* * *
Dusk was falling on the Glas valley, turning the land to greys and blues. High in Castle Anduran's keep, Kanin nan Horin-Gyre looked out over the day's end. The city lay beneath him, and beyond it the road south cut its way across the farmland. The White Owls had lit their fires and that nest of orange glimmers out in the fields drew his eyes. The continued presence of the Kyrinin on lands that now belonged to the Gyre Bloods was a bitter disappointment to Kanin, but he could not bring himself to send away so many warriors while they remained willing to fight in the interests of the Black Road .
Since his return from the falls on the Snow River , Aeglyss had kept himself hidden in the White Owl camp. One of Kanin's sentries, who saw the halfbreed's band come back across the bridge over the Glas, had reported that Aeglyss was unsteady as he rode, almost as if he had been wounded, though there was no sign of blood. Strange sounds, as of a man in some delirious death-sleep, had spilled from his lips and his head had hung so far forwards that his face was hidden from view.
Kanin had sent messengers to the camp as soon as he heard of Aeglyss' arrival. They returned all but empty-handed, turned away by the White Owls. The only word they brought came from one of the Kyrinin warriors, who barely spoke their tongue. He told them, and they told Kanin, that the na'kyrim from Kolglas was dead but others - three Huanin, two Fox - had passed up into the high mountains. The news had cast Kanin into a brief torment of anger and frustration. He cared nothing for the life or death of a halfbreed; that the Lannis girl, probably the last of her line, should escape his grasp was a different matter. The pledge he had made to his father - to return only when all of that hated family had been cast into the darkness - was a vow given to a man Kanin did not expect to see again this side of the Kall. It was an honourable vow, accepting of whatever fate the Black Road might dictate for one who made such a bold promise. And now the girl was gone. Aeglyss had been interested only in the other na'kyrim, from the very beginning, and he had let the girl slip through his fingers – and thus through Kanin's.
Some unconscious sense made the Bloodheir turn from the window. Shraeve was standing in the doorway. Igris was behind her, looking for some sign from his master. Kanin dismissed his shieldman with a shake of the head. Wordlessly he gestured towards one of the chairs that stood by a long table, but Shraeve ignored the offer.
'Your sister told me you were here,' the Inkallim said.
'Surveying our new domains,' Kanin said with a wry snort. He lowered himself into a chair. His father had always told him that to be seated while another stands was to take the stronger position. Kanin had no illusions that one such as Shraeve would be discomfited.
She glanced around the room. Great pale rectangles were visible on the walls where hangings had once protected the stone, and she lingered upon them for an instant.
'The tapestries were unsuitable,' Kanin muttered. 'I had them burned.'
The Inkallim walked by him and stood where he had been moments before, looking out over the ever-darkening scene. The swords crossed on her back made a stark silhouette.
'A veritable army by Kyrinin standards,' she murmured. 'I had the spears counted…'
'Three hundred and a few,' Kanin interrupted her. 'I had the same thing done. What of it? An army by their lights is little more than a raiding party by ours.'
'Or by Kilkry's. Or Haig's,' she said, turning to look at him.
Kanin raised an eyebrow. His mood had already been foul before Shraeve intruded upon his reverie.
'You fear the strength of our enemies?' he asked. His unworthy hope that he might cause some offence was disappointed.
'Only children and unbelievers fear. There is no fear in falling asleep...'
'... when you know you shall wake again. I know, Shraeve.'
You counted the White Owl spears,' she said. 'Have you also looked into the matter of the Lannis girl's companions?'
The question caught Kanin off guard. This was evidently what she had come here to ask him, and it was far from anything he might have expected.
'Five escaped, climbing up into the mountains,' Shraeve continued. 'The girl and two other humans, and two Kyrinin. A strange combination, do you not think?'
Kanin shrugged, irritated. 'These are strange times. I have more pressing puzzles to set my mind to. I would be curious to know how you came by the information, though. I heard it myself only yesterday.
You have good ears, or many eyes.'
Shraeve swung back to the window and spoke to the evening air. 'Fine trackers, the woodwights; almost as good as the Hunt. Cannek asked one of them about the trail.'
