The Naming by Alison Croggon

Author:Alison Croggon [Croggon, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844286362
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd
Published: 2008-05-05T04:00:00+00:00

XV

THE HUTMOORS

SHE came to a short while later and found Cadvan kneeling beside her on the ground, his hand on her brow, his face tight with anxiety. She sat up, shaking her head, and looked around her. Darsor and Imi stood quietly beside them, and ordinary daylight filtered through the trees. She wondered briefly if she had suffered some strange fit or hallucination; but then she looked up and saw the branches above them were blackened and withered as if a great fire had touched them. Before them on the track she saw the black heaps of the three Hulls, and the corpse of a horse.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," said Cadvan. "Are you all right?"

Maerad rubbed her head, nodding.

"What happened?" she asked again. "Are we safe?"

Cadvan smiled grimly. "For the moment," he said. "All the Hulls are dead." He swung his hand toward the crumpled heaps on the path, averting his eyes in distaste. "I don't know what happened to the Kulag. It vanished when it was cast down."

"What was it?"

"One of the Hulls was a powerful sorcerer," he said. "I don't know what it was doing here. I dare not speculate at what is happening in the School of Ettinor at the present." He grimaced. "That was the last Hull, and it strove with me mightily as soon as it perceived my power. I began to doubt I could prevail against it." He paused. "And then it summoned a Kulag. Only the greatest sorcerers can command such creatures; they are from the age of the First Evil, from the days of the Wars of the Elementals. They were banished to the Abyss, beyond the circle of the world, long ago. They carry a power more ancient than that of the Dark."

Cadvan paused again. "And then I don't know what happened. I thought perhaps I could destroy the Kulag, but that still left the third Hull, which seemed undiminished in its power, and I was already weary. I thought perhaps that Kulag rushing down on us would be the last thing either of us would see. Then there was a huge flame, and the Kulag crashed down in the path before us. The shock of the flame passed outward, and the third Hull was struck down, and its horse with it. And then you slipped off Imi and fell to the ground. I thought you were dead."

Maerad stared at him in wonder. "Did you make the flame?" she asked.

"It was not of my making," he said, looking at her strangely.

"Then maybe someone helped us, knowing us to be in trouble somehow," she said. "But who could that be?"

"Who indeed?" said Cadvan. "But I think it more likely that the flame burst from you, answering our extremity." He smiled gently at Maerad. "It had something of your wildness."

Maerad sat silently for a while, struggling with amazement and doubt. "But I didn't do anything," she said at last. "I was just terrified."

"No doubt," said Cadvan dryly. "I will take care

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