The Runes of the Earth

see for both of them.

Muttering curses to herself, she scanned her surroundings.

The hills that shouldered the watercourse blocked her view of Mithil Stonedown. Past their crests, however, she could still make out the highest seething fringes of the storm which had enabled her escape. They boiled with violence and darkness; but their wrongness was of a different kind than Kevin’s Dirt and caesures. The stormtops violated Law and nature in less harmful ways. Nor did they gust in pursuit of her-or of Covenant’s ring. Instead they remained to harass the village.

I would not deign to raise my hand-

Lord Foul had told her the truth about more than hurtloam.

And as long as the Masters remained to ward the Stonedown, they could not search for her. Hell, they might not yet know that she was gone. It was possible-

“So far, so good,” she said to Liand’s impatience. “Now what? If we want to escape”- she indicated the mountains- “we need to get up there somehow.”

To the east lay her easiest road. There the valley diverged more and more from the course of the Mithil; and as it curved into the southeast it rose steadily until it became a vale between mountain heads. From this distance, its slopes appeared to remain grassy and gradual two thousand feet and more above Mithil Stonedown. If she and her companions angled in that direction, they would be able to travel as fast as her stamina could carry her.

And they would be in plain sight of the valley bottom for at least a league, until they rounded the curve up into the vale. The Haruchai would spot them as soon as the storm over Mithil Stonedown dissipated. Linden’s red shirt assured that.

She needed another route.

Even if Liand knew of one, however, she would not be able to stay ahead of the Masters for long. They would travel faster than she could. Ultimately her only realistic hope was that Stave and his people would believe she had fled north, into the open Land.

Responding to her question, Liand pointed toward the rising cliffs south and slightly west of him. When Linden looked there, she saw a rift between crags ending in a fan of scree above the foothills. The shape of the rift and scree suggested that the slope of loose stone piled higher as it reached out of sight. If it piled high enough, it might provide a route into the Range above the rift.

But it stood on the far side of the Mithil. And as the watercourse neared the head of the valley, it gathered into a crooked ravine tending somewhat east of south: too ragged and sheer to climb; too wide to cross. Then, at the base of the nearest cliff, it sprang up into a waterfall which thundered from a damp cut high and unattainable in the rock face.

The rift might as well have been on the dark side of the moon.

“Great,” Linden muttered in disappointment. “How can we get there? The last I checked, none of us can actually fly.”

“It will not be difficult.” Lifting his head, Liand indicated the waterfall. “That fall we name the Mithil’s Plunge. For a portion of its way, it pours beyond the cliff, and there we may pass behind it. We must take care that Somo does not slip, but we will be able to do so.

“Certainly the Masters know of this, as I do. But mayhap they will not readily notice my absence from Mithil Stonedown. I am only a young man whom they tolerate, not a valued companion. And if they do not guess that I accompany you, they may not pursue you there, believing that you have no knowledge of it.”

Linden nodded. “Good.” So it was possible: she still had a chance.

But the young man’s answer brought her back to another question. What in hell was he doing here? He was risking more than the disapproval of the Masters; far more than he knew. She could not accept his help simply because he chose to offer it.

Frowning, she waited until he turned to face her. Then, more harshly than she intended, she said, “But before we go any farther, you have some explaining to do.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“Where do you get this `we’ stuff, Liand?” Because she was afraid and unsure, and could not afford to be, she sounded angry. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you defending Mithil Stonedown, where you belong?”

The young man swallowed uncomfortably, but did not drop her gaze. “Would you have been able to save your companion without my aid?”

“That’s not the point. Of course I would have saved him. I can swim, for God’s sake.”

“And will you save him now?” countered Liand. “You are able to gain the mountains, but how will you feed him among the rocks? How will you feed yourself? Can You bear the cold of the peaks?”

Linden scowled at him. “Oh, hell. You know I can’t. I didn’t exactly plan any of this. I just- She knotted her fists to contain her frustration. “I just can’t do anything for my son while I’m a prisoner.”

Liand indicated bundles tied to his saddle. “Then it is well that I have given the matter forethought which you could not. Here I have food and waterskins. Robes and blankets. Rope.

“Somo alone enhances your flight.” Apparently Somo, was the mustang. “I have one much to provide for your escape. All that I can.”

His eyes begged her to accept him.

“But-” With an effort, Linden restrained her impulse to swear at him. His manifest sincerity did not deserve it. “But,” she said more quietly, “that’s still beside the point. Obviously I need any help I can get. But your people need you, too. They were fighting for their lives when I ran. How could you leave them?”

Her demand increased his discomfort. For a moment, he looked away toward the mountains as if he were measuring himself against them. When he met her gaze again, the sunlight on his face exposed the difficulties within him.

Nevertheless he faced her squarely.

“At first I did not,” he admitted. He had set his impatience aside. “You know this. I ran to the defence of the Stonedown, thinking that we were assailed by kresh in the storm. But the Masters halted us, saying that there were no kresh, that only the storm itself threatened us.

“Against that power we could do nothing. And it struck no one. For reasons which I do not grasp, the storm’s violence harmed only our homes. Indeed, it fell only upon those homes which had been left empty. Their families were at work in the fields, or attending other concerns. And the Masters assured us that no lives had been lost – that none would be lost if we did not approach the storm.

“How they had gained their knowledge, I do not know. But I believed them. And I thought of you, Linden Avery.”

Homes which had been left empty? She frowned to herself. It made no sense. Why would any foe wish to damage empty dwellings?

“I considered your need for escape,” Liand continued, “and my desire to aid you. Then I stole away. Leaving the Masters and my people to regard the storm, I hastened to the stables for a mount. Gathering all that I could to assist your flight, I rode in search of you.”

Linden studied him, trying to understand. “All right. I get that.” She could read the nature of his emotions readily enough, but not their content, their causes. “But why did you head south?”

He had found her too easily.

The Stonedownor shrugged. “You had no mount. If you sought escape northward, the Masters would shortly ride you down, and no aid of mine would free you.

“Also,” he added a bit sheepishly, “the storm lay there, and I feared to hazard it.”

Perhaps his reply should have eased her anxiety. The Haruchai might not reason as he did. Surely they did not remember her as a woman who fled from eldritch storms?

Yet her trepidation increased as she considered the young man. The Masters had deprived him of a kind of birthright: he lived in the Land, but knew nothing of its power or peril. His desire to join her would have consequences beyond his comprehension

Gritting her courage, she placed one hand like an appeal, a hint of exigency, on his thigh.

“That’s not enough, Liand. You still haven’t answered my question. Not really. Mithil Stonedown is your home.” It was all he had ever known. “Everyone and everything you’ve ever cared about is there. Why do you want