The Prey

by Joseph Delaney

  Their heads were not human either: they had flat snouts and fangs that curved downwards over their bottom lips – though their eyes flashed with intelligence. They watched us with sideways glances even as they wentabout their business, and I sensed their threat. I saw Kwin’s eyes widen in fear and heard Deinon gasp. I was glad that the Trader was standing between us and them, directing their movements with quick hand signals.

  ‘What are those creatures?’ Kwin asked Ada.

  ‘They are called rasire,’ she replied. ‘They are a type of low-level singleton, brutal and debased, often used by djinn as beasts of burden to fetch and carry. But they are very strong, and are sometimes used in battle.However, they need strict discipline or they will turn on their master.’

  As the creatures climbed the hill towards the wagon their bodies began to steam in the rain.

  I heard the oxen snort in fear at their approach, but the four creatures had soon secured the cylinder aboard our wagon, moving back into the trees to begin their descent towards the Sea Gate.

  We turned to take our leave of the Trader.

  ‘Other than your title of Trader, do you have a name?’ Ada asked him.

  ‘I have many names,’ he replied. ‘But some call me Lupus.’

  ‘Then I thank you, Lupus,’ she said with a warm smile. ‘Thanks for what you’ve supplied. You’ll be paid in full. I always keep my word.’

  He bowed, and as he did so, the red mane of hair fell forward over the silver mask. Then, without another word, he turned and followed his rasire.

  ‘What now?’ Tyron demanded.

  ‘We take the shatek to Tal’s stockade,’ Ada replied. ‘Then I will begin my work.’

  ‘Where is this place?’

  ‘It’s in the forest on the edge of the Genthai lands to the south-east. He took me there once.’

  ‘You say you only visited it once. Are you sure you’ll be able to find the way?’

  ‘The same skills I use when observing and developing patterns also enable me to recall routes. Don’t you worry, I’ll find it. I’ll sit beside you and be your guide.’

  We headed along a rutted track that ran roughly south. After a couple of hours we halted to get some rest. Tyron insisted that Ada and Kwin should sleep inside the wagon. It meant sharing with Thrym and the shatek.But Thrym was in the deep sleep and the shatek was still within its container. They’d certainly be more comfortable than us.

  We were to use the wooden seats. It would have been more comfortable on the ground, but it had only just stopped raining and it was saturated.

  Before we settled down on our blankets, Tyron beckoned to Deinon and me. He led us some distance away into the trees, well out of earshot of Ada and Kwin. Coming to a halt, he turned and faced us. His face was indarkness, but the tone of his voice told me that he was angry. It was directed at me.

  ‘Don’t build up your hopes of fighting behind that lac, Leif. I don’t care how good it proves to be. You’re still a novice. I’m just playing along with Ada for now, until I find out what I need. Understand?’

  ‘But what if it’s so good that even a novice could dance behind it and win?’ I protested, the words flying out of my mouth. ‘And don’t we want to defeat Hob in the arena? Don’t we want to defeat him over and overagain until we can attack him in his citadel? You said that Hob might come after me if I fought in Arena 13. Well, isn’t that exactly what we want? I could be the lure that draws him to his destruction. Wasn’t that yourplan?’

  ‘It was a plan that you were supposed to keep secret, but I suppose it doesn’t matter if Deinon knows,’ Tyron said, patting him on the shoulder. ‘But remember, we’re here to learn from Ada – you especially, Deinon.This is a golden chance and we’ve got to take it.’

  Then, without another word, he headed back towards the wagon and we followed him.

  I spent an uncomfortable night but I had plenty to think about. I was impressed by what I’d seen of Ada. She had stood up to the Trader, while we were nervous in his presence. Back when humans ruled the world, shereally had been important. She was talented and she believed in herself. Hob had threatened me and, even worse, threatened anyone I might show affection for. He had to be dealt with, and quickly. This was our chanceto do exactly that, and far sooner than I’d expected.

  Despite what Tyron had said, I was looking forward to fighting with a lac patterned by Ada. I really wanted it to happen.

  I was a lot nearer to getting my revenge.

