by Den Patrick
The brigands on the left succeeded in hauling their lassoed soldier, dragging him over the battlements. The soldier had enough time to cry out but was quickly silenced by the fall. The remaining soldier could not call out; the rope had snared his throat. He fought and staggered and writhed as the brigands below tugged and heaved, but against all odds the soldier would not be dragged from the wall. Steiner reached the gatehouse doors and threw his own rope high. The noose fell around a battlement and he climbed up, pulling hard and grunting with the effort.
The snared soldier finally cut through the rope around his neck with a knife, though he was half dead with the effort. Marek, still haloed by the lantern light, gave a low whistle and pointed to the half-strangled soldier. A heartbeat later two arrow shafts appeared, one protruding from the soldier’s neck, the other from his shoulder. He stiffened in shock and sank to his knees. Steiner was on him in seconds, finishing the man with his knife, quickly and quietly in the dying evening light.
Nils followed Steiner up the rope. The brigand waited in the shadow of the battlements, crossbow held close to his body. Einar was next, followed by Marek and more and more of the brigands.
Steiner stared down into the courtyard from the shadows of the battlement edge, some three hundred feet long and fifty feet wide. Many of the soldiers were at their evening meal, gathered together in a long hall at the side of the courtyard. It was a low building made from logs, and stables had been built on the opposite side of the courtyard. Steiner eased himself over the side of the gatehouse wall and slipped over the edge, rolling when he hit the ground, feet stinging, knees aching. A curse escaped his lips. He ran towards the stable bent low, waiting for someone to call out, dreading the moment an arrow might suddenly appear, protruding from his chest. Fortune favoured him and he slipped behind the stable, shielded from view, then took a moment to catch his breath and wrestle the hammer from his belt. Smells of straw and dung lay heavy on the air and Steiner ran on towards the wall ahead of him, sparing a glance over his shoulder. The two archers kept watch over the pass, one at each end wall, huddling beside braziers.
Einar and Nils snuck up to the hall unseen. The other brigands were dark shadows sliding across the courtyard and for a moment Steiner was reminded of the cinderwraiths on Vladibogdan.
‘Here’s your uprising, Kimi,’ he whispered through gritted teeth. ‘This will surely get the Emperor’s attention.’
Steiner raced up the steps at the eastern wall and had almost reached the top when the soldier saw him scaling the stairs. Steiner pressed on, knowing his opponent had the advantage of higher ground even as the soldier raised his mace. Something whistled past Steiner’s shoulder, shockingly close. There was a sound of metal on metal as the soldier’s head snapped back. Nils’ crossbow had found its mark. Steiner lunged forward, grasping his sledgehammer at either end. He rammed the shaft across the soldier’s chest, shoving him backwards until he had slammed the man over the battlements. The soldier reached out to him as he fell and hit the ground with a dull crump. A look back to the courtyard revealed Nils reloading his crossbow. The brigand grinned and saluted, then gestured to the last soldier on the eastern wall, just sixty feet away. To Steiner’s surprise the soldier lay down his weapon and removed his helmet. He wasn’t much older than Steiner, his eyes wide with fright, sweating in fear.
‘No trouble,’ said the soldier in heavily accented Nordspråk.
‘No trouble,’ agreed Steiner in Solska.
The hall was now ablaze and Einar and Nils had blocked the door with a heavy crate. Smoke tumbled from the windows and soldiers tried to escape only to be cut down by the brigands waiting outside. They were brutish scraps, crude fights, fought with daggers and wild panic. Some of the soldiers were on fire as they fought to be free of the hall.
Steiner looked to his father. He was no longer carrying the lantern he had lit just minutes earlier. The hall burned and the howls of dying men subsided as the heat and ash took them one by one. Steiner felt tears prickle at the corners of his eyes. He told himself it was the smoke and not the screams that made it so.
‘Come down to the courtyard,’ said Steiner to the young soldier. ‘Lose the knife.’ The young soldier did as he was told, eyes fixed on the burning hall and the many corpses in the courtyard.
‘The dragon rider is victorious!’ bellowed Nils, holding his arms out to the heavens. Steiner couldn’t tear his eyes away from the hall as the fire continued to roar. The roof collapsed inward and the brigands roared in triumph as a shower of fiery cinders rose up into the night sky.
