by William King
Tomas had heard this story too many times before. He stifled a yawn.
"Well, Richard Crowell gathered together the best swordsmen, the bravest fighters. He routed the creatures of darkness from their caves and cisterns underground, and he found sorcerers who would use their magic to strip the monsters of their spells. He made Remas safe for honest folk to live in once again. And then, not content with that, he led an expedition up the coast, across the Middle Sea, to the Sea of Claws. He'd heard that this was where the evil beasts were coming from, and he wanted to stop them at their source."
There was a short silence. "And what happened?" Linna asked politely.
"Oh, there were battles the like of which you cannot imagine. All manner of flying things, creatures with tentacles instead of heads, humans that were half man, half woman - there was a screaming and a wailing, a gnashing of fangs and a beating of wings." Brodie paused. "Well, that's what I was told. I wasn't there myself, you understand."
Linna smiled. "No, I suppose not."
Brodie finished his rum. "We Halflings are simple folk. A warm home and a full belly, that's all the excitement we need."
"And what of Richard Crowell?" she asked.
Brodie's mood became more sombre. "Some say he succumbed to the evil forces he pitted himself against, after he made landfall and ventured into Norsca. But no one really knows."
"Norsca?" Linna's eyes narrowed. "I've never been there. It's a faraway place."
Brodie set his glass down abruptly. "Indeed, indeed it is. So far away, I wonder why we're wasting our time talking about it."
"How do you - '
"Just stories I've heard, that's all." He stood up. "I declare, it's past my bedtime." He belched and steadied himself against the table, then yawned loudly. "You should bed down for the night in Tomas's room, my dear. He and I can sleep in here."
She rose gracefully to her feet. "Thank you." She smiled at Brodie, then turned to Tomas and took his hand. "It was a special pleasure to meet you, Tomas."
Her touch was cool and light, yet he felt a wave of warmth spread from her hand to his. "Good night," she said, looking into his eyes.
"Good night," he answered dumbly. Neither he nor Brodie said anything more till she had left the room and closed the door behind her.
"I don't know, Tomas," the Halfling said finally. He threw a thick overcoat onto the floor in front of the fire, then stretched out on it on his back. "Hard to tell, whether things are what they seem."
Tomas knew from the Halfling's slurred speech, this was no time to pay much attention to his ramblings. "Will you be all right sleeping down there?" he asked.
"Right as rain." Brodie yawned again.
Tomas lay down in Brodie's cot and pulled a blanket over himself. He stared at the wooden ceiling, watching it flicker in the light from the fire. He imagined Linna in the other room, in his bed. Had it been an invitation, the way she'd looked at him when she said goodnight? No, she must still be grieving over the loss of her brother. If he went creeping in to see her now, he'd just be making a fool of himself.
He tossed and turned in the narrow bed, while Brodie snored where he lay on the floor in front of the fire. Tomas kept seeing Linna's face. Even when he finally fell asleep, she was in his dreams.
Tomas felt a hand on his shoulder. He woke with a start, looked up, and saw a shadowy figure bending over him. It was Linna, he realized, and she was fully dressed. "There's someone outside," she whispered. "Quickly. Come and look."
The fire had died down till it lit the room with a dim red glow. Brodie still lay in front of it, snoring, his hands clasped across his stomach. Tomas considered waking him - but the Halfling was in a stupor, sated with food and drink.
Linna went quickly to the window beside the door of the cabin. Tomas lit the oil lamp and carried it over to her. "Someone knocked on the window in my room," she explained. "It was so dark outside, I couldn't be sure - '
Tomas held the lamp up high and peered through the rippled glass. He saw a ragged figure standing in the night, his clothes soaked with seawater. He raised his hand imploringly, and his mouth opened as though he was trying to speak.
Linna pressed her face to the glass. "It is my brother!" She ran to the door, her eyes wide with excitement. She lifted the oak bar and dropped it with a thump on the floor.
