Faces of Deception

CHAPTER 6

They pulled the wagon down into the willows, into two feet of cold, clear water, and when Atreus jumped in, his legs went instantly numb. He took Naraka's sword and the hastily loaded rucksack from Yago, then waded forward to where Rishi was freeing the yaks from their harnesses.

"I d-don't think this will w-work," Atreus chattered. "We'll f-freeze to death."

"The good s-sir may have f-faith in his servant." Rishi's hands were shaking so badly he could barely work. "It is our p-pursuers who will freeze, not us. We have yaks."

A loud splash sounded from the rear of the wagon, then Yago said, "Ch-chilly!"

The ogre stooped down and began to bathe his wounded shoulder in the cold water, moving his arm back and forth to work the stiffness out.

"What about Yago?" Atreus kept his voice low. "He's too big for a yak."

"He will find plenty to eat in the swamp. That will keep him warm." Rishi motioned for the rucksack. "The only other choice is to confront our pursuers, and then there will certainly be much killing, which I know the good sir finds so distasteful."

Seeing that the Mar was right, Atreus hoisted the rucksack onto a yak's back. Rishi slipped a rope through the shoulder straps and pulled it toward the beast's withers, then frowned and hefted its weight.

"My goodness, this is light," Rishi remarked. "What does it contain?"

"Our bedrolls and extra cloaks, the last of our food, the cooking pot and water-skins-"

"And what of your treasure coffer?" Rishi broke in.

"My treasure coffer? Even if we had a way to carry it, we don't have time-"

"If you don't bring the coffer, how can you pay me?" demanded Rishi. "You have your own reasons for seeking Langdarma. I am doing it for the gold."

"But Naraka's patrol is-"

"Had the good sir listened to his guide and killed Naraka, the patrol would undoubtedly have turned back by now," Rishi said as he stepped away from the yak. He stood with arms folded, leaving the rucksack to hang half secured. "You may spare your enemies if you wish, but your kindness will not cost me my fortune."

Atreus sighed and glanced through the willows back toward the road. When he saw no sign of Naraka's patrol, he nodded reluctantly. "If we can carry it," he said. "Yago's in no condition-"

"Yaks can carry anything," Rishi said, resuming his work. "You will see."

Atreus laid his sword on the rucksack, securing it in place beneath the cinch rope, then waded over to the front of the wagon. His numb feet were little more than frozen weights, and they slipped twice as he pulled himself onto the driver's footboard. He kneeled on the bench and leaned into the back, reaching for his treasure basket.

The sound of approaching hooves began to drum down the road. Atreus peered out through the back of the cargo bed, looking through the long tunnel of smashed willows the wagon had left in its wake. The leaves were too thick to see up onto the road, but he had little doubt about whom he was hearing. He threw open the treasure basket, then groaned as he hefted the heavy coffer out.

"Here," said Yago. "I'll take that."

Atreus turned to find his friend standing beside the driver's bench, both arms extended to take the coffer. Though the ogre's face betrayed no hint of his pain, he could not quite lift his wounded arm high enough to accept the box.

Atreus shook his head. "You rest your arm, "he said. " We might need it later."

The sound of the drumming hooves grew louder. Rishi came over with the yaks and gently shouldered Yago aside. The Mar was sitting sidesaddle on the lead mount, holding a willow switch in one hand and the second beast's tether in the other.

"Perhaps you will hold the coffer until we have time to secure it," said Rishi. "It should not be long. Most likely, our pursuers will not even notice where we left the road."

Up on the road, Naraka chattered several commands in Maran, and the galloping hooves suddenly slowed.

"They noticed," Yago growled.

"It means nothing." Rishi waved Atreus toward the yak. "If you will be so kind as to mount, they cannot follow us into the swamp."

Atreus threw a leg over the yak and settled down behind its humped shoulders. He saw at once why Rishi had chosen to sit sidesaddle. Straddling the creature's broad back was incredibly uncomfortable, but with both hands holding the coffer, the only way to keep his balance was to squeeze the beast between his knees.

The rattle of falling stones sounded from the road bank. A single pony whinnied as it stepped into the icy water.

Rishi tapped his yak on the neck. The beast turned away from the wagon and started into the swamp, drawing Atreus's mount along. The creatures had an awkward, rolling gait, and Atreus found himself instantly in danger of falling off. He braced the heavy coffer on the yak's hump and pressed his heels into its belly and tried not to think of the icy water below. Yago followed along close behind, his splashing feet masking the softer babble of the yak's hooves. If the ogre found the frigid water more than merely uncomfortable, he betrayed no sign.

