by Julia Knight
The field swam in front of her eyes, but she could just make out that again Valguard battered at Hunter’s weak arm, drove the shield right into his shoulder, bringing a breathless shriek of pain from her. The pain filled him now, bloomed through him and took him over till there was nothing of the man left for her to feel but breathless, screaming agony locked away behind clenched teeth. No part of him it didn’t clutch at, didn’t twist and rend at his nerves. She was surprised he could stand, but stand he did, sweat pouring from his brow and a grimace of pure determination on his face.
The crowd screamed their displeasure as Valguard prepared to swing once more. He raised his arm and Hunter seized his opportunity. Hunter rammed into him with his shield, ignoring the pain that filled him, and almost knocked Valguard from his feet. At the same time Hunter brought his sword round at knee height.
Valguard leapt back barely in time, looking stunned that Hunter had managed even that with his shield arm as it was. Then he grinned and thrust his shield at Hunter’s once more, drove the rim of Hunter’s shield straight into the old site of the wound.
The crowd screamed in anger, spewed out the dark feeling towards Hunter and Hilde as they let loose twin shrieks of agony.
Ilfayne’s voice was right in her ear. “Hilde, it’s all right, Hilde please.” He pulled her up again, back to her feet, and she leant against his shoulder.
“Not, not natural. He’s cheating.” Had to be, because Hunter’s wound had never caused him this much pain even the dreadful day the bone had struck through his skin, had ripped nerves from their sockets and rendered his arm half useless. A broken shoulder couldn’t make pain radiate through her whole body, thrum in her muscles and jab every nerve ending. Not five years after it had healed.
And still Hunter pulled himself to unsteady feet. No one could doubt who had the upper hand. But Hunter wasn’t losing due to a lack of skill, but from a surfeit of pain. Of pain Hilde felt sure was aberrant.
Valguard lifted his sword and made ready to bring it down. Hilde had time to gasp “No!” and then a blinding flash of flame surrounded the two fighters. A stupendous roar ripped from the crowd. Shock, horror, disbelief. This was it. This was what she had come to warn Hunter against. And if she hadn’t been here, he would never even have been down on that field.
She looked wildly at Ilfayne and he knew her question before she could voice it.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t do it! I wouldn’t waste my energy on him.”
Everything pressed in on Hilde, the dark beast of whatever was in the crowd ground into her, tried to push her down through the floor. All the blood ran from her fingers, her face, her scalp, her brain. A wave of nausea washed over her, out and up from her stomach, and then she folded up, slid through Ilfayne’s surprised arms and fell to the floor.
Calling Oku
Nerinna almost couldn’t hear herself think for the uproar that followed Hunter’s use of magic, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to be able to think. Hunter a magic user. It was incomprehensible, but she couldn’t doubt the evidence of her eyes. Valguard had been right. The firestone on Hunter’s family braid had given off a flash of flame so bright she could still see it imprinted on the backs of her eyelids.
The crowd invaded the field, their mood ugly and many with weapons drawn, though Nerinna couldn’t have said quite who they were angrier with. Valguard dragged a stunned, disarmed Hunter up the steps and set his Disciples at the foot. Scuffles broke out and became more heated. One man aimed a dagger at a Disciple and was battered to the ground.
Ilfayne’s syrupy accent rang out over the rest of the noise. “If I don’t get a damn healer here in two minutes, I swear by Herjan’s bloody arse I’m going to fry someone’s eyes today!”
Hunter tried to make his way to the wizard but Valguard’s sword across his chest stopped him. Valguard motioned to four of his Disciples. They fell into place around the regent and pulled him away, down the steps at the back of the platform.
Valguard grabbed Nerinna’s arm and ushered her and Aran down the steps behind him. A shriek made her turn. Ilfayne was wearily struggling to gather up the girl and muttering furiously to himself, but that wasn’t where the noise had come from. She turned further and a man rushed towards them, his sword held high. His face was twisted and ugly with hate as he thrust his sword towards Valguard.
