Orb Sceptre Throne

by Ian Cameron Esslemont

‘Sengen,’ Jan acknowledged, thereby granting him permission to speak.

  ‘Only the Second may accompany me,’ the old man commanded, stepping forward.

  Palla and Lo stiffened, exchanged outraged glances. Jan raised a hand for patience. ‘That is your right here within the temple.’

  Sengen bowed again, beckoning Jan forward.

  He led him to the very rear. To the altarpiece: a single pillar of unearthly translucent white stone, waist-high, its top empty. Sengen regarded the pillar reverently, his hands crossed over his chest. Jan stared at him, puzzled by his odd behaviour. Then his gaze moved to the pillar, and he started forward, amazed. Beads of moisture ran down the white stone, and a thin vapour, as of a morning mist, drifted from it.

  ‘It sweats, Second,’ the High Priest breathed, awed. ‘The stone sweats.’

  ‘What does this mean?’

  Eyes fixed on the pale stone, Sengen answered, ‘It means that what we have been awaiting all this time may come. Our purpose.’

  Shaken, Jan stepped away. Yet the pillar was empty … was this right? How could this happen?

  ‘It is your duty to make ready,’ Sengen said sharply.

  Jan nodded. Turning, he caught his reflection on a nearby polished shield. A pale white mask distinguished by a single blood-red smear across the brow. A mark put there by the last First, so long ago. ‘Yes,’ he answered, his voice thick. ‘I shall.’

  His three friends waited on the steps of the temple. Coming to them Jan stood silent for some time while they shifted, uncomfortable, gazes averted. ‘Lo,’ he said at last. ‘I give you permission to seek out this Seventh. We may have need of him.’

  ‘Need?’ Lo echoed, glancing up in startlement, then quickly away.

  ‘You may take one other with you. Who would that be?’

  Lo gestured. ‘Beru here, if he would.’

  ‘No. I would have him remain. Choose another.’

  Lo bowed. ‘As you command.’

  ‘What is it?’ Palla asked, inclining her head. ‘You are … troubled.’

  Jan regarded her. For a moment he allowed himself the pleasure of taking in her lithe limbs, her tall proud bearing, and wished she had not pursued the Path of the Challenge. But that was selfish of him; she deserved her rank. ‘Gather the Agatii, Sixth. We must make ready. The altarstone has awakened.’

  The three glanced to the temple, their eyes behind their masks widening in awe. ‘We thought that just a legend,’ Palla breathed.

  ‘Before he passed, the First imparted to me a portion of what was handed down to him. It is no legend. Now go, Palla. Tell the first half of the Agatii to gather here.’

  Palla jerked a swift bow and dashed down the steps. Jan turned to the Eighth. ‘A vessel will be placed at your disposal.’

  Lo bowed and backed away down the stairs. Watching him go, Beru spoke, wonder in his voice. ‘And what can this lowly Thirtieth do to help?’

  ‘I would have you remain among the ranks, Beru. Listen to the talk in the dormitories. A difficult time may be coming. We will all be tested. Let us hope we are not judged … unworthy.’

  ‘I understand, Second.’ Jan did not answer, and, sensing that his friend wished to be alone now, Beru bowed and departed.

  Jan stood for some time in the chill air of the evening. He looked out across the paved white stone Plaza of Gathering to the houses and the mountains of this, their adopted homeland. That adoption was itself no secret. They knew they’d come from elsewhere; all their old stories told of a great march, an exile, although none named their mythical place of origin. That was another truth the First had confirmed: their homeland was to the north. And he had named it.

  Precious little more guidance had the ancient yielded, though. When pressed for more the old man had simply peered up at him from where he lay and shaken his head. ‘It is best you do not know these things,’ he had said. ‘It is best for all.’

  Ignorance? How could ignorance be best? Jan’s instincts railed against such a claim. Yet he was raised and trained to obey, and so he had submitted. He was Second. It was his duty. Perhaps it was the old man’s tone that had convinced him. Those words had carried in them a crushing grief, a terrible weight of truth that Jan feared he might not be able to endure.

  ‘You smell that?’ Picker asked. She looked up from where she sat with her feet on a table in the nearly empty common room of K’rul’s bar, chair pushed back, cleaning her nails with a dagger.

  Blend, chin in hand at the bar counter, cocked a brow to Duiker in his customary seat. ‘That a comment?’

