by Nathan Hawke
Spears prodded at him. And then they stopped. ‘Where is it, forkbeard?’
He laughed. When his mouth didn’t fill up with blood, he hauled himself to his hands and knees and Maker-Devourer damn the pain that came with that. ‘You followed me here to ask me that?’
He could hardly move his sword arm at all. He pushed himself up and rose shakily to his feet. There were half a dozen Vathen around him, all with their spear tips an inch from his mail. Mirrahj looked down at him. It was a cold look. ‘Where is it? Tell me and walk away.’
His back was agony but he still looked up past the Vathen, back to the castle and the men standing on the balcony over the square. He squinted until he was sure, but he’d known it right from the start. Medrin. Medrin had taken the castle. The Lhosir had won Andhun. Which meant there was nothing to stop them from marching on Varyxhun.
The Vathen followed his eyes, even Mirrahj. ‘The ardshan,’ she whispered.
‘It’s in Varyxhun,’ said Gallow quietly. ‘I left it in Varyxhun. Did you hear me?’ He looked from one Vathan to the next to the next. ‘Your sword Solace. It’s in Varyxhun.’
Mirrahj leaned down and hissed, ‘And where is this Varyxhun, forkbeard? Tell me!’ It hadn’t even crossed his mind that she wouldn’t know.
‘I’ll do better.’ He offered the hand that still worked. ‘Keep your word, Mirrahj Bashar, and I’ll show you.’
She smiled and laughed again, though it was a bitter sort of laugh. Once he was on the back of her horse, she turned and rode for Andhun’s gates.
10
SHADEWALKER
Come the morning, Reddic was still alive, barely. He was still scared too and there was no barely about that. None of them knew how long the shadewalker followed them. Certainly for a while after they left the farmhouse. Stannic had been happy enough to pace it for a while. ‘To see how fast this one goes,’ he said. Reddic had stayed at the back as he’d been told. Once he got over his terror he caught up with Stannic and his family. He could see by then that the shadewalker wasn’t about to catch them and kill them and eat them and rip out their souls and turn them into more shadewalkers or whatever it was they did. So he went to the front with Stannic because he was supposed to be a soldier of Valaric’s Crackmarsh men, hard as nails and ready to fight forkbeards, and so that’s where he ought to be. Stannic hadn’t been best pleased but he’d stopped moaning once he decided the shadewalker had given up on them. This was the third he’d met this winter and the fourth in his life, and yes, the first one had made him shit his pants too, thanks for asking. But they weren’t too terrible once you knew they couldn’t run, and any man with his wits and both his legs could escape. They’d follow a scent through the whole night sometimes, so a man had to pace himself, but they always stopped at sunrise and disappeared into the dark. Or the three he’d met so far had all done that. When Reddic asked whether this one might be different, both of them wished he hadn’t.
Come morning they were exhausted, blue with cold and half frozen, but Stannic had had the cunning to lead them in a great circle and so they weren’t that far from the farmhouse where they’d started. They all stopped for a bit and agreed that Stannic would stay where he was and keep watch for the shadewalker in case it was still following them, and that Reddic would go on to the farmhouse with everyone else because, well, because they were all blue with cold and half frozen but also because they were scared the shadewalker might have gone back to the farm, all of them except for Stannic, who said he knew better. So Reddic went with the others and felt stupid because he didn’t know the land and could only follow while they scrambled through trees and crossed streams and floundered in drifts of snow, and then it turned out that the shadewalker had gone back to the farmhouse after all, some time in the middle of the night, and eaten Torvic’s face. Or just possibly it had dragged Torvic from where it had killed him and left him hung up in a field and then gone away, and it was some wild animal that had come and eaten his face afterwards. Didn’t seem likely, but after he’d found Torvic and finished with puking everywhere, Reddic thought he liked that idea somewhat better.
‘What are they?’ he asked when Stannic finally came back, but he only shrugged.
