by William King
“She is where we can keep an eye on her. If she’s an ally, she’s a useful one. If she’s an enemy, we’ll know soon enough.”
“If we don’t wake up with that wolf’s jaws on our throats or a knife in our hearts.”
“You sleep with your armour on.”
“Bloody uncomfortable it is too. I have not done that since the orc wars.”
“You’ll get used to it. Anyway, something tells me we’re not going to wake up dead, not until Mistress Aisha or whatever her name is, gets what she wants.”
“You seem very sure of that. You think she’ll spare you because of your pretty face?”
“I think she’ll spare us because she wants something. You asked me why I let her ride with us. Maybe it’s her who is letting us ride along.”
“I don’t like this, Kormak. I don’t like this at all. We’re alone in these hills, with no allies, on the trail of some dark sorcerer, heading towards a place with some truly nasty people in it.”
“I can give you one more thing to worry about, if you like.”
“Go on. A man should have a hobby. Worrying is mine.”
“I think the Old Ones are mixed up in this.”
“Oh great,” said Brandon. “Old Ones too.”
“Enjoy,” Kormak said.
“Did you have a good chat with your friend Brandon?” Aisha asked as Kormak rode up beside her. Kormak had to fight down the suspicion that she knew everything they had been talking about. Some witches had the sight that way. Some shared the senses of their familiars and wolves had very good ears.
“Yes,” said Kormak.
“Was it about me?”
“Yes, in part.”
She smiled lazily. It reminded him of the wolf. It was the look of a predator revealing its fangs. “Only in part? That’s not very flattering. What else did you talk about?”
“I think we may have problems with the Old Ones in Elderdale.”
“You have a dwarf-forged blade,” she said.
“The secret of staying alive is knowing when to use it,” he said.
“And you have stayed alive for a long time,” she said. “That’s an impressive achievement for a Guardian. Most of you die fulfilling your oaths.”
“I’ve heard people say that,” he said.
“Meaning we should not talk about things of which we have no knowledge.”
“Meaning I have heard people say that.” The wolf growled as if annoyed at the tone he was taking with its mistress. Kormak glanced at it.
“Most people are frightened of Shae,” Aisha said.
“I’ve killed wolves before. I’ve killed familiars too.”
“And witches?”
“And witches.”
“I am sure you are a very dangerous man,” she said. There was mockery in her voice. Kormak let it pass. She was clearly one of those people who was always going to have the last word. She noticed his expression.
“You do not like me, do you?” she said.
“I do not know you,” he said.
“But you’ve met my sort before.”
“You are not a Tinker,” he said.
“What do you know of the people you call Tinkers?”
“The same as everybody else.” He spoke as mockingly as she, to see whether he could goad her into saying more. “They go everywhere, trade with everyone. They repair things. They work petty magic. They tell fortunes.”
“They are suspected of being thieves…”
“They are suspected of being thieves.”
“I have heard it said your Order are assassins,” she said.
“My Order are assassins,” he said. “When it is called for.”
Kormak was not sure why he said that. Perhaps he was the one being provoked here. It was certainly within the realms of possibility that she was cleverer than he was. She looked at him closely.
“Have you ever been called on to be?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you always look so sad?” It was not what he had expected her to say at all. He glanced at her sidelong and kept his mouth shut. She looked at him. The wolf looked at him mockingly.
“Sad?” he said eventually.
“You are a moral man, Sir Kormak, even I can see that. It cannot sit well with you to be a murderer.”
“Is a soldier a murderer when he kills on a battlefield? That is what this world is,” he said.
“I can see you have been well provided with answers.”
“Is that what you think?” Kormak asked. The words came out a little more angry than he had intended. Aisha smiled and fell silent. That had not gone quite as he planned, Kormak thought.
Ahead of them he could see the wagon. He rode forward to join the people there.
CHAPTER NINE
RAIN SLEETED DOWN from the grey sky. It soaked through Kormak’s cloak and dripped down his forehead. He looked down on the town below, glad that he would soon have an opportunity to get out of the rain.
Elderdale was bigger than Kormak had expected, a sprawl of huts and compounds and smelters and fortified inns with a lot of muddy space between them and clouds of smoke rising into the air above. In the valley sides, mine-shaft entrances gaped, propped open by wooden arches. Piles of slag and rock lay outside them; men came and went with wheelbarrows and picks.
Over everything loomed a massive rock and on that rock rose a castle of very strange appearance, taller and narrower and more rickety that anything a knight would build to defend his home. It was made of stone piled on stone in a haphazard way and it looked unstable. It was only when he paused to consider how big the structure must be that Kormak realised how large those individual blocks were. He wondered how they got them into place on the hilltop. It would have taken a lot of serfs a lot of time to pull them there but something told Kormak the construction had not been achieved by the muscles of men. It had that alien look he had seen before in structures built by the Old Ones and it had a brooding presence that made him deeply uneasy.
The Old Ones usually shunned the haunts of men, and in his experience those that did not were rarely up to any good. He halted for a moment to consider the view as the others rode by.
