Page 79 of Gryphon in Light

He let his mind go blank for a moment, going through an exercise of relaxing every muscle in his face, head, neck, and shoulders. A stolen moment of time he sorely needed right now.

Hallock has certainly taken as much on those broad shoulders as I could have asked. He had been the first to realize that since they were on an island, and it was going to take time to get back to the shore, they might as well take the rest that they had been planning to take before the smoke creatures moved in. And he was the first to realize that they were going to need food, and a lot of it, for the gryphons and the kyree. Potentially someone could use a spell to make the vegetation grow fast so the dyheli and Companion didn’t overgraze this place, but gryphons couldn’t eat leaves.

So at this moment, all the Iftel gryphons were now in the air, half of their attention on hunting, the other half scouring the landscape on both sides of the river for signs of any more of those smoke creatures. They didn’t like flying below the clouds in the rain, but they were going to do it anyway, and he and Hallock could trust they would be thorough about it.

At Hallock’s direction, the kyree had all stationed themselves in cover on the swollen banks to watch for trouble. The tervardi had climbed the tallest tree on the island and were standing lookout up there. The bondbirds were all out across the river hunting small game—except for his lammergeier, who was waiting on standby for a bondbird to take down something too big for it to carry.

The humans had more or less sorted themselves out into work groups without any orders from Silverfox or Hallock—Nightwind was with Rina and Tutack, and the rest were turning this abrupt landing spot into a properly fortified camp. Real defenses—no improvisation with thorn bushes this time, and every magical defense that the still-functioning mages could think of either had been put in place or would be completed soon. That included alarms, hertasi-rigged traps, and, of course, shields. Layered ones this time. Everyone who could make a shield had done so.

The hertasi were handling the living and comfort arrangements, and like the Hawkbrothers, had leapt into doing so without needing orders or directions.

The island itself was about the size of Errold’s Grove, including all the gardens, and they were just about in the center of it, so there was plenty of cover in the way of trees and heavy brush along the rim to screen their presence from anything on the banks of the river. But just to make sure, Redlance had done something incredibly clever. How, Firesong had no idea, but the Hawkbrother mage had encircled the island with a ring of thick mist hanging in that brush and hovering just above the water, which managed to stay put despite the river rushing by under it. Maybe he’d done something with the endless rain. But between the rain and his mist, Firesong didn’t think anything short of a bonfire would be visible from the riverbank. Which was a good thing, because they needed their fires right now, and at night, they would need the comforting presence of flame and mage-light. Once it got dark, hidden fears would come out to torment them all. Trauma did that.

Genni had made sure that there were no actual injuries to anyone from that mad dash through the Gate. Once she and Nightwind and Silverfox had made certain of that, both Genni and Nightwind went to be with Rina and Tutack. Nobody knew how they were handling things. Death and grief—how you dealt with those was as much a matter of culture as it was of emotion, and none of them knew enough of Ghost Cat culture to know what to expect.

I should be there too. But I need a moment.

The damn rain was just as bad here as it had been back at the ambush. He craved sun. He longed to lie flat on his back and soak up light and heat. He wanted, so desperately, to hear something besides the drumming of rain . . .

He wasn’t even aware that he was cold until he realized he was shivering, and he hadn’t done more than take his hands away from his eyes when Jylan whisked around the prow of the barge, draped a warmed blanket over his shoulders, and stood there with her hands clasped in front of her, waiting to hear if he needed anything.

He managed something like a smile. “It’s all right, Jylan. I’ll be fine. I just need a few moments more.”

“Well, Ayshen says you need some of his hot tea with honey, and I’m not to leave you alone until you think you can go to Tutack and Rina.” She jutted her chin aggressively, as a sign that she would not take no for an answer.

He nodded. I suppose I should be grateful I didn’t know Uglik all that well. I can do my job without my own feelings interfering. There was no point in arguing with Jylan, anyway; hertasi could be terribly stubborn.

I wish Darian was here, he thought, as he got to his feet, blanket still draped over his shoulders. He knows the Ghost Cat culture. I’m going to have to improvise.

