Hawkmoon (The Hawkmoon Chronicles) (29 page)

Matriarch.

The courier is waiting . I will summarize my concerns quickly. I have done this for a number of years, long enough to know that it is time to share my thinking with my superiors. At worst I can be dismissed as a worrier. First I believe there is a move coming to either replace the Queen Regent  or bring forward the crowning of the young king. While he is intelligent I do not consider him mature enough at this point. My conclusion is that this is a bid by the High Council to seize control of the  Kingdom. The centre of this is her second husband. With Regina out of the way they would have unrestrained access to and control of the new king. The enemies of Silverlode would interpret this, correctly in my view, as an ideal moment for invasion.

I am not usually the first to recommend violence, especially at the court of a friend but I don’t think there is an alternative. I am recommending the assassination of the leader of the High Council and her husband. How that is to be accomplished is for you to decide.

Regards.

Ping.

Matriarch  Kerris.

Witch’s Keep. 31,427

.

My Dear Kerris.

Your esteemed husband will, deliver this to your hands. My family will attend the Conclave later in the year.  At that time we can meet to discuss matters of interest. I am sure you will have a contribution to make on this topic. However I thought I might take the opportunity of your husband’s visit with us to speak of a certain problem.

The first concerns the Kingdom of Silverlode. As you known there has been   enmity between Dwarf and Elf. I do not wish to venture into the wherefores of the matter. Mistakes have been made on both sides. We are aware that the recovery in the fortunes of the Dwarves has led to jealousy in certain states and one in particular is laying plans for invasion. We have good intelligence on the matter and would share this with Silverlode. However, given, the level of mistrust that persists  between our people, the chances of it been accepted are remote. If the dwarves’  were aware of its true provenance they would regard it as yet another example of Elvish trickery.  If you are agreeable we can pass this intelligence to you for transmission to Silverlode.

You will want to confirm this through your own services. I can assure you of its accuracy.

We are gravely concerned at the spread of Vampirism throughout the Land.

Riva Ward has asked  to meet with the  Matriarch. She can travel to the Keep or see Kerris in the Royal City; whichever is suitable..

Aladan.

Hawkmoon. Book 2. The Terror That Flies By Night.

                                                               Raiders.

On the Mountain, on the Plain.

In the Muskeg, in the Rain

The Orc of Doom will wait for you,

Your day is done, your time is due.

Chorus.

We’ll drink your blood,

We’ll break your bone.

We’ll eat your Flesh.

We’ll make you groan.

The beasts of Hell, will shake with fear

When the Uruk Host  are marching near.

No Vampire Lord, nor Hellborn slut

No warty Troll, nor Goblin mutt

Will stand before the fighting host

The awesome foe the fear the most.

Chorus.

We’ll drink your blood,

We’ll break your bone.

We’ll eat your Flesh.

We’ll make you groan.

It was a bad song.  Among a race that had no poets it was  a work of genius. Gash claimed he wrote it .Later he changed that to  co-author.. The First Marshal was so pleased he made it the official marching song of the Army. The author was rewarded with a farm, and five slaves He had the sense to retire from Gash’s troop.

The song brought Gash to the notice of the bosses.  They had a special job for him. Do it right and he would be set for life. At the time it looked like another example of the famous Gash luck. It began to smell when they told him he would have the company of a wizard. If he had all his fingers he wouldn’t need them to count the number of times a wizard came on a raid. Bad as they were before the bloodsuckers started coming round, they were worse now… They were a shifty lot and no mistake.

Gash objected. He was told to follow orders. .The raiders would carry his gear. Him too if he got tired, which he would. They didn’t stir far from the bosses, running around making trouble, sticking their noses in where they didn’t belong. Like all his kind the wizard was soft Those that fell behind were killed. Sometimes if they were officers or they had coin they were carried. No one fell behind much.

The secret to raiding was moving fast, hit hard and be gone before they knew what happened.  Old Gash was no genius but he knew when someone was trying to blow smoke up his bum Didn’t need a crystal ball to see a fatal accident  in the wizard’s future. The troop was missing two, one from Gangrene, the other hanged for thieving. He had been offered replacements but they would have been spies, so he refused. Besides the crew he had would do it or no one would. They were a good enough bunch…

There was Slot. He had been with Gash from the beginning. A civilized Reiver from the South, he was deadly   and as close to a friend as Gash had. Compared to most Reivers who pissed it away on drink and whores, Slot was rich. He could have retired but he had a taste for man flesh. On raids there was always a chance of picking off the odd farmer.  What wasn’t eaten on the spot could be salted for sale, or his personal larder..  He claimed to have eaten part of an Elf.

