Shadow Blizzard

by Alexey Pehov

  Baron Gabsbarg’s soldier was riding in our unit, and he told me all the soldiers’ gossip. The lad jabbered away without a break, but just when I was going to ask about the baron he was called up to the front to Neol Iragen, and I had to postpone my questions for some other time.

  In the way of things, our large mounted detachment ought soon to overtake the infantry and the large transport column wending its way toward the Second Army of the South that had encircled the remnants of the Firstborn. From what the soldiers were saying, we should arrive in the afternoon of the next day, in time to help our forces drive the orcs into the river. Egrassa was riding somewhere up at the head of the detachment with Neol Iragen, so we were left to our own devices. Or, rather, the gobliness was. Deprived of the elf’s oversight, Kli-Kli decided to slip back into the role of the king’s favorite jester. An hour later a good two hundred of the soldiers were laughing heartily at her jokes and songs and verses and other fancy tricks.

  Ten minutes after that, the entire detachment had heard about the little sharp-tongued goblin traveling in the first unit. Naturally, the other five units started vying with each other to get Kli-Kli to join them. She was the life and soul of the honorable company once again, and she amused the soldiers until twilight fell, when the detachment halted for the night at a large village completely untouched by the war.

  The locals turned out to be expecting us, and although there weren’t enough houses for such a great horde, the local baron, who had come dashing from the nearest castle, complete with his numerous retinue, had made everything ready to receive his victorious guests. Thanks to Egrassa, we were even given a house where we could spend the night.

  While Eel and the elf and I were settling into the new place, Kli-Kli managed to slip off. Hallas and Lamplighter didn’t stay around for long, either. They were almost carried off shoulder-high to the center of the village, where the festivities in honor of the arrival of the glorious warriors were due to begin. I thought how many listeners the gnome would have now. The soldiers invited us as well, but I declined and Eel thought about it for a moment, then shook his head, too. Egrassa was invited to dine at the baron’s festive table and he went in order to be polite.

  It was dark outside. I breathed in the cold air that felt wintry already.

  “Smells like the first snow,” said Eel, as if he was reading my mind.

  “It’s cool, all right,” I agreed. “November’s a cold month in the south this year.”

  “Is this cold? It’s nothing but a light frost,” he chuckled. “See how pale the stars are? In a serious frost they burn like the jewels in the royal crown.”

  “Our Stalkon doesn’t have all that many precious stones in his crown.”

  “I meant the Garrakian crown.”

  “Oh!” I said, realizing I’d said something stupid.

  We said nothing for a while, listening to the happy shouting and laughter ringing out in the night.

  “They’re making merry, as if there was no war at all,” I murmured.

  “And why not? There’ll be war and a battle tomorrow, but today they have a chance to forget about everything. Is that such a bad thing?”

  “Why no,” I said, embarrassed. “It’s probably a good thing.”

  “What’s bothering you, Harold?”

  I paused, trying to find the right words. Unfortunately, as usual, the ones I really needed didn’t come to mind.

  “It’s not that easy to explain. What the Gray One said, the Master, the Rainbow Horn, and, of course, the balance and all the consequences that follow. It’s not very nice to think that without even wanting to, I might be carrying around the deadliest snake of all in my bag.”

  “Just don’t think about it.”

  “What?”

  “Look here. What do you see?” He took the “sister” out of its scabbard.

  “A weapon,” I muttered stupidly.

  “That’s right, a weapon. Is it dangerous right now?”

  “No,” I replied after a moment’s thought.

  “That’s right. The ‘sister’ is in my hands. Everything depends on who’s holding the weapon and what he wants to use it for. The Rainbow Horn is a weapon just like the ‘sister,’ and it’s in your hands. I don’t believe you want to consign the world to oblivion.”

  “But I won’t always have it.”

  “The Order will take care of the Horn. Or don’t you trust magicians any longer?”

  “I do, but what the Gray One said…”

  “What the Gray One said is just words, that’s all. My old granny, may she dwell in the light, always used to say that prophecies never come true if we don’t want them to.”

