The Wolf's Call

by Anthony Ryan

  “He’s here,” Vaelin heard Luralyn say. She stood at the parapet with Varij at her side, face pale and expressionless as the host parted to allow a lone rider to walk his stallion through the blood-slicked streets.

  Kehlbrand halted his mount some two hundred paces from the wall, once again displaying a keen eye for judging the range of an arrow. He sat for a time, face as blank as his sister’s and just as silent as the army that surrounded him. Then he raised his hand to display the bundle it held.

  Vaelin heard Varij let out an enraged hiss whilst Luralyn betrayed no reaction to the sight of Juhkar’s head twisting slowly in her brother’s grip. It trailed a red arc through the air as he tossed it towards the upper-tier wall. It landed just to the front of the gate, rolling to stare up with sightless eyes.

  Kehlbrand and Luralyn stared at each other for barely the space of a heartbeat, but Vaelin knew for her at least it must have felt like an age. Finally, her brother blinked and looked away, turning his horse and cantering back the way he came whilst his army’s roar resumed, louder and more savage than before.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Come nightfall, with no sign of a further assault, Sho Tsai ordered the tunnel through the upper-tier wall collapsed. Ahm Lin lent his mason’s eye to the work, identifying the stones that could safely be loosened without undermining the wall above. Within hours there was sufficient weight piled up behind the gate that no number of insanely inspired Redeemed could hope to breach it.

  “Now he will have to sap,” Sho Tsai stated. “Dig his way through ancient cobble and foundations, then tunnel towards the walls. There is no other way to bring them down and they are too high to climb.”

  He sat on the table where Sherin had tended to the worst of the wounded. Every surface in the room had been scrubbed with vinegar and sawdust scattered on the floor, but the taint of sundered flesh and spilled effluent lingered. The general barely winced as Sherin went about the work of stitching his various cuts, the worst of which was a deep laceration to the nape of his neck.

  “He may have imprisoned us here,” Sho Tsai added, pausing and gritting his teeth as Sherin tied off the final stitch. “But defeating us will be the work of months.”

  The general sounded confident, if tired, after the horrors of the day, but it was a confidence Vaelin didn’t share. “He has contrived to surprise us at every turn,” he said. “It would be folly to assume he doesn’t have another prepared. And our losses . . .”

  “I need no reminder, my lord.” There was a shadow to Sho Tsai’s gaze and Vaelin knew the loss of the Red Scouts weighed heavily upon his shoulders. He and Tsai Lin were all that remained of the Scouts and they had not been the only regiment wiped out. Governor Neshim, assiduous in his accounting if nothing else, now reported their full strength at little over ten thousand. A great many more Stahlhast and Redeemed had surely fallen, but the Darkblade’s army remained strong and its unnatural devotion unbroken.

  “This trap is also his, don’t forget that,” Sho Tsai went on. “If he were a rational man, he would have marched on, or at least left sufficient numbers to contain us whilst he moves south. But here he stays with his entire army, all so he can lay claim to a sister that hates him.”

  A sister with a thorn in her mind, Vaelin thought. Or is that why he wants her back so badly? Does he fear what secrets she’ll spill when it’s plucked?

  “Here,” Sherin said, handing Sho Tsai a small bottle. “For the pain. Two drops in a cup of water three times throughout the day.”

  “I can’t have my senses dulled . . .” the general said, making to return the bottle.

  “Just take it and spare me your posturing,” Sherin ordered with a tired sigh. She moved to a bowl of water and began scrubbing her hands. “There’s a sergeant on a stretcher outside with an axe wound to the gut. I need the room.”

  Vaelin sensed that the pain on Sho Tsai’s face had little to do with his cuts. He made no effort to rise, continuing to stare at Sherin’s unyielding back. It was clear to Vaelin that more was about to be said in this room and, feeling no desire to witness it, voiced a murmured excuse about checking the sentries and left.

  * * *

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  He found Eresa and Jihla guarding the door to Luralyn’s cell. The younger woman surprised Vaelin with a warm embrace whilst Eresa continued to regard him with the frowning bafflement that had become typical since surviving her touch.

