The Lost Library of Cormanthyr le-1 Page 5

  Hanging upside down from the tree branch, Baylee stared death in the eye. The shifting of the ore's shoulder told him when the arrow was about to be released. The ranger threw himself to the side. The arrow fletchings slipped along the side of his face, letting him know just how close it had been.

  On his way to the ground, he flipped in midair and landed on his feet. The ore screamed out a warning to the others of its party. The sound of running feet started immediately toward Baylee.

  Seeing the human still alive sent the ore into a panic. The creature drew back to the shelter of a nearby tree as it tried to nock a new arrow.

  Baylee sprang forward, reaching for the ore. He seized the creature's head and slammed it into the tree hard enough to smash its skull. The ore let out a long breath, shivered, and died in the tangle of roots thrusting up from the ground.

  The ranger gathered the short bow and the quiver of arrows. A quick count showed him fourteen arrows in the quiver. He took five of them out, fitting one to the string and taking four more up in his left fist, holding them with the bow, managing the handful with ease.

  Though Golsway had been reluctant to allow Baylee to carry weapons, he had seen his apprentice trained in their usage.

  Happily better armed, Baylee faded into the darkness of the forest It was time for the hunted to become the hunter.

  "Detestable creature," Jaeleen said aloud. Her words dripped spite and venom.

  Roosting upside down high overhead in the tree the woman hid under, Xuxa regally chose to ignore the woman and sent her senses ranging far out, seeking Baylee. She touched the minds of two of the ores and retreated instantly by choice.

  Ores had such narrow, closed minds filled with horrific dreams fueled by the smell of blood. Xuxa shuddered, re-closing her leathery wings about herself. She still could not sense Baylee, and she was beginning to feel somewhat anxious.

  "I know you can hear me," Jaeleen called out from below, "and I know you're up there."

  Then do us both a favor, Xuxa flashed at the human woman, and shut up. She intentionally made her telepathic voice loud enough to hurt.

  Jaeleen loosed an oath, summoning up a colorful, but wholly inaccurate family history for azmyth bats in general, and Xuxa in particular.

  Xuxa ignored the outburst. Seated in the upper branches of the tree, she had a good field of view. Her night sight stripped away the dark shadows twisting across the land. One of the ores had closed the distance between itself and Jaeleen to sixteen paces. Feeling disgusted, Xuxa also noted that the human female still did not register the ore.

  Baylee would never make such a mistake, the azmyth bat knew. She had trained the human ranger to be alert to everything going on around him, and she took pride in Baylee's skills, which were well beyond those of most humans.

  The ore continued creeping up on Jaeleen.

  Xuxa briefly considered sending a warning to the human female and letting her fend for herself, but decided not to. In the ensuing fight, Jaeleen might manage to get injured, and Xuxa didn't intend to listen to Baylee berate her for it. And there was a certain amount of territorial pride involved since Baylee had made the woman her charge.

  Unfurling her wings, Xuxa let herself fall from the branch. She dropped like a stone, emitting her high-pitched squeak too high for either humans or ores to hear. The sound bounced back up at her from the forest sward, instantly letting her know how near she was to her quarry.

  She broke her fall at the last possible moment. Her leather wings stretched out and caught the wind, straining her muscles and the tendons of the joints. She rode the breeze, arrowing at her target.

  In the last moment of its life, the ore noticed the azmyth bat coming at it silently. The ore shifted defensively against the movement, raising its club.

  Xuxa knew the ore probably hadn't even identified what she was at the time she struck. Not wanting to take a chance on the opportunity presented her, Xuxa screamed again. The sound waves bounced back at her, bringing the ore into clearest focus for her bat senses.

  She twisted in the air violently, bringing her twin tails stabbing into flesh while her fangs sank deeply into the ore's throat, hi a flicker, she unleashed the lightning charge bottled up inside her.

  Overcome by the onslaught, the ore tumbled to the ground, smoke rising from its twitching body, unable to even manage its own death throes.

  Xuxa frantically beat against the wind to gain altitude quickly. She swooped around, circling the tree where she had left Jaeleen. Her keen eyes picked the woman out of the darkness.

