Nessa gasped. ‘How can you even think such a horrible thing?’
‘Because it is better for one to die so that the others may live. It is the way of the Kobalos world, so you might as well get used to it, little Nessa.’
‘What about your promise!’ she exclaimed. ‘You agreed to take my sisters to safety.’
‘I did, and I will strive with all the powers at my command to keep to my trade with your poor father.’
Nessa was silent for a moment, but then she stared right into my eyes. ‘If it proves necessary, eat me rather than one of my sisters.’
Once again I found myself surprised by her bravery – but, ‘I will be unable to oblige,’ I told her. ‘You see, only you belong to me, and I would not waste my own chattel. Anyway, let us talk more of such things if the need arises. It’ll be a long journey north. And I will now tell you why we are heading in that direction. We are going to Valkarky, where I must plead my case – it is the only hope of life I have. To save your little sisters I killed a High Mage, and an assassin whose brotherhood will seek vengeance and hunt me down until I am dead. But those I slew broke the law regarding my property rights. If I can successfully make my plea before the ruling Triumvirate, they will not be able to touch me.’
‘What is Valkarky – another fortress?’
‘No, Nessa, it is a city. Our city! It is the most beautiful and most dangerous place in this whole wide world,’ I answered. ‘Even a human such as you, with poor, half-blind eyes, cannot fail to appreciate its beauty. But never fear, I will protect you from its many dangers.’
‘It would be better to die here,’ Nessa said bitterly, ‘than enter a city full of others like you.’
‘Die? Die, little Nessa? Who said anything about dying? You gave me back my life, and in return I’ll protect you and your two plump sisters, just as I promised. Only in extremis will we eat one of them, and then only so that the other might live. I have made a promise, but I can only do what is possible. If only you had got the horses with their provisions as I commanded!’
A look of embarrassment flashed across Nessa’s face, but she was silent, evidently deep in thought. ‘But you’ll still take them to safety when your business is done?’
I smiled but refrained from showing my teeth. ‘Of course. Haven’t I promised as much? Now go back to sleep. What else is there for your kind to do but sleep when it snows so hard?’
‘My father said that you also sleep in the depths of winter. He said that you hibernate. Why do you do that when you love the cold so much?’
I shrugged. ‘A haizda mage sleeps in shudru, deepest winter, in order to learn. It is a time when he gathers his thoughts within deep dreams and weaves new knowledge out of experience. We dream to see the truth at the heart of life.’
Nessa turned away and looked back to where her sisters were sleeping. Bryony was still tightly wrapped within my coat – only her mousy brown hair was visible.
‘What is Valkarky like?’ Nessa asked, turning back to face me.
‘It is vast,’ I explained. ‘We believe that our city will not stop growing until it covers the whole world. Not a rock, not a tree, not even a blade of grass will be visible then. All other cities will be crushed beneath its expanding walls!’
‘That’s horrible!’ she cried. ‘It’s unnatural. You would make the whole world hideous.’
‘You do not understand, little Nessa, so do not judge until you have seen it with your own eyes.’
‘But it’s a nonsense, anyway. How could a city become so large? There could not be enough builders to create such a monstrosity.’
‘Valkarky’s walls are constantly being constructed and repaired by creatures that need no sleep. They spit soft stone from their mouths, and this is used as building material. It resembles wood pulp at first, but hardens soon after contact with the air. Hence the name Valkarky – it means the City of the Petrified Tree. It is a wonderful place, full of entities created by magic – beings that can be seen in no other place. Be grateful that you will get to see it. All other humans who enter there are slaves or marked for death. You have some hope of leaving it.’
‘You forget that I also am a slave,’ Nessa replied angrily.
‘Of course you are, little Nessa. But in exchange for your bondage, your two sisters will go free. Doesn’t that make you happy?’
‘I owe obedience to my father and I am willing to sacrifice my life so that my sisters will be safe. But it certainly does not make me happy. I was looking forward to my life, and now it has been taken away. Should I rejoice at that?’
