What Lies Within (Book 5)

by Martin Ash

  Bicault nodded. 'I thank you, sir.'

  He took up his milk-pail and together they returned to the cottage. Dame Anacissia had made a breakfast of porridge with honey and hot milk, followed by fresh fish poached in milk and butter, and warm bread. Leth roused the children and they all ate with good appetite.

  When the meal was done Leth, with some reluctance, prepared to take his leave. There was a loud knock at the cottage door. Bicault frowned, and rose. Leth, uneasy, moved with the children into the shadows on one side of the room.

  Before Bicault could reach the door it flew violently open, kicked from outside. Dame Anacissia shrieked. A pair of Abyss warriors burst in, curved swords drawn. Bicault stopped dead.

  Count Harg strode into the cottage, repeating-crossbow balanced loosely at his hip. He peered about him. 'Ah, Swordbearer, there you are. What a coincidence. We lost your trail and were forced to continue almost at random. Sheer luck that we came upon the lakeshore and spied this charming cottage. How convenient that you are here too.'

  Leth came from the shadows. 'What do you want, Harg?'

  'Why, you, of course. What else? Master Urch is anxious to see you again. There are things he still wishes to say. You left rather abruptly, and I'm afraid you have rather raised his dander. And put down your sword, please. We don't really want bloodshed. I have three more fighters outside. You can't overpower us. So come quietly or I will murder these peasants. I'm sure you don't want that on your conscience, do you?'

  Leth, glancing to the window, saw that Harg told the truth. Three more pallid warriors stood upon the lakeshore. Leth lowered his scimitar.

  'Let it go, Swordbearer. Let it go.'

  'What of the children, Harg?'

  'Oh, I think Master Urch would very much like to see them again too. He has a very deep love of children, especially when they can serve as absolute guarantors of your compliance. As you know, he has plans for you.'

  Leth was sickened. What would Urch-Malmain now do to him? What would he do to Galry and Jace?

  Harg glanced around him. 'Ah yes, I see your armour there. I think we should take that. In fact . . .' He turned to Bicault. 'Peasant, have you a horse?'

  'A single mare, out back,' Bicault growled.

  'Good. We will take her. And some food for our journey. My warrior friends prefer their meat fresh and raw. Can you oblige?'

  'We've very little,' protested Dame Anacissia.

  'Perhaps we should slaughter one of your cows, then.'

  'Leave them, Harg. They are poor folk,' said Leth angrily.

  Count Harg shrugged indifferently. 'What is their poverty to me? Still, I suppose we can shoot something along the way. Just the horse and some basic provisions, then.'

  Half an hour later the mare was loaded with Leth's armour and various comestibles pillaged from Anacissia's and Bicault's cottage. Leth's hands were tied behind him. A noose was slung around his neck and the other end of the rope secured to the mare's harness. Anacissia and Bicault looked on helplessly. The children were permitted to walk beside Leth. With two Abyss warriors taking the lead and Count Harg at the rear the party set off along the beach and eventually passed from sight into the forest.

  FIVE

  i

  White wisps and wreathes of chill mist clung like ghosts about the multitude of towers and spires of the ancient city-castle of Enchantment's Reach, perched high upon the rim of the soaring leagues-long escarpment from which it took its name. With the climbing of the day's pale, far-off sun Enchantment's Reach had begun to stir. Those thousands who had come here, abandoning their homes in fear of the advancing Karai, slowly began to emerge from doorways and alleys and makeshift shelters where they had passed the night. Inexorably they filled the damp, chill streets, which still lay in shadowed dimness behind the massive outer walls.

  Far below the crowded city on its rocky heights the vast ocean of forest spread, stained with autumn tones of deep russet, tan and burnished gold, and was itself host to lingering pools and tendrils of mist, dense and white and still. And in the spaces between, where the forest also thinned, could be spied from the high battlements of Enchantment's Reach the busy mass of Karai soldiery that had newly emerged in the long shadows, to swarm like ants about the road at the foot of the scarp, each gem-eyed warrior certain of his purpose and efficient in his individual task.

