by C S Vass
Robert returned the embrace. “You know how prone I am to getting blown off-course by a sudden gust of wind. It’s good to see you, Shane.”
The leader of the Kirishelliwan turned back to Godwin. “It was unfortunate of you to stumble across this place,” he said. “Great evil has come here. We must return to our camp and speak.”
Godwin nodded. “How far is your camp?”
“About a mile. We were attracted by the disturbance here and came to service the bodies and lay whatever wandering spirits roam the village to rest. But it isn’t safe to remain here. The hamadryads know that I have my methods of finding their soul trees, but they are not the only demons that will flock to the scent of blood. Come! Under the tents of the Eternal Children, you will be safe.”
Godwin thanked Shane for his hospitality and followed him away from the wrecked temple. Just outside, two more of the Eternal Children stood waiting. Godwin immediately noticed the swords at their sides. He had not known the Kirishelliwan to bear arms, but far more alarming were the stoic expressions they wore. He greeted them each formally, and they walked back to their camp in silence.
When they arrived at the Kirishelliwan camp, Godwin saw that the nomads had gathered much more tightly than when he had last seen them. A great ring of fires, each dug carefully into the ground, formed the periphery of their campsite. The Shigata did not miss the powerful aura of magic emitted by those flames.
“Odd… isn’t it?” Robert whispered.
Godwin nodded in agreement. It was disturbing to say the least. True, the Kirishelliwan were still singing and dancing and drinking as they always did, but the tone was different. The songs and dances were more lamenting than joyous. The drinking was done by people who spoke quickly in whispered tones, huddled together against the dangers of the night. Most strangely of all, the glint of steel glimmered all around them like grounded stars from the tips of spears and the blades of swords.
“I’ve never seen open steel in a Kirishelliwan camp before,” Robert said.
“Well why don’t we—” Godwin left his sentence hanging in the air. Robert had quickly departed and embraced a group of his old friends. The easterner had not so much as looked back. Godwin shook the thought from his head.
“Come now,” Shane said to Godwin. “You must be ravenous. The times are dangerous, but it is still safe to walk amongst our people. I must leave for a short while. Go, eat some hot meat and drink your fill.”
Shane pointed Godwin to a tent that the strong scent of cooking beef wafted from and took his leave. Godwin approached and was greeted curtly but not unkindly. He was given a bowl filled with beautifully cooked steak slices rubbed with minced garlic and thyme over soft brown rice that made his mouth water the moment he saw it. Then he was handed a tankard filled with nutty brown ale and told to sit by the fire.
These people, the Shigata thought with wonder. In the midst of all this devastation, they still handle every task with care. They raise their defenses but never shirk on their hospitality. They eat steak and drink fine ale in dead winter. Those who live in the cities could learn much from them.
Content with his own company, Godwin sat on a log near another fire and let the fierce heat wash over his face. Memories of the last time he stayed at a Kirishelliwan camp entered his head. Yaura sitting next to him. The two of them drinking far too much. Music and stories all around. The subtle touch of her hand. Her breath on his neck.
“Might I join you, friend?”
Godwin turned and saw a rather fat man with spiraling muttonchops and three bowls full of food stacked on top of each other sit down next to him before he had a chance to reply. “Douglas,” the man said.
“Godwin,” Godwin said, shaking his massive paw of a hand. “I can’t help but notice the Kirishelliwan are in quite a different state from the last time I’ve walked among you.”
“True enough,” Douglas said, wiping his hands on the leather vest that flapped at his sides and diving into his food. Godwin joined him, and as he knew it would be, the taste was heavenly.
“Times have been hard for you then?” Godwin asked.
“Hard enough,” Douglas said. “The same as some places. Better than many others. We still eat well. What’s to be done? The Southlands are a hell unto themselves right now, but up and down the Chillway signs are the same. Demons multiply. Enemies—but let’s not talk of such things,” he said suddenly with a great abdominous laugh that set his whole belly to shaking.
“Fair enough. Foul conversation makes for foul times.”
