The Shadow's Heart

by K J Taylor

  Skandar glowered at Saeddryn and Caedmon. ‘You …’

  Saeddryn’s face burned with pure fury. ‘Skandar!’ she screamed. ‘How dare ye?’

  Skandar huffed menacingly. ‘You humans,’ he said. ‘You enemy. Enemy to my human. Enemy to me.’

  Caedmon was far too intelligent to stay and argue. He took shelter behind a wall and lingered there, watching cautiously.

  Saeddryn, however, advanced on the big griffin. ‘Ye are my partner now! The Night God commanded it!’

  ‘Nobody command Mighty Skandar,’ said Skandar, unmoved.

  ‘This isn’t how it was supposed to be!’ Saeddryn shouted.

  ‘Not care.’ Skandar jerked his head toward Saeddryn, and scooped Laela up in his talons. ‘I keep this human. You not hurt!’ Hobbling on three legs with Laela cradled against his chest, he advanced on Saeddryn and Caedmon. ‘You go! You not fight us. Unpartnered follow me. Malvern mine! You come near, and I kill you.’ A rumble started in his throat. ‘Now you go,’ he said. ‘Go now. Not let me see you again. My human is master and this human serve him. Serve me! Go!’

  Saeddryn could see the day was lost. She backed away, gesturing to Caedmon to do the same. ‘Go,’ she muttered. ‘There’s nothing we can do here. We have t’get the others away before it’s too late.’

  Caedmon took one last look at the hissing Skandar and the hated woman in his grasp. ‘You’ll pay for this,’ he promised, and ran.

  FIVE

  A PRINCE

  Laela’s brother Kullervo arrived at the island nation of Maijan on a beautiful clear day, after months at sea. He and his companions had left a Northern winter behind, but in Maijan they found heat and bright blue skies, and a lovely seaside town to welcome them ashore.

  Kullervo went down the gangplank behind Inva and Skarok. They were the official diplomats for this visit, so Kullervo and his partner Senneck, as part of their escort, stood aside quietly while their superiors were greeted by a small deputation of griffiners, griffins and others. Most of them were local Maijanis, dark-skinned and lightly clad, some of them guards holding ceremonial spears. However the core of the group, and the most richly dressed, were Amoranis. They were lighter skinned, though still dark, and wore their own national dress. Most of them had griffins with them, and it was obvious from where they were placed and the behaviour of those around them that they were the ones with the real power here.

  Kullervo, of course, had spent plenty of his time on the ship letting Inva teach him everything he would need to know for this occasion. She was a Northerner by blood, but had spent most of her life as a high-class slave in Amoran, and she knew far more about their customs than those of her own native land. Maijan was a separate country from Amoran, with its own culture, but it was considered part of the Amorani Empire. So Kullervo and the others might be in Maijan, but they would answer to the Amorani governor.

  Kullervo ran through all this in his head while Inva and Skarok made the formal greetings. He was wearing his best clothes, which Laela had given him, but he wasn’t required to do anything more than nod and smile when Inva indicated him, introducing him in Amorani to the handsome noble who seemed to be in charge.

  The formalities over with, the visitors — who included Inva, Skarok, Kullervo, Senneck and two other griffiners with their partners — were taken up into the little city in a procession.

  Along the way, Kullervo admired the buildings. They were mud brick and had flat roofs, unlike anything he had ever seen before. Many of them had been painted in cheerful colours, and bright cloth awnings only made them even more pleasant to look at. There were plenty of people about, too — mostly Maijanis, appearing at windows or in doorways, or standing in the street on either side to watch the foreigners pass. Most of them looked excited or curious, and Kullervo guessed that they probably hadn’t seen many Cymrians before.

  At the highest point of the city, a large building stood out. Unlike the buildings around it, it was built of stone rather than mud brick, and featured several domed rooftops. It looked awkward and uncomfortable, unable to blend in properly with its surroundings.

  Like me, Kullervo thought with a wry smile, but he guessed that this building must have been built by the Amoranis according to their own preferences, even though it didn’t fit with the rest of the city.

