Ghost in the Yew: Volume One of the Vesteal Series

by Blake Hausladen

  “You never told me your name,” I said to him.

  “Eargram. My father named me Eargram.”

  The heavy black weight of the Hessier’s magic began to settle on us then. Eargram groaned and spat. “Damn them. Damn them straight into the ice.”

  One said to me, “Best get back with the rest. They are going to pin everyone to the ground and then come looking for you. We are in enough trouble already.”

  On the far west side of the camp, a long line of horses were being led south around one of the hills. A troop of regulars looked like they were getting ready to water the Akals as well.

  “You heard him,” Eargram said. “Get moving.”

  I almost asked for his help. I stood painfully, instead, through the growing grip of black magic and crept back to where Avin lay. He had not moved. His sickness would claim him soon.

  I waited and watched the regulars while the camp settled. When they finally moved south with the Akal, only a pair of Tracians kept watch. The rest were fast asleep. What need was there for a watch when the Hessier pressed men down?

  The Hessier’s black touch continued to press down. The only people awake were the two guards and me. I thought to try and wake Avin, but he wouldn’t be able to help me. I left him lying there and concentrated on the evil carpet they pressed upon us. I pushed up at it once, and it fell back down upon me as fast as Avin had warned. Avin was wrong, too, though. The Hessier did not come running because of my attempt, and it had not taken much to do it. The task was a test of endurance. I stood, pushed the darkness gently up, and looked toward the two guards.

  They leaned on their spears and gazed at the campfire. Neither wore a helmet. They were talking about sleep. They didn’t see or hear me move up toward them. I found a good rock and gripped it tightly. One of the two made some small joke, and they chuckled. I rushed them and struck the funny one on the ear. The other didn’t think to cry out before I had hold of him. His skull didn’t like my rock.

  I took their spears, ran to Avin, and threw him over my shoulder. Then I ran south through the line of sleeping jailors and left behind me a great bubble under the black carpet. I did not know how to make it go away so turned my back and ran into the trees. I hoped the regulars and Akals to be on the far side. I found the stream and the edge of the Hessier’s magic, but no men and no horses. I closed my eyes, held my breath, and listened.

  I heard a small nicker and a gentle splash further upstream. I set Avin down, took a spear in each hand, and crept closer.

  The men leading the Akal had moved upstream to where the other Tracians regulars were watering the rest of the army’s horses. Some 400 horses and fifty-odd men were in the wide clearing between the river and the hill that hid us from the army. I cursed. Even if I was healthy, in full kit, and upon a fresh Akal-Tak, I wouldn’t try fifty men alone.

  A rustling behind me spun me around.

  It was Eargram and the jailors. I got ready to throw a spear at him, but he came to a halt, flung one hand up, and put a finger to his lips. I did not understand.

  “Settle,” he whispered, and when I relaxed the spear, he said, “I saw you go and we felt the Hessier’s magic lift as you rushed past. We decided to get out from under ourselves. Making it over the mountain seems like long odds, but with all the horses and two healers, we’re with you if that is where you are going. We number twenty-eight. How many are they?”

  I dared not tell him my road was west to Barok, not south across the mountain, so I told him their number instead.

  “We’ll go first, yes? Nice and civil,” Eargram said. “You catch any that make a run for it. Agreed?” He and several of his men had hold of wine bottles.

  I nodded, reluctantly left Avin lying in the brush, and crept up the tree line. Eargram was motivated. He stepped into the clearing with the jailors, telling a joke and pretending to take a long pull from the heavy bottle. The regulars looked to it as any soldier would, and the two groups closed quickly.

  Eargram was first to act, smashing his bottle against one man’s jaw and in quick succession used his ready cudgel to bludgeon a trio more. His fellows were as eager, and half the soldiers were down before they knew to defend themselves. Three made a break for the trees.