  “That’s very reassuring,” I said with a bitter grin, but I don’t think the warrior could make out my pitiful grimace in the dark. “Why don’t we go and join the others? Maybe they’ll leave some wine for us?”

  “I doubt if the lieutenant will allow the soldiers to drink much. And they’re no fools, anyway: There’s not much pleasure in going into battle with a hangover. So you and I can’t count on anything more than a mug of beer. But let’s hurry, or Hallas will guzzle our share.”

  * * *

  The cavalry detachment left the village when the horizon in the east was marked out by a pearly-crimson thread of dawn.

  “It’s going to be a clear day,” Lamplighter said, and a cloud of steam billowed out of his mouth.

  “And very, very cold,” croaked Kli-Kli, who had managed to get a sore throat. “Which of you two bright sparks was it that prophesied snow? A-agh…”

  The first snow of the year wasn’t very plentiful, and it only turned the ground into a brown and white patchwork blanket. Kli-Kli was wrong; it was cold now, but by midday the sun would be strong enough to melt the snow and transform the road into a muddy quagmire.

  The detachment had been traveling at a gallop or a trot since first thing in the morning. Several times we had stopped or made the horses walk, in order to give them at least some kind of rest. On our right the Iselina glinted with bright patches of light as the sun climbed higher into the sky.

  According to Kli-Kli, we were in Margend County. The gobliness’s assumption was soon confirmed when we came across burned houses. The war had certainly reached this village—unlike the one where we had spent the night.

  * * *

  We watched the slaughter of the orcs at the Margend Horseshoe—to our great surprise the army of humans and elves was commanded by none other than my old friend Oro Gabsbarg, who was now a duke—and a week after the battle, we were in Ranneng. Duke Gabsbarg had given us forty mounted men before his army started crossing the Iselina. The precaution proved to be unnecessary—on the way to the southern capital we didn’t encounter the slightest sign of danger. At almost every crossroads and in every village that hadn’t suffered from the war we saw soldiers wearing white and crimson tunics over their armor, and warm jackets. The Heartless Chasseurs were standing vigilant guard over public order.

  Several times we came across bodies hanging beside the roadside. The Heartless Chasseurs were heartless—they hanged looters, deserters, rapists, speculators, and other villains without benefit of trial or investigation. It was a bit cruel, perhaps, but highly effective.

  While we were on our way to Ranneng, the real winter set in, even though it was only the middle of November. A lot of snow fell, and the weather was so cold I could happily have worn a second pair of gloves. Sitting on a horse in weather like that wasn’t very enjoyable—after a few hours you couldn’t feel your own hands and feet anymore. Following Lamplighter’s example, I wrapped a scarf round my face, and that at least gave me some protection from the cold wind. I promised myself that if I ever went traveling again, it would only be in summer. I’d rather feel the sun baking my head and neck than the frost burning my hands and feet.

  Gabsbarg’s horsemen escorted us as far as Ranneng and went rushing back without halting, in order to rejoin the Second Army of the South. There are crazy people lik
e that in Siala—they just couldn’t wait to go dashing into battle of their own free will.

  To be quite honest, after our adventures in the summer, I didn’t really feel any great affection for Ranneng. And what I saw now only confirmed my belief that the southern pearl of Valiostr had nothing to offer us.

  The city was choking on an influx of refugees driven out of their habitual haunts. For some reason, everyone had decided that the city walls offered reliable protection against the orcs and it would be easier to survive here than in some remote little village. More people had come pouring in than you could squeeze into the most terrible nightmare. Naturally, the municipal guard had stopped allowing all comers in through the gates, and tents large and small, dugouts, and anything else that could pass for a home had appeared under the city walls with catastrophic speed. There were fires everywhere, and the fuel was not just timber from the local forest, which was looking significantly sparser, but anything at all that came to hand. There was filth all around, and I started worrying that despite the cold weather some particularly repulsive plague was likely to break out in Ranneng in the near future. And the Copper Plague was all we needed to make our happiness complete.