Aran pulled at her and Valguard thrust his shield in front of them both as a sword took the man through the back of the throat. Blood splashed her, warm and sticky, and Aran pulled her stumbling down the steps. A thick phalanx of guards surrounded them, but each of them cast odd looks at Valguard and pressed closer to her and Aran than maybe they needed to. What in the gods names was going on?
The guards got them through the roiling crowd and into the city, through teeming streets till they reached the citadel proper, and the Court. A chill ran up Nerinna’s backbone. It might have been designed to instil fear in those who crossed its threshold, with its imposing black doors and daunting prospect. But it was blessedly quiet in there, just their guards and the Disciples who ringed the walls and stood around Hunter. There seemed to be some sort of uneasy truce between them, for they shifted and glared at each other but made no overt moves. For now.
With a brief flash of soft silver light Ilfayne appeared, staggered into a guard and sat down hard, his arms full of Hilde. He pulled himself to his feet and hefted her more firmly into his arms.
With a cry of “Hilde!” Hunter tried to move forward but he was stopped with a rough blow of a sword hilt on the back of his head. He sagged to his knees, and then struggled up to his feet again. Blood dripped through his hair and onto the stone floor. His eyes promised something much more violent to Valguard.
“If he tries that again, kill him,” Valguard said.
Nerinna took a step forward and opened her mouth to protest, but a Disciple grabbed her arm and held a hand on his sword hilt. Another had hold of Aran, who looked sick and faint with shock.
With a glare at everyone who stared at him, Ilfayne strode towards a platform at the end of the room and laid Hilde on it. Her eyes flickered and she struggled to get up. Nerinna couldn’t tell if the deathly pallor of her skin was her normal pale tones or something different.
Ilfayne turned towards them. “What in the gods’ names do I have to do to get a healer round here?”
Valguard stepped forward, his sword still drawn. “What use would a healer be when she’ll hang next to Hunter before the sun has fully risen tomorrow?”
“Oh, I can assure you that won’t happen. I couldn’t give a rat’s arse what you do with him, but you will not touch her.”
Valguard stood his ground. “I’m Oku’s Prime Servant, I’m the word of the gods here. What I say something will happen in the name of Oku’s justice, it will happen.”
Ilfayne laughed then, a soft little sound that made Nerinna’s flesh creep. His fingers bloomed fire and with a sweep of his hand it erupted towards them. Heat washed over her skin and she took a step backwards. Aran moved in front of her, to shield her, bless him, but she didn’t need it. A bare inch from Valguard’s face the fire rushed up into a wall of flame before it exploded outwards and encased Valguard and Ilfayne in a flickering cage of fire.
“Prime Servant, my arse! Want to see something?” asked Ilfayne, his voice faint behind the crackling. The heat of the flames had sweat rolling from Nerinna’s skin, and all her clothes stuck to her, but it didn’t have any effect on the mage that she could see. Ilfayne rolled up his sleeve and some sort of dark mark sat there, some tattoo maybe, but she couldn’t make out what it was. “Do you know what this is?”
Valguard was visibly shaken but he managed a jerky nod. “Oku’s mark.”
“Correct! I’ve sworn to him in person. Hilde too. We stood before him and swore an eternity of service, and you tell me you’re his Prime Servant? You tell me you’ll hang her? I think not, I really do.”
Valguard began to stammer something but Ilfayne let the flames d
rop away to nothing and took another step forward. His dark eyes fixed on Valguard’s. “Thank you. You may carry on with whatever other charade you had in mind.” Ilfayne sketched a sardonic parody of a bow that made all his ornaments and bangles jingle before he stalked back to Hilde.
***
Every time Hilde raised her head, her mind swam and her stomach roiled, so she remained bent forward with her head between her knees. This wasn’t normal, not even after what she’d felt during the tourney. She hadn’t been dreaming awake, she had plenty of experience now of feeling large numbers of people, and though this one had been exceptionally strong, and still was, it wasn’t that which made her faint.
Ilfayne crouched down in front of her and laid his hand on hers. The warmth was good against her icy skin. “Are you all right now? What was it?”
