Mages' Home by Kyra Halland

Author:Kyra Halland [Halland, Kyra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy western
Publisher: Kyra Halland
Published: 2018-09-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

AKKIM AND DARAST finished laying out the bodies of their fallen clansmen and covered them with rocks and brush to protect them until they could be taken home for proper funerals. Then the brothers fetched their horses from where they had left them nearby, along with bows and spears in addition to their swords.

As they rode up the canyon, Akkim continued telling Silas and Lainie about the fight. On horseback, out of contact with the ground, he was limited to using gestures and a few simple Granadaian and A’ayimat words. Silas had picked up a little of the A’ayimat language over the years, and was able to understand most of what Akkim was saying.

The enemy party had consisted of four Granadaian men and six P’wagimet, while there had been nine men and women in Akkim and Darast’s patrol. The A’ayimat saw the children right away when they came upon the trespassers, and had hesitated to attack at first because they didn’t want to risk harming the children. The mage took advantage of the A’ayimat’s hesitation and attacked with magic while two of the Granadaian men fled with the children.

In the fight that followed, three A’ayimat, two P’wagimet, and one Granadaian man, not the mage, had been killed. The rest of the surviving A’ayimat, some of them with injuries, had gone back to their village while Akkim and Darast remained behind to retrieve the bodies from the rubble.

The remaining kidnappers, probably in a panic now, had left a trail a six-year-old could spot. As Silas, Lainie, and the A’ayimat brothers followed it higher up the canyon, the normal chirping and rustling of animals returned. Silas spotted another swordbeak standing on a rock high up on the canyon wall, watching them as though to make sure they moved on without causing any more uproar. The shadowy shape of another grovik hurried past in the direction of the scene of the fight. Silas wondered if the fanged, ravenous beasts were also scavengers.

Some leagues further up, as afternoon shadows crept across the canyon, the trail veered into a side canyon. Akkim and Darast gave each other concerned looks at this turning; Silas wondered if there was a good spot for an ambush up ahead. Akkim gestured for the group to continue following the trail. “Careful,” he whispered.

Another unnatural silence descended as the group ventured up the side canyon. After a short distance, less than half a league, the canyon curved, then opened up into a wide, flat area along the bank of the small creek. Growing there – Silas squinted in the dimming light, wondering if he could possibly be seeing right.

“What are apple trees doing here?” Lainie asked.

Silas looked at the grove, with the kidnappers’ trail going right through it. “Damned if I know.”

Akkim and Darast spoke to each other, then Akkim gestured for all of them to dismount. As Darast began scouting along the fringes of the grove, Akkim beckoned Silas and Lainie close and spoke in a low voice. “A crazy old settler man lives here.

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