The Demon Horsemen

by Tony Shillitoe

  ‘You learned that?’

  ‘I was surprised how much the Ranu political advisors could teach me about public presence and how to make the people love me,’ he replied. ‘To become president I had to let go of some personal traits, like arrogance.’ Meg grinned. ‘What?’ he challenged. ‘You think I’m still arrogant?’

  ‘Arrogance and confidence are one and the same to many people,’ she replied. ‘You were aloof and proud when I found you, and very arrogant.’

  ‘I was very powerful,’ he replied. ‘I was used to it.’

  ‘You still are,’ she said.

  He smiled as if she’d said something significant, but instead of explaining he looked away from her, the smile slowly fading around his mouth as he studied the scattered wire-lightning globes that kept the darkness from spoiling the ongoing festivities.

  Meg stared at his profile, the straight nose, high cheekbones, strong jaw, and knew she could still love him. Could he still love her?

  She turned away and waved to a small group standing on a corner and wondered what the world was going to look like with the Ranu motorised inventions spreading everywhere.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  She hadn’t expected to be ferried in a dragon egg to A Ahmud Ki’s dreadnought anchored at the harbour mouth, and she protested when he unveiled his intentions, but he promised that the trip would be quick and that she would be grateful when she saw what he had to show her. The sun had already set and the west was aglow with the last traces of amber lining the dark blue clouds. Below, the city glittered with lights reflected in the harbour and for the first time she recognised the beauty in Port of Joy and why people had chosen to settle there hundreds of years past. Had they dreamed of a city like the one blossoming there now? Though the strains of cheering and song from the celebrations were faint, they assured her that this was the beginning of a lasting and peaceful change for her people.

  She turned her attention to A Ahmud Ki’s silhouette. He stood staring silently at the dark hulk of his dreadnought coming into view below. Several times she had almost spoken to him, wanting to immerse him in conversation that would bind them together through their past, but she sensed that he was struggling with deeper matters and kept her silence. She wondered if he felt about her as she did about him. The renewed feelings excited her and terrified her.

  Wire-lightning lights along the dreadnought’s deck gave the metal ship an eerie atmosphere and when the dragon egg landed she imagined she was stepping into a world beyond the natural one. The Ranu sailors stood to attention as the president led his guest towards his cabin and she felt self-conscious in their presence. A Ahmud Ki stepped aside at the door and bowed his head, indicating that she should enter the cabin first. She smiled at his display of polite formality and stepped inside.

  The sight of Chase and Runner there confused her. ‘How did you find us?’ Chase said, and, realising her eyes weren’t deceiving her, she embraced him. She looked to Runner and extended an arm, inviting the boy to join them, but he stared as if her gesture made no sense. She understood. To him she was still a stranger. With the war over and the new Kerwyn future proclaimed, there would be time to establish the relationships with her extended family. Until then she was a stranger to her great-grandson. So she held Chase close, satisfied that his warm greeting was proof that he accepted her.

  ‘Where did you find them?’ she asked A Ahmud Ki.

  ‘Ask him,’ A Ahmud Ki replied, indicating Chase.

  Chase shifted his feet self-consciously and said, ‘I thought I could find the bag. We didn’t know if you’d been caught.’

  ‘I was in trouble,’ Meg admitted. ‘The Seers didn’t have it.’

  ‘Neither did Shadow,’ said Chase. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said. ‘Shadow is dead and the Seers are on the run. Inheritor’s men will bring them to justice for what they’ve done to the Kerwyn people. The threat is over. The bag isn’t needed any more.’

  She turned to A Ahmud Ki and said, ‘Thank you.’

  He nodded, but said, ‘I’d like to talk to you,’ and glanced at Chase and Runner, adding, ‘Alone, if I may.’

  He opened the door to let the two young men out, gave an order to a Ranu attendant to look after them, then closed the door again. He indicated that Meg should sit, and when she did he took a chair at the table too and studied her with his grey eyes, his face soft.

  ‘I really did miss you,’ he said quietly.

  ‘And I missed you,’ she replied, the admission bringing faint colour to her pale cheeks.