  “We regret we cannot let you in, my lord,” Jihla said. Apart from the dark circles beneath her eyes and a somewhat pallid complexion, she seemed fully recovered, although the forced aspect to her smile told of a profound grief. “Our mistress’s order.”

  “You’re not supposed to call her that,” Vaelin reminded her, glancing at the closed door. “She seeks the True Dream?”

  “She does,” Eresa confirmed. “It may take hours, or even a day or more. There’s no way to tell.”

  “You’re welcome to stay with us,” Jihla offered. “Varij has gone to fetch some food.”

  He replied with a polite refusal and went to the shrine where his companions sat sharing a stew of Ellese’s concoction, which smelt surprisingly appetising. “It turns out horse meat benefits from an excess of spices,” she said, handing him a bowl.

  “Horse?” he asked, now regarding the stew with dubious eyes.

  “The governor forgot to transport the salted pork to the upper tier,” Nortah explained. “Meat is in short supply. Eat up, brother. We’ve certainly had worse.”

  Seeing Tsai Lin sitting apart from the others, Vaelin had Ellese pour out another bowl of stew and took it to him. “Your father’s wounds are slight,” he said, handing the Dai Lo the bowl and sitting down next to him on the steps of the shrine.

  Tsai Lin gave a nod and stared wordlessly at the stew before setting it aside. He hadn’t yet removed his armour, which still bore the dirt of battle, as did his face. “Losing men is hard . . .” Vaelin began.

  “A life lost in a righteous cause is to be celebrated, not mourned,” Tsai Lin cut in. His voice was mostly toneless but Vaelin caught the formal note that indicated this to be a quotation.

  “Kuan-Shi?” he asked.

  Tsai Lin shook his head. “A line from one of the Mystic Scrolls, a collection of lore that dates back to long before the rise of the Emerald Empire. My principal teacher was always fond of employing them in his lessons. The Mystic Scrolls make mention of a race of people with oddly coloured hair and skin that were once carried across the western seas by a mighty fleet. They are said to have worshipped nameless gods and displayed such savage habits that the other tribes of the era fled before them in terror. In time they settled on the Iron Steppe, mined metal from the tors and became known to the people of the south as the Steel Horde. The Stahlhast, you see, are just as ancient a people as we are.”

  “So they teach more than fighting at the Temple of Spears.”

  “A great deal more. ‘Not even a butcher wields a blade unguided by knowledge.’ That was Kuan-Shi.” Tsai Lin’s mouth formed the faintest curve but it faded quickly, eyes darkening with guilt. “I didn’t like my men, Lord Vaelin. I thought them brutish and ignorant. But they gave their lives for my father without hesitation. Their example shames me.”

  “Men are not well led by shameful leaders, and there are other men here in sore need of leadership. In the morning you will form a fresh regiment from the remnants of those destroyed today.”

  “Only a captain can command a regiment.”

  “True.” Vaelin took a small metal star enamelled in silver from his belt and handed it to Tsai Lin. “Your father’s order. Congratulations, Dai Shin. You’ll need to come up with a name and a banner,” he went on as Tsai Lin stared at the star in his hand. “Soldiers need such things . . .”

  He trailed off at the sound of a bowl shattering on the stone floor of the shrine, turning to see Ahm Lin on his feet
. The mason’s features were blank with shock, eyes wide as they snapped to Vaelin.

  “It couldn’t see him before now,” he said. “The song . . . he was hidden from it. I don’t think he knew . . .”

  “Who?” Vaelin said, striding towards Ahm Lin.

  The mason blinked and Vaelin saw a terrible resignation creep over his features, a certainty of imminent catastrophe. “The stonebreaker,” he said, shaking his head, voice dropping to a whisper as he repeated, “I don’t think he knew.”

  * * *

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  “Where is Varij?” Vaelin demanded, the two Gifted women outside the door to Luralyn’s chamber exchanging baffled glances as he advanced towards them.

  “He still hasn’t returned,” Eresa said. “What is . . . ?”

