The Riddle - Alison Croggon [143]
Dharin asked nothing further and didn’t mention her quest again. Maerad was very glad of his easy, undemanding company over the following days. They retraced their route over the sea and back down through the Ippan Peninsula toward the Ippanuk Glacier, easily falling back into the routine they had established on their way there. The weather continued fine, and they traveled through days of icy, clear skies and nights of still cold. In five days they reached the glacier and recrossed it without incident. Dharin estimated that they would be back in Murask within a week if the good weather continued. Maerad dreaded returning; she had the Treesong, or at least half of it, but what could she do with it? What was she to do next?
On the day after their crossing of the glacier, they had stopped in a dip for the hourly untangling of the dog traces. They worked from different ends of the team, meeting in the middle, so it took very little time. Maerad’s fear of the dogs had now completely vanished, and she worked in a methodical, businesslike way.
They had just finished their task and were deciding whether to have their midday meal before moving on, when the team began to bark and howl, straining at their traces. Maerad had never seen them do this; they were, as a rule, silent when they were working. She looked toward Dharin and saw with alarm that he was running to the sled, then standing on the driver’s ledge and waving her to get in. She looked around wildly, but could see no sign of any disturbance. She sent out her hearing and realized why the dogs were barking: there were sleds nearing them, from either side. She saw with sudden dread that the hollow in which they had stopped was the perfect place for an ambush. And the air was so still that even the dogs had sensed no one near until it was too late to avoid them.
Maerad instinctively felt her side for her sword and realized, cursing, that it was in the sled. She had fallen out of the habit of carrying it, finding it too clumsy with all her winter clothing. She ran to the sled and climbed into her usual seat, dragging her sword from where she kept it. Dharin set the team running so quickly she nearly fell out.
“Jussacks!” shouted Dharin. “We’ll have to outrun them. There are at least two sleds, probably more, and we can’t outfight them.”
“I think there are six, or more,” Maerad said. She looked back and saw four sleds appear over the ridge. Their sleds were much lighter than Dharin’s, and each carried a single man. She saw with anxiety that even though their dogs were not nearly as powerful as Dharin’s team, they were faster.
The Jussacks themselves were, like Maerad and Dharin, dressed in heavy winter clothing. Each man carried a weapon like a mace in one hand, steering his sled with the other. They had fair beards, plaited in two ropes from their chins, and there was something odd about their faces, something misshapen, that Maerad could not make out at that distance.
The dogs were running at a reckless pace. There was no clear path, and the risks of hitting an obstacle grew the faster they ran. Then she saw two sleds ahead of them. There was no escape to either side; they were now running headlong down a narrow valley. Dharin urged the dogs on, his voice sharp, and they somehow managed an extra spurt of speed. It was hopeless; they could not turn back, and passing the Jussack sleds ahead of them was their only chance.
Maerad stood up, holding to the rails to keep herself steady, and threw up a shield to protect them. Then she prepared to blast the Jussacks aside, to allow their sled to pass. She gathered the power inside herself, feeling a sudden gladness as she experienced an infinite energy surge through her veins, and cast a bolt of light toward the nearest sled.
Nothing happened. Maerad staggered and almost fell. It wasn’t like the Hull with the blackstone, which had eaten up her power and then cast it back twofold; nor was it like the impotence that had afflicted her in the Gwalhain Pass. This was something else altogether; she felt herself to be powerful and