  “What now, Egrassa?” Kli-Kli inquired in a skeptical voice. “Surely you aren’t desperate to stay in a rubbish heap like this?”

  “No, let’s try to get inside the city walls.”

  “They won’t let us in, I wager my beard on it! We won’t get anywhere! The place is so crowded, it’s not even worth trying. Maybe we could find an inn outside the city walls? There used to be a lot of them.”

  “I’m not sure they’ll have any free places, Hallas. But let’s try anyway.”

  The horses squeezed through the filthy crowd thronging the road. There was a stench of smoke from all the fires and of rotting refuse. Someone was cooking supper beside the nearest dugout. I couldn’t see properly, but I thought they were roasting a rat.

  As Egrassa had suspected, all the places in the inns were taken. But at the sixth one we were offered a night’s lodging in the stable for only three gold pieces. Hallas almost swallowed his own beard, but Egrassa paid without thinking twice. This was no time for economy. We had to lay out the same sum for a sparse and miserable supper.

  I dreamed there was a sword slowly coming down on my head. I tried to break out of this vague, hazy dream and run away, but I couldn’t, and death was getting closer and closer all the time. Then the sword blade fell and I woke up. It turned out to be Eel, shaking me frantically by the shoulder. It looked like the middle of the night to me, but the others were all wide awake. Lamplighter and Egrassa were hastily saddling the horses by the meager light of the oil lamp. Kli-Kli and Hallas were packing up our things.

  “Harold, get up!” said Eel, shaking me again.

  “What’s happened?” I asked, confused. “What’s all the hurry about?”

  The Garrakian’s cheek twitched.

  “The Lonely Giant has fallen!”

  19

  THE FIELD OF FAIRIES

  It seemed like absolute insanity. A continuation of my nightmare that had suddenly become reality.

  Even two days after we had galloped out of Ranneng and set off along the New Highway to Avendoom, my comrades and I still couldn’t believe that the Lonely Giant, the most famous and impregnable fortress in all the Northern Lands, had fallen. Destroyed. Annihilated. Wiped off the face of the earth by the army of the Nameless One.

  Everybody had thought that until the Horn lost its final ounce of power, the Nameless One wouldn’t dare to stick his nose out from behind the Needles of Ice. They were hoping that we didn’t have to give the sorcerer a serious thought until the middle of spring. Who would risk forcing his way through the Desolate Lands in winter? It was absolute insanity!

  The Nameless One had taken the risk and he had struck a terrible blow. The Order had failed to foresee his attack—everyone had been too preoccupied with the orcs in the south of the country—and the sorcerer’s army had reached the fortress with no difficulty. The Wild Hearts had not been expecting an attack, but they had held the enemy under the walls of the citadel for four whole days and fought to the death. Rumors had spread round the country, each one worse than the last. Some said that all the Wild Hearts had been killed. Some, that certain units had managed to escape from the fortress and retreat. Some insisted that the walls of the bastion had been destroyed by Kronk-a-Mor, others that there had been supporters of the Nameless One among the Wild Hearts, and they had opened the gates for him.

  We rode full tilt for Avendoom without sparing the horses. Everything could still be put right, all we had to do was to reach Avendoom and the Council of the Order, and then they would fill the Rainbow Horn with power. Without his magic, the Nameless One was not dangerous, and we would cope with his army one way or another. We had to cope.

  The sorcerer had chosen the time of his attack very cunningly. At this very moment, when our armies had been pulled back beyond the Iselina, the north was especially vulnerable. If the king decided on a general engagement … Would he have time to gather the number of soldiers required?

  Naturally, not all the soldiers had gone south. Some must have stayed on the northern borders. At least some …

  The New Highway was crowded with people. Following the news of the invasion by the orcs, everyone had fled north, but now the refugees were fleeing by the hundreds to the south or west. On foot, on horses, on carts, on wagons, on sleighs, and even in carriages, all the people were dreaming of only one thing—how to get as far away as possible from the war. Every face was frozen in a grimace of fright, like a death mask.

