding on with white knuckles, Sunbright craned overhead. The wings were fashioned of some clear material like glass, only pliable. Laced throughout them were thin wires like the veins in a dragonfly's wing. When the guard dog had crashed into the wings, they'd bent and fractured. Spidery cracks ran through them, and two ends were curled up. Swearing and praying-which was the sky god? — Sunbright unglued one of his hands, reached, and tugged at the wings overhead. They thrummed in his hand, like the flanks of a horse, and the barbarian reflected that the designers really had mimicked a dragonfly when they'd built these. He had to pull hard to drag the wings into position. More of the glassy film crazed, and wires broke. The craft shuddered worse than before, and the barbarian felt terror that they might crumble in his hands.

But as he held on, amazingly, the craft stabilized. The worst of the jostling died away. Only a faint moan and hum was left. Knucklebones hissed as she tugged on the control sticks, but even Sunbright could tell the craft had leveled out, no longer diving, but properly gliding. The ground was so close he saw crows flap out of the tops of elm trees at their approach. Maybe they'd live. The barbarian sighed with relief,

"Thank the gods!" he said, and let go of the wings.

"Don't let go!" screamed Knucklebones.

Twin snaps sounded like whipcracks and immediately they plummeted again.

"Whooooaaa!" Sunbright screamed as he grabbed wildly for the wings, but the fractured parts snapped off and blew away. As they disappeared, long strips were torn off, then the topmost pair split down their length. He snatched for the edges to hold them in place, but they crumbled into splinters.

Knucklebones was screaming hysterically, something about, "-going to hit-"

Trees reared up and clawed at them like monsters with giant, leafy hands. Branches snapped and ripped and slashed. The flitter disintegrated around them. Sunbright made a wild snatch for Knucklebones, to see if he could pull her against his chest, but she was gone. Tubes and wires studded with leaves crashed into his face, smothering him, striking his skull.

Daylight dappled by leaves fluttered before Sunbright's heavy eyelids. His head throbbed abominably, so badly it jarred him awake. He reached to rub his temples and found his arm pinned. It burned too, as if scorched by fire, and ached in a few spots. In fact, all of him ached. But he didn't worry about that-pain never killed anyone, his teachers had loved to note-but being pinned did.

No matter their situation, they had to get clear of this wreck quickly.

Struggling, kicking, grasping, all silently, he fought to open his eyes and clamber free of whatever mess he was tangled in.

Rotating his head, he slowly pieced together the scene, learning among other things that he hung upside down. The flitter had crashed in the branches of an elm tree and still hung there, perhaps thirty feet above the ground. It was in shreds, much of the framework wrapped around his body, with steel fittings and iron leaf edges cutting cruelly. Blood welled in several places, so he'd been unconscious for only a few minutes. Nothing seemed broken, but he ached so much it was hard to be sure.

He cast about for Knucklebones, found her under his right hand, also wrapped in split wicker and tubing. He wondered vaguely if some protection spell didn't linger in the framework, some ward that wrapped the flyers and shielded them in a crash. It wouldn't surprise him. Nothing did when it came to the Netherese and magic.

The warrior gave an experimental rock to see if the flitter dropped any farther, but it hung firm. It had fallen as far as possible and fetched up tight. Carefully prying with strong blood-smeared fingers, he twisted the framework away until he could sit up. Breathing fully again, with his head no longer throbbing, he ripped and tore to free Knucklebones, after first leaning by her cheek to make sure she was still alive, breathing. Her eye patch had ridden up on her forehead. The bad eye was exposed, milky white, with no pupil, and vaguely familiar, though Sunbright couldn't place the vision. Grimacing, he slid the dark leather tenderly in place before tugging her free of the wreckage.

He made a quick check for weapons and found Harvester still home in its back scabbard, Dorlas's war-hammer still holstered-he was glad he'd taken the time to stitch them so well-and Knucklebones still had her elven knife. Two blades would keep them alive.

Sunbright hoisted her in one brawny arm. As an afterthought, he wrenched loose a hunk of tubing laced with delicate wires. He could already think of many uses for it. Little else comprised the flyer, and that was smashed to flinders, so he climbed down the tree. Knucklebones was hardly a burden. Sunbright judged she weighed about as much as a lynx. She was certainly as feisty.

Clutching her rag doll limpness, holding overhead with a scratched arm, he crabwalked along a branch, reached the trunk, and picked his way down one-handed. Finally he jumped the last five feet, and felt an unexpected jolt of joy at feeling the earth-the real Earthmother-under his feet. The rush was so exhilarating he wanted to shout with pleasure.

