Servant: The Dark God Book 1

by John D. Brown

  “Put the bow down,” she whispered. “Put your arm around me.”

  He was frozen, clenching his weapon.

  “I am your girl from Koramtown,” she whispered urgently. “I’m visiting.”

  Something rustled along the outside of the house. Talen turned to the sound, his bow still clenched in his hand.

  Sugar raised his free hand to her ribs.

  “I’m Lily,” she said.

  “What?”

  “Lily,” she repeated. “The daughter of Ham, a farmer, living just the other side—”

  A man came to the door. Another cast a shadow by the open shutter.

  Sugar immediately dipped her mouth to meet Talen’s. She’d kissed boys before. None of the Mokaddians in her village, but boys in Koramtown. Her mother had made sure they travelled to Koramtown regularly, more often this last year since Sugar was soon to be of age for marriage negotiations. She closed her eyes and cupped his head with her free, flour-dusted hand.

  Talen sat stiff as a log, stiff as a piece of furniture. She opened her eyes and found him staring at her, his eyeballs big as her face. It was like finding a large caterpillar on the end of your nose.

  More men gathered outside the door.

  “The bow,” she said mid-kiss, “drop the bow.” His mouth was parted in shock, frozen open like the stone of a statue. She had stolen her share of kisses, and this one wouldn’t fool anybody. She flicked the tip of her tongue inside his mouth. Maybe that would bring him round.

  The bow and arrows clattered to the floor. And to Talen’s credit he tried to move his lips. They were dry, and the whole thing smelled of the morning’s sausage, but he acted. Of course, she didn’t think either of their performances would be enough.

  Someone tried to force the door.

  Then a man stepped out in front of the window with his own bow drawn. “You there,” he said. “Open that door!”

  Talen shot up like a flushed animal and dumped Sugar to the floor. She was still getting up when he swung the door wide.

  Three men pushed in, weapons bristling. A young one in front with the half his teeth missing and two older men behind. Before Sugar could move, the young one stuck the point of his sword inches from Talen’s neck. “You,” he said. “Where’s your father?”

  “He was summoned to Whitecliff,” said Talen.

  “We should have known your family would cause problems,” he said.

  A man with eyes like ice appeared behind the three that stood in the doorway. “Put the sword down,” he said.

  Sugar did not know him, but from his clothing, she suspected he was the Bailiff.

  “Talen,” he said. “I told your da to order the Koramites in the district. I wanted them calm. Instead, I get reports of all sorts of things happening here last night.”

  Sugar froze. There had been people in the woods. Had someone seen Talen rousting them out from underneath the old house? And what if Talen decided to turn on her and Legs? He was half-convinced she was sleth already.

  It had been a mistake to stay. She should have taken Legs and run. They could have hidden in the woods somewhere until dark fell. Now it was too late.

  “Why did you have to provoke the Fir-Noy?” asked the Bailiff.

  “I—”

  He narrowed his eyes at Sugar. “And who’s this?”

  “Nobody,” said Talen.

  “Nobody?” asked the Bailiff.

  “Zu,” said Sugar, “I’m Lily from Koramtown.”

  “And why did you bar the door in the middle of the morning?”

  Talen said nothing, just stood there with his mouth open.

  “We . . .” said Sugar and looked down. That’s what she supposed someone caught in a forbidden embrace would do. She hoped she hadn’t hung her head too quickly.

  “Speak up!” said the Bailiff.

  “We were,” Talen said. He looked like he’d swallowed a chicken whole. “Sporting.”

  “Boys play while the father is away, eh?” said the Bailiff. He shook his head and looked around the room. “You and your altercations with those Fir-Noy armsmen have caused me a bit of work. I’ve been ordered by the Shoka lords to conduct a personal search of every Koramite homestead in my district.”

  “I am sorry, Zu,” said Talen.

  “Look at me,” said the Bailiff. “What are you hiding?”

  Talen’s eyes were wide with fear. If anyone was going to give them away, it would be him. “Nothing, Zu. Nothing.”