  THE SHATEK

  Creation is a messy business.

  Amabramsum: the Genthai Book of Wisdom

  It was almost almost a week before we finally reached the stockade. The rough track had long since given way to grasslands, and then to a dense forest of both conifers and deciduous trees – beech, ash, oak, rowan andpohutukawa. I could see mountains rising in the distance, partially obscured by the mists of the Barrier.

  Set within a large clearing, the huge wall of logs obstructed our view of anything within. We came to a big padlocked gate; Ada got out the key, and then Deinon and I helped Tyron to push the heavy gate open.

  We drove the wagon into the muddy compound. Around us stood a number of crudely constructed, single-storey wooden buildings. I noticed that one structure was set a little apart from the rest. It had no windows andonly a narrow door. After unlocking this door, Ada entered, and I followed her somewhat apprehensively into the darkness, Kwin at my heels, with Deinon and Tyron bringing up the rear. Then there was a scratchingsound, and a sudden flare of yellow light, and Ada was brandishing a torch which she’d taken from a metal bracket attached to the wall. Ahead of me, I saw wooden steps leading downwards.

  ‘Take off your shoes,’ Ada commanded. ‘We don’t want to drag any mud down there.’

  Without argument, we began to unlace and tug off our boots. As I followed her down, the smell of damp earth filled my nostrils. The fifteenth step brought us to a large cellar.

  ‘Not a bad practice floor,’ Tyron said, looking around.

  The whole room was panelled in wood – though these timbers were not rough, but polished and stained a rich mahogany, as was the floor. It lacked the high-quality finish of Tyron’s training floor, but it was more thanadequate: I realized that Tallus had been very serious about competing in Arena 13. He must have spent a great deal of time and effort constructing this.

  I looked around, but saw no supporting pillars. Given the size of the cellar, this was surprising, and I glanced up nervously, wondering how the ceiling was held up, imagining all the earth above our heads.

  ‘Did Tallus build this himself?’ I asked Ada.

  ‘Tal paid others to help him, but yes, he worked on it himself and it was built to his own design. To fight in Arena 13 was always his dream. He spent years scraping together the money he needed to get started. It’sterrible to think that it ended in such a way. That was my fault. He should have practised for at least a year before entering the Lists. I should have insisted upon it. Then he would not have died in the arena. He wouldhave defeated Hob.’

  Sobbing quietly, Ada began to light the wall torches. I now appreciated how clean this cellar was; no wonder we’d been ordered to leave our muddy shoes at the top of the steps.

  But there was another reason for that, as I was soon to discover.

  We all set to work immediately, unloading the shatek. However, removing the cylinder from the wagon proved difficult. It was too heavy even for our combined efforts; I shuddered when I remembered how the fourcreatures had carried it suspended from their shoulders.

  Tyron took charge, and under his direction we piled logs up behind the wagon, constructing a crude ramp, and then carefully rolled the cylinder down onto the mud.

  ‘Gently! Gently!’ cried Ada. ‘The creature inside is delicate!’

  Next we moved the wagon away and unharnessed the oxen. Tyron selected the strongest four and yoked them into a team. Then, after we’d carefully rolled the cylinder into position on the very edge of the cellar steps,w
e tied ropes around it and, harnessing those four oxen to it, backed them slowly towards the building, easing the cylinder down the steps and into the cellar below.

  ‘Now it’s time to release the shatek,’ Ada said.

  One end of the cylinder was actually a lid which could be unscrewed. Tyron offered to help, but she shook her head firmly and set to work while we all steadied the cylinder. She struggled for a while, but eventually itbegan to turn and she looked up at us.

  ‘Stand well back,’ she said softly. ‘We don’t want to scare it.’

  She allowed the lid to roll away and stood back.

  Immediately, dark-brown liquid began to flow out of the cylinder, becoming more viscous as it met the air and congealing to a jelly. I smelled a sudden pungent odour that caught at the back of my throat. I held mybreath for a moment.

  ‘The fumes are unpleasant but not dangerous and will quickly disperse,’ Ada said with a smile as Kwin wrinkled her nose in disgust.