I did not reply. Nessa’s future, or lack of it, was not worth debating. I had not told her just how bad things were. The odds against me were indeed great, and I would probably be taken and killed, either on the journey or immediately upon entering the city. It was unlikely that I would live long enough to make a successful plea to the ruling council. If I died, the three girls would become slaves at best; at worst they would be drained of blood and eaten.
After that Nessa became very quiet; she went off to sleep without even wishing me a good night. Humans such as Nessa often lack manners, so I wasn’t really surprised.
ABOUT AN HOUR after dawn, the wind dropped and the blizzard became just a light whirling of snowflakes falling lazily out of the grey dome of the sky.
‘I need my coat back, little Nessa,’ I told her. ‘You will have to share what you have with your youngest sister.’
Sooner or later I would have to fight, and I wanted to be wearing the long black coat, my badge of office, so that any enemy would appreciate the strength of what he faced. I noted that it was Nessa who surrendered some of her garments to clothe the child, including her waterproof cape. They were far too big but would provide the necessary protection against the elements. Nessa would now find the conditions more difficult. I noted that Susan did not volunteer any of her garments.
As was my custom, before mounting my horse I stood in front of it and breathed quickly into its nostrils three times.
‘What are you doing?’ Nessa asked, her face alive with curiosity. She had obviously wisely decided not to fight against my wishes.
‘I am using what we mages call boska. I have changed the composition of the air within my lungs before breathing into its nostrils. I have thus infused the animal with obedience and courage. Now, if I have to fight, my mount will not flinch from the enemy that faces us!’
‘Will you have to fight? Does danger threaten?’ she asked.
‘Yes, little Nessa, it is very likely. So now we must press on and hope for the best.’
‘How much further have we to travel? Each day seems the same. I’m losing track of time – it seems like weeks have passed already.’
‘This is merely our fifth morning. It is better not to think about the rest of the journey. Just take each day as it comes.’
We left the old farmhouse behind. Soon we came to a rocky, barren area where the snow had melted. Steam rose from cracks in the ground, and from time to time the earth trembled and there was a smell of burning on the breeze.
‘What’s this place?’ Nessa asked, riding up alongside me.
‘It is the Fittzanda Fissure, an area of earthquakes and instability. This is the southern boundary of our territories. Soon we will be in the land of my people.’
We continued north across that steaming, shaking terrain, our horses even more nervous than the three purrai. The area was vast, and its shifting rocky nature would make us difficult to track. Those who pursued us from the fortress would expect me to flee south – not north to what might well be my execution – so that was to my advantage.
And soon others would be hunting us too. The dying thoughts of the assassin would have been sent out to his brotherhood. They would know who had slain him. Some would already be out there in the snowy wilderness or even close by, and they would sense my location and begin to converge on our path. The Triumvirate of High Mages might also send further assassins from Valkarky.
Out here they would try to kill me on sight. I needed to reach the city in one piece in order to win the right of plea before the council.
Only one thing bothered me. Did I still have the courage and ruthlessness to defeat my enemies? Or had I already been infected with skaiium, as my softness towards Nessa indicated?
It was not long before an enemy found me – but it was not the Shaiksa assassin I’d expected. The High Mages had sent a very different creature.
The assassin waited directly ahead of us. At first glance it appeared to be an armed Kobalos on horseback, but there was something wrong where the rider and horse joined. It was not simply that there was no saddle. There was no division between them. I was not looking at two creatures; it was one deadly composite.
‘What is that fearsome thing?’ Nessa demanded with a shudder. Susan began to whimper, while Bryony shook with terror but made no sound.
‘Perhaps it is our deaths,’ I told her. ‘Stay back and let me do what I can.’