  The Bailiff shook his head. “Of course not.” He signaled to his men to search the house. “I need something to drink.”

  “We have no beer,” said Talen.

  “Then fetch me a draught of sweet water from your well,” said the Bailiff.

  Talen complied without hesitation, leaving Sugar alone with the men. One of the Bailiff’s men stood on the far side of the room opening cupboards. She could hear the second upstairs and the third in the back room and still others out in the yard. The Bailiff himself paced about the room and then noticed the cellar door.

  “Girl,” he said. “Open this up.” Then he drew his sword and stepped back.

  “You do not need to worry, Zu,” she said, indicating his sword. “I will gladly open the door, but nothing is down there. Only a few cabbages and potatoes. I saw them myself this morning.”

  “Oh, is that the trysting spot for Koramite youth?” The Bailiff shook his head. “I thought Talen was being prepared for a Mokaddian marriage.” He shook his head. “I expected more of Hogan.”

  Sugar looked down. Was that why he’d been so stiff? She walked over to the door, hoping Legs had heard the men and had hidden in the small cubby they’d made.

  “Get a light,” he said.

  “Yes, Zu,” she said, then moved to the other side of the room to fetch a lamp.

  The man searching this end of the main room had moved to barrels and was poking his sword deep into barrels of beans and barley. What he expected to find there she could not guess.

  Sugar found one of Zu Hogan’s lamps and the oil jar. She poured a bit into the lamp. Then she took it to the fire, retrieved an ember with some small tongs, held it close and began to blow.

  “I don’t understand why a girl from Koramtown would risk hunters, alone it seems, to come all the way up here.”

  Sugar blew once more and the wick caught fire. “I came early yesterday,” she said. “News of the sleth had not yet arrived.” Then she pulled up the cellar door.

  He pointed at the stair with his sword, indicating she should go first.

  Sugar nodded and began to descend the stairs a few steps. As she did, her light illuminated the room below and the fact that while Legs had crawled into the cubby, he had not hidden his foot. It, along with the end of his trousers, was plain to see.

  The Bailiff positioned himself above to get a clearer view of the cellar.

  Sugar switched the lamp to her other hand, moving it so that it cast a shadow over Legs.

  “Lift it higher,” said the Bailiff. “I can’t see.”

  “Yes, Zu.” Her mind raced. What could she do? What lie could she tell him?

  None came to her mind.

  She shifted the lamp.

  “Ho,” boomed Zu Hogan from the doorway. “What is this?”

  The Bailiff turned, and Sugar saw her chance. She quickly descended the remaining steps and hurried to stand in front of Leg’s foot. She held her lamp out as if she were trying to give the room its best possible illumination.

  “What kind of a lunatic challenges Fir-Noy armsmen?” asked the Bailiff.

  Zu Hogan put his hands on his hips. “The same kind that challenges Bone-faced rot.” Something was wrong with Zu Hogan’s voice. It was as raspy as sand.

  “That’s all good and fine,” said the Bailiff, “but you’ve put me in a position. The Fir-Noy want your head.”

  “We have far greater things than Fir-Noy honor to worry about,” said Zu Hogan. “The woman held in Whitecliff, she’s gone.”
/>   “Gone?”

  “Stolen out of the tower by a creature that tore Droz and his whole guard apart like they were puppets.”

  The Bailiff stood stunned. “Goh,” he finally said. “Her creation, then, come to free her. Was it sent by her hatchlings?”

  “This isn’t the creation of babes,” Hogan said. “We don’t know where it came from or whence it bore her. The dogs can’t track it.”

  Sugar slumped. There was no doubt about Mother now. She wondered what kind of creature it was that had rescued her, but she couldn’t imagine it. She couldn’t picture her mother as sleth any more than she could picture her as a fish.

  She looked up at the Bailiff and Zu Hogan standing at the top of the stairs, wondering if Zu Hogan was now going to turn her in.

  The Bailiff cursed. “That woman is probably all safely tucked away now in some wicked bolt hole.” He shook his head, then looked at Hogan. “This does not bode well for your people.”