  Vaelin stepped past her and delivered a hard kick to the door, stepping inside to find Luralyn on a narrow bed. His alarm quickened at the sight of her slack, open-mouthed face, but a touch to her chest confirmed she was alive, although her breathing was shallow and she uttered no sound as he shook her.

  “This is not the True Dream,” Eresa said, moving to press a hand to Luralyn’s forehead. Her next words were choked with a mingling of bafflement and fear. “She’s been drugged.”

  “Take her to Sherin,” Vaelin said. “Tell her to do everything she can to wake her. Go with them,” he added to Sehmon and Alum. “Tell the general to rouse the entire garrison.”

  He went outside, looking to Ahm Lin for guidance. “There,” he said, pointing to the southern stretch of wall. Vaelin noted that the doom-laden expression remained on his face.

  “Dai Shin Tsai, take charge of the Skulls,” Vaelin told Tsai Lin. “Bring them and every spare man to the south-facing wall.”

  He told Ahm Lin to stay with Alum and started off at a run for the wall with Ellese and Nortah following close behind, bows ready. He heard no shouts from the battlement as they approached the wall, indicating no approaching enemy on the other side, but he had learned appearances meant nothing where the Darkblade was concerned.

  “There,” Nortah said, bow raised to point at a solitary figure at the base of the wall. Varij stood staring at the stonework with his hands at his sides, showing no sign of having heard their approach.

  “Varij,” Vaelin called out. “Step back from the wall.”

  The Gifted turned his head slightly, Vaelin glimpsing a piteous smile before he returned his gaze to the stone. “The Thief of Names,” he said. “I had hoped for a death at more worthy hands.”

  “Step back from the wall,” Vaelin repeated. Both Nortah and Ellese had their bows levelled at the Gifted, poison-coated arrowheads gleaming in the moonlight.

  “Why do you seek to spare me, Thief of Names?” Varij asked, this time turning to face them. His expression was one of mild curiosity, but Vaelin saw a familiar cast to his eyes. He had seen it in the face of every Redeemer he had fought. Varij belonged to the Darkblade. “Is it my mistress you worry for?” he went on. “How her betrayer’s heart will break . . .”

  “I’m told you didn’t know you were doing the Darkblade’s bidding,” Vaelin cut in. “Here you stand ready to die for a false god you detested only moments ago. I would know how this was done.”

  “Love,” Varij said simply. “I was always his. From the moment he freed me, saved me from the whip and the endless toil. When he spoke I knew he spoke for the divine. The man you see before you is the truth, it was Varij who was the lie. I was set to watch her years ago, told that one day she would betray the Darkblade but that her betrayal was necessary. So he had Sehga craft lies in my head, birth the doubts that would win the Betrayer’s trust, all so that she would bring me here.” Varij smiled the bright broad smile of a contented man. “And the key to the Merchant Realms would be unlocked so that all there might know his mercy.”

  Hearing Ellese’s bowstring tighten, Varij laughed. “Kill me, I welcome it. For I know there is only salvation in death. You cannot stop what has already been done.”

  Vaelin saw them then, the spiderweb of cracks in the cobbles at the base of the wall, cracks that were spreading. “Kill him!” he snapped. The twin arrows struck Varij full in the chest, punching through to protrude from his back as he collapsed. Even as all the fluid in his body flowed free in a dark tide the contented smile remained on his lips.

  As Vaelin watched, the cracks at the base of the wall spread with lightning speed, powdered stone fountaining and the ground taking on a pronounced shudder.

  “Back!” Vaelin said, pushing Nortah and Ellese away just as a thunderous boom sounded from below. A single deep fissure opened at the base of the wall and snaked its way to the top faster than the eye could follow. A rumble of grinding stone rose as a section of wall at least fifty feet across appeared to sublime into a cascade of small boulders. As it fell dust erupted in a thick, choking fog seeded with lacerating grit that forced them to shield their faces.

  When Vaelin lowered his hand from his eyes, he was confronted by the sight of a breach he knew they had no hope of sealing. He could already see mounted Stahlhast forming up for a charge amidst the houses of the second tier, dense formations of Redeemed thronging the flanks.