  Jaeleen leveled the hand crossbow. Her hard eyes projected anticipation.

  Miss, Xuxa promised in a whispering voice in the woman's mind, and I won't.

  Jaeleen snarled an oath and lifted the weapon clear. "Have I ever told you how much I hate flying rodents?"

  Xuxa flew to the top of the tree and took up her search for Baylee again. She remained aware of Jaeleen below. The woman scurried for Baylee's shovel and dropped into the hole the ranger had dug. The shovel's blade bit cleanly into the dark earth.

  Xuxa shifted along the branch. She could neither sense nor see Baylee, though she was aware of the ores as they pursued something through the forest.

  Then her attention was divided as the shovel Jaeleen wielded so vigorously broke through into hollow space. The azmyth bat peered down.

  Jaeleen dropped to her hands and knees, tossing the shovel to one side. She dug frantically into the earth, enlarging the hole she'd made.

  Xuxa felt anxious. Baylee had been so close to the prize he had sought. Now it appeared he was to lose not only that prize, but perhaps his life as well because of the treacherous woman below.

  And even as she thought it, Xuxa knew that Baylee would probably never see it that way. She threw herself into the air.

  3

  Baylee ran along a thick-boled branch twenty feet above the forest floor. Moonlight splintered through the leaves and limbs in brief flashes.

  "There!" an ore yelled in one of the few words the ranger recognized. Harsh clucking followed as other ores took up renewed pursuit.

  A spear slashed through the trees, burying itself in a tree trunk in front of Baylee. He slapped it away with his free arm and kept moving.

  Measuring his stride, Baylee hit the last bit of safe footing he guessed that he had on the rapidly thinning branch. He flexed his knees, riding out the spring of the limb as it bent, then threw himself forward. Graceful as he'd become over the years since his teaching in the Tangled Trees, he knew he only grasped a fraction of the woodland elves' skills in their chosen terrain.

  The branch had little spring to give, so he didn't gain height, but it did allow him to leap toward the branch on the next tree he'd selected. His boots hit the rough bark and skidded. For a moment he thought he might slip and fall, then his feet found the friction point. He stood, swayed on bent legs, then turned to face his foes.

  Four ores twenty paces away searched the trees for him. Their rheumy eyes glistened sickly in the dark.

  Changing his stance to properly bring his target into view, Baylee drew the arrow he had ready on the string, braced into place by his finger. The shaft felt surprisingly true and straight for an orcish weapon. The grain of the wood slid along his skin, speaking volumes of skill of the arrow's making. The fletchings brushed feather light against his cheek and remained stiff and aligned. He guessed that the bow and arrows were stolen, and not long ago at that.

  Both eyes on his target Baylee released half a breath, held it, then released his shaft. The arrow leaped from the bow as fast, straight, and deadly as a falcon cutting air after a dove. Before his first arrow took the rearmost ore in the throat, the ranger had another arrow on the bowstring. He released again at his second target.

  The first ore seized the arrow that suddenly feathered its throat and made choking noises. The creature took a few halting steps, pulling weakly at the shaft. The second arrow slid into the face of another ore, burying itself to the fetching
in an eye socket as the arrowhead crashed through the back of its skull.

  The remaining ores howled in fright as they saw the one in front of them fall dead, its head snapping cruelly as the spent force of the arrow turned it. Both of the unwounded creatures turned to be confronted by the one drowning in its own blood behind them.

  The hesitation gave Baylee time to get off two more shafts. The first sped true, snapping into place beneath the helm of one ore and cleaving the creature's backbone. The second shaft buried itself in the side of the last ore but did not slow the creature's frightened run back into the forest.

  Keeping an arrow nocked, Baylee took four more arrows from the quiver and fisted them with the bow. He moved instantly into the shadows in case he had been spotted.

  He stayed with the trees, moving silent and quick. His mind searched for Xuxa, thinking he might be within range of the azmyth baf s telepathic range. Xuxa.

  I am here, Baylee. Her mental voice sounded distant and anxious.