Kanin grunted. 'And did the one he asked survive the experience? If the Hunt is going to turn the woodwights against us, I'd like to know in advance.'
Shraeve ignored the question. 'Two Kyrinin: a man and a woman, the man taller and heavier than average for his kind. Three humans. One, of course, the girl you wanted. Another - a man -very heavy, very powerful. A warrior, perhaps. But the third was a much smaller man. Younger, not many years out of childhood, and favouring one side as he ran.'
Kanin saw her meaning an instant before she spoke the words: 'Kennet's son escaped from Kolglas with one of our knives in his side, and a shieldman bearing him up.'
'I see,' Kanin said through gritted teeth. He could feel the anger rising up in him again, surging even as he strove to hold it back. He wondered if Shraeve would see the heat it put into his face. 'It is time I spoke with the na'kyrim, then, whether he wishes to have visitors or not.'
'I thought the same,' the Inkallim said quietly. 'In the morning?'
Kanin rode out from the castle with Igris upon one side, Shraeve on the other, and ten of his Shield behind. Dogs snapped at the heels of the horses. The packs of abandoned, half-wild mongrels, that now populated the city had become an irritant to its occupants. They scavenged through the emptied and burned areas, drawing more brazenly close to the watchfires of the warriors with each passing night; they stole precious food, and had mauled a sick man in his sleep. Kanin had issued orders for the animals to be killed on sight, but he forbade his escort to act on that command now. He was not in the mood for distractions this morning.
They passed by the gaol. Above its gate half a dozen heads were displayed. The birds had been working on them. These were the Tarbains whose drunken intervention had made the Lannis-Haig girl's escape possible. Most of the tribesmen he had brought south were scattered across the valley now, and he did not care what havoc they wrought so long as they did not interfere with his own foraging and scouting parties. Within Anduran the rules were different, and since Anyara's escape the few Tarbains left in the city had learned that indiscipline would no longer be tolerated.
The little company of riders crossed the great square. The smithy that survived there was the focus of furious industry. Horses were gathered about it in tightly marshalled groups. Every animal fit for war duty had been brought in from the countryside and many of them needed new shoes. Some huge Lannis work-horses were there, too. They were useless for riding or battle - they would not tolerate a man upon their back - but they would be worked harder than any, hauling material to the city walls for the repair works.
They rode on, weaving through a section of the city that had been ravaged by fire. Kanin glimpsed a rat scurrying amongst the blackened timbers. Whatever else might come to pass, he thought with small satisfaction, the Lannis-Haig Blood was humbled. Rats picked over the corpse of its pride. Still, it was not enough. He had promised his father, and himself, more.
At the city's edge a gang of dishevelled workers - townsfolk pressed into the service of their conquerors
— was labouring on a section of the wall, overseen by Horin-Gyre guards. All around Anduran's perimeter, similar groups were toiling to make good the neglect of many years. It might make a difference, should Kanin find himself beset here by the Haig Bloods; it might even buy enough time for aid to come to him. Within hours of the castle's fall, he had sent word north
to Hakkan. He knew that Shraeve had sent both birds and riders bearing the same news to the precincts of the Inkallim in Kan Dredar. By one route or another, Ragnor oc Gyre would know that the Horin-Gyre Blood had achieved the impossible. It must surely be enough to stir the High Thane from his sloth.
As he rode past the workgang, a few grimy faces were lifted towards him. They probably knew who he was. He thought he caught a glimpse of hatred, of unsubdued arrogance, in some of those sullen visages.
The perversity of their silent defiance now, after they had shown so little appetite for the defence of their city, annoyed Kanin. Had he not been about other business, he might have paused and ordered the punishment of those who looked at him most directly. As it was, one of the guards barked a command and the workers returned to their labours.
They went out into the fields. As they drew closer to the sprawling expanse of deerhide tents that the White Owls had thrown up, Kanin could see that there were more than the three hundred or so warriors his scouts had last reported. It was an uncomfortable thought, that so many would flock to Aeglyss.