‘Cursed men,’ he said. He followed the tracks the shadewalker had left around the farm. It had come back and taken Torvic and done what it had done and then walked around the farmhouse three times before heading away again. ‘South,’ said Stannic, squinting in the bright morning light. ‘Middislet way, I’d say. Walking pretty straight.’ He chuckled and punched Reddic in the arm. ‘Brave man could follow its trail in this snow. Find where it’s hiding from the sun and put an end to it if he knew how.’ Reddic shuddered and Stannic laughed. ‘Braver man than me, that’d be.’
‘There was a man in Varyxhun who did that,’ Reddic said. ‘An Aulian.’
They cut Torvic down. Wasn’t much they could do for him now. Couldn’t even bury him, not in this cold with the ground all frozen and covered by snow, so they took him out into the woods. Reddic said some words, though he didn’t know much about Torvic or who he was or why he’d thrown in his lot with Valaric and the Crackmarsh. He took Torvic’s mail and spear and his shield because Valaric would skin him for leaving good stuff like that out in the middle of nowhere. Not much else to do. Stannic seemed to know him better, so Reddic left the two of them alone with the winter trees and went back to the farm and tried to get some warmth into his skin again. When Stannic came back he gave Reddic some food and some kind words, and later that morning Reddic took his leave and headed south. Seemed like someone ought to warn the folk of Middislet there was a shadewalker coming. Didn’t follow its trail though, not for long.
He spent the next night under the roof where he and Torvic had stayed on their way north with a surly old farmer Torvic had known, like he had seemed to know everyone between Fedderhun and the Crackmarsh. They barred and barricaded the door and took it in turns to keep watch. None of them got much sleep but the shadewalker never came, and by the end of the next day he was in Middislet again. He went to the forge first, thinking they could spread the word and thinking too that it might be as well to load up the mules Torvic had left there, ready to leave in the night if that was the way it went, but when he got there and banged on the door, it wasn’t Arda or Nadric who answered but Jelira. Reddic stared at her, not sure what to say, and Jelira stared back and then turned bright red and looked away.
‘Where’s the smith?’ he asked when he found his tongue again.
‘In the big barn.’ Jelira flashed him a glance. ‘Mam’s there too. With everyone.’
‘Right.’ So he ought to be there as well, to tell them about the shadewalker, but his feet weren’t moving.
‘You staying or heading off?’ asked Jelira.
‘Staying.’
She nodded. ‘I’ll make sure there’s some more furs airing then. Cold as the Weeping God’s tears these last few nights. Hard work for some keeping warm enough to sleep.’
She was smiling and Reddic wondered whether he was missing something, and then realised that yes, he was. He blushed furiously.
‘Your friends here too?’ Reddic shook his head, and she must have seen the death in his face because her smile vanished. ‘You best go up to the barn if you’ve got news.’
When he reached it, most of the village was gathered inside. As he listened, Reddic realised they were already talking about the shadewalker, except they were talking about at least two – two seen last night, one the night before. He said his piece and told them how one had killed Torvic and eaten his face. Half of them left before he’d even finished, off back to their farms to hammer their doors closed or to take what they could and get away, although where they would go in the middle of nowhere with the nights cold enough to freeze a man’s beard Reddic had no idea.
When they were done talking, Arda grabbed him and pinched his ear and marched him back to the forge. ‘Don’t know what you were thinking telling them about Torvic like th
at.’
‘But that’s what it did!’
‘Doesn’t mean people need to be hearing it. You saw them. They’re afraid enough.’
‘Aren’t you?’ She didn’t look it and didn’t sound it either, but when they got back to the forge she had him bring Torvic’s mules into the house and keep their saddles on them, loose so they wouldn’t trouble them but still on their backs, and while Reddic loaded them up with Nadric’s arrowheads, Arda piled furs beside them. When they were done with that she put the children to sleep in the night room and then sat with him and Nadric. They both fell asleep, snoring curled up on the floor, but when Reddic closed his eyes he kept seeing the ruin of Torvic’s face, which was no good for sleeping, and that was why he was awake when the scraping noises started in the yard between the house and the forge. He sat there listening, chills like ice running through his blood, and it struck him hard then that there wasn’t any man in the house except old Nadric, who hardly counted, and that meant it was down to him to go and see what it was, and he was scared like he hadn’t been since that first night in the Crackmarsh when the ghuldogs were all set to eat him. He prodded Arda awake. Might have been a rat after all, or a dog or a mule broken loose or a sheep wandered into the village. Could have been any of those things but he woke her anyway in case it wasn’t.