  Picker wrinkled her nose. ‘No – not you. Somethin’ even worse … Somethin’ I ain’t smelt since …’ The chair banged down and she cursed. ‘That hair-shirted puke is back in town!’

  Blend straightened, peered around. ‘No …’ She lunged for the door. ‘Get the back!’

  The door opened before Blend reached it. She tried to push it shut on a man with a shock of unkempt salt-and-pepper hair and a weather-darkened grizzled face, wearing a long ragged hair shirt. He managed to squeeze in as she slammed it shut. ‘Good to see you too, Blend,’ he commented, scowling.

  Blend flinched away, covering her nose and mouth. ‘Spindle. What in Hood’s dead arse are you doing here?’

  Picker ran in from the rear: ‘Back’s locked. There’s no way he can— Oh. Damn.’

  A toothy smile from the man. ‘Just like old times.’ He ambled over to sit at Duiker’s table, nodded to the grey-bearded man. ‘Historian. Been a while.’

  The old man’s mouth crooked up just a touch. ‘Nothing seems to keep you Bridgeburners down.’

  ‘Shit floats,’ Picker muttered from the bar on the far side of the room.

  ‘So how ’bout a drink then?’ Spindle called loudly. ‘’Less you’re just too damned busy with all your customers an’ all.’

  ‘We’re out,’ Blend said. ‘Have to try somewhere else. Don’t let us stop you.’

  Spindle turned in his chair. ‘Out? What kind of bar has no alcohol?’

  ‘A very grim one,’ Duiker offered so low no one seemed to hear.

  ‘Hunh.’ The man pulled on his ragged shirt at its neck as if it were uncomfortable, or too tight. ‘Well, I think maybe I can help you out with that.’

  Picker and Blend exchanged sceptical glances and said in unison, ‘Oh?’

  ‘Sure. Got some work kicked my way. You know, paid work for coin. For drink and food. And to pay the rent.’ Spindle studied Blend more closely. ‘Who do you pay rent to here anyway?’

  The women shifted their stances, squinting at the walls. ‘Why us?’ Blend asked suddenly and Picker nodded.

  ‘They just want people they can count on to keep their damned mouths shut.’

  ‘People have given up on the assassins’ guild, have they?’ Picker commented.

  ‘If there’s any of them left …’ Blend added, aside.

  Spindle rolled his eyes to the ceiling. ‘Not that kinda work!’

  ‘What in Fener’s prang is it then?’ Blend demanded.

  Sitting back, booted feet straight out before him, the veteran clasped his hands over his belt. He smiled lopsidedly in what Picker imagined to be an effort at ingratiation, but which looked more like the leer of a dirty old man. ‘Right up your alley, Blend. Plain ol’ low-profile reconnaissance. Observe and report. Nothin’ more.’

  ‘How much?’ Picker asked.

  ‘A gold council per day.’

  Blend whistled. ‘Who’s worth that much? Not you, that’s for damned sure.’

  Spindle lost his smile. ‘They’re payin’ a lot to make sure the job gets done.’

  ‘Who’s paying?’ Duiker suddenly asked in a low hoarse voice. ‘Who’s the principal?’

  All three regarded the old historian, amazed.

  ‘Damned straight!’ Blend said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Picker said. ‘Could be a trap. Fake contract to draw us out.’

  Spindle dismissed that with a wave. ‘Ach! You’re soundin’ too much l
ike Antsy.’ He peered around. ‘Where is that lunatic anyway?’

  Blend leaned back to set her elbows on the bar. ‘Went south. Said he was … ah, antsy.’ She scowled. ‘Stop changing the subject! Who’s payin’?’

  Spindle just waved again. ‘Never you mind. I know. And I know we can trust ’em.’

  ‘Them?’ Picker said, arching a brow. ‘Who’re them?’

  Spindle threw his hands up. ‘All right, all right! Trusting as Jags, you lot are. Okay!’ He leaned forward and tapped the side of his gashed and battered nose. ‘You could say it’s our old employers.’

  If Picker had had something in her hands she would’ve thrown it at the man. ‘You great idjit! We’re deserters!’

  He produced that knowing smirk once more. ‘Exactly. That makes us free agents, right?’