A few moments later, Naraka's scout gave the alarm cry. The patrol leader started barking orders, and the rest of his men clattered down into the willows, their ponies whinnying at the freezing water.

"They will certainly turn back soon," Rishi whispered. "These Edenvale Mar have no determination."

Rishi steered the yaks down a meandering labyrinth of narrow tunnel-like passages, always working to keep a screen of thickets between them and their pursuers. They passed a snow-covered hummock, and the yaks stopped and started to nose for grass. Rishi cursed the lead animal softly and slapped its neck. The reluctant beast finally turned away and continued forward.

Naraka's patrol stayed close behind, splashing through the swamp in a long, evenly spaced line. Rishi kept looking back over his shoulder and scowling, then turning to Atreus to reassure him that their pursuers would soon give up. Instead, the ponies drew ever nearer, whinnying and snorting with every step. Atreus could well understand their displeasure. He could not keep his own feet from dragging in the frigid swamp, and they had become little more than frozen weights. Only Yago, with his thick layer of ogre fat, seemed as unaffected by the cold as the shaggy yaks.

After a time, the sky started to gray with oncoming dusk. A chill breeze rose from the east and wafted across the swamp. Atreus and Rishi fell to shivering, and even Yago commented once or twice on the cold. Behind them, the ponies grew quiet, save for an occasional splash when one stumbled and spilled its rider into the water.

At last, Naraka began to shout orders in Maran, his voice echoing through the swamp first in one direction, then the other. Rishi sighed in relief, as he guided the yaks into the heart of the willow thicket and stopped.

"Naraka is calling his men to him," the Mar explained. "They will certainly turn back now."

As the ponies splashed toward Naraka's voice, Atreus allowed himself the luxury of lifting his sodden boots out of the water. Though his feet felt as heavy and dead as stones, his lower legs were throbbing stumps of cold pain. His thighs ached from squeezing his mount, and the effort of balancing the heavy coffer had numbed his shoulders with fatigue. He could not imagine passing the night in this cold swamp, and yet he did not see how they could spend it anywhere else.

The splashing slowly faded as the last of Naraka's men rejoined the patrol, and the swamp fell ominously silent. After a few moments, the sound of murmuring voices began to filter through the willows, occasionally punctuated by the soft crackle of snapping sticks.

"The fiend," Rishi hissed. "Does he care nothing for his men and his ponies?"

"What's he doing?" Yago asked.

"Preparing a camp." Rishi shook his head sadly, then cast an accusatory glance in Atreus's direction. "How unfortunate the good sir did not kill him when he had the chance. His mercy will cost us many hours of cold misery and perhaps a few toes as well."

Rishi urged the yaks onto a small hummock in the heart of the thicket. The hungry beasts immediately pawed through the snow and began to tear at the mossy grass beneath. The Mar slid off his mount, freeing the rucksack with a single tug on the rope.

"Hurry. We must make camp before dark." Rishi turned to Yago. "The marsh is full of good things to eat. If you go down by the water, I am sure you will catch something."

"Eels?" Yago licked his lips. Whole raw eels were an ogre delicacy, second only to bear brains. "I could swallow a dozen of them at once!"

"Fish," Rishi said. "I fear the water is too cold for eels."

The ogre's face fell, but he went to kneel at the water's edge. Atreus dropped his treasure coffer into the snow, then swung an aching leg over the yak's shoulders and slid to the ground. The impact sent waves of agony shooting up his cold legs, but he felt no sensation at all in his feet.

"There is no need for concern," Rishi said, eyeing Atreus's clumsy limp. "The feeling will come back when you start to move."

Rishi passed him an extra cloak from the rucksack and set to work stomping down a place to sleep. Atreus took the sword and began to cut willows for insulation. As promised, the feeling soon returned to Atreus's feet, and he wished it had not. The flesh felt as if it were on fire, and the bones underneath ached with the cold. He hacked all the harder.

The light was just starting to fade when a sporadic series of screeches and agonized whinnies echoed across the swamp. Hardly able to believe the awful sound was being made by ponies, Atreus stopped work and looked up. In the twilight sky, he could barely make out three distant columns of smoke.

"In the name of Sune," Atreus gasped. "What's Naraka doing? Burning his ponies alive?"

"That is no doubt what the poor beasts fear, but we are not to be so lucky," said Rishi. "The ponies must be warmed and dried before the night turns cold, or ice will form on their legs and perhaps cripple them before morning."

