The Beast of the North

by Alaric Longward

  ‘What is that?’ Sand asked, groaning as his thighs were killing him. I was also so very sore. We were unused to riding for long lengths of time. I craned my neck to see what Sand was talking about and then took side steps as I glimpsed something above the castle. On the hillside, there was a ruin of a keep, its former glory still somewhat evident from the contours of the round towers, the still erect iron gate and a half spared central keep. I was not sure, but there were curtains in some windows and birds were flying around the structure.

  ‘Is it yours? The ruin?’ I asked Shaduril.

  ‘It is,’ she said tautly. ‘It’s the High Hold, named after our land, and the new fort is called the Crimson Apex.’

  ‘What happened?’ I asked her.

  She wiped her hand across her face and stayed quiet for a time. ‘The Cataclysm.’

  ‘That thing?’ Sand asked. ‘Some said it was a strange illness. Bear said Mother had fallen very sick during it. She died of it before Maskan’s mother joined him. Of course.’

  ‘No,’ Shaduril said. ‘Father said it was more than that. There were strange fires, earthquakes. It rained so hard the rivers flooded. The illness followed. It happened just after we were born. Thousands died, and we were not spared. Mother died. Servants. They are buried there. Come,’ she told us, and we rode for the distant home of the Blacktowers.

  ‘I would have built the new one somewhere else. Must be hard to see the ruin every day,’ I said.

  She grunted. ‘It is true. Though we grew up not knowing its history,’ she said wistfully as she hiked for the fort. Some guards were pointing at us now, and there was movement on the walls. ‘An ill-chosen location or not, this one is a more sensible one. It should not leave daughters without mothers.’

  ‘No, you just fall to the sea, and there will be no survivors,’ Sand said brusquely.

  ‘Yes, exactly,’ she said with a small voice. ‘Would be much better that way, I think. But we are all adults now. You are young, but you have lost people, we have lost people, and Red Midgard is full of people who will all lose more people they care about if we fail. We are all grown up, with grown-up goals. Maskan, do not show your power to people you don’t know. Not to Taram either though you will know him. As I told you, we don’t want to—’

  ‘Your brother is to be kept in the dark, yes,’ I said. ‘We should avoid him?’

  She shook her head. ‘Hard to avoid him. He is curious as a squirrel. He is not a party to this … change we are going to foment,’ she said thinly. ‘For now. We … love our brother, but he is not the sort of a man you trust. But he will likely train you to fight. He’ll pester you with questions. Give no answer to the bastard.’

  ‘Bastard,’ I echoed her.

  ‘Fine. I hate him,’ she said bitterly.

  ‘Like you hate Lith,’ Sand said.

  She gazed at him coldly and shrugged. ‘It’s none of your business, boys.’

  ‘I’ll be careful,’ I told her, put back by her vehemence. ‘Though I am curious to hear more of this plan or yours with the queen. It is sure to be better than our previous one.’

  ‘You will,’ she giggled. ‘And it won’t be any worse, at least. I promise. Valkai’s gang likely had a good deal of it planned already, people they know, how they would make the switch. They probably knew Falg Hardhand inside out. We will do our best. One thing is sure, and only one! We will have a glorious adventure, my friends. Do not make trouble. Do not sneak around spying on us. We will be honest with you.’

  We rode in silence until some birds began to sing forlornly high in the boughs. It was dark, but not too dark with the Three Sisters providing ghostly light. Near the Crimson Apex, there were many meadows that swayed in a gentle night breeze. I finally turned to Sand and whispered. ‘Remember when we thought she would refuse us because she is a noble?’

  Sand nodded and spoke very softly. ‘She refused me. Looks like I’m extra. Did she want to hide me? Where? In a grave?’

  ‘She was thinking of your best interest, she said,’ I noted, uncomfortable with saying anything evil about her.

  Sand hesitated a bit and leaned on me. ‘I see. You and her, eh?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ I said.

  He nodded and did not believe a word I said. He went on. ‘She is very persuasive. They have a weak plan. It’s dangerous. But it’s for the good of all of us. Perhaps so. She made a good case, and while she insulted me, I follow her. I don’t know why, but I just nodded and got on the horse. But maybe we should just trust each other? Perhaps we should ride away? Or be prepared to do so if things turn out strange. If they plot for their sake, rather than that of Red Midgard? If they are no better than the Jesters?’