  ‘It makes political sense,’ Duiker said, and he brushed a hand across the tabletop. ‘Aragan can’t have the Council accuse him of meddling, or spying.’

  Spindle’s brows rose. ‘Aragan? That old dog’s here?’

  Blend and Picker both swore aloud. ‘Spindle!’ Blend managed, swallowing more curses. ‘You brick-headed ox! He’s the Oponn-cursed ambassador! You said you knew who you were working for!’

  Spindle’s face reddened and he stood, heaving back his chair. ‘Well he hardly stopped me on the damned street, did he!’

  The old historian eyed the three veterans glaring each other down across the room. He raised a hand. ‘I’ll mind the shop.’

  All three blinked and eased out tensed breaths. Picker gave a curt nod. ‘Okay then.’

  ‘Where?’ Blend asked.

  Spindle was frowning down at the historian. ‘South of the city. The burial fields. People want to know what’s goin’ on there.’

  ‘Everyone says that’s all tapped out,’ Picker said.

  ‘The past never goes away – we carry it with us,’ Duiker murmured, as if quoting.

  Brows crimped, Spindle scratched a scab on his nose. ‘Yeah. Like the man says.’

  Blend was behind the bar. She pulled out a set of scabbarded long-knives wrapped in a belt. ‘We should head out tonight. Before the Ridge Town gate closes.’

  A wide sideways grin climbed up Spindle’s mouth. ‘Spot their campfires, hey?’

  ‘Just like old times.’

  They walked the desolate shore of black sands, over coarse volcanic headlands, and along the restless glowing waves of the Sea of Vitr. Beach after beach stretched out in arcs of pulverized glass-like sands.

  As they walked one such beach Leoman cleared his throat and motioned to their rear. ‘Do you think he really is what he claims?’

  Kiska shrugged her impatience. ‘I don’t even know what it is it claims to be.’

  Leoman nodded to that. ‘True enough. Not for the likes of us, perhaps.’ He stretched, easing the muscles of his shoulders and back.

  How like a cat, Kiska thought again. With his damned moustache – like whiskers!

  ‘I had a friend once,’ he said, after a time of walking in silence, ‘who was good at ignoring or putting such questions out of his mind. He simply refused to dwell upon what was out of his control. I always admired that quality in him.’

  ‘And what came of this admirably reasonable fellow?’ she asked, squinting aside.

  The man smiled, brushing his moustache with a finger and thumb. ‘He went off to slay a god.’

  Kiska looked to the sky. Oh, Burn deliver me! ‘Are your companions always so extravagant?’

  He eyed her sidelong. The edge of his mouth crooked up. ‘Strangely enough, yes.’

  Kiska had stridden on ahead to where an eroded cliff blocked the way. They would have to climb.

  At the top Kiska could see far out over the empty sea of shimmering, shifting light. Nothing marred it. Behind, the shadowy figure of Maker had re-joined the sky. The entity had returned to what Kiska mused must be an infinite labour. Was it some kind of curse? Or a thankless calling nobly pursued?

  She turned her attention to the next curve of beach and her breath caught.

  Leoman found her like that, sitting on her haunches, staring, and drew breath to ask what was the matter, but she raised her chin to the beach ahead. He looked, and grunted a curse.

  An immense skeletal corpse lay sprawled across the beach. Half its length narrowed down to the glimmering surf, where it disappeared, eaten away by the Vitr.

  The corpse of a dragon.

  They approached side by side. Leoman clutched his morningstars and Kiska her stave – though she knew neither would help them should the beast prove some sort of undead creature. But no sentience animated the dark sockets of its eyes. The flesh of its great snout, itself of greater length than she or Leoman, was desiccated, curled back from the dark openings of its nostrils. Yellowed curved teeth, an alchemist’s hoard, grinned back at them.

  Who had this Eleint been in life? Had it been known to humans? Or was this the extent of its life … this one brief titanic struggle to escape the Vitr? The idea made her very sad.

  Leoman cleared his throat but said nothing. She nodded, swallowing. As they walked away his hand found hers but she pulled it free. She covered her reaction by walking impatiently ahead to where the beach ended at a tumble of the loose porous volcanic rocks.

  After a time, Leoman called after her: ‘There’s no hurry, lass.’

  She hung her head, pausing on the uneven rocks jutting out into the glowing waves of the Vitr. She glanced back to the man; he was coming along slowly, taking great care with his footing.

