Clearing the Web

by Cary J Lenehan

  I can see bone. The good thing is that the end of the tail has to be near to being severed and that will, at least, make it harder for the beast to manoeuvre. As well it is obvious, from the number of close encounters that we have had with the lashing tail just missing us, that Father Christopher’s prayers have been answered.

  The number of times that we have turned aside at the last moment, ducked or dodged and been missed is, well, miraculous. I owe real attention at services for at least a month out of gratitude.

  Maybe it is about time for me to pick a saint as my special patron. Bianca has a serious devotion to Saint Ursula, and swears that her saint had been instrumental in her revenge on the bandits. When this is over, I will think about it, but I don’t think that the virgin Saint is for me.

  The bad thing is that the dragon has nearly halved the distance to Mousehole. Will what we are doing work in time?

  Chapter LXV

  Stefan

  1st Undecim

  I have looked at the whole underbelly of the beast. There is no place that is vulnerable. Anything that may once have been a soft spot now has enough gems and gold embedded in it from the dragon sleeping on them that it is now armoured with treasure. He looked out from under and saw the archers firing.

  I should be able to safely fly out a little way, I hope. I have to look out for the dragon’s neck as it dodges around firing blasts of fire at arrows and archers, but that is fairly easy. There is my target. There…at the junction of wing and body on the right of the dragon, only visible if you are as close as I am and with time to look for it.

  There is a patch of skin that slowly moves in and out. It is just like one of the blood vessels on a person’s neck near their shoulder, only it is as big across as my whole body and pumps more slowly. It won’t be easy and I will get just one shot at this.

  Where is everyone? He looked around and then flew as fast as he could ahead of the dragon before turning around and heading back.

  I have Wrath over behind my back to give me the maximum swing. I need to time this right. As I fly at the beast, I will get just one slash with the sword and then I will hit the dragon with my saddle…hard. There is nowhere for me to dodge, and no other way to do it. I hope that I will survive the impact, but it should work, and my woman and my son may live. That is more important.

  Chapter LXVI

  Astrid

  1st Undecim

  “Basil!” Our luck has run out at the same time as we finally succeed in our attacks on the tail. My husband is the worst of our riders, and his fireball has hit the dragon and finally caused the tail to break, the same break has caused it to flop in a direction that was totally unexpected. There didn’t seem any force in the blow that hit him, but there does not need to be. He is dropping. I have him, so does Anahita. Can we wrestle him to the carpet? Thank God, it is rising. Hulagu is alive and alongside it.

  “He has taken a blow to the chest.” As if he needed to hear that.

  “He is far better than he was last time I had to cure him,” Christopher said to Theodule. “Hulagu, you have had enough rest. You can take over from him, but be more careful this time. Basil, I just need to do a plain cure on you this time. I want you to stay awake now,” and he started chanting.

  Chapter LXVII

  Stefan

  1st Undecim

  By Saint Michael, what was that roar? Can I still hear? That blast just missed me. No distractions. Add the momentum of my charge to my swing and damn the consequences. “For Bryony and Aneurin!”

  The sword struck the tough hide. It is like hitting a practice target of hay-stuffed linen clad in a suit of mail worn over really thick padding, rather than hitting a normal beast. It cuts through the throbbing place on the skin. I am able to twist and hit with the base of my saddle and now I am bathed in the hot and steaming gore of the dragon.

  I have it in my mouth. I was screaming something as I flew in, God alone knows what. That tastes foul. Coughing and spluttering, he struggled to see and to find his way clear.

  I am flying sideways over the body of the dragon, while spinning around like a God-damned top. I need to get clear before I become the unwitting target of one of my friends and so that I can see what I did. Did it work?

  Astrid

  They were flying back up from the priests on the carpet when the dragon gave a start. Something is pouring from the dragon. Could that be blood? It looks like a waterfall, a vast red waterfall. Has Stefan succeeded? Where is he? “Stop shooting. We could hit Stefan.”

  The dragon has stopped flying. It seems to have entered a glide and is just getting as much distance as it can. Perhaps it knows that it is doomed, but it still wants to savage the valley.