  I leapt out to intercept them. One saw me, yelped, and nicely came to a halt. I chucked one of my spears at him, and it clanged through the rusty armor on his chest. The next man cursed and drew his blade. The last kept running and nearly got by me, but I had enough speed to reach his hip with a long thrust. He went down in a heap. I followed in quick and speared him a second time. I yanked it free as the last charged me.

  I was too weak for so much action and managed barely to turn his sword aside before we collided. I was lucky for my size because it was all I had when I leaned against him. He fell backward, and I crashed on top of him. The man struggled terribly, but I got my hands up onto his face and neck, and it was done.

  I managed to stand while Eargram’s men secured the horses.

  I stumbled across and found Avin. His breathing was weak. I didn’t wait one moment more to help my friend.

  heal flesh man

  My magic cooked away his sickness, and as it warmed us, I felt as though I was being hugged tight and close. It was the same feeling of peace that came with the healing song but this time it felt as though the whole world embraced me. Was this the spirit Avin spoke of?

  Avin gasped, and his eyes opened wide. His face filled with good color, and I stopped my song. He coughed and clutched my arm.

  “Get up, my friend.”

  “Where are we?” he wheezed.

  I hefted him up pulled him toward the horses. “Enhedu, but hush now and find your feet. We are escaping.”

  “Where are the Hessier?”

  “On the far side of the wood,” I said and pulled him faster toward the horses. “They are not moving yet, but will be after us soon. Please, friend, you must find the strength for the saddle. We will be free if we can escape this place.”

  He looked startled and relieved all at once. He took my arm and we made our way across. Two of Eargram’s men had not survived the fight, but the rest had the Hessiers’ calm Akal ready and the long strings of lesser horses organized. The Hessier had each brought an extra Akal. They had come ready for war. All but one of the thirty was a gelding, and we were lucky for it. Stallions do not tolerate poor riders. I took the one stallion away from a nervous and hesitant jailor, and both the Akal and man seemed relieved. I gave the stallion a great scratch across his shoulder and crest, and swung myself up onto the saddle as if he were mine.

  How long had it been? Too many years to remember, and yet it was all right there for me. On that horse, with that single spear, I felt at once invincible. I let my stallion rear and kick, and encouraged his head higher. He turned sideways to the rest and stamped the ground, reminded the rest who was in charge. The geldings licked their lips and lowered their heads. I turned toward the stream, and the rest followed.

  “Where did you learn that?” Eargram asked, a bit fearfully as his Akal obeyed my commands instead of his.

  “Twenty years a Hemari. You don’t seem a stranger to the saddle, either. You served in Harod’s army before Apped?”

  “I did a stint, but in Eril not Aderan. I thought being a jailor would be better.” he replied, but was smiling. “Damn, but these are fine horses.”

  I could not disagree but pointed behind him. “Keep an eye on your man there. He’ll get himself hurt.”

  Eargram acknowledged this, and after some quick words to the nervous man, he pointed across the stream to a wide trail that cut through the trees. I nodded, led the herd across, and moved us down the trail in the light of the bright moon.

  We caught the sound of shouting behind us once but did not get a look at those who pursued us.

  “Rot,” Eargram swore soon after. The straight road had delivered us to a wide clearing lined with sheds and buildings. Other smaller roads continued out into the trees, but the on
e that ran southwest was thin. We pressed along it, but our pace was very slow. I could sense the Hessier, distant but moving straight toward us. I suspected they could find us as easily as I could them.

  The meandering trail was long. The full moon rose. The forest slowly grew loud with birds and insects, and the low mists were dashed away by the coming dawn’s quick warmth. It was then that the trail ended in a half-cut stand of walnut trees. The equipment of the work was stacked between three proud trees that had been temporarily spared by the arrival of the army. Eargram wanted to push south, but a wide, dry wash invited us further west. On the far side, we crossed a narrow stream and climbed up a brief ridge through a thin gap in the trees. The clearing there was narrow and left us with no choice but to force our way across a wide reed-choked basin. But the crisscrossed stalks caught the lines that strung the horses together, and the men lost hold of them by the score.

