The Raven Tower

by Emma Miles

  She looked up and saw hurt in his face.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she murmured, her breathing fast and her heart galloping. ‘You just surprised me.’

  ‘Did you find anything?’ She heard Tantony stand up behind her and move closer.

  ‘It is as we thought.’ She glanced up at Jorrun. Her whole body seemed to tingle with embarrassment at what she’d felt from him and … and what? Excitement? No! she clenched her fists and her teeth.

  ‘Kesta?’ Jorrun prompted in concern.

  She told them everything she’d observed without looking up, finally bringing herself to turn about in her chair to look toward Tantony as she finished speaking. ‘I definitely think the ships are a decoy.’

  ‘I should have sent Osun to Arkoom.’ Jorrun sighed, looking down at the carpet.

  ‘Your brother,’ Kesta said softly.

  ‘My half-brother.’ He looked up and captured her eyes. ‘But yes, he is.’

  Kesta looked from his eyes to his mouth, her blood seemed to rush to her own lips and burn there. She looked back up at his eyes and her breath caught, she felt a wave of dizziness.

  Tantony coughed. ‘So, what do we do?’

  Without turning away from Kesta, Jorrun replied, ‘Send a warning to Bractius at once. He will reply just as swiftly to demand we find where the rest of the fleet is.’

  Kesta cleared her throat. ‘Have you tried scrying?’ She broke eye contact, feeling a blush rise, feeling her anger rise, and feeling every muscle grow weak. She touched the bronze bowl, gripping the edge hard between thumb and finger to wake herself up.

  ‘Yes, it’s an inaccurate and unpredictable tool at best.’ He sounded frustrated. ‘There is one thing left for me to try. I would imagine the attack will at least include, if not be led by, someone of my blood.’

  ‘Blood magic?’ Kesta let go of the bowl as though it had burnt her and span to face him.

  ‘Ssss Kessta!’ Azrael came to Jorrun’s defence.

  Jorrun raised a hand. ‘Not quite. I’ll use the magic of Elden, but a blood link makes things easier.’ He paused and then fetching another chair placed it in front of Kesta and sat facing her. Tantony looked on awkwardly. ‘There is a way of communicating directly through water by scrying. If you add a drop of the blood of the person you wish to speak to into the water and they possess an amulet that contains your blood, you can speak to them as though looking through a window.’

  He watched her carefully, and she tried her best not to react emotionally.

  ‘Go on.’

  He nodded. ‘Without them having an amulet of your blood you can watch them, but not speak to each other. I have no blood of the Dunham’s, other than Osun’s, and he has mine. I cannot accurately spy on my family by scrying. I might be able to find one of them by dream-walking if he is a close enough blood relative.’

  ‘Dream-walking?’ It was Tantony’s turn to be shocked. ‘Isn’t that a myth?’

  ‘Not a myth, an old magic.’ He looked up at his Merkis and Kesta’s muscles relaxed as his intense gaze turned away from her. ‘If they are close enough and I can get into the dreams of one of our attackers, I will be able to learn a lot.’

  ‘How close is close?’ Tantony asked.

  ‘We are talking many miles.’ Jorrun waved a hand. ‘Like with fire-walking distance, in dream-walking, is relative.’

  ‘Is it dangerous?’ Kesta demanded.

  Jorrun turned to look at Azrael. ‘Like a fire-spirit coming through into this realm, my spirit could be captured in another’s dream. But they would have to know what I was doing, how to capture me, and be strong enough to hold me.’

  ‘Don’t do it!’ Kesta sprang up, placing both her hands against his chest, the fabric of his shirt warm beneath her fingers. ‘Don’t.’

  He swallowed, looking past her at Tantony rather than at her. ‘It’s the only option left. I have to keep trying it.’

  Kesta turned to Tantony; the Merkis nodded and her heart sank.

  ‘I have to.’ Jorrun placed a hand over hers and then stood and moved away.

  ‘Not many are as sstrong as Jorrun, Kessta,’ Azrael tried to reassure her.

  ‘Is there anything we can do?’ she asked. ‘Anything to help?’

  He shook his head. ‘Look after the hold for me.’