They ate in silence for a while, and Godwin found his appetite for both the meat and ale was ignited the moment he started. “That’s the spirit!” Douglas laughed when Godwin got up to get his second, then third helpings of both food and beer.
They talked together of many things while black clouds rolled above them, obscuring the heavens. Douglas, it turned out, was also a man of the New Magic, and he had much to say about which types of birds and lizards carried the desired magical properties for potion-making and which were common misconceptions. By the time their conversation slowed, Godwin had learned a great deal and was good and thoroughly drunk.
“So what do you do?” Douglas asked after a time. “Move from town to town selling your tonics?”
Godwin scoffed. “Hardly. I’m a Shigata.”
Douglas’s face immediately darkened. “A Shigata?” he asked. “Do you jest?”
Godwin eyed the man, uneasy about the direction the conversation had taken. “Am I laughing?”
“I—I did not know. Then where is your amulet?”
“My what?”
“That all Shigata have. The silver amulet?”
“My thrygta? Don’t you worry, I have it.”
Douglas now looked extremely anxious. Stumbling back, he started to rise.
“Something I said?” Godwin asked.
“I won’t break bread with you,” Douglas said stiffly. His once kind face had totally transformed into something hostile.
“You already have.”
The man’s cheeks reddened. “I saw you come in with Shane. Clearly he made a foolish choice. I know what you are. I know what you do. Destroying that piece of your soul. The Seal of Love. The world would be better without monsters such as you.”
Godwin could not have said why, perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps he was just in a sentimental mood, but he found that Douglas’s insults injured him more than he would have liked them to. “There would be a lot more monsters in the world without people like me.”
Douglas spat. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Shigata. Perhaps we have a different view of monsters. Don’t bother me again.” With that, he strode away quickly.
“Bastard,” Godwin muttered under his breath.
He sat lonely for a time and watched the Eternal Children run and frolic, so much the same, but so very different, than they always were. When at last the fires grew dim and sleep was heavy in his eyes, Godwin found a quiet spot in one of the tents and drifted into uneasy dreams.
The next morning greeted them with rolling fog and black skies. Godwin awoke with an aching belly and a swollen tongue. He got up to find the camp in the same grey mood that they had been in since he arrived. Rather than look for Robert, he went in search of a stream in which to wash his face. The heat of the Kirishelliwan camp lingered on him, so when he dipped his hands into the cool water and felt its rejuvenating touch on his skin, the Shigata decided to strip down.
After bathing and donning some spare garments, Godwin found the camp and began his search for Shane. The leader of the Kirishelliwan was surrounded by several men who were talking excitedly, but when Godwin approached he was told to wait. He didn’t fail to notice their low, panicked voices or Shane’s exceptionally tired eyes.
Only once Godwin had resolved to return to the tent and try to find a few more hours sleep did he see Robert. The easterner was laughing merrily with a group of the Eternal Children, grains from his breakfast oats flyin
g from his mouth. To his surprise, Robert called him over.
“Godwin, sit! Have a bowl! Or do you fancy these winter berries with goat cream? Sally, bless that goat, has produced something exquisite!
Sighing, Godwin stepped over to them and took his seat.
“Careful of that one,” a voice called as soon as Godwin sat down. Turning, he saw Douglas sitting on a nearby stump. “He smells of blood.”
Godwin opened his mouth, but among these strange faces and Robert he found the words would not come. Feeling absurdly like a school boy, a hot embarrassment seethed beneath his skin as he felt his throat tighten.
“And you smell of Sally’s taint,” Robert shouted as the group around him burst into laughter.
Douglas scowled and waving them off took his leave.
Godwin shot Robert a quick glance, uncertain what face would be there to meet him. Robert, as far as he could tell, was doing the same thing. “And what have you been up to last night that you know what Sally’s taint smells like?” Godwin tested with a grim chuckle.
“Nothing stranger than what happens at the Three Sisters, I assure you,” Robert replied.
