by Glen Cook
"Which would be where?" Svavar wanted to know.
"We have to figure that out. We're looking for a man. We'll know him when we find him." Shagot felt bad. He was lying. But the Old Ones compelled him.
"We have to wait here. An army is coming. We'll join it and stay with it till we find our man. He's with another army this one will be joining."
Hallgrim asked, "How come this guy is so high on the god's shit list that they snatched us to kill him for them?"
That was not quite the mission. "He might've found a way to fight them. They want to get rid of him before he figures that out." Shagot frowned. There must be more to it than that "Meantime, while we're waiting, we have to dig up some holy relics. We'll need them later."
Weapons, tools, armor, foodstuffs, anything the gods thought might prove useful, remained scattered all over the slope. Shagot said, "Get all that shit together. Turn this into a fucking camp." He glanced northward. There was a chill in the air. There was a hint of rain as well. "There should be some kind of tent in that mess. Get it set up. Unless you like sleeping in the rain."
They did have a fire burning. He did not need to think of that
Shagot ambled around the hillside, muttering. His meanderings made no sense to the others. They made little sense to him, either, except that he knew the pattern he was supposed to walk. He kept rehearsing it under his breath. Each time he paused, visions of another time filled his mind. He saw strange, wildly hairy men in wolf and bear skins fighting and drinking and sacrificing Brothen captives to their gods. At first, Shagot did not understand their speech, though it shared some sounds and rhythms with his own. They were angry, bitter men, as content to butcher one another in brawls and blood feuds as to massacre the enemy for whom they were waiting.
The ancient language gradually assumed meaning. And Shagot began to understand why these men, dead fifteen hundred years, had gathered to battle the legions of Brothe.
Where Brothens went Brothen culture followed, along with Brothen ideals and Brothen prosperity. Brothens welcomed all gods into their community of deities. Brothens were at peace with the Instrumentalities of the Night. Where Brothens went the old ways and the Old Gods became diminished and softened and, too often, subsumed or, at best, paled into extreme obscurity, recalled only as demons or night gaunts.
Shagot did not understand that this battle had happened centuries before the births of the founding apostles of the Chaldarean creed. He did know that his gods believed that only their meddling in the middle realm kept them strong.
All Shagot knew of the ancient battle were snippets the gods had given him. There were things he did not see. Such as me fact that the tribal priests saw him as clearly as he saw them. He would never know that the biggest factor in the barbarians' victory was their conviction that one of their gods walked among them.
Svavar brought Shagot out of his reverie. "Come on, Grim. Get something to eat"
As he gnawed dried meat, Shagot muttered, "The trouble was, there was always another Brothen army."
Svavar said, "I'm worried, Grim. It ain't like you to do so much thinking."
Hallgrim wanted to know, "What was all that stalking around, mumbling and staring at nothing, Grim?"
"I was figuring out where we were going to have to dig. We'll take care of that tomorrow. Build the fire up. I'm cold to the bone."
The others eyed him strangely but Finnboga tossed more brush on the fire.
Once he finished eating, Shagot crawled into the tent and began snoring almost immediately. The others worried a while but, as twilight gathered, they retreated into the tent themselves. They felt the power of the night. It was strong here. This was a place where ghosts would walk and might even talk if a man was fool enough to put himself at risk of having to listen.
Shagot slept a sleep close to sleep of death. He would not remember it in the morning but his spirit returned to the Great Sky Fortress. His companions did not rest well. Strange lights moved around outside. Weird shadows played on the walls of the tent. No one had the nerve to go look.
You did not prosper by tempting the Instrumentalities of the Night
Shagot knew everything that needed knowing.It took just half a day to recover the necessary treasures from the graves of ancient priests. Despite the fact that Shagot had slept in. Despite the icy drizzle that fell all day.
"Hang that stuff where the rain can wash the mud off. Good. There's one more grave that we have to find. The most important one."
Shagot knew where to dig. The work went fast — until the others saw what lay under the earth.
Time had shrunk and shriveled it but it had not decayed.
"What is that thing?" Finnboga asked.
"It ain't human," Svavar declared.
"It looks like a giant dwarf without a beard," Sigurjon said.
It was as tall as a man and shaped like a man but it was wider and much more muscular.
Shagot said, "Get the grave goods out. I need to go through them." As the others did that, Shagot jumped into the grave and took the corpse's head.
Svavar asked, "Grim, what the hell is that thing?"
"I don't know what he was. Something like a man but not a man. A powerful mage. The last of his kind." Shagot mounted the head on the tip of a spear taken from the creature's grave, so the drizzle could wash the dirt away. "We'll need him in order to complete our mission."
"What mission, Grim? The old folks told us to catch those pansy priests that murdered Erief."
"Those priests didn't kill Erief."
"What?"
"I have that from the gods themselves."
"Who did, then?"
Shagot found that he could not say. And it was not that important, anyway. That had nothing to do with their mission.
Shagot retired early, again, and slept for an abnormally long time.
Shagot indicated a turn in the road onto a stone bridge over a nameless creek. "We'll wait there."