  “Lord Vaelin!”

  Sho Tsai came to a halt nearby, three regiments of infantry fanning out behind him. Vaelin could see other soldiers quickly descending the walls to form up in the streets. The general had come to the obvious conclusion that the only battle that mattered now would be fought in this breach.

  “Proceed to the temple,” Sho Tsai told Vaelin. He stepped closer to meet Vaelin’s gaze with steady, implacable eyes, speaking in a low voice. “Save her, if you can. If you can’t, then spare her.”

  He turned away, beckoning Tsai Lin closer. “Go with Lord Vaelin.”

  “General, I must—”

  “There is no time!” Sho Tsai’s eyes blazed at his son, compelling him to stand at attention. “There will be chaos when they storm through,” Sho Tsai added, expression softening into regret. “Perhaps enough to shield an escape. That is my last order to you, my son. Survive this place and return to the Temple of Spears. Follow their counsel, for I see the age of kings is done.”

  He faced the breach, drawing his sword as the thunder of Stahlhast hooves began to sound. “Now go!”

  * * *

  ◆ ◆ ◆

  The din of battle accompanied their flight to the temple, as loud as any storm, so loud that he failed to hear Corporal Cho-ka’s greeting until the man ran from the shadows to block his path. He was flanked by the half-dozen Skulls Vaelin knew to be members of the Green Vipers.

  “My lord,” he said with a cursory bow. “I should like to show you something.”

  “What something?” Vaelin wasn’t especially surprised Cho-ka and his associates hadn’t chosen to stand with the general at the end, nor could he find the will to be angry. Was he not also a coward this night?

  “Something in my great-aunt’s spice shop,” Cho-ka said, casting a wary glance around.

  “Speak plainly!” Vaelin snapped, patience running thin.

  “A way out,” the outlaw said. “One that could not be used until now.”

  “But might have assisted us before.”

  “I owe my allegiance to the Green Vipers alone. Not to a king who might hang me on a whim or a general whose name I’d never heard until a month ago. We fought for our lives and they won’t be squandered in defence of a pile of blackened bricks. But there’s a debt between us that I’m keen to settle.”

  Vaelin turned to Ellese and Nortah. “Go with them. The Dai Lo and I have business at the temple. The pitch of battle will change once the breach falls. When it does, don’t wait one second longer.”

  He turned away before they could argue, hastening to the temple, where he found Sherin in her treatment room waving a bottle of smelling salts under Luralyn’s nose whilst Chien
held the woman’s head still. Eresa and Jihla stood in the corner, faces wrought with concern as their mistress moaned, nostrils twitching, but failed to wake.

  “We’re leaving,” Vaelin told Sherin. “Get her up,” he added to Chien, nodding at Luralyn. “The captain will help you.”

  “To where?” the outlaw woman asked, looping one of Luralyn’s arms over her shoulders whilst Tsai Lin took the other.

  “The spice shop on the street left of the gate. The Green Vipers have been keeping secrets.”

  “Trust a rat to always find a pipe,” Chien grunted as they hefted Luralyn’s weight.

  “Go now,” Vaelin told them, watching Sherin unhurriedly returning the bottle of smelling salts to her chest of curatives. “We’ll be along.”

  Chien and Tsai Lin duly carried Luralyn from the room, Eresa and Jihla following close behind.

  “It’s time,” Vaelin told Sherin, finding he had to swallow before continuing. “I’m sorry.”

  “You left him,” she said in a flat, unsurprised tone, not turning.

  “He ordered me to, as he ordered me to save you. And I will.”

  “I have patients.” She closed the lid of her chest, pausing a moment to regard her hands, flexing the fingers. “And a gift to share . . .”

  “If I have to knock you unconscious to drag you from this city, I will do it!”

  She stiffened at his shout, eyes suddenly red, the lines of her face made sharp as she fought her pain. “Did you see him die?”

  He moved to her, taking hold of her wrist and pulling her to the door. “There is no time.”