  It was a still day the day the Karai came. Hardly a breath of breeze stirred the forest, and the mist was left to gradually burn away as the sun rose higher. Everything seemed suspended bar the unheard exertions of the invaders below. The mass of the city's populace was as yet ignorant of their arrival, but the city-gates had failed to open this morning and the flow of refugees up the twisting scarp road had abruptly ceased. Where would they go now that Enchantment's Reach was denied them? There was only the north, across wildlands and harsh mountainous forest into the kingdoms of the Northern Mondane, where they were not welcome. The frontiers would almost certainly be closed, for the people of the Mondanes were superstitious and fearful of the folk of Enchantment's Reach, perceiving them as otherworlders, tainted and possessed by dint of their proximity to Enchantment. The Mondane Kingdoms, which between them - and together with Enchantment's Reach - might have assembled an army that was in theory capable of meeting the Karai and at least stemming their advance, had chosen to remain aloof. The refugees of Enchantment's Reach would make for inhospitable borders and be turned away, left to fend for themselves.

  These thoughts and others occupied the mind of Pader Luminis, Imperator of the Arcane College and Lord Protector pro tem of Enchantment's Reach, as he stood upon the lofty battlements and gazed down upon the industrious enemy warriors so far below. At his side was Kol - the companion who Queen Issul had brought with Shenwolf and Phisusandra on her return from Karai imprisonment and who was now assigned as bodyguard to Pader Luminis - and two of Enchantment's Reach's senior knights and Crown Advisors, Sir Almric and Sir Grenyard. A squad of Orbia Guards stood at alert on the rampart close by.

  Pader Luminis's brow was knit. He had removed the round-lensed spectacles he habitually wore indoors, so that he might focus more accurately on the activities at the foot of the scarp. His long-sight was clear and even unusually acute, whereas deprived of his spectacles he could see little that was immediately in front of him.

  That the Karai were finally here was no surprise; their arrival had been anticipated for days. But when he had been woken with the unwelcome news in the dark hours of this morning Pader's stomach had churned and he had been visited by a feeling of profound disquiet. This was the moment he had been dreading most since accepting the temporary office of Lord Protector. He was not a military man. The immediate fate of the realm had been placed in his hands, but now he must pass much of the major decision-making to others whose lives had been spent in the command of fighting men.

  Enchantment's Reach had known no serious conflict for several generations. Isolated border skirmishes with one of the Southern Mondanes had been quelled more than fifteen years earlier, with never the massed clash of men and steel. Since then the army had played little more than a policing role, battalions sometimes hunting down brigand bands and occasional mercenary groups who had wandered into outlying towns intent on plunder. King Leth, and his mother Queen Fallorn before him had kept the soldiery well-trained, disciplined and alert, but the army was not large. True, its ranks had swelled considerably since Leth first made public his call-to-arms months earlier, when news of the Karai's campaign of conquest first reached Orbia. But so many had received scarcely more than basic training. They were besieged now by a numerically superior force of well-tested, battle-hardened veterans, bolstered by many victories and augmented by supernatural allies. If - when - battle was finally joined, could the men of Enchantment's Reach really hope to fare any better than the Karai's previous foes?

  The answer - and no one pretended otherwise - was no. Distasteful as it was to so many, the soldiers of Enchantment's Reach must remain behind the high f
ortified walls of their great city-castle. Such had been King Leth's instinct and firm instruction, and events at Giswel Holt had proved him right. The Karai Prince, Anzejarl, was cunning. He had lured Duke Hugo out and Hugo had paid the price. There had been no further report from Giswel Holt. Anzejarl had permitted messenger pigeons to fly for as long as it took to deliver the news and dishearten the defenders of Enchantment's Reach further. But none had come since. Was Giswel Holt embroiled in bloody battle or protracted siege? Had it already fallen? There was no way of telling.

  Pader's gaze shifted from the activities of the Karai, across the far sea of tree-tops into the misted distance where the mountains of Enchantment lay hidden. Issul, my sweet child, he thought to himself, are you safe? Did you elude the Karai? Are you any closer to achieving your goal and returning to us?

