Richard instead watched the shadows down in the darkening woods.
Something dark swooped in at them out of that darkness of the trees to the side and snatched up a man not far ahead, breaking his neck as it yanked him from his feet and up into the air. His sword clattered down on the rocks. The man never even had time to cry out.
Whatever it was, it was not half people, or any kind of occult sorcery. Richard recognized the way it had happened. It was some kind of big predator taking prey.
“Close ranks!” Commander Fister shouted back at everyone.
Men ran in from both directions, collecting Zedd, Nicci, Irena, and Samantha as they came forward. Richard pulled Kahlan close with his left arm, protecting her and himself with his sword. Zedd frowned as he looked around for an intruder he could strike down with his gift. Nicci turned slowly, searching the canopy. Irena hunched over, sheltering her daughter. Samantha’s eyes were wide in terror.
They were all vulnerable targets if they stood still.
“Move,” Richard called out to everyone. “Keep going!”
There was no saving the two men who had been taken. All they could do now was keep anyone else from being taken.
“What do you think that was?” Kahlan whispered from close beside him as they raced ahead.
“I have no idea,” he told her as he ran along the side of the brook, jumping from rock to root to rock, “but we need to get out of the open of this streambed.”
“Some kind of small woods dragon?” she asked as she worked to keep up with him.
“I didn’t get a good enough look. There isn’t enough light and they were too dark to tell much.”
“Keep moving!” Commander Fister called out to his men as he urged them on, waving his sword. “Watch your backs, boys!”
“Commander!” Richard called out as they raced down the open area beside the brook.
When the man paused to look back, Richard pointed with his sword. “Make for that split in the rocks on the side. There are heavy woods beyond. We need to get out of this more open area. Whatever those things are, we’re in the middle of their game trail.”
Commander Fister nodded and turned the rush of men toward the place that Richard had pointed to. As he ran through the opening in the huge boulders, Richard could see that the forest beyond was dense and thick. The heavy cover would make it more difficult for any airborne predators.
The only problem was that it was getting dark. They needed to set up camp, not run through the woods in the dark.
He knew they didn’t have any choice. Before they dared stop for the night, they first needed to get out of the area.
The woods they entered were populated by spruce and pine crowded in close. Growing that close left the lower trunks free of branches for quite a ways up. That meant that the ground was more open, but in among the maze of trunks was not the kind of place a big, winged creature could easily navigate.
It also meant the forest floor, shaded by the dense growth overhead, was more barren, making it easier for them to run.
And run they did, eager to get out of the area.
CHAPTER
54
It was late in the night and quite dark by the time they found a place lower on the mountain where Richard thought it might be safe to stop for the night. At least, it was about as safe a place as they were going to find in the dark of an endless forest he didn’t know. The area was heavily wooded with dense, tightly spaced young hardwoods all around that made it difficult to move through, at least without making a lot of noise. A few large trees left them a bit of a more open spot where they could lay out bedrolls and get some sleep for the remainder of the night.
It would be difficult to travel through such woods, but it would also make it virtually impossible for any creature to swoop in and pick them off as had happened back near the brook. The dense growth would make it hard for any predator of any size to rush in at them. Since they needed to stop so they could all get a little sleep, it didn’t matter how difficult it would be to travel through such an area as long as it made for good protection.
Of course, an attacker, including half people, could still make their way in, but they would face a wall of First File soldiers with weapons. They were all angry that they had not been able to stop the predator, whatever it was, from taking two of their fellow soldiers.
“What do you think?” Commander Fister asked as he peered around in the light of little flames Nicci, Zedd, and Irena each held aloft in a hand.
Richard carefully scanned the area. “This looks about as good a spot as we’re going to be able to find, short of finding a stone fortress.”
“We’ve come quite a distance since we saw those things,” the commander said. “Maybe we left them behind. Maybe they haven’t followed us.”
“Or maybe they’re full,” Irena said. “I told you, the Dark Lands are dangerous and filled with things no one has ever seen—or at least lived to tell about. Most of us have only heard vague stories and rumors.”
“It looks like some of those rumors are proving to be true,” the commander said.
Richard didn’t see what choice they had in it, but he didn’t feel like discussing the matter. After a hard day of traveling through difficult terrain, they all needed to get some sleep, not debate the dangers of the Dark Lands.
Richard saw shadows appear as the moon emerged from the broken cloud cover. At least when the clouds began to break up it had stopped drizzling. It was going to be a damp, chilly night, though.
“Have the men find places wherever they can to lay out their bedrolls,” Richard said. “We all need to stay in close together.”
Jake Fister looked around in the mix of moonlight and conjured flames. “At least it’s not so open in here. It will be difficult for anything to pick us off.”
“After we get settled, no fires tonight,” Richard said.
It meant cold, preserved food, rather than cooking anything, but it was too late to cook, anyway. They needed to have a bite to eat to keep up their strength and then get some sleep so they could be on their way at first light.
Commander Fister quietly gave orders as he moved off among his men, seeing to it that some settled in while he pointed out others and quietly called out names for watches.
&nbs
p; “No standing watch for you,” Zedd told Richard. “You need to rest.”
“You’re right,” Richard told his grandfather.
There wasn’t much room in among the thick growth, so all of them were packed in close. Zedd selected a spot close to Richard and Kahlan. Nicci, Irena, and Samantha started setting up places to sleep nearby. Richard thought that the wizard might have picked his spot deliberately to block Irena and Samantha from being able to get in any closer to him and Kahlan. Whether done deliberately or not, Richard was thankful. He just wanted to get some sleep.
Richard and Kahlan set out a small bedroll and blanket beside a slope of rock. Without building a shelter, there was no real protection from the weather if the rains returned. As Kahlan was settling in, Richard went to where his grandfather was carefully laying out a blanket.
“You going to be comfortable there?” Richard asked.
Zedd smiled. “Perfectly. I can sleep on the point of a thorn.”
That made Richard smile because he knew that it was close to the truth. The old wizard always slept with his eyes open, but he usually slept well.
“Zedd,” Richard asked in a quiet voice the others couldn’t hear, “did you really mean what you said before?”
Zedd puzzled at him. “About what?”
Richard hesitated for a moment, afraid of the answer. “About being tired of living.”
“Ah,” Zedd said with a knowing nod. “Well, my boy, at times yes, at other times no.” Zedd smiled, looking a little less serious. “I think old age is nature’s way of preparing us for death, making us more willing to take our leave of this world. It gets tiring after so many years of seeing people continue to do such cruel and awful things. One just gets tired of the stupidity of it all. After a time, it saps the joy out of life.