Holger heard a gasp at his back. “Carahue,” he said, “take Alianora and see if you can get her to safety. Hugi and I’ll have a go at that troll hole—”
The girl seized his belt. “Nay,“ she said angrily, “ye’ll no be rid o’ me so easy. I come too.”
“And I,” said Carahue after a gulp or three. “Never yet have I shirked an adventure.”
“Horse apples!” snorted Hugi. “Yer bones will be scattered in the troll’s nest. Ye’re no the first twa knights wha’ died because they had so bluidy much pride there was na room left for brains. I’m nobbut grieved that ye maun drag the swan-may doon wi’ ye. Noo, mak’ ready to gallop!”
22
CARAHUE LED THE WAY, with Hugi for guide. The mare took off in a clatter. For a moment Holger was aware of the red and-blue ribbons twined into her flowing tail. Then Papillon’s muscles surged between his knees.
Headed east along the scarp, they must pass the enemy. A howl arose. Holger saw a spear fly from the left. As its head caught what firelight there was, he saw it turn in the air and arch downward. He raised his shield. The spear rebounded. An instant later, three arrows thunked solidly into the wooden frame.
He rushed on into the gloom beyond. The white mare and the loose white clothes of her rider were a blob, scarcely to be told from shadows. Papillon stumbled. Sparks showered where horseshoes chipped flint. Perforce, the animals slowed to an even trot. On both sides and overhead Holger was blind. He didn’t know if his imagination or his senses told him of the cliffs to the left. He felt their weight loom above him, crushingly, as if he were already buried beneath.
A glance behind etched the heathen leader on his vision. The gaunt man in the badger mantle had snatched a brand from the campfire. He whirled it over his head till flames blossomed and he stood forth startlingly red and yellow. With a cry to his warriors he raised his ax and bounded in chase.
Swiftly he overtook the horses. Holger glimpsed others following, not quite so eager. But his attention was on this man. The chief approached on the left side, where the knight’s sword couldn’t reach. He darted in and chopped at Papillon’s fetlock. The stallion skittered away, nearly throwing his riders. Holger whirled him about to face the next attack.
If I’m delayed here longer than a minute, the bunch of ’em will surround me, the Dane realized. “Hang on, Alianora!” He leaned far over and slashed at his opponent. His blow was parried by the ax. Nimbler than any charger, the cannibal moved back. The painted face with the braided beard mocked at Holger.
But the torch in his left hand remained in sword range. Holger swatted it against the hillman’s breast. The savage barked with pain. Before he could recover, Holger was close enough to chop once more. This time the steel met flesh. The chief went down.
You poor, brave bastard, Holger thought. He spurred Papillon after Carahue. The encounter had only taken seconds.
They moved on through endlessness. The enemy trailed them, not venturing to rush. Arrows zipped through the dark. Whoops ululated. “They’ll rally themselves soon enough and close in on us,” Carahue said over his shoulder.
“I think no,” said Alianora “Canna ye whiff?”
Holger strained his nostrils. The wind was more or less in his face. He heard it go whoo-oo and shake his plume and cloak; he felt how chill it was. Nothing more.
“Ugh!” said Carahue a minute later. “Is that what I smell?”
Someone wailed in the night behind. Holger’s tobacco-dulled nose was the last to catch the odor. By that time the cannibals had given up the pursuit. They’d doubtless stick around to make sure next morning that their foes had not doubled back downhill; but they were going no farther in this direction.
If a smell could be called thick and cold, one might describe the troll’s. When Holger reached the cave mouth, he gagged.
He drew rein. Alianora leaped to the ground. “We must gather stuff for faggots, to licht our way,” she explained. “I feel dry twigs lying about, belike dropped from armfuls the beast carried hither to make his nest.” Presently she had a bundle to which Hugi set flint and steel. As the flames grew, Holger saw a ten-foot hole in the cliff wall. Lightlessness gaped beyond.