A burning soldier emerged from the hall and made it a dozen feet across the courtyard before collapsing. The stench of burning flesh was overpowering.
‘Why did they have to burn them?’ asked Kristofine. She appeared from the gloom ashen-faced and glassy-eyed.
‘It wasn’t part of my plan,’ said Steiner quietly. ‘But I suppose one death is much like another.’
Kristofine stared at the still-burning corpse of the soldier. ‘What have we done here?’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kimi
Kimi and Marozvolk were tied and gagged following their visit to the Xhantsulgarat on the orders of the Xhan himself. They spent a miserable afternoon in a damp tent waiting to see just how cruel Tsen-Baina Jet could be. A lone guard stood watch, no more than twenty years old with a soft, downy moustache that only served to emphasise his youth. The guard ignored them when he could and looked about as guilty as person could be when he couldn’t.
‘You know I am who I say I am, don’t you?’ said Kimi, testing her bonds for the fiftieth time that afternoon.
The guard shrugged. ‘I was barely fifteen when they took the princess away. You could be anyone, an imposter with nothing to lose.’ He had a point, she had nothing to lose but her life, and it seemed her own brother might be the one to take it.
‘And nothing I can say will convince you?’
‘I don’t need convincing,’ said the youth. ‘Anyone with eyes can see you’re a princess. It’s in the way you walk.’
‘So why not free me?’
The guard turned away. ‘Your own brother poisoned his father. There’s no telling what he’d do to the likes of me if I disobey him.’
‘Shit,’ snarled Marozvolk. ‘We came all the way across Vinterkveld for this?’
The Darga of Bestam came for them after dark, stealing into the tent with a handful of men who wore scarves over their faces.
‘You,’ said Chulu-Agakh to the guard, ‘tell His Highness that this one is a witch and used her powers on you.’ He pointed to Marozvolk. The guard looked at him, his expression unconvinced.
‘What are you talking about? Used her powers on me?’
‘I’m taking the princess and her friend away from here,’ said Chulu-Agakh.
The soldier opened his mouth to protest, took a long, guilty look at Kimi, and then decided to leave the tent.
‘If anyone asks, you’re my prisoners,’ said Chulu-Akagh as he pulled Kimi to her feet. ‘We don’t have much time.’
They walked through Bestam in the deep quiet of the small hours, when all the camp fires were merely embers and the tribespeople dreamed of fat herds and fine weather. Kimi followed the Darga until she could hear water lapping against the riverbank. A flat-bottomed boat waited for them in the light of the crescent moon. Marozvolk followed behind, her expression unreadable, mouth spilt apart by the gag.
‘Trust me, this is the safest place for you.’ Chulu-Agakh led them onto the boat and sat them down. ‘You’re due to be killed come the morning, so I had to act quickly.’ He untied their wrists and the women removed their gags.
‘What?’ Kimi could barely believe what she was hearing.
‘The Xhan is not taking any chances. A few people said they recognised you. Rumours are already circulating at court.’ Chulu-Agakh poled the boat away from the shore.
‘I don’t understand,’ said Kimi. ‘The heir to the throne is always the son. I can�
��t challenge his authority. I’m no threat to his rule.’
‘Your merely being alive has raised a few questions about your brother’s honesty, Your Highness.’
‘There was never any letter,’ said Marozvolk, curling her lip in disgust. ‘The Empire wouldn’t send a letter revealing that they’d killed a political prisoner.’
‘I spoke with a few of the courtiers who were loyal to your father,’ said Chulu-Agakh, looking back to the shore to check they had left unseen. ‘None recall seeing such a letter.’
‘Tsen was always very adept at telling stories,’ said Kimi quietly, looking out over the endless inky darkness of the river. ‘But I never thought him capable of such ruthlessness. I’d hoped that family trait had died with my father.’ A coldness was spreading through her that had little to do with the chill of night. She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her disappointment.
‘All I can give you now is your life,’ said Chulu-Agakh, ‘though it may cost me my own.’
‘Where are Tief and Taiga?’ said Marozvolk.
‘They were supposed to meet us at the boat,’ said the Darga. ‘But it is possible that your brother arrested them.’
