Snakewood

by Adrian Selby

  “It were tough is what I remembers, we got almost nowhere with that purse,” I said.

  “And he was for changing that; saw that if he could clean out those fuckers and set up the old Iron Passes routes, get the mines going too in land nobody could lay claim to, he would turn this fortune to a legacy. It was something useful to do, better than some Juan flesh pit.”

  “What about you? You went along with him then? You don’t look like you got any of that coin or plant now,” I said.

  “Trouble was, and there’s some stories about how we settled that land and cleaned the filth out that could fill a few evenings, once he got it settled and the routes walked by men we could trust, the Reds come sniffing, oil-tongued Reeve and his lickers. The Post was likely involved in what happened at Argir, for Mirisham seemed easy about them getting involved in our operation, and before I could consider a move or something else, he betrayed me much like we betrayed Kigan. Now at that point Miri was administrating, setting tariffs of passage with the guilds and lands around, including Mount Hope. I was out on the passes doing work on the bridges there all over those valleys. It was beautiful. But the Reds had more than they could get over the passes and in no time Miri was putting pressure on the others that were shipping their own goods in competition with the Post and soon I was finding the bandits and thieves had somehow returned. I still reckon they were in the Post’s pay. Miri and me had been caught up, the Post must’ve found us. It was about Argir’s money. Anyway, Miri was telling our men to cause some havoc to those ’vans that didn’t belong to the Post, along with whatever bandits had come back. I flipped on him when I caught wind of it. He was seeing only the promise of this settlement that was gathering about the mouth of those valleys that was then just a staging post for those ’vans. I hadn’t pieced it all together at that point, the last we spoke. With Post patronage he saw a chance to secure the place and I guess become a player in those parts. I’m guessing this was in exchange for what we stole, for I never saw a penny of it after.”

  He took a draw on his pipe and topped up our cups.

  “One escort, when my men were meant to be walking some horses and carts with some families and their wool harvest over the Dockweed Pass, my men turned on them, tipped carts and were going to do worse, getting the women stripped tatty. Two arms I had then,” he said, gesturing as best he could what he did, “and I got a slug of brew and took them apart, but with a few on me I took some blows and was on the edge of a drop. I saw a couple of bows being drawn and it was die for sure or jump. I went head over and got broke up bad on the fall. It wasn’t sheer, me arm was torn up and hanging off, me ankle also broke but I hit the bottom and was well out of range and somehow left alone. Dragged meself a mile or so before a few miners that were leaving a shift saw me and they took the arm off and strapped the rest. I knew Miri was aware I was going to go against him, and the boys there had no problem turning on me.” He took another long draught of his beer.

  “I owe those miners my life,” he said.

  We were quiet a moment, letting the crack and whistle of the fire he had going fill the room. It was always a settling sound. Shale shook his head then, he was figuring something out and then must have got it.

  “Gant, what Valdir’s said now I think tells us why all this is happening, who it is doing the killing.”

  “Let’s have it then,” I said.

  “Kigan weren’t killed,” he said. “And whoever’s bin doin’ the killing is leavin’ a black coin. Us gettin’ killed is all about a betrayal of some sort and Kailen himself weren’t able to say that there was a purse we let down proper. I have to say it, Valdir, but if anyone’s got a grievance against us it’s Kigan from what yer tellin’ us. Seems like it’s to get at you, Mirisham, Kailen an’ The Prince, an’ I got no better explanation. We won all our other purses an’ if there were any bad blood it was wi’ him.”

  “Kigan?” I said. It was hard to take at first, I couldn’t see it. Valdir was sucking on his pipe, nodding as he was thinking it through.

  “Why kill the others if he was after us?” he asked. “And who in this world could take out Kailen never mind the rest of us, on his or her own?”