  As he was admitted through an impressive arched doorway, Kullervo wondered why the Amoranis had made their palace this way. Was it to remind the islanders that this was their place? Or didn’t they believe that the Maijani style was good enough for a palace worthy of them? Maybe they just didn’t want to stop doing things their way just because they were in a foreign land.

  Maybe mud brick just wasn’t any good for making palaces.

  Kullervo imagined other buildings like this one, standing in other places where they hadn’t been meant to go, in all the other countries the Amoranis had conquered. Little pieces of Amoran, reminding everyone of who had built them and why.

  The palace might have been out of place, but it was certainly beautiful. Kullervo allowed himself to be led off with Senneck to his quarters, which were big and airy, and where they were attended by a pair of … slaves.

  Kullervo had never seen a slave before. These ones looked healthy and well fed, and along with the metal collars that marked them out as slaves they wore clothes that looked well made and clean. They said nothing, but provided Kullervo and Senneck with food and drink before quietly retreating.

  Kullervo had been warned to be ready for this sort of thing, but he was still shocked. The slaves had both been Amorani, which surprised him. He had expected Northerners, since in Cymria they were were the only people ever to be kept as slaves.

  ‘The Amorani are different,’ Senneck told him when he remarked on it. ‘They will enslave any kind of human, including their own.’ She yawned, and lay down on the rough woollen pad provided for her.

  ‘I wish I could free them,’ said Kullervo, looking in the direction the slaves had gone.

  ‘You cannot,’ said Senneck. ‘And it would be bad manners to try. Besides, I do not think they need your help. They were not sick or hurt.’

  ‘Yes, but they’re slaves,’ said Kullervo. ‘It’s not fair …’

  ‘They have accepted their place in life,’ said Senneck. ‘As we all should.’

  ‘I suppose.’ Kullervo flopped down on his own bed and tried some of the fruit that had been laid out for him. His teeth had been broken in captivity, but they had recovered as much as they ever would. He could eat properly again, anyway.

  The fruit was unfamiliar; he didn’t like it much until he worked out not to eat the skin, and after that it was delicious. When he was finished he put the mangled remains aside as politely as possible and lay back to rest.

  He had been on board ship for so long that the bed felt as if it were rocking underneath him, but that only sent him to sleep faster. Inva would be doing the talking first, and for now he could afford a nap.

  He slept deeply, and dreamed of Laela and a shadow. The shadow was in the shape of a person — a man or a woman, Kullervo couldn’t tell. It wrapped dark arms around Laela, but whether to embrace her or smother her he didn’t know.

  He woke up shivering, and the dream faded slowly. Senneck was where she had been, apparently sleeping, and the shadows on the walls had moved.

  Kullervo sat up and rubbed his face. He spotted a jug of water and helped himself to a cupful. While he was drinking it, someone outside coughed politely.

  Senneck woke up instantly.

  ‘Come in,’ said Kullervo.

  Inva appeared. When she was a slave her head had been shaved; her hair had grown back now, but she had kept it short. The sunlight from the window highlighted touches of grey among the black.

  ‘My Lord,’ she said, bowing to Kullervo. ‘Holy One.’ She bowed again, to Senneck.

  Kullervo put his cup down and stood up. ‘How are things, Inva?’

  ‘They are good,’ she said, in a formal Amorani a
ccent. ‘Skarok and I have spoken with the Prince and with his partner, Zekh. I have given them the message from the Queen, and have described the situation in our country as far as I was allowed. Now they ask to see you and Senneck, as I have told them that you are more important than me or Skarok.’

  Kullervo smiled to himself. Inva’s stiff, formal speech had become very familiar by now, and he had decided that he liked it about her. ‘Thank you. Does he want to see us right now?’

  ‘Yes.’ Inva allowed herself a small smile in return. ‘His curiosity is piqued.’

  ‘We’ll come straight away, then,’ said Kullervo.

  Senneck had been listening, and she stood up at once to show she was ready.

  ‘We will show you the way,’ said Inva.

  Outside, Skarok was waiting. He led the way with his partner beside him, and haughtily avoided looking at the two misfits following him. Thankfully, though he must know that Kullervo had been the male griffin who had rivalled him for Senneck’s affections, he hadn’t said anything and had left Kullervo alone. Kullervo kept nervously back from him anyway.

