01 - Star of Erengrad

by Neil McIntosh - (ebook by Undead)

  “Otto’s dead,” Stefan said, quietly. “He can’t tell us anything anymore.”

  The sound of footsteps outside cut short the quarrel. Stefan turned away from Elena and opened the door. Expecting just Alexei Zucharov, Stefan was at first alarmed to see two figures, their faces hidden beneath heavy woollen capes. The second figure pulled the hood clear of his face and looked up, expressionless, at Stefan. “I assume it’s not too late to change my mind?” he said.

  “Bruno!” The dark cloud pressing down upon Stefan lifted at the unexpected sight of his friend. Bruno shook Stefan’s hand and smiled, briefly. Behind the smile there was still something, some distance that Stefan could not fathom. He let the question go.

  “It’s good to see you,” he said, warmly.

  “You’re still looking for someone to ride with you?”

  “If that someone is you, then yes,” Stefan affirmed.

  Bruno exchanged glances with Alexei. Stefan thought he saw something in Bruno’s look, discomfort or unease. Again, he let the question go.

  “Bruno’s thought things over,” Alexei said. “Come to think better of his decision.”

  “Just promise me one thing,” Bruno said to Stefan. “Accept that my decision now is to ride with you. Don’t question me about why. Things have changed, that’s all.”

  “Things have changed indeed,” Stefan agreed. He turned to Zucharov. “Otto Brandauer’s been murdered,” he told him. “It looks like someone knows about the mission.”

  “Then we need to make a move,” Zucharov said.

  “Yes,” Stefan confirmed. “We must be on our way by moon-rise. But there’s another problem to resolve, now.”

  “Which is?”

  “Otto was going to lead the mission, at least as far as Middenheim where we meet up with the merchants travelling east. Otto was to have been our pathfinder through the forest.”

  “There are maps here,” Elena said. “It can’t be that difficult.”

  “Let’s take our chances,” Alexei agreed.

  “Not good enough,” Stefan said, firmly. “I’ve known men who’ve set off into those forests armed with the best maps in the Empire. Those who didn’t lose their lives usually lost their minds trying to find their way out of the Drakwald. At very best we’d lose time: days, weeks, probably.” He shook his head, firmly. “We couldn’t afford that. We need a guide. Someone who knows the ways of the woods.”

  “Philip Alben,” Alexei offered. “He was born and raised in the Drak. Knows his way about the forest as well as any man.”

  “Then it’s a pity he didn’t know his way around a bar room brawl,” Bruno said, breaking his long silence. “Alben was found floating in the dock with a knife in his back over a week ago.”

  “Well,” Stefan demanded, “Any other ideas?” He looked around at the three others in the room, waiting for an answer. “In that case,” he said at last, “I have just one. Not the man I would choose willingly. But the choices seem to have just run out.”

  He had few problems finding the address. Plenty of people knew the name, and had stories they could offer as well. None of them made Stefan feel any better about this. But, as he kept reminding himself, there wasn’t a lot of choice.

  After about half an hour’s walk he found the house buried deep within a rundown part of the city. The street was strewn with refuse and rotting food, rats outnumbering the people going about their business. This, Stefan said to himself, is the last stop on the way down. A place where you come to die. Steeling himself against the stench wafting from the interior of the house, Stefan climbed the staircase towards the single room on the top floor of the tottering building. The door of the room lay half-open, and a stale reek of cheap liquor hung on the air.

  Stefan’s call met with no response, but it didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. The room was sparsely furnished—little more besides a table stacked with empty bottles, and a single, bare bed, grey with human grime. A man lay splayed across the bed, still fully clothed. Only the faint, laboured sound of breathing betrayed the fact that he wasn’t dead.

  Stefan fought back a wave of revulsion that almost had him turning straight back. No choice, he reminded himself yet again. He looked about the room and found what he was looking for, a pitcher half full with water. The water had a greasy scum covering its surface, with at least a dozen dead flies glued upon it. But it was cold, and would serve Stefan’s purpose. He levelled the pitcher towards the bed, and slung the contents over the sleeper’s face.

