by Alex Janaway
‘What about us?’ muttered Killen.
Larsen snorted and carried on with rubbing down his horse.
Killen gathered up a handful of long grass and followed suit. He continued to watch the eagle and its Rider. They were taking their time, seemingly conducting a similar process to Killen. Finally, the Rider started walking their way, removing gloves and headgear as he approached and extending his right hand in greeting. It was a firm grip. Killen looked into the Rider’s face. He was younger than he had expected. The skin was coloured, flushed a little and the beard was full but there was an obvious smoothness to the features. He looked into the eyes. There was warmth, and intelligence. And steel.
‘Owen Derle,’ said the Rider.
‘Major Killen Roche, formerly of The Third Erebeshi Scouts.’
‘It goes without saying but it’s damned good to see you,’ said Owen.
‘Likewise. Though I had not expected to walk into a fight.’
‘Sorry about that. We couldn’t wait any longer, they were getting ready to leave.’
Killen rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Larsen was telling me about your operations. You’ve been hitting the gnomes hard. And you are a long way from home. It looks to me that you are on a mission.’
Owen’s glance flitted to Larsen, an unspoken moment of understanding. Killen appeared to have hit the mark on his assumption.
‘Come and say hello to Arno.’ Owen tilted his head towards the eagle.
Killen nodded and fell into step. The walked in silence for a few moments.
‘How was the journey here?’ the younger man asked.
‘Relentless.’
‘Sore ass?’
‘You have no idea.’
Owen nodded. ‘That was my fault. I wanted to see you before I left.’
‘Left?’
‘I’m going to look for more survivors. My eagles are the best equipped for the search although there’s not as many of those as I’d like.’
‘And a lot of ground to cover. Your lad was lucky to find us. It was only because my scouts knew what they were looking at that we showed ourselves,’ said Killen.
‘That’s the problem,’ agreed Owen. ‘I can send riders out and they could spend a lifetime without finding anyone.’
‘Do you have any ideas where to look?’
‘Some.’ They drew close to the eagle. It turned its head in a swift motion to watch their approach. Owen stepped up to the bird and placed a hand against its neck. He looked at the bird’s eye and it seemed to Killen they shared a moment. Owen looked back at him and smiled.
‘Just introducing you. Major, meet Arno. The finest eagle in all of the Empire.’
Killen nodded at the bird. ‘Pleased to meet you, Arno. Don’t mistake me for prey, will you?’
Owen laughed. ‘It’s fine. He knows the difference and he remembers who my friends are.’
Killen smiled warily at the bird. Good. Let’s stay friends. Last thing he wanted was those damned talons slicing into him. But if the bird ever fancied some camel …
Owen pulled his hand back and folded his arms. ‘You are right, of course.’
Killen didn’t always like being right. ‘About …?’
‘I’m not just protecting our home. It’s more than that. I don’t want the gnomes coming anywhere near us. They have to learn to fear the Highlands. To spread the word that it’s haunted or that there are monsters or whatever story they come up with to explain their missing hunting parties.’
‘And you leave no survivors. That way they have no idea that your people are behind this.’
‘Exactly. As far as every other intelligent species is concerned, humanity is extinct. I want to keep it that way.’
‘To what end?’ As he asked, Killen took a step towards the eagle. In spite of himself he wanted to pet it. After all, would he ever get another chance? Owen nodded his understanding. ‘Go ahead, Major. Arno won’t bite.’
‘It’s not the biting I’m afraid of,’ said Killen, resting his hand against Arno’s soft flank. He pressed a little, felt the power of the eagle, its steady breathing. He thought it would be a fragile thing. But there was nothing delicate about this creature.
‘Major?’
‘Yes?’
‘I thought I was the only military left. That I would have to fight this war on my own.’
Killen raised an eyebrow. He had been right. ‘We’re still at war, are we?’
‘Only because we have no choice.’
‘You sure? Last I looked we were routed and our cities burned to ash. Don’t get me wrong. I am pleased we have found your people and, trust me, I have no desire to end my days living in a cave in Erebesh. But fighting back won’t end well for us; we simply don’t have the numbers.’