  “It does not bode well for any of us,” Zu Hogan said. “Because when you do find them, even if you take one hundred men, it won’t be enough. The creature was shot through with arrows and stabbed with spears. Captain Argoth delivered a blow that would have beheaded a horse, which did nothing to it. Then the ballista men shot a dart and smote the beast squarely in the chest, but it still somehow managed to vanish. It cannot be harmed by normal means.”

  The Bailiff looked down at Sugar, scanned the cellar.

  “What’s more,” said Hogan, “if it’s taken her, then I suspect it has also found the two hatchlings that escaped.”

  The Bailiff nodded. “We’re done here.” Then he walked back to the front of the house, called his men off, and walked outside.

  A wave of relief washed over Sugar.

  A few moments later the Bailiff and his men were walking out of the yard.

  Zu Hogan had lied for her and Legs! And in the same breath assumed a monstrous risk, may the Six bless him!

  Sugar whispered to Legs to stay put, and then she walked back up the stairs. Hogan, Talen, and Nettle stood out in the yard. She exited the house and joined them to watch the Bailiff and his men walk back to the woods where they’d tied their horses.

  “Do you think he suspects?” asked Nettle.

  “No,” said Zu Hogan. “Although I do wonder how he missed marking Sugar.”

  “We created a ruse,” said Talen.

  “Oh?”

  “We were . . .”

  “Yes?”

  “Sporting,” finished Sugar.

  Nettle raised an eyebrow, but Zu Hogan looked down at her with a sad smile. His face was bruised. He’d clearly been in a fight. “Purity’s daughter indeed,” he rasped.

  What that meant, she could not tell. But she could guess what he was thinking. Her mother was a monster. Right now he had to be wondering how much the mother taught the daughter. But why would he protect the child of a monster?

  Because Mother wasn’t a monster. There had to be an explanation if she could talk to her.

  * * *

  About a quarter mile down the road from Hogan’s place, the Bailiff halted the men. Prunes reined in his horse with the rest of them.

  “I’ve been commanded to post a watch on Hogan,” said the Bailiff. “So two of you are going to stay behind. Prunes, you and Gid will have the first day. I’ll send someone to relieve you in the morning.”

  That was just Prunes’ luck. He gets an opportunity to sleep, but he has to do it with that garlic-eater at his side. Still, some rest was better than none at all. Prunes simply nodded, then peeled his horse from the column, Gid following behind.

  They hobbled their horses in a small glen on the far side of the hill and began hiking to find the right position to watch the Koramite.

  A few steps up the slope and Gid began to sing under his breath. “A lady green with lips so wide, I could not help but kiss her. But when I’d had my fill of tongue, I put her in the roaster.”

  “Will you shut up,” said Prunes.

  “They’re not going to hear us.”

  “I don’t care if they do hear us. It’s your singing I don’t want to hear.”

  “I think that Hogan knows something,” Gid said.

  “Idiot, we’re not going to find anything here.”

  “How do you mean?”

  “This is Captain Argoth’s brother-in-law. We’re not going to find anything here but some rest. And that’s what I intend to take. And that is also why you’re going to keep those lips shut.”

  “You don’t know what loyalties flow in that Koramite’s veins,” said Gid. “In fact, for a Koramite on the run, this might be the very best place to hide.”

  “See,” said Prunes, “that’s what comes of eating too much garlic. Your brain gets the vapors.”

  “It’s got nothing to do with what I eat.”

  “Stinking vapors of the mind,” said Prunes.

  Gid made a rude gesture, but Prunes ignored it.

  Soon they found an outcropping of rock that gave clear view of the farm, then positioned themselves just behind the brush line.

  As soon as they sat down, Gid took out a whetstone and began sharpening his knife.

  Prunes shook his head. Stupid eager—that’s what Gid was. If sleth did indeed pay the Koramite a visit, then they’d need more than knives. Had Gid not heard the Koramite’s reports of that creature in Whitecliff? They gave Prunes the shivers. And if that thing showed up here, the best thing to do would be to run. Run or hide under a rock. Then Prunes realized he’d sat in the wrong place. “You need to sit over here,” said Prunes.