  I hesitated. We could. But then Shaduril turned to me, and her eyes glowed in the light of the Sisters and she looked fair, sad, and she needed me. She was already carrying a heavy burden, and I felt like a coward when I considered leaving her alone to carry it. I looked away from Sand and spoke. ‘They can offer us what we need. Let us stick around and see what it is they can do. And then, later, reconsider our course.’

  ‘Might be hard to review our course much later on, friend,’ Sand said sadly. ‘She’s got you. But fine. I’ll stay with you until we get our vengeance.’

  ‘We should also try to survive the vengeance,’ I said. ‘We have dreams beyond that, no? We are still brothers.’

  He looked at Shaduril and shrugged. ‘You have a … sister now, I think. And they will change everything for us.’

  I began to refute him, but could not. ‘She will change some things. She is sad. Alone. And beautiful.’

  Sand growled a warning, and Shaduril looked back at us. How much she had heard, we could not guess, but enough, for she spoke. ‘I’m a noble woman, Maskan,’ she said sadly. ‘You should be careful. Noble ladies have cruel streaks, and you will be hurt, no matter if your feelings should be answered.’

  I stammered and nodded and spoke bravely. ‘I cannot help getting hurt, then.’

  She looked at me and shook her head in wonder. She looked stern, then happy and laughed brightly. ‘Well said.’ Her eyes went over mine, and there was a strange emotion there, one of gentle promise, then suddenly, of cruel anger. ‘Lith.’

  ‘Your sister,’ I stated rather stupidly. ‘What has she got to do with this discussion?’

  She seemed to growl. ‘I told you to beware of Taram. Beware of her as well. She will not be happy if you speak of me like that. Do not mention us, at all.’

  ‘I did already,’ I said softly. ‘I spoke of … that day I returned your coins to you. And she knows. She knows.’

  She was silent and resentful. ‘I give you a fair warning. If you like me, do not touch her. I cannot forgive if you fail in that.’

  ‘I will be careful,’ I told her with a blush, thinking of the kiss Lith had given me. Sand was staring at her, frowning, fiddling with his saddle straps as if considering flight. I was strangely happy. She had made no promises, but she had not turned me down either. I was so confused. My family was dead. And yet I could feel happiness? I was mad.

  We rode on, and night came on entirely as the Three Sisters chased the Lifegiver’s last rays from the sky. Evening birds awoke, and their clear chirping made the past horrors seem distant. Then, we passed a large village and saw the keep far ahead. And the ruin. I had been right; there were curtains fluttering in the windows. It looked sad and forlorn. Shaduril stared at it, her eyes still.

  ‘Here we are,’ Shaduril breathed as if a heavy duty would take over her life the moment she stepped through the gate. We rode up to it and saw the moat was rigged with iron stakes. A sturdy drawbridge spanned it. On top of the gatehouse, red flags with a white lily whipped in the slight breeze of the vast Callidorean Ocean. We walked past some alert guards, who wore very long capes, holding tall spears high in the air. They saluted Shaduril but stared at us with suspicion in their cold, dark eyes.

  ‘Just guards, boys,’ she whispered. ‘But please make an excellent impression
on Father. He trusts his first instincts, and he might reject you if you piss your pants.’ She glanced at Sand. ‘Or sulk overmuch.’

  ‘Yes, lady,’ I told her while Sand said nothing.

  ‘Shad,’ she smiled and then the smile disappeared, for we approached the central keep. A dense covering of Berberis plants adorned the red walls, their scent soothing to our nerves. Then the smell of sweet cooking meat, whiff of rot, and a terrible stench of tanning vats replaced that smell. Sand nudged me and pointed to our right. By the wall, there were a blacksmith and a tannery and great activity was going on there.

  ‘Looks like they are preparing for war,’ I agreed with Sand’s uplifted eyebrows. ‘I guess you are serious about this business.’