Brandon reined his warhorse to stop beside Kormak. “It’s not the most prepossessing place, is it?”
Kormak shook his head. “At least we’ll have a roof over our heads tonight. The first for a couple of days.”
“Has Lucas been making your hair stand on end with tales of what the occupants of that castle are capable of,” Brandon said.
“Yes.”
“He did the same for me when I asked him. You think they really can rip a man’s hearts out with their bare hands?”
“I’ve known Old Ones who could do a lot worse.”
“Let’s hope they are not visiting their kinfolk down there then.”
Brandon tugged the reins and the big warhorse moved on. Kormak followed him down the slope and into Elderdale. He was going to have to pay that Keep a visit.
The chill wind could not take away the stink of the sewer trenches. There were plenty of people about in the muddy streets. Hungry eyed men watched them pass. One or two shouted a greeting to Lucas that he returned with a wave of his hand. They looked only slightly less likely to put a knife in his back than the others, and Kormak guessed that counted for friendship in this place.
A few shopkeepers shouted to the Tinkers from their storefronts, asking what they had brought, seeking news from the south. Javier answered amiably. Aisha kept out of sight. Not a few people studied the wolf trotting behind the wagon uneasily.
Kormak studied the buildings as they passed. Most of them were made from rocks piled on rock in the old drystane fashion. The gaps in the stonework were padded with mud or grass. Some of the roofs were turf. Most of the buildings had little verandahs or causeways made of stone outside them. It was an oddly civilised touch. Folks clearly wanted some sort of barrier between their homes and businesses and the mud in the street.
The
y passed a house on whose verandah a group of scantily clad women lounged. They waved at Kormak and Brandon and greeted Lucas by name. He smiled back at them and said he might be over that evening. They told him to bring his friends.
Eventually, they drew up in front of a large stone building with a clear view of the Keep. Two beautiful inhuman figures were painted on its sign, smiling benevolently down at the viewer. Two less beautiful and much harder looking men with clubs stood by the door. They too greeted Lucas by name and ushered him into the shadowy interior.
Inside the air smelled of cheap liquor and tobacco and dreamdust. A very dark-skinned man stood behind the bar, chatting with a man big enough to make Brandon or Kormak look small. At first glance he seemed more ogre than human, and when he turned to stare at them, the impression was reinforced. He had only one eye. The other had been scooped out. His face was scarred and his nose was broken and his ears had been cropped. He raised a hand that might have enclosed Kormak’s head in greeting. Lucas responded with no great enthusiasm.
“What can I get you gentlemen?” the dark man asked.
“We’d like meal, Shade, and rooms for the night,” said Lucas.
“Separate or altogether?”
“Me and these two men will sleep together. The Tinkers will have their own room. The wagon will be parked in the courtyard.”
“Just like usual,” said Shade. “Take the rooms at the top of the stair. You can stow your gear there. No one will trouble you. And the grooms will look after your horses.”
“Your grooms know anything about warhorses?” Brandon asked.
“Don’t reckon they do,” Shade replied. “You want to see to it yourself.”
“Might be best. Might be best if he’s kept apart from the other horses as well.”
“As you say,” said Shade. “I’ll make sure they know that.”
Brandon went off to see to his steed. The Tinkers stowed their wagon, leaving Kormak and Lucas at the bar with Shade and his giant friend. The dark man looked at Kormak.
“You a Guardian?” he asked. “I always heard they carry their swords that way.”
“I am,” said Kormak.
“I hope you’ve not come looking for the Twins,” he said. “Your life is likely to be very short if you have.”
Kormak shrugged. “I am not looking for them. I am looking for someone else.”
Shade tilted his head to one side. Something in the way he did it reminded Kormak of Shae. It was a very wolfish gesture. He was clearly trying to work out how he could profit by the situation.
“The man I am looking for has been opening barrows,” Kormak said. “Tomb wights have been getting out.”
“Nothing’s come out of the Cursed Lands recently,” said Shade.
“He was doing it south of here, not north. Hungerdale was attacked among other places.”
Shade licked his lips. He took down a flask from the shelf and poured a drink for himself and Kormak and Lucas. He drank first. “That’s not a good business. Why would anybody want to do that?”
“Who knows why sorcerers do anything?”
“Your man is a mage then and he’s up to dark things? He won’t be the first to come through these parts. Place attracts them. Most go north into the Cursed Lands. Most never come back. The wights get them, I reckon. That’s what happens when you tamper with barrows up there.”
“If a sorcerer was sufficiently powerful, he could go into a barrow and a wight could not touch him.”
“You would know more about that than me, Guardian.”
“You heard anything about such a one passing through? He’d only be a few days ahead of us.”
“As a matter of fact, I have,” said Shade. “He was up in the Keep with the Twins.”
“Maybe I should go up and ask them why…”
Shade smiled. His teeth were very white and they reminded Kormak of fangs. “None of my business what you do as long as you can pay your score.”
The room would have been small for one person. It was cramped for all three men and their gear.
Brandon looked at it, sniffed, and said, “We could have got a room each.”
“Be a lot more money,” said Lucas, “and you might not like what happened to you here if you got a room on your own.”