‘Heard something,’ he hissed.
‘Might be a pig. Roddic’s keep getting loose lately.’ But she sat up, sleep falling off her like he’d thrown snow in her face. He tried to believe it was a pig. Nothing had come knocking on the door after all, not like Stannic’s place.
‘Well, go and look then,’ Arda said. Reddic looked at his mail and wondered if he should put it on, but then Stannic hadn’t had any mail and it hadn’t troubled him. He picked up his shield and opened the door a crack.
There were three of them crouched in a circle in the middle of Nadric’s yard, scratching at the dirt as though they were searching for something. Like one of them had dropped a coin. They didn’t look up. Reddic eased the door closed again, quietest thing he’d ever done. Then he nearly crapped himself. ‘There’s three of them.’
‘Three what? Pigs?’ She was poking Nadric.
‘Three shadewalkers!’
There was something sharp on her tongue waiting to come out but it died before it was given sound. The colour drained from her face. ‘Sure that’s what they are, boy?’ And he was, and she knew it too.
Boy? Damn but he was fed up with people calling him that. He drew himself up, trying to find some courage from somewhere. ‘Yes, quite sure, old mother, may Modris protect us.’ He liked the way her eyebrow shot up when he called her old mother. Took his mind off the death waiting outside.
‘Go and see whether the way’s clear outside the other door.’ She scurried through the curtain to the night room and started shaking the children, whispering urgently in their ears. Reddic went to the front door and put his hand on it and then stopped. Something made his skin crawl. Instead of opening it he bent to peer around the cracks at the side. Couldn’t see much but . . .
It was right there. Standing in front of the door, waiting for him, still and silent as a statue. The one from Stannic’s farm. He whimpered and pointed. ‘Right. By. The door.’
In the night outside a scream broke the silence. It came again and again, a shrill cry of terror. After a bit another voice joined it, lower and deeper, shouting out the alarm. Arda was shushing the children, putting them into their furs, all urgent movement, leaving herself until last. She snatched up a bag of something from the corner of the house where she kept her pans and pressed it into Reddic’s hands. ‘Never mind swords and axes, the best weapon we’ve got against their sort’s in there. They come smashing in, throw it in their faces and run. Don’t you worry about us. Nothing wrong with our legs.’
He looked at the pouch. Opened it and sniffed.
‘Salt,’ she said. ‘The Aulian wizard from Witches’ Reach sent it to Gallow. For the shadewalkers. Suppose he knew they’d be coming. Don’t know how, but that’s wizards for you.’
Reddic flinched. Salt? What use was a bag of salt? He scurried to the back door and peered through the cracks. The shadewalkers were still there, crouched together. Three in one place, four if you counted the one standing by the front door – he’d never heard of such a thing. The three in the yard looked like they were looking for something. He’d never heard of that either.
As he watched, one of them stopped scratching and cocked its head. It began crawling on all fours from the middle of the yard towards the forge, scraping away the snow and sniffing at the dirt beneath as it went. ‘What are they doing?’
‘As long as they keep doing it outside.’ There was a nervous edge to Arda’s voice, and the only thing that stopped Reddic from falling to bits was the way Jelira kept looking at him. She looked terrified and so he kept his face straight. Couldn’t show how scared he was in front of women and children and an old man.
The crawling shadewalker vanished into the forge. The other two followed. Reddic hissed at Arda, ‘They’re out of the yard. We can run now.’
Arda was already stuffing her feet into a pair of fur-lined boots. She hurried Nadric to the door, dragging the two oldest children after her. Reddic didn’t even know their names, only that the boys had been fathered by Gallow the forkbeard. You could see it in the older one. He had forkbeard eyes, ice-blue and cold as a winter night. Arda took the smallest in her arms and pushed the younger girl at Reddic. ‘You’ll have to carry her. She can hardly walk all night.’