  Queen Issul had been gone five days. Pader calculated that she should have had time to strike out towards Enchantment without risk of encountering the oncoming Karai army. But if Prince Anzejarl had sent strong advance units ahead of his main force . . . and they already knew, from the evidence of the secret Karai camp, that Karai special forward units were emplaced in the region.

  Issul's force was fifty strong, comprising some of Enchantment's Reach's finest. Pader could only hope they would be capable of fighting their way free of any elements of the Karai that they could not wholly avoid.

  And if so, where was she now?

  Pader recalled again his astonishment when the Queen had revealed to him the true nature of the blue casket and its extraordinary occupant, Orbelon; the fate of Leth and Prince Galry and Princess Jace; the message of the old woman of the Hir'n Esh, Arene, and the mystery of the Soul of the Orb, taken and hidden long ago somewhere in Enchantment. Learning all this Pader had agreed with little hesitation that the only chance of saving Enchantment's Reach lay in Issul's riding forthwith to Enchantment with Orbelon, in the so slender hope of locating and recovering the Soul of the Orb.

  But oh, what a task lay before her!

  Pader felt the welling of tears behind his eyes as he thought of it. He worried about her. She was so young. She had been his student for many years, from early childhood. He knew her so well, and loved her more. He could not bear to think of her coming to harm. Nor Leth, nor the children. No one should have to face so much.

  Had Issul reached Enchantment? If she had met no trouble along the way then Pader believed she would have. She had explained roughly the location of the secret Karai camp where the doorway into Enchantment lay, the Farplace Opening. But even then her task was barely begun.

  What would she find?

  And what of Grey Venger?

  Issul had remained deliberately tight-lipped regarding her plans for the leader of the True Sept. Pader believed her plans were in fact vague and hardly formed, but he did not doubt that, reluctant though she was, she had taken Venger with her, if for no other reason than to keep him from Lord Fectur's clutches.

  And the Legendary Child?

  Ressa's son; Queen Issul's nephew. The spawn of a god.

  Pader had spent many hours bent-necked in the library of the Arcane College, researching the mystery of this unknown and the linked references Grey Venger had made to the One True God and the King Without A Soul. He had dispatched agents into Overlip to attempt to infiltrate the True Sept and glean something more of the knowledge they claimed to possess about the Child's coming. Neither approach had provided enlightenment. Where the Child and the True Sept were concerned, in the end, as with so much else, Pader could do little more than wonder.

  *

  At Pader's side Sir Grenyard was pointing. Pader, brought from troubled reverie, followed the direction of his finger. 'What are they doing?'

  'Erecting defences. They command the road both ways and build ditches, entrenchments and palisades to deter us should we think of sending a force down.'

  Beyond the orderly mass of Karai pioneers on and beside the road a small company, conspicuous by the colourful banners at its fore, had ascended a low green knoll.

  'Anzejarl!' breathed Sir Grenyard.

  Pader Luminis peered intently. At such a distance the figure of the Karai Prince was little more than a minute, undistinguished fleck. Even so - and it was probably no more than imagination - he seemed to stand out, and Pader had little doubt that it was Anzejarl he gazed upon. From what he could see Anzejarl was garbed in dark robes. His face seemed to be turned upwards towards the prize he so coveted, Enchantment's Reach and the Palace of Orbia within.

  Pader half-imagined he saw the white, fissured face and the glitter of Anzejarl's jade and blue eyes in the weak sunlight.

  Years earlier he had briefly met the Karai prince. Pader had taken part in a diplomatic mission from Enchantment's Reach to the Karai capital, Zhang. There he had been brought before Anzejarl's father, King Anzevord, both at a banquet in the King's Palace and an official colloquy in the royal court. Prince Anzejarl had been present both times. He was a boy of twelve or thirteen, being schooled for leadership. Even at that age Pader had been struck by his presence. There was an intense brooding air to him, and Pader had perceived a fierce, uncompromising intelligence. Anzejarl's face had been a mask, like all Karai. Outwardly, at the colloquy at least, he appeared to suffer from boredom, yet Pader had the impression that nothing passed him by. Anzejarl listened, observed and assimilated, knowing the value of every moment. A boy he might have been, but he was far from being a child.