  ‘We have some men, but not enough for real war,’ said a quiet voice of somewhat menacing quality. ‘They need gear, nonetheless.’ A man had stepped out of the doorway and looked at us with freezing, appraising eyes, and we saw little else of him but those eyes, as he stood there in the shadows. They were very bright and penetrating. ‘But you know this, and you are here, to help us. Welcome.’ He was a small man, about Shaduril’s size, in fact. A man with a torch stepped up to illuminate us, and we saw Lord Balan Blacktower. His hair was dark like mine, but short and was held by a thick band of silver with dark stones set on it. His eyes were very dark, and his complexion tanned as if he spent a lot of time outdoors, and his clothing reflected that. He had very high cheekbones and a long neck. He had a leather tunic, scuffed doeskin pants, and well-used boots, and all were patched and dusty in places. ‘And you are the famous Maskan.’

  I bowed my head and decided he was the sort of a man one could see wearing the crown. He was keen of mind, calm, and decisive, I thought. Cold and emotionless as well, I decided, but he was a strong one. ‘I am, Lord,’ I said and bowed deep before Balan Blacktower, the lord of the Tenth House of Red Midgard. ‘And I am grateful for the asylum.’ His eyes went to slits as he regarded me. I decided to be a bit more assertive. ‘Though, of course, you need my services as much as I need yours. I have innocent blood to pay back for.’ I straightened my back and decided to act like a noble would. Which I was, I decided.

  His face twitched just slightly, and he nodded. ‘Innocent? The Bear? The Uncouth Lord? Your mother, a peddler of stolen items. I suppose innocence has many layers. Yes. Unfortunate that your plans went awry, though not totally. It is good Valkai’s gang is gone. It was a daring plan. But to face a Brother? You did not expect it. You should have. That mint is connected to the Tower of the Temple and is one of the few weak spots one might try to enter the heart of the kingdom.’

  ‘I smashed him down,’ I reminded him.

  ‘But you did not kill him,’ Balan noted. ‘Amateurish. But ultimately,’ he leaned toward me and whispered, ‘ultimately, you are right about our king. Innocent or not, he had no right to hang the women. No one should hang without a proper trial. Just one of the symptoms of his madness, is it not?’

  ‘We do not disagree, Lord Balan,’ I said and bowed again. His smile was happy if fleeting.

  He shrugged. ‘I did not expect you to. Blood has been spilled; more will be spilled in the years to come if he is not stopped. Rest assured, young masters; we will act. And we don’t have much time. We must act before the Yule celebration. Before this year’s end.’

  ‘Why is that Lord?’ Sand asked, and they all stared at him with incredulity, like a band of merciless wolves staring a rabbit that got lost in their cave.

  Balan nodded at Sand. ‘Does your friend,’ he indicated Sand, ‘know of the plan?’

  ‘I know of the scheme,’ Sand said with tiny amount of respect, and there was a small silence with the Blacktower family as they still gauged my morose friend. He noticed it and cleared his throat. ‘You will replace the royals. Both of them. And she—’ he nodded at Shaduril, but Balan interrupted him.

  ‘She is a noble, and the court is a wicked place, my young friend. She is risking her life for our homes, families and she, like many others before her, will fight for what is right, just, moral, even if it means we are breaking the laws of the land. Laws are a beautiful thing but twisted to serve the evil. And yes, we are in a hurry. The Jester’s plan was a fine one. And why must we act soon? Why, because the queen visits her family once a year, and it will be just before the Yule feast. Next year might be too late for all of us, and we dare not try to kill her at the court, no. Too many people there. We will try it where she is at her most vulnerable, where she is relaxed, where there are few Brothers about and with a plan she surely won’t expect. Her most trusted servant is her most dangerous enemy. Unprecedented! We will kill her in her home. Then the king. We must. War is looming. The south is quarrelsome.’

  ‘How so?’ I asked him.

  He looked mysterious. ‘They say,’ he whispered, ‘that Malingborg is empty of armies. That several Hammer Legions have disappeared, and Aten’s Navy is unusually well fitted. And they say the king, our Danegell is not heeding the signs. That he will take our armies north with swords to punish our allies for trivial issues when he should send words of peace to them. No, next year will not do. Three months from now. Or we will all die.’ His passion was invigorating. Both Sand and I were nodding, feeling the great danger as the lord spoke of it. His haste was catching on. His daughter was facing danger, his family was. And the whole Red Midgard could fall like our family had.

