He swiftly flew out from there and to an adjoining chamber, where another man slept with a woman lying at his side. She gave a small start as Nunde entered, and he was careful not to let his spectral essence touch her. In but a moment, she settled back into sleep. Cautiously, Nunde merged with the man, but in a heartbeat or two he flew free again.
Nunde then darted westward, for he could feel his aethyrial strength ebbing. Out from this land and over Xian and Aralan and down through Alban he soared, arrowing for Caer Pendwyr. At last he arrived, where he momentarily merged with yet another man, one well away from the palace, for he knew that place was warded against creatures such as he. Nunde then flew up and out and fled back to his vile sanctum ere his aethyrial strength gave out.
He rested a full day and all the next, and then went to his laboratory, where he slew several Drik and took their essence into himself.
Then he unrolled a map and called Malik unto him, and when the apprentice arrived, Nunde said, “My vengeance will soon fall due.”
“Indeed, master,” said Malik, dreading what would come next.
“It is time. Take the Drik and Chun and Ghok and others that I have assigned to you and march east to here”-Nunde’s finger stabbed down to the map-“where you or my chosen one will slay Aravan and all those with him. I care not if he is mutilated, just as long as you bring his corpse to me.”
And then Nunde laughed, Malik laughing with him, even as the apprentice’s gut churned with dread at what lay waiting at the place he was ordered to go.
23
Risky Business
BURGLARS
MID SPRING, 6E9
Dogs. Ruck-loving, rat-eating dogs . Binkton slipped back down from the spike-fanged top of the moonlit wall to the shadow-clutched alley below. He came to rest beside his cousin. “You didn’t tell me they had dogs,” he whispered.
“Huh?” Pipper looked up from the carefully coiled rope as he finished attaching a small grappling hook to one end, a hook with its tines padded.
“Keep your voice low, Pip,” whispered Binkton, “else they’ll hear us.”
“Who’ll hear us?” whispered Pipper back.
“The dogs. You didn’t tell me they had dogs.”
“Dogs?” breathed Pipper.
Binkton growled low in exasperation. “Are you listening, Pip? There are dogs patrolling the yard-a couple of huge brutes with jaws that crush and teeth that bite. We fall afoul of those two, they’ll snap us up like we were no more than bits of bacon.”
Pipper frowned and shook his head. “Dogs?”
Through clenched teeth, Binkton hissed, “Yes, Pip, dogs; dogs you didn’t mention when we planned this.”
Dropping the hook, Pipper began free-climbing the ten-foot-high wall by jamming his fingers and toes into the mortar cracks. “Are you certain? I mean, there were no dogs when I-”
“Argh!” Binkton plopped down with his back to the wall.
Moments later, Pipper dropped down beside Binkton and murmured, “Well, Bink, you’re right. There are definitely two big dogs patrolling the yard. And a new kennel off to one side.”
Binkton sissed air out between clenched teeth, but otherwise made no comment.
“They weren’t here when I scouted out the place,” breathed Pipper. “No dog poop. No kennel. Nothing. It’s not like I’d miss something like dogs.”
“Oh, yeah? But miss them you did, even though you watched the house for five days.”
“I did watch it for five days, Bink, but I swear there were no dogs. Me, I think they are new.”
Binkton unclenched his jaw and drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Finally, he said, “Oh, Pip, I believe you. Maybe they are new, but it’s just that I’m frustrated. Rackburn is off to the Rivers End Theater, and we’ve not got a lot of time. And with dogs patrolling the yard, even if we escape their slavering jaws, they’ll alert Rackburn’s household, no doubt a bunch of Ruck-loving, rat-eating ruffians. That’d just put us in another pickle, and we’d not get Lady Jane’s money back to her.”
Pipper made a gesture of negation. “We can’t let that happen, Bink. Let’s take another look at the situation.”
Pipper started to climb, but Binkton sat still for a moment, brooding. Finally, with a sigh, he got up and followed Pipper, who at that moment gripped two spikes along the top and raised his head just above the wall to peer over. He quickly ducked back down and whispered, “Oh, lor.”