  ***

  Both Kesta and Tantony were ushered from the room reluctantly and stopped just outside the Raven Tower.

  ‘Are you all right?’ she asked him carefully.

  Tantony took in a deep breath. ‘This is all way above my head; I’m just a warrior.’

  ‘You are not just anything, Tantony,’ she said sternly. ‘Do you want to come up and eat with us this evening? I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.’

  She could see the emotions play across his face as he considered his answer.

  ‘No, I’d better not. Let me know as soon as you hear anything though.’

  ‘Of course; you too.’

  Tantony nodded and then strode away with his slightly awkward gait.

  Kesta went to find Rosa and Catya; they were at the herb beds watering the small plants with buckets and dippers.

  ‘Am I going to have to teach you heathens how irrigation works?’ She gave an exaggerated sigh.

  Rosa looked up and a spark of mischief lit her eyes. She swung the dipper toward Kesta, splashing her with cold water.

  ‘Like that?’ Rosa asked innocently.

  Kesta’s face lit into a delighted smile. She swooped and grabbed up Catya’s bucket. Rosa gave a squeal and snatching up her long skirt set off at a run across the ward.

  ‘After her!’ Kesta yelled.

  Catya, eyes wide but mouth smiling, picked up Rosa’s discarded bucket, and they ran after the fleeing woman. It didn’t take them long to catch her and hurl their water, most of it falling short but enough catching Rosa to soak the back of her skirts.

  ‘Hey! Two against one, that ain’t fair!’

  The three of them turned around to see Reetha and some of the other woman watching from the vegetable beds.

  ‘After them, girls!’ The cook raised her arm like a chieftain ordering a charge.

  ‘To the well!’ Kesta shouted to Catya and the two of them set off at once toward the well while the other women tried to head them off. ‘Truce!’ She called out as they all came to a halt just a few feet from it. ‘Truce until we fill the buckets?’

  The woman all looked at each other and nodded. They formed an orderly queue, each filling their bucket in silence other than the occasional laugh or giggle. Then they all stood back, each watching the others to see who dared throw first, the hold women a little nervous now.

  ‘Get them!’ Rosa yelled from behind them.

  With a shriek Catya threw her water and the other women all followed, within seconds all of them were soaked through and their buckets empty. Of all of them it seemed that Rosa had actually come off best. She stood grinning, then her face fell.

  ‘What in the name of the Gods?’

  They looked toward the keep and saw Tantony watching them with two grinning warriors just behind him.

  Kesta raised her chin imperiously. ‘Just watering the plants, Merkis.’ She strode past them, swinging her empty bucket. The other women followed her in a line, Rosa coming last with a blush on her cheeks.

  When they’d all passed, Tantony gave a low chuckle and shook his head.

  ***

  Kesta found herself unable to eat but pushed her food around on her plate. Rosa and Catya did their best to distract her, but she couldn’t bury her concern, or her hope.

  ‘What’s worrying you?’ Rosa asked gently. ‘Are you allowed to say?’

  Kesta looked at Catya and then at her, shaking her head. ‘Jorrun is putting himself in danger tonight to try to save us.’

  Catya sat up straight.

  ‘You are concerned for him?’ Rosa tried to hide her surprise. ‘I know that you have begun to change your opinion of hi—’

  ‘I
would be concerned for anyone.’ Kesta closed her eyes and winced. ‘I’m sorry, Rosa, I didn’t mean to snap.’ She looked up at the older woman. ‘My opinion of him has changed very much.’

  ‘Oh.’ Rosa looked down at the table and then back up. ‘That’s good.’

  Was it? Kesta took a sip of wine to avoid answering. She didn’t want to like him, that was the truth of it, what she wanted was to go home.

  ‘I’m going to bed.’ She stood up and forced a smile. ‘I’m sorry to be such miserable company.’

  ‘Not at all.’ Rosa frowned.

  ‘Do you need anything?’ Catya looked almost tearful.

  ‘No, thank you, Catya.’ She bent down to give the girl a hug. ‘It will all be fine.’