Owen rocked back on his heels and sighed.
‘I understand, and I get it. I want my home to survive. For my people to rebuild. And I want to find as many as I can to bring them home, to give them a future.’ Killen noted the look in Owen’s eyes. There was no warmth now, just the steel. ‘But for us to do that, we have to be strong. We have to fight for our right to exist free from violence or persecution. The elves and the dwarves and all the rest of them took us apart and we barely scratched them. One day they will understand there is a price to pay.’
A price. Killen wondered just what that looked like, how large it would have to be.
‘Rider Owen. I’ll give you an example,’ Killen said, using his most formal voice. He noticed Owen stood a little straighter. No bad thing, even if Killen really didn’t consider the lad a soldier anymore. ‘I have a camel. It is an ugly, mean-spirited bastard. It does what it likes when it likes and doesn’t give a damn about me. And it attracts flies. Even in the Jebel. And you know what? The camel doesn’t care. It really doesn’t give a shit. It keeps chewing. And, a few days later that fly will be dead. And the camel keeps chewing,’ Killen finished.
‘I understand, Major. And I am not a fool. That is why I want the borders of the Highlands secured. Of all of Tissan, it is the most defensible. That’s why so many of us survived the war, there are plenty of places to hide. But I want to do more than just survive, we need to thrive. To become strong. And when someone, someone more organised than gnome savages, comes visiting, they had better play nice. Or we will teach them a lesson they’ll respect. The Empire thought itself better than everyone and never once thought about how the other races would react to that. We have to prove we are as worthy as any other race to exist. And those races respect only strength and violence.’
Killen closed his eyes. The lad spoke with emotion and passion. But he was advocating a continuance of the war. Was that something he wanted? Was he duty bound to fight for a dead emperor and an empire crumbled to dust? If not, could he even call himself a soldier anymore?
‘Major. I want you to join us. But I can’t make you. These people here are my family and they have all chosen to follow my lead. But I would never make any of them take up arms if they did not wish to. And I will not ask it of you and your soldiers. But, by the Emperor, you could really help,’ he said, with a hopeful smile that showed his true age.
Killen puffed his cheeks and blew out the air loudly. He had really not expected to be reunited with fellow Tissans in such a manner. But then, what had he expected? The world had changed. He had just been ignoring that for the last year and was there really any going back? Shit. ‘I’ll need to speak to my soldiers.
I’ll not order them; they have the right to decide for themselves.’ They had damn well earned it keeping his useless backside safe.
Owen nodded his assent. ‘Fair enough. Thank you, Major.’
‘Don’t thank me yet,’ he grumbled. ‘I suppose I had better go find my troops.’
‘Stay tonight. Rest up. We’ll be cooking up one of those haunches.’ That sounded good. Killen felt his mouth start to water. ‘Larsen can go with you and lead you all into the Highlands. But I can’t afford to send Jussi to find your soldiers.’
Owen smiled. ‘Very good, Major. Please excuse me, I have some Riders to wrangle. It is truly good to have met you.’
‘Likewise, Rider,’ replied Killen with a dip of his head. He watched the lad walk back to his eagle then returned to Larsen.
The man was sitting on the ground rubbing his bare feet. ‘We heading out already?’
‘Yes,’ nodded Killen. ‘Owen wants everyone heading south for a few hours until nightfall.’
‘It’s to make sure anyone tracking us doesn’t think we are heading west.’ Larsen pointed up. ‘The eagles always hang back to see if anyone follows.’
Killen made an appreciative grunt. That was smart. The lad seemed to know his business. Killen corrected himself. The lad knew his business; otherwise he’d never have all these folks following his lead. ‘Did any gnomes ever do that?’
Larsen scrunched his face in thought. ‘Nope, nor anyone else either.’ He tilted his head towards their grazing mounts. ‘We’ll wait for the others to get back; give our horses some more rest time and we’ll walk ’em to wherever we set up camp.’
‘Fine with me,’ replied Killen. Larsen folded his arms and looked at him. ‘What?’