Brandon nodded. “A lot easier to rob a man on his own.”
“Or cut his throat,” Lucas said. “And make the body vanish.”
“I take your point.” Brandon walked over to the door. It had a bar that fell into a latch but it would be easy enough to slide a knife through and lift it. Kormak walked over to the window. It had no glass, only shutters that opened inwards with iron bars outside. He wondered whether that was to keep someone out or keep the guests in. Had there not been Old Ones in town he would have suspected the latter first and foremost. As it was he reckoned it was a toss-up between the two possibilities.
He could see the Keep on the rock from here if he looked up. He studied the stone, trying to see if there was any easy way to climb up it. He wondered if it would really come to that. He hoped not. He suspected that the lair of the Twins would be better protected than it appeared. The Old Ones were masters of potent magic. It was in their nature. They used it as naturally as men used their hands and feet.
As he watched, he saw the massive figure of Shade’s cyclopean henchman walking up the roadway towards the entrance of the Keep. He strongly suspected that he was bringing word of the new arrivals.
He settled down. They would be having visitors soon enough, he reckoned.
The loud banging on the door stopped only when Kormak opened it. Shade stood there along with his giant friend and a smaller man in the livery of a noble’s servant. Behind him, he heard Brandon and Lucas move. They had their weapons close at hand.
“What do you want?” Kormak asked. Shade stared at him and his giant companion seemed ready for violence. What was going on here, Kormak wondered.
“I have come from the Keep, Sir Kormak,” said the servant. “You are invited to present yourself to my master and mistress.”
“When?” Kormak asked.
“This evening if it pleases you, milord. They are most anxious to meet you. They would have you dine with them.”
“I will be there.” Kormak said. The servant bowed and went off down the stair. The tension seemed to go out of Shade and his bodyguard. Kormak stared at them and they looked right back at him.
“The Twins are not refused,” Shade said, as if in answer to a question Kormak had not asked. “Not in Elderdale anyway.”
“You came with him to explain that to me, did you?” Kormak said.
“We did, Guardian. We did.”
“I’d never figured you for anyone’s lackey,” Kormak said to Shade. The dark man just smiled. It was a menacing smile.
“We all end up doing things we never thought we would,” he said. “Here in particular. As you may well find out.”
“You’re not really going to go up there on your own are you?” Brandon asked. He took another sip of the mountain whisky and looked at the rest of the tavern’s clientele. They were just starting to wake up or filter in. They were rough looking men with knives on their belt, and stubble on their jaws. Miners in on a spree or those who made their living preying on them in one way or another.
“Why not?” Kormak said. “This is their town and things might go badly for us if I refuse.”
“Don’t tell me you are scared?” Brandon asked. He sounded as if he hoped Kormak would say yes.
“Let’s just say I think a certain wariness is in order,” Kormak said. He took a sip of the whisky himself. It burned going down but it warmed him.
Some girls had joined the miners at the other table now. One or two of them were throwing glances his way. Some of the men with them had noticed. There was the possibility for trouble of another sort here if he was not careful.
“And still you’re going up there?” Lucas said. “Impressive. Stupid. But impressive.”
�
�If anyone here knows what we need to know, they do,” Kormak said. “And I will find out if they have been up to anything.”
“You think they are the ones you are looking for?” Lucas asked.
“An Old One was flying over the village the night Hungerdale was attacked. I’d say it’s possible they were involved one way or another…”
“You think the sorcerer Shade mentioned visiting them is the same sorcerer you’re chasing?”
“Yes.”
“It would be an odd coincidence if there were two mages on the loose up here, wouldn’t it?” said Brandon.
“What would he want with the Twins?” Lucas asked.
“That’s what I hope to find out,” said Kormak.
“They say wizards make pacts with the Old Ones.”
“They do,” Kormak said. “Sometimes they bind them as well. There are spells that can be used to do so.”
“That why he is going to see them?”
“He’s a mage and a powerful one. He is probably confident in his ability to deal with them.”
“If he can deal with the Twins, he can probably deal with you too,” Lucas said.
Kormak shrugged. “I’ve met a lot of magicians. I am still here.”
Lucas laughed. “What the hell is this southerner after anyway? It can’t be anything too good if he wants to talk with the Twins about it.”
“We’ll know soon enough,” said Kormak. At least, he hoped they would.
CHAPTER TEN
THE RAIN DROVE down as Kormak walked up the winding path to the Keep. The road was narrow and followed a ridge-line. No more than a couple of people could walk it abreast. A horseman would need very strong nerves. One misstep would send rider and steed toppling down the long, rocky slope into the town below, most likely with a broken neck for both.
Small rivers of rainwater ran down between the stones. Kormak’s boots squelched as he walked. Up ahead, he could see a light over the gate. It was not made by any torch or lantern. Not in this weather. There was definitely magic involved in that yellowish-green flicker of illumination.
Overhead something winged moved in the drizzling darkness. It seemed like a bird but its outline was vague in the rain and the mist. It was larger than any bird Kormak had ever seen, body as big as a man, wingspan gigantic.