She sat up carefully. The blood seemed to have come back to her face and hands now at least. “I don’t know, it was the crowd, as though everyone felt the same thing, only much, much stronger. Like it was alive. And Valguard, Valguard was cheating. I swear that wasn’t normal pain. And that’s the only way he’d have beaten Hunter, one arm or not. I could beat Valguard.”
“I think it best we get you out of here. Once you’re all right, we’re going.”
“But he arrested Hunter—”
“Hunter broke the law. What happens now isn’t up to us.”
“That wasn’t him, that was magic! You really think he’d wield it, even if he could? He’s always hated it.”
“Hilde, there are at least three other places we need to be right now, and I need to sleep. I need to sleep for a day or two, I shouldn’t go casting that soon after sorcery. I’ll be fit for nothing. You warned him. That’s what we came here to do. Whatever’s going on here, it’s not for us to do anything about it. It’s nothing to do with Mithotyn, it’s not our charge.”
“Bugger Mithotyn, it’s Hunter he’s going to hang! This is how it starts. First Hunter, then Regin.”
“How could anyone hurt Regin, when he’s already dead?”
“I don’t know.” She hung her head between her knees again. She felt it, in her bones. But other than that she had no clue. Nothing to convince him.
“Then I don’t want you staying here. It’s never done this to you before and it shouldn’t do now. Whatever it is will have to be sorted by someone else, because we’re leaving.”
Hilde shook her head sullenly. “I’m not going anywhere. We have to help him!”
Activity stirred around them. Disciples edged round the Regent’s Guard, wary and watchful as others of the Prime Servant’s men took a bleeding Hunter into the Court proper. Gradually the room emptied and it was just her and Ilfayne with Valguard striding towards them.
Ilfayne stood and turned to face him and Hilde pulled herself to her feet. The room swam for a few seconds before everything settled. She leant against the platform for support.
Valguard stood square before them and eyed them warily, as though a wolf had become a sheep but there was a chance it might still bite. “Will you stay to watch Oku’s justice done?” He didn’t sound too eager.
Ilfayne opened his mouth to reply but Hilde jumped in first. “No, because you aren’t doing Oku’s justice.”
Valguard barked a short, humourless laugh. “Hunter used magic in front of thousands of witnesses. He broke the law, and the law’s quite specific.”
“Ilfayne used magic in front of thousands of witnesses. And you cheated.” It was the cheating that galled her, as it would most any Gan.
Valguard’s gaze flicked to Ilfayne and then back to her, as though it didn’t dare stay on the mage’s face. He was such a mix of feeling it was a wonder he didn’t burst, so strong she could tell each one even though he was muffled. And just how had he done that? But it writhed in her gut. Stony anger, righteous indignation, a thrill of fear, and there it was, a churning tide of jealousy again. It was everywhere today. Why?
Valguard gathered himself together and bored his pale eyes into hers. “I follow my instructions, that’s all. My god has me do as he wills. I would have you both at the end of the gibbet already if it weren’t for Hunter, and—” he swallowed hard, “—and for your brands. But if what you say is true, if you really are his servants, then I cannot. You serve his justice as I do. But also if what you say is true, then you know what’s to be done here, why Hunter must die.”
Ilfayne grabbed her arm before it reached her mace and she kept her mouth shut. For now.
“I know little of what’s happening here, nor do I want to,” Ilfayne said. “I’ve bigger things to settle.”
“Bigger? I doubt it. Hunter’s actions today are just the hilt of the sheathed sword. The blade has yet to be seen. This isn’t just one man using magic. This is the start of an assault against the gods by Mithotyn, with Hunter as his pawn. An assault that threatens them all.”
Ilfayne laughed softly and Hilde couldn’t resist a smile. Though she could feel nothing but cold sanity in him, the man was clearly mad.
Valguard shifted to a more aggressive stance, hand on hilt, head thrust forward and a sneer on his lips. “Call yourselves his servants? I’ve heard of them before, ones with his brand on them. They could all speak with him, call him at need. Do the same now and ask him.”
Ilfayne swallowed hard and Hilde’s stomach tightened painfully. She didn’t want to see Oku, or have his death-knell voice pound her ears. Didn’t want to be reminded of when she swore away her life into his service.