Atreus glanced at the grazing yaks, who seemed quite content with the snowy ice balls hanging from their shaggy legs.

"Oh no, do not worry about the yaks," laughed Rishi. "For them, cold is better. If not for us, they could keep going all night."

This turned Atreus's thoughts to his own soggy feet. He cleared a place for a fire and gathered several handfuls of brown grass from under the hummock's heavy thatch. Rishi looked increasingly distressed as Atreus began to stack dead willow stalks next to the fire pit. When he withdrew his flint and steel from the rucksack, the Mar could contain his alarm no longer.

"Excuse me, but surely the good sir is not thinking of making a fire."

"He is doing more than thinking of it," Atreus replied. "His feet are wet and cold, and he wants to be able walk when he gets out of this swamp."

Rishi paled. "Perhaps the good sir is unaccustomed to the trials of being a fugitive. Even if the patrol cannot see the fire's light, we are upwind. They will smell the smoke and follow it to us."

Atreus turned toward the frigid channel, where Yago was kneeling on the shore with his arm thrust into the swamp up to the elbow. "Through that water? Impossible!"

Rishi calmly removed his boots and trousers, stepped past Yago, and waded out into the icy swamp. He turned to face Atreus. "How l-long would you like me to stay?"

Yago raised his brow at the Mar's strange behavior, then gasped and looked back into the water. There was a brief splash, and he flipped an odd two-foot fish up onto the hummock. With a bulldog jaw and a long round body striped with brown and yellow scales, the thing looked like a hybrid of catfish and grayling. As soon as it hit the snow, it began to flop about, working its way back toward the water.

Yago lunged up the hill to pin down his catch, and Atreus turned back to Rishi.

"All right, no fire." He waved the Mar out of the water. "But I thought you said Edenvale Mar had no determination?"

"I do not think Naraka is from Edenvale." Rishi climbed ashore and began drying his legs with grass. "But he will certainly turn back in the morning. He is only hoping we will be foolish enough to make a fire tonight and lead him to us."

Yago looked at his catch. "No fire?"

Atreus put the flint and steel away. "Afraid not."

"Great," the ogre grumbled. "As if eatin' fish wasn't bad enough."

He killed the swamp fish with a bite to the back of the neck, then began to devour it, scales and all. Atreus and Rishi made do with a dinner of raw barley in warm yak milk, and the sun vanished, plunging the camp into chilling darkness. Rishi brought the yaks over to the bed he had prepared, forcing them to lie down about three feet apart, with their backs toward each other and their heads at opposite ends. He tethered them in place by tying each beast's lead to the tail of the other one.

Atreus removed his boots and put on a dry pair of socks. He and Rishi wrapped themselves in their extra cloaks and settled down between the yaks, each clutching the other one's feet to his chest. Yago laid down on the outside of the makeshift shelter, curling up beside one of the shaggy beasts.

They did not really sleep. The temperature plunged, and they spent most of the night shivering. Atreus's feet ached terribly, and Rishi assured him this was a good sign. When his toes started to sting a few hours later, the Mar said this was even better. Yago fidgeted relentlessly, rocking his yak back and forth, and at one point cursed the beast for not being still. At first, Atreus watched the constellations, trying to mark the time by their progress. Later, he tried to avoid looking at them. The minutes were passing like hours, and what movement he did notice only made him think of the dropping temperature.

After what felt like a hundred frozen hours, Rishi suddenly sat up and pulled on his boots, declaring the time had come to rise. While the Mar untethered and milked the yaks, Yago went down to the channel and punched through the ice crust that had formed during the night, returning with two more big swamp fish. Confident they would be gone before Naraka's men could find their campsite, they started a fire and gorged themselves on a warm meal.

The hot food rejuvenated Atreus. He soon found himself optimistic enough to remove his tattered map from inside his tunic and examine it in the firelight. Gyatse was the first valley on the chart, and from what he had heard the people there would welcome a few gold coins. Perhaps that would be a good place to replenish their supplies. Of course, Rishi would have to do the buying. One look at Atreus's face and the Mar would flee for their lives.

Yago peered over Atreus's shoulder, squinting at the meaningless squiggles. "That thing say how far is it to Rishi's secret caravan road?"

"If it did, the road would not be much of a secret," said Rishi.

Yago frowned, then reached down to tap the map with a big greasy finger. "But this is a map. It tells us how to find stuff."