Odo and Tar were twins; top raiders who obeyed orders. In a fight they stayed with Gash. Gath was his nephew. His brother had paid to get him on the troop. Gash would have left him behind otherwise; he still might. If the runt failed to come back what can you do? He told them this mission was going to be worse than anything they had ever done.  

In a month they were at Blackwater Crossing. The wizard had turned out alight. He hid them from patrols.  He drew animals so they could be slaughtered without commotion .When the pony died he kept up. Almost died of fatigue but he held on.  Still he was a spy and that couldn’t be tolerated.

The troop waited, hidden in a deadfall while darkness took hold. Just before the light went a troop rode from the woods to cross at the ford. Eight women, armed and armoured on Steppe raised ponies. The young slave got agitated but calmed down when a blade touched the side of his neck. The party crossed. One lingered on the opposite bank, looking up at the deadfall. Slot fitted an arrow.  The rider turned away.

The other slave had a bad feeling.
Reivers never took slaves with them on raids, they slowed them down. 
They had been picked because they were fit and healthy. Despite that they had to be beaten  when they started lagging. They waited until the second moon   rose.  At the far side, before the trees was a clearing .   In the moonlight they could see a slab of black rock. Close behind were two standing stones.  Nallan turned to Gash: “Bring them across”

The sorcerer cleaned the slab with a cloth from his pack. He laid a  brass goblet to one side ,a  knife to the other. The slaves came up, the older one held by Tar , the other  in Odo’s muscular grip. Seeing the knife the younger slave tried to pull away. Odo pushed him forward. The slave moaned in terror...

“Shut him up”

Clubbing the youth on the back of the neck; they laid him on the rock. Slot passed a rope; Odo caught and returned it until the slave was bound tight. Odo stuffed a rag in his mouth. The Sorcerer began to chant. Taking the knife he made a cut on the side of the slave’s neck . The slave thrashed against the ropes. Blood spurted. Pushing the goblet against the wound   the sorcerer raised it to the stars, chanting.  The air between the rocks started to glow. The standing stones began to fade. They disappeared and where stood was a blank darkness.   The victim arched his back snapping the rope. He sat up blood gushing from his neck... Tar was distracted when the older slave struck backward with his elbow. He roared, hands coming to his nose. The slave ran. Tar grabbed for him but missed. 

“Get him”. Gash swore.

“Leave him. There is no time  ...”

“I command here and no slave runs from me”

“The sacrifice has begun, it must not stop. Tie this one down again and let me finish. If I don’t do this right no one will leave here alive.”

They retied the slave. Odo and Tar held him at either side. They needn’t have bothered,  he was all but gone . Tar’s nose was dripping on the rock.

“I don’t need your blood. Unless you want to be part of the sacrifice, step back”

Gash took his place, the mage continued. When the goblet was full he raised it to his mouth, chanting. He drank. Light blazed from where the stones had been .Odo jumped. A blast of frigid air swept from the space. It had a charnel house smell.

“Stand fast. Whatever happens, whatever you see. Stand fast.”

The chanting ceased. The slave was dead.

The sorcerer wiped the goblet, replacing it in his pack. “It is done.  Follow me. Put on everything warm, leave anything made of iron”

The sorcerer passed a light chain to Gash. It gleamed in the star light.

“Link this to your belt and pass it back…Listen to me. I know you  don’t trust me but  heed my words. The place you are about to enter is beyond anything you have ever known. If you do not follow my orders and do only what I say you will never see daylight. Do not touch anything, do not take anything. Do not accept any gifts no matter how enticing... When you are hungry you will see food beyond your dreams. Beautiful women will offer to satisfy every desire you have ever known. The food is poison, the women are demons. Drink only what you bring with you.  Eat only the food you brought.  If you succumb they will feed on you for a thousand years and your torment will not have begun. If you can hear no one or see no one, stand where you are. . If anything touches you, do not pull away, no matter what they do. Stand fast... The rope is enchanted, they cannot break it, but they will seek to get you to take yourself from it or make you think it is broken so that you panic. If you do you are lost. Down here there are no second chances. I can’t waste the torch I will make  light at certain times.”

Gathering their kit they passed through.

The ground went to a downward slope. They walked for what could have been hours; it was hard to know. Without the slaves to slow them they made good distance until Nallan called a halt.