  “Killin’ others is perhaps to find out where you lot are, I’m guessin’,” said Shale. “If he took Kailen down alone, by the looks, an’ the others, he’s on some fierce plant an’ has the backin’ o’ some guild, the Post too. We found out it’s some big Issanaian guild, master name of Alon Filston, what put a poster about with a ransom o’ five gold for news o’ the Twenty. I can see from your look you in’t got a clue who he was either, and that’s the thing. Why’s he want us so bad unless he’s bound up with someone like Kigan who would ’ave a grievance? I can’t argue that unless we’re sleepin’ we in’t easy to kill, but the killin’s happened an’ I can’t help thinkin’ a drudha, an’ one of us at that, stands the fairest chance if he kept his flint. Look, we come to get you out anyway, we knows where Bense is, up in Jua workin’ fer some lord, name o’ Fesden, an’ yer seems to know where Mirisham is, so we got to get after ’em before Kigan, if it’s him, does. Our best chance is gettin’ Bense first an’ then four of us goes to Mirisham, as he would be closer to us than where you’re puttin’ Mirisham.”

  “Would have to be some guild and bounty for the Reds to want rid of the man settled the Iron Passes after a generation lost. It’d rightly be making them the cream,” said Valdir, “but I can’t leave with me wife this way and me son not visiting us.”

  We all draws deep on the pipe, knowing what was to be decided. It was well said from Shale, he give a good account of the reasons.

  “If he finds you here, Valdir, you’re both dead, her son too I expect,” I said. “Particularly if you were one of those that betrayed him.” I said it like it was Kigan because I was convinced of it.

  He was shaking his head, feeling helpless, glancing over at the curtain she was sleeping behind.

  “You going to get him, Kigan?” said Valdir. “Maybe we get to Bense and Miri and put an end to it and I can get back. Sure her cousin that runs the inn can keep her hidden if Kigan was to come sniffing,” he said, but it was a hopeful, sort of disbelieving tone. I think the danger was becoming more clear to him as we went on.

  “We can sort you out fer money, Valdir,” said Shale. “Got a lot o’ gold an’ nothin’ more worth spendin’ it on.” He put a fat purse on the table and pulled out a few gold coins, Harudanian dubloons, pure as they come.

  “Su’l’s Eyes! You boys kept earning as mercs then? That’s a fine spread you got there.”

  “How many o’ these gold coins will it take to get Alina an’ that boy safe?” asked Shale.

  Valdir laughed, patting Shale’s shoulder. Shale was dry, I’d give him that, and it made me laugh too, with the kannab. A shaving of one of them would’ve been enough.

  “I can’t say what it means to see you appear on my doorstep. I’m just sorry bad tidings brought you knocking. I’m not sure what use I’d be to you, one arm and years out of practice.”

  Alina made a noise in the next room and Valdir got up and went in there. She was agitated about something, perhaps was listening to what we said. Presently he brought her through for the evening and we had tea and some of his stew besides. We talked a bit about being in the Twenty too, something I wishes I had more time to tell of. Old men got a lot of stories in them and the Twenty had its share of good. We had to steer from those bad ones for none of us could hold on to each other if we let ourselves think long on the killings we couldn’t face the recalling of. His mix helped, and in the telling of stories I saw Alina watching us three, for him though her eyes were most on and for him the tremors of a smile and a look of fierce love. He sat with her and held her hand through it, getting up occasionally to put more wood on or look through our fieldbelts and other bits we brought in. Shale did my wound and Valdir was moved by it, for while I mentioned it earlier in recounting what had gone on, seeing it give him the news fresh again that I didn’
t have that long.

  Then, late on and heads full of moths, Shale and I were lying on his floor by the hearth for that bit of warmth after he takes her off for the night. I hears him talking a bit and trying to choke his crying in their room for a while.

  Shale was out getting some eggs from the run as dawn come about. I got the fire up again and we goes through the ritual before putting the pan on. He found some toms too that he added in. I slept bad. I been getting dreams, of me da, of home, and our elders says that’s when to go back and go into the earth.

  I was struggling with the pain while the brews and compounds worked through me, so Shale too was helping Valdir get his wife up and cleaned up and a dress on while I sat feeling a bit useless.

  “I got to see our boy this morning,” said Valdir as he brushed her hair and put a tie in it.