  ‘I have something to share with you,’ he said. ‘Something only a handful of people know now, but everyone will know tomorrow.’ He paused, composing his words carefully. ‘I’m no longer the Ranu president.’ When she didn’t respond, he continued, ‘There have been elections in Ranu Ka Shehaala. The people voted for another party, for an end to the empire’s expansion. There will be a new president.’

  ‘And what will you do?’

  ‘I’ve been ordered to return to Yul Ithrandyr.’

  A wan smile flitted across her mouth as she felt her disappointment. ‘When will you leave?’

  ‘Tomorrow.’

  She held his gaze for what seemed a long time, an unspoken question awaiting an answer, until a knock at the door broke the tension. He looked past her and called, ‘Come in.’ The door opened and two soldiers entered, one carrying a beige canvas bag. It was placed on the table and the soldiers withdrew, closing the door.

  ‘You know what this is, don’t you?’ he said.

  ‘Where did you find it?’

  ‘In the tunnels beneath the palace. It was sheer luck.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell Chase you had it?’

  He shrugged. ‘I wanted you to see it first. It’s my gift to you.’

  ‘It isn’t needed,’ she said. ‘The Seers are defeated.’

  ‘Then keep it as a memento.’

  ‘I thought you would want it,’ she said. ‘It’s part of your old life.’

  A Ahmud Ki chuckled as he looked at the bag on the table. ‘It was my downfall,’ he said. ‘I thought it would be the vehicle to ultimate power as a Dragonlord. Instead, it nearly killed me. I don’t need that reminder. You keep it.’

  She was about to reply when there came a furious knocking on the door.

  ‘Enter!’ A Ahmud Ki ordered. A soldier swung the door open and came in, Chase and Runner hard behind him. ‘Well?’ A Ahmud Ki demanded.

  ‘You have to see this!’ Chase yelled before the soldier could answer.

  ‘What is it?’ Meg asked.

  ‘Come and see,’ Chase insisted.

  On deck, aware of the sailors and soldiers lined along the dreadnought’s starboard railing, Meg followed Chase’s pointing finger to the dark sky above the southern bluff at the entrance to Port of Joy’s harbour. A strange blue glow outlined the clouds, which were rolling and expanding like boiling steam. ‘What is it?’ Chase asked, eyes wide. ‘A storm?’

  ‘Worse,’ Meg gasped and the chill of fear ran through her.

  ‘What is it?’ Chase repeated.

  ‘Get back inside!’ Meg yelled. She pushed her startled grandson towards the cabin. As she turned for Runner, she found A Ahmud Ki beside her.

  ‘The Horsemen,’ he said.

  ‘They’ve released them!’ she snapped. ‘I don’t know how, but they have!’

  He grabbed her arm as blue lightning flashed across the sky. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I’m going to stop them,’ she said. ‘But first I’m getting my family out of the city.’

  She pulled her arm free and called to Runner who stood watching the expanding blue light and flashes of lightning in the clouds. ‘Get inside!’ she screamed.

  The youth hesitated as if he was going to defy her, bound by his fascination with the strange storm, but when another blue lightning flash revealed the wild expression on her face he obeyed and followed Chase into the cabin.
/>   As Meg went to wrench the door shut behind her, A Ahmud Ki grabbed it. ‘We’re leaving!’ she told him.

  ‘I’m going with you,’ he said.

  She looked at his face and saw his earnestness. She turned to the doorway that led deeper into the dreadnought and with a thought created a portal. ‘Go!’ she yelled at Chase. He tapped Runner’s shoulder and nodded towards the light in the doorway. Runner’s eyes widened in disbelief and he started to protest, but Chase shoved him into the light before the words left his lips and stepped through after him. Meg motioned to A Ahmud Ki to follow.

  ‘The bag,’ he said.

  ‘Grab it.’

  He made to protest, then shrugged and stepped into the light, leaving the bag on the table.

  Stunned by his refusal, Meg scooped up the bag, feeling its magic like static through her hand and arm. She paused to listen to the world beyond the cabin. The wind was picking up and thunder rattled between savage bursts of lightning. The Seers are madmen, she thought, took a firm grip on the canvas bag and stepped through the portal.