“We will sleep now. I am going to make a light and that will bring them but there is nothing for it.  Shield your eyes. ”A light blazed. Odo screamed  covering his eyes .The trail was  as wide as two walking side by side. To one side was a wall that ascended out of sight, to the other a plunging abyss out of which came titters of laughter. Odo shared with his brother who had no food and little water When they finished eating Nallan  put the torch out.. Tar fell asleep, still hungry.

The woods near  Thost.. The scent of meat cooking came through  the trees. He came to a glade with women cooking on open fires. Wild boar roasting. One of the women came to him with a glass A breeze lifted her dress to show long , smooth legs…. She sat on the grass, he sat beside her. She kissed him and stood again, reaching for his hand. He made to rise but there was something holding him. Something was snagged in his belt, holding him back. He bent to release it
.A blow starred his vision.

Odo’s voice came from nearby.

“Try that again and I’ll let you go”

Odo returned to sleep, this time with no dreams. Movement brought him awake. The sorcerer was using his staff.  He didn’t know who he hated most, the sorcerer or Gash for getting them in to this. The food was gone, stolen. Gash swore at Tar whose job it was to look after it. Each of them had water and a pan  of hard bread.. It would be maggoty but there was nothing else...

Gash was having a conversation with the sorcerer. It looked like something they wanted no one else to hear. Odo wandered close but Gash glared at him.

Those two are as thick as thieves.

“Check you have everything, there is no coming back. Slot, you’re on the back”

“Why”

“Because I said so, Switch places with Odo. Turn and turn about, right , Odo,?”

“Right chief”

They were gone a few minutes when the whispering began once more. Odo had the impression that small animals, a lot of them, were dogging their footsteps. Like pups but not friendly. Something greasy touched him on the back of the neck. He yelped. Gash hissed at him .

A voice came from below. “Who  comes?”

The sorcerer stopped, the others walking into him. “We have been sent”

“By whom”

“You know who and you have been paid”

“A single slave? Hardly a morsel. If you had given the other... No matter . Leave one of your party and you may proceed”

The sorcerer turned to the group. The light from his staff blazed until everyone was shading their eyes. He nodded to Gash who stepped across, and touched his nephew . As the youth blinked Gash broke the link that tied him to the chain and pushed him backward. The light went out. Screams filled the dark, howls of triumph, followed by cries of terror .

”You may go”

“No, uncle, I beg you, don’t leave me. My father…. “

A scream came from behind as they hurried after the magician. It lasted while they made the passage of a long tunnel, fading with distance.. They were a sombre bunch when they stopped hours later. Odo glanced at his chief.

Gash surrendered   his nephew like throwing back a small trout.  Still, rather him than me.

They ate in silence. The whispering was back. Gash sat, chewing a crust.
A long time ago his father tried to have old Gash killed.  What? Did he think he forgot? Gash forgot nothing. If it came to it he would say it was the sorcerer’s idea. No argument there.  The sorcerer would not be around to say different..

The wizard was losing it. Huddled in a corner, clasping the staff with frightened eyes. Gash had seen it before. Some had only so much, when it was gone, it was gone. Whatever nerve he had was used to get this far... This one was about to break and if he did they were done for. There was talk around the warrens that he had crossed one of the higher ups . Made no sense that a junior would be on something this big. They were running out of time. If he had to tie the sorcerer and have him carried he would. On the way back, they would have to make another payment.

What would they give for a sorcerer?

He ordered the troop on its feet. The sorcerer objected, whining that he needed rest.. Gash told them they were going on; there would be no rest until they came out. Anyone who fell behind would be left. There were no objections. Odo  picked up the sorcerer , and  tied him on with the harness the had made for the slave.. Fires  blazed in the depths lighting scenes of cool streams, tables covered with food, beckoning women. Slot saw his mother and went to break the link to the chain. Gash hit him. 

It could have been days or weeks, there was no way of knowing.  The sorcerer was delirious. The tunnel went on straight, then to a steep incline.  They would have been encouraged if they were not so exhausted. Gash ordered a stop.

A vague glow came from up ahead. Cold air touched him . There was s smell. Different. Not shit or rot… vegetation; wet vegetation. He jumped to his feet to run but the chain  pulled at him. The others started awake,.

“Smell, Take a lungful”

They moved forward in a crouch, as if they expected arrows. The light grew stronger with the scent of living things. Gash warned them to stay together. No one to make a break.. There was an opening ahead. Light came from beyond.