  She looked ahead of where she was now flying over the back of the beast. It might just still make the valley if it keeps going. Damn. We will still have to do something. But what else can we do? The dragon seems to be dying, but something is keeping it going single-mindedly. Surely, it is under some form of geas of control.

  Stefan

  Damn this blood in my eyes! That was Astrid I just went past. I should reappear. They might be holding fire because of me. He turned to join the others above the beast and pulled the ring off, keeping it tightly held in his left hand as he fumbled to open a pouch.

  Astrid

  We are all flying above the dragon now. Stefan is here. He is covered in blood. He looks like someone who has been inside a whale while it is being flensed. Now I know what to do, he is now safe, but the beast is still flying, just. She looked around.

  “The left wing, get above it! If it turns to take us, then it will fail in its glide. With its tail gone it is finding it hard to steer. We only need a bit more. Fire everything you have left.”

  The others acknowledged her words by wheeling and taking places only two hands of paces away from the wing, and pouring everything they still had onto it. They are starting with the rest of the molotails. The stench of burning flesh and whatever is in molotails fills the nostrils. Now for the crackle of lightning or the ‘whoosh’ of fireballs, depending on what wands people have left.

  Damn it. It is dying and still it draws nearer and nearer to the valley. Whoever or whatever is controlling it is going to make its death count. The dragon now is completely ignoring us.

  Astrid looked ahead. I can make out Bryony on the watch point preparing to add her almost useless fire to what we are already pouring into the flying behemoth. She looked around. The archers have switched back to bows but I am out of everything. “Find a joint and concentrate on it. Stefan can you do something with that sword again?”

  Stefan

  “I can.” If there was a blood vessel on one side, it should be there on the other as well. Out with Wrath again; it is bloody in my scabbard and in my hand.

  He flew hard and, confident that it would be there as he flew over the wing, swung low down from his saddle. Again, he had swung well, and the blood cascaded out. It is a shallower wound, but this time there is more effect. Add it to what the other fliers have already done to the wing it is enough. There is a sound like a banshee’s wail, only it is a deep bass banshee, and at a volume that makes my head ring in pain. Its left wing is giving way and folding in on itself.

  I can see Bryony standing there shooting. Now the beast is plummeting to the left, hitting the ground with a sound like the end of the world. First the tip of a wing hits the ground, then the body of the beast, and then the second wing drapes over the body. The tip of it comes down nearly reaching the road below. Cliffs are falling. Bryony has dropped her bow and is on her knees. We will live. We will all live.

  Now it is silent, for a moment. A chorus of bush birds are letting their concern be heard. There is the sound of falling trees echoing around.

  My last blow, or maybe the previous one, was fatal. Maybe the beast was already dead, and its joints
were locked, and the last blow just unlocked the wing. Who knows? Who cares? The dragon, our greatest fear, and the thing that has been preventing us from thinking further ahead, now lies dead in a heap on the cliffs outside the village.

  Bryony

  I think that is Stefan who did that…the bloody figure on a saddle with a sword waving in the air and yelling something. I fired one shot and that is all. I nearly fell off the cliff when it struck.

  Now, ahead of me I can see its open eyes, yellow rather than a metallic gold and slitted like those of a cat. They are open and staring, gradually glazing over as the last remnants of life leave them. In death, it forms a vast mound on top of the cliff above the road. Its skeleton will stay in place there to serve as an entrance marker to the valley for generations to come.

  Astrid

  We did it! By Saint Michael, by Saint George, we did it. Astrid looped her saddle around as she flew. Each of the others is doing something similar. We are all alive, us, our children, even the chickens. My head is ringing from that last cry and I cannot hear properly, but I can still see.

  A vast weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and what is more, I have just led a war party on my own and triumphed. It may have been due to luck and good preparation over months, but the skald’s tales will talk about me. I will make sure of it. She looked to the side at the bloody figure beside her… And of Stefan of course. She grinned and turned to look for her husband back near the carpet. I wonder if we can get someone to look after the babies tonight.

