Darkwind had not been overly worried when he discovered the condition of the stream; the diversion could easily have had perfectly natural causes. It could have gone dry for a dozen reasons, including the 'helpful' work of beavers. But it was one more thing to investigate... That was when Vree's call alerted him. Before Darkwind had a chance to wonder just what that 'fast' meant, he heard the pounding of hooves from up-trail. A moment later, a dyheli stag plunged over the embankment above him, coming to a halt in a clatter of cleft hooves, and a shower of sand and gravel. The graceful, antelope-like creature was panting, his flanks covered with sweat, his mane sodden with it. As Dawnfire slid from his back, he tossed his golden head with its three spiraling horns and Mindspoke Darkwind directly.
'Cannot run more-help my brothers-' Then he plunged back into the brush, staggering a little from exhaustion, as Darkwind turned toward his rider.
'What-'
'There's a dyheli bachelor herd just outside the boundaries,' she said, her words tumbling over each other with her urgency. 'They're trapped in a pocket valley, one they can't climb out of. I don't know what chased them in there, or even if they just went in there last night figuring it was a good place to defend in the dark-but they've been trapped, and they're going mad with fear-'
'Whoa.' He stopped the torrent of speech by placing his hand over her lips for a moment. 'Take it slowly. What's holding them there?'
'It's-it's like a fog bank, and it fills the outer end of the valley,' she replied, her voice strained, 'Only it's bluish, and all that goes into it doesn't come out alive. Darkwind, we have to get them out of there!'
'You say they're outside the borders?' he persisted.
She nodded, her enormous, pale-silver eyes fixed on his.
I-' he hesitated, presented with the pleading in her expression. I shouldn't. It's outside, it could be a diversion to get several of us out there-it could be an attempt to ambush us-But her eyes persuaded him against his better judgment. 'I-all right, ashke. I'll come look at the situation. But I can't promise anything.'
It took them a while to reach the spot, even with the assistance of two more dyheli from a breeding herd inside k'sheyna borders. By the time they reached the valley, the situation had worsened. The fog had crowded all the young dyheli bucks into the back of the valley, and they milled around the tiny space in a state of complete, unthinking panic. Trampling everything beneath their churning hooves, with horns tossing, their squeals of desperation reached to Darkwind's perch on the hill above them.
He studied the situation, his heart sinking. The sides of the valleyit was really a steep cup among the hills, with a spring at the bottom-were rocky, and far too steep to bring the dyheli up, even if they'd been calm. In their current state of panic, it was impossible.
The fog was mage-born, that much he could tell, easily. But the mage himself was not here. There was no one to attack, and no way to counter such a nebulous menace. Even calling up a wind-if he could have done so- would not have dispersed the evil cloud.
It roiled beneath him, a leprous blue-white, thick and oily, too murky to see into. Twice now, he'd seen young bucks overcome with fear and madness, try to break through into the clear air beyond. They had never come out on the other side.
'We have to do something!' Dawnfire pleaded. He hesitated a moment, then gave her the bad news.
'There isn't anything we can do,' he said, closing his mental shields against the tide of fear and despair from below. The dyheli were so panicked now that they weren't even capable of thinking. 'Maybe the rain tonight will disperse it in time to save them.' '*No!' she shouted, careless of what might overhear her. 'No, we can't leave them! I'm a guardian, they're my responsibility, I won't leave them!'
'Dawnfire-' he took her shoulders and shook them. 'There isn't anything we can do, don't you understand that? They're too panicked to get harnesses on and haul them up-even if we had enough people here to try!
And I won't call in all the scouts from their patrols. It's bad enough that I left mine! don't you see, this could still be a diversion, to clear the way for something else to come in over the border while it's unguarded!' She stared at him, aghast, for a long moment. Then, 'You coward!' she spat. 'You won't even try! You don't care if they die, you don't care what happens to anyone or anything, all you care about is yourself,.
You won't even use your magic to save them!' As the envenomed words flew, Darkwind kept a tenuous grip on his temper by reminding himself of how young Dawnfire was. She's only seventeen, he told himself. She lives and breathes being a guardian, and she doesn't understand how to lose. She was barely assigned her duties when the Heartstone blew. She doesn't mean what she's saying...But as her words grew more and more hurtful and heated in response to his cool silence, he finally had enough. His temper snapped like a dry twig, and he stopped the torrent of abuse with a mental 'slap.' And as she stood, silent and stunned, he folded his arms across his chest and stared at her until she dropped her eyes.
'You say you are a guardian. Well, you pledged an oath to obey me, your commander, and abide by my decisions. Have you suddenly turned into a little child, regressed to the age of ten, when sworn oaths mean only 'until I'm tired of playing'? No?' He studied her a moment more, as she went from red to white and back again. 'In that case, I suggest you calm yourself and return to your assigned patrol. If you comport yourself well and if you can keep yourself under control, I will consider leaving you there, rather than nm~ you elsewhere. Is that understood?'