‘You going to stick with us?’
Killen opened his mouth to reply then stopped himself. Well, yes. For all his weighing up of Owen and his concerns about what his intentions were, it had never occurred to him that they wouldn’t. After all, they were other people, and there was always strength in numbers. He realised Larsen was looking at him expectantly. Killen nodded.
Larsen gave him a thin smile. ‘Good.’
‘Good,’ agreed Killen. Yes. Good. He supposed so, even if they were joining a war, and a small one at that. But he was still a soldier, what else was he going to do?
Owen pushed his way through the thick brush and found himself on the edge of a shallow sided bowl. At the bottom a small fire was blazing and the shadows danced and played against the wooded canopy surrounding it. It was good to see that even with friends nearby the Riders still practiced good concealment out in the wild. He worked his way down, using his spear as an aide. Though much of the soreness had gone, he favoured his other leg, and it was unlikely he’d ever be able to walk without a limp. It was a good thing he was made for fighting from a saddle.
Three others were waiting. Owen accepted a mug of tea, and cradled it with both hands, feeling the heat penetrate his gloves.
‘Sorry we don’t have anything stronger,’ said Erskine.
‘You’re sorry,’ muttered his brother Ernan. When Owen had first met him, he had gone clean-shaven but now sported a sharp pointing goatee, still quite refined when compared to his better-natured brother’s shaggy growth.
Owen blew on the tea and took a sip. It was sweetened with honey, a luxury.
‘We can hardly have young Jussi trying to keep his bird up if he’s hungover, can we?’ said Ernan.
‘I’ve had stronger before now!’
‘Ah, but you’ve never been drunk before,’ pointed out Erskine.
‘No, but–’
‘Then trust me when I say you want to be somewhere warm and comfortable when you do,’ advised Erskine.
‘Being with someone warm and comfortable would also help,’ added Ernan.
Owen didn’t need night vision to know the heat coming from Jussi’s cheeks had nothing to do with the fire. It reminded him how young the lad was. But not that young.
‘Fat chance of that with your ugly face,’ observed Erskine.
Owen sipped the tea and listened to the banter. It was something he had grown up with as an Eagle Rider, a lifetime ago. He remembered Cadarn sitting back, as the ritual abuse did the rounds, allowing his squadron the chance to relax, to bond. Owen could still see in his mind’s eye Bryce laying into Harwen about something the lad had done wrong, Jenna laughing and telling Bryce to stop being such a grumpy old bastard. Now he was in Cadarn’s place, and he let his Riders prattle on for a while longer.
His Riders, such as they were. Of the three only young Jussi was Gifted, but at least the brothers had worked hard to build a relationship with their birds, and they shared a natural familial shorthand which helped them coordinate in the sky. The test would come when they had to fight together, when they faced a swarm of buzzers. Owen had done what he could to prepare them, by matching them against Jussi and himself. Their ability to talk to their birds and each other had beaten the brothers every time. Even when they tried to bully Jussi, Arno and Owen were always able to take them out before they could catch the lad. Still, there was much to be taught from understanding why they were defeated, as long as they were willing to learn it.
There was one member of his small squadron missing: Anneli was on station at Eagle’s Rest. She and her eagle, Taru, had taken longer to gel and he did not want her ranging as far. The eagle may have training, but Anneli was not Em. And the eagle remembered. Perhaps they may never work. The time was coming soon to decide, if he was any judge.
Owen finished the tea and handed the cup back to Ernan, all of them falling silent, waiting for him to speak.
‘Were there any problems today?’ he asked.
Ernan made a face. ‘We’re all still here, aren’t we?’
Owen closed his eyes. Gods, but the man made it difficult.
‘I spotted some manticores,’ offered Jussi.
‘Did they see you?’ asked Owen.
‘I don’t think so. I kept high, like you told me.’
Owen shook his head. ‘You have to be sure. We can’t afford any mistakes. If they track you, they find us. If they track us, they find Eagle’s Rest. You all know better than that.’
‘Sorry, Owen.’