Instead, he scanned his surroundings, looking and listening, then trotted away with Knucklebones across his shoulder.

He'd gone about two miles, mostly uphill and away from watercourses, toward a knot of pines that topped the next hill, when she began to stir, then fuss and struggle to be put down. Sunbright only cooed, "Rest. I'll carry you to safety. We must keep moving."

But she objected, pushing and shoving feebly, squirming so much he finally set her down. She promptly collapsed, but caught herself before tasting turf. Sunbright waited patiently for her to orient, meanwhile he honed Harvester, though it was already razor sharp.

"Where… are we?" she groaned, shook her head, and scraped at blood from scratches around her eye.

"A forest." he answered casually. "I'm taking us to cover while scouting for materials."

"Cover? Why? Enemies? Materials?"

Even though her body was weak, her brain fought to defend itself by asking questions, gathering information.

Sunbright didn't argue, just sheathed Harvester, plucked her up across both shoulders like a gutted deer, and trotted quicker uphill. The trees here were maples, their rustling leaves heavier on the south facing side. By jogging from trunk to trunk and slipping behind to the side with fewer branches, he could zigzag quickly.

"I don't know what kind of enemies to expect," he whispered as he puffed along. "But once the forest settles back from that disruption, everything from shrews to vultures will come scavenging. I'd rather learn what's about from a distance."

"What… materials?"

"Flint, a likely spear, moss, alder or willow or ash-"

"Flint?" her groggy voice came to his left ear. Despite the rough trip, her head was comfortably pillowed on her hand. "Start fires? What's… moss?"

"No, to make spearheads. Gray flint will do to start. It's easier to flake. White or yellow is better, but I doubt we'll find any this high. We need a streambed for that. Moss is for wounds, to keep down infection, and to disguise the smell. But I dislike these woods. The signs are odd."

"Odd…?" But she lapsed out again.

Panting, but glad to run freely for miles without limit, Sunbright reached the knot of pines atop the hill. Crouching, he wove his head back and forth until he found what he wanted: a blowdown. One of the taller trees had toppled in a strong storm. Circling the crater left when the roots ripped out, Sunbright tracked along the high trunk until he found a slot they could slide under. Laying Knucklebones gently on fallen brown needles-how he loved their smell! — he plied the war-hammer to break off brittle branches, then laid them butt up against the trunk. In minutes he'd cleared a space big enough to prop Knucklebones against the tree. Turning outside, he broke and laid more branches, and heaped pine needles across the top, but carefully, so as not to dig up deeper needles with their darker color.

He slipped inside, found that the lean-to let him sit up. He piled more needles around Knucklebones for warmth, for she was still groggy. A strut-shaped lump had formed across her forehead, turning a livid purple.

"Stay here and keep quiet," he instructed. "I'll fetch us food." The handful of rations he'd picked from Candlemas's tray had been lost when his haversack was torn in the tree.

Knucklebones started to protest, but slipped into unconsciousness again. When she awoke, Sunbright was hunkered close. Sun slanted through the brown roof at a low angle. She'd slept most of the afternoon away. In the meantime, Sunbright had been busy. He had a brace of dead rabbits and a porcupine, an ingeniously folded box of birch bark that held water, two long, slim staves, and various rocks of different colors. He was industriously slicing a rabbit with his belt knife against a slab of bark, eating every other slice.

The barbarian extended a red hand with a thin strip. Wordlessly the thief took it, though she made a face.

"Can you eat it raw?" he asked.

"I've eaten sewer rats," she replied. "But we always cooked them."

"I won't risk a fire yet. I don't like the looks of these woods."

"What about them?"

Knucklebones was uneasy. She'd never been on the ground in her life, never even known anyone who'd been there-except Sunbright. The earth felt curiously alive under her rump, and the wind hissed incessantly in the trees overhead, talking in its own secret language, speeches alien to her city bred ways. And though she'd been unconscious, she knew they'd come miles. Back in Karsus, she'd known every inch of open space, both above and below the streets, had visited the insides of hundreds of buildings, illicitly or not. But this world was so wide. How much farther could they go? How could any one person ever know it all?

"I'm glad-" she stopped as he looked up, "glad I'm with someone who knows the forest."

The barbarian worked off the rabbit's skin, began to gently scrape the inside.

"I don't know the forest well," he told her. "The taiga and the high sierra, those are the places my tribe visits on our yearly round. This forest is similar to one I knew up north. Though many things are different, I think we can win through."

