The Black Shields by Roberts John Maddox

Author:Roberts, John Maddox [Roberts, John Maddox]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
ISBN: 9780812506297
Publisher: Tom Doherty
Published: 1991-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

The desert was almost flat. For ten days, they had crossed the monotonous landscape, broken here and there by ranges of low hills and strange, perfectly circular craters so ancient that their edges were eroded and indistinct.

Each day, Hael thanked the spirits of this terrible land for sending him the Webba. With uncanny precision, the bird-riders could find their watering holes amid the seemingly trackless waste where there were no landmarks Hael could see. More surprisingly, Joz told him that the Webba never used the same route twice, lest they wear a trail that could be followed by enemies.

Often the army had to be split into several parts, each to be guided by a different bird-rider, for there were few water holes large enough to accommodate so many men and animals.

“Tomorrow,” Joz said on the evening of the tenth day, “after we pass the Forbidden Crater, we will be passing into cultivated land. This will mark the beginning of Canyon territory. They are miserable farming folk, but there are powerful sorcerers among them, so one must raid carefully.”

“I have no intention of raiding anybody,” Hael told him.

Joz shrugged. “As you will. You have such a powerful force, though. It seems a shame to waste it.”

“Why do you call this place the Forbidden Crater? You have avoided all the craters we have seen so far.”

“They are forbidden places,” Joz said, “but the Forbidden Crater is even more forbidden. Evil spirits dwell there. It is deadly.”

“How is it deadly?” Hael asked. “How do men die who enter it?”

“How should I know?” Joz said. “No one has entered it in a thousand years. Our gods and ancestors have forbidden it.”

The next day they passed a raised lip of earth and stone that defined the edge of the crater. It was far larger than any they had seen so far. It was the only one with its rim not yet eroded level with the surrounding earth. Hael halted the column.

“I want to go look at it,” he said. He felt drawn to the mysterious place, and he could feel no spirits there, evil or otherwise.

“No!” Joz called out. “You cannot do that! You will die!”

“I will not,” Hael said. “I am a spirit-speaker, and I know that the spirits of this place will not harm me.” He knew it would be worse than useless to try to tell the Webba that their gods and ancestors had given them a false warning.

“Shall we go with you?” Bamian asked.

“No, I will go alone. Wait here; I shall not be long.” He turned his cabo and trotted toward the rim of earth, while behind him Joz and the other Webba began a wailing prayer. He hoped they were praying for his safety.

He could not have said with certainty why he was drawn to the place. Perhaps it was simply the curiosity that always took him to new and possibly dangerous places. If there was any mystery about a place, he had to look into it. He came

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