  “Why?”

  “Because that places me upwind of your stinking carcass.”

  But Gid gave him a look that said he wasn’t moving. After a few moments, Prunes sighed in irritation. The man was an affliction, but it wasn’t worth a battle. He picked himself up and found a better spot. “You’ve got first watch,” said Prunes. “If I catch you sleeping, you’re going to dance to a hard pipe.”

  Gid grunted. “And who do you think will be my partner?”

  But Prunes had already lain back and closed his eyes and wasn’t even going to consider giving Gid an answer.

  19

  Summons

  TALEN STOOD IN the house listening to Da relate the tale of what had happened the night before at the fortress in Whitecliff. Da’s face was bruised. His throat was worse where the creature had throttled him. It looked like he wore a blue and purple collar. Da finished his tale, his voice broken.

  They all stood in silence. Talen glanced at the others. If they weren’t going to say it, he would. And he didn’t care that the boy and the girl were standing right here with them. “The evidence, it appears, is overwhelming. The Fir-Noy were not making this rot up.”

  Earlier, he hadn’t known what to do. He and Nettle had discussed the situation from the moment the girl and boy had gone down into the cellar last night until the sun rose. They could give the girl and boy the benefit of the doubt, as it seemed Da, River, and Ke were willing to do, and assume huge risks. They could distract the two until Nettle could call the authorities to come collect them. Or they could kill them. Furthermore, if they were sleth and there was a nest of them out there, then anyone who killed the boy and girl could expect the same retribution that was visited upon the village of Plum. He’d sided with River, and decided to trust her good sense. But it was clear now that had been the wrong choice entirely.

  He should have never let her sit in his lap. Never let her kiss him. Lords, her tongue . . .

  Surely at any moment now he’d feel a shift of some kind as some dark trap closed about his soul. He could detect no change in himself, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t worked some kind of magic upon him with her touch. How could you kiss a sleth child and not be changed?

  It was obvious there were now only two options—kill them or bring a hunt. And he preferred someone else face the ire of the nest. “It’s time to give them up,” said Talen.

  �
�No,” Da said, his voice all hoarse and broken. “That will never happen.”

  How could Da stand there with that massive bruise on his face and say that? Perhaps he was trying to tell Talen it was foolish to talk about such things in front of the boy and girl.

  “River and Ke will be back soon enough,” Da said. “We’re going to keep them safe.”

  Talen leaned close to his father’s ear. “I can get out and bring help,” he whispered.

  “No, son. You’ll do no such thing.”

  “You want them here? With that woman’s beast looking for them?”

  “We don’t know what that thing was,” said Da.

  “Who cares what it was? It rescued her. That’s all we need to know.”

  “That is not all we need to know.”

  It was obvious from the events at Whitecliff that there were powerful masters ruling this nest of sleth. Had they gotten to Da? Had they themselves delivered the boy and girl here?

  It was terrible to contemplate, but he wanted to know the situation. “You can tell me,” said Talen.

  “No, I can’t. Not right now.”

  Which meant Da was involved in some way. “Have you been threatened by other members of this nest?”

  “Son,” said Da. “Trust me.”

  “Trust me,” Talen said. “If the masters of this nest have something hanging over us, I want to know. I want to help.”

  “There are no masters,” said Da. “No threats. This is very simple. Sugar and Legs are innocent of any offense.”

  “Did that monster happen to hit you in the head?”

  Da sighed.

  Talen glanced over at Nettle for some help, but Nettle looked as concerned as he was. He turned back to his father. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I don’t think you’re in your right mind. If they’re innocent, then let the Questioners absolve them.”

  “Talen,” Da said more forcefully. “You don’t know of what you speak. So keep your mouth shut.”

  Shut? When they had armsmen seeking their lives, a sleth on the loose, and the children of that sleth standing right there?

  “Please enlighten me, father. I can clearly see the troubles these two have cost us. And it doesn’t require a Lord’s Councilor to multiply such troubles across all the rest of our people. I do not understand why you did not to turn them in.”