  I nodded. It was done then, and we’d be leaving today.

  “I can take a couple of coins?”

  “Whatever yer thinks is needed,” said Shale.

  He was moved again, for us giving him what was such a lot of coin. Then he headed off down to the harbour.

  An hour or so passed and Shale was clearing up and off fetching some buckets from the well down the hill.

  Valdir come in as we took a pipe and he was shaking a bit, had her cousin with him.

  “Good to see yus boys again,” said the ’keep. “Alina, me love, I brought up yus favourite pony Eth, thought yus’d come down to the inn on her, see Heldon an’ have some breakfast wi’ yus son.”

  I was moved, seeing a man we knew so settled and us tearing it down. He put a sack of things together and was weeping openly now. She was crying too and her hand was moving to follow him as he went about us, trying to get him close, and she was keening but trying too to hold it in for us being there. Shale got my shoulder, thinking straight of course, and led us outside so’s they could spend a few moments. We got the horses ready and stood by as they brought her out. In Valdir’s hand was his old sword, what he give the name Drondir, which I think in his own speech meant “loyal son”, and he had an old robe he must’ve kept all these years, which he threw to me to put on his horse. I was surprised and glad to see Drondir, for it was a sword much admired among the Twenty, forged as it was by a great blacksmith out of Harudan what had also made Kailen’s own sword. We kissed Alina as they put her on the pony that had a fitting on the saddle for her to lean against. She kissed my cheek where a tear was, and I hope even now it was a sort of blessing.

  “Yus boys are always always welcome,” said her cousin. “We’ll keep her safe till yus get back.”

  “I’ll take her down the hill,” said Valdir and we watched them walk away down the slope as the first men were about and the boatbells were ringing across the hills.

  We were facing a crossroads and Valdir knew it, doubting we’d come back, for what other need was Valdir intending by taking her cousin gold pieces in payment for her safety. I felt then less like we would see it through than I had to that point. Only Shale was fit and we had to find Bense and Mirisham while the Post and Kigan, if Shale was right, were all looking for our heads. I did what I could to keep a face on it, but I didn’t think I’d make it much past Jua.

  Destination: Candar Prime, Q2 670 OE

  Jua Main routed

  CONFIDENTIAL FOR THE RED ONLY

  Report of: Fieldsman 84

  Debriefing of: Alon Filston and Marschal Laun

  Messengers have confirmed a number of important developments regarding our interest in Galathia of the line of Welvale.

  First, it is reported that Kailen has been killed in the assault on the Crag you were briefed on previously, but before Laun’s crew–and Galathia–could reach him. An aconite mix found throughout the inn Kailen used as refuge supports this conclusion. In my view it is likely Kailen chose to kill himself rather than be incapacitated by aconite and subsequently imprisoned or tortured. I would have otherwise thought him to have escaped, but for multiple witnesses to his body being carried from the inn. Marschal Laun is sure that the aconite was placed by the same assassin who was present at Povey’s Valley at Galathia’s killing of the mercenary Sho, and present also at the massacre of Agents and Reds in Alon Filston’s vineyard. He was not responsible for murdering our men at the vineyard. However, he is suspected of killing a number of our Reds during the assault on the Indra Quarter at the Crag to get Kailen.

  A messenger from Filston’s estate, document enclosed, reported that two of Kailen’s Twenty whom Galathia had believed were captured, Gant and Shale, had been taken from the crew of an Agent Gilgul, by men posing as Agents. I enclose their seals and parch as evidence of the skill of their forgery. They instructed Gilgul to leave Gant and Shale in their custody, and then promptly disappeared.

  The purse for their deaths was put up by Guildmaster Alon Filston of Filston/Blackmore, one hundred Harudanian pure. I have insisted that all rosters are double-checked and inventories confirmed in the Post Houses within a hundred leagues of the Crag, but as yet no thefts or other discrepancies suggest any of our own were involved in this subterfuge.

  However, as explained in the enclosed report of the vineyard massacre, Gant and Shale have been confirmed responsible.