Nadric stood by the door. Arda opened it and ran, hauling the mules out after her. She was carrying a pan, brandishing it as though it was an axe. Reddic pushed the two older children outside. From the shadows of the forge the shadewalkers re-emerged. Each carried a piece of the iron armour Torvic had brought from the Crackmarsh. They moved quickly, not quite running but walking fast. Arda was still struggling with the mules. Reddic ran out between them. ‘Go! Quick!’ He lifted his shield and waved his sword, and for some reason the shadewalkers stopped short. Arda got the mules going and hauled them away from the yard. Reddic stayed close, moving as fast as he could, while the shadewalkers simply watched them go. Around the corner another one was striding towards them, the one from the door. Arda started to run, but this shadewalker ignored them too and turned for the yard and the forge instead. When Reddic looked back into the village he could see there were others. A dozen maybe. He followed Arda and the mules out into the fields.
The shadewalkers were converging on the forge, all of them. When she saw this Arda stopped to catch her breath. ‘What have you brought here?’ she asked in horror. ‘What have you done?’
A scream from the village spurred them on again. ‘Nothing. I didn’t bring anything.’ But Torvic had brought the cursed armour of the ironskin, and that was what the shadewalkers were after. Last he saw of them they were all gathered around it, sniffing at it, pawing at it.
And then they were gone, lost in the darkness.
11
THE RIVER
Mirrahj kicked her horse and cantered through the chaos of Andhun to the gates and another heaving mass of horsemen milling in helpless anger. The gates were open but no one seemed to know what to do, whether the city was won or lost, how many forkbeards had come, whether to flee or to rally and fight. As they fought through the press of riders, a voice pierced the confusion. ‘Mirrahj Bashar!’ Mirrahj pushed towards a score of Vathen pressed tightly together. They were her ride, part of it. ‘The forkbeards have destroyed the gates! They can’t be closed.’
‘We leave.’ She had to shout over the cries of the other Vathen.
‘No!’ Josper’s voice. Gallow had come to know it and now the Vathan was pointing a javelot at him. ‘And what’s that forkbeard doing here? You should kill him.’
Mirrahj raised her own javelot and levelled it back at him. ‘We leave because I say we leave, Josper, and the forkbeard comes because I say he comes.’
; Josper folded his arms and shook his head. ‘You’re no bashar, Mirrahj. We need to fight these forkbeards. We need to kill them.’ He glared at Gallow. ‘Starting with that one.’
‘Then lead them, Josper. If you can.’ Mirrahj looked past him. ‘You all know me. I say we leave. I have good reason but I will not say what it is.’
Mirrahj’s horse stumbled sideways as another barged into it. The shouting rose to almost deafening and then a river of horses surged into the square from deeper in the city, pushing and shoving their way to the gates and riding out into the fields beyond. Josper looked at them and sneered. ‘Hakkha Bashar. You say we should turn our tails and flee like he does?’ He turned to the other riders. ‘I say we stand and fight! Look at our numbers! The battle is barely begun and this . . . this un-woman would have us turn and run!’
Mirrahj spat. She didn’t say a word, only turned her horse and joined the push for the gates. The walls and the towers either side were empty, held by no one. Gallow looked back. He saw Josper rise in his saddle and raise his javelot to hurl it – whether at Mirrahj or at him he couldn’t tell – but the spear stayed in his hand and Gallow and Mirrahj were through the gates. The press of horses burst into the open space beyond. The other Vathen veered east, but Mirrahj turned south towards the river. She galloped away, full of eagerness to be gone from Andhun and everything it held, but her horse had barely found its stride before ahead of them, lit by the dawn light, Gallow spied a handful of figures walking towards the city.
Mirrahj hissed, ‘Forkbeards,’ and Gallow thought she’d turn and ride away since there were six or seven of them and only one of her, but instead she lowered her javelot and kicked her horse faster, heading straight for them. The Lhosir scattered as she came, jumping out of her path. Half of them were limping. ‘Die!’ she screamed at them as she turned her horse for another pass. ‘What are you waiting for?’