“What? What is it?” asked Binkton, his voice a low mutter.
“Another one,” murmured Pipper.
“Another dog?”
“Yes.”
Grasping two spikes, Binkton lifted himself up to where he could see.
Three huge mastiffs lounged near the rear entrance to the manse.
Binkton flinched down.
Once more Pipper raised up to study the scene. After a moment he murmured, “I think we’ve enough rope to reach the balcony.”
“And. .?”
“And I can cast the grappling hook over and snag the rail; then we’ll tie it off at this end on one of the spikes and walk across.”
“Are you insane, Pip? You’re the acrobat, not me.”
“Oh, Bink, walking a rope is as easy as falling off a log.”
“Good example, Pip, ’cause I’d fall off at the first step. Besides, your rope and hook were to be used to get us up to the balcony only after we crossed the yard.”
“But, Bink, that was just so we wouldn’t have to sneak through the house to get to the room with the strongbox.”
“That was the plan,” said Binkton, “over the wall, across the yard, up to the balcony, through the window to the left, and to the coffer. Well, the dogs have put an end to that scheme, and put an end to your new one, too. I mean, even if I could walk the rope, they’d bark the moment you threw the hook, and that would bring out the ruffians to catch two ninnies: one walking a rope above, the other screaming and falling down into the jaws of the beasts. But even if I didn’t fall, don’t you see, Pip, no matter what we try, the dogs, they’ll raise a hue and cry.”
Pipper frowned and then brightened. “You are right, Bink. But remember what Uncle Arley said about turning disadvantages into advantages, like turning hecklers into part of the act.”
“So. .?”
Pipper began easing back down the wall.
Binkton followed, and when he reached the ground beside Pipper, again he asked, “So. .?”
“So, bucco, we’ll turn those hecklers into part of the act.”
“What in blue blazes are you talking about?”
“Well, Bink,” said Pipper, grinning, “I know where we can get a couple of chickens.” And he started along the alley.
Binkton momentarily stood still, but then as enlightenment dawned, he murmured, “Oh, I see. For a bit there I thought this might be another one of Pip’s harebrained schemes, but I think it might actually work.” Binkton hurried after his cousin. As he caught up, they looked at one another in the moonlight and smiled, on the verge of laughter. They’d get Lady Jane’s money back if it took all night.
And as they strode on down the twisting way, Pipper fell into reflection. It was but some two and a half years ago-in early autumn, 6E6, to be exact-that they were on their way to make their fortune, and he wondered just how two buccen Warrows had ever managed to get from that beginning to this end, to this unseemly business of burglary. .
24
Away
BOSKYDELLS
EARLY AUTUMN, 6E6
As the Red Coach rumbled along the Crossland Road and into the outskirts of Rood, “Here she comes,” said Granduncle Arley, the eld buccan sitting on the bench of the pony cart beside his once-removed nephews.
With anxiety lurking in the back of his sapphire blue eyes, Pipper looked at Binkton, as if asking, I know it was my idea, but do we really want to do this?
Binkton threw an arm around Pipper’s shoulders and said, “It’s just to Junction, Pip. I mean, if we find it not to
our liking, and even if we don’t have the fare for the Red Coach back, at worst we can always hike home.”
“But I’ve never been outside the Bosky before.”
“Wull, neither have I, bucco. But, hey, wasn’t it you who said, ‘Let’s take this show on the road’?”
“Yes, but I’m beginning to have second thoughts.”
“Well, put them out of your mind, Pip,” said Binkton, a glint of fire in his viridian gaze. “After all, we have the blood of heroes running through our veins. Remember, Beau Darby is one of our ancestors.”
“Be that as it may, Bink, I’m thinking that after five thousand years, Darby blood is beginning to run mighty thin.”
Uncle Arley laughed but said nought.
“Oh, Pip,” said Binkton, “it’ll be fun.”
Pipper looked over at the eld buccan who had accompanied them into the Centerdell village. “Will it be fun, Uncle?”
“It was for me, back in the day,” said Arley.