Brodie muttered something and rolled over. He opened his eyes and squinted in the light. "What - "
Linna was already tugging the door open. A gust of icy air wafted in, making the flame in Tomas's oil lamp flutter. "Corma!" she called. "It's really you!"
"Wait," said Tomas, as she started out of the cabin. There was a strange odour in the cold night air. He sensed that something, somehow, was wrong.
"Wha's going on?" Brodie sat up. He saw the open door, and Linna stepping into the night. "Hey!" he shouted. "Stop there!"
But it was too late. In the flickering light from the oil lamp, Tomas saw the elf girl throw herself into her brother's arms. But her moment of joy turned almost instantly to horror. As Tomas watched, the figure of her brother mutated hideously. Linna screamed in panic and started struggling to free herself from the tight embrace.
One of the arms that clutched her had turned into a huge purple crab's claw. The other was a brown tentacle, coiling around Linna's waist. A lumpy, fur-covered body literally burst out of the sodden clothes, and a razor-edged reptilian tail thumped onto the ground and started lashing from side to side. The creature's feet were hooves, and its face contorted till it looked like the head of a bear, with bulbous, bulging eyes and black horns that sprouted from its forehead. It growled, revealing long, curved, yellow fangs. Its breath steamed in the cold air.
"Vile thing!" Brodie shouted. "Let her go!"
Tomas turned and saw that the Halfling had struggled up onto his feet. He was clutching the flint dagger that he normally wore on a thong around his neck.
The creature picked Linna up with its tentacle and tossed her across its shoulders. It tilted its head back, uttered a long, wailing cry, then strode away into the blackness.
Tomas was trembling. The wailing cry was the very same sound that he'd heard the previous night.
"Tomas! Help!" Linna cried. Her voice was almost lost on the wind.
Clouds were covering the moon, and the light from his lamp reached no more than a dozen feet. Summoning all his courage, Tomas stepped into the darkness.
Something ran in front of him: a deformed near-human shape with green, leathery skin. Another joined it. Goblins, he realized. They stood barring his path, hissing menacingly.
"Tomas!" Linna called again, and he saw her briefly silhouetted against the stormy sky as the beast carried her down the path to the beach.
In despair, Tomas hurled the oil lamp. His aim was true: the lamp hit the creature in the back of its legs and smashed, scattering droplets of fire. The thing cried in pain, and for a moment seemed about to drop the elf girl. But then it continued on its way, disappearing into the night.
Brodie appeared beside Tomas. He drew his rusty sword from its cracked leather sheath and brandished it at the goblins. "Begone!" he shouted.
They hissed again and started forward.
Brodie raised his sword above his head. Tomas saw that the Halfling's hands were shaking. "I'm warning you!"
The goblins continued toward him with their teeth bared and their claw-like fingers extended. And then, without warning, they stopped still, as if there had been a noise that only they could hear. Suddenly then turned and ran off into the darkness, leaving Brodie and Tomas alone in the night.
Brodie sheathed his sword. He shook his head as if to clear it, then grabbed Tomas's arm. "Quickly. Back inside."
Dazed, Tomas allowed himself to be led toward the door. "But we have to save her," he protested.
"No." Brodie hauled him bodily into the cabin.
Tomas pried at the Halfling's fingers. "Let me go!"
"That thing has powers you've never dreamed of. And you don't ev
en have a weapon to defend yourself."
"You mean we're just going to do nothing? You want us to hide like cowards?"
Brodie slammed and barred the door. He glowered at Tomas. "You'd see the sense of it, if you knew what I know."
Tomas was barely listening. "It took her, Brodie. It just took her away."
Brodie stumbled to the bed and sat down heavily. With hands that still shook, he lit a candle. "The beast you just saw was once a man. It got deformed when it chose to serve the dark forces."
Tomas frowned "It looked just like a sea elf, at first."
"That was magic. It disguised itself, see, with a spell of illusion, to tempt the elf girl out. But my dawnstone, here, showed it for what it was." He patted the wedge of flint that hung around his neck.
"Dawnstone?"