"How did you catch those animals?"

"Snares. I used wire from the wreckage across a rabbit trail, then set them again. The porcupine I knocked down with a stick and clubbed. They're so easy to catch my tribe considers it unsporting. But they're good eating when you need it, and we can use the quills later. I've got materials for a simple bow, but I'll need a few hours to assemble one. The arrows will only be good for short range. There are fish in a stream farther down we can gig, or else drop snakeroot in the water to bring them to the surface. But I can't decide if we should stay on the ground or move into a tree for the night. There's bear scat around, but I think it's black bear, not brown. Black bears are harmless, while browns will attack if provoked. No sign of panthers, but this forest is… troubled."

"Troubled?"

She remembered his muttering about signs, reflected that for someone who claimed to not know the forest, he knew quite a bit.

"Look," he said and inverted the rabbit skin to show her the eyeless head. The ears looked long and silky and normal, until she noticed a second smaller pair. He showed her a beetle an inch long. When he parted the carapace, the wings were crumpled. "I've never seen or heard of a four-eared rabbit. And beetles are the harbingers of the earth. They're so common, any corruption suggests dangers or sickness hereabouts."

Knucklebones muttered, "It's not the Dire Woods, is it?"

"What?" Sunbright froze. "What's that?"

The thief shook her head as if in dismissal, said, "An old story. Karsus, when he was first fooling with his heavy magic, conjured up such a huge amount that it began, I don't know… sucking all the magic from the city, so much the whole enclave tilted in the sky and was in danger of falling. This was years ago.

"Karsus levitated the heavy magic and sent a Tolodine's gust of wind to blow it off the city. It fell, and the city came upright, saved, but after that Huntsmen warned that a reach of High Forest had been struck by the magic. It rolled downhill, scattered all over, and poisoned the place. They called it the Dire Woods after that. Wulgreth, a renegade wizard living there, was turned undead because the magic… did something. I don't know what."

"It severed his link to life," Sunbright judged. "These mages extend their lives unnaturally with magic. A dash of corrupt magic like that could remove the life, yet leave the body living-undead."

He shuddered with a barbarian's fear of zombies and liches. But logic prevailed. "True," he mumbled, nodding. "It could be true. It explains the signs. We're not in the Dire Woods, but they're not far. These corrupted animals have strayed from it, or else the bad magic leaked out. How's your head?"

"What? Oh."

Knucklebones touched her forehead, swollen far out by a bruise. She flinched at the pain, tried to rise, but fell back, dizzy. "I wouldn't have this," she accused, "if you hadn't let go of those damaged wings. But we should move."

"I know," he said, smiling, "and I'm sorry, but we won't move yet. Rest."

Darkness had fallen. Sunbright worked by feel to wrap the game in their skins and lay everything where he could find it in the darkness. "Sleep," he whispered, "I'll guard."

She didn't argue, only laid down gratefully as he slid the curtaining branch up and scooted out. Lapsing into glorious sleep, she reflected that, even if she were trapped on the ground, it was nice to have someone watch over her for a change.

They camped in that spot for several days, Sunbright catching game and fish, repairing their meager possessions, explaining the way of the forest to Knucklebones. Everything was new to her, and frightening, but they were content to relax and not be hunted.

Too good to last.

Knucklebones came wide awake in their lean-to when, late at night, something smashed its head into her sanctuary.

Knife in hand, the thief rolled out of danger even before she knew what was attacking. Something with a long neck and clashing jaws crashed through the lean-to, scattering pine needles and breaking branches. A pointed snout full of dagger teeth nipped at her heels as she dived like a rabbit for the end of the shelter. Where Sunbright had stopped breaking branches, some were snapped off against the ground while others stuck out whole. Into this tangle of jackstraws the young thief vaulted, until she'd left the raspy-voiced monster behind.

What was it? And where was Sunbright?

She heard him shout, the mad, barbaric hollering he made in battle. Was he fighting the toothy beast, or something else? His voice came from the wrong direction, so there were more fiends. Or worse. Flickers of torchlight came and went, so people attacked too.

Wriggling on elbows and knees, Knucklebones followed the tree trunk until she came to a hollow and slithered under. A canopy of brown branches hid her. Readying her knife for a quick thrust, keeping a branch as a screen, she peeked up and out.

The scene was like nothing she'd ever seen in Karsus.