The Red Coach pulled up in front of the way station, and Humans got out to stretch their legs and to relieve themselves and to have a drink and a bite to eat. As Warrows led fresh horses out from the stables to replace the team, the driver and one of his three footmen made ready for the exchange.
As to the passengers and coachmen, these were not the first Humans that Pipper and Binkton had seen, for the Red Coach regularly came through the Bosky, and Rood was a transfer point. Out from the town and to the northeast the Two Fords Road led toward Challerain Keep, and to the southeast the Tineway ran toward Caer Pendwyr, while due east the Crossland Road continued on to Stonehill and past. Back to the west lay the lands of Wellen and the realms beyond.
Even so, the sight of Humans was somewhat intimidating, being as they were nearly twice the height of the average Warrow. And Binkton and Pipper would be travelling with these tall beings, for at the request of Graden Finster, owner of the Black Dog Inn, these two buccen were heading southeasterly and beyond the Thornwall to the small town of Junction, there where the Tineway met the Post Road.
Noting the hesitance of Pipper, Uncle Arley said, “Pip, I’ve taught you and Bink all I know, and you’ll be a welcome sight to the onlookers, whether it be on the streets of a city or in an inn or on the stage of a theater. Seldom do Warrows show up in the cities, and so, if for no other reason, you two will be a novelty, just as I was. Why, I’ve performed in Hovenkeep and Rivers End and even Caer Pendwyr, as well as little hamlets and villages throughout much of the High King’s realms. Yet should your and Bink’s acts fail, Bink is a fine locksmith and you a tinker rare. If nothing else, you two can travel through the countryside, mending pots, sharpening scissors and knives, fixing lockboxes, and whatever else needs doing, and you have my old kit for such. Pip, you and Bink will be fine, and there’s a world out there awaiting. And the Black Dog will give you a small taste of what you’ll discover beyond the limits of the Barrier.”
Pipper sighed and said, “Well, I suppose you are right. I mean, folks in the Bosky seemed to like us, and perhaps those Outside will too.”
“That’s the spirit,” said Binkton, looking ’round at the two duffle bags and large case on the bed of the pony cart, the case iron gray with painted red and yellow and orange flames here and there licking up along its sides. “Now let’s get our things onto the coach.”
With a cluck of his tongue, Arley drove the two-wheeled carriage to the side of the Red Coach, and there one of the footmen tossed the young buccen’s duffles up to the man atop. But when the footman lifted the chest, he grunted in surprise and in a strained voice as he hoisted it up he called to the man atop, “Take care, Willam. I think this is filled to the brim with sheet iron.”
Pipper laughed and said, “Not iron, but chains and locks, ropes and pulleys and other such tackle, along with mending gear.” The footman looked at the Warrows and frowned in puzzlement, as if wondering what such equipment was for.
The coach remained awhile to allow the continuing passengers to take care of their needs, and the new passengers to lade their luggage atop, but finally the driver called for all to get aboard. With final hugs from Uncle Arley, both Warrows passed in among the Humans, who simply towered over the wee buccen-dark-haired Binkton standing three-feet-six, fair-haired Pipper three-feet-four-and they climbed into the coach and took seat.
“H’yup, h’yup,” cried the coachman, “hup, my boys,” and with the eight horses pulling, slowly the great stage got under way. It rumbled southeasterly out of Rood along the road to Tine Ford.
The Red Coach itself was huge, and divided by a partition into two sections, with seating for eighteen passengers. And Pipper and Binkton found themselves in the aft half and sitting in between two large men, with two more men and a matronly woman across from them. The woman, her dress seemingly mostly ruffles and bows, leaned forward and said, “Why, aren’t you two just the cutest of things?”
Binkton sighed, but Pipper said, “Why, yes, madam, yes, we are.”
Batting her eyes, the matron asked, “And just what would you two children be doing travelling all alone in the great wide world?”
“Ch-children?” sputtered Binkton. “Children? Madam, I’ll have you know my cousin here is a young buccan, just turned twenty summers of age, while I am his senior by three moons or so.”