"It's enchanted. Has the power to undo the effects of magic." He shook his head grimly. "I only wish I'd used it sooner, to reveal the beast before she went to it."
Tomas reached out and touched the dawnstone. It was cold and smooth. His fingers slid over its polished surface. "I always thought it was just a flint dagger. Where did you get it?"
Brodie chewed for a moment on his lower lip. He gave Tomas a sidelong glance. "Well, we don't need to talk about that now. You had a nasty shock out there. A terrible tragedy. Let's brew some tea, and - "
"I want to know the truth," Tomas said firmly. "What happened out there? How did you get the dawnstone? How do you know all these things about creatures and dark forces?"
The Halfling fidgeted uneasily. "I was there, see," he said in a low voice. "With Richard Crowell and his crew."
"In the Sea of Claws?" Tomas stared at him with disbelief.
The Halfling shrugged. "I was only the ship's cook. Never was a fighter. But the fact is, Tomas, you were there too."
For a moment, they stared at each other. Then Tomas laughed uncertainly. "I don't understand."
"You were a babe, so you don't remember. But Richard Crowell, he was your father. Your mother was killed only a week after you were born - killed by a beastman. That was the real reason for Richard's quest: he wanted revenge against the things that had taken his young wife away. Oh, but it was much harder than he'd thought it would be. He anchored his fleet off the coast of Norsca, told me to stay on board ship and take good care of you, and went ashore with his army. He promised to come back if he could. But he never did. Only one of his men survived long enough to get back to the ship, and he told us terrible stories about the creatures they'd seen on land, with terrible magical powers. He died from his wounds just a few hours later, and the crew were so scared they set sail right away, heading back south."
Tomas felt stunned by what he heard. At the same time, he felt a growing sense of excitement after so many years spent wondering about his parents. "This is really true?"
The Halfling nodded. He grasped the dawnstone and lifted it over his head on its leather thong. "Richard knew I wasn't a fighter, so he gave me this stone for protection. His wife had worn it, back before - before she was taken. Richard had another one just like it, which he kept himself. A matched pair, very rare indeed."
"This one used to belong to my mother?"
"Indeed it did. Here, you need it now more than I do."
Tomas held the stone in both hands. "I wish you'd told me all this before, Brodie."
"It was best you didn't know." The Halfling gave Tomas another quick, guilty look. "If you'd known the truth, you might have done something rash, maybe even got it into your head to run away looking for your dad."
Tomas nodded slowly, saying nothing.
"I wanted the best for you, Tomas. I cared for you as if you were my own."
"I - I know that." Tomas stared at the stone, expecting to see his reflection in the shiny black surface; yet somehow it seemed to absorb all the light that fell on it.
"If you ever think there's magic being used against you," the Halfling said, "you take hold of that stone. You have to grasp it in your fist. Yes, like that. Just hold it, so."
"All right. I'll remember."
"Now put it on for safe keeping." He watched closely while Tomas looped the leather thong around his neck and dropped the stone inside his jerkin. "See, it's you they really wanted, tonight."
Tomas looked up in surprise. "Me?"
Brodie stood up and paced across the room. He poked nervously at the fire, sending sparks flying up the chimney, then paced back again, the floorboards creaking under him. "All these years I've been watching and waiting, expecting them to come for you. Your father must have hurt them badly, before they killed him, and they'll not forget it. Revenge; that's what they're after."
"Then why did they take Linna instead of me?" Even as he spoke, he saw again the awful spectacle of the elf girl being dragged away into the darkness.
"I reckon they found her brother, last night. Maybe took him off the wreck. They would have got her too, but she swam for safety and didn't reach the shore till it was almost light. They don't like the light of day. So they bided their time till it was dark again, then lured her out, hoping you'd follow." Once again, he started pacing to and fro. "We're not safe here, Tomas. That dawnstone protects against magic, but it's no use against brute force, and I'm not much of a fighter, and you've never learned swordplay." He shook his head ruefully. "First thing tomorrow, we'll pack everything into the boat and set sail. Find us a quiet little haven - maybe in the Estalian Kingdoms, on the Southern Sea. The winters are warm down there, and there's nary a creature of darkness to be seen. What do you say, eh?"