  A triumphant return, and why does Rani look like that? What haven’t we done? “We already have lots of wealth,” said Rani to the riders, “but Lakshmi and Harald have pointed out to me that the dragon will have even more in its cave. While we may not need what is there, if we do not stake our claim on it, and at least take the choicest pieces, then we will lose prestige in the area. That fight may even have been seen by the Bear Folk in the swamp. We now need to take the rewards. Are you able to fly, or do you want someone who was not in the fight to do so?”

  Astrid paused. Rani is actually asking my opinion. The miracles continue. “Let Stefan, Basil and Hulagu wash and put on clean clothes. We will have something to eat and drink and others can fetch us a new supply of arrows while we do that. The ones who killed the beast should have the first reward, but one of you mages should take Theodule or Christopher’s place on the carpet. We have no magic left and who knows what will be there. We will leave behind everything but the bare minimum to carry back as much as we can.”

  “So let it be;” said Rani. She looked at Theodora. “You may have more mana, but I am better in a fight without preparation. I will go.” Theodora nodded.

  Rani

  We could not have left it much longer. Already, I can see a large group of Dwarves have set out from Dwarvenholme, and those who were on the road have turned aside and are already at the base of the Mountain of the Dragon. It is still a long climb for them.

  They were to be disappointed, at least in part. By the time the first Dwarves reached the huge cave that the dragon had taken and then modified for its own purposes, the saddles had made three trips to the cave, changing riders after the first. The carpet had made two trips.

  Even without counting what was buried in the hide of the dragon, they had brought back to the valley far more treasure than they had obtained from Dwarvenholme. They still left behind as much or more than they had left in the Dwarven city. In the end, they had needed to use picks to do it; mining huge lumps of gold and gems as they did, but the bed of the vast beast had lost its top layers of compressed and almost unrecognisable plunder into the ever-growing treasury of the Mice.

  Cast

  Aelfgifu: 8 year old adopted daughter of Eleanor and Robin.

  Aine: A woman from The Swamp, she is now the brewer and distiller for Mousehole. Marries Aaron.

  Amos: A slaver from the Brotherhood, brother of Matthias, executed at Mousehole.

  Anahita of the Axe-beaks: Khitan girl from Mousehole and Hulagu’s köle, she is the mother of Bũrãn.

  Anastasius, Father: Chief Orthodox priest for Evilhalt.

  Aneurin ap Stefan: Son of Bryony and Stefan.

  Astrid Tostisdottir (the Cat): A part-Kharl girl from Wolfneck, in the far north of The Land. She is married to Basil. Her children are Freya Astridsdottir, ‘the Kitten’ and Georgiou Akritas. She is attractive, but for a strong jaw & lengthened incisors. Astrid is tall and statuesque, with pale blonde hair and dark green eyes. She can lap up drinks & purrs when having sex.

  Ayesha: A ghazi or assassin of the Caliphate assigned by a Princess to guard Theodora. She is one of the rare women of that culture who is allowed independence and has received an education at Misr-al-Mãr as a ghazi (holy warrior). She is a minor daughter of Hãritha, the Sheik of Yãqũsa.

  Aziz (Azizsevgili or Brave Lover): Hobgoblin captured during the attack on Mousehole. He falls in love with Verily and converts to the Orthodox faith and marries Verily. Their sons are Saglamruh (Strong Spirit) and Sunmak (Gift). His former name is Saygaanzaamrat (Plundered Emerald).

  Barton Felders: Younger brother of Loudon. They sold Maria to the Brotherhood slavers.

  Basil Akritas or Kutsulbalik (nickname from great-grandfather): Is a mostly human (one sixteenth Kharl) who appears as a youth just out of his apprenticeship (although he is ten years older). He is an experienced secret police officer of Darkreach. He comes from Southpoint from a military family and is now married to Astrid and living in Mousehole assigned to guard Theodora by Hrothnog.

  Basil Tornikes: Metropolitan of the North at Greensin.