  Egrassa spurred his horse on mercilessly and rode pell-mell through the crowd, disregarding the shouts and the curses. We tried to keep up with him. It was a genuine race, and the prize was victory. It was a crazy gallop that tested the stamina of riders and horses. Who would be the first to give way? Who would beg for mercy?

  The first horse fell on the second day. It was Eel’s mount. The Garrakian managed to leap off the falling animal in time to avoid injury, and he continued on Kli-Kli’s horse, seating the gobliness behind him. But this kind of pace could not be maintained for long, and by evening our steeds could barely stand. Just a little farther, and we would have to cover the rest of the distance to Avendoom on foot.

  Egrassa halted the group on the edge of a large and wealthy village.

  “We’ll stay here for the night. I hope there will be free places at the inn.”

  “I’ll gladly sleep out in the street, as long as we can find fresh horses,” Eel declared.

  Without saying another word, we walked toward the single-story timber building. It had the badge of the guild of innkeepers, and a sheet of tinplate with the name of the inn painted on it—Y.

  “An original name, there’s no denying that!” Kli-Kli snorted contemptuously. “If the innkeeper’s as good as the name, I’m afraid for my stomach.”

  “You can sleep in a snowdrift, and we’ll wake you in the morning,” I told her.

  “You’re such a kind lad, Harold. It just melts my heart,” the gobliness retorted, giving as good as she got.

  The establishment turned out to be quite decent. At least it was clean. And most important of all, there weren’t too many people. I counted eleven, including the fat innkeeper. As soon as he saw us, the landlord started looking nervous. Now why would that be? We didn’t really look like bandits, did we? The other people in the room took no notice of us at all and just sipped their beer.

  “Do you have any rooms?” asked Lamplighter, taking the bull by the horns.

  The innkeeper was about to lie, but he glanced at the morose-looking elf and changed his mind.

  “Yes, noble gentlemen.”

  “Good, then we’ll stay.”

  The owner gave us an imploring glance and started sweating for no obvious reason, but he didn’t say anything and led us off to show us the rooms. As usual, I shared one with Lamplighter and Kli-Kli. After we�
�d settled in, we were the first back to the large room.

  Nothing in the inn had changed. The ten tipplers were still sitting in the same places. We took seats at the bar and while we were waiting for Hallas, Eel, and Egrassa to join us and supper to be ready, we ordered beer.

  Naturally, Kli-Kli wanted milk and, surprisingly enough, she was given it straightaway. The innkeeper kept sweating copiously. That was strange. Of course, the place was heated, and right royally, too, but it wasn’t that hot! When this strange man poured the beer for me and Mumr, he missed the mugs, his hands were shaking so badly.

  “Can we buy horses in the village?” Mumr asked the owner casually.

  “Perhaps you can, sir. To be quite honest, I don’t know about that.”

  “How’s that, you don’t know? You live here!”

  “I’ve really never taken any interest in horses. I can tell you who sells what kind of victuals. Sausage, for instance…”

  “What would we want with your sausage?” Lamplighter retorted. “Are you selling your own horses?”

  “I don’t have any horses.”

  “Don’t lie to me. When I went into the stables, I saw ten beasts with my own eyes! Or are they not yours?”

  “They’re not mine, sir. They belong to guests.”

  “I see,” the warrior muttered disappointedly, and stuck his nose in his beer mug.

  “Is there any news from the north?” Now it was my turn to start asking the questions.

  “People are fleeing,” the landlord sighed, and cast a nervous glance behind me.

  “And what about the king?”

  “He’s gathering an army. There’ll be a battle any day now. That’s what they say.”

  “And what about the Order?”

  “The magicians? They’re waiting for something. The people blame them for the Nameless One coming.”

  And so saying, he walked away, leaving us to ourselves.