“I don’t like the looks of that,” one of the Kirishelliwan said.
Godwin prepared to defend himself from another bout of insults, but then realized that the man was speaking about the clouds. Looking up, the Shigata was inclined to agree. The black clouds had consolidated, and that instant a fearful blast of lightning split the sky in half and reverberated thunder across the countryside.
Calls to raise the tarps echoed through the camps, and the Kirishelliwan ran to and fro raising massive leather covers over the various tents and other areas. Not wanting to interfere with the carefully orchestrated movements of the Eternal Children as they prepared their camp, Godwin made himself useful by gathering up whatever dry firewood he was able to find and brought it safely underneath one of the canopies that had sprouted across the area.
“Can’t help but keep your hands full, can you?” one of the Kirishelliwan, a man with broad shoulders and a massive red beard laughed. “Nothing wrong with that. You fit right in here. Ever think about staying? You wouldn’t be the first man to straighten your back to Boldfrost and run free in the forest.”
“Tempting offer,” Godwin said. “Sadly, it’s not just Boldfrost I would have to straighten my back to. I’m a Shigata.”
“Ah, a Shigata!” the man exclaimed.
Godwin arched a brow, unable to read the man’s expression.
“Wish we had a Shigata to walk with us these days,” he said. Leaning in with a lower voice he added, “It’s far too often we find ourselves negotiating with these demons and witches, when we should be raising our axes to them.”
Godwin chose his words carefully. He didn’t want to say anything that might upset one of the Kirishelliwan one way or the other when they were in this tense state, but it sounded like this man had just said something that directly challenged Shane’s method of leadership.
“Shigata are always willing to help slay demons if you’ve the coin for it,” Godwin said.
“Ha!” the red-bearded man burst out. “Honest pay for honest work, is it? That’s the problem with you city-dwellers. You never think to clear a piece of land unless the sound of a jingling coin purse spurs you to it.”
“You’re not wrong,” Godwin scoffed. “We’re not an altruistic bunch.”
“No, though your philosophy when it comes to demons is sorely needed in these times. Have you seen him?”
Godwin wrinkled his brow. “Seen who?”
“Shane. Come now. I know you met him in the village. He’s tired all the time. Spends his days consulting with warlocks and wood’s witches. Spend his nights giving charms to the demons of the Chillway to keep their bloodlust to a minimum. It’s too much. You have to see that, Shigata. He can’t keep this up. One man against the onslaught of horrors that is emerging under these godforsaken heavens? No, you’re far too smart. You know what the result of that will be.”
Godwin stopped and observed the man’s face. The forehead wrinkled with lines of worry. The serious glint in his tree-brown eyes. “What are you saying?”
The man smirked and shook his head. “I think you know. Shane wouldn’t have brought you here unless he trusted you. Not in these times. When you speak with him, counsel him well. The time to make deals and exchange gifts is over. Don’t forget, Shigata, the Eternal Children will be the first to vanish.”
Godwin frowned. “The Eternal Children are famous for their ability to survive. You who walk the Chillway have remained unconcerned with the world for centuries.”
“Tell that to the Witch Queen.”
Godwin scoffed. “The Witch Queen? What is that? Some kind of demon?”
Godwin’s companion did not look amused. “So you really don’t know then? She’s a human. Well, at least in her physical form. By spirit, I do believe she’s a demon.”
“What are you talking about?”
“She walks amongst the sun warriors, though they fear to go near her. She’s here in the West. Her powers are terrible. She commands great sorceries. Drives men to madness. The beasts of the field recoil and shriek when she comes by.”
“You’re telling me more fairy tale than fact.”
“I tell you the Witch Queen walked out of a fairy tale!” the man snapped. “No happy tale like Brudda and Bodda or the Mice Sisters Three. She comes straight from a tome of devils.”
“I see,” Godwin said. “So there’s a powerful Tarsurian sorceress scouring the land and wielding terrible powers, and the king is allowing this because…”
“Mock me if you want, Shigata!” he snapped. “You don’t know. You can’t know unless you’ve seen.”
