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itself, as the invisible dwarf picked it up. From the motion of the staff
Taran could see that Doli had once more begun trudging ahead.
Guiding themselves by the length of wood, the companions followed.
Yet even without sight of the staff they could have found their way, led by
the sound of loud and furious grumbling.
Fflewddur was first to sight the gwythaints. In the distance, above
a shallow ravine three black-winged shapes soared and circled. "What have they
found?" the bard cried. "Whatever it is, I hope we're not the ones to be found
next!"
Taran sounded his horn and signaled the war band to find whatever
protection they could among the huge boulders. Eilonwy, disregarding Taran's
orders, scrambled to the top of a high, jutting stone and shaded her eyes.
"I can't tell for sure," Eilonwy said, "but it looks to me as though
they've cornered something. Poor creature. It will not last long against
them."
Gurgi crouched fearfully against a rock and tried to make himself as
flat as a fish. "Nor will Gurgi, if they see him," he wailed. "They will seize
his poor tender head with gashings and slashings!"
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"Pass on! Pass on!" Glew shouted, his little face puckered in
fright. "They're busy with their prey. Don't stop here like fools. Get as far
away as we can. Oh, if I were a giant again, you'd not find me lingering!"
The gwythaints narrowed their circle and had begun to swoop
downward, seeking their kill. But suddenly what appeared to be a black cloud,
with a dark shape leading it, streaked down from the eastern quarter of the
sky. Before the surprised companions could follow its swift movement overhead,
the cloud shattered as if at its leader's command into winged fragments that
drove straight upon the huge birds. Even at this distance Taran could hear the
furious screams of the gwythaints as they veered aloft to face these strange
assailants.
Fflewddur had leaped up beside Eilonwy and, as Taran and Doli
clambered to a vantage point, the bard shouted excitedly: "Crows! Great Belin,
I've never seen so many!"
Like great black hornets, the crows swarmed over their enemy; it was
not a single combat of bird against bird, but a battle in which whole troops
of crows grappled and clung to the gwythaints' lashing wings, heedless of
sharp beaks and talons, forcing the creatures earthward. When, by sheer
strength, the gwythaints shook off their attackers, a new troop would form and
renew the charge. The gwythaints sought to break free of their burden by
plunging downward, scraping as closely as they dared against the sharp stones.
But as they did, the crows pecked furiously at them and the gwythaints spun
and fluttered dizzily, losing their course and falling once again victim to
the relentless onslaught.
In a last burst of power, the gwythaints beat their way aloft; they
turned and sped desperately northward, with the crows in hot pursuit. They
vanished over the horizon, all save a solitary crow that flew swiftly toward
the companions.
"Kaw!" Taran shouted and held out his arms.
Jabbering at the top of his voice, the crow swooped down. His eyes
glittered in triumph and he flapped his shiny wings more proudly than a
rooster. He gabbled, croaked, squawked, and poured forth such a torrent of
yammering that Gurgi clapped his hands over his ears.
From his perch on Taran's wrist, Kaw bobbed his head and clacked his
beak, thoroughly delighted with himself and never for a moment ceasing his
chatter.
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Taran, trying vainly to interrupt the crow's raucous and boastful
clamor, had despaired of learning any tidings from the roguish bird when Kaw
flapped his wings and sought to fly off again.
"Achren! " kaw croaked. "Achren! Queen!"
"You've seen her?" Taran caught his breath. He had given little
thought to the once-powerful Queen since her flight from Caer Dallben. "Where
is she?"
The crow fluttered a little distance away, then returned, his
beating wings urging Taran to follow him. "Close! Close! Gwythaints!"
Eilonwy gasped. "That's what we saw. The gwythaints have slain her!"
"Alive!" Kaw answered. "Hurt!"
Taran ordered the Commot horsemen to await him, then leaped to the
ground to follow after Kaw. Eilonwy, Doli, and Gurgi hastened to join him.
Glew refused to budge, remarking that he had already skinned himself on enough
rocks and had no intention of going out of his way for anyone.
Fflewddur, hesitated a moment. "Yes, well, I suppose I shall go
along, too, should you need help in carrying her. But it doesn't sit well with
me. Achren was eager enough to go her own way, and I rather think we shouldn't
meddle. Not that I fear her, not for a moment--- ah, the truth of it is," he
hurriedly added, as the harp strings tensed, "the woman makes me shudder.
Since the day she threw me into her dungeon, I've noticed something unfriendly
about her. She has no fondness for music, I can tell you. Nevertheless," he
cried, "a Fflam to the rescue!"
Like a tattered bundle of black rags the still form of Queen Achren
lay in the fissure of a massive rock where she had, in her last hope, pressed
to escape the gwythaints' vicious beaks and talons. Yet her refuge, Taran saw
pityingly, had offered the Queen scant protection. Achren moaned faintly as
the companions carefully lifted her from the crevice. Llyan, who had followed
along with the bard, crouched silently nearby, and lashed her tail uneasily.
Achren's face, drawn and deathly pale, had been badly slashed, and her arms
bore many deep and bleeding wounds. Eilonwy held the woman and tried to revive
her.
"Llyan shall carry her back with us," Taran said. "She will need
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more healing herbs than I have brought; more than her wounds, a fever has
weakened her. She has gone long without food or drink."
"Her shoes are in ribbons," Eilonwy said. "How far must she have
wandered in this awful place? Poor Achren! I can't say I'm fond of her, but it
makes my toes curl up just imagining what could have happened."
Fflewddur, after helping move the unconscious Queen to more level [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]