the counsel of the witches in Rashemen to find out why all this is happening.”
He met Skagi’s and Cree’s gazes in the crowd. He did not mention the other reason they’d kept silent, the part Ilvani’s dreams played in triggering the killing sprees. If they knew, there was every possibility Vertan would have a dagger at the witch’s throat again.
And Ashok would have to kill him.
“So in the meantime, we’re stuck out here in the middle of winter with our numbers diminished and half our wagons and horses either dead or damaged,” Tatigan said. “Tomorrow we start up into the mountains, so the worst is yet to come.”
“At least we’ll be traveling light,” Kaibeth murmured. Tuva shot her a quelling glance, but she ignored him. “The witch is right,” she said. “When the monsters come, better we have the protection of bigger monsters.”
“And what a monster we have,” Daruk, standing closer than all the others in the crowd, remarked. He lifted his hand in the air as if tasting the nightmare’s aura. “This is more than I could have hoped for. There’s a song in this, make no mistake.”
The guards scoffed, but they had relaxed their grip on their weapons. The nightmare snuffed out a breath and danced in place, but Ashok didn’t think the stallion would lash out.
“You’ll have to keep it well away from the other beasts,” Vlahna told him. “It’ll slow our pace to nothing if the horses have to labor under the strain of that thing’s presence.”
“Done,” Ashok said. He looked at Tuva, who was sweating, his body trembling with the effort of standing upright, even with Vlahna and Kaibeth’s assistance. “You need a cleric,” he repeated.
Tuva grinned, exposing bloodstained teeth. “The clerics are dead,” he said. “We’ll all have to settle for bandages and bed rest from here until we get to Rashemen.”
“We’ll never make it,” said one of the older drovers. He was a tall, white-bearded, gangly human with a crooked nose. “Not through the mountains, not if we have to endure another rush attack like this one.”
Tatigan looked at the old drover. “You’ve been on enough runs to know, Baelthis. What say you to that?” he asked Tuva.
“I still say we were running too heavy to begin with,” Kaibeth broke in. “We scrape off all the excess-wagons, dead horses, extra gear-keep the bare essentials, and we’ll glide through the mountains smoother than we would have if we were carrying all that fat you humans thought you couldn’t live without.”
The drovers were indignant, and Tuva snarled, “You keep those thoughts to yourself, Bl-” He caught himself, but Kaibeth stiffened, and new tension suffused the camp as her warriors automatically took a step closer to their leader. Ashok thought Kaibeth would throw off Tuva’s arm, but she kept her anger in check.
“No, she’s right, Tuva,” Vlahna spoke up, which silenced them all. “The leaner we are, the better chance we have of getting through the mountains with minimal losses. Tatigan, I know your crew doesn’t want to hear it, but you’re all too much concerned with comfort. If we’re going to do this right, we have to do it our way.”
“So we’re a shadar-kai caravan now, are we?” Daruk said. He scratched at his chin. “Interesting how the power balance subtly shifts.”
Disgruntled murmurs of agreement ran through the crowd, especially among the drovers. Ashok silently cursed the bard. He seemed to enjoy nothing more than spreading dissent, even if it ended up getting them all killed.
The Martucks worked their way to the front of the crowd to stand beside Tatigan. The woman kept close by the boy, Les. They all carried torches.
“What say you in all this, Martuck?” Tatigan said. “You have an equal stake in this to lose.” He addressed the family as a whole. It struck Ashok as odd. He expected it to mean they’d hear three different voices and opinions, which would be no more helpful than Daruk, but the man and woman exchanged a glance, and the woman nodded.
“We’re willing to go on with you,” the man said. “We’ve come too far to turn back without great loss. And we’re willing to trim down our gear if that’s what it takes.”
Tatigan nodded. “What says Thorm, then?” he asked. He scanned the crowd to try to pick out the dwarf.
“Thorm is gone,” Ashok spoke up.
“Dead?” Tatigan asked.