  Word had prayed to Jarudha that he would never have to use the incantation that Scripture had taught him. He had seen for himself the terrible magic, the awesome Blessing, that the Demon Horsemen brought, and he’d seen Scripture consumed for calling them down. The terror in Scripture’s face as he dissolved had shaken Word’s faith to the core because he knew that he would not be strong enough if he was fated to call the Horsemen again. That Law had so enthusiastically embraced the chance to follow Scripture to salvation and eternal life only made Word feel more uncertain. Now, gathered with his surviving brethren, their minds open to his, Word felt fear envelop his heart as he completed the incantation. He had sealed all of their fates. The Last Days were upon them. He felt it as palpably as he felt his fear, and the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end.

  ‘Look,’ said Moon.

  The Seers stared to the south, where a soft blue glow, like the light of an odd moon drifting through mist and thick cloud, slowly appeared above the newly reborn city.

  ‘They are coming,’ said Law, awe colouring his voice.

  ‘We are saved!’ Newday cried, like a child seeing a gift.

  We are dead, Word thought, and felt darkness descend even as the distant light brightened.

  ‘Praise be to Jarudha!’ Law cried and Moon and Newday echoed him. ‘Let the wrath of the Horsemen destroy all that the heathens have coveted. Tonight they will cry for forgiveness and none shall be given them.’

  Lightning flashed across the roiling clouds building in the night sky. The blue glow began to sharpen as it grew and the wind gathered strength.

  ‘The storm of salvation and destruction is coming!’ Law yelled and slapped Word’s shoulder. ‘This is what we prayed for!’

  Word flinched, refusing to look at his excited colleagues. He focussed instead on the blue light, waiting for the first glimpse of the Horsemen, remembering the fierceness of their horses and their angular armour with jagged barbs. Law would rue his eagerness for self-sacrifice. The light expanded above the city, forming what looked like a tunnel in the glowing clouds; lightning exploded in ragged forks and the earth shook. He expected to see tiny figures emerge and sweep down on the haven of their enemies, but instead the light brightened and headed at incredible speed for the hilltop where the Seers stood.

  ‘They come to us!’ Law cried. ‘See? They come to us!’

  The vision froze Word. The Horsemen had only come for Scripture after they had destroyed the settlement and the Ranu on the Fallen Star Islands. In the orb of blue light he could see the Horsemen. There were only two last time. Now there were four.

  The Horsemen swept down to the hilltop from the sky, their blue light washing everything. They reined in their steeds and the horses pawed the ground restlessly. The air all around them turned brutally cold. Law, Moon and Newday prostrated themselves before the incarnation of Jarudha’s awesome power, their heads pressed against the backs of their hands, but Word stayed on his feet, caught between awe and terror. As he stared at the warriors, their faces hidden beneath helmets but their eyes glowing with cold fire, words like shards of ice seared his mind. Who calls us?

  He met the lead Horseman’s terrible gaze, conscious of the spikes adorning the warrior’s shoulders and gauntlets and the long, thin serrated blade that he held in his left hand. ‘I—’ he stuttered, fighting the tremors that shook his jaw and failing.

  The price must be paid, the cold, rasping voice demanded.

  Unable to speak, his hand shaking, Word pointed at Law.

  We are not going back, said the voice in his head. This time the price is to be paid in full.

  Word trembled. Conscious of movement to his right, he turned his head to find one warrior removing his helmet, white hair tumbling to his shoulders. Even blurred by the light, Scripture’s face was recognisable. The rider beside Scripture pulled off his helmet too and nodded to him. Prayer. The faces were familiar but their harsh, brutal expressions told him that different spirits dwelled within his former colleagues. The icy air began to run through Word’s veins, fuelled by terror. He looked down at his colleagues and saw that the ground they pressed their heads against in submission, the grass and earth, had turned to dust and they too were dissolving.

  ‘Jarudha save us,’ he whispered.

  Meg pushed through the crowded marketplace frantically searching for Passion. The young woman had gone with Wahim to look for their old friends in the celebrating masses, leaving little Jon in the care of Ella and the company of Jewel and Whisper. If the Horsemen had swept down on the city instead of flying overhead to the north when they first appeared…Meg didn’t want to contemplate what might have happened. Instead, she had a brief window of opportunity to save her family.

