patrol, he nodded reluctantly. 'If we can carry it,' he said. 'Yago's in no condition-'
'Yaks can carry anything,' Rishi said, resuming his work. 'You will see.'
Atreus laid his sword on the rucksack, securing it in place beneath the cinch rope, then waded over to the front of the wagon. His numb feet were little more than frozen weights, and they slipped twice as he pulled himself onto the driver's footboard. He kneeled on the bench and leaned into the back, reaching for his treasure basket.
The sound of approaching hooves began to drum down the road. Atreus peered out through the back of the cargo bed, looking through the long tunnel of smashed willows the wagon had left in its wake. The leaves were too thick to see up onto the road, but he had little doubt about whom he was hearing. He threw open the treasure basket, then groaned as he hefted the heavy coffer out.
'Here,' said Yago. 'I'll take that.'
Atreus turned to find his friend standing beside the driver's bench, both arms extended to take the coffer. Though the ogre's face betrayed no hint of his pain, he could not quite lift his wounded arm high enough to accept the box.
Atreus shook his head. 'You rest your arm, 'he said. ' We might need it later.'
The sound of the drumming hooves grew louder. Rishi came over with the yaks and gently shouldered Yago aside. The Mar was sitting sidesaddle on the lead mount, holding a willow switch in one hand and the second beast's tether in the other.
'Perhaps you will hold the coffer until we have time to secure it,' said Rishi. 'It should not be long. Most likely, our pursuers will not even notice where we left the road.'
Up on the road, Naraka chattered several commands in Maran, and the galloping hooves suddenly slowed.
'They noticed,' Yago growled.
'It means nothing.' Rishi waved Atreus toward the yak. 'If you will be so kind as to mount, they cannot follow us into the swamp.'
Atreus threw a leg over the yak and settled down behind its humped shoulders. He saw at once why Rishi had chosen to sit sidesaddle. Straddling the creature's broad back was incredibly uncomfortable, but with both hands holding the coffer, the only way to keep his balance was to squeeze the beast between his knees.
The rattle of falling stones sounded from the road bank. A single pony whinnied as it stepped into the icy water.
Rishi tapped his yak on the neck. The beast turned away from the wagon and started into the swamp, drawing Atreus's mount along. The creatures had an awkward, rolling gait, and Atreus found himself instantly in danger of falling off. He braced the heavy coffer on the yak's hump and pressed his heels into its belly and tried not to think of the icy water below. Yago followed along close behind, his splashing feet masking the softer babble of the yak's hooves. If the ogre found the frigid water more than merely uncomfortable, he betrayed no sign.
A few moments later, Naraka's scout gave the alarm cry. The patrol leader started barking orders, and the rest of his men clattered down into the willows, their ponies whinnying at the freezing water.
'They will certainly turn back soon,' Rishi whispered. 'These Edenvale Mar have no determination.'
Rishi steered the yaks down a meandering labyrinth of narrow tunnel-like passages, always working to keep a screen of thickets between them and their pursuers. They passed a snow-covered hummock, and the yaks stopped and started to nose for grass. Rishi cursed the lead animal softly and slapped its neck. The reluctant beast finally turned away and continued forward.
Naraka's patrol stayed close behind, splashing through the swamp in a long, evenly spaced line. Rishi kept looking back over his shoulder and scowling, then turning to Atreus to reassure him that their pursuers would soon give up. Instead, the ponies drew ever nearer, whinnying and snorting with every step. Atreus could well understand their displeasure. He could not keep his own feet from dragging in the frigid swamp, and they had become little more than frozen weights. Only Yago, with his thick layer of ogre fat, seemed as unaffected by the cold as the shaggy yaks.
After a time, the sky started to gray with oncoming dusk. A chill breeze rose from the east and wafted across the swamp. Atreus and Rishi fell to shivering, and even Yago commented once or twice on the cold. Behind them, the ponies grew quiet, save for an occasional splash when one stumbled and spilled its rider into the water.
At last, Naraka began to shout orders in Maran, his voice echoing through the swamp first in one direction, then the other. Rishi sighed in relief, as he guided the yaks into the heart of the willow thicket and stopped.
'Naraka is calling his men to him,' the Mar explained. 'They will certainly turn back now.'
As the ponies splashed toward Naraka's voice, Atreus allowed himself the luxury of lifting his sodden boots out of the water. Though his feet felt as heavy and dead as stones, his lower legs were throbbing stumps of cold pain. His thighs ached from squeezing his mount, and the effort of balancing the heavy coffer had numbed his shoulders with fatigue. He could not imagine passing the night in this cold swamp, and yet he did not see how they could spend it anywhere else.
The splashing slowly faded as the last of Naraka's men rejoined the patrol, and the swamp fell ominously silent. After a few moments, the sound of murmuring voices began to filter through the willows, occasionally punctuated by the soft crackle of snapping sticks.
'The fiend,' Rishi hissed. 'Does he care nothing for his men and his ponies?'
'What's he doing?' Yago asked.
'Preparing a camp.' Rishi shook his head sadly, then cast an accusatory glance in Atreus's direction. 'How unfortunate the good sir did not kill him when he had the chance. His mercy will cost us many hours of cold misery and perhaps a few toes as well.'
Rishi urged the yaks onto a small hummock in the heart of the thicket. The hungry beasts immediately pawed through the snow and began to tear at the mossy grass beneath. The Mar slid off his mount, freeing the rucksack with a single tug on the rope.
'Hurry. We must make camp before dark.' Rishi turned to Yago. 'The marsh is full of good things to eat. If you go down by the water, I am sure you will catch something.'
'Eels?' Yago licked his lips. Whole raw eels were an ogre delicacy, second only to bear brains. 'I could swallow a dozen of them at once!'
'Fish,' Rishi said. 'I fear the water is too cold for eels.'
The ogre's face fell, but he went to kneel at the water's edge. Atreus dropped his treasure coffer into the snow, then swung an aching leg over the yak's shoulders and slid to the ground. The impact sent waves of agony shooting up his cold legs, but he felt no sensation at all in his feet.
'There is no need for concern,' Rishi said, eyeing Atreus's clumsy limp. 'The feeling will come back when you start to move.'
Rishi passed him an extra cloak from the rucksack and set to work stomping down a place to sleep. Atreus took the sword and began to cut willows for insulation. As promised, the feeling soon returned to Atreus's feet, and he wished it had not. The flesh felt as if it were on fire, and the bones underneath ached with the cold. He hacked all the harder.
The light was just starting to fade when a sporadic series of screeches and agonized whinnies echoed across the swamp. Hardly able to believe the awful sound was being made by ponies, Atreus stopped work and looked up. In the twilight sky, he could barely make out three distant columns of smoke.
'In the name of Sune,' Atreus gasped. 'What's Naraka doing? Burning his ponies alive?'
'That is no doubt what the poor beasts fear, but we are not to be so lucky,' said Rishi. 'The ponies must be warmed and dried before the night turns cold, or ice will form on their legs and perhaps cripple them before morning.'
Atreus glanced at the grazing yaks, who seemed quite content with the snowy ice balls hanging from their shaggy legs.
'Oh no, do not worry about the yaks,' laughed Rishi. 'For them, cold is better. If not for us, they could keep going all night.'
This turned Atreus's thoughts to his own soggy feet. He cleared a place for a fire and gathered several handfuls of brown grass from under the hummock's heavy thatch. Rishi looked increasingly distressed as Atreus began to stack dead willow stalks next to the fire pit. When he withdrew his flint and steel from the rucksack, the