  Eargram yelled at them to cut them off, but it was too late. The horses spooked and the struggle to gather scattered a good piece of the herd. I was as furious as Eargram. I did not want the Hessier to have any of the horses.

  I took hold of the words for horse and follow, and began to sing. It did not seem so much a thing as I began it. The verse slipped across my lips, but then somewhere, something thick seemed to tear.

  horses follow man

  A great screeching roar erupted from me, and a blistering violet light tried to split my skull. Too much. I clasped my hands over my mouth. I stopped singing, and though nearly blind from the magic, I saw the horses come. They crowded in from every direction as if each were a dearest friend.

  I think I fell then and must have lain still for some time.

  Avin and the jailors began shouting at each other. They lifted me up.

  “What are you?” Eargram asked as he pulled me gently toward my horse.

  “I do not know so cannot tell you.”

  He seemed troubled by my answer but got us moving again. The horses followed me like ducklings. We took advantage and pushed through the forest.

  We found a flat road of measured gray stone squares. We came to a halt and stared, startled to find such a perfect thing in such a wild place.

  Eargram rubbed his hands together, laughed, and turned to move us south.

  “My road is not that way, friend.”

  He turned, confused. “Where else would you go?”

  “I served Prince Barok for many years in Bessradi. My place is with him. I go to warn him—help him.”

  “No—you’re coming with us,” he replied.

  “I am sorry, Eargram. I cannot.” I pointed up at the mountain, its top shining white in the earliest moments of dawn. “And you should not go south, either. You have no supplies. You will freeze to death up there.”

  He cursed and spat. “So what then? Join a murderous lout in a fight against a Hessier-led horde?”

  I thought to argue it with him but was too tired. “Why not?”

  He looked at me a long time before laughing as long and loud as I imagined he’d ever done in his entire life.

  “Very well, Geart. You have me at the end of a long rope, and each of us can count our lives saved at least once by your magic. Lead on.”

  84

  Colonel Leger Mertone

  The Battle of Urnedi, Day One

  ‘Flee,’ I heard the Mother Yew cry and bolted up out of bed. ‘Flee. The Hessier have heard you. You must flee.’

  I bashed open the shutters and looked north through the moonlit fog of dawn. The forest was still. Its mother said no more.

  “What is it?” Darmia asked alertly.

  “I don’t know, but it is very bad,” I told her. I jumped into clothes, she did the same, and we made our way down and out to the stone road before the inn. Three of the senior greencoats were already there.

  “Wait here,” I said to her.

  “Should I rouse the men?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I replied, squeezed her arm softly, and stepped across.

  “I heard it, too,” I said to them. “Do any of you know what it means?”

  “No, Colonel. She has never been so urgent—or loud,” one replied. “Best rouse everyone—”

  Darmia ran back outside then with a metal spoon and pan and banged one upon the other as hard as she could.

  “Make for the camp,” I ordered. “Rally every man to the practice field in Urnedi, even the recruits. Full kit.”

  They dashed away, and I ran back upstairs while Darmia continued to sound the alarm. Back in our room I opened the wardrobe in the corner and looked for a long time at the greencoat and tunica that hung there, my thirty star pinned to it. I had not worn it yet, not once. At the bottom of the wardrobe were my chainmail, gambeson, and sword. On top of it were the helmet and heavy steel leggings I had bought off of the Hemari captain who commanded the messenger’s escort. The helm was a proper commander’s barbute with a tall, fanned crest of blue horsehair.

  I shed my thin alsman’s clothes, bathed well at the basin, and put it all on. I took my time and kept calm. The weight of the chain was friendly and the feel of the heavy felted coat put me for a moment back at Bessradi, but its deep green color brought me rightly back beneath the yew.

  Darmia had stopped banging, and I trotted back down to a street filled with every person who lived in the village. They hushed at the sight of me.

  Thell asked, “What has happened?”