  She had left A Ahmud Ki, Chase and Runner at the palace ruins with Cutter and Inheritor, waiting at a portal she had created for their escape. ‘If the Horsemen come back, go through,’ she ordered. She’d handed the canvas bag to Cutter. ‘Don’t leave this behind. It might be our only hope.’

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ A Ahmud Ki had insisted when she explained her intention of finding the other members of her family.

  ‘No,’ she told him bluntly. ‘Stay here.’

  ‘I’ll get everyone out of the city,’ said Cutter and he passed the bag to Inheritor.

  ‘There isn’t time,’ Meg said. ‘It’s already too late.’

  ‘Then what?’ Cutter asked. ‘Let them all die?’

  ‘No,’ she replied. ‘Leave it to me.’

  And she’d left them, taking the form of a magpie and heading for the house where she knew Ella, Passion, Whisper and the children had been sheltering since arriving in Port of Joy the previous day.

  The people on the streets were staring to the north, watching the blue light that had flashed over the city and then settled on the landscape. They were fascinated by the unworldly vision, arguing as to what it was. Thunder rippled through the clouds above.

  ‘Passion!’ Meg yelled above the crowd’s din. ‘Passion!’ A hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see Wahim’s smiling face. ‘Where’s Passion?’ she asked.

  ‘Here,’ Passion answered and appeared beside her.

  ‘We have to go,’ Meg told them.

  ‘Why?’

  ‘The Demon Horsemen are coming. The Seers released them.’

  With Passion and Wahim in tow, Meg pushed back through the crowd towards the house where the rest of the family was sheltering. As they reached it, a collective gasp rose from the crowd in the market square. A woman across the road called to them, ‘Did you see that?’

  Meg herded Passion and Wahim into the common room where Ella, Jewel, little Jon and baby Taverner were waiting. ‘Stand away from the doorway,’ she ordered, and with a simple thought formed a portal between the frames of the door into the bedroom.

  ‘What’s that?’ Ella asked.

  ‘It leads to Littlecreek,’ Meg told them. ‘Go.’ />
  ‘Are you coming?’ Wahim asked.

  ‘I have something to do,’ she said. ‘Look after everyone.’ Thunder rumbled across the rooftops. ‘The others will meet you there. I’ll come when I’ve finished.’

  She waited for them to step into the portal, but when they hesitated she yelled, ‘Go!’

  The women and children obeyed, except for Ella. ‘My husband,’ she said. ‘I won’t go without him.’

  ‘I know where he is,’ said Wahim. ‘I can fetch him.’

  ‘There’s no time,’ Meg argued.

  ‘I won’t leave him,’ Ella insisted.

  On cue, the door swung open and Trackmarker appeared with Hunter and a rake-thin dark-haired woman. ‘What’s happening?’ Trackmarker asked, spotting the portal.

  ‘No time to explain,’ Meg replied. ‘Go through the portal.’

  ‘Do as she says,’ Wahim urged and he ushered everyone through. Meg nodded to Crystal Merchant as the woman stepped into the light. Wahim was the last to leave. After the Shesskar man had vanished, Meg became aware of Whisper sitting on her haunches, staring at her. Go, she urged.

  With you, the rat replied.

  With the others, Meg ordered, and added, They need you.

  Whisper’s nose twitched, as if she was considering what to do, then she dropped to all fours and trotted into the light. Meg closed the portal and went outside.

  The light had changed to an incandescent blue and a strong wind whipped along the street. Forked lightning ripped the belly out of the clouds and turned night into a strange, brief day. The earth trembled.

  I’ve never dreamed of this, she noted, and wondered why not. She strode to the market end of the street, where people were milling anxiously, some pointing to the north, others beginning to panic. Voices battled the wind, like the cries of seagulls, and lightning sheeted the harbour. She thought of flying above the city to gauge more of the situation, but the wind was too strong for a fragile bird. Shingles suddenly lifted from a nearby roof and sliced through the crowd. People screamed.

  Then she saw them: four riders in the heart of the blue light bearing down on the city. There were only two, she remembered. Now there are four. There are four and there is me.