  The man groaned, cursing an imaginary foe, and gradually came to sitting. A fit of coughing seized his body as his eyes opened and focused upon Stefan standing before him.

  “Get up,” Stefan commanded, throwing a cloth in the direction of Tomas Murer. “Everyone gets a last chance in this life,” he told him. “This is yours.”

  They met at Wilhelm’s Gate, by the old toll road that skirted edge of the city. Bruno, hardly speaking, lost within a place known only to him. Tomas Murer, sober now, was shivering in the cold. Alexei Zucharov, eyeing the newcomer with obvious mistrust. And Stefan Kumansky, watching them all. These would be his comrades in the coming months, his companions through whatever adversity the fates chose to cast at them. Somehow, together, they had to see this through.

  It was now an hour past sunset. Mannslieb and Morrslieb had taken their places in the sky above Altdorf, dappling its spires and turrets in a pale silver light. The night was clear and cold after the rain that had been falling over the city.

  Horse-hooves clattered upon the cobblestones, approaching the abandoned tollgate. Elena Yevshenko emerged out of the darkness, a second rider on horseback following a few paces behind. Elena drew up next to Stefan, and nodded a brief acknowledgement.

  “This is Lisette,” she announced, motioning the maid forward. The second rider threw back the hood of her gown, revealing delicate, almost elvish features. The girl had the olive-dark complexion of western Bretonnia, with dark curled hair and deep hazel eyes. It struck Stefan immediately how slightly built she was; small enough almost to be taken for a halfling. Lisette seemed to read Stefan’s thoughts, and drew herself up in the saddle as if to accentuate her height.

  Stefan found himself staring at the girl, not so much in curiosity, or even admiration—though she was undeniably pretty. What caused him to stare was a feeling uncomfortably close to recognition. He cast his mind back over the events of the last day, the faces glimpsed in crowds or upon the street.

  “We’ve met before, I think,” he said. The girl’s face flushed a sudden red. Lisette turned her head to one side, avoiding Stefan’s inquisitive gaze. “You’re mistaken, sir,” she mumbled.

  “I think not,” Stefan insisted. “You were at the festival games last night, sitting not far from me. Earlier that day you were in the Altquartier, and then later in Hergeldstrasse, following the same path as me. It’s either a remarkable coincidence, which I doubt, or else you were purposely following me. Why?”

  The Bretonnian girl hesitated, caught between denial and a plausible explanation. The tense silence was broken by Elena. “Because I told her to,” she snapped. “Why not? For the last few weeks I’ve been a virtual prisoner in the palace. Why shouldn’t I gain my own account of you and your comrades, from someone I can trust?” She glared at Stefan and the others, growing angrier as she became more defensive, then muttered a few words of reassurance to the girl in Bretonnian. The girl’s face flushed, with embarrassment or relief. Sitting up next to her mistress she seemed an unlikely spy, and as docile in nature as Elena was fiery.

  The explanation might have been innocent enough, but Stefan was furious that, again, Elena seemed to have gone out of her way to cross him. If she hadn’t made it clear before that she was a reluctant companion, there was no mistaking her view now. For a relationship that would inevitably be close over the coming months and miles, this had been an ill-favoured start.

  Alexei Zucharov pointed to the sky. “The light’s good,” he
said. “We should make full use of it while it lasts.”

  “Agreed,” Stefan said. He looked back at Elena. “We have a job to do, you and I” he said. “Let’s put this behind us and get on with it.”

  “Agreed,” Elena replied, somewhat stiffly. For a moment their eyes met. Stefan found himself wondering if their apparent differences didn’t mask the fact that, on some level, they were very alike. Time alone would reveal the truth. “Let’s go,” he shouted to the others. Stefan took up the reins and spurred his horse onward, out of Altdorf, on the road that led to the east.

