by Shannah Jay
Benjan grinned. 'Then we'll make camp here by the stream and let them come down to us.' He turned to Katia. 'Unless you can sense any danger?'
She shook her head. 'No. Not this time.' She didn’t see the need to tell him she could see shadows of the future and sense the terror to come, and was grateful when Davred put his arm around her shoulders and banished the images with his loving concern.
Within the hour, tents had been pitched, Kensin and Nim had caught some small game for the group and savoury smells were rising from the spits above the fires. All of them were skilled now in woodcraft and forest lore. All of them could fend for themselves and live off the land. And all of them respected the beauty around them, taking only what was necessary, replacing what they could.
A figure approached the fire, making no attempt to move quietly. 'It is you,' she said flatly, stopping in front of Benjan.
He looked up. 'Ah, Lerrian. Nice to see you again.'
'Are you deliberately trying to give offence?' she demanded, foot tapping and hand hovering over her sword hilt.
Quinna and Quedras came up behind Benjan and stood staring at the newcomer, not saying anything, waiting for Benjan to give them a lead. Sometimes it astonished others how well Those of the Sandrims worked together, how instinctively they supported each other in a difficult situation. But then, few people had seen how lives in the Sandrims had once depended upon co-operation. Those of Quequere had been wonderful role models for the refugees and some of their ways had been adopted by the Kindred and found good.
Benjan rose to stand easily. His hand wasn’t hovering over his sword hilt. 'Is there a Prime Craftsman with you, then?' he asked quietly.
Lerrian's mouth became a tight line, but she was forced to admit, 'No.'
'Then why should I come to you?' He folded his arms, massive in the firelight. But more impressive than his size was the air of dignity and strength that emanated from him.
'Because we had a camp set up already. We were here first.' But the woman looked uneasy.
Quinna grinned and nudged Kensin as she noted that.
'Join us for supper, instead,' he said, indicating the spits. 'We have plenty.'
'Is that all you can talk about?' The words burst from her mouth. 'You know why we're here? Don't you want us to join you?'
'Only if you join us willingly.'
'We of the First and Second Ranks fight only for money.'
'Then this has been a wasted journey,' he said. 'This is no petty quarrel, Lerrian. This is life or death
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for the Kindred and for the Hashite Guild, too. Now go you and fetch your companions to me. As Prime Craftsman, I command it. '
She blinked at him in surprise, but went. The Benjan she’d once known had been only a pale shadow of this man.
Four people came down the hill, two Assassins, two Mercenaries, by their gear. Behind them others hid in the darkness.
Benjan sighed. 'Tell them all to come out and stop wasting our time.'
'I told you they'd notice you,' Lerrian shouted to her companions. 'These folk are woods wise.'
Four more people joined them, then the group of eight stood there in a clump as if they didn’t quite trust Benjan's people.
'We'll set our weapons aside,' Benjan said, unbuckling his swordbelt and letting it drop to the ground.
Quinna sighed. She hated setting Bold Lady aside. She patted the hilt, as if to console her blade and waited to remove the belt until she’d seen the strangers disarm.
'Now,' said Benjan, 'let us eat together and talk.' Behind him, Nim came prowling out of the shadows.
'What's that?' one of the Assassins exclaimed, taking a step backwards.
'A cliff cat,' said Benjan.
All eight gaped at Nim.
'I've never seen anything like it. Where does it come from?'
'West of the wildwoods.' Benjan snapped his fingers. Nim swished her tail angrily, but subsided at his feet. 'She fights with us.'
'I bet she's a good fighter.' Lerrian approved. Something as sleek and well-muscled couldn’t be anything else.
'Very good.'
'Pity you haven't got a few more of them, then. There's a huge army coming this way. We had to detour around them.' She hesitated, then added, 'We're going to have our work cut out fighting them, you know.'
Benjan stared at her. 'You’d already decided to join us.' His voice throbbed with disapproval.
