Painfully, Covenant mustered the strength to shout, ” I know that! Are you going to help us or not?”
Pietten’s voice sounded oddly cunning as he replied, “We will be safer-beyond the river. It is not far.” He hurried on before Covenant could question him.
Covenant and Lena made the effort to follow him and found that he had spoken the truth. Soon they reached the banks of a dark river flowing eastward out of the hills. It lay forbiddingly across their way like a stream of black ice, but Pietten jumped into it at once and waded straight to the opposite bank. The current was stiff, but did not reach above his knees.
Cursing, Covenant watched him go. His weariness multiplied his distrust; his instinctive leper’s caution was yowling inside him like a wounded animal. He did not know this river, but he guessed it was the Roamsedge, Ra’s northern boundary. He feared that Bannor and Foamfollower would not expect him to leave the Plains-if they were still alive.
But he still had no choice. The Woodhelvennin was their only chance.
“Will you halt there?” Pietten scoffed at them from the far bank. “Halt and die.”
Hellfire! Covenant snarled to himself. He took Lena’s arm despite her angry efforts to pull away, and went down the bank into the river.
His feet felt nothing of the cold, but it burned like numb fire into his lower legs. Before he had waded a dozen yards, his knees hurt as if his calves were being shredded by the river. He tried to hurry, but the speed of the current and the unevenness of the river bottom only made him trip and stagger brokenly. He clung to Lena’s arm and ploughed onward with his gaze fixed on the bank ahead.
When he stumbled up out of the river, his legs ached as if they had been maimed. “Damn you, Pietten,” he muttered. “Now we have got to have a fire.”
Pietten bowed sardonically. “Whatever you command, Ringthane.” Turning on his heel, he ran lightly away into the low hills north of the river like a sprite enticing them to perdition.
Covenant lumbered in pursuit, and when he crested the hill, he saw that Pietten had already started a fire in the hollow beyond it. Flames crackled in a dry patch of brambles and bushes. As Covenant and Lena descended toward it, the fire spread, jumping fiendishly higher and higher as it ran through the dead wood.
They hastened fervidly to the blaze. Lena’s legs gave way at the last moment, and she fell to her knees as if that were the only way she could prevent herself from leaping into the flames. And Covenant spread his arms to the heat, stood on the very verge of the fire and threw open his jacket like an acolyte embracing vision. For long moments they neither spoke nor moved.
But when the warmth melted the ice to make itself felt against Covenant’s forehead, started to draw the moisture in steam from his clothes, he stepped back a pace and looked about him.
Pietten was leering at him mercilessly.
He felt suddenly trapped, cornered; for reasons that he could not name, he knew he was in danger. He looked quickly toward Lena. But she was absorbed in the fire, oblivious. Unwillingly he met Pietten’s gaze again. That stare held him like the eyes of a snake, trying to paralyze him. He had to resist it. Without thinking, he growled, “That was a damn stupid thing to do.” He indicated the fire with a jerk of one hand. ” A fire this big will throw light over the hill. We’ll be seen.”
“I know.” Pietten licked his lips.
“You know,” Covenant muttered mordantly. “Did it occur to you that this could bring a pack of marauders down on us?” He snarled the words thoughtlessly, but as soon as he had spoken them, they sent a stammer of fear through him.
“Are you not grateful?” Pietten grinned maliciously. “You command fire-fire I provide. Is that not how men show their devotion to the Ringthane?”
“What are we going to do if we’re attacked? She and I are in no condition to fight.”
“I know.”
“You know,” Covenant repeated. The upsurge of his trepidation almost made him stutter.
“But no marauders will come,” the Woodhelvennin went on immediately. “I hate them. Pah! They slay Ranyhyn.”
“What do you mean, they won’t come? You said”-he searched his memory-“you said they weren’t far behind. How in hell do you expect them to miss us in all this light?”
“I do not want them to miss us.”
“What?” The fear taking shape within him made him shout. “Hellfire! Make sense!”
“Ringthane,” Pietten shot back with sudden vehemence, “this night I will complete the whole sense of my life!”
The next instant he had returned to scorn. “I desire them to find us, yes! I desire them to see this blaze and come. Land friends-horse servants-pah! They torment the Ranyhyn in the name of faith. I will teach them faith.” Covenant felt Lena jump to her feet behind him; he could sense the way she focused herself on Pietten. In the warmth of the fire, he finally noticed what had caught her attention. It was the smell of blood. “I desire the Giant my benefactor and Banner the Bloodguard to stand upon this hillside and witness my faith.”
“You said that they are dead! “Lena hissed. “You said that we would not see them again.”
At the same time, Covenant croaked, “It was you!” His apprehensions burst into clarity. “You did it.” In the lurid light of the fire, he caught his first sure glimpse of his plight. “You’re the one who betrayed all those coverts!”
Lena’s movement triggered him into movement. He was one step ahead of her as she threw herself at Pietten.
But Pietten was too swift for them. He aimed his spear and braced himself to impale the first attack.
Covenant leaped to a stop. Grappling frantically, he caught Lena, held her from hurling herself onto Pietten’s weapon. She struggled for one mute, furious moment, then became still in his grasp. Her bedraggled white hair hung across her face like a fringe of madness. Grimly, he set her behind him.
He was trembling, but he forced himself to face Pietten. “You want them to watch while you kill us.”
Pietten laughed sourly. “Do they not deserve it?” His eyes flashed as if a lightning of murder played in back of them. “If I could have my wish, I would place the entire Ramen nation around this hollow so that they might behold my contempt for them. Ranyhyn servants! Pah! They are vermin.”
“Render!” Lena spat hoarsely.
With his left hand, Covenant held her behind him. “You betrayed those coverts-you betrayed them all. You’re the only one who could have done it. You killed the sentries and showed those marauders how to get in. No wonder you stink of blood.”
“It pleases me.”
“You betrayed the Ranyhyn!” Covenant raged. “Injured Ranyhyn got slaughtered!”
At this, Pietten jerked forward, brandished his spear viciously. “Hold your tongue, Ringthane!” he snapped. “Do not question my faith. I have fought — I would slay any living creature that raised its hands against the Ranyhyn.”
“Do you call that faith? There were injured Ranyhyn in that covert, and they were butchered!”
“They were murdered by Ramen!” Pietten retorted redly. “Vermin! They pretend service to the Ranyhyn, but they do not take the Ranyhyn to the safety of the south. I hold no fealty for them.” Lena tried to leap at Pietten again, but Covenant restrained her. “They are like you-and that Giant-and the Bloodguard! Pah! You feast on Ranyhyn-flesh like jackals.”
With an effort, Covenant made Lena look at him. “Go!” he whispered rapidly. “Run. Get out of here. Get back across the river-try to find Bannor or Foamfollower. He doesn’t care about you. He won’t chase you. He wants me.”
Pietten cocked his spear. “If you take one step to flee,” he grated, “I will kill the Ringthane where he stands and hunt you down like a wolf.”
The threat carried conviction. “All right,” Covenant groaned to Lena. “All right.” Glowering thunderously, he swung back toward Pietten. “Do you remember ur-viles, Pietten? Soaring Woodhelven? Fire and ur-viles? They captured you. Do you remember?”
Pietten stared back like lightning.
“They captured you. They did things to you. Just as they did to Llaura. Do you remember her? They hurt her inside so that she had to help trap the Lords. The harder she tried to break free, the worse the trap got. Do you