“Not last I saw him,” Ashok said. “More likely he’s fled to join the brigands.”
“He’s the traitor?” Tatigan’s composure, thus far carefully maintained, broke at last. He cursed violently and hurled the torch in his hands to the ground. The brand guttered and died in the snow. The eyes of the crowd were drawn to the hissing and the smoke.
“He fooled us all,” the Martuck woman said. “We all agreed he’d be our third partner, Tatigan. We trusted him too.”
“I know it, Leesal, but he was my choice. I brought him to you.” Tatigan rubbed his eyes in weariness and looked up at Ashok. “Brigands too,” he said. “What else could we be facing?”
“Winter wolves,” Cree said. “We’re in their territory now. Probably only the trolls’ presence has scared them off up to now. They’ll be coming at us. Before they might have been content to pick off stragglers, but if they’re afflicted by the madness, there’s no telling what they’ll do.”
“We have to assume they’ll attack and fight until they’re all dead,” Tuva said, “just like the others.”
“Brigands, wolves, trolls-like I told you,” Baelthis, the old drover, said, “we can’t make it.”
“We can if we plan it right,” Ashok said. “We have no clerics, but we have capable warriors, magic”-he pointed at Ilvani-“and a monster, as Kaibeth said. But our best advantage is that we know what we’re facing.”
“What about the mountains?” Baelthis said. “There are dangers enough up there to kill us all without the monsters’ help. Crevasses to bury whole wagons, avalanches, storms-”
“And the spirits,” Ilvani said. “The spirits of Rashemen claim that land. We walk in their footsteps.”
“The monsters and the brigands will face those same dangers if they follow us,” Vlahna said.
“Which means we can use them,” Tuva said. A fit of violent coughing overtook him then, and he spat more blood on the snow. Kaibeth and Vlahna exchanged grim looks.
Skagi came forward and spread his cloak on a clear patch near the ruins of a stone hut. “Put him down here. He needs to take the weight off his feet so he can breathe.”
“I’m fine,” Tuva barked. “Gods, I haven’t been this clearheaded in a tenday.” But he allowed the women to lower him to the makeshift bed.
“We’ll need that clearheadedness to make a plan of attack,” Vlahna said. “Drovers, you’ll come with me to collect the gear and get the wagons in order. Guards, collect the horses. You know what to do with the injured beasts.” She looked at Kaibeth. “Will you help me?”
Kaibeth nodded. She instructed her sellswords to help with the wounded. Skagi, Cree, and Ilvani went with them.
The crowd slowly dispersed. Each had their task to focus on, so that fear would not overtake them. Tatigan motioned to Ashok. Ashok got down off the nightmare’s back and went to where he, Daruk, and the Martucks stood near Tuva’s pallet. Mareyn shadowed the boy and kept watch. She still clutched her ribs from where she’d hit the stones, but she walked steadily and looked clear-eyed. They all looked uneasy at seeing the nightmare so close among them. The stallion’s aura of fear and evil was impossible to ignore, but no one remarked on it so long as the beast kept silent.
“Baelthis isn’t a coward,” Tatigan said. “If he says our chances are bad, he means it. You three need to devise a strategy to get us through the mountains.” He pointed at Ashok, Tuva, and Daruk. Ashok was surprised to find the bard included in the group.
The bard caught Ashok’s look and smiled. “Don’t worry, fire bringer. I may not be shadar-kai, but I know how to compose a play. You all get to be my actors.”
“I could make a jest about this turning from a farce to a tragedy,” Mareyn said dryly, “but I won’t.”
Tatigan and the Martucks chuckled, which eased a bit of the tension.
“Let’s get to work, then,” Tuva said. “However the story ends, it begins at first light.”
They reached the foothills of the Sunrise Mountains by midday. The snow held off for most of the morning, though the clouds were heavy and ominous the whole way. When they reached the last stone marker before the mountain pass, thick flakes began to fall, but the hills gave them a respite from the wind. The going was slow