I was facing a hyb warrior, a crossbreed of Kobalos and horse that had been designed for combat. The creature’s upper body was hairy and muscular, combining exceptional strength with speed and the ability to rip an opponent to pieces. The hands were also specially adapted for fighting. In its right the hyb appeared to be gripping five long, thin blades, but I knew they were talons that could be retracted into the muscular hand or unsheathed at will. In its left was a mace – a huge club covered in sharp spikes like the quills of a porcupine.
The lower body of a hyb was faster than a horse, with spurs of bone projecting from each foreleg, often used to disembowel the mount of its enemy. Additionally, this hyb was armoured: it wore a metal helmet that covered its whole face except for the angry red eyes. Its body, upper and lower, was also protected by the highest quality ribbed armour.
The helmet, with its elongated jaw, betrayed the true shape of the upper head, which was more horse than Kobalos. Both mouths were open now, snorting clouds of steam into the cold air. Then both throats called out a challenge, a deep guttural roar that echoed across the land from horizon to horizon. Without further ado it charged towards me, through a narrow gap between two jets of steam erupting from the volcanic rock.
I heard whinnies of fear from behind as the two purrai mounts, sensing the strangeness and malevolence of the hyb, scattered, taking their riders with them. But my horse, fortified as it was by the magic of boska, did not move a muscle.
The hyb whirled the club high above its head, but I saw through that subterfuge. It was intended to distract me, and while I looked up, the long thin talons would strike fast and low like vipers’ tongues.
It was as I anticipated, and I was ready. I charged forward to meet the attack, tail extended, and we passed each other with barely a foot between us. As the hyb leaned towards me, the sharp tips of its talons aimed upwards, seeking to slip beneath my ribs and into my heart, I focused my mind until a small bright magical shield materialized in the air and moved with me.
I positioned it so that it deflected the five deadly talons. I did not immediately strike a blow of my own but, guiding my mount with my knees, drew my sabre and followed up my advantage, catching the creature before it had fully come about.
I struck it full upon the head with the hilt of my sabre so that the metal of the helmet rang. Then, with my dagger, I tried to pierce its neck at the point of relative weakness where the helmet joined the body armour.
I failed, and we broke contact, both galloping some distance apart.
Quickly, the hyb turned and charged for the second time. This time, however, despite its agility and speed, I was even better prepared and, while deflecting the talons with my shield for a second time, struck a blow of my own.
I did not have the space to put all my strength into the scything horizontal sweep of my blade, but luck was with me.
The moment I struck, a jet of steam erupted from the ground almost immediately under my enemy. The horse screamed with pain and the upper part leaned towards me to avoid being scalded. Thus the hyb was distracted, and my sabre made contact high on the shoulder; deflected by the ribbed armour there, it found the narrow gap between the helmet and the shoulder piece, biting into the neck so that the hyb rocked sideways as it passed.
As the creature swayed and the mace dropped from its nerveless fingers, I drove my magical shield towards it like a hammer; the blow was terrible and it fell sideways, its four legs buckling beneath it. It hit the ground with a heavy thud, rolled over in the snow and lay still.
I dismounted and approached my enemy with caution. I had expected the hyb assassin to be more difficult to defeat and half expected some trick. I glanced at its lower body and saw the assortment of blades and weapons in sheaths on its flanks.
It was now at my mercy, so I pulled off its helmet and held a blade at its throat.
The hyb was unconscious, its eyes tight shut. I had no time to waste, so I sent a magical barb straight into its brain so that it awoke with a scream. The eyes suddenly opened wide and gleamed a malevolent red. For a moment I felt giddy, and the world seemed to spin; my grip loosened upon my blade. What was wrong with me? I wondered.
Just in time I became aware of the danger from the creature’s eyes. I could barely look away, the compulsion to stare into them was so strong; they had an hypnotic quality, and had the power to suck away the will so that time ceased to matter.
I regained my focus and stared instead at its mouth, which was full of big teeth. I spoke slowly in case the creature was still befuddled from that last terrible blow I had struck. ‘Listen very carefully to me,’ I warned it, pressing the knife into its throat so that I drew forth just a little blood. ‘I have been wronged and I go to make my plea before the Triumvirate in Valkarky. It is my right.’