  High Reeve Albin has claimed Reeve Fisker’s pin and arranged an assignment in Northspur by way of punishment for what he considers gross misconduct in the training of our soldiers and the resultant failing of the purse to kill Gant and Shale.

  Marschal Laun conveyed a concern she believes shared by many Agents that this event will cause damage to the reputation of Agents of the Post.

  High Reeve Albin has sourced additional men from Post Houses along Issana East, Issana West and Jua Main to fulfil the contracts the dead Agents and Reds were due to undertake. The necessary reparations to families of our dead are of course in hand.

  Find enclosed letters from the affected guilds, variously conveying their displeasure and seeking preferential terms on three caravan runs value seasonally one hundred twenty gold coins for the cost of additional security and delay.

  High Reeve Albin has limited cancelled contracts to seven, of those affected by this loss of soldiers to our guild partners.

  If, being formerly of Kailen’s Twenty, Gant and Shale used the fightbrew known as “The Honour”, this will have conferred a considerable advantage over our Fortune Chia at the vineyard. The new brew harnessing the Iliskan ginse is undergoing final refinements for distribution to Agents and should come close to matching the Honour. This will give our Agents and Fieldsmen a considerable advantage over most other fightbrews.

  Marschal Laun was present at the vineyard, to intercept Gant and Shale, directing the Reds and Agents against them. What she thought was a third combatant to the rear of her men as they were attacking Gant and Shale, was in fact the assassin referenced above, who we now know to be one of Kailen’s Twenty, specifically, his former drudha Kigan.

  It is to be understood, given what is contained in the enclosed reports, that his appearance unwittingly created the distraction that allowed Gant and Shale to escape, as his desire is the same as Galathia’s: to see all of Kailen’s Twenty dead.

  Galathia, Alon and Kigan now travel south to Harudan to Kailen’s estate, seeking information regarding the whereabouts of members of the Twenty still alive.

  Alon Filston’s messenger reported that Kigan, being formerly the bodyguard to Galathia as a child at Argir, has a strong bond with her that Alon is suspicious of. Kigan is reported to be a most formidable soldier and a drudha of the very highest skill.

  However, as his intentions towards Galathia directly accord with our own ambition to promote her to the throne of Argir, it is my recommendation that Laun be requested to develop an understanding of him and be watchful of him but otherwise take no action against him. It is not clear to her or Filston why Kigan has retained, after so many years, such a strong identification with her. They had not had contact in the intervening time, proven by what the messenger relayed of the deta
ils of Kigan’s own account of his life, as he had shared it with Galathia and Alon.

  His account contains information of singular importance. The report is enclosed within the case, sealed separately, and it is imperative you read it.

  It is my strong recommendation that you establish contact with Kigan personally. Suffice to say it is my view that any recipes devised by a man the equivalent of any drudharch using plant from the Hanwoq jungle are of the utmost value. Marschal Laun has been instructed to ask Kigan to name his price for his recipes.

  I will travel into Harudan with Laun and meet with Alon and Kigan with a view to seeking an audience between you.

  Given their ongoing success in locating members of the Twenty, I advocate sending word to Mirisham of the potential threat. Fort Donag Main and its tributes, as well as Stages three through eight of the Forstway, remain under his protection.

  Finally, I have nothing to add to the reports you will have already received regarding the east. It is harvest, winter is coming and this time of year sees Wildmen pressing the borders of Ahmstad and Razhani for plunder of grain and any they can make slaves. While there are reports of some very serious incursions into the above regions, I cannot confirm rumours that a large army of Wildmen has amassed at the Ahmstad borders.

  I will proceed with the above plan regarding Kigan until I am informed otherwise.

  Chapter 12

  Kigan

  I put here the continued account of Kigan’s journey from the Hanwoq jungle and his subsequent revenge against the Twenty, who he appears to blame in their entirety for his misfortune. These journals were written at different times, judging from the parch and weathering and are Kigan’s account of leaving the Hanwoq and beginning his revenge, including his confrontation with Harlain, where he learns once more his own name.