  They rode in silence until the lights of Altdorf were a distant glimmering on the horizon behind them. By then the well-paved road had given way to one of loose stone, little more than a rough track beneath the horses’ hooves. They had steered away from the road favoured by the traders, the highway that ran between Altdorf and Talabheim, and instead skirted east of the Talabec river on the rutted tracks winding north-east from the city.

  Stefan was relieved to be on the road at last. For sure, danger lay ahead, but he was glad nonetheless to be putting Altdorf behind them. The years had seen him grow accustomed to the face of death, but Otto’s murder had unsettled him, and left him feeling hollow inside.

  Rarely had slaughter seemed so premeditated, so deliberate in its manner. He wondered at the meaning of it. That it was the work of cultists he was in no doubt, and the bloody insignia left at the scene seemed to signal it clearly as the work of the Scarandar. At first Stefan had reasoned that the murder was meant to serve as a warning, but, if so, to what end? If the idea had been to frighten Elena into abandoning her plan, then the ploy had failed. Indeed, Otto’s death had hastened the urgency of their departure from Altdorf by several days.

  And that was what was troubling him still. The forces that opposed them were not simple, nor stupid. Otto Brandauer’s murder had been calculated; it had a purpose. And Stefan could not be sure that they were not even now fulfilling that purpose as they rode away from the city.

  He marveled at how empty the world had suddenly become, how desolate. He had rarely travelled this way from Altdorf, and never before by night. The darkness accentuated the sense of solitude enveloping them. Once clear of the city walls, the crowded, human bustle of Altdorf quickly became a distant memory. Here and there they passed clusters of houses, hamlets or small villages, but for the most part they were derelict and deserted. It was not what he had been expecting.

  As the hours passed, however, he noticed that they were drawing closer to what looked like some kind of barrier lining the horizon ahead of them. Whatever it was gradually expanded until it filled their entire line of sight, like a wall wrapping itself around the world. No light seemed to escape from within it; it seemed darker even than the surrounding night. Gradually the conversation amongst the travelers died away as, each in turn, they became transfixed by the towering darkness rearing up in front of them.

  “Gods watch over us,” Lisette whispered. “We are riding into the very heart of it.”

  “What is it?” Elena demanded. “It looks so vast.”

  Tomas kept his eyes trained on the dark expanse, like a hunter suddenly re-united with an ancient foe. “It is the forest,” he said softly. “The Drakwald.”

  As one, the riders drew up their horses and sat, staring, at the unending vista unraveling ahead. Now, truly, the enormity of their journey began to hit home.

  “Well,” Alexei said, breaking the silence at last. “Welcome to the world beyond.”

  The waxy light from the moons had ebbed over the last hour until, suddenly, it was gone. Now the darkness enveloping them was all but total.

  Stefan contemplated the forest. It looked all but impenetrable, difficult even by daylight. Perhaps for now they should push their luck no further. “This is as far as we go tonight,” he said. “We won’t tackle the Drakwald until dawn. That’s still some five hours distant. We’ll find somewhere to lay up for the night, get some rest.”

  Lisette had already climbed down from her horse and was at the reins of Elena’s, waiting to help her mistress dismount. Elena looked around at the bare moorland, the dark shoulder of the forest towering over them. She shivered.

  “It’s so dark,” she said. “And I’d forgotten I could feel so cold!”

  Alexei laughed. “You’ve been too long from Kislev,” he observed.

  “Anyway,” Stefan said, getting down from his own horse. “We best all get used to it. There’ll be plenty of nights like this.”

  They tethered the horses near the river, and set about making camp beneath the shelter of some nearby trees. Once they’d done, Alexei produced a flask of Bretonnian gin. He offered it around, but got no takers. Finally he turned towards Tomas Murer, sitting apart from the rest of the group at the water’s edge. Alexei held out the flask. “You can’t function without this stuff, can you?”

  Tomas looked from Alexei to the leather flask being held in front of him. A look, part fear and part hunger passed over his features. He extended one hand, tentatively, then stopped, and shook his head. Stefan got up and snatched the flask away from Alexei.

  “That’s enough game playing,” he snapped. “It’s been a long day. And a difficult one,” he added, catching Elena’s eye. “We’d better all get some sleep whilst we can.”