  ‘We don’t know for certain—’

  ‘Yes, yes! I know. Now hurry up.’

  He came up beside her and offered a wink. ‘Wouldn’t do to get yourself killed this close, would it?’

  ‘This close to what?’

  He brushed his moustache. ‘Well, to an answer. One way or t’other.’

  ‘Leoman,’ she began, slowly, as she hopped from rock to rock, ‘promise me one thing, won’t you? Should I fall into the Vitr and get myself burned to ashes.’

  ‘And what is that, lass?’

  ‘That you’ll shave off that idiotic moustache.’ She jumped down on to the black sands of the next long stretch of beach. ‘And stop calling me “lass”.’

  He thumped down next to her, ran a finger along the moustache, grinning. ‘I’ll have you know the ladies always love it when I—’

  ‘I don’t want to know!’ she cut in. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘So you keep sayin’. But I promise you you’ll—’

  Kiska had snapped up a hand. She knelt and he joined her.

  Tracks in the sands. Unlike any spoor she’d ever seen, but tracks all the same. When they’d yet to see any at all. Some kind of shuffling awkward walk. She pointed to cliffs inland that the beach climbed towards. Leoman nodded. He freed his morningstars to hold them in his hands, the chains gripped to the hafts. Kiska levelled her stave.

  They kept to the edge of the rocky headland, slipping inland, keeping an eye on where the beach ended at the cliffs. She saw the dark mouths of a number of caves. She looked at Leoman, pointed. He nodded. Reaching the cliff, she dodged ahead from cover to cover. Behind, a strangled snarl sounded Leoman’s objection. The first opening was narrow and she slipped within, stave held for thrusting. The cramped space was empty. But packed sand floored it, and depressions showed where people, or things, might have sat or lain. A population? Here? Of what nature? A sound raised the hairs on the back of her neck. A high-pitched keening. Leoman’s morningstars, which he could raise to a blurred speed greater than any she had ever seen or heard tell of.

  She leapt out of the cave to see the man facing off a crowd of malformed creatures. Daemons, summoned monstrosities, all somehow warped or wounded. They grasped with mangled clawed hands. The faces of some were no more than drooling smears. Most raised limbs far too crippled to be any danger. Leoman held them off, his back to the cave mouth.

  ‘What do you want?’ she yelled. ‘Speak! Can you understand m
e?’

  Then the ground shook. Kiska tottered, righted herself and peered up. A gigantic creature had joined the crowd. It appeared to have jumped down from the cliff. It straightened to a height greater than that of a Thelomen. Great splayed clawed feet, like those of a bird of prey, dug into the sands. Its broad torso was armoured like that of a river lizard. It brushed aside its smaller kin with wide, blackened, taloned hands. A huge shaggy mane of coarse hair surrounded red blazing eyes and a mouth of misaligned dagger-like teeth.

  She sent one quick glance to Leoman, who nodded, and they both leapt backwards into the cave. In the narrow chute of the entrance she took the forefront; there was no room for morningstars.

  A shadow occluded the opening. A deep voice of stones grinding rumbled, ‘Who are you, and what do you wish here?’

  ‘Who are you to attack us!’

  ‘We did not attack you – you trespass! This is our home.’

  ‘We didn’t know you lived here …’

  ‘So. Even when you knew you were the strangers here, you assume we are the interlopers. How very typically human of you.’

  Kiska looked at Leoman, who rolled his eyes. A lecture on manners was the last thing she expected. ‘So … this is a misunderstanding? We can come out?’

  ‘No. Stay within. We do not want your kind here.’

  ‘What? Now who is being unfriendly?’

  ‘You have proved yourselves hostile. We must protect ourselves. Stay within. We will discuss your fate.’

  ‘Let us out!’ Kiska stood still, listening, but no one answered. She edged forward a little and saw a solid wall of the deformed creatures blocking the exit. She slumped back inside against a wall, slid down to the sand.

  Leoman eased himself down next to her. He glanced about the narrow cave. ‘Damned familiar, yes?’

  Arms draped over her knees, she only grunted her agreement.

  ‘We could fight our way out,’ he mused.

  ‘That would only confirm their judgement, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘I suppose so. I wonder how much time we will have …’

  She cocked a brow. ‘Oh?’

  ‘Because we might as well spend it profitably …’