"Not Rishi's road." Atreus did not attempt to explain further. He had tried a dozen times to help Yago understand the mystery of map reading, but the ogre still found the lines and symbols impossible to decipher. Consequently, the ogre regarded maps as some sort of divining magic. "We'll just have to be patient."

Atreus folded the map and returned it to his tunic, then helped Rishi load the yaks while Yago cleaned and re-bandaged his wound. They transferred half the gold to the rucksack so Rishi could lash a balanced load onto shoulders of the lead yak, and by the time they finished, the gray glow of first light was showing in the eastern sky. Naturally, Rishi insisted on riding with the treasure, but Atreus did not worry about being abandoned. Half the gold remained safely locked in its inviolable coffer, and he knew the Mar would never settle for half when he could have all.

The yaks plunged into the swamp without hesitation, their hooves crashing through the thick ice and leaving an easy path to follow. Atreus hardly cared. Without the coffer, he could sit sidesaddle on his yak and hold his feet out of the water, and that alone was a good start to the day.

The sky had just brightened to the color of blue steel when Naraka's patrol began to splash up from behind. They were moving fast and in a large group, eager to catch up before the sun melted the ice away.

"I guess Naraka didn't turn back after all," Atreus noted.

"Naraka is a terrible bully who is driving his men beyond all endurance," Rishi said. "The good sir may rest assured that they will certainly rebel against-"

"I don't think we'd better count on that," Atreus interrupted. "And we can't outrun their ponies, not when we're so easy to track."

Rishi glanced toward the eastern horizon, where the sun had not yet risen high enough to show itself over the tall willows. "The sun will melt this ice very soon, and then-"

"I need no hollow assurances, Rishi. We all know they'll catch up long before this ice melts," Atreus said as he urged his mount up beside the Mar's. "Do you have any of your throwing daggers left?"

Rishi lifted his brow. "Has the master decided it is necessary to kill our pursuers?"

Atreus shook his head. "No, but the time has come to chase them off. How many daggers do you have?"

"Enough." Rishi opened his cloak, revealing two long lines of small silver hilts.

Atreus turned to Yago. "How does your shoulder feel?"

The ogre reached over and used his injured arm to pluck a willow bush out by its roots. "A little stiff, but ready enough to swing a club."

Atreus grinned and said, "Follow me."

He urged his yak ahead of Rishi's and led the way through the winding channels, all the time listening to the splashing of Naraka's ponies grow louder. After a time, the channel curled around the head of a small, willow-screened hummock. Atreus and Rishi tethered their yaks on the far side, then the three companions sneaked back across the little island and crouched behind the willows on the other side. In front of them lay the passage through which they had just ridden, their path clearly marked by the channel of broken ice.

The patrol was so close that Atreus could hear murmuring voices and snorting ponies, but it seemed to take forever to arrive. He felt himself growing numb in the cold air and began to squeeze the hilt of his stolen sword, trying to keep his arm from growing stiff. Finally, Naraka came trotting into sight, his eyes fixed on the channel of broken ice. As soon as he saw the hairpin curve ahead, the captain slowed and began to scan the willows along the banks.

Atreus cursed silently and laid down in the snow, motioning for Yago and Rishi to do likewise. Naraka continued cautiously ahead, his eyes working the shore methodically, looking first high then low, low then high, then finally moving on to the next thicket.

Atreus held his hand palm up, signaling his companions to remain still. "Catch-and-club" had been a favorite game among his ogre siblings, and he had learned early that motion attracts attention. As long as they remained as still as the willows screening them, they would not be noticed.

Naraka's gaze reached their thicket, and Rishi gasped almost audibly. Atreus frowned at the Mar, silently willing him to hold his breath. Naraka glanced the base of the willow screen, then ran his eyes up the length of the stalks and back down again. He paused for a moment, then finally moved on.

Atreus let his breath out, waiting as the rest of the patrol followed Naraka into the channel. He did not move until Naraka was halfway to the bend and there were a half-dozen riders in the water in front of them.

"Remember, don't kill them," Atreus whispered. "What we need is a panic, not an angry mob."

"I understand." Rishi rose to a crouch. "Your plan is very wise and clear."

Rishi pulled three little knives from inside his cloak. Yago rose to his knees and cupped his hands, holding them about two feet apart. Atreus gathered his legs beneath him, ready to jump to the Mar's defense if matters did not go as planned, then nodded.

Rishi leaped into the willows, splashing through the ice at the edge of the thicket. Several riders cried out in alarm and jerked their mounts around just as the Mar hurled his first dagger. Yago brought his hands together, creating a deep booming clap at about the same time the blade sank into the shoulder of the closest pony.