The band moved to the point indicated, weighted down by the stuff that had arrived with them and the relics they had recovered. Shagot carried the head in a sack. An hour later an old man on a donkey appeared, coming from the south. He spied them as he was about to cross the bridge, which did not speak well for his eyes. He halted. He stared. His mouth fell open. He stared some more. Then he headed back south, spanking his donkey.
Hallgrim said, "He must've thought we were robbers."
Svavar said, "We might ought to keep an eye out for bandits. There's been almost no traffic the last two days."
One reason was that, though modern maps labeled the area the White Hills, those who lived in their shadow called them the Haunted Hills. The tyranny of the night remained in full sway in the Haunted Hills. And, lately, travelers reported that the hills had become more active.
There were, as well, rumors of war, coming out of Arnhand, as did the road itself.
Another hour passed. A pair of riders appeared, coming down from the north. Two more pairs trailed them by a hundred yards, out on either side of the road. The lead riders stopped. They gawked.
The Andorayans gawked back. Those soldiers were like none they had ever seen.
The outriders eased closer carefully.
The Andorayans had placed themselves beside the road rather than in it. Shagot thought that should make it clear they were waiting, not blocking the way. Even Amhanders ought to be able to figure that out.
At which point Shagot began to wonder how he would communicate with these men. In the past when he dealt with people unable to speak Andorayan he was in a position to bluster and threaten and make himself understood by hurting people who did not do what he wanted. That option would not be available here.
The riders talked it over. One rode back the way they had come. The rest remained where they were, distinctly uncomfortable.
"Are they afraid of us?" Finnboga asked.
"I don't know," Shagot replied. He did not think his bunch looked threatening, if only because they were wei
ghted down with so much clutter. The gods should have sent a few slaves or pack animals along.
An hour passed. The Andorayans ate bad cheese and dried meat. The Arnhanders watched. They did dismount, loosen their saddles, and let their animals graze.
"Hey, Grim. There's people coming."
Shagot had fallen asleep. There was no time when he could not use a little more sleep.
Twenty-five or thirty riders approached in a hurry. Shagot wondered, "Does everybody in this country carry his own flag?" The riders all carried long spears with pennons attached. Except for a handful in black, riding among them.
Sigurjon swore. "It's those damned crows who killed Erief!"
Shagot had better eyes. "No. They're priests but they aren't those priests. Even if they were, this isn't the time to close that account. Erief can take care of that himself."
The band all stared at him.
"No, I don't know why I said that."
"You're getting spooky, Grim."
Somebody who had to be of superior rank moved closer, accompanied by bodyguards. And the priests. There were four of those. One of them was of exalted rank, too.
Shagot leaned on the shaft of a spear, cheek to cheek with the dead ogre's head. His brother and the others eyed him nervously because that dead monster bothered him not at all.
With those memories that he did retain it seemed unlikely that he would be squeamish about anything ever again.
The senior priest and senior soldier halted eighty feet away. Shagot began to feel impatient. He could not fathom why those people acted so strangely.
The priests came forward without the soldiers. They stopped ten yards away. They were unnaturally pale. Two shook so badly they could barely keep hold of their reins.
"By the thunder!" Finnboga said. "These guys are shitting themselves just looking at us."
"Yeah," Shagot said. "So what are they seeing that we can't? Why are they scared of us? Hey! Assholes in the slave smocks. What's your fucking problem? We just want to join up with your army."
The priests chattered among themselves in a nasal, whining tongue unlike any Shagot had heard before. He asked his companions, "Any of you guys understand them?"
The priests began trying different languages. Probably their best course, Shagot thought. His bunch, between them, might stumble through in two languages beside their own. And one of those would be Seatt because Finnboga's family used to trade with the witch people of the extreme north, up on the permanent ice.
"Ha!" Svavar said. "That fat, scared asshole just said something that sounded like it might be in Santerin."
"Hallgrim," Shagot said. "You were a prisoner in Santerin for a while. Talk to him." Shagot had a little Santerin himself, but only enough to ask where the treasure was hidden.
Hallgrim said, "It's Santerin, all right. But it ain't like any variety I ever heard before. I only get about a third of what he's saying. They seem to think that we're demons."
"Keep him talking," Shagot said. He was starting to pull it together. He began to catch up with Hallgrim. But that was only good enough to leave him puzzled.
Why would these idiots pick them out as demons? Because he and his bunch did not understand their bizarre religion?
"Start beating on the point that we're just the opposite. The gods have sent us to join their army."
"They won't believe that. Not even if you've got a signed letter of introduction from the All-Father."
"Just keep them talking. Keep telling them we're here to join their army."
The Andorayans were allowed to accompany the Arnhander force, which was commanded by the Baron Martex Algres, a cousin of the king of Arnhand. His second in command was Archbishop Berл of Source, the foremost cleric of Arnhand, an in absentia member of the Collegium. The army numbered about fifteen hundred, plus camp followers. Many noble Arnhander families were represented in the force. Its mood was optimistic in the extreme. The army would join up with Adolf Black's Grolsacher mercenaries in a few days, on the border of the Connec. Then they would sweep through that province, destroying its heretics root and branch. The Duke of Khaurene would himself join them somewhere near Castreresone, after they settled up with Antieux for what it had done to the Patriarchal force sent to stifle the unholy rebellion of its people.