  Baylee took a final look around. Only two ores appeared to have survived the encounter and were hastily making tracks out of the forest, pausing only long enough to gather the horses tied beneath a copse of trees a hundred paces distant. What's wrong?

  Jaeleen has found the sacrificial well of the trollkin you sought.

  A smile tweaked Baylee's lips in spite of the fact that Jaeleen was so close to the prize he'd come seeking. Surely you didn't think she just happened along out here.

  No.

  Baylee turned his steps toward her, following the lay of the land.

  Never once had he not known where he was during the course of the battle. I killed six of the ores.

  I have killed one.

  Baylee dropped to the forest floor. Another few paces and he crested a hill that overlooked the dig. He peered through the shadows and spotted Xuxa only through practiced effort near the top of the tree. Jaeleen was nowhere to be seen. However, the meaty smack of the shovel blade biting into the earth echoed to Baylee's ears.

  Keep watch, Xuxa, he said as he moved for the dig.

  Baylee crept up on the hole and looked down into it. Jaeleen was on her hands and knees, digging with grim determination. Seeing the hole widening before the woman fired Baylee's blood. A wide grin filled his face. He had known the well couldn't be much farther down.

  Jaeleen looked back over her shoulder as she took a broad-bladed knife from her trail kit. "Are the ores gone?"

  "Yes," Baylee replied. "The ones that aren't dead."

  "Tymora willing, there are more dead than alive."

  He gave her a tight nod, slightly put off by her apparent blood-thirstiness. Though they were ores and would have spilled his life's blood, the ranger felt that all life was precious. He culled stories from the ages, walked the paths of men and women, humans, dwarves, and elves, learned how they'd lived and how they died. In that pursuit, he had learned to revere much about many people.

  "You always were good in a fight," Jaeleen acknowledged. She snapped a glance at him, her face showing thinly disguised impatience. "Those ores will be back soon, you know."

  "I know."

  "Then help me! By Tymora's grace, we will be long gone from here by the time the survivors are able to find us, and interest another group of ores in attacking us."

  If she didn't need your help, Xuxa announced, she'd have been praying that you'd be as dead as those ores out in the forest.

  You're wrong. She's not like that. Baylee stepped into the pit he'd been working on. There was barely room for them both. Their bodies brushed together, and he was too well aware of her scent, thinly disguised beneath the lingering trace of Arabellan herb soap. Not all the time.

  Dragons, Xuxa assured him, are less greedy by nature. You live in the wild, friend Baylee, and you should know these things. My nature and yours… there are things we would never do. She is too civilized to trust.

  Keep watch. The azmyth bat's silence rebuked Baylee. He picked up the shovel. "Move aside. We'll be here all night while you pick at those stones with that toy."

  Reluctantly, Jaeleen slid aside. "Dare we risk a light?"

  "The ores already know we're here. A light can do no real harm." Baylee rammed the shovel home. "How did you find out about the well?"

  Jaeleen rummaged in her trail kit and brought out a compact oil lamp hardly bigger than her palm. It had six sides and seemed to be constructed more of glass than of worked metal. The glass sides held tiny etched figures of silhouette dancers. She spoke a quiet word Baylee could not catch. Obediently, the lamp's wick ignited. A warm glow grew from the lamp, bathing the dig site.

  "You still have Yarik's lamp, I see." Baylee slammed the shovel against the stonework of the well. A chunk of mortar and rock broke free. He saw it fall and heard it echo as it scraped the sides on the way down.

  Jaeleen pushed the lamp toward the opening. The darkness within retreated slightly, becoming an ellipse trapped in the mouth of the well that went down ten feet. "I didn't hear it hit."

  "No," Baylee said with conviction, "it's supposed to be bottomless."

  The woman glanced up at him, her eyes widening slightly. "You're joking."

  He kept his face serious with effort. Jaeleen had always lorded it over him that she knew more than he did when he'd been Gol-sway's pupil. That hadn't stopped in the days since Baylee had been on his own, even though they both knew it wasn't true. "What have you been told about the well?"