  “Maybe,” Alexei said. He reached out to retrieve the flask from Stefan’s side. “But I think I’ll sit out and keep this gin company a while yet. I’ll take first watch.”

  Stefan gave him a searching look. “Everything all right?” he asked, quietly.

  Alexei grunted, non-committally. Stefan didn’t mistake his tone for indifference. Zucharov might be strong-willed, and he was certainly unpredictable, but Stefan had learnt to respect his nose for trouble.

  “It’s probably all right,” Alexei said. He unfastened the stopper from the gin and took a slow swig. Stefan looked around, and listened. The only noise he could hear was the swirling water of the river nearby, a vaguely comforting sound.

  “I think so too,” he said. “I don’t think anyone has followed us. In fact I don’t think there’s anyone but us for miles about.” He looked over at Tomas. “What about you, Tom?” he asked. “What do you reckon?”

  “I think you’re right,” Murer replied. He kept his eyes averted from Zucharov as he spoke, staring all the while down into the water. “I think we’ll be safe enough here for the moment.”

  Alexei pulled the stopper from the flask. “Well,” he said, contemptuously, “that’s all the reassurance we need, then.” He took another mouthful of gin.

  “Let’s get some sleep,” Stefan said again, firmly. “Wake me in an hour,” he told Alexei.

  Elena and Lisette were already bedding down upon the blanket, their cloaks wrapped tight around them against the cold. Bruno was standing at the edge of the camp, some way apart from the others. Stefan walked over to join him.

  “How are you?” he asked.

  “I’m fine,” Bruno said. “Tired, that’s all.”

  “Then sleep,” Stefan advised. “We’ll need to be riding again as soon as the sun is up.”

  “Of course,” Bruno said. As he turned away, Stefan caught his arm.

  “Every man has the right to keep his own counsel,” he said. “I respect that. But we have a long journey together, and a perilous one. Some time along that road we will need to talk of what’s in our hearts.”

  Bruno returned Stefan’s gaze, his body stiff and uncomfortable. Then he smiled, briefly but warmly, rekindling a brief memory of the friendship that had sustained them on so many travels in the past. Stefan lay a hand upon his comrade’s shoulder. “Good night, old friend,” he said. “Rest well.”

  Bruno waited until Stefan had joined the others already bedded down. Before long Stefan’s breath had fallen into the slow steady rhythm of sleep. But sleep did not come so readily to Bruno. For what seemed to him like ages he lay awake, his eyes wide open, staring into the dark, empty night. It did not worry him u
nduly. Lately he had spent many nights awake until near the dawn, turning his thoughts over in his mind, unwilling to surrender himself to the mercies of sleep.

  Bruno wrapped the blanket around him and turned his face towards the churning waters beyond the bank. He lay for what seemed an eternity, listening to the unending song of the river. Gradually his eyes fell closed.

  Within moments his eyes were open again. Light—a bright, steel grey light—was dazzling him, reflecting off a sheer precipice that towered above. Confused, Bruno climbed to his feet and looked around him. Stefan and the others were nowhere to be seen. He could no longer hear the river. In fact the camp and the riverbank had disappeared completely. He was no longer on the road to Kislev, but somewhere else entirely.

  He took a few hesitant steps forward, aware now of the massive white peaks filling the skies around him. Then he remembered where he was. He had returned to that place once again. His breath started coming in sharp, rapid gulps. Somehow the icy mountain air never seemed to fill his lungs. He needed more and more of it. He should stop and rest, but he knew he had to go on, knew he had to hurry. Bruno looked down and saw his sword fastened at his side, a short knife tucked inside the belt round his waist.

  He started walking forward, towards the opening to the cave that sat like a black mouth on the white face of the mountain. He could hear voices, voices calling out in distress.

  Bruno pulled the knife from his belt and hurried forward. Something was scaring him. He had been here before. He should turn away, go back. But he could not turn away. The voices calling needed his help. He could not abandon them.