Grey eyes followed them as they made their way towards the centre of the camp. They found Aeglyss there in the yard of a great farmhouse. Part-fortified in the style favoured by some of Anduran's wealthy farming families, the building was the hub around which the Kyrinin company had arrayed itself. The stock animals had fled, or been rounded up by Kanin's foraging parties. One at least must have remained, though, for they found Aeglyss seated with a group of Kyrinin beneath the gutted, flayed carcass of a cow strung up on a wooden frame. Everywhere that Kanin looked, individual Kyrinin were sitting in silence as others pricked their faces with long, fine thorns bearing dye. Across the skin of scores of faces, dark blue whorls were emerging amongst tiny beads of blood. As they approached, Aeglyss rose to his feet.
'What are they doing?' asked Kanin, looking around distastefully.
Aeglyss followed his gaze. 'Kin'thyn. There can be no going back now.' A mirthless smile tweaked at the corner of Aeglyss' lips. 'You would not understand, of course. Well, Bloodheir, this is the harvest of all that we set in motion. There is to be war on the Fox, such as there has not been in generations.'
Kanin stared at the na'kyrim in incredulity. 'War on the Fox?' he cried.
Aeglyss appeared oblivious of the Bloodheir's mood. 'You are watching a terrible history being forged here. These warriors are being honoured without yet having earned the honour. Not one of those you see being marked can return from Fox lands without drawing the blood of an enemy. So many have not gone to war since before there were Bloods; and every one of them must kill. We are unleashing a storm.'
Kanin swung himself rigidly out of the saddle. It took an effort of will to unlock his fingers from the reins, and to restrict himself to a single pace towards Aeglyss. Something in his manner or movement was enough to at least send a flicker of doubt across the na'kyrim’ s brow.
'Three White Owls were killed by the river, by Fox,' Aeglyss said. 'There must be payment for that. I have . . . convinced them that we must seize the moment, now when so many spears are gathered together, to strike a blow the Fox will never forget.'
'And you think I care about any of this?' hissed Kanin.
'Well. . . the White Owls could not be here in such numbers if you had not broken Anduran. They…'
Kanin took another, longer stride forwards. Aeglyss fell silent. The Bloodheir was distantly aware that a stillness was spreading out around them; Kyrinin heads were turning, eyes were settling upon them.
'Your wights should be marching south,' he said. 'They should be in Anlane, lying on the flank of any advance against us, not disappearing into the Car Criagar to settle old scores with the Fox.'
'It's hardly fitting for a scion of the Gyre Bloods to belittle the settling of old quarrels,' muttered Aeglyss, but the uncertainty in his voice undercut the pointed words.
Without taking his eyes off the na'kyrim, Kanin made a sweeping gesture with his arm. He heard horses moving in response. His Shield were spreading themselves in a loose arc around him.
'What happened at the Falls?' he demanded.
Aeglyss looked away at once, a brief dart of his eyes to the ground and back. It was enough to convince Kanin that whatever came next would be a lie, or a half-truth at best.
'Inurian died. The others — we do not know. We found Inurian alone. The others were gone, up into the mountains.'
'What others?' pressed Kanin. Another step closer to the half-breed. Some of the nearest of the White Owls were standing up. They appeared relaxed, detached observers, but Kanin could not be sure.
Aeglyss shrank a fraction away from the Bloodheir. He was almost backed up against the suspended carcass of the cow.
'Did you leave off the pursuit as soon as you had the halfbreed?' Kanin said. 'Was the boy there?
Kennet's son, from Kolglas?'
Aeglyss spread his hands. 'I don't know that.' His voice held Kanin for a moment. It was inside the Bloodheir's head, stilling in just that fraction of a second all the fires burning there; a cooling whisper.
'There were others, but I couldn't say if the boy was amongst them. I'd've gone on if I could, but the White Owls would not.'
And Kanin could not move. His mind drifted, turning in idle circles. All the anger that had been in him was forgotten, and all he could think was, Yes. Of course.
'I doubt the White Owls would turn back if you had wished otherwise,' came Shraeve's voice, sharp, precise and cold.