  The palace interior was pleasantly airy and well lit, with arched doorways that matched the glassless windows. The air smelled of cool stone and unfamiliar plants that grew in a courtyard they passed along the way; Kullervo, whose sense of smell had always been a little more sensitive than that of an ordinary human, inhaled it very happily.

  Inva took them to a large chamber not too far away. It was much bigger than Kullervo’s guest room, and had a huge, vaulted ceiling. Kullervo guessed it must be underneath one of the domes he had seen from outside.

  Inside, Prince Akhane and his partner were waiting. The griffin, Zekh, was a slim dark brown griffin of the smaller Amorani breed. He sat grooming himself idly on a richly coloured carpet, while his partner sat cross-legged on a cushion.

  Inva announced the two newcomers and retreated, leaving Kullervo to approach with Senneck.

  The Prince had stood up to welcome his guests, and he smiled at them both in a friendly way. ‘Come, my Lord Kullervo,’ he said, in very good Cymrian. ‘Come and sit with me. And you, Holy One …’

  Zekh had not stood up. He turned his head toward Senneck. ‘I greet you as one griffin to another,’ he said lazily. ‘Rest with me while our humans talk.’

  Senneck inclined her head politely. ‘I shall be honoured, Zekh.’

  Kullervo took the cushion offered to him, opposite the Prince, who resumed his own seat. ‘I’m honoured to meet you, Prince Akhane,’ he said, using griffish.

  ‘And I am also honoured,’ said Akhane. He was the same handsome Amorani who had greeted them at the harbour, Kullervo noticed.

  ‘If you prefer to speak in the holy language, I have no objections,’ the Prince added.

  ‘I’d like that, thank you,’ said Kullervo, still using griffish. Senneck had advised him to do so. Amoranis were sun-worshippers, like the Southerners in Cymria, and they too revered the winged man. Therefore, Senneck had pointed out, it would be more fitting if he spoke the griffish language that Amoranis believed was sacred.

  ‘So,’ said Akhane, ‘the Lady Inva thinks it is vital that I speak with you. Can I ask you why, Lord Kullervo?’ he looked and sounded very relaxed, but his dark Amorani eyes stayed fixed on Kullervo, summing him up.

  Kullervo decided to get straight to the point. ‘You know about the war in my homeland?’ he said. ‘Inva told you?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Akhane. ‘She told me that King Arenadd is dead and that my bride has taken his place, but that his cousin objects and means to tell her so with force.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Kullervo. ‘But there’s more to it than that.’ He leaned forward. ‘Queen Laela sent Inva here as her diplomat, but I’m the one she really sent. Not to talk to the Empire, but just to talk to you.’

  Akhane leaned forward in return, listening intently. ‘Yes? What message does my bride have for me?’

  Kullervo took a deep breath. ‘She needs your help, in more ways than one. So far she’s been ruling alone. She needs a consort. Needs heirs.’

  ‘Needs help to fight her enemies, you mean,’ said Akhane.

  Kullervo smiled. ‘Any help is good help.’

  Akhane chuckled. ‘I am willing to go to your country, and more than willing to become Queen Laela’s consort and father to her children. But you must understand: I am only a younger son. I do not have great wealth, or an army of my own. My help in warfare would have very little worth — far less than would justify the trouble of coming all the way to Maijan.’

  ‘She knows that,’ said Kullervo. ‘We both do. But it’s not military help that we need.’

  ‘Oh?’ Akhane cocked his head. ‘What can a minor prince do for you, then?’

  Flatter him, Senneck had said.

  Tell him what he wants yeh to, Laela had advised.

  ‘It’s said that you’re a clever man, Prince Akhane,’ said Kullervo, who was already willing to believe it. ‘It’s also said that you’re learned.’

  Akhane shrugged. ‘I know what is written in books.’

  ‘But you have a great interest in magic,’ said Kullervo. ‘And other mysterious things. Is that true as well?’

  A frown. ‘It is true. I told my bride that I had always believed that it is not only griffins who can use magic, and that was the truth.’

  ‘You were right. And that’s why we need you.’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Queen Laela’s cousin, Saeddryn,’ said Kullervo. ‘The one making the rebellion. She has magic. Or power, anyway.’