Another bolt of lightning bathed the world in light and thunder shook the earth. The skies opened and powerful torrents of rain fell in sheets through the countryside.
“I don’t mock you,” Godwin said over the storm. “I know the sun warriors are here in the West. But I have not heard of this Witch Queen. I did not know Emperor Hercinium suffered Tarsurians to take such titles.”
“He suffers her, I tell you! He has no choice!”
“You’ve seen her?”
Though the world was nearly black, Godwin could see fear shining in the man’s eyes. “I won’t speak of it,” he snapped defiantly. “I fear she’s near. I can tell you she comes from Tjeri Province. She flew to the West in a terrible storm, and now blood soaks the earth wherever she walks. Be warned, Shigata. If you cross her, you will die!”
Godwin would have laughed at the grim warning had it not been for something that the man had said. She came from Tjeri Province, in the northern regions of the Tarsurian Empire. That meant something. But what? Why was he concerned about it?
He realized at once. He had met with Yaura again after they had been separated in the Jagjaw Mountains. She had been in the East, in Tjeri Province. They had just left the prison Snowpit together and were speaking of their recent adventures. Memories of their conversation flooded his mind.
“But there was something else,” Godwin said. “Something that made you think this was more than the stuff of fairy tales.”
A dark look crossed Yaura’s face. A cold whistle of wind sent Godwin shivering as he shifted in his saddle.
“A farmhouse not far from the coast. Hell within… I’m getting ahead of myself. Allow me to start from the beginning. I met a friend of the local landowner who had heard of a Shigata wandering in the province. He hired me to deal with mysterious killings that had been taking place in the countryside. I knew there was some supernatural element to it. I thought perhaps the locals had pissed off a leshy, maybe even a vodyanoi. Either way I anticipated easy money.”
“You were wrong.”
Yaura’s eyes grew glossy. The beginnings of a thick wall of cloud crept over the sun and dimmed the world around them.
“It certainly was no simple demon. I went hunting for the creature near the coast of Tjer
i where it was said to be. As the evening wore on, I found a farmhouse and thought to stay the night. When I went inside…”
Yaura convulsed. Looking mildly ashamed, she continued with her story. “A bloodbath. Some foul thing had torn the bodies apart. Husband, wife, and children. That family had so many children, Godwin. The youngest were mere swaddling babes. The stench of it was beyond anything I have ever experienced.”
Godwin grimaced. “You’re no stranger to brutality.”
“I’m certainly not,” Yaura agreed. “But that’s not the half of it. There was something more. The bodies were in a large sitting room in the middle of the house. Something had eaten the organs, but carefully dissected the corpses and arranged them in some kind of strange geometric shape.
“What kind of horror is so beastly yet so meticulous? Godwin, I don’t know what happened in that farmhouse, but it was a powerful form of blood magic that I have never experienced. When I looked at that hell, I had a vision. A terrible vision. No, don’t ask. I won’t repeat it. I’m not ashamed, Godwin. It frightened me to my very core. I have never experienced a fear like that. I left Tjeri the next day.”
“Shigata!” the Kirishelliwan man shouted.
Godwin stirred. “Sorry.”
“Sorry?” he huffed. “You looked nearly dead on your feet for a few moments. Are you all right?”
“Yes,” Godwin said. “Just thinking. Listen, let’s finish up. I’d like to ask you some more questions about this Witch Queen.”
“Aye, but not while there’s still work to do,” the man agreed.
“Wait!” Godwin called. “What’s your name?”
“Zabiah,” he responded. Without so much as another word, the red-bearded man turned and quickly strode off, shouting for someone to help him haul supplies to another area.
Godwin frowned. It had to be a coincidence. Didn’t it? Yaura might know something, but on the other side of the continent, what help was she? He would have to figure this out on his own. Sun warriors in the West, cause for alarm that it was, was still the responsibility of the king and his lords. A demonic Witch Queen, that would be something his order would be called to deal with.