  Jaeleen shrugged. "Not much. I only just found out about it." She paused, looking deep into his eyes in that way that she had that Baylee found so damned irresistible. "Probably not nearly as much as you have."

  "Probably not," Baylee agreed. "May I have the lamp?"

  She handed it over somewhat reluctantly.

  "I heard the tale in Jester's Green two tendays ago. You know where Jester's Green is?"

  "North of Suzail." Baylee was intrigued. He had heard of the legend himself in Dhedluk while searching for another treasure altogether. Mention of the sacrificial well of Vaprak had been contained in a history of herbalist's lore the ranger had borrowed from a private library in the town to conduct research. The writer had been a native of Waymoot back in the days when the trollkin ruled the hills around that city, attacking caravans and travelers at their leisure. "Who told you the tale?"

  "They have a number of soldiers garrisoned there." Jaeleen peered over Baylee's shoulder.

  From the periphery of his vision, Baylee saw the smooth, rounded curves of the woman's breasts pressing from the top of her bodice as if they were going to fall out. He reminded himself to breathe.

  "Those soldiers were all too willing to try to impress a woman with a nice smile and seeming innocence with their stories. Most of them were twice-told tales as stale as a fishmonger's love life. But, as you know, every now and then, there is that kernel of truth."

  Baylee knew. He shifted, sending the lamp further down into the yawning mouth of the cursed pit.

  "One of the stories told was by a retired sergeant of the Purple Dragons," Jaeleen went on. "As a boy, he'd lived in Waymoot. Most of the stories he told were of course about Lord Filfar Woodbrand, the local legend." The woman leaned in closer and her cheek brushed against Baylee's bare shoulder. The touch of perspiration covered skin was electric. "He told the story of how Woodbrand killed all the marauding trollkin in the area five or six times before he ever mentioned the well. In their day, the trollkin were very successful. A number of caravans as well as private individuals were murdered by the trolls. Thrown into this very well."

  "That's not all of the story," Baylee said. "This well was used as a sacrificial altar for Vaprak. He put a permanent spell of silence over the well to mask the screams of the dying from any passers-by. That's why you didn't hear the rock hit"

  "Then there is a bottom."

  "Yes."

  "What are we waiting for?"

  "Because the spell of silence may not be the only magic Vaprak put over the well."

 
"The faint of heart never gets white meat at a family banquet," Jaeleen said.

  "And the daring adventurous who leap before they look end up in unmarked graves," Baylee growled. It was the first rule Golsway had given him as a boy.

  "Baylee," the woman urged, reaching out to turn his face toward hers with a soft hand. The lamplight made her blond hair glisten like spun gold. "Do you know what riches might be waiting down there to claim? For us to claim?"

  "Wealth is a burden only weak men choose to carry," Baylee said. "I'd rather not have more than I can pack into a good travel kit, and what I can put into my head."

  "That's only Golsway talking to you," Jaeleen said irritably. "I'd hoped by now that you'd learned to think for yourself."

  The words stung Baylee, surprising him. He turned his attention back to the well and the lamp.

  "I've offended you," Jaeleen said. "Tymora's sweet kiss, I'd not meant to do that, Baylee, truly."

  Baylee wanted to believe her so badly. Too often in most of his travels, he encountered only those who measured life and the worth of a man in gold pieces. The friends that he could trust could be counted on the fingers of both hands. The ones he felt comfortable with asking for something that he could not get for himself could be counted on one hand with fingers left over. "I've got a climbing rope in my kit. Get it."

  Jaeleen disappeared instantly from his side. She rummaged in his travel kit and brought the rope back. The ranger tied the string to the lamp through his belt, then took the rope.

  I could go first, Xuxa offered.

  No, Baylee replied. I need you here in case something goes wrong.

  You need someone to watch your back if you're going to turn it on that woman.

  And the ores could come back and bury us all.

  Go, Xuxa said. If we are fortunate, you won't be out of my reach by mindcall.

  Baylee secured the grappling hook around a tree bole, then shook out the length of rope. Knots were already tied into it. He kicked the coil of rope into the well. The hemp slithered audibly for the first few yards, then became totally silent.