Chain of Sorrows 5

I shook myself out of my reverie again, and looked around, a little upset. All my memories of this road were of the lower portions, and the stretch not normally traveled from the capital. The lowlands and valleys were of little or no use here in the high canyon. Now we needed more recent recollections, from the time I had spent in this area rebuilding the very defenses we now moved through. And the recall of others.

"Nalbiki! Hate to ask you this, but were the storm ponds full or empty when you came in this way last .week?" Now that the winds had died down some, my voice could carry the line we rode in without needing relay. But still the west was lit with the angry strobe of the grozya. And now the flashing rose higher in the sky. It cast a few shadows, though the grom could not yet be heard. Thus I knew we still had time, but not much.

"Gyevo! The ponds were empty then, but it has rained all week. I cannot say of their current state." My friend of the plains rode up beside me, so our voices would not need to be raised for prying ears hostile to us to over hear our words. "And, they brought me down the high road, up above, at night, so I could not see much of the weir alignments. They could flood the low road here in a heartbeat.

And we would never have a chance of getting out of the way of the deluge. A perfect accident for them to say, 'well, he knew the road, and wanted an honor-guard in Ad's deep flames." His voice was not as rocky as many of my kinds' was. but soft and smooth, like the zyefeir through the tall grasses of his homeland.

"Yes, or they could claim that some creatures of evil say a band of the Domovoi, had scaled the walls during the storm. Once in the vale, only by drowning could they prevent the foes of the people from entering the lands below the vale we how travel. They more than likely even have some few prisoners to dispose of to make the matter iron-clad. And it would explain why I was caught in the very system of weir and channels that I aided in the rebuilding of." My voice carried all the irony of the moment, mixed with a steely determination -not to have the plans of others take the lives of
my kindred.

The silence that followed my comments gave me pause. The kal-ploveitsa would have taken my knowledge into account, I realized. And what better way for Thivzemdaim to become Tsaryets, then for me to be dead. and father to die of heartbreak after his son, out of spite, had not merely killed himself, but his whole entourage. In the very water traps he had helped to rebuild. And by doing so now, they could also cause havoc in the succession of the lines of the Choelm, for Helkavina was to be Jakindegvik' s heir, unless by some miracle her elder brother returned at last from ' his brodyadzhneichyestvo. And after all these years, none thought that possible. And I now had my doubts as to why he had not returned. Some plans I had found recently, had deep roots, both in space and time.

Thus, two lines would be thrown open, but the greater would be more easily resolved. And by her father's exile, even should she survive this night, 'Vina would be just as vulnerable as we had been to being deposed. More so being a woman. But we had also left her some great strengths, some
of which were her own. She would have the loyalty of the Kovalni, voyaka that none save her or her appointed and duly recognized heir could command. Aunt Zamida, who by her irrevocable position in the court, as the high priestess of my matron, Svohboda, was immune to attacks. And the oaths of the Choelm nobles, given in court, a move the subtlety of which I think that Kordar’ had yet to realize. Now I knew why, despite the Zhakon, the road was required by the fools in Ovozyest to be only on the low road.

Then a stone marker that I knew meant one of the servicing trails to the ridgeline was near came into view. A tight grin took root in the crags that now lined my face. Gullies of worry rather than age. The smile was the one the various schemers in the palace hated with a passion. It meant I had found a way to foil all their plots, and this time, more than any before, I hoped it could live up to its reputation.

"Devlin!" My voice was soft, but pitched to carry the distance, and no more. This is one of the gifts we have, one I had worked hard to learn to use. Devfargoflin of the Dragoman clan, whose people are guides and translators to the Tsars for ages, was one of the many Karlykn who had worked on the rebuild with me, and the only one with us now, save Zeffan. When he looked back from the point position he occupied in our new order, I merely gestured to the obelisk. He understood, as he had raised it those few short years before.

I heard him give orders to start us up the path to our left, and to cover this change, I bellowed out orders to dismount again. I could hear the elders groan, and even 'Vina looked askance at my decision. To reassure them, I did only silent thing possible to convey my having a plan to them. I lay my nose across my saddle and waggled my eyebrows at them. Yakin must have missed the eyebrows, 'Vina definitely did not. But she took the wrong meaning from it. Grimdarzog looked thoughtful, while my heart's mate berated me.

"Gyevo! Are you mad!?! This is not the time for games!" She scowled at. me seriously, but no silence backed her. Instead the low rumble of Grimdarzog's chuckle, mixed with the sound of distant thunder filled the air around us. She turned in horror at him as well. "Uchenie, his going insane is not subject for mirth, or have you lost your senses as well?"

The old dwarf merely gestured to where the one in front of us were heading off the road and onto the trail to safety. "Keilroi is back, and has one of his adskei plans in progress. Watch and be amazed, moi plemyanneitsa, watch an be amazed." He himself dismounted, and began to lead his mule up the side spur to the safety of the ridge, or at least the ledge road. The later was used by only messengers usually, while the upper road is patrolled .at all times, by the guards of the Dormo Wall. Though it was also a trap, the ledge road was more protected than the molneya, it was just as subject to floods, mainly from the side canyons, and hanging draws above. And it would be where any searchers would expect us to go if they saw through my ruse, so the ridge was my goal.

And I had no intent of getting trapped, ambushed, or even caught by the forces of nature tonight. Outside these mountains I had grown to adulthood in, I was known as Keilroi the Wiley. Now was the time to remind my people, even the foes within the clans and hearths, who’d really been the bringer of the peace they now had. A truce brought about by my wits and cunning, and the skills of the warriors with me, then and now.

Devlin led us up to the next swope, or bench, of the canyon, and then for the short distance to the next path up, the one leading up to the ridge-line. A path that would lead up the very heights of the Dormo Wall. the long southern series of forts and walls that marked our border with the Domovoi to the south. A road that while patrolled, was often not during bad weather, due to the exposure tot he elements. A road much less suited to ambush as well, besides, who would expect us to be on the very ramparts of the kingdom on our way to exile.

As I reached the top of the first reach of the trail, I heard Nalbiki give a vicious laugh, and shout orders at the garda to continue on up the road. I also noticed that they had spread out, lit torches, and were generally acting as if all were still down there in the death trap my enemies had laid for me. I did not envy them the night they would spend on our behalf, and hoped that none of them were to be sacrificed to carry out my ruse. If they were, I vowed to seek revenge for them, exile be damned.

Before I began my next climb, I heard, and felt the frightful din of a flood of water and rocks cascading out of one of the high, suspended draws above the road. And I was reminded of Nalbiki' s cunning. While I could see the torches, still as if held by the hands of frozen victims, I could also see the figures of the garda, and others, who had remained down below, racing forward, above the torrent's strike, moving swiftly to avoid the ravages of the trap. I was certain that the fools manning the wiers and canals above would be tired or insane by dawn. And within a few minutes, new torches were being lit, to give the appearance of a few survivors.

Confident of their ability to prevent our escape from harm's way being noticed, I turned back to the slope, following my friends and family. And, remembering another stormy night, one that gave me both a link, and a true heart as a friend in the end.