  Would Anzejarl remember Pader now? Pader felt a queer sensation as he gazed down upon the Karai prince. As though the two of them were somehow linked, as though his visit to Zhang all those years ago had somehow been the catalyst that had brought Anzejarl here today.

  Pader quickly dismissed the thought as irrelevant and absurd. He concentrated his gaze the more. There was a person at Anzejarl's side. Of slighter build? Crowned with hair of lustrous red? Or was he deluding himself into seeing what he now expected to see? For this would be the woman that Orbelon and Queen Issul had spoken of before their departure. This would be she who empowered Anzejarl. She who Orbelon had declared could be nothing more nor less than the servitor or sorcerous fabrication, simulacrum or projection of one of the Highest Ones of Enchantment, those beings, never before met, who were commonly regarded as gods.

  'Then it is against her that we must somehow direct our efforts,' Pader had said, unconsciously echoing King Leth's own words when he had first learned of the character of the Karai prince's consort.

  And Orbelon had replied in the same tone in which he had replied to Leth. 'You cannot destroy her. As far as you are concerned she is indestructible.'

  Orbelon had added something. He considered it virtually certain that, for Anzejarl's consort to maintain her powers outside of Enchantment she would be equipped with some form of magical artefact: 'to renew her essence, allowing her to persist in the formed world without suffering the enfeeblement that comes as a natural consequence of operating beyond Enchantment. Also there will be something by which she controls Anzejarl and allows him to command his Enchantment-creatures. The objects may be separate, or perhaps one artefact performing both functions.'

  Pader had wondered. He wondered again now, and knew the futility of such wondering. Consultation with his advisors had confirmed the implausibility of getting anyone close to Anzejarl and his consort. The idea had been dismissed virtually out of hand.

  And yet it was known that the True Sept had made contact with the Karai. What was not established was the precise form that contact had taken, and its result. More exactly, Lord Fectur had presented his account of what had taken place: he had brought into custody a True Sept member who he claimed had established relations with Prince Anzejarl. Fectur asserted that the man had died in his dungeons without revealing anything significant. But Pader was fully aware that Fectur might have learned more than he had seen fit to disclose.

  Below him the two distant figures on the rise turned and departed. Pader let his gaze scan the forest desultoril
y again. He knew that Leth, before being removed from office by Fectur, had sent out a force of three hundred elite troops commanded by Sir Cathbo, with the notion of harrying the Karai. The King had not seen fit to apprise Pader of Sir Cathbo's exact instructions, but Pader assumed that if an opportunity arose to get to Anzejarl or his consort Sir Cathbo was expected to take advantage of it. Were Cathbo and his men out there still? Pader no longer knew whether they were alive or dead.

  He was aware of Sir Grenyard's voice. 'They will almost certainly launch an exploratory attack today. They will send the slooths to test our defences.'

  Pader nodded inwardly. This was to be a seige of terror and attrition. Anzejarl's ground troops could have little effect against the mighty walls of Enchantment's Reach, at least in the short term. But repeated attacks from the air, insufficient in themselves to secure victory, could nevertheless wear down resistance and engender fear and dissent within the walls. By such means Anzejarl might hope to force the defenders into impetuous actions. He had succeeded at Giswel Holt; Pader was determined he would not do so here. But what else had Anzejarl up his sleeve? Could the True Sept be preparing to rise at his signal?

  Pader looked back and observed the web of defences erected against the slooths: complex skeins of ropes and netting, sheets of metal mesh; polearms and long-handled household and field implements, fixed in place and angled towards the skies. It appeared unworldly and inadequate. Large areas of the city-castle remained barely protected; so many areas where it might be breached.

  'Alert the city to the Karai presence,' Pader said. His mouth was dry, his stomach twisted. 'As far as possible the people should remain indoors. Certainly all parks, squares and open spaces should be avoided until further notice.'

  'Do you intend a curfew?' Sir Almric enquired.

  'Not at this point. I rely upon the militia to maintain order and ensure these precautions are followed. We cannot afford panic or insurgence on the streets. The people must understand that these measures are for their protection.'