Kimi thought of Taiga’s smile. Of Tief’s grin. Their group had already been torn apart because of her.
‘Take me back,’ said Kimi, feeling both conviction and anger awakening inside herself.
‘I cannot do that,’ said Chulu-Agakh calmly.
‘What will happen to them?’ pressed Marozvolk.
‘I’ll do what I can to make sure they don’t come to harm, but Tsen is hardly a temperate Xhan.’ The boat crept across the inky darkness of the river, heavy breathing the only sound as Chulu-Agakh struggled to fight the current and navigate by the stars.
‘Hand it over, old man,’ said Kimi.
‘Your highness?’ The Darga looked confused.
‘The pole.’ Kimi took it from him. ‘I’m more than capable of crossing this river by myself. It’s been a long day and you’re tiring.’
Chulu-Agakh chuckled. ‘Far be it for me to disobey the orders of a princess.’ The Darga took a seat in the boat and soon he was nodding off.
Kimi looked back towards the southern bank of the river, but there was nothing there. No country, no father, no brother, just an implacable darkness that swallowed everything. She sobbed quietly as she poled the boat across the river. Marozvolk and Chulu-Agahk pretended to sleep or not to hear, which was just what she needed.
‘We drifted more than I would have liked,’ said Chulu-Agakh come the morning. He had awoken earlier and taken another shift poling the boat, much against Kimi’s wishes. ‘But you can take shelter at the edge of the forest tonight.’ He pulled the boat up onto the shore and slung a few bags on the yellow grass where it was dry. ‘There’s food, water skins, clothes, and a cloak for each of you,’ he added as he caught his breath. ‘I thought a tent would be too much to carry.’
Kimi reached out and laid a hand gently on his shoulder. ‘Thank you.’
‘I revered the old Xhan very much,’ said the Darga. ‘He was a good man, though not much of a father if I am to judge him by your brother’s actions.’ Kimi felt a flare of indignation, then realised the anger she felt wasn’t for Chulu-Agakh alone.
‘You’re right,’ she admitted. ‘He was a terrible father. He lost interest in us altogether after our mother died. Tsen must have felt truly abandoned after I was taken by the Empire.’
‘That’s a poor reason for wanting you dead,’ said Marozvolk, sounding weary.
‘He knew I’d call him out for killing our father.’
‘It is for the best there is no proof,’ said Chulu-Agakh. ‘Think no more on this place, your highness. Head north and take a ship to Shanisrond.’ He looked back across the river. ‘I must return. May the goddesses keep you, Kimi Enkhtuya.’
They watched the old Darga guide the boat back across the river for a time and Kimi struggled to believe how things had gone so wrong, so quickly.
‘I should have strangled your brother when we were in the tent,’ said Marozvolk. Kimi couldn’t miss the bitterness in the woman’s voice.
‘And I’d be the princess who had her brother killed in order to seize the throne. I’d be no better than Tsen.’ She shook her head. ‘We head north.’
‘You said only fools try to cross Izhoria.’ Marozvolk didn’t look afraid, just angry. Kimi envied her; all she could feel was bleak desolation.
‘We can die over there in Yamal,’ said Kimi, looking across the river, ‘with Taiga and Tief, or we can die here.’
‘I’d rather not give your brother the satisfaction,’ said Marozvolk. They turned away from the river and began marching north towards the forest. The forge of Vladibogdan had made Kimi hard, but she had not walked so many miles in years. Her body ached in response to the distance they covered but her mind remained numb. In the space of a single day she had lost everything. They travelled together in silence all morning and it was only when the pair reached the edge of the forest that Marozvolk spoke.
‘You look terrible. We should eat something hot.’
‘I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath is all.’ Kimi removed her pack and let it fall to her feet.
‘I’ll get wood for a fire,’ said Marozvolk. ‘Stay here, you’re dead on your feet.’ Kimi nodded and sat down without a word.
Marozvolk slipped out of the forest a while later with enough wood for a small fire. ‘It seems we’ve gained some friends,’ she said, nodding towards the horizon. Two figures could just be seen in the distance coming from the south.
‘I can’t see at this distance.’ Kimi shook her head. ‘Who are they?’