The beast whinnied and reared wildly, hurling its astonished rider from the saddle. He bounced off the pony behind him and splashed face first into the icy water, then surfaced an instant later, shrieking as though he were the one who had been wounded.

Naraka spun on his saddle, screaming orders and reaching for his sword. Several riders lowered their lances, and Rishi hurled another dagger. Yago clapped his hands, and again the blade caught a pony in the shoulder. The creature shrieked and shied away, then touched the ice crust behind it and bolted down the channel. A trio of riders managed to retain control of their mounts, urging them into a stiff, chill-legged charge.

"One more!" Atreus called.

Rishi hurled his third dagger, and again Yago clapped. This time, several ponies flinched noticeably. The beast leading the charge turned its head as though to wheel around, but it was the middle pony that caught the dagger-in the shoulder, as before-and went down.

The lead rider jerked his mount back into the charge, closing to within two paces of the willows where Rishi stood fumbling for another throwing dagger. Atreus jumped into the thicket and shoved the Mar aside, raising his sword even as he cursed the icy water pouring into his frozen boots. The rider's eyes widened. He cried out something about "Ysdar's devil" and turned his lance toward Atreus.

Atreus tapped the lance aside with his sword, as he stepped forward and caught the man across the chest with the flat of the blade. The rider splashed into the water, and Rishi was on him in a second, jerking the weapons from his scabbard belt. Yago unseated the third guard with even less trouble, jerking a willow out by the roots and hurling the muddy mess into the fellow's chest. The man tumbled backward off his pony.

A voice hissed, "You dare assail a bahrana?"

Atreus looked down to find Rishi pressing the edge of a dagger to the first rider's gullet.

"I will teach you better than to attack above your class," Rishi threatened.

"No!" Atreus caught Rishi's hand, planting a foot on the rider's chest and pushing him underwater, shouting, "Go!"

Atreus shoved Rishi up the hummock, then glanced back at the patrol. Naraka's pony was splashing down the channel in a slow, awkward gallop, while most of his men were struggling to bring their panicked mounts under control. Only the riders at the rear of the patrol were still in command of their ponies, but they were making only a token effort to get past the confusion and attack.

When one warrior raised his lance to throw, Naraka barked an order in Maran and pointed at Atreus's foot, where the submerged captive's arms were still flailing in the water. An idea flashed through Atreus's mind. He smiled and reached down, pulling his prisoner's head up by the long hair.

"Tonight, this man serves me in Ysdar's hell!" Atreus called. He hacked off a handful of hair and shook it in Naraka's direction. "Before this is done, you will all serve me in Ysdar's hell!"

The patrol gave a collective gasp. Even Naraka turned pale, but that did not keep him from kicking his mount until the poor creature stumbled on the silty bottom and fell. Atreus allowed himself a throaty laugh, then tucked the lock of stolen hair into his belt and clambered out of the willows.

On the other side of the hummock, Rishi had already untethered their mounts. The pony of the unhorsed man was standing at the end of their little caravan, its reins tied to the tail of Atreus's yak.

"What's the pony for?" Atreus snapped off a fresh willow to use as a riding crop, then climbed onto his yak. "You said they were no good in the swamp."

"The good sir is correct. Ponies are terrible in the swamp," Rishi agreed, urging his yak into the water. "But taking it will cause our enemies great trouble, as no pony can carry two men. Without it, they will certainly have to turn back."

"Certainly?" scoffed Yago. "I've heard that before "

"Well, it can't hurt," said Atreus. "Besides, we may need a pack animal when we reach this secret caravan road." He turned to Rishi. "How soon will that be?"

"Oh, very soon," replied the Mar. "By high-sun at the latest, and certainly much before that if we were successful in frightening off Naraka."

They traveled for nearly a quarter hour, then began to hear distant splashes behind them. Rishi cursed their pursuers for demons, and Atreus began to fear they would not be rid of the patrol until they killed Naraka. This was something

Atreus was loathe to do, as he admired the man's determination. Fortunately, the patrol was moving far more cautiously. By the time it had drawn close enough to worry about, the sun had risen well into the sky, though the ice had not yet melted off the channels.

Atreus and his companions attacked the patrol again. This time, they wounded only Naraka's mount, though several nervous ponies threw their riders at the sound of Yago's thunderous clapping. The riders, better prepared than last time, managed to launch a counterattack of flying lances, driving the ambushers away before Rishi could unleash a second dagger.