  But would it? She went straight to the window as soon as she reached her room and looked across to the Raven Tower. Light flickered behind the glass pane, but no beckoning candle invited her over. She sat on the window ledge as the light faded and stars began to appear beyond the slow-moving clouds. When her back became too stiff, she paced her room and stretched her muscles, returning to sit and watch the light across the ward. She was just beginning to nod off when a movement caught her eye. She sat up and looking across to the window saw a bright light dart swiftly past the window several times. Then it winked out, and she jumped to her feet.

  Seconds later the low fire in her room burst upward, sparks flying across the carpet as Azrael came flying out.

  ‘They have him! Kessta! They have him!’

  Chapter Fourteen

  Dia: Fulmer Isle

  Dia looked up at the dying sun and wrapped her arms tightly about herself. They would be burying Siphenna now at Otter Hold, returning her body to the earth. She stood up and brushed the dirt from her trousers.

  ‘Well?’ Arrus demanded.

  Doroquael hovered before them.

  Four days they’d been tracking the necromancer, enough time to circle Fulmer island more than once, yet he eluded them. Still, Doroquael had allowed her to speak to her daughter and her words had brought her comfort and new determination.

  ‘Kesta is well,’ she reassured her husband. ‘The Dark Man hasn’t harmed her, and she believes he’ll let her come home in time.’

  Arrus’s eyes darkened with a frown. ‘We have no reason to trust him.’

  ‘And yet no reason not to. Kesta has given me some useful information. The necromancers wear talismans that hide them from the knowing of walkers, just like their dead men, yet they are vulnerable to it if we touch them.’

  ‘As you discovered,’ he cut in proudly.

  ‘But that doesn’t help us find him.’

  ‘No.’ Arrus looked around at their camp. Heara was out scouting and Shaherra was taking a moment to rest and get some sleep. They had twelve warriors with them from both Fulmer and Otter holds as well as the walkers Larissa and Everlyn. Merkis Vilnue had insisted on coming with them with two of his men; Arrus eyed him warily.

  ‘We should get some sleep.’ Dia nudged him.

  He looked at her and gave a snort of a laugh. ‘You mean pretend to sleep. I’ll get no rest until that sorcerer is dead and I know you won’t.’

  He knew her too well for her to deny it. Even so she lay down on her blanket and he settled beside her, lending her his warmth. Despite her anxiety she did eventually drift off. She dreamt of Siphenna, lost in a landscape of fire. She dreamt of her daughter in a tower so high the stairs went on forever.

  She awoke not long before dawn as urgent voices intruded into her dreams. Moving Arrus’s arm she sat up and saw that Heara had returned and was kneeling beside her twin. The two of them noticed that Dia was awake and beckoned her over.

  ‘I have some tracks at last.’ Heara spoke quietly. ‘This sorcerer knows what he’s doing. He’s been following the streams and river to hide his tracks but last night he struck twice to increase his dead warriors and supply himself with food. He’ll not be able to hide now. He has a head start on us, but I’d say that he’s heading south for Eagle Hold.’

  A sharp stab of fear went through Dia. She reached out to call to her gulls that had been following and acting as scouts. Two came down to land on the edges of the camp.

  ‘I’ll warn them,’ she said. ‘Who … who did we lose?’

  Heara closed her eyes and drew in a breath. ‘Cygnet farm and the smallholding at River Fork.’

  ‘There were at least four families there!’ Shaherra said in horror.

  ‘Survivors?’ Dia forced herself to ask.

  Heara shook her head.

  Dia shot to her feet, her teeth clenched. ‘Up! Everyone up! Our enemy is sighted! We move in five minutes!’

  It took them a little more than five minutes to pack up and be ready, but not much more. No one spoke as Heara led them toward the stream. She didn’t follow it but took them swiftly south-east toward where she’d last left their enemies’ tracks. Dia felt a coward for her relief that she wouldn’t have to see the places in which her people had been slaughtered. The responsibility was hers and she would have to live with the guilt of her failure. When the sun rose, to her it seemed to bring little colour, the song of the birds held no joy. The wind was cold, and the emotions of her companions were like sharp needles.

  She shivered and closed down her knowing.

  Larissa and Everlyn stepped up beside her, each woman placing a hand on her shoulder. They said nothing but Dia let her eyes water, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out very slowly. She nodded her thanks. Grief and despair had their place, but it would not serve them now.