‘Your brother wants you dead,’ said Marozvolk. ‘Perhaps these are your assassins.’
‘We’ll eat later,’ said Kimi, grabbing her pack and heading into the forest, keen to avoid the approaching strangers. Marozvolk caught up with her and they hurried past the trunks of dead trees that were like slumbering giants on the forest floor.
‘I’m beginning to wish we’d signed on with Romola,’ muttered Marozvolk. Kimi ignored her, heading onward with a hard expression and firm stride.
‘Kimi!’
‘Not now, Marozvolk. I’m not in the mood to talk and—’
‘Don’t move!’
Kimi stopped and stared at Marozvolk. ‘There are assassins coming for us and you want to stand around talking?’ Kimi followed Marozvolk’s gaze. Something was moving in the gloom of the forest a few paces ahead, something low that walked on four legs. There was an awkward motion to the creature’s gait and it stepped forward slowly into the dappled light.
‘It’s just a wolf,’ said Kimi, squinting ahead. ‘They rarely attack people. Besides, this one looks old and starved. It looks half dead.’
Marozvolk drew her sword and the wolf began growling. ‘It’s not just half dead,’ she whispered. The creature stepped further into the light. Parts of the fur had rotted away and rancid muscles and sinews showed where the skin had parted. The eyes were missing, the sockets crusted with blood. Black lips pulled back in a snarl from teeth that were brown and yellow and cracked.
Kimi drew her own sword with a shaking hand when another growl sounded behind them. Marozvolk flinched and her skin turned a stony grey on instinct.
‘We’re surrounded,’ said Kimi as a third wolf slunk from the trees to her left. The second wolf leapt at Marozvolk. Kimi turned just in time to see Marozvolk’s sword slip through the creature’s chest even as her friend crashed to the ground underneath the pouncing wolf. Kimi dodged backwards, watching another of the rotting creatures pass in front of her as a third wolf pounced on her back. Only the hood of her cloak stopped the creature’s shattered teeth from ripping into her neck. The weight of the animal forced her to her knees and she gripped her blade with both hands, stabbing wildly over her shoulder. Marozvolk was writhing underneath her attacker, her blade stuck fast in the creature’s ribcage. The wolf savaged her throat but her stony skin r
efused to yield. Kimi tried to stand but the wolf on her back bit down again; the cloak’s hood continued to stick in its jaws. The last creature had turned and prepared to lunge and Kimi struck out as best she could. The bright metal caught the creature across the face, shearing one ear from its rotting head. The wolf shook itself and growled more loudly.
Marozvolk had released her sword and settled for punching her attacker in the snout with granite fists. She held the creature by its throat and pummeled the wolf’s face, knocking out teeth with the force of her blows. Kimi envied the woman her impervious skin and feared she wouldn’t last much longer, outnumbered as she was.
The wolf with the missing ear lunged again and Kimi fell on her side to avoid being bitten. The creature on her back withdrew a moment and struggled to its feet just as another wolf stepped out of the darkness to join them. The newcomer was larger than the rest by a handspan, the fur more mangy, the scent of death strong. It bore the same gouged eyes as its kin and stared with hollow sockets at the two women fighting for their lives.
‘Frøya save us,’ said Marozvolk as she stood up. The wolf’s teeth marks were white scratches on the dark stone of her throat. The undead wolf lay at her feet, its skull mashed to rotten pulp by her granite fists. ‘Watch out!’ said Marozvolk, ripping her sword out of the creature’s corpse to the sound of snapping ribs.
The largest of the wolves dashed forward and Kimi grasped the hilt of her sword with both hands, swiping upwards and catching the creature in the shoulder. But the wolf’s momentum carried it forward, crashing into Kimi, knocking her down. Another of the wolves had clamped onto Marozvolk’s arm and was snarling furiously, even as another was circling.
A flash of light and Tief and Taiga rushed to their sides, wielding flaming torches, grim expressions on their faces. The undead wolves snarled but came no closer and even the largest of them backed off into deeper shadows. Kimi was speechless to see them again.
‘They’re called Grave Wolves,’ panted Tief. The smaller wolves were circling a dozen feet away, growling low. ‘Or Sombre Wolves if you’re feeling poetic.’