But hot tea first. Set your mind to what only you can do. Everyone here is competent. Leave them alone until they show that they need your expertise, or have run out of ideas and need your guidance. Until then, let them handle things in their own way.

A younger Silverfox would have been all over the place, asking if people were all right, and generally getting in the way. He wasn’t that kestra’chern anymore, and that was all to the good.

Tea. Then sympathy. Then whatever else is needed. He pulled the blanket close and obediently followed Jylan to the cookfire.

Hallock supervised the defenses; not only would they have to serve against anything that came across the river, but he needed to improvise something against those smoke creatures. He’d had some ideas, once the initial shock wore off. The things were like air—well, what if harsh smells hurt them? It was a theory at least, and he put it into practice, working with Redlance to create magical “stink traps” that they planted just outside the shields. All Redlance had to do was trigger a trap, and the most noxious odor either of them could think of would be released. They’d both thought of poisonous gas, of course, but both had rejected the idea immediately. The problem with working with a gas was that it wasn’t going to stay where you put it, and a breath of wind at the wrong moment could send it into their ranks.

And maybe fire would make them think twice, too—the creatures had seemed hesitant about going after Uglik until after Serenshey had left and Uglik had turned his back on them, so his flaming axe and sword were no longer in play. So Hallock had rounded up Serenshey, they’d had a consultation, and now there was a shallow moat around the camp, filled with dead plant material, material the Firecat had danced over and probably magicked. Serenshey swore he could fill it with flames higher than a man in the blink of an eye. :They won’t burn out or blow out, either,: the Firecat had promised. If those things came again—and Hallock devoutly prayed that they would not—he liked to think they had better defenses now.

And there was no point in going down the fruitless road of if only we’d had that when they showed up, because no one had had time to think of such a thing, much less prepare it. Serenshey had made it very clear that he needed all that detritus in the moat to work his trick, so what were they supposed to have done, made all those preparations right under the “noses” of those smoke things? Probably the only thing Serenshey could have done in the heat of the moment was what he had done. Set himself on fire, set the weapons on fire.

So no second thoughts, and no recriminations, either. We did our best, and lost Uglik anyway.

He couldn’t help the next thought that came—that compared to all of the fatally wounded Guardsmen back at Deedun, Uglik’s death had been swift, and even unexpected. A soldier does think about death; it’s part of the job, after all. No one wants to die . . . but I have seen so much worse.

He and the others had cut defensive stakes and buried them point-out toward the water. Hallock had also dug shallow pits and improvised quick man-traps with the help of a hertasi named Lervadis who was extremely adept at pits and snares, the two of them working at a speed he wouldn’t have thought possible without that expert help. No point in stopping or trying to get dry; the rain in Deedun had been worse, and at least there wasn’t much mud to deal with. By the time the bondbirds started coming back with kills of ducks, rabbits, and even geese, the entire perimeter of the new camp had been as fortified as possible without more people, more equipment, and the expertise of a military engineer. Serenshey and Jak trotted at his heels the entire time, very occasionally giving advice, but mostly just staying out of the way and lending a paw or hoof as needed.

Finally everything had been done that could be done. Especially in the rain. Which left Hallock wondering if he should go see to Rina and her brother or not. They’d left the work crew some time ago, and no one had objected. Well, if they had, I’d have given the objector a piece of my mind. But now, there was no excuse of “urgent work” to keep him from seeing to them. I probably know them better than most of the Tayledras do . . . but I don’t know them well. I wish the Owlknight was here.

Nevertheless, he was the closest thing to a military leader that this group had; leaders saw to their underlings in all things, especially this. And he’d never shirked this terrible duty when he’d been in the Guard.

Dammit. I’d better go.

“Jak, where are the Ghost Cats?” he asked aloud.

The Companion pointed with his nose at the third barge. :On the other side of that barge. The hertasi built them a kind of camp under the canvas. They don’t seem to want to be inside the barges right now. But they had the hertasi bring all of Uglik’s things out to them.:

It’s either some special rite or they’re being pragmatic and splitting up their inheritance. “Pragmatic”— he could deal with that. A Ghost Cat rite—hopefully they wouldn’t be offended if he had to ask what they wanted him to do for them. He nodded. “I’ll go see if there is anything they need.”