“Twenty?” she exclaimed, taken aback. “Twenty, you say?”
“These are Warrows,” said the man to the buccen’s left. “Heroes of the War of the Ban, the Winter War, and the Battle of Kraggen-cor, and they served with distinction in the Dragonstone War.”
The lady’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, my, you did all that?”
“Well, not us personally,” said Pipper. “But our cousin Trissa Buckthorn served under two High Kings-Garon and then his son Ryon-during the War of the Dragonstone, to say nothing of our ancestor Beau Darby, who fought beside High King Blaine in the Great War of the Ban.”
“Goodness, I did not know that,” said the woman. “Nor did I know of. . what do you call yourselves? Warrows? Yes, Warrows. I don’t believe we have any Warrows in the city of Lindor on the Isles of Gelen.”
“Not many of us travel beyond the bounds of the Boskydells,” said Pipper.
“Nor beyond the fringes of the Weiunwood,” added Binkton.
The matron frowned. “The Weiunwood?”
“Over by Stonehill,” said Binkton, gesturing to the east. “A shaggy old forest caught between the realm of Rian to the north and the land of Harth to the south.”
“I say,” said the man who had come to their defense, “I’m Raileigh Bains, a historian, and I’m travelling to the libraries in Caer Pendwyr to write a definitive account of the Dragonstone War. If you don’t mind, perhaps you could supply me with some details about the Warrows who served under the High King during that terrible time.”
“Wull, we all serve under the High King,” said Binkton, “but I suppose you mean the Company of the King.”
“Cousin Trissa was the captain of that company,” said Pipper. “Forty-three Warrows, archers all, who rode to the High King when summoned. What would you like to know?”
The man pulled a case out from under the seat and opened it. It contained a great number of blank sheets of parchment, and to one side a stoppered inkwell sat snugly in a small partition affixed to a corner, and along the other side in their own partition rested a number of sharpened quills. Raileigh took up parchments and flipped down a writing board and un-stoppered the ink and dipped a quill and said, “I’m ready when you are.”
Pipper turned to Binkton. “Where should we begin? The Gjeenian penny?”
Binkton shook his head. “No, that starts back in the Great War of the Ban, when Tipperton Thistledown helped the dying prince.”
“Then how about when Tuck and Danner and Patrel first got the armor?”
“Oh, I know,” said Binkton, “we’ll start when the specter of Aurion Redeye appeared to Trissa and Kipley and Danby.”
“That’s T
rissa Buckthorn and Kipley Larkspur and Danby Candle-wood,” said Pipper to Raileigh.
“Who’s telling this tale,” flared Binkton, “you or me?”
“Why, you are, Bink. I’m just trying to help.”
Before Binkton could reply, with her eyes wide in trepidation the matron leaned forward and asked, “Did you say the specter of Aurion Redeye, the High King of ancient days? His ghost appeared? His true ghost?”
“Indeed,” said Binkton, glaring at Pipper, who himself had begun to answer.
As Pipper fell silent the woman gasped, “Oh, my,” and, seemingly to stave off a swoon, she fell back in her seat and fanned herself with her fingers.
Binkton turned to the historian and said, “You’ll recall that Aurion Redeye was the High King at the start of the Winter War, a thousand years ago. And some seven years back his ghost appeared to Trissa and Kipley and Danby, for he was redeeming a pledge made long past. . ”
Raileigh Bains’ pen scratched across the parchment, while Binkton and Pipper took turns telling the tale of the Warrow Company of the King: how it was first formed, how Tuck and Danner and Patrel came to be wearing, respectively, the silver, black, and gold armor, and the terms of the loan of that armor Aurion Redeye made. Then the buccen told of Redeye’s shade’s visitation a thousand years later to redeem that loan, and how, to retrieve the black armor, Trissa and Kipley and Danby travelled to the distant tombs out before the dreaded Iron Tower in the fearful land of Gron. Following that, they told of the trio returning to the Bosky to take command of the Company of the King, and then on to the Argon Ferry, where they and the High King’s Host were defeated in the battle at that place.
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