Melcorka Of Alba by Malcolm Archibald

Author:Malcolm Archibald [Archibald, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Creativia
Published: 2019-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

'I can't run another step,' Bradan gasped.

'You'll have to,' Chaturi said. 'Now that we've freed Machaendranathar, the rakshasa Dhraji will never rest until she kills or captures him and us. We have to flee quickly.'

Two Singhalese produced a litter, placed Machaendranathar on it and trotted away in that ground-covering pace that made light of obstacles and distance. Banduka gave Bradan a wide grin and joined the others.

'We did well.' Kosala checked the edge of his sword. 'I wondered about you, Bradan.' He nodded. 'Maybe I was wrong.'

'Are you coming?' Bradan asked.

'I'll go last.'

'As you wish.' Bradan said and moved on. Melcorka ran at his side for the first few hundred yards before she staggered. Bradan caught her, wincing in pain.

'You're bleeding.' Chaturi glanced at Bradan's leg.

'It's nothing,' Bradan said.

'Perhaps. Don't let it slow you down.' Chaturi shouted for two of her men, who bundled Melcorka onto another makeshift litter and trotted on.

They pushed on along a winding forest track, with birds squawking around them and insects clouding at their faces. Monkeys watched curiously and once, a small herd of deer bounded in front of the column.

'Watch out for snakes,' Chaturi said. 'There are a lot around here.'

'Dhraji can call them up.' Machaendranathar spoke quietly from his litter. 'Where are you headed?'

'Anywhere,' Chaturi said. 'We're headed anywhere away from the Thiruzha.'

'Permit me to guide you,' Machaendranathar said. 'Open your minds. All of you – open your minds.'

'How do I do that?' Bradan asked, and felt the jolt as Machaendranathar entered his head. Unsure what to expect, he saw a map of the country spread out before him, with a clearly marked paththat led through the maze of forests to a narrow pass over the Ghats. The Chola Empire waited in the east.

'Follow the path,' Machaendranathar ordered. 'Don't think – let your mind guide you.'

The forest paths straightened as Bradan followed his feet, with the Singhalese moving without a sound. When Melcorka slipped clear of her litter and walked beside him, it seemed natural to hold her hand, although whether it was as a child or a woman, Bradan did not know. Nor did he know how long that journey lasted. It seemed natural to walk and keep walking as if in a dream, with one footstep following the next and the trees a blur around him and Melcorka at his side. Time did not matter; weariness was accepted; the pain in his thigh was as much a part of his life as the clouding of insects and the green-hazed light though which they passed.

The forest path rose beneath them as they weaved through the foothills of the Ghats, but this time, the pass was too narrow and steep for any army, and there was no fort to avoid. Birds of prey screamed and circled overhead and twice, Bradan saw that shapeless black-and-white mass hovering between him and Melcorka before dissolving into nothingness.

The pass rose higher until it seemed they could touch the sky, levelled out and descended in a dizzying zig-zag towards a vast forested plain, smeared with the smoke from a hundred village fires.

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