And so the morning went, with Yago clapping every time Rishi hurled one of his daggers. The number of pursuers dropped steadily as those on wounded mounts fell behind. The ponies grew increasingly skittish as their fellows were wounded, to the point that they sometimes fled at the mere sound of the ogre's big hands. Once Rishi was grabbed from behind and had to stab a man in the thigh. Another time Yago punched a pony unconscious, and Atreus had to save its trapped rider from drowning.

This mercy only served to convince the patrol that he intended to enslave them all in Ysdar's hell. Those who had already lost tresses to him grew desperate and attacked rashly, while those who had lost no hair grew more cautious than ever. Atreus stopped cutting off their locks, though he took pains to make it appear he was still trying.

There were only a dozen riders left when Naraka finally anticipated an ambush and laid a trap of his own. The trio was rushing across a hummock toward the sound of splashing when Naraka and eight men took them from the side. Yago, ten paces in the lead, was quickly separated from Atreus and Rishi.

Rishi managed to fling a dagger into Naraka's arm. The patrol leader responded in kind, catching Atreus just under the collarbone with a hurled lance. Atreus took the blow without falling, then yanked the weapon out and slammed its shaft across Naraka's throat. The patrol leader tumbled from his saddle, and the battle became a blur.

On the other side of the hummock, Yago was being driven toward the water, wielding a lance with his wounded arm and holding a screaming man in the other. One of Rishi's daggers flashed past and took a pony behind the jaw, dropping beast and rider in a cacophony of screeching and crashing. Another pony leaped its fallen fellow and landed only paces away.

Atreus hurled himself at its feet and came up holding his sword. He blocked a lance, slamming his blade into the rider's flank and felt warm blood spatter his face. He stepped away and found three men advancing on him cautiously, their lances low and ready. Yago was nowhere in sight, but there was a lot of splashing on the far side of the hummock.

"Yago!" Atreus yelled. "Come back!"

"Can't!" came the reply. "Got myself walled off!"

Atreus cursed, and the three riders kicked their ponies, urging them into a charge.

"Yago, break off!" Atreus yelled. "Run!"

Atreus turned and hurled himself out of the ponies path, rolled, and came up sprinting. He saw Rishi already at the yaks, just climbing onto the lead beast's back.

"Rishi! If you leave me, I swear you'll wish-"

"Leave you?" Rishi called, as though the thought had not even occurred to him. "I would never do that!"

The little Mar spun, already flinging one of his daggers. Atreus ducked, then heard a pained cry behind him.

"You see, I am very faithful!"

Rishi raised another knife, but did not throw it, his eyes darting back and forth between the riders behind Atreus. Having witnessed the Mar's accuracy many times, neither man felt like risking an attack, and Atreus raced the last few steps to his mount in relative safety. He jumped on his yak, slapped its neck with the flat of his blade, and they were quickly splashing through the water at a trot.

When Atreus heard no sign of pursuers, he paused to look back. Naraka's man were scurrying over the hummock, tending to their wounded and struggling to calm their panicked mounts. Atreus saw no sign of Yago, but neither did he hear any hint that the battle was continuing on the far side of the hummock.

"Did you see what happened to Yago?" Atreus asked. "Did he get away?"

Rishi furrowed his brow. "I saw no more than you, but did you not hear him?"

Atreus shook his head. "Things were too confused," he said.

"Yago told us to go," Rishi said, glancing up the channel. "I suggest we obey, before they recover their wits and realize what an advantage they have."

Atreus narrowed his eyes, far from certain that he believed the sly Mar. "What were his words, exactly?"

Rishi frowned. "I cannot be sure I heard him right. It sounded like, "Both eyes, front and back!"

Atreus sighed in relief. "Okay, let's go."

"You are not worried about your friend?" Despite his question, Rishi wasted no time starting up the channel.

" 'Both eyes' is an old ogre saying. It means he's whole," Atreus explained as he scooped a shard of broken ice out of the water and pressed it to his wound to stop the bleeding. "And I think 'front and back' means he's going to follow the patrol. If there's trouble again, he'll attack from behind."

Rishi nodded. "Very sensible, but what happens when Naraka turns around?"

"That's not going to happen. Not now," Atreus replied, glancing back. Naraka's patrol was already lost in the willows. "Not until one of us is dead."

"You see?" asked Rishi. "Is that not what I told you back in Bharat's wagon?"

The Mar looked forward again, leaving Atreus to tend to his wound. His shoulder felt stiff and throbbing, but there were no broken bones, and he could still move his arm. As these things went, he had been lucky. Though he felt terribly weak and would certainly suffer a fever later, he could keep traveling.

Of more immediate concern was his guide's loyalty. "Rishi, you do know what will happen if you try to open that coffer without me?"

Rishi twisted around. "Why would I ever try such a thing?" he asked. "Until we reach Langdarma, the gold is not even mine."

"I'm glad to hear you have not forgotten," Atreus said. "You were in an awful hurry to leave back there."

"Not at all! No, never!" said Rishi. "It was only that some-one had to untether the yaks if we were to make a swift escape, and you were doing so well. Did I not come to your aid when you called?"

Though Atreus was not entirely sure the Mar's knife had been meant for the man behind him, he reluctantly nodded. "You may have saved my life. Allow me to repay you by mentioning that there are many traps on my coffer, the least of which is the one that blinded Bharat."

Rishi's eyes grew unreadable. "It is very considerate of you to mention this, but it hardly matters to me."

"Of course," said Atreus.

"The gold will be mine soon enough," Rishi added. "Now that Naraka is wounded, the patrol will certainly leave us to continue our journey in peace."

"Certainly."

But Naraka did not turn back. Within minutes they heard the patrol splashing through the water behind them, though somewhat more slowly than before. As the sun neared its zenith, the ice finally vanished from the channels. Rishi doubled back, guiding them down a tunnel-like passage so shallow that at times they were passing over new growth, then struck off in a new direction.

The splashing of the patrol grew abruptly distant, and Atreus began to worry about finding Yago again. The swamp was turning out to be vastly larger than it looked from the other side of the gorge. If they were lucky enough to lose Naraka, it seemed all too possible that they would also lose Yago.

The pony began to nicker and snort more often, lamenting the growing separation from its mates. Atreus cut the beast loose. There was every chance the poor creature would lose its way and freeze to death that night, but he could not afford to be compassionate. After the wounds the two sides had inflicted on each other during the last ambush, the chase had taken on a new intensity, and Atreus knew the next fight would be to the death.

They continued deeper into the swamp. The high willows blocked their view of the mighty peaks to the east, but every now and then the view opened up as they passed an intersecting channel or an expanse of open water. It did not escape Atreus's notice that in these places Rishi stopped to study the sky-scraping mountains for ever-increasing periods of time.

High sun came and went, and still they saw no sign of the road. If anything, the swamp seemed to close in around them. Sightings of the mountains became less frequent, and when they did occur, Rishi frowned and sometimes muttered to himself. They began to hear Naraka's patrol shouting in the distance. The hummocks grew uncommon, and the willows thickened to the point that the two fugitives had to plow through, leaving a furrow of broken and bent stalks in their wake.

The sun lost its warmth and sank lower in the sky, and the same icy breeze Atreus had felt the evening before started to rise. His wound began to throb and burn, while the rest of him grew so cold he started to shiver. His feet ached with a wet chill, and no amount of swinging seemed to warm them. Though the pain was safer, he longed for yesterday's numbness.

A tiny shout went up in the distance behind them. It was quickly answered by several others, and the flurry of voices that followed left no doubt that one of Naraka's men had stumbled across their trail. Atreus tried to console himself with the thought that Yago would not be far behind.

Rishi stopped his yak and stood, balancing himself precariously on its shoulder hump. He did not look back in the direction of the shouts, but eastward toward the hidden mountains.

"What a relief!" Despite his words, he did not sound relieved. "We are certainly almost there."

"Certainly?" Atreus scoffed. "You have no idea where we are, do you?"

"The good sir may certain-ah-he may have every faith in his guide," said Rishi. "The road is very near. I have seen it."

Scowling, Atreus swung his numb feet up, then stood wobbling on the yak's back and looked toward the massive mountains in the distance. He saw nothing ahead but a ribbon of open water.

"There's no road out there!" he snapped. "There isn't even a dry place to spend the night."

Before Rishi could reply, a distant voice cried out behind them. Atreus looked back to see a tiny pony rider in the bend of a channel, pointing a lance in his direction. The man turned his mount toward Atreus and disappeared into the willows, and a moment later the whole thicket began to quiver.

Atreus cursed, then squatted down and swung his legs over the yak's side. "The man is a bloodhound," he said. "Naraka and his patrol are about half a mile behind. They saw me."

"No matter. We can easily lose them again." Rishi turned his yak toward the ribbon of open water.