  “We do not know yet. It could be nothing,” I answered as the greencoat cavalry rumbled into view. The sudden clap of hooves as they started down the gray road was startlingly loud. Sahin was in the lead, and each rider led a pair of Fells—one a saddled spare and the other loaded with supplies enough for ten men for ten days. I had not seen such a delivery of soldiers in decades.

  Thell said, “Beg pardon, Leger, but it doesn’t look like nothing.”

  “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

  Sahin handed me the reins of my trio and reported, “The infantry is similarly assembled. They will be following presently.”

  I climbed into the saddle and said to Thell, “Call everyone in from the camps and villages and follow the infantry to Urnedi.”

  “Everyone? Leger, what stirs?”

  “Anything I tell to you now would be a guess. Keep everyone calm but get them moving. Leave no one behind.”

  Darmia had already turned and was calling in our staff by name. I turned as well and led the cavalry down to Urnedi in the dim orange of dawn.

  The town was similarly rushing to prepare itself. The flags flying above the keep settled one worry quickly—Barok was within. Gern met us at the palisade’s north gate with others who had sworn themselves to the Earth. We gathered apart from the rest.

  I asked the group, “Does anyone know who the Mother Yew called to?”

  No one spoke, and I said, “I took her call to mean that Hessier are in Enhedu now and that they pursue someone. Does anyone disagree?”

  Again, no one spoke. I said to Gern, “Report.”

  “I have scouts out, but there is no sign yet of anything unusual. The garrison stands posts at both gates and atop the keep. I ordered Barok to the great hall with his guard. The town is mobilizing as it did when the chancellor’s bailiffs arrived. I expect Sevat and Selt to report their readiness momentarily. Many now have bows and a healthy supply of arrows, but the rest of the town’s militia is still very weakly armed. I recommend we distribute the arms that were taken from the bailiffs.”

  A flash of green drew our attention to a greencoat sprinting toward us through the town.

  “Report from the watch,” he said quickly. “Smoke upon the horizon, sir. Campfires, we believe.”

  “Sahin, Gern, follow me,” I ordered. “The rest of you get to the armory. I want every able-bodied man and woman in Urnedi armed and standing ready upon the practice field when the infantry arrives from Ojesti.”

  The senior sergeants began to give orders, and men moved in all directions as the three of us ran with
the watchman back to the top of the keep. We collected Barok, Dia, Fana, and Erom on the way up and made our way to the east corner of the battlement. The man was right. The haze of too much smoke smudged the distant horizon above Kuren’s largest timber camp.

  “Kyoden remains silent,” Barok informed. “Gern said Hessier. I did not hear the call. What truth to this?”

  “Yes. We think there are Hessier in Enhedu, supported by a large force this time.”

  “We’ll need the men from the villages,” Dia said.

  “Agreed,” I said, but worried silently how they could be enough. Enhedu’s population was well known to Zoviya, as were its greencoats. Whoever was assembled out there would have brought enough to outmatch us.

  But we did not get to discuss it. A pair of Gern’s scouts raced in along the carriageway. We rushed down, jostled briefly with the long line of greencoats who were moving the contents of the armory out to the town, and met the scouts at the palisade gate.

  “Outrider?” I asked.

  “No. Thirty-some men ride in, but they are not part of any organized force—a motley group on Akal-Tak leading in several hundred head of horse.”

  I was about to ask how far away they were, but learned it for myself when the sounds of so many galloping horses made it to us. The group came into view but did not slow until they were nearly upon us.

  Gern and Barok’s bodyguards were well forward by then but not especially on guard. It was very clear these men were fleeing and capable of little more. I could not quite figure them. Guards of some kind and slaves perhaps, but the slaves seemed in charge and were odder still by half—a thin, haggard-looking man of no discernible quality and a monstrous brute. None of them had any business whatsoever upon Akals, and I could smell them from where I stood. I hoped the count of Akal was not the count of the Hessier. Greencoats surrounded the pair as they dismounted.

  The big one—had I seen him somewhere before? “I know you,” I said to him. “How do I know you?”