It cut through to Kanin, piercing the clouds that surrounded him. He struck Aeglyss in the face with the back of his hand, and all of his resurgent fury went into the blow. The na'kyrim reeled against the butchered corpse of the cow, and tumbled away to the side. He fell heavily and rolled on to his back. His hands were half-raised to ward off further blows. There was blood on his lips.
Kanin went for his sword.
'Lord,' said Igris softly but insistently.
Kanin looked up and saw the thickening of the White Owl crowd around them. Silently, Kyrinin were edging forwards. Half of them bore freshly inscribed tattoos upon their faces, blood and dye mixing on their pale skin.
'No need to test the woodwights on this, perhaps,' suggested Shraeve. 'We do not know how they regard him.' The Inkallim remained placidly seated on her horse, her hands resting lightly on the animal's neck. She gave Kanin a slight, wry smile.
The Bloodheir released his sword with a curse. He straightened his back and shouted across the yard.
'I am done with this one. He is nothing to me now, and nor are any promises he made to you. If he made them in my name, he lied.'
At his feet, Aeglyss was groaning, garbled words flailing in his bloodied mouth.
'He is a dog,' Kanin shouted. 'Less than a dog. Do you understand? Who here speaks my tongue?
Who speaks for you?'
The Kyrinin did not stir. Their grey eyes were fixed on Kanin, but none responded. There was no flicker of understanding or interest, just those passive, inhuman eyes.
'Dogs!' Kanin cried and swept up into his saddle.
They returned to Anduran in silence. Heavy skies weighed down upon the earth. Kanin could feel the dark mood that had settled over the warriors who accompanied him. He regretted losing his temper as he had, especially over one such as Aeglyss. But the loss of Anyara, and now it seemed of her brother as well, plagued him. And the halfbreed had dared to play with his thoughts... that was intolerable.
At length, against his better judgement, he said to Shraeve, 'I should have rid myself of him long ago.'
'Perhaps,' she said.
Her apparent indifference re-ignited the embers of his anger briefly.
'It would not have come to this if your ravens had done their work properly at Kolglas in the first place.'
'Nor if your fine warriors had managed to escort a young girl from gaol to castle without mishap.'
Kanin caught himself just in time as he made to reply. Whatever momentary rele
ase it might provide, trading insults with Shraeve would do little good. He was a Thane's son, but even that did not put him beyond reach of an Inkallim blade. They had killed more than a few of the powerful over the years.
Always in the interest of the creed, of course.
Kanin found Cannek in the stables of Castle Anduran. The Hunt Inkallim had seen fit to install their dogs there. Cannek and two of his comrades were squatting amongst the straw, feeding the great beasts scraps of meat. Kanin had to suppress his instinctive wariness of the creatures. The hounds of the Hunt were almost as ruthlessly trained as the Inkallim themselves were, to track and kill humans. Kanin himself had seen a dozen of the Hunt and their dogs raid a Tarbain village in his family's lands, in punishment for cattle-thieving. It had been a spectacle to make even the most hardened of warriors uneasy.
Cannek glanced up as the Bloodheir approached. He scratched the thick neck of the nearest dog, working his fingers underneath its collar. The animal had fixed its soulless eyes on Kanin and there was a low rumble in its throat.
'He means you no harm,' the Inkallim said.
'I want to know how the pursuit of the Lannis girl goes,' Kanin said.
Cannek rose to his feet. His knees cracked disconcertingly as he did so. He brushed straw from his leather trousers.
'I have not heard anything. But you need not concern yourself. Two of our finest are on the trail. They will not give up so easily as the White Owls did.'
Kanin grunted. 'I am beginning to mistrust the promises of others regarding the Lannis-Haig Blood,' he said stiffly.
'Really. Your discussions in the Kyrinin camp did not go well?'
'I'm sure Shraeve will give you a detailed account if you ask it of her. Where did the trail go, after the Falls on the Snow?'
Cannek shrugged. He made even that simple movement seem considered and precise. 'Up and into the Car Criagar. That is all I know, Bloodheir, and more than I need. As I told you, the best of us are following the scent. They will not return until their quarry is dead.'
Winterbirth Page 38