  Bianca: A foundling from Trekvarna now living in Mousehole and married to Father Christopher. Their children are Rosa and Francesco. She can smell treachery.

  Bianca Fletcher: Daughter of Robin and Eleanor.

  Bilqĩs: A tiny girl, from a trade background in the Caliphate, she now lives in Mousehole as an apprentice mage. She has some ability as a glassblower.

  Bjarni the Talker: Guard commander and Greeter for Kharlsbane.

  Bjorn Strikefast: Dwarven Baron of Ironcone in the South-West Mountains.

  Bryony verch Daffyd: A freckled red-head from Rising Mud in the Swamp. Her husband (Conan) and father were killed at her wedding and she was brought to Mousehole. She now lives with Stefan and her son is Aneurin ap Stefan.

  Bũrãn of the Dire Wolves: The daughter of Anahita of the Axe-beaks and Hulagu.

  Candidas: An animal handler for Carausius from his second trip on. He is also a Darkreach agent and will be marrying Theodora Lígo.

  Canute Jakubsen: A Dwarven sentry.

  Carausius Holobolus: Darkreach trader in fabric, spices or anything else. His guards are Karas & Festus, animal handler is Candidas, his wife is Theodora and his daughter is Theodora Lígo.

  Christopher Palamas, Father: The chief Orthodox priest for Mousehole and husband of Bianca. Their children are Rosa and Francesco. He is a very holy, but diplomatic, man and a dedicated healer.

  Cnut Stonecleaver: Dwarven Baron of North Hole in the Northern Mountains.

  Danelis: From Warkworth, she now lives in Mousehole where she usually helps Harald in the mine. She also helps on the farm. She has a minor ability with telekinesis and is short with silver-coloured hair.

  Dar Lagrange: An ancient philosopher.

  Dharmal: Dwarf and leader of the brigands who attack Bianca’s caravan. He ruled Mousehole and acted as the main servant of the Masters in The Land. He was executed after the Mice overturned him.

  Dulcie: From Bathmor in The Swamp. She is now the Mousehole carpenter and marries Jordan.

  Eleanor: A caravan guard from Topwin in Freehold she now lives in Mousehole and works as a jeweller. She is married to Robin Fletcher and is one of the first in the village to fall pregnant. They have adopted Aelfgifu, Gemma and Repent and have a daughter Bianca.

&nbs
p; Elizabeth: An orphan from Trekvarna in Freehold who now lives in Mousehole. She is a skilled musician and assistant brewer.

  Fãtima: She comes from an unknown background in the Caliphate. As Fatima bint al-Fa’r (Fatima, daughter of the Mouse) she marries Hrothnog as the Empress of Darkreach and Ambassador of the Mice.

  Fear the Lord Your God Thatcher: At 7 years old, she is the adopted daughter of Rani and Theodora.

  Festus: A part-Kharl & guard for Carausius, a Darkreach trader in spices etc.

  Fortunata: Dressmaker and embroiderer for Mousehole. She is the first wife of Norbert and her son is Valentine.

  Francesco Palamas: The son of Bianca and Christopher, twin brother to Rosa.

  Freya Astridsdottir: Twin sister of Georgios Akritas, daughter of Astrid and Basil. They were the first children born in Mousehole to live. Loves cats.

  Gemma: A 9 year old child, adopted daughter of Eleanor and Robin.

  George Pitt: Son of Lakshmi and Harald.

  Georgios Akritas: Twin brother of Freya Astridsdottir, daughter of Astrid and Basil. He is named after Basil’s father. They were the first children born in Mousehole to live. Good at fixing things.

  Giles Ploughman: A farmer at Mousehole. He is married to Naeve.

  Goditha: Sister to Robin Fletcher and married to Parminder. She is the mason of Mousehole and an apprentice mage. She is regarded as the father of Melissa Mason.

  Gregory of Brickshield: Militia commander for Evilhalt.

  Gurinder: An 11 year old child and sister of Parminder.

  Hagar: From a farming family outside Dimashq in the Caliphate, she lives in Mousehole as the village butcher.