She shrugged. 'Yes.'
'Why pretend you were still thinking about it, then?'
'Oh, I don't know. It seemed a better tactic. Just in case you had any coin to spare.'
He snorted. 'Trust an Assassin to behave deviously.'
She grinned and accepted a piece of meat from Kensin.
'May one ask why you've chosen to join us freely?' Katia asked.
'Those of the Serpent have no respect for anyone who doesn't follow their ways. It's not just in Tenebron and Setheron. We of the Guild can't live in peace anywhere, let alone get paid for our efforts.
They say it's for the glory of the Serpent and expect us to work for nothing.' She spat into the fire to emphasise her disgust at that.
'Self-preservation,' Kensin approved, 'is the best reason of all for people like you to fight.'
'What do you mean, people like us?' one of the men demanded, stiffening.
'People who prefer to fight for money.'
The man shot him an unfriendly look, but didn’t pursue the point.
There was still a long night's bargaining, however, before the details were settled of exactly how the Hashites would interact with the Kindred's forces, and who would lead whom.
***
In the morning the Hashites strode off in one direction, the Kindred in another. They waited in the sparse pinewoods until the Hashites had vanished into the distance, then Katia went and set temporary wards on the track that led to the terraces from the east, in case the Hashites tried to double back.
'Will the wards be strong enough to hold them?' Quinna wondered, remembering how Katia had tried to set wards years ago when they were all fleeing from Tenebrak.
'Oh, yes.' Katia smiled. 'I've learned a lot in these past years. My wards are nearly as strong as Herra's now.'
When they were sure that the Hashites wouldn’t return, Kensin led them up towards Therak Bowl.
They made their way slowly up the terraces, glad of their sturdy yet flexible boots on the rocky ground, glad to be protected from the scratchy branches of the tough low shrubs by leather forest garb.
'Reminds me a bit of the Sandrims,' Quedras commented.
'It's not at all like home,' retorted Querilla, and the two of them were off into a minor spat.
An hour later they all fell silent as they came to a broad pass between two of the steeper hills. They paused instinctively to regain their breath and inspect what lay ahead. Ahead of them the pass widened out into a huge circular amphitheatre, so regular that, like the terraces, it made you wonder whether it could have been created by chance.
'It reminds me a bit of Dsheresh Vale,' Benjan murmured and Katia nodded agreement.
'This is Therak Bowl,' Kensin announced. 'And there’s no other way into or out of it. Only this pass. The slopes are too steep and the hills here form an unbroken ridge with no other passes through them.'
'I'm surprised no one's settled here,' said Katia, noting the lush grass and healthy looking trees.
'There's quite a big stream and some good pools.'
'It's been tried,' said Kensin. 'But no one stays here for long. I even thought about it myself once, but at night there's something unnerving about this place. So I built my home on the hillside near Danak instead.' He still missed that home, missed the peace, the glorious sunsets, the views, the mysterious mornings when fragile mists would sift through the valleys and the world would seem tenderly beautiful.
Katia threaded her arm through his for a moment, understanding what he was thinking of. He’d brought h
er up in that house and she, too, had loved it. She’d been extremely unhappy at first when chosen and taken to Temple Tenebrak for training. It had taken her a while to accept her fate.
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Benjan broke the silence. 'Well, we'd better set to and inspect the place properly, then when we get back to Northwoods, we can work out how best to use it. We've only a few days now before they reach the High Alder, and even if they do have to detour to avoid Greygulf Pass,' he inclined his head to Katia, who had moved the rock face itself to cut off that pass, 'it will only add a few more days to their journey.'
They camped overnight in Therak Bowl, but none of them slept well.
'Damned place!' said Quinna in the morning. 'I feel like I've been trampled on by a herd of meat nerids. Every time I turned over, something else poked into me. And I kept waking up. Can't understand why. There was nothing around or Nim would have spotted it.'