  Then the shatek emerged.

  It was about the size of a five-year-old child but with twice the number of limbs. It scuttled away from us across the floor to take up residence in the darkest area possible – a point equidistant between two wall torches.There it crouched, palpitating rapidly, its dark glistening body flattened against the boards of the cellar floor. It was clearly visible: apart from its face, which was turned away, I could make out every detail withoutgetting too close.

  It resembled an insect, but it had eight legs like a spider, and was covered in black fur. However, its body was segmented; its abdomen and thorax were oval in shape, its head large. I was curious to see its face.

  ‘Not a pretty sight, is it?’ Tyron laughed grimly.

  ‘You said we shouldn’t scare it!’ I joked to Ada. ‘I think we’re the ones who ought to be scared! It’s the most repulsive thing I’ve ever seen.’

  ‘It’s even uglier than a tassel!’ Deinon quipped.

  ‘We need to be cautious,’ Ada told us. ‘It’s weak at present; the liquid in the cylinder both fed it and kept it docile so it should pose little threat. But after its first meal it will become fully alert and grow quickly; we’llneed to show constant vigilance. At times it will be very dangerous; at other times it will do little more than sleep.’

  I continued to study it: I saw that the three body segments were streaked with the gelatinous substance that had anaesthetized and sustained it in the cylinder. When it finally turned its head towards us, I heard Kwingasp, and I felt a mixture of revulsion and fascination.

  Its features resembled those of a woman: it had a wide, sensuous mouth with full lips, a feline nose and long lashes, behind which flickered expressive eyes. Attached to the body of a human woman, that face wouldhave been considered exceptionally beautiful. I felt sure that, unlike the lacs of Midgard, this creature was sentient.

  ‘As I told you,’ said Ada, ‘this shatek is the potential mother of either a djinni or a lac, or even some other hybrid. Using wurdes of Nym, the progeny can be shaped to an artificer’s own design. But first it needs food– and lots of it. Let’s not keep it waiting!’

  After locking the cellar door, Ada led us out to a large shed that Tallus had used for storing meat. Salted carcasses of deer hung from the ceiling, and Tyron cut one down to provide the shatek’s first meal.

  After removing our shoes once more, we returned to the cellar. I drew back the bolts and opened the door cautiously. The shatek was still crouching against the far wall. I held the door open and Tyron lurched into thecellar, the carcass over his shoulder. He dropped it in the middle of the floor before joining us behind the door.

  He’d barely got out before the shatek scuttled over towards its supper. It began to feed ravenously, its legs ripping and tearing, the head jerking convulsively as it devoured the raw meat.

  ‘It’ll make a mess of your training floor!’ Tyron told Ada.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘I was just concerned about bringing soil in – shateks can be vulnerable to fungal infections. Apart from that it’s hardy and strong. It’ll eat all that carcass, bones included.’

  ‘And what about the mess that’ll come out the other end?’ asked Tyron with a grimace.

  ‘Ideally we’d have drainage and be able to hose its waste away,’ Ada said, ‘but that isn’t possible here. We’ll have to scrape it up and carry it out of the cellar.’

  At that, Kwin wrinkled her nose again. Ada smiled at her. ‘Don’t worry – I think that’s a job for our three men! This cellar is far from ideal, but we’ll just have to make do. A shatek generally prefers warm blood; itshould really be permitted to make its own kill. Eventually we’ll have to sacrifice some of the oxen, but we’ll kill them first.

  ‘Cheer up,’ she said, smiling at us each in turn. ‘We are here to produce a lac such as Arena 13 has never seen – one with all the intelligence of a human but with enhanced speed, strength and reflexes. I know youaren’t going to find this pleasant, but if we want to defeat Hob, this is the price we have to pay.’

  THE BIRTHING PLATFORM

  The beauty of the dream vanished,

  And breathless horror and disgust filled my heart.

  The Compendium of Ancient Tales and Ballads

  That evening I helped Tyron make a fire in the open and we cooked a stew of meat and vegetables.

  The sun was going down as the five of us sat gazing into the flames, eating hungrily. Despite the warmth of the day it was often chilly after dark in Midgard, even at the height of summer.