  Akhane looked sceptical. ‘What power is this?’

  ‘The power of the Night God.’ Kullervo used a hushed voice without quite meaning to. ‘She’s the walking dead. It’s happened before, with other people. The Night God chooses someone who’s dying and uses a griffin to bring them back with magic. After that they have to do whatever she wants; she appears to them in dreams and visions and gives them orders, and if they don’t obey she takes their power away and they’re dead forever. They can’t be killed with ordinary weapons, and they heal very fast. They can disappear into the shadows, and they use that power to hunt people down — people the Night God wants dead. The Night God wants Laela dead, and if someone doesn’t stop Saeddryn for good, Laela won’t stand a chance. But nobody knows how. So we thought … maybe you might help us find a way.’

  He had wondered how Akhane would react to all this. With laughter, maybe, or anger that anyone would expect him to believe such a ridiculous story.

  The prince did neither. He sat very still for a good long while, his face unreadable.

  Finally he spoke. ‘You say this has happened before?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kullervo. ‘At least once that we know of.’

  ‘And what happened to this one, this …?’

  ‘He was called the Shadow That Walks,’ said Kullervo. ‘He died.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘He disobeyed the Night God,’ said Kullervo.

  Akhane rubbed his chin. ‘And what would make such a man defy his own maker?’

  Kullervo shifted uncomfortably; he hadn’t meant to go into this. ‘She ordered him to kill his own daughter. He refused, and she killed him for it.’

  ‘Ah.’ Akhane smiled very slightly. ‘Then we know now how Queen Laela found her throne.’

  ‘Wait, how did … I never said …’ Kullervo stammered, panicking.

  To his credit, Akhane didn’t laugh. ‘We had often wondered how a man said to be forty years old looked as young as his own daughter. So now the gift has passed to his cousin, you say?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Kullervo. ‘And we need to kill her. For good, this time.’

  ‘May I ask why you are so certain that she is what you say?’

  ‘I can answer for him,’ Senneck interrupted.

  Akhane looked toward her. ‘Speak, Holy One.’

  Senneck extended her talons. They were grey, and gleamed dully against the red weave of the carpet. ‘I killed Saed
dryn Taranisäii with these very talons. I tore her so badly that her body nearly came apart. But the next day she was whole again and moving about, and she nearly killed me in return. I have seen her vanish into darkness with my own eyes.’

  ‘And so have I,’ said Kullervo. He indicated a scar on the side of his neck. ‘She gave me this.’

  ‘Hmm.’ Akhane shook his head slowly, as if there were too much knowledge in there that he couldn’t reconcile with what he had just been told. He looked up. ‘How do I know that this is true?’

  ‘What?’ Kullervo stared blankly. ‘Why would we make something like that up?’

  ‘You must understand me,’ the Prince said quickly, ‘I have spent half of my life studying the unexplained. I have chased after such stories again and again, in many different countries, and every time I have found nothing but lies and superstition. How can I know that this is not the same?’

  ‘We saw it ourselves!’ said Kullervo, outraged. ‘This isn’t just a story! I saw her, I fought her, I nearly died!’

  ‘I am sorry,’ said Akhane, ‘but I have heard others make claims that they too were there, that they too saw something they insisted was magical.’

  ‘All right, then.’ Kullervo had been warned that something like this might happen, and now that it had he would have to use his secret weapon. It was one of the main reasons Laela had sent him away — that and the fact that he would be safe from Saeddryn here. ‘I understand,’ he said. ‘I really do. This story sounds ridiculous, you’re right. So you’re just going to have to take my word for it. And my word is worth more than … than a human’s.’

  Akhane looked bemused. ‘Than a human’s, you say?’

  ‘Yes.’ Kullervo stood up. ‘I’m not human, Akhane. Let me show you, but … don’t be afraid.’ He unfastened the front of his tunic and let it slide onto the floor.

  His wings unfurled. He had spent the last few days encouraging them to grow feathers — something he wouldn’t have been able to do before Senneck’s intervention. By now they were an impressive sight. Mottled black and grey pinions opened out like fingers, hiding the fact that Kullervo had to strain just to unfold the wings and could never have used them to fly in this shape.