Still grumbling she marched down to the nearest pool to wash, but paused with her hand hovering over the water. 'Bust my guts, but you can feel the cold before you touch it. I'll wait till I get back to Northwoods before I bathe properly.' She leaned forward and peered into the water, still not touching it, then she jerked backwards with a loud exclamation. 'There's no reflection. Curse it, how can that be?'
By that time she had everyone's attention, for she had a loud penetrating voice that no one could ignore. Katia was already moving down the slope to join her.
Even as Quinna spoke, the water began to bubble up, with water spouts arcing in every direction.
She scrambled hurriedly backwards, wincing at the chill of the spray. 'Deleff. It can't be anything else.'
A pause, then, 'Can it?'
Everyone froze, then Katia shook her head. 'No, it is deleff. We should have realised when we saw shiverleaf shrubs nearby that they use this place as a portal. But I think we were all a little tired last night.'
Increasingly she was filling the role that Herra had once filled, sensing the rightness of a step, or the safety of a place. Increasingly, Herra was stepping back, letting others lead when their skills made it appropriate - for the Kindred had very few formal positions in their ranks. And this time Herra had even decided to stay at Northwoods and let others scout the lie of the land for her.
'No. It's nothing dangerous,' Katia repeated.
Even as she spoke, shapes blurred into existence and through the water several deleff came trampling, not pulling wagons, just moving steadily forward from the mist of droplets into the valley.
As they splashed on to dry land, Erlic moved forward to greet them, laying his hands on their heads in that silent communion that upset most humans' equilibrium, but which he did effortlessly.
Afterwards, he turned to his companions. 'They’ll be staying with us here. Those who have been bred to face violence are coming now to join our struggle, leaving the distant portals they’ve been guarding to assemble here. They regret that they are so few. But it’s been hard to change and it takes time for creatures like deleff to grow to maturity.' He had almost said, 'creatures like us', he realised.
It was so difficult now to act as if he were a human.
'We’re honoured that they consider us worth helping.' Benjan moved forward to bow and the others followed suit.
Only Katia hesitated, closed her eyes, shuddered, then took a deep breath and moved steadily forward to add her greeting.
What had she seen this time? Davred wondered, watching his wife.
'Well,' said Quinna as they started out of the bowl later that morning. 'At least that's one portal which the Serpent can't use. I don't like to leave my back unprotected.'
'If Those of the Serpent defeat us,' said Katia sombrely, 'then they’ll use anything they wish: portals, people, land. There are no half measures in this final struggle. Either we win the battle which is coming or we die.'
'Then we'd better win it,' Quinna declared cheerfully.
'We shall win it,' Quedras boomed behind her.
No one answered and they all walked in silence for a long time after that. It was coming.
Inexorably. The final battle. No one wanted it, but everyone from the high reaches was prepared to fight against evil, to give their lives, to do whatever was necessary.
***
Terraccalliss looked down at the small group and his heart ached for what they would have to face - and for what he and his companions might have to face, too. All these centuries of planning.
All the wasted efforts that had led nowhere as they tried to help humans to breakthrough stage.
Eight Manifestations now. Eight. And they’d once thought the first would do it.
But they wouldn’t stop trying. Only by helping others in this way could he and his kind grow and develop. Only by assisting a true breakthrough of another species could they move upwards on the ladder of life.
It had taken them a long time to realise this, a long time to understand how to use the powers they possessed on their own level of existence, for it was sparsely populated as yet. Each step forward along the path had been rich with satisfaction, however.
'Dear friends,' he murmured, 'we, too, shall be with you.'
But would it be enough to make the difference this time? They’d never quite managed to banish evil from Sunrise before, whatever form it had taken.
***
Robler switched off the com-scanner and smiled in satisfaction. Only a few more days now and Those of the Serpent would reach the High Alder. Then they’d crush the hags and the weak-minded fools who followed them so meekly.