  ‘Is there going to be war? With Ygrin?’ Sand asked. ‘Over some silly trade dispute with the Bay’s fishing?’

  Balan shook in momentary indecision, fidgeting with impatience. Shaduril nodded at Balan, ever so slightly, and the high lord deigned to answer my friend. ‘I did tell my girls to save all who are close to Maskan, so I guess I should answer your questions, even if it is rude to address a lord with no respect and his title, Sand. As for the war, not only the two major allies of the Fringe—Ygrin and Falgrin—but the kings and dukes of Shalimar of Ice, Ollicas, Ranleigh, Kanninberg, and Urten have declined Danegell’s invite to celebrate Yule with us. That is traditionally the time the alliance of the north is ratified. The northern kingdoms are meeting separately, and Red Midgard will be alone. Because Danegell is going mad. He thinks to take the north before the High King, but this will end in our destruction. He is playing dangerous games. Against Ygrin, against those he dislikes, and angering his people by approving this cult—’

  ‘Of the One Man,’ Shaduril added helpfully.

  Her father nodded and shook his head towards distant Dagnar. ‘In a way, I can understand him. It is because his son, the prince died twenty years ago during the Cataclysm, and I can understand such a thing might drive a man mad. But many others lost loved ones in the event.’ His eyes wandered over the moat to the ruins of the old keep. ‘In short, he no longer cares to govern Red Midgard and the alliance of the Fringe. But now, Maskan, you have a lot to learn. We will try our best to kill them all. I have some reluctant allies, and I am thinking about a plan on how to kill all of them, even the Brothers. There will be sacrifices—’ his eyes settled on my ring, and he stammered. Self-consciously, I hid it. He went on, speaking thinly and he was apparently preoccupied with my treasure. ‘Sacrifices. You will risk much, Maskan. Shaduril will as well. All my family will, in fact, if she fails. If you fail. I have given my daughter to the Beast of the North, a mad thing. Never forget that if you get cold feet.’

  ‘I shall not, Lord,’ I told him, my mind mulling over his words. She is braver than I am, I thought as I eyed the beautiful daughter of the Blacktowers. ‘What do you require of me? Exactly.’

  He clapped my back. ‘The man you will replace, Falg Hardhand is the queen’s food taster.’

  I nodded, uncertain if I enjoyed his hand on my shoulder. ‘I know. So, shall I first learn how to eat?’ I asked with some brevity.

  ‘Yes,’ he said sternly. ‘Of course. You are an actor in a once in a lifetime role. You have to be perfect. You have to be proficient in so many things, and your attitude, young man, is the first
thing you must change. Be perfect, not an amateur. You have been messing around for far too long, you thug. Our company, an elegant house of Red Midgard, the nobles and lords and ladies, will do you good. You will learn manners and discipline,’ he said happily, ignoring Sand, who was standing on the side, forgotten. ‘We will marinate you in nobility, boy. Falg will pale in comparison when we are done. You will have to learn Falg’s ways, his manners, his faults, and his strengths. There is much more to this craft of subterfuge and lies than just taking a … face. As you probably discovered in the mint. You made a mess of it.’

  I nodded, blushing. ‘I did.’

  He smiled thinly. ‘So you will have to be perfect. The Brothers are not to be fooled easily, as you know,’ he added darkly. ‘And there are sure to be some in the queen’s house, though why would they doubt Falg? We will see. We have a man, our butler Gray, who used to serve in the king’s kitchens, and we know what Falg does and how. Of course, we don’t know if the queen has other uses for him. Some say he is her lover, perhaps as revenge for the king’s addiction to beautiful faces. She might, Maskan, enjoy his brews.’

  ‘But what if she requires …’ I began, and my voice faltered. Sand was wheezing in soft amusement.

  ‘If that is so, then you might want to consider killing her in bed,’ Balan told me practically. ‘Surely you know how to please a woman?’

  ‘Sweet gods,’ I sulked.

  His eyes went large. ‘You do not?’

  ‘I am not comfortable with this subject,’ I whispered, blushing deeply.

  ‘Oh my,’ Balan said, distressed. ‘Surely you know how to take a piss, at least? Gods above and down, such a handsome boy and does not know his way around the bedchamber.’

  Shaduril tittered brazenly, and I did not look at her, cursing the lord. ‘I—’