Ahead, the other two ran effortlessly on — Garet Jax and Slanter, the last of the little company that had come north from Culhaven. Bitterness and anger flooded through the Valeman. Flashes of light danced before his eyes as he fought for breath momentarily, exhaustion sweeping through him. But they were almost at their journey’s end.
The stone spiral of the Croagh swung suddenly right, and the wall of the peak toward which they climbed rose close before them, rugged and stark against the graying sky. Ahead, the stairway ascended to the dark mouth of a cavern that opened back into the heart of the mountain. Less than two dozen steps remained.
Garet Jax motioned for them to wait, then soundlessly climbed the last few stairs to the summit of the Croagh and stepped out onto the ledge. He stood there a moment, his black form framed against the afternoon sky, lean and shadowy. He was like something inhuman, the thought flashed briefly through Jair’s mind, like something that wasn’t real.
The Weapons Master turned, gray eyes fixing on him. One hand beckoned.
«Hurry, boy,” Slanter muttered.
They scrambled up the remaining steps of the Croagh and stood beside Garet Jax. The cavern loomed before them, a monstrous chamber split by dozens of crevices that let in the light from without in dim, hazy streamers. Close about, the shadows gathered, and within their blackness nothing moved.
«Can’t see anything from here,” Slanter grumbled. He started forward, but instantly Garet Jax pulled him back.
«Wait, Gnome,” he said. «There’s something there… something that waits…»
His voice trailed away softly. A stillness settled down about them, deep and oppressive. Even the wind that stirred the mists of the valley seemed to die suddenly away. Jair caught his breath and held it. There was indeed something there — waiting. He could feel its presence.
«Garet…» he began softly.
«Shhhhh.»
Then a shadow detached itself from the rocks within the cavern entrance, and Jair went cold to the bone. Silently, the shadow slipped through the gloom. It was nothing that any of them had ever seen. It was neither a Gnome nor a Wraith, but a powerfully built creature, almost man–shaped, with a thick ruff about its loins and great, hooked claws at its fingers and toes. Cruel yellow eyes fixed on them, and a scarred, bestial face split wide at its snout to reveal a mass of crooked teeth.
The thing came forward into the light and stopped. It was not black like the Wraiths. It was red.
«What is it?» Jair whispered, fighting to contain the sense of revulsion that swept through him.
The Jachyra gave a sudden cry — a howl that rang through the silence like hideous laughter.
«Valeman, it is the dream!» Garet Jax cried, a strange, wild look crossing his hard face. Slowly he lowered the blade of the sword until it touched the ledge rock. Then he turned to Jair. «Journey’s end,” he whispered.
Jair shook his head in confusion. «Garet, what… ?»
«The dream! The vision that I told you about that night in the rain when we first spoke of the King of the Silver River! The dream that brought me east with you, Valeman — this is it!»
«But the dream showed you a thing of fire…» Jair stammered.
«Fire, yes — that was how it appeared!» Garet Jax cut him short. He let his breath out slowly. «Until now, I thought that perhaps — in a way that I could not fathom — I had mistaken what I had seen. But in the dream, as I stood before the fire and the voice that told me what I must do died away, the fire cried out like a thing alive. It was a cry that was almost a laugh — the cry that this creature has given!»‘
His gray eyes burned. «Valeman, this is the battle that I was promised!»
Before them, the Jachyra dropped into a crouch and began sidling forward from the cavern. Garet Jax brought the sword up at once.
«You mean to fight this thing?» Slanter was incredulous.
The other never even looked at him. «Keep back from me.»
«This is a poor idea if ever there was one!» Slanter looked frightened. «You know nothing of this creature. If it is poisonous like the one that attacked the Borderman…»
«I am not the Borderman, Gnome.» Garet Jax watched intently as the Jachyra approached. «I am the Weapons Master. And I have never lost a battle.»
The cold eyes flickered briefly in their direction and then fixed once more on the Jachyra. Jair started toward him, but Slanter grabbed his shoulder roughly and pulled him back again. «No, you don’t,” the Gnome snapped. «He wants this fight — let him have it! Never lost a battle! Lost his mind, that’s what he’s lost!»
Garet Jax was gliding forward across the ledge to where the Jachyra had stopped. «Take the Valeman into the cavern and find the well, Gnome. Do it when the creature comes for me. Do what you have come here to do. Remember the pledge.»
Jair was frantic. Helt, Foraker, Edain Elessedil — all lost in an effort to get him to the basin at Heaven’s Well. And now Garet Jax as well?
But it was already too late. The Jachyra screamed once and launched itself at Garet Jax, a blur of motion as it shot across the ledge rock. It leaped up against the Weapons Master, claws ripping. But the black form slipped aside as if it were no more than the shadow it resembled. The sword blade cut into the attacker — once, twice — so quickly the eye could barely follow. The Jachyra howled and slipped free, circling away for another rush.
Garet Jax wheeled, his lean face fierce, gray eyes bright with excitement. «Go, Jair Ohmsford!» he cried. «When it comes for me again — go!»
Anger and frustration tore at the Valeman as Slanter pulled him away. He would not go!
«Boy, I’m through arguing with you!» Slanter cried in fury.
Again the Jachyra attacked, and again Garet Jax sidestepped the rush, his slender sword flicking. Bill he was a fraction of a second too slow this time. The claws of the Jachyra ripped through the sleeve of his tunic and into his arm. Jair cried out, pulling free of Slanter.
Slanter spun him about and hit him. The blow caught him squarely on the chin. There was an instant of blinding light, and then everything went black.
The last thing he remembered was falling.
When he came awake again, Slanter was kneeling next to him. The Gnome had pulled him upright and into a sitting position and was shaking him roughly.
«Get up, boy! Get on your feet!»
The words were hard and filled with anger, and Jair scrambled up quickly. They were deep within the cavern now. Slanter must have carried him in. What little light there was came from cracks in the broken rock of the cavern’s roof.
The Gnome yanked him about. «What did you think you were doing back there?»
Jair was still dazed. «I couldn’t let him…
«Off to the rescue with your tricks, were you?» the other cut him short. «You don’t understand anything — you know that? You really don’t understand anything! What is it that you think we’re doing here? You think we’re playing some kind of game?» Slanter was livid. «There’s choices been made long before this about living and dying, boy! You can’t change that. You don’t have the right! All of the others — all of them — died because that was the way it had to be! That was the way they wanted it! And why do you think that was?»
The Valeman shook his head. «I…»
«Because of you! They died because they believed in what it was that you had come here to do — every last one of them! Even I would have…» He caught himself and took a deep breath. «It would have done a lot of good if you’d gone dashing to the rescue back there and gotten yourself killed, now wouldn’t it? A whole lot of sense that would have made!»
He wheeled Jair about and shoved him ahead into the cave. «Enough time’s been wasted on teaching you things you ought to know already — time we don’t have! I’m all that’s left, and I’m not going to be much help to you if the walkers find us now. The others — they were the real protectors, looking out for me as much as for you!»
The Valeman slowed and half turned. «What’s happened to Garet, Slanter?»
The other shook his head darkly. «He fights his promised battle — just as he wished.» He pushed Jair again and hurried him on. «Find your well quickly, boy. Find it and do what you came here to do. Make all of this madness