A series of screams and gurgles right outside the door made her jump, then the death throes of three, no, four men rippled through her. She gripped tight to the platform. Feeling a man’s death was not something she could ever get used to. May Kyr choose them for the Halls. Disciples had killed them, she was sure, she could feel their righteousness, their exultation as they did their god’s bidding, or so they thought. “What are you doing to them? They were just, just people. They weren’t attacking the gods.”
Valguard regarded her coldly. “So you think. Speak with him, and you’ll know what he has given me to know.”
“If you can’t talk with him, how do you know this is all true?” Ilfayne asked.
“Just because I can’t speak to him, does not mean he doesn’t speak to me. I’m Chief Priest after all.”
A keening began outside, a mother wailing for her dead son. The sound drove a spike of grief and despair through Hilde. Faintness whirled before her eyes and she sagged down to the platform again.
Ilfayne turned towards her but she waved him away. “Whichever way, you need to do it. Whether he’s right or not, we need to know. But Valguard, stay the trial on Hunter till he’s done.”
Ilfayne sagged wearily, tired beyond words. This was almost too much, the sorcery, the spells he’d cast and now this. But he dragged himself up straight and set his face. Hilde knew he hated doing it, afraid each time might be the end of things for them both. The end of things except for the everlasting pain of limbo with only each other for comfort. Finally he nodded at Valguard. “Somewhere more private, I feel. I’ll need a fire though. And the trial?”
“They can’t pass judgement without me. This way.” Valguard led them through a small door at the rear to what was presumably the chamber of one of the Mimirin priests which Valguard had commandeered.
He didn’t lack for comfort. Every surface was covered, the floor in thick rugs, the walls with rich silken hangings. A low divan, covered in velvet cushions, dominated one wall, and overstuffed chairs huddled near a good fire. Valguard headed for a carved sideboard in a corner and returned with a rich red wine for them both and a plate of small delicacies.
Hilde sniffed at her wine and hurriedly put it down. The mix of spices turned her stomach, but Ilfayne drank his gratefully. “Here then. Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not pleasant.”
Valguard watched avidly as Ilfayne drained his glass. “My whole life I have wanted nothing more.”
Ilfayne glanced at Hilde. Making s
ure she was all right with it. She took a deep breath and nodded. She had to know. Hunter was innocent of the charges Valguard had brought against him, she was sure of it. He wouldn’t use magic if his life depended on it, hated the mere thought of it. He’d only ever tolerated Ilfayne for her sake. The priest must surely be mad, but murder was happening here on his orders and she would know the right of it. Once they knew for sure they could deal with it. With Valguard.
Hilde hunched herself into a chair away from the hearth. Ilfayne put his wineglass down and held out his hand to the fire. His fingers made a fist for a moment as he gathered his courage, then he spread them wide and the spidery words began, the ones that always threaded a silver string of dread though her spine. Valguard looked on, his face twisted in disgust and fascination.
A breeze washed over her, even in the enclosed room. Wafts of hair brushed against her face, stronger now so that even Valguard noticed. His hard eyes went flaccid, worried. How little he knew.
The breeze grew, became fatter and more real, and filled with smoke. Tendrils wreathed round Ilfayne, wound around him like snakes before they coiled up to the ceiling. They writhed, a howling wind now, until they came together in the shape of a man, only not a man. A god as tall as the ceiling would allow, a blaze-haired, cold-eyed, hardhearted god. The ruler of her life, hers and Ilfayne’s.
Valguard fell to tearful knees as Oku towered over Ilfayne, the oath banner that was his sign dripping blood on the rugs. Red eyes blazed malevolently at the mage. “You come at last. Well then, what is it you wish to know? That your friend betrays me? Has precipitated this war against me, against all the gods?”
His voice blasted round the room and even with her hands over her ears, Hilde winced at every word. “Hunter is Mithotyn’s unwitting servant, and he must die. If he does not then all the gods will fall. He uses the name of Regin false, pretends that he reveres his ancestor only. But Mithotyn cannot fool me. He tries to topple the gods through inciting faith in that upstart. In those who should not have worship. By tainting Hunter.”