Tomas looked at the Halfling in confusion. "You mean - you'll let them drive us out of our home here?"
Brodie laughed bitterly. "You think we have any choice? Look at us, what's a pair like us going to do against the forces of darkness?"
Tomas stood up slowly. His face was grim and brooding. He walked to the window and stared out into the night.
"Come away from there." Brodie spoke sharply, but at the same time, there was a fearful, pleading sound to his voice.
Tomas remained where he was. "She might still be alive."
"Her? Alive?" The Halfling laughed without any humour. "They'll have drunk her blood by now. That's the terrible fact of it, Tomas. They make that wailing noise when they're hungry. The man who was with Crowell's army, he told us these things before he died, don't you see?" He went over and tugged at Tomas's shirt. "Let's get our rest. We'll need it for tomorrow. We've got to pack our belongings, and there's a long voyage ahead of us."
Tomas shook his head. "It's not right."
Brodie ran his hand nervously through his tousled hair. "Now you listen to me. See sense, Tom. You saw that thing - "
"I can't run away and abandon her."
Brodie swore. "Do you think you're like your father, is that it? You'll be as dead as your father, too, before this is done."
Tomas seized the hilt of Brodie's sword and jerked it out of its sheath.
Brodie's eyes widened with disbelief.
"I have to go out there." Tomas shook off the Halfling's plaintive, grasping hands, and opened the door.
The night was as black as before. Heavy clouds moved swiftly across the sky, obscuring all but a faint trace of moonlight. The sea hissed and roared, and Tomas flinched as a cold gust of wind hit him in the face. He strained his eyes, trying to see into the darkness. Fear clutched his stomach as he imagined the creatures that might be lurking there.
"Tomas! Please, please come back!"
He looked at the little Halfling standing in the doorway of the cabin, and for a moment he weakened. He loved Brodie as he would have loved his father, had he known him.
But then the wailing cry started again, and Tomas felt his fear give way to righteous anger. He strode forward, raising the sword high.
Behind him, he heard Brodie come out after him. "I can't let you go, Tomas. I can't!"
Tomas leaped down onto the beach and crossed the sand in long, loping strides. Within a few moments, he had di
sappeared into the darkness, leaving the Halfling far behind.
Tomas paused when he reached the cliffs at the opposite side of the bay. His heart was beating fast and his chest was so tight, it was difficult to breathe. He paused, gasping for air, and tried to listen. This was where the wailing had originally seemed to come from.
Briefly, the large moon, Mannslieb, appeared between two clouds. In its faint light, Tomas saw tracks in the sand. There were large, deep hoof marks, and two sets of smaller subhuman footprints.
The tracks led around the point. He ran quickly, scaled a heap of boulders, and found himself in the next bay. He had played here often, in his childhood. There was a cave, up in the cliffs. The tracks ended immediately beneath it.
The moon disappeared behind the clouds again, but there were easy footholds in the rock. Tomas slid the sword into his belt and started climbing. He moved swiftly; his muscles were strong from the juggling and acrobatics he had practiced. It only took him a few moments to reach the cave mouth.
He grasped the sword again and paused, hearing faint scuffling noises. "Linna!" he shouted. "Linna, are you here?"
There were chittering sounds, like distant daemonic laughter. A foul, sweaty stench wafted out. He tightened his grip on his sword and took a cautious step forward.
Something grabbed his leg. Sharp horny fingernails ripped through his breeches. Pointed teeth sank into his flesh.
Tomas shouted in fear and pain. He groped in the darkness and managed to close his free hand around the goblin's neck. He tore the thing from him, wincing as its teeth pulled free. It made a terrible screeching sound and writhed in his grip.
"Give her back!" he shouted.
The goblin hissed and spat into his face.
Tomas slammed the goblin down onto the floor of the cave, stamped on its neck, and stabbed his sword into its body.