Shagot and the Andorayan band trudged along, always spied upon by several priests, never able to understand what moved these people. Always, at least one of the monitors was something called a witchfinder.
Shagot spent all of his time with the Arnhanders, confused. Their reasons for war made no sense. People were going to die over differences in doctrines between Episcopals and Maysaleans? When anyone old enough and smart enough to tie their own bootlaces could not possibly believe any of the crap put out by either bunch?
The most disturbing aspect of the situation for Shagot, though, was the universal conviction of the Arnhanders that the murder of Erief Erealsson had taken place two centuries ago. Today Andoray, Friesland, Weldence, and far Iceland were united under a single crown. And the official religion there was Chaldarean.
Were the gods mad to send him into such a mad world?
14. The Connec, Antieux, and Beyond
The rape of Antieux saw almost seven thousand of that city's people slaughtered. The majority were women, children, and the old. As shock and despair faded, the survivors became ever more animated by anger, horror, and deepening hatred.
People who wanted to help straggled in from the ends of the Connec and beyond. Count Raymone Garete burned bridges by publicly vowing a vendetta against Sublime V and the Brotherhood of War. That was a bold pledge. Not even Johannes Blackboots dared go that far. The Count's vow was so intemperate that Duke Tormond showered him with letters demanding that he recant.
Now a new army approached Antieux. This one was stronger than the last, better equipped, and consisted of veteran soldiers. It included members of many of the noble families of Arnhand. It was commanded by experienced men determined to make Raymone Garete eat his words one at a time, without condiments, chewing carefully.
Count Raymone was not dismayed. The previous mistake would not be repeated.
It was late in the season. The Arnhander troops were feudal levies on short terms of obligation. They would head home before many weeks passed.
Bishop Serifs paid for his perfidy. The people of Antieux vented their anger on his properties and on those of the Church.
Everywhere priests who supported Sublime suffered. At Gadge, previously a devout Episcopal town, an angry mob exhumed Bishop Maryl Pontл, Serifs's predecessor, tried him for crimes against God and humanity, then reburied his bones in an unmarked grave in unhallowed ground.
Messengers scurried everywhere as Kings and Princes and the Grail Emperor himself made their opinions known. Sublime V received no congratulatory letters.
The Arnhanders and Adolf Black's Grolsacher mercenaries took up positions around Antieux. Their Brotherhood predecessors had not been numerous enough for a complete encirclement so they had not wasted any effort trying.
This time there would be no accidental invasion caused by the stupidity of adolescents. The stupid kids were all dead. And, this time, every possible cistern, barrel, and container had been filled with water beforehand. This time Antieux was prepared. This time Antieux truly understood the stakes. And this time those caught inside the wall remained calm under pressure.
Archbishop Berл himself demanded that Antieux open its gates, swear allegiance to the Brothen Patriarch, and turn out the heretics dwelling there. He presented a list of people the Church wanted arrested and bound over for trial.
Count Raymone Garete responded by evicting that handful of Episcopal priests who refused to denounce Sublime V. They took with them the relics of St. Erude the Wayfarer.
Count Raymone was a hard, bright youngster who feared nothing and believed that he had nothing to lose anymore. He was determined to remain Brothe's most terrible enemy while he lived.
T
he siege of Antieux proceeded for thirty-one days. The weather turned colder. The Arnhander soldiers became increasingly disgruntled. Where was the easy plunder they had been promised? Their enemies were getting fat, staying warm inside the ruins of burned houses while out here the soldiers starved, amidst fields and hills stripped of edibles and combustibles. And now there were reports of incursions from Argony and Tramaine, as Santerin captured castles and villages long in dispute between Santerin and Arnhand.
News that reached the besiegers' camp also found its way into Antieux. The siege lines did not extend across the River Job. The folk of Antieux came and went as they pleased, in that direction, under cover of darkness.
Count Raymone Garete took advantage of the besiegers' failure to finish surrounding Antieux on the other side of the river. He slipped away and joined a group of hotheaded young nobles eager to take more aggressive action against the invaders.
Baron Algres and Archbishop Bere enjoyed an angry confrontation in the Baron's quarters in the ruin of Bishop Serifs's manor house. The Archbishop refused to understand why the troops would abandon the siege when God's work remained incomplete.
The Baron had a reputation for being undiplomatic. "Go out there and find me one private soldier who gives a shit about God's work. You go look, you'll find a whole lot of men who figure God is big enough to take care of himself. And I can't say I don't agree with them."
"But…"
"You knew the situation when you bullied my cousin into sending me down here to help the Church rob these people. Sixty days is all we can demand of the soldiers. That's been the goddamned law since our ancestors were savages in hide tents. If Sublime wants to war on these Connecten fools all year round, let him put together his own army and leave us to protect ourselves from Santerin. Oh. Wait. Sublime already sent his own army. It got wiped out"