He said nothing of what was happening to the rest of the crew, but by this time they’d learned to do their own scanning when he wasn’t around, and were as aware as he was that matters were reaching crisis point on the planet below them.
They were also aware that the Confex rescue team was on its way and hope was beginning to stir in them. Soon their long exile from the Confederation would be over. Surely nothing would prevent them from being rescued this time!
Pleased at the progress on the planet, Robler slept particularly well that night. His dreams were gentler than usual, filled with the rich, deep pleasure of a Serpent God replete with power and satisfaction at the way things were moving. 'Soon,' Robler murmured as he drifted towards sleep,
'soon I shall have you back, Davred Hollunby. And you, too, Soo Chen.'
When Sunrise was under proper control, he would leave it to Sen-Sether and continue to spread the Serpent's ways on other Confederation planets. How satisfying that would be! How bright the future would be for him if he followed the Serpent's path!
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He would not only show Confex the error of its ways, but light a fire on Sunrise that would burn through the whole Confederation.
CHAPTER 26 TERROR IN THE NORTHERN LANDS
Sen-Sether's army flowed through Kelandra as they’d flowed through the other claims. Like a muddy river in flood they swallowed every settlement they met, spitting some out more or less intact, crushing others to rubble. They had to march on a wide front now, in order to live off the land.
In the places where the Serpent reigned, they continued to draft all the men and boys into their ranks, but they didn’t give them their initiation whipping until they’d moved on, until the newcomers were surrounded by the rest of the army and could neither protest nor flee.
In the deserted settlements and farms whose inhabitants had fled, the tengroups set fires, vying with one another to raise the blackest columns of smoke. Then they harvested any late crops ripe enough to serve as food, and trampled down the rest.
'Afterwards,' said Sen-Sether, with that vicious gleam in his eyes, 'afterwards, the folk who lived in these places will rue the day they opposed our Dread Lord. My Salvators shall hunt them down, and then in hunger and pain they shall learn obedience. And after that, we shall shape this land to accept the Serpent's caress.'
Beneath him a rumble of pleasure crawled from the earth
to set vibrations shivering in men's bones.
More and more the Serpent was making its presence felt, and it manifested itself regularly during the whippings. The offerings of pain which all the men of the army were required to make regularly had undoubtedly strengthened it. But always it faded away afterwards.
Soon though, Sen-Sether knew, his Dread Lord would remain with them permanently, and then let the Kindred beware. He laughed aloud at the thought of that.
Those who had come along on this expedition because they were afraid of being killed if they didn’t join the army grew even more afraid now of being discovered to be half-hearted in their obedience.
The Initiates had a very sharp way with those whom they considered to be shirking their duty, for here, outside the cities, there was no one to set a limit to their actions.
In the city of Kelandrak, the Lord Claimant himself came to meet them, riding in a cushioned litter slung between two perfectly matched draft nerids. He gave Sen-Sether an obsequious welcome and volunteered to send many men to join their noble march. When it was suggested that he join it himself, he said, 'Unfortunately, my health is such that I would be more of a hindrance than a help to our dread lord's cause.' He shrugged plump shoulders in feigned regret.
Benner, standing nearby, sighed. He seemed to feel more tired each day and only Roath's tender care enabled him to continue. That and the fear that if he tried to drop out, Sen-Sether would kill him.
The man whom he had once thought of as a friend had gone far beyond him, to places where Benner would not dare to tread, would never even want to tread.
Roath had whispered an idea. 'During the battle with the hags, Lord, you could feign an injury and then, once victory is assured, we could return gently, but with honour, to Tenebron.’
Benner nodded, finding in himself a deep hunger for his home claim. Strange, that. He hadn’t realised before how much he loved it.
Sen-Sether smiled at Kelandra's Lord, joined him in a feast in the palace and noted an eager young relative with a darkness burning in his eyes. A very short talk confirmed his assessment of young Badrith and that very night he ordered the Lord Claimant assassinated.