  In the distance I heard the sudden cry of a wolf and glanced at the huge gate, reassured to see that it was locked. I remembered the werewights. Were they still around? After all, we were near the Genthai lands; they’dremain where they were until the end of the year, when that invisible Wolf Wheel turned again.

  ‘Tal used to hunt both wolves and bears,’ Ada remarked to Tyron. ‘He sold their pelts – that’s how he got started.’

  ‘He was an unusual man,’ Tyron said. ‘He had this built and lived as a hunter before moving to the city and learning to pattern a lac. Not many men could have done that.’

  ‘Yes, he was very special,’ Ada said softly, and her face suddenly twisted in anguish.

  ‘You say that Thrym will be the “father” of a sentient lac,’ Tyron prompted, changing the subject.

  Ada composed herself and nodded. ‘The shatek has the eggs, but the seed has to come from another source. It’s possible to use a human for this purpose – such an act is terrible to contemplate but can produce the mostspectacular results. In the days of Empire, such practices were forbidden to civilians, but the military used them to produce ferocious and cruel djinn which could be unleashed against our enemies.

  ‘My own creation here will be a form of djinni known as a singleton. It is more sophisticated than a common lac, but has only one self and cannot shift its shape. In order to create this I must use Thrym. I’ve patternedhim to the highest level possible for a non-sentient lac, and those skills will be transmitted through the shatek to the offspring. But it is not a mating of lac and shatek in a conventional sense. Forget the biology of thenatural world. Thrym will be devoured, and most of him absorbed by the shatek. But he will emerge again, twice-born and sentient!’

  ‘How exactly will that help in the arena?’ I asked Ada. ‘And by “sentient”, do you mean fully aware?’

  ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘Thrym will be just as conscious as you or me. Of course, he will still be directed by Nym commands, but will also show a high degree of initiative. He will be much more tactically aware than anon-sentient lac, and your partnership will be on a much higher level. He will also be much stronger and quicker. Of course, you’ll still use Ulum – that sound-code is vital in order to hide your tactics from youropponent.’

  We spent the night sharing the two largest of the huts. Kwin and Ada took the one furthest from the gate whilst Tyron Deinon and I shared the other. The facilities were very basic and we slept in blankets on the floor.Tallus se
emingly hadn’t cared for home comforts.

  But I was tired and I could have slept anywhere. Dawn came all too soon.

  For the next two weeks, under Tyron’s supervision, Deinon and I fed the shatek and removed what passed through its digestive tract. The creature grew rapidly, and by the end of that period it was almost twice the sizeof a human being. It had already devoured two whole oxen.

  Ada also began to teach Tyron, gradually lifting his knowledge of Nym onto a higher plane. Deinon sat in on those lessons and made copious notes, talking them over with Tyron afterwards. In turn, Tyron continuedmy own lessons in Nym, but soon delegated them to Deinon.

  This was because early in the second week, taking Kwin with him, he returned briefly to the city to check on his businesses and his stable of fighters and patterners.

  Left alone with Ada, Deinon and I were able to ask her questions about the world from which she’d come.

  ‘Your name is very unusual,’ Deinon said. ‘Was Ada common in your own time? It’s unknown here.’

  It was dark, and we were facing each other across the fire, chewing on some steaks from the ox we’d fed to the shatek. They were a bit on the tough side but I was hungry.

  ‘No, it was not common even then, but my father re-named me Ada too. It was our custom for a child to be given a temporary name at birth, and then a true name chosen by the head of the family which was bestowedon his or her fourteenth birthday. I’d a rare talent for coding – we never used the word patterning. My father said that I had the art born with me – that I was Mozart-gifted! But he exaggerated and always thought hisdaughter special.’

  ‘Mozart? What’s that?’ Deinon asked.

  ‘Mozart was the name of a famous ancient, a musician. He was a gifted composer who excelled at a very early age. Mozart was born with the skills and knowledge that other lesser mortals would have taken manyyears to acquire. So, to a certain extent, it was with me. I became adept at Nym almost as soon as I learned to talk.’