Ernan made a face. ‘Since when has a manticore ever chased? They’re lazy sons of bitches.’
‘Since when have you ever got close to one?’ countered his brother.
‘Just remember, all of you, we don’t get second chances.’ Owen left it at that. Ernan was probably right. Manticores would have gone for the easy kill, but that wasn’t the point. They had to play this smart. They had to be sure. ‘Alright. Let’s recap on the search, again.’ He had been over this before but he wanted it straight.
‘I found nothing to the north,’ said Erskine.
‘How far did you go?’ asked Owen.
‘Brevis. Not much left of it mind, just a shell.’ Erskine leaned forward and retrieved the pot suspended above the flames and poured out a measure of the tea into Owen’s empty mug.
Owen nodded. He looked at Ernan.
‘I went west to the river, like you said. Nothing.’
Owen nodded and tried to keep his frustration in check. They had to do better.
‘I found the soldiers!’ added Jussi.
‘Yes, we know,’ said Erskine, landing a punch on Jussi’s upper arm.
‘Ow!’ complained the lad.
‘Good work, Jussi, well done,’ said Owen. Jussi beamed his triumph at the brothers. Soldiers. The first they had found. And if one group had been hiding out in the Jebel, there could be others. ‘Jussi, tomorrow I want you to follow me home. Resupply, rest up, and then the next day I want you heading back towards Erebesh again. Go straight for the high country. Just conduct a search for as long as you can. But don’t expose yourself, or run out of supplies. Keep safe, and try to avoid any manticores, alright?’
‘Yes, Owen. I won’t let you down.’
Owen nodded. ‘I know you won’t.’
‘What about us?’ asked Erskine.
‘The lands directly to the west are empty, the cities to the north laid waste. That shouldn’t be a surprise, their armies rolled right through that territory and it was the most populated.’ He had hoped they might find people scavenging in the ruins, but there was nothing left to scavenge. The enemy had seen to that.
‘Then where are we going to look?’ asked Ernan.
‘Jussi here had the right idea,
’ replied Owen. ‘We have to push out further, out to the edges of the world. When they destroyed Aberpool there was nowhere else for them to hit, but there were still thousands of leagues of coastline, countless forests, and tracts of wilderness that they wouldn’t have bothered with. The cities and settlements are the wrong places to search, the enemy focussed on them, we’ve proved that now.’
‘We do what we did with the Highlands,’ said Ernan.
‘Yes, we scour the valleys and the forests and the mountains.’
‘It’s gonna take a long time to do that. There’s a lot of ground to cover,’ said Erskine, picking at his teeth.
‘Are you two provisioned?’ asked Owen, ignoring Erskine’s remarks.
‘Yes, we both swung by Eagle’s Rest before coming here,’ said Ernan.
‘Good. I’m loath to say it but I need one of you to push on and head to the far northeast, head for the Plains. The folk there were mobile, it’s possible some got away from the initial advances into Tissan.’
‘I’ll do it,’ stated Erskine.
‘And me?’ asked Ernan.
‘Angle southwest, head for the water separating Erebesh from the Riverlands, then follow the coastline. When you hit Aberpool head back. I’m going directly west then turning for Scotia. It was a long time ago, but that was the last time I saw anyone outside of the Highlands making a fist of it.’
‘Are you sure you should be heading out yourself?’ asked Erskine.
‘It’s not as if we have Riders to spare, is it? Murtagh has the Rest in hand. There’s nothing else I can do for now, other than looking for ways to make us stronger.’
‘I thought we were entering the campaigning season,’ said Jussi.
‘There’s no such thing as a season anymore, Jussi,’ replied Owen. ‘We need to work hard all day, every day if necessary.’
‘Those are some journeys you are asking us to take,’ said Ernan.
‘Good thing I bought my hunting bow,’ said Erskine.
‘There’s nothing else for it. We’ll meet at home. Make it eight weeks from now,’ said Owen.
‘Fair enough. What about those Erebeshi?’ asked Ernan.
‘Jussi and I will let Murtagh know he’s going to have guests. He can arrange a welcome party.’