  They had been travelling nearly two hours when Heara asked them to stop and gestured for her twin to come and look with her. Dia waited impatiently while the two scouts examined the ground. They didn’t look happy with what they’d found.

  ‘They’re at least half a day ahead of us,’ Heara called back. ‘We’ll have to pick up our pace if we’re to catch them before they get to Eagle Hold.’

  ‘Would they take on a hold with so few of them, some of them …’ Merkis Vilnue looked around at the faces of the people of the Fulmers. ‘Some of them just children?’

  ‘He can increase the size of his force still, as he goes,’ Arrus growled. ‘Word has gone out but not everyone will have been reached or have heeded.’

  ‘Let me go ahead!’ Doroquael bobbed into the space between Dia and the twins. ‘I am fasster! If I get ahead of the necromansser I can send as many as I can ssouth to Eagle Hold.’

  ‘They’d be terrified, a spirit appearing!’ Larissa warned.

  ‘But they would flee.’ Dia felt some hope return. ‘Yes, Doroquael, warn as many as you can; but don’t go near the necromancer!’

  The drake turned blue and then bright yellow. ‘No! No trap for Doroquael!’ Then he was away faster than a swift.

  ‘Come on, this isn’t making time.’ Dia started walking, not waiting to see if the others were ready to follow. She caught up with the twins and they set off ahead at a jog, stopping to study the ground now and again.

  They rested briefly only four times before the day began to slip away toward evening; disappointment and frustration growing as they seemed to gain very little ground. The first home they came to had shown signs of slaughter, no bodies remaining but for two goats that had been ripped apart. The other homes they came to were empty, the animals turned loose or taken with the fleeing people. Dia silently thanked the fire-spirit.

  Shortly before night fell one of her gulls found them, shrieking down at them before landing clumsily on Dia’s shoulder. Arrus automatically dug in his bag to find food for it. Dia called up her knowing and reached up a hand to touch its chest.

  ‘Show me.’

  Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes flew open wide as the gull pushed images toward her of an abhorrent group erratically moving across meadowland. She counted the dead creatures in the bird’s memory. She retched when she saw that the smallest of them couldn’t have been more than four years old. The gull flapped and squawked
before she gave it a push off her shoulder, concerned it would accidentally catch her in the eye. She leant forward with her hands on her knees, sucking in clean, cold air.

  ‘Dia?’ Arrus threw the food and put a hand on her hip. ‘What is it?’

  ‘They are moving out in the open.’ She straightened up but took hold of Arrus’ arm to steady herself, shaking her head to try to displace the image the gull had given her. ‘They are twenty-nine in total. Twenty-eight of our people murdered and turned into monsters.’

  ‘Did you see where?’ Heara asked.

  ‘Meadowland.’ She looked up at her friend. ‘They are still north of the forest that surrounds Eagle Hold.’

  ‘We go on.’ Arrus turned to address the others. ‘They probably won’t stop, and neither will we. We can catch them yet!’

  With renewed energy they left the central forest of Fulmer Isle just as the world turned them away from the touch of the sun. Dia was aware that she was letting her body run on adrenaline and forced herself to eat on the move and give herself some real fuel. She spotted a light in the distance and at first thought it was a lantern in a window, it grew larger and larger, its brightness almost blinding.

  Several warriors drew swords but Dia waved a hand at them. ‘It’s Doroquael!’

  The fire-spirit darted around them all twice as though to reassure himself they were all still there and safe, then stopped to hover before Dia and Arrus.

  ‘You are two miless from him! He has stopped to resst and called on poor Tyrenell to demand information about your hold.’

  ‘Spirit I told you not to go near him.’ Dia admonished.

  ‘Doroquael knowsss!’ He dipped in shame. ‘But Tyrenell took a moment to call out for help while he wass out of the trap! Relta iss the name of our enemy. He thinkss he will gather more dead in the homes outsside the hold. He doessn’t know that Dia and Doroquael have warned them and the homes are empty.’

  ‘Blessed spirit.’ Dia reached out a hand to touch it, then recoiled, realising her foolish error. She turned to the others. ‘You heard him, we’re gaining, and he’ll find himself trapped between the hold and us.’