Hunched and brutal men in ragged skins encircled Sunbright. With them were-Knucklebones didn't know what. The beasts were lizards, clearly, with black eyes and shining white teeth like a shark's, and hairless, dappled hides. They were taller than a man, like giant birds without feathers. Saddles with high cantles were strapped about them and they had reins around their snouts. She noted the men wore the hairless skins of the same beasts, seeing clearly by the light of torches held in tall brackets on the rear of the saddles, raised high to tower over the riders' heads. The light wobbled and danced across the forest floor and tree trunks as the lizard mounts tried to kill Sunbright.

The raiders had been four men on four mounts, but Harvester's flashing blade had already killed one lizard and two riders. It was the riderless lizard that had hunted Knucklebones. Perched atop the fallen trunk, Sunbright was surrounded by survivors. The lizards snapped their teeth, threatened to snatch him with long claws and rend him. Just as dangerous, the two ugly men plied short two part spears. A long handle like a throwing stick had a ring around one end, and the stabbing half of the spear slid in and out of this ring. By craning backward, the men could fling the throwing stick at incredible speed, yet yank it back in a second to fling again. Sunbright was already nicked in half a dozen spots, bleeding freely. It wouldn't take much more to weaken and topple him-unless Knucklebones helped.

She couldn't see how, though. In the city, she would circle under cover, get in close to stab from behind, then retreat to safety before being caught. As it was…

Sunbright held Harvester in his right hand and kept his left hand outthrust for balance and defense. He had the tree trunk to himself, a tall and solid platform, but he was clearly surrounded with nowhere to retreat. Hurled by a mounted rider, a spear shaft flew, and he sidestepped. The mounted men had the range now, were accustomed to the torchlight, and worked together. As Sunbright sidestepped one thrust, the other rider stabbed from behind. Sunbright caught the flicker at the corner of his eye and slung Harvester backward to bat the thrust away, but the move netted him little, for the rider simply tried again.

The barbarian changed tactics. As the first man thrust, Sunbright swiped and grabbed the shank. Surprised, the man held on, and Sunbright pulled for all he was worth. He flew forward into the face of the lizard thing, which flinched instinctively. In that second, he whipped Harvester up and over. The heavy tip chopped the rider on the shoulder, cutting to the bone so the man dropped his two part spear with a grunt.

Sunbright crowded the lizard beast so it couldn't pull its head down to bite. He snaked Harvester alongside and sawed into its neck, but as he struggled, he realized a fatal error.

Unlike the others, this beast had two heads.

A searing jolt jarred his left arm as he was bitten hard. Teeth like fishhooks ripped his flesh, tore muscle, jerked, and twisted savagely to open a vein. Sunbright grit his teeth to keep from screaming and backed toward the other head to drag the cut. Harvester came with him, and he hauled the pommel back into his gut to twist and slam the beast's neck. But the first head undid him, snapping shut on his wrist. At this rate, he thought, he'd be torn in half.

Then the bleeding rider on the thing's back smashed his spear down on Sunbright's head so hard the shaft broke in three places. The barbarian dropped.

All this happened before Knucklebones could plan an attack. Forest fighting was unknown to her, and her first inclination was to run anyway, leaving the unlucky to die while the rest fled and lived.

But she'd delayed too long, for the riderless beast, questing for fresh meat, circled the tree and found her.

The thief bleated as the lightning fast head stabbed, fishhook teeth clicking shut an inch from her face. She dropped down and made to scuttle back under the tree trunk, but the lizard was faster. At a crash of parting brush she felt the teeth latch on to her bare foot. She shrieked at the pain, jerked, but couldn't free herself. Whipping around to stab with her knife, she only fetched up in branches with sharp points. For a second, panic froze her, for she harbored a special horror of losing her one good eye, and she could easily pop it amidst these splintered branches.

The long necked beast planted bird-like claws and hauled with rapid jerks. Its power was unstoppable. Dragged by her gashed and bleeding foot, the thief was yanked from the shelter as branches snapped and rained.

Barely was she exposed to cool night air before a heavy shape crashed both knees on her spine. She smelled wood smoke, stale sweat, and rancid grease. Still wriggling to get free despite the agony in her shredded foot, a meaty fist bounced off her skull, stunned her, sent waves of white-hot pain through her bruised forehead. Rawhide cords bit her wrists, wrapped so tight her fingers went numb.

She was lost on unknown ground, a prisoner of savages, bleeding, wounded, heartsore. And Sunbright might be dead.

Knucklebones wished she were back in the sewers, taking her chances with spider golems and brutal guards.