‘You have no rights, mage!’ the hyb roared, spitting the words up into my face, its big horse-teeth gnashing together. ‘You have murdered one of the High Mages and are to be killed on sight!’
‘He attempted to obstruct me when I was in the lawful process of repossessing my property. It was a criminal act and he attacked me further. In self-defence I was forced to kill him. But I have no personal quarrel, either with you or with any other High Mages. Give me your word that you will not oppose me further and I will set you free. Then you may bear witness to my plea in Valkarky and oppose it if you wish.’
‘You are dead, mage, whether by my hand or another’s. The moment you set me free I will cut your flesh and drink your blood.’
‘Your fighting days are over,’ I said, looking down at the creature. ‘It is I who will wield a blade. It is for me to cut and for you to bleed. Soon I will drink your blood. It is as simple as that. There is only pain left for you now.’
There were screams as I killed it. Not one came from the hyb; the creature died bravely, as I had expected. It could do no less. The screams came from Nessa and her sisters, who had brought their mounts under control and returned when they saw that the danger had passed. It was almost an hour before Bryony stopped sobbing.
After telling the girls to control themselves, I led them on in silence. I thought over my fight with the hyb. What had gone wrong for the creature? Perhaps it had underestimated my capabilities – or maybe luck had played a part?
I realized that was certainly true. The jet of steam had surprised it and given me an advantage. This detracted from the feelings of pride I should have felt with the defeat of such a powerful adversary. I was not safe from skaiium yet. I must strive even harder to avoid its clutches and maintain my strength as a warrior mage.
The three purrai avoided my gaze and wore expressions of revulsion on their faces. Could they not understand that it had been necessary to kill, and that by doing so I had preserved all our lives?
That night I found us a cave to shelter in. There was no wood to use for fuel so we could only chew on the remaining strips of meat that I had cut from the wolf the day before.
‘This is no life at all!’ Susan complained. ‘
Oh, I wish Father still lived, and this was just a nightmare, and I could wake up safe and warm in my own bed!’
‘We cannot change what’s been done,’ Nessa told her. ‘Try to be brave, Susan. Hopefully, in a few weeks you’ll start a new life. Then all this will seem just like a bad dream.’
Nessa spoke confidently as she put her arm round Susan to comfort her, but I noted the sadness in her own eyes. Her new life would be one of slavery.
After a while, I left the sisters alone to console each other and went to sit in front of the cave, gazing up at the stars. It was a very bright, clear night, and all five thousand of them were visible – amongst them the red, bloodshot eye of Cougis, the Dog Star, which was always my favourite.
Suddenly there was a streak of light in the northern sky, passing quickly from east to west. I estimated that it was somewhere over Valkarky. There was a superstition that such a falling star presaged a death or overthrow of some mage. Others in a position of danger would have taken that as a portent of their own demise, but I do not subscribe to such foolishness, so I thrust the thought from my mind and began to focus my will.
I was meditating, attempting to strengthen my mind against the possible onset of skaiium, when Nessa emerged from the cave and sat down beside me. She was wrapped in a blanket but was shivering violently.
‘You should stay in the cave, little Nessa. It is too cold out here for a poor weak human.’
‘It is cold,’ she agreed, her voice hardly more than a whisper, ‘but it’s not just that making me shiver. How could you? How could you do that in front of me and my sisters?’
‘Do what?’ I asked. I wondered if I had been chewing the wolf-meat too noisily. Maybe I had inadvertently burped or passed wind.
‘The way you killed that creature and drank its blood – it was horrible. Even worse than what you did in the tower. And you delighted in it!’
‘I must be honest with you, little Nessa, and tell you that, yes, it was most enjoyable to triumph over a deadly hyb warrior. I have killed a High Mage, a Shaiksa assassin and a hyb warrior over the past days – few of my people are able to boast of such an achievement!
The Spook 9 - Slither's tale Page 7
