Blades of the Banished - Robert Ryan Page 0,43

two hours. Lanrik woke, or at least stirred from a troubled doze. He found that Aranloth was already sitting up, his back against a tree and his gaze scrutinizing the plains.

Lanrik did not ask him if he had seen anything. Erlissa was still asleep, and he did not want to wake her. And if the lòhren had seen anything he would have woken them already and they would now be riding.

He moved over to a tree close to the lòhren and took up a similar position to watch. He saw nothing but the long line of the Graèglin Dennath stretching out: gray, barren and smoke-hazed. To left and right as far as he could see it remained the same.

Although there was no activity, he knew much was happening beyond his sight. Elugs, Azan and lethrin were all gathering, and soon they would come forth. It could not be long either before Elù-Randùr and his band approached as well. The three of them rested in peace just at the moment, but surely this was now one of the most dangerous places in Alithoras.

Erlissa stirred, and though she stayed where she was he did not think she was asleep any longer, just dozing.

He kept his gaze southward, looking for any sign of the enemy, but he spoke quietly to the lòhren.

“Tell me, Aranloth. I still don’t really understand why the spirit of Conhain said that the shazrahad sword was both blessing and curse.”

Aranloth twisted his staff in his hands as though trying to find a comfortable grip.

“Should you hold the sword,” he said, “it will speed the prophecy, even if you are not the king. That is a curse, for it may still bring the ruin of Esgallien. And yet, look at Conhain’s life. All that he ever knew and loved was lost. But on the back of that tragedy, something great arose – Esgallien. And the city has lasted a thousand years, all the while growing grander and more influential. But should it be lost, might not something else rise from its ashes, even as the city itself arose from chaos and battle? Might Esgallien’s fall not lead in some unforeseen way to a defeat of our enemies even as it thwarted their progress into the north for all the time since Conhain died?”

The lòhren paused, deep in thought. “For myself, I don’t know. But the dead don’t look on life with our eyes. Who knows what they see? And if Conhain envisioned a blessing in some manner, then it could well happen, however strange it might seem to us.” Aranloth stilled his restless hands on his staff and continued. “I think in this matter that there is no right action, and no wrong action. We must simply trust to fate, or at least in Conhain’s words, and the history that we know which gives truth to them.”

Lanrik thought about it. He still had no real answers. He wondered if there were any. For anything. Yet all a person could do was what they considered right at the time. Even if the consequences were beyond any foresight.

They rested some more, but did not sleep. Each half hour was a great benefit to them. The horses would freshen up, while their pursuers would be tired before any chase began.

Somewhere in the distance he heard a nudaluk bird. If ever a sound reminded him of home, it was that – or the call of an aurochs. It was a good sign too. The birds favored timbered areas, and he knew he was getting close to where he had left the Lindrath and those who remained of the Raithlin.

They did not have long to go now. Either Elù-Randùr would draw near to them, or they would leave before the pursuit caught up. He waited a few minutes longer, savoring the rest, and considering how the current situation reminded him of how all this began.

Mecklar was long dead, his treachery found out. So much had changed since then. Lanrik had discovered the world was a different place from what he had previously thought it. He wondered if the future ahead of him from this point was as different as the future that his earlier self had never expected.

His musings were broken short. There was movement on the plain. He could not tell exactly what it was, but it seemed to be a group of riders.

Aranloth had seen it also. “Time to go,” the lòhren said.

Erlissa got up quickly. She had not been asleep. Her face