They had no choice except to plow straight through the willows, leaving an easy trail to follow. This did not concern Atreus nearly as much as the apparent impossibility of finding a dry place to spend the night. Though he and Rishi had more or less dried out after their morning ambushes, they were both hungry and far from warm. After the sun went down, the bitter cold would be a steady drain on their strength-strength that in Atreus's case was already being tested by a throbbing wound.

Soon, the yak's feet began to plunge deeper into the water. Small, arrow-shaped ripples appeared at the base of the willow stalks, and it grew clear they were approaching a river. Rishi continued to plow forward until the water rose above the yak's knees. Finally, he turned upstream, ducking in and out of a network of narrow passages that ran parallel to the main channel. Every now and then they crossed a broader clearing that opened into the river itself, framing a picture-like panorama of water, willows, and sky-scraping peaks.

Naraka's patrol made good use of the passages and the now obvious bearing of their quarry. It was not long before Atreus began to hear the occasional shouted order.

Even with Yago behind the patrol, Atreus did not want to risk a battle this close to dark. Without a dry place to start a fire, the winners would escape death for only as long as it took to freeze.

"We're going to have to cross," Atreus said.

Rishi shook his head. "The river is very deep."

"Yaks can't swim?"

"Of course they can," Rishi replied. "And we will be soaked, with no place to camp."

"We can't camp on this side either."

Rishi shrugged and said, "Who can say, but at least we will not be wet."

They continued along the shore, and the sky grew steadily grayer. Naraka's patrol closed the distance, until their voices became a steady murmur creeping up from behind. Atreus began to roll his shoulder and gently swing his arm back and forth, preparing his wound for a battle that now seemed inevitable.

The willows were just beginning to stripe the water with late afternoon shadows when more murmuring voices sounded ahead. Atreus's first fear was that some of Naraka's men had circled around to cut them off, but then he also noticed a faint, sporadic clanking. Rishi cursed quietly in Maran and peered back toward Naraka's patrol.

"What's wrong?" Even as he asked the question, Atreus fathomed the source of the clanking. "Have we reached the road?"

"Some time ago," Rishi whispered. "And now we must leave it."

"What?" Atreus peered through the willows and saw nothing but river. "Do you mean-"

"The good sir understands very well. And soon, so will Naraka." Rishi started to turn away from the river. "We must lead him away from the river before he sees the boats."

"Boats!" Atreus nearly shouted the word, and the willows fell silent as Naraka's patrol stopped to listen. "We have no boats. How are we to use a river with no-"

"Ssssh!" Rishi held his finger to his lips, then hissed, "The Swamp Way is like any road. There are inns spread along its course, and at those inns boats can often be purchased."

Atreus listened a moment, then groaned. The clanking and voices upstream were growing louder.

"We're going the wrong direction."

Rishi scowled and glanced nervously upstream and down. "Certainly the good sir has sound reason for claiming to know more than his guide?" he said. "Perhaps he has been in this swamp before, or perhaps he has a divine map from his goddess such as the one that shows him how to reach the fabled valley, but not the mountains where it lies?"

"The boat is coming downstream," Atreus replied, "so, unless these river-men make a habit of running in the dark, the nearest inn is not far behind us… on the other side of Naraka."

Rishi's face fell, and Naraka's voice began shouting orders. It did not sound nearly distant enough to please Atreus.

"He's found our trail." Atreus turned his yak toward the river and urged it forward. "Maybe we can catch a ride."

"No! Wait!" Rishi cried. "What about Yago? Surely you do not mean to leave him alone with Naraka?"

"Yago is behind Naraka," Atreus said, continuing toward the river. "That means he's downstream. We'll pick him up on the way past."

Ponies began to splash through the water, moving fast and coming straight toward them. The murmur on the boats was almost as loud as that of Naraka's patrol, the clanking so sharp that Atreus could distinctly identify it as chains.

"You do not understand!" Rishi cried, riding after Atreus. "We must go to the inn. These boats are not for sale!"

"Anything is for sale if you have enough gold," Atreus insisted, pointing to the rucksack hanging from Rishi's yak. "And we have enough gold."

Atreus emerged from the willows and found himself staring upstream at a sharp bend in the river. As he watched, a long wooden dugout floated around the corner, guided by a single man in the rear. In front of the pilot stood several burly guards, looming over a dozen people-men, women, and children-chained to the bottom of the boat.

"Slaves?" Atreus gasped. He turned